Marie's Hunting Lesson
Marie, fascinated by O'Malley's hunting skills, asks him for a lesson.
O'Malley breathed in the fresh morning air in the courtyard outside of the stable and sighed. He may have let himself become a domesticated cat to be with Duchess and the Kittens, but he still loved to wake up early in the mornings and hunt for himself. Of course Roquefort was off limits, but there was plentiful of other small critters around the barn that were open game.
Spotting a small rodent, he crouched down and prepared himself to spring.
Suddenly, there was an abrupt sound, and startled, the rodent scampered away.
O'Malley looked up to see what had bothered them, and saw Marie stepping into the courtyard, watching him curiously.
"Papa?" She asked "What are you doing?"
O'Malley looked at her and smiled gently. "Well good morning Little Princess, I'm just out here practicing my hunting moves."
A light interest lit up in Marie's eyes, but she quickly buried it down. She looked away shyly. "Do you think that maybe you could teach me some too?"
O'Malley's heart filled with pride at the chance of sharing some of his knowledge with his stepdaughter. "Of course I can sweetheart."
Marie almost burst with excitement, but she quickly hid it.
O'Malley moved to stand at Marie's side. "Okay, first what you got to do is crouch down like this." He demonstrated, and Marie followed. "Now, when you see your pray, you crawl forward like this, real quietly, so you don't startle it off," O'Malley began to creep forward across the courtyard. Marie did so too, a little clunkily, but with some work, she could get it down. "Finally, when you're close enough to your pray, when it's still unaware... you spring!" O'Malley threw himself at his imaginary pray. Marie followed suit, and stumbled upon landing. "Good," O'Malley said, "now let's try again."
So O'Malley continued with his instructions, giving her helpful pointers along the way, until Marie had it down to a decent degree.
"Okay," O'Malley said, pointing at a bird that had just landed on the ground, pecking at the earth between the cobblestones, "let's see if you can catch that bird over there before it flies away."
Marie's eyes lit up as she got into position, crouching as O'Malley had shown her, and then crawling forward.
She was just withing reach, the bird still unawares...
And she pounced!
Marie had the bird pinned down under her paws, the bird squirmed underneath her, chirping in fright. Adrenaline was still pulsing through Marie's body at the excitement of the hunt.
But as she watched the bird under her paws, trembling in terror, her pulse began to slow.
Slowly, loosening her grip on the bird, she let it go. The bird flew out from under her, and Marie watched as it fluttered away. O'Malley came to stand beside her.
"I'm sorry," Marie told him, "But I couldn't do it."
O'Malley just smiled at her proudly. "That's okay. There's more than enough food inside anyway."
Marie glanced at O'Malley beaming, "It was fun though."
O'Malley chuckled. "Of course. It's what us cats are made for."
But then Marie looked away, "Please don't tell Berlioz or Toulouse," she said.
"Why not," O'Malley asked her.
"Because it's not ladylike to go hunting," she replied.
"There's no shame in hunting with your stepfather," O'Malley told her.
"I know, just don't tell them," Marie urged, "Please."
O'Malley let out an understanding chuckle and gave her a gentle nudge. "Your secret is safe with me."
Marie smiled, and purring, rubbed along his legs, sitting down on the opposite side from where she was a moment ago. He sat down next to her, giving her a quick nuzzle as they sat side by side watching the morning sky. O'Malley had never expected to find a shared interest in hunting with her, but he welcomed the time the two of them had spent together, father and daughter.
Meanwhile, Duchess sat in one of the windows of the house watching the two of them. She smiled to herself. O'Malley was becoming such a fine father to her kittens.