VERY Short Stories page three

Hats Off

(a simple story)

She awoke one morning with a desire to wear a hat to work. She dug through all her closets but could only find a red stocking cap that she dimly remembered as once belonging to her brother. She pinned a yellow silk flower on the front of it and wore it. No one at work mentioned the hat, and since she didn’t deal directly with the public, her boss didn’t care.

On her lunch hour she bought a small straw hat that had little silk roses and a small bird on it. She wore that hat for the rest of the week.

On Saturday she went out and bought 4 more hats, so she’d have a different hat every workday. Her straw hat became her Monday hat.

Tuesday was a blue felt cloche with a matching felt rose.

Wednesday was an Indiana Jones type hat. (She always felt adventurous on Wednesdays.)

For Thursday she broke with tradition completely, turning a green denim gardening hat inside-out and sewing small plastic carrots on the brim.

Her favorite was Friday’s hat: an old-fashioned man’s bowler with a daisy on the side. It took four hours hunting in various thrift stores to find that one.

She was much happier now and decided to indulge in one more desire that had been getting stronger and stronger. She got a cat.

After that, she was a force to be reckoned with. There was no stopping her. Or her cat.

~*~ ~*~ ~*~ ~*~

The Inner Cat

(a modern tail)

She finished washing the dishes and went out onto the patio. It was a bright sunny afternoon. A slight breeze brought the smell of the neighbor’s rose garden to her. She thought of the ironing waiting for her in the laundry room and lay down on the warm bricks. The myrtle trees cast dappled shadows on her face. She lay there humming softly, a slight smile on her lips.

Her neighbor, who had been trimming the roses, watched her for ten minutes before asking, “What in the world are you doing?”

She got up quickly, but with no embarrassment.

“I was just getting in touch with my inner cat,” she replied, as she went back into the kitchen and poured herself a saucer of cream.