Vickie has three books published through InknBeans Press:
Kiwi in Cat City
Kiwi and the Missing Magic
Kiwi and the Living Nightmare
and book four should be out in May.
Let me introduce my guests...
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| (C) Nikki McBroom http://tridentartanddesign.weebly.com |
Inspector Furrball - a short, chubby, intelligent ginger cat who is head of the Cat Squad and a good friend of Kiwi. He wears a red waistcoat, from which hangs a gold watch on a gold chain, and round glasses.
James - a nine-year-old boy with blonde hair who loves Kiwi and football, and sometimes comes up with genius ideas.
Amy - a sensible 12-year-old girl with long brown hair who also loves Kiwi and looks out for her brother, but still has a sense of adventure.
Wow, what a pleasure to have all of you here with me today. Inspector Furrball, thanks for taking the time away from your duties in Cat City to talk with us. Are you getting any more used to this world since your first visit?
Furrball: Well, thank you for inviting me here, Greta. It’s a pleasure to speak to you, but before we begin do you think… well, do you have any nice biscuits?
Amy nudges James, who chuckles. Kiwi raises her eyebrows to the ceiling.
Furrball: Thank you so much, Greta, but I don’t suppose you have fish biscuits, do you? No? Oh, ok. Well, these will do!
Kiwi: They’re nice biscuits!
Amy & James: mmmmmm
Furrball: Yes, yes, splendid, I think. Mmm. Well, to return to your question. It’s nice to be back in the human world though I have to say that I prefer our own world, Cat City (munch munch).
Kiwi: Inspector!
Furrball: Well, Kiwi, I’m being honest. It’s not as warm here in the human world. In Cat City, our sun is so much warmer. The sun is orangey and just lights up everything – everything seems to glitter there (Furrball smiles fondly). I miss the streets – they have blue and white mosaics of cats, you know, and they’re very clean. Not like the streets in the human world where you have to dodge smelly things on the pavement!
Amy & James start giggling.
Kiwi: But you have to admit the people are nice and you met some really nice squirrels on your last visit (their adventure called Kiwi and the Living Nightmare)…
Furrball: True, true. Yes, I really liked that fellow, Red. Decent chap. But you know, the food in Cat City is much better and the milk. We have special milk. It’s good for cats, but the milk in the human world… well, let’s just say that my tummy didn’t like it much!
Amy: Euuuuuwwww
Furrball: And buses… scary things… they go so fast! I never want to ride on one of those again…
James: Especially when old ladies are about!
Amy: But didn’t you enjoy the old ladies tickling your tummy?
Furrball: (coughs) Best forgotten, young Ames and Jimster (the children's names when kittens in Cat City). That’s best forgotten. An interesting experience…
Kiwi: And one I’ll never forget. The look on your face when they were saying you were cute will stay with me forever…
Furrball: Are you saying that I’m not cute?
Amy & James collapse in giggles.
Kiwi: I think it’s best that Madame Purrfect only answers that question!!!
Now that you have been with Amy and James as both kittens in Cat City and as human kids here, which do you like better?
Furrball: Ah, there’s a question. Seeing them in human form was such a shock the first time. I’d never seen humans before. I was scared, I don’t mind admitting. For a start, they’re so big, and they have these long limbs. I think humans are a little odd looking! And they smell different…
James: I think cats are stranger. You’re all furry with long tails…
Amy: And you spit on yourselves to have a bath!
Kiwi giggles: I think you might be outdone there, Furrball!
Furrball: But it was a shock! The biggest shock of my life, apart from the loss of my very good friend Delphinius, your father, Kiwi. I was thinking who are these strange giants? I thought they’d eaten you, Ames and Jimster. Then I had to just forget what I’d heard when Moggie explained that you were one and the same, but now not in cat form. I couldn’t have got through that day unless I’d kind of hypnotised myself that it wasn’t really happening!
Kiwi: Really? You did that? I didn’t know that! I thought you were okay with it pretty fast!
Furrball: I was sort of pretending! The shock was too much. I just put it to the back of my mind. Otherwise myself and Siam would have just been rolling around on the grass mewing all day like little kittens! And we’re actually big brave members of Cat City’s Cat Squad. We had a reputation to live up to!!!
James: I love being a catizen!
Amy: Me too! It rocks!
Furrball: What rocks? Are we moving?
Amy: (laughing) No, No, Furrball, it means that something is great. It rocks!
Kiwi: It’s young human talk, Inspector! You know how our kittens have their own kit speak?
Furrball: Indeed. It rocks. Mmmm. Maybe I could fit that into my language. Fish biscuits rock!
Amy & James giggle.
James: Being a kitten rocks! And the Catema rocks! And having a tail sometimes rocks! But not if I was playing football!
Furrball: What’s football? Could I play? Is it dangerous?
Amy holds her head and shakes it.
How about you, Kiwi, which world do you prefer? Do you think you could live in just one place?
Kiwi: Now there’s a question.
James: No! Kiwi, you can never leave the human world!
Amy: Yeah, you have to stay with us. We won’t let you go!
Kiwi: Well, half of the time (smiles).
Furrball: Our Kiwi has always been a bit of a traveller… gets it from her father I think…
Kiwi: That’s right, but then my mother was from the human world and my father was from Cat City, so I’ve always been pulled between the two worlds I think. I belong in both, but not entirely in either…
James: Like someone is pulling your tail to go back when you go somewhere else…
Kiwi: (laughs) That’s a funny analogy, James, but there could be some truth in it. I love travelling.
Amy: And the falling in the purple smoke between the worlds is such fun…
Furrball: Fun?! Well, I think my ears and tail nearly blew off!
James: And the landing is a bit hard on your bottom!
Kiwi: You know, I think I could never stay in one place. I get itchy paws to explore.
Amy: Where was the first place that you visited? Do you remember?
James: Was it exciting?
Furrball: I remember (chuckles)…
Kiwi: (winking at Furrball) I remember it very clearly. I was a kitten. I think I was roughly your age Amy, and my first adventure was with my father Delphinius. Dad loved to travel. He had the wander lust really bad. Moggie was often fed up because he’d be late home for dinner and it would go cold. He’d go on adventures with his friend Mr Eastwood, the owner of the Catema and Cat City’s only film director.
Amy: Ooohhh, can we act in one of his films?
James: Can we? Can we?
Kiwi: Mmm, well first things first – did you want to hear about my first adventure?
Amy & James: Yes! Yes!
Furrball just sits and grins.
Kiwi: Well, I was about your age, Amy, as I said, and I’d always ask my dad where he was going. He’d tell me these amazing stories, but they sounded like the kitten tales that catizens tell their young ones, so I just guessed that he made it all up. Then this one day, a bright summer’s day, he asked Moggie if he could take me along with him. He said they’d be visiting a safe place – the human world. I remember Moggie didn’t like the idea, but Delphinius persuaded her – he was good at that – and off we went. What a trip! It was the most amazing day of my life so far…
James: Wow!
Amy: Were you scared?
Kiwi: Sort of and sort of not. I was more excited, but I was with Delphinius, so I felt safe. He knew the most powerful magic. Moggie is good with magic, but my dad… my dad was something else.
James: Like a wizard? A wizard cat?
Amy: A mage? A genie?
Kiwi: Maybe something in between. So we went on this magical trip. I remember him saying some magical words and then the purple mist was everywhere. I didn’t know then that I was magical… remember I told you what happened when I was a kitten that made me magical… (adventure called Kiwi and the Missing Magic)
Yes, well, it was partly genetic too. I got a lot of my talent from my father. He taught Moggie, too. Anyway, I’m wandering off the subject. So then this purple mist was all around me, I remember. It was so bright and colourful. It became my favourite colour because I always connected it with this day. My fur would sometimes shine this same purple, but back then I was little and I didn’t know it was magic. And off I went, floating and falling in this magical mist, whisked away from my daily life to … well… I didn’t know where… and then I landed… but I wasn’t scared. Delphinius was sitting there waiting for me with the biggest grin on his face… and I knew I was safe. And then he showed me around the human world.
Amy: Did you like it?
James: How did you find us?
Kiwi: Ah, well that’s a story for another time. But I loved the human world and I still do! Maybe because I was a kitten, but I just took it in. I wasn’t scared. I was just amazed by everything. And I felt at home. Strangely at home. It was like part of me had gone back to my roots… Moggie was from the human world, after all.
Furrball: That’s a nice story.
Kiwi: Thanks. It’s a nice memory!
Furrball: If only someone had brought me here when I was a kitten – it wouldn’t have been quite so shocking!!!
Amy and James giggle.
Amy and James, do you ever think you’ll tell your parents about the adventures you’ve had with Kiwi? Will you still visit Cat City when you are older?
Amy: Oooh yes! I hope so. I hope I never get too old to come to Cat City.
James: I never want to grow up really. I want to stay a kid/kitten and nothing change.
Kiwi: Things always change, James. That’s the only sure thing in life, but that’s a good thing. It’s how you approach change that really matters – you should treat it as an exciting adventure and nothing scary!
Furrball: Well, there are other sure things, too. Like you can be sure that Kiwi, Madame Purrfect and I will always make you feel welcome in Cat City! You’re invited to all of our parties!
Kiwi: But it’s very important that we don’t let your parents find out…
James: That’s true. Adults don’t believe in such things anyway
Amy: They don’t believe in talking cats or talking hamsters… I don’t think they’d believe us anyway. Does everyone stop believing when they grow up, Kiwi?
Kiwi: I hope not, but I think many people do. Maybe their lives get harder… with grown-up things. They may miss the little details in things as they have bills and responsibilities.
Amy: And work!
Furrball: Work can be very rewarding Amy. You just need to choose carefully. Think about what career you would like to do and aim for it. I think anyone can achieve anything.
Amy: But I don’t want to grow up if I can no longer hear animals talk.
Kiwi: You just have to remember how to listen, Amy. I don’t think you’ll stop hearing us.
James: Phew! Life would be a bit boring otherwise!
You have all been together in some very sticky situations, what were your scariest moments?
Kiwi: The ghost of the old man in the old house in the Living Nightmare adventure!
James: Eeeeek, definitely him!
Amy: Yep! I thought we’d never see Kiwi again
Furrball: Indeed! The ghost of the old man. He was tough. But then those old ladies on the bus were pretty scary too…
James: Ooooohhh Mavis, what a cute kitty!
Amy: Wasn’t her name Mable?
Furrball: Stop it! I’m getting shivers down my whiskers just thinking about it! Also, plunging out of the sky and landing on the ground in front of two giants – you two, Ames and Jimster – was pretty scary! And then my brain turning to jelly!!
Amy & James: Sorry Inspector Furrball!
Furrball: Not your fault. Now if only Moggie had warned me beforehand…
Kiwi: Our first adventure together where we tried to solve Case of the Missing Catizens was pretty tough if I remember. Don’t you think?
Furrball: Yes it was – a lot of dead ends in that mystery. And when Cat City was going to be invaded in our second adventure together (Kiwi and the Missing Magic) – now that was scary…
James: Especially when we all went into the Cat Crime building and …(beep so as not to give it away!)
Amy: And the battle in the Land of Giant Mice… and the maze… that was a bit scary.
Furrball: Yes that was close. If it hadn’t been for the brave actions of (beeeeeeep).
Kiwi: I agree, Inspector. That was a close one. I think we’ve had a few close shaves as it happens.
Furrball: But I think the scariest thing of all has to be the enemy that we meet in book four of our adventures…
Kiwi: Sssshhhh… I don’t think that story is ‘out there’ in the human world yet… but it’s coming soon. You’re right though Furrball, that adventure was our toughest challenge yet.
James: I miss the crabs and the fish…
Amy: Ssshhh James, don’t give it away…
James: Ooops sorry… (goes red), but what about the excellent bit with the hamsters…?
Do you have any dreams of what you would like to do in the future?
James: I want to be a detective when I grow up!
Amy: I want to work for Greenpeace and save whales!
Furrball: These are both very good choices, kittens. Errm, I mean child..ren. Mmm, such a strange word.
Kiwi: I want to keep on going on adventures and learning new things. I never want to become bored. I always want to carry on exploring.
Furrball: I always want to get the bad catizens!… and save the good catizens!
James: That’s why I want to be a detective – so that I can come and work for you at Cat Crime…
Amy: But you’re human…
James: So? I can do both, can’t I? I want to be a two-world detective – in the human world and in Cat City! I can solve two crimes at the same time!
Kiwi: Ah, this could be an interesting future.
Furrball: Indeed (scratching his head).
Amy: I really wanna see that!
Furrball: Oooh is that the time? (looks at gold watch, hanging off his red waistcoat). I’m sorry Mrs Greta, but I think I need to be getting back to Cat City. It’s past my teatime you know, and Madame Purrfect will start to worry. And she makes the most kitty good cakes… I wouldn’t want to miss out on those.
James: sighs!
Amy: sighs!
Kiwi: Thank you for inviting us today. It’s been purrfectly good fun! Have a kitty day!
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