Hello friends!

Today's highlight/sneak peek post features a piece of fiction that will be in the digital and print editions of the anthology.

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"The Cat Knows" By Hope F. Lee

The cat knows everything, or so everyone says. Whatever you might need: if it’s help with your lessons, advice for your business, or anything else you can put into words for it to understand, the cat can help! All that you have to do, in return, is give the cat everything it asks for—no matter what the cost might be.

It wasn’t always this way, for better or for worse. It wasn’t all that long ago when the wizard council unveiled the cat to the world—just a year ago, or was it two? Three? It can’t have been more than five, because Felix was still on the wizard council five years ago, and you would have remembered if he was on the unveiling committee.

“This is,” the wizards proclaimed for all to hear, “the cat!”

At a glance, the cat seemed almost normal, like any other that you might see employed in a barn, or on a sailing ship, for a certain sense of the word employed. It looked so normal, in fact, that many of those who had otherwise been excited to see what the wizard council was showing off this time started to lose interest and turn away, deciding that they cared more about the call of their stomachs than whatever this was. You were one of them.

And then, the cat opened its mouth. That part wasn’t unusual. The fact that understandable words came out of its mouth, and not simply mindless caterwauling—now, that part was unusual. 

“Good morning,” said the cat. “I am the cat. Ask me anything, and I will answer.”

One of your neighbors, Arthur, shouted out, “Why don’t cats like me petting them?”

“That depends,” said the cat, “and I cannot answer with certainty, but one possibility is that you are simply too loud for them to enjoy your company.”

Arthur shut up rather quickly after that, though that might not have been entirely intentional on his part and more to do with the fact that everyone else in the crowd had suddenly and spontaneously decided that the cat was more interesting than an early lunch after all.
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