MR. and MRS. MANN's BABY

     "Make no mistake why these babies are here. They are here to replace us." -Jerry Seinfeld

The Mann's lived beside us, many moons ago, when I was growing up.  He used to be in a symphony. She was an artist of some sort. And she  baked things. They had come here from back east. She brought with her an incredible fruit cake recipe. He brought his violin. And Their cat. 

A big fluffy cat called Baby. They would wheel Baby around the streets in a fancy stroller.

Baby would survey the world from her stroller. And hiss at people.The Mann's would laugh and  just think she was adorable. 

Mrs. Mann would  dab her eyes and get all teary. Baby just found the world too stressful, she said one day. They took her to a cat shrink who said she  was probably having motivational issues, and  thought on a higher plain that the other cats. Something like that.

So they switched cat food. And baby still hissed and preened herself from the stroller. Well pleased with her lot in life. They dressed her up in frilly pink cat dresses.

Baby liked to  visit from time to time. Without the Mann's or her stroller. She'd poof herself out and march around the kitchen . then squish herself down on a cushion.Demanding a treat. The Mann's had very nicely given us a canister of the cat treats Mrs. Mann made for her. They looked like seaweed. "She's so allergic to regular store treats", Mrs. Mann told us.

Our cat hated those treats.  He hid till Baby  sauntered off home. Baby always returned.

Every Wednesday night the Mann's hosted a musical evening.  retired string players would descend  on their house for an evening of Dvorak, Debussy and even a little fiddle.

They would take turns playing different movements and there would be "Bravo" "Bravo" all round. Mr. Mann was an exceptional violinist. It was a great treat to hear him play. 

Baby sat on the piano , swiping at the bows  trying to catch the horsehairs.  Great fun. 

Then Mr. Mann put her into stroller where she would purr in time to the music. I was invited   along most Wednesdays to join in.  It was a great night. Followed by some pastry concoction created by Mrs. Mann.

Many times she served Raisin Pie, with a whole wheat crust. Mr. Mann's favourite apparently. Everyone oohed and ahhhed over it. I thought it tasted like sawdust  with goopy eyeballs. Baby would sit in her stroller by the table and be fed her cat treats. Content for once.

By the end of that year, the Mann's decided to return back east, to be with their grand children,  but they didn't want to subject Baby to airplane travel. "She has sensitive sinuses",  Mrs. Mann  said. So they gave Baby to us. Complete with stroller and cat treats and a Raisin pie. The Manns gave her gooey kissies galore before heading off. We promised to look after her. I think the first thing we did was to get rid of the stroller..........mostly because our cat was starting to copy Baby.

But I knew I'd seen everything when they gave us the name of Baby's shrink, so she and our cat could share in sessions.............

"With just a little drop of kindness, you can water a garden....." -Heather Wolf

Photographs 2021

                                                                      BABY