The Adventures of
Dharma The Kitten

© 2005 by David Lourie
 with 3 sample illustrations by Ted Blackall

  
Gentle bedtime stories
to prompt pleasant dreams.
For ages 4-8.

 Book One:
"Dharma Finds a Treasure"

Registered,  Australian Writers Guild #4330                  
David Lourie                                                                      
29 Albert Rd                                                                      
Whale Beach  NSW  2107  Australia                                
phone +61 (2) 9918 0879                                                    lourie@comcen.com.au                                                       

"Dharma Finds A Treasure"

            Dharma is a handsome black and white male Kitten.  He has beautiful soft fur, big green eyes, white paws and a sweet innocent smile.

One bright sunny day, Dharma is out in his back yard, enjoying his favourite meal – a large saucer of warm goat’s milk.

Dharma’s little pink tongue laps up every last drop, and then he sniffs the bowl all over, just to make sure the job is complete.  Dharma likes to do things properly, even if it’s only a small thing like drinking milk.

After his meal he cleans his whiskers and paws with his rough tongue.  Then he licks and licks his fur coat until he is spotlessly clean all over.  He enjoys a big yawn and a long, lazy stretch, and then he thinks, “Now that that’s done, I can lie in the sun.”

But suddenly Dharma’s ears twitch, as he hears strange grunting noises.  Being curious as a Cat, Dharma peeks around the hedge, and there he sees his friend and feeder, Emily.  Emily is a kind and sensitive little girl who loves Dharma very much.

Emily is struggling with a long tree branch.  She is trying with all her strength to pry a rusty old anchor out of the fish pond.

 Emily is the sort of person who isn’t afraid to take on a big job like this, and she doesn’t give up easily.

Dharma rubs against her leg and purrs. 

Emily giggles and says, “Stop it, Dharma – that tickles!”

But Dharma likes to hear Emily giggle, so he keeps on doing it.

“Not now, Dharma – I’m busy!” Emily says.

“Emily, tell me what you’re doing in the yard, and why are you trying so hard?” Dharma asks.

Emily puffs and strains against the branch as she answers in a low voice, “I’m being a detective, Dharma!”

“Well, tell me what you’re detecting, so I can start inspecting!” he says.

            Emily giggles again, and stops pushing on the branch.  She bends down and pets Dharma lovingly.  He purrs even more loudly as she gives him a good scratch under the chin.   Emily whispers, “Guess what, Dharma – I’m searching for the lost Map to where the Pirate Treasure is buried!”

Dharma says, “Wow, searching for Treasure?  I’m in it, with pleasure!”

“Shhh!” says Emily.  “This is a secret!”

“Oh,” whispers Dharma, “Okay by me.  But how do you know where the Map will be?”

Emily points at the rock pool.  “See that old anchor there?”

Dharma sniffs the anchor.

Emily explains, “That’s exactly the kind of anchor they used to have on the old Pirate ships!”

“Well, please forgive me for not being hip, but what in the world is a Pirate ship?

“You know,” says Emily, “a ship with Pirates!”

“Oh, I see,” says Dharma, not having the faintest idea what Pirates are.  He sniffs the anchor again.

“And where there’s an Pirate’s anchor, there’s probably a Pirate’s Map,” Emily assures herself.  “Come on, Dharma, let’s find it!”

Emily puts all her weight on the branch again, and Dharma does the same, although his added weight doesn’t make much difference.

Suddenly Dharma looks up and sees the garden statue starting to tip.  He warns Emily, “Be careful, go slow – you could topple the statue and hurt your toe!”

Emily looks up just as a piece of the statue breaks off and falls into the fish pond.  Two frightened goldfish jump out of the pond and land right on top of the rock wall, flipping and flopping in fear.

Just then Emily’s mother comes by, pushing a wheelbarrow full of young flowers to plant in the garden.  She sees the piece of statue topple into the pond, and she cries out, “Emily, watch out!  You’ll get hurt, Dear!”

Emily drops the tree branch and tries to pretend she wasn’t really doing anything.  Dharma slinks away and hides under the hedge.  The goldfish are still flipping and flopping on top of the rock wall.

Emily’s mother says, “Quickly, Dear, put the fish back in the water, before the poor little things suffocate!”

So Emily gently scoops the two goldfish back into the pond, where they join their fishy friends and have a happy swim.  Then Emily puts the fallen piece of the statue back in place.

“I was just helping Dharma get that old anchor out,” Emily explains.

“Oh, I see, Emily,” her mother sighs and shakes her head.  “The things you and that little Kitten get up to!  Now you’ve got mud all over you, so go inside and clean up for lunch.”

Emily goes inside the house, and Dharma scampers in right behind her.  But as they get halfway down the hall, Dharma stops and sniffs at the door to the water heater.  It’s usually locked, but now it’s just the slightest bit open.

Dharma thinks, “Wow, I’ve never been in this room before! There was always a lock on this old door.”  So he hooks his paw under the door and pulls on it. 

The door opens slowly, with the creaky sound of old rusty hinges.  Dharma starts to stick his head inside, but his whiskers touch the edge of the door, so he backs off and opens it a little wider.

Now his whiskers don’t touch, so he sticks his face inside the warm, dark mysterious chamber.  He gives a few good sniffs, and thinks, “Hmm, smells like it’s dirty and dusty.  So if I go in, I’ll come out smelling musty. . . Oh, well, it’s just a smell!”

Dharma takes one cautious step inside the room and peers into the darkness.  He thinks, “This sure is a creepy space, so maybe it was a Pirate’s place . . . whatever that is.”

Emily’s mother comes out of the kitchen just in time to see Dharma’s tail disappearing through the doorway.  “Emily!” she shouts, “what’s your Kitten doing?!  You know he mustn’t go through that door!  He’ll get filthy in there!  Quickly, get him out, Dear!”

Emily dashes into the hallway and grabs Dharma before he gets too far into the dark, dusty chamber.  “Oh, Dharma,” Emily warns, “if you get all dirty, you’ll get us both in trouble again!”

Dharma protests, “But to find Treasure you have to look in dark places!  And anything worth finding is worth dirty faces!”

Emily picks him up and whispers, “Shhh.  I’ve got an idea!  But it could get us in trouble.”

Dharma says, “That’s okay, a little trouble is good for a Cat!  Though it could be bad for a Rat or a Bat – and even worse for a Gnu or a Gnat!”

“Hmm,” Emily says as she thinks it over.  She takes Dharma into her room, closes the door and sits him down on the bed.  She whispers to him very seriously, “See that little door in the ceiling up there?  That’s exactly the kind of place a Pirate would hide a Map, or maybe even the Treasure itself!”

“Oh, wow,” says Dharma, “that’s getting me really curious!  But if I go in there, you know who’ll be furious!”

“But if we find the Treasure, she’ll be really happy!” says Emily.    “We have to get that door open, and get you inside!”

“How?” asks Dharma.

Emily looks around the room, and then says, “We’ll put that chair on top of the chest of drawers, and then I can reach up with the broomstick and hold the door open for you.”

So she moves the chest of drawers, with Dharma’s help, and then puts the chair on top of it.  She stands on the chair and props the little ceiling door open with the broomstick.  Then Dharma jumps up onto the chair, and Emily lifts him through the doorway.

Dharma puts his paws on the ledge, opens his big green eyes as wide as he can, and peers into the dark, narrow space above the ceiling.  “Because Cats can see in the dark,” Emily says, “you won’t even need a light, Dharma.”

“But there’s nothing to see in here!” says Dharma.  “And there’s also nothing to smell or hear – all I can sense is the smell of my fear!” 

Just then Emily’s mother pokes her head into the room and sees what’s going on.  “Oh, Emily, don’t put Dharma in there, Sweetheart! He’ll get filthy, and then he’ll get the dirt all over you!”

She watches as Emily and Dharma move the furniture back to where it was, and then she shakes her finger and warns them, “I don’t want any more mischief from you two!”

Emily and Dharma sit on the bed, looking very disappointed.  “I’m sure the Map is up there!” Emily says.

“I don’t like that creepy place,” says Dharma, “I bet the Treasure’s in that other space!”

“You mean the old doorway in the hall?  You smelled something in there?”

“I want to go back there and really explore, but if we get caught, there’ll be trouble galore!”

Well, a little trouble is good for a girl sometimes, too,” says Emily.  “What’s the plan?”

“Well,” says Dharma, “you unlatch the door and go back to your room, and pretend you’re sweeping with that old broom.  Then I’ll sneak in, as quiet as a pin!”

“Well, I suppose if I were busy sweeping and looking the other way,  I wouldn’t even know that you were being naughty.”

She and Dharma grin at each other.  Emily giggles, then goes down the hallway and quietly unlatches the door, leaving it ever so slightly open.   Then she starts sweeping the hallway, looking away from the door.  Pretty soon she lets out another little giggle.

Dharma sneaks down the hallway, hooks his paw under the door and opens it again.  Then he enters the dark, warm space.  “I’m only as curious as I should be,” he thinks.  “After all, every Cat’s as curious as me!”

Dharma sniffs his way around behind the water heater, where the tiny pilot flame gives a slight glow of light.  His tail twitches as he feels a cool draft coming through the brick wall next to him.

He pushes his nose against the source of the draft, and a loose brick moves.  He pushes harder on the brick, and it falls out of the wall, leaving a space just big enough for a Kitten to squeeze through.

Dharma slowly sticks his head through the opening, then places one paw inside, and rests it cautiously on a mysterious object.  He feels the object carefully with the soft pads on his paw, but he can’t make out what it is.  “This is scary, not a pleasure.  I sure hope this leads to some kind of Treasure!”

Just then he hears Emily’s mother call out, “Emily, what’s that Kitten of yours up to?”

Dharma freezes.

          Emily answers, “I don’t know, Mum, I can’t see him.  I’m sweeping.”

Emily’s mother says, “Well, he’d better not be up to any more mischief, or you’re both in big trouble!”

Dharma thinks, “Maybe it’s best to not do any of this.  But for a Cat to back down now would be amiss!”

He pulls himself through the gap in the wall, placing all his weight on the mysterious object.  But as soon as he does this, the object collapses under him!  Dharma crashes down onto all sorts of tinkly, noisy little things.

Emily’s mother shouts, “What was that noise?!”

“I don’t know,” Emily answers, feeling scared.

Dharma panics.  “Oh, no, not again!  Trouble is where I’ve always been.”

“Emily, come here!” her mother says.

“Oh, I wish I hadn’t let Dharma go in there,” Emily thinks, as she goes to her mother in the hallway.

“Look at this door,” Emily’s mother says.  “This must be Dharma’s handy work.”

Dharma doesn’t move a muscle.  He is so frightened he trembles.

“Mummy,” Emily pleads, “if Dharma is in there, we don’t have to punish him, do we?  After all, he is a Cat, and all Cats are curious.”

Dharma’s heart pounds as he listens to their voices.

“Well,” Emily’s mother asks, “if we don’t punish him, how will we teach him to stay out of places he doesn’t belong?”

Just then Emily and her mother hear the weakest, saddest, most trembling little meow they’ve ever heard, coming from behind the water heater.

“Well,” says Emily bravely, “we can’t teach him to not be curious, because he’s a Cat.  So it’s up to me to keep him out of those places.”

“So will you take responsibility for that?” her mother asks.

“Yes, I will,” promises Emily.  “I’ll never leave a door open where we don’t want him to go!”

“Okay,” her mother agrees, “then that’s your job from now on.”

Emily is very happy.  “Don’t be afraid, Dharma,” she calls to him.  “You can come out now!”

Dharma comes out all covered in brown dust.  But he is also dragging a long pearl necklace which has caught around his neck.

Emily is so happy to see him, she picks him up and kisses him, even though it gets her dress all dirty.  “I love you, Dharma,” she says.  Dharma purrs happily and rubs his dusty cheeks all over Emily’s face.

Emily’s mother is ecstatic to see the beautiful pearl necklace.  “This belonged to my grandmother!  It’s been lost all these years!” 

  “Where did you find it, Dharma?” asks Emily.

Dharma goes back through the doorway and shows them the hole in the wall.  Emily reaches through and pulls out a fistful of jewellery from the small box that had broken under Dharma’s weight.

“My goodness!” cries her mother, “Dharma, you’ve just uncovered the family jewels!  Grandma’s missing jewellery box has been a mystery ever since she died!”

Emily and her mother laugh and hug each other, as they celebrate their good luck.

But they are not nearly as happy as Dharma is that night, because for dinner he has been given the best reward he could ever imagine: two big saucers of warm goat’s milk! 

 And ever since then, Emily and her mother have always left the hallway door unlatched, so Dharma can go exploring and satisfy his Cat’s curiosity whenever he wants to.

 Besides, who knows what else he’ll find in there! 

 Book TWO:
"Dharma Gets LOST"

Registered,  Australian Writers Guild #4330                  
David Lourie                                                                    
29 Albert Rd                                                                     
Whale Beach  NSW  2107  Australia                                 
phone +61 (2) 9918 0879                                                    lourie@comcen.com.au                                                    

"Dharma Gets Lost"

          Dharma The Kitten is taking a nap on his favourite soft red cushion.  But suddenly he wakes up with a start, when Kooky Kookaburra lands in nearby tree, and makes his laughing Kookaburra call: “Hoo hoo, ho ho, ha ha ha. . .  Hoo hoo hoo, ho ho ho, hahaha!”

          Dharma sighs, “I have no idea what your gag might be – I just hope the joke’s not on me!”

          This time Kooky Kookaburra laughs louder and longer than ever: “Hoo hoo hoo, ho ho ho, hahaha!”

          “Well,” says Dharma, “you’re full of sass, and that’s why they call you the Laughing Jackass!”

          Dharma gets off his plush red cushion and goes over to the window.  There he sees children playing outside, and hears lots of birds singing.

 “Wow,” Dharma says, “it’s a bright sunny day!  Perfect for a Cat to play!”  Then he thinks, “I wonder what Emily is doing today?”

          Dharma goes to Emily’s room, and sees that she is cleaning her roller skates.  So Dharma sits down beside her and starts cleaning himself.

          Emily rubs and rubs her metal skates until they are nice and shiny, while Dharma licks and licks his soft fur coat until it’s as shiny as Emily’s skates.  Then Dharma is satisfied that he’s done a good job.

He sees the big sofa, and says, “Boy, do I need to stretch my claws, before they go dull and fall off my paws!”

So he goes over to the sofa and digs his claws in.  But Emily gently scolds him, “Dharma, stop it!  You know you mustn’t do that on the furniture!  Go outside and scratch on a log.”

So Dharma goes over to the doorway and gives Emily a wide-eyed silent meow.  She understands, and lets him out.  “Good boy,” she says.  “I won’t tell on you for scratching the sofa.”

Dharma goes over to the gum tree and digs his claws into the bark.  He arches his back, pulls hard and has a good, long stretch.  He thinks, “That’s the way it should always be – a good long stretch on a good strong tree!”

Then Dharma goes back to the front door and meows loudly.

Emily opens the door, but she is impatient.  “Oh, Dharma, make up your mind!  Which is it, in or out?”

Dharma is disappointed to be greeted that way: “Gee, Emily, you’re no fun!  When your mum scolds you, you come undone!”

“I’m just trying to teach you to be good,” Emily explains.

          But Dharma is unimpressed. “Well,” he announces, “I need a good long break – there’s only so much one Kitten can take!”

So instead of going back inside the house, Dharma prances across the yard with his nose in the air and his tail held high. 

“Be careful, Dharma!” Emily shouts after him, because she loves him very much..

Dharma crosses the street, and sees an unfamiliar car parked there.  He gives it a good sniff all over, and thinks, “No local animal smells like this --  it’s a scent that makes me want to hiss!”

So Dharma lets out a great big hiss.  But suddenly a cold wind blows over him, and makes his hiss turn into a shiver.

Then a loud crash of thunder scares him, and his big green eyes go wide with fright. 

Then three big, wobbly raindrops fall from the sky and crash right on Dharma’s head.

“Yuk!” shouts Dharma.  He jumps through the car’s open window, just as  the downpour starts.

“Aah,” he says, landing on the comfortable car  seat, “Out of the rain, and feeling no pain!”

Then he sees a thick woollen jumper on the back seat.  “Wow,” says Dharma, jumping onto the jumper, “Soft landings and open doors – so good is my luck, when it rains it pours!”

 Dharma licks a little spot of mud off his paw, and then he curls up snugly on the jumper.   He purrs contentedly, feeling nice and warm, and safe from the cold wet weather outside.  Soon he falls asleep, to the sound of raindrops splashing on the car roof.  His eyelids flutter and his paws twitch, as he dreams little Kitten dreams about playing in the warm sunshine.

But while Dharma is dreaming, a young woman quietly gets into the car and starts the motor.  She doesn’t notice Dharma, who is deep asleep on the back seat.  In fact, the dream Dharma is having is so enjoyable that he doesn’t wake up once, even as the woman drives the car all the way to the other side of town.

The woman parks the car beside her house.  She gets out and slams the door shut, which jolts Dharma awake.

He is still so sleepy he doesn’t remember where he is, or how he got here.  His eyes open wide, his ears go flat against his head, the hair on his back stands up from fright and his nose twitches from all the strange new smells.

He shakes his head and wonders, “Where in the world am I – is this Cat Heaven, and did I die?”

           The car window is partly rolled down, so Dharma starts to climb out, but his collar gets hooked on the window winder, trapping him there! 

           Luckily, his collar has a little bit of elastic which Emily’s mother sewed into it, so it stretches instead of choking him.

Dharma pulls hard on the collar.  He stretches it out and manages to work his head free of it.  Then he jumps out the window, leaving his collar and name-tag behind.

But no sooner does he start exploring his new surroundings, when he is startled by the sound of a car starting.  He looks around and sees the young woman driving away in the car that had brought him here!

As Dharma looks around, he slowly realises he is now stranded in this strange neighbourhood – and without his name tag, which had Emily’s phone number on it!

Dharma thinks, “I’m starting to feel as scared as can be!  How could this ever have happened to me?”

Suddenly a mean old Dog with big teeth comes running up to Dharma, barking fiercely.  Dharma feels frightened, because he’s not used to such unfriendly treatment back home.  So he scampers under the nearest parked car, and crouches there where the Dog can’t reach him.

Dharma patiently watches the Dog barking at him, until the Dog gets bored and tired of barking, and leaves Dharma alone.

Dharma sniffs around under the car, and he realises that he is in some other Cat’s territory.  And sure enough, a big ugly Tomcat suddenly comes up right behind Dharma and hisses ferociously.  Dharma hisses back, just to prove he’s not a scaredy-cat, and then he runs away as fast as he can.

Suddenly the rain starts pouring down, and Dharma’s fur gets drenched before he can run under the nearest parked car.  But even when he’s under the car he can’t stay dry, because the it’s raining so hard the water is running along the street, so now Dharma’s paws are soaking wet.  Dharma shivers and shakes from the cold, and now he’s also feeling terribly hungry.

Finally there is a break in the rain.  Dharma pokes his head out from under the car, and he sees a building with a sign that says “Tennis Club.”  Dharma leaps over the puddles and happily bounds up onto the Tennis Club veranda.

Dharma excitedly thinks, “Here’s a building where people live – maybe it’s warm, and they’ll have food to give.”
 

Then he sees an open door, so he goes through it, and there is a man sweeping the floor.  But the man doesn’t notice Dharma.

Dharma feels lonely and hungry, so he comes up behind the man and rubs against his leg, giving his cutest little meow.

But the man is mean and nasty.  “Get out!” he shouts at Dharma, and waves his broom in the air.  The man chases Dharma out the door and away from the building.

Now Dharma is back in the rain again.  “Doesn’t he know I’m somebody’s pet?!  I wish he’d just take me to the local Vet!”

Just then the man’s young son comes out of the building and sees Dharma.  The boy is named Eddy, and he is the same age as Emily. 

Eddy  bends down and pets Dharma affectionately.  “Poor little guy,” Eddy says.  “Somebody should have put a collar on you, so we could call your owner.”

Then Eddy walks away, and Dharma is left all alone again in the rain.  Dharma is so sad and disappointed, he starts to cry, “Gee, I really thought I had a friend – someone on whom I could depend.”

Dharma’s fur is still soaking wet, and he feels more chilled than ever.  Now he is sneezing as well as shivering.

Meanwhile, back home, Emily is scared as she searches all over the neighbourhood for Dharma.  It’s getting dark, and Dharma is usually safely indoors by this time. 

Emily holds a bowl of cat food in her hand, and she calls out Dharma name over and over again, up and down the street, but Dharma is nowhere to be seen.

“Oh, I hope you’re all right, little Dharma!  I love you!” Emily says through her tears.

Emily goes back into the house and cries into her mother’s apron, “I hope he’s not lost!”

“He’ll come back, Dear,” her mother answers gently, patting her head, “Don’t worry.  If he isn’t home soon, we’ll go find him.”

           Meanwhile, Dharma is huddled in the damp dirt under the Tennis Club building.  He’s sneezing and shivering more than ever.  He thinks, “So this is what it’s like to be lost!  I’d never thought about the physical cost!”

He looks up and sees a local female Kitten dash under the building to get out of the rain.  She approaches Dharma in a friendly way, and they sniff each other all over.

Dharma tells her, “You smell so nice, I think I’ll smell you twice!”

“You look like you’re starving,” says the local Kitten. 

“I most surely am – I could eat a whole ham,” says Dharma.

“Why don’t you catch your own food?” asks the local Kitten.  “There are plenty of Mice and Lizards around here!”

Dharma explains, “I’ve never been like that – I’m a people Cat!”

The local Cat is amazed.  “You mean they fed you every meal?”

“Yes,” Dharma says, “They never taught me how to hunt, so now for me it’s a tricky stunt.”

“Well, I bet the Mice and Lizards are happy about that!” says the local Kitten.  “See you later,” and she goes off to catch her dinner.

Dharma is all alone again.  He spends the whole long, cold night shivering and sneezing and feeling miserable, huddling in the damp dirt under the Tennis Club.  He thinks, “I may wander now and then, but I’ll never get into a strange car again!”

In the morning, young Eddy looks under the building and sees Dharma still in his wretched condition.  “Poor little guy,” says Eddy, as he pets Dharma kindly.  Then Eddy goes off and brings back a bowl of milk, and puts it down for Dharma.  “You must be starving,” Eddy says.

Dharma sniffs and sniffs at the milk, but his nose is stuffed up. 

Eddy says, “I know what’s wrong!  Your nose is all stuffed up, and you can’t smell the milk, so you won’t eat it, even though you’re hungry.  Okay, maybe I can do something else to help you!”

Eddy walks over to the nearby radio station, and tells the radio DJ, “There’s a lost little black-and-white Kitten under the Tennis Courts, waiting for his owner to rescue him.”  So the DJ agrees to send the message out over the radio, to help find Dharma’s owner.

Meanwhile, Emily and her mother are driving around their neighbourhood calling out for Dharma.  They have the radio tuned in to the local station, and soon they hear Eddy’s message about the lost Cat.  “That must be Dharma!” Emily cries with joy.

She and her mother are elated by the news.  They drive straight over to the Tennis Club to rescue their dear lost little Kitten.  And when they arrive, they find Eddy petting Dharma, and keeping him company.

Dharma is so happy to see Emily!  He runs over and rubs his head against her leg until she picks him up in her arms, even though he’s still all wet and muddy.

Emily is so happy to see Dharma that she doesn’t even care when he sneezes all over her, or when his muddy feet make her dress dirty.  And Emily’s mum doesn’t mind, either. 

Emily thanks Eddy for helping to save Dharma.  She invites Eddy to come visit sometime.

“Yes,” says Eddy, “I’d love to visit you and Dharma.”

Emily’s mother says, “You’re welcome, any time, Eddy.”

When Dharma arrives home he is treated like a hero, with lots of hugs and petting, and plenty of scratching under the chin.

Emily’s mother makes a special strong-smelling meal for Dharma.  “I added fish oil, so he can smell it,” she explains to Emily.

Dharma sniffs and sniffs at the bowl of food, and finally he can smell it.  He gobbles up the whole bowl, and meows for more.

He finishes his second portion, then sits down and cleans his paws and whiskers, making sure to do a nice thorough job of it.  Then he has a long, lazy stretch, and big yawn.  He curls up on his favourite red cushion, which Emily has moved so it’s right in front of the heater.

Emily gives Dharma another good long scratch under the chin.  “It’s so good to have you home, Dharma!”

Dharma says, “It’s so good to be home, I don’t want to roam.  I’m warm and I’m fed, and I’m going to bed!”

           Dharma curls up on his cushion, in his favourite sleeping position.  He purrs and he purrs, until he purrs himself to sleep.  His eyelids flutter and his little nose and paws twitch, as he dreams happy Kitten dreams about safe warm houses, with loving people and plenty of soft cushions, and great big bowls of smelly food.

Book 3 - "Dharma Discovers The Sunset" - available on request