‘Casey! Come here!’

‘What’s the matter, Gibbs?’

‘Look what Mum’s doing.’

‘What is she doing?’

‘Remember when I started introducing her to my artistic side?’

‘I think so.’

‘Well, you’ve obviously forgotten, so I’ll remind you.  I dabbled with sorting out the wallpaper in the hallway and Mum freaked out.’

‘Oh, yes, I do remember that Gibbs.  She didn’t seem very happy that you’d made some ‘inroads’, shall we say, into the redecoration programme.’  

‘No, Casey, she didn’t seem very happy with my decorating skills at all if you remember.  But now look at her, she’s busy doing her own redecoration programme.  What’s more, she’s gone over the bits that I did.’

‘I can understand how frustrating that must be for you Gibbs, after all your hard work – which wasn’t appreciated at the time.’

‘It certainly wasn’t, Casey.  If only humans had claws, they’d get the job done in next to no time. It didn’t take me more than a few minutes to strip that wallpaper off that section, over there.’

‘And she is rather making a complete mess of things, isn’t she, Gibbs?’

‘A bucket of soapy water, a sponge thing, her rubber gloves, and a funny scraper thing as well.  What on EARTH is she doing?’

{Casey and Gibbs lie on the floor laughing themselves silly at the way Mum is taking off the wallpaper.}

‘Gibbs, that’s the funniest thing I think I’ve ever seen Mum do – apart from when she was going red in the face with that lady on the television, that time.’  {Casey wipes his eyes}

‘Oh my cats,’ Gibbs says, laughing along with Casey, ‘that was very funny. We thought she was going to ‘splode or something.’

‘Do you realise Gibbs, if Mum HAD ‘sploded, we would be having our dinner somewhere else?’

{Both cats realise the seriousness of the situation and calm down.}

‘Do you think we should offer to help Mum, Casey?  If all three of us work together, the job will be finished in next to no time at all.’

‘It’s a noble thought, Gibbs, but suddenly I feel exhausted just watching her.  I’m going for a lie down.  Care to join me?’