Michael awoke early on Tuesday, anxious to start at his new job. As he brushed his teeth, his cat started at him silently. His cat was wondering if Michael would be so excited given what he had done to help Michael get the job. Michael also didn't know that his cat was going to follow him into town, to ensure that he succeeded at his new job. A wave of nervousness washed over Michael as his cat had these thoughts. Michael thought that they felt eerily similar to the feelings that caused him to make his cat a pair of boots.
Michael's cat slipped out the door of the trailer as Michael left for work, and then hid in the bed of his truck on the drive into town. Once they arrived, the cat jumped out of the bed and slipped in through the propped open back door. Michael entered through the front and began his shift by stocking the shelves in the store. He was eager to impress his new boss and fellow employees. His cat knew that his owner would not have thought ahead to bring a box cutter, so he stole one from one of Michael's peers and placed it onto the top of the pallet Michael needed to unpack. Michael removed the plastic wrap from the packet and opened the boxes with no problems, though he did leave the box cutter where he found it. The next thing written on his task list was to mop the front of the store.
His cat saw a man with muddy boots approaching the front of the store. Before the man could reach the door, the cat slipped out and untied his shoelaces. The man slipped a few steps later, falling face first into the pavement. He was never able to track his mud into the store entrance, because he had to go back to his truck and fix his bloody nose. The cat returned to the employee locker room. He knew that Michael would take his lunch soon. Unfortunately, someone had stolen the chips out of Michael's lunch. Knowing that this would ruin his day, the cat slipped in the front of the vending machine. He stole a new, identical bag of chips to replace the ones in Michael's lunch. Michael was so relieved to see his lunch waiting for him after a long morning of work.
Luckily for both Michael and his cat, the rest of his shift went off without a hitch. Michael's new boss was impressed that one of his employees made it through the day with no mistakes, and a new employee none the less. His boss was even beginning to regret ever thinking of hiring the other candidate because Michael did such a good job. Michael was beat tired at his trailer that night. He resented his cat for spending all day being lazy on the couch. Little did he know, his cat was largely the reason he succeeded at his first day of work.
Author's Note: I decided to write a follow up story to my version of Puss in Boots last week. The cat helps his owner in the original get the girl, and then he convinces her his owner is what he says he is by travelling in front of them and threatening people into lying. In my version of the story, the cat helps Michael succeed at his new ill gotten job also using morally questionable methods.
European Fairy Tales by Andrew Lang
