"Tell us a story!" Tobias demanded of his mother.
"What kind of story?" Hannah asked as she gazed at her three children with affection.
"One with a moral," Anna, older than by Tobias two years, promptly replied.
"One with magic," Sarai, younger than Tobias by two years, contributed quietly.
"Okay," Hannah sat back in her rocker, gently rocking her youngest, Benjamin. "Let's set the way-back machine to when I was 18..."
"I know, dear," Hannah's mother, named Melinda, smiled to herself.
"You do?" Hannah stared suspiciously at the small, slender woman she resembled so much.
"Yes, dear," Melinda reached into her pocket and produced a brochure she'd received a month before while her daughter had been at school. "Here, read."
Curious, Hannah took the proffered brochure and read it. It was all about the revival of CATS. "Oh, Mom, please may I go?"
"Here," Melinda reached into her other pocket and produced a business envelope. "Take a look at what's inside."
Hannah opened the envelope and found a round-trip ticket to New York and front-row seats for the re-opening of CATS. "Oh, thank you, Mom!
"You're welcome," Melinda laughed as she returned her teenaged daughter's enthusiastic hug. "Now go and pack."
"Yes, she did," Hannah's bright green eyes shone softly with the memories. "It was all so wonderful, the lights, the colors, the sounds."
"Please go on," Anna prompted her mother.
"Hi, Silver," the two woman hugged. "It's nice to be meeting you face-to-face."
"It is, isn't it?" Hannah asked wryly. "Where are you sitting?"
"Right in front," Flamandra, AKA Amanda, replied after a quick glance at her ticket.
"Really? So am I," Hannah answered.
"Very cool," Amanda grinned. "Let's go sit down."
"Works for me," Hannah returned her friend's grin.
"That's right," Hannah confirmed, shifting Benjamin so her arm wouldn't get tired.
"But you said you've known her since you were 14," Anna objected. "How's that possible?"
"The Internet," Hannah answered simply.
"What's that?" Tobias asked.
"It's an old form of our communications system," Sarai told her brother.
"Why was it called that?" Anna inquired curiously.
"Because it was mainly via computers," Hannah replied. "You three have to remember that our communications system evolved into what it is now as I grew up."
CATS was fantastic! Thank you so much for letting me go, even if it *was* during my senior year of high school. I'll be coming home soon. Before I close, guess who I met face-to-face for the first time?
Love,
Hannah.'
Hannah yawned widely and stretched as she put her pen down. "I'm definitely wearing my CATS costume for Halloween," she told herself.
"Just wait and see," Hannah told her son calmly.
"Here you go," she dumped candy into a pillowcase, a pumpkin bucket and a plastic Halloween bag. "Don't eat too much or you'll be sick and there won't be any to savor."
"Thank you!"
Hannah sighed as she closed the door. "Mom, we're out of candy!"
"Already?" Melinda bustled into the room, wearing her Christine Daae costume from 'Phantom of the Opera'.
"Yep, they came thick and fast this year," Hannah answered as she carried the empty bowl into the kitchen.
"Okay, why don't you go upstairs and change out of your costume?" Melinda suggested as she pulled off the curl brown wig she'd been wearing, revealing a tousled shock of black hair.
"I think I will," Hannah slowly mounted the stairs, wishing her costume wasn't so uncomfortably hot.
"Just wait and see, Anna," Sarai told her younger sister, very interested in the story.
"How'd you get in here?" Hannah jumped at the sound of her mother's voice. It was loud and and thundering to her now-large ears. "C'mon, out you go," Melinda scooped her daughter up and carried her downstairs. Hannah wriggled and struggled as much as she could, but her mother's grip was too strong and she found herself dumped on the front porch that now seemed so big and frightening. She meowed and yowled as loud as she could, but the only response she got was, "Shaddup ya stupid cat!" from the neighbors. With a whimper, Hannah curled up into a tight, furry ball of misery.
"Magic," Hannah answered mysteriously as she got up to put Benjamin to bed.
"What do you think of it so far?" Tobias asked his sisters.
"I like it," Anna answered honestly.
"So do I," Sarai seconded as their mother returned. "Continue your story please, Mom."
"Of course," Hannah agreed.
"Hi," she answered softly.
"Who are you?"
"M-my name is Silver," she told him. As soon as the words popped out, she wondered why she hadn't told him her family name.
"I'm Pouncequick," he told her proudly.
"It's nice to meet you, Pouncequick," she answered.
Just then, they were interrupted by Melinda calling, "Hannah! Where are you?" Hannah dashed onto the porch and scratched at the door. Melinda opened the door and stared down at the Russian Blue queen. "You're not Hannah," at the sound of her name, Hannah meowed. "Maybe you are Hannah," Melinda stared down at the Russian Blue thoughtfully. Hannah meowed again. "Well, come on in, Hannah," Melinda opened the door wide and Hannah trotted inside, leaving Pouncequick all by himself outside.
"Just wait and see," Hannah assured her daughter.
"Hannah, what are you doing on the floor?" Melinda entered the kitchen to find her now-human daughter on her hands and knees.
"Checking for dust bunnies," Hannah quipped as she stood up, brushing off her costume. "I think I'll go up and change."
"Okay," Melinda stared after her daughter's lithe silver form, then shook her head, muttering, "I'll never understand my daughter," to herself.
"Be careful what you wish for," Hannah told her children. "You just might get it."
"Okay," the children stood up and stretched before approaching their mother one by one to receive a good-night kiss.