Matt the cat

Matt the Cat, you have all the luck

EDICE BLUDIŠTĚ

© Martina Špinková © Cesta domů 2020 ISBN: 978-80-88126-76-8

Martina Špinková

Matt the Cat, you have all the luck

Translation Lorraine Traynor and Timothy Young

CESTA DOMŮ

What has…

four legs in the morning,

two at noon

and three in the evening?

Can you solve the Riddle of the Sphinx, the mysterious lion-woman… Like Oedipus did long ago?

It’s a person.

First we’re babies and we crawl on all fours, then up we get and we can do lots of things.

At the end of our lives, we need a walking stick.

Or two. Or even four wheels. Like our Uncle Otto, who used to say:

Matt the Cat, you have all the luck!

That afternoon, Mary brings baby Sarah over for a visit. She changes her nappy on the table. You see, Sarah, you‘re just like me, you have nappies too. You‘re a little baby, and I‘m a big baby, Uncle Otto laughs.

Where’s Matt the Cat, Sarah? Sarah doesn‘t know.

Uncle Otto knows that Matt the Cat is behind the cupboard.

He knows lots of other things too, he’s no baby.

His life is almost over, Sarah’s has just begun.

One evening, Uncle Otto was at home alone for a while, and Matt the Cat was hungry. Uncle Otto wanted to get up and feed him. But he fell and couldn’t get up again. Luckily, he has a bracelet with a call button, so he called us. When we got there, Uncle Otto was lying under the table, and Matt the Cat was on top of it.

Are you okay? Have you hurt yourself?

I‘m doing great, I just don‘t know how my head ended up under this chair.

We called Big Frank and together we got Uncle Otto back into his chair. Then we made him a hot cup of tea. He’s very fond of tea. He put honey in it, like he used to when he was a little boy.

After a fall, your world has to be put back together again. Honey helps.

Here, take my ear, says Uncle Otto when he‘s lying down.

What? Uncle Otto has detached his ear? Don’t be silly.

He just took out the tiny hearing aid that helps him to hear things. We put his ear in a bowl. Uncle Otto can‘t hear us much anymore. He smiles.

Sometimes only his legs are tired, sometimes his head is too. Sometimes, out of nowhere, he doesn’t recognize us anymore. Other times, he doesn‘t know where he is.

Or he sees nothing but squirrels around his bed. He points at them: What are they doing here? We don’t know. Matt the Cat can’t see them, otherwise he would definitely chase them. We can’t see them either. Uncle Otto doesn’t like squirrels above his bed. He frowns, even though he always used to like squirrels. They used to visit his garden.

The squirrels haunt Uncle Otto. We sit down with him, so he’s not alone with them. And they’ll leave again in their own good time...

Night descends. Uncle Otto is asleep.

Occasionally he talks in his sleep. Like: The water was deep, you could swim there. Or: This is crazy. Or: Blue tits!

Or: Matt the Cat, come here. Come here, Matt.

He dreams of Indian gardens, of the river close to where he was born, of the trees he chopped down in Canada. He travelled the world, now the world is coming to him in his dreams. Sometimes he also operates on people at night, like when he was a doctor. In his dreams, he can still use both his hands and travel wherever he wants. And he doesn’t need legs to do it, or wheels for that matter.

Matt the black cat disappears into the blackness of the night. Matt the Cat, you have all the luck. But so do we.

We have Uncle Otto, beds on wheels, honey and walkers, and we can help each other in so many different ways.

And we didn’t run into a grizzly bear today either!

Matt the Cat, you have all the luck Text & illustrations Martina Špinková Translation from Czech Lorraine Traynor and Timothy Young Published by Cesta domů (The Homecoming) in Prague, 2020 1st edition Managing editor Štěpánka Ryšavá Graphic design and typesetting Eliška Kudrnovská, Designiq Print H. R. G. spol. s r. o. © Martina Špinková © Cesta domů 2020 ISBN 978-80-88126-76-8 www.cestadomu.cz/nakladatelstvi

Tato kniha vychází s finanční podporou Ministerstva kultury České republiky. Děkujeme!

This translation has been published with the financial support of Ministry of Culture of the Czech Republic. Thank you!

Adults are often afraid of medical aids and devices, with or without wheels.

Children aren’t.

Martina Špinková

Do people walk on two, three or four legs? And do we sometimes need wheels too? Uncle Otto does, Matt the Cat doesn’t. Who do you think is the lucky one?

And this is a book for them.

Well, mostly.

Matt the Cat, you have all the luck

ISBN 978-80-88126-76-8

Martina Špinková

Matt the Cat, you have all the luck

CESTA DOMŮ