Beginning ~ with a can opener

The Dalai Lama's Cat ~ by David Michie, 2012, fiction

The idea came about one sunny Himalayan morning.  There I was, lying in my usual spot on the first-floor windowsill — the perfect vantage point from which to maintain maximum surveillance with minimum effort — as His Holiness was bringing a private audience to a close.

The cover photo and the book's title give it away, why "someone" writing this "memoir" would be lying on a windowsill.  A cat can do that — I can't.  After reading the first couple of pages, I knew I'd found an irreverant writer I'd enjoy, one whose fur is slightly ruffled by a phrase like "having a cat."

"Oh!  How adorable! ... I didn’t know you had a cat!" she exclaimed.

I am always surprised how many people make this observation ... Why should His Holiness not have a cat — if, indeed, "having a cat" is a correct understanding of the relationship?

"If only she could speak ... I’m sure she’d have such wisdom to share."

And so the seed was planted.

I began to think that perhaps the time had come for me to write a book of my own — a book that would convey some of the wisdom I’ve learned sitting not at the feet of the Dalai Lama but even closer, on his lap. A book that would tell my own tale ... how I was rescued from a fate too grisly to contemplate to become the constant companion of a man who is not only one of the world’s greatest spiritual leaders and a Nobel Peace Prize Laureate but also a dab hand with a can opener.

Ah, yes, I could already imagine "the sound of one can opening" getting the attention of a cat.

Gilion at Rose City Reader hosts Book Beginnings on Fridays. Click here for today's Mister Linky.