Second Prize

Madame Mahy and the Cat - Retold

Amy Tersigni
Year 5 St Mary & St Michael

Hello, I’m Harriet Ogier, a washerwoman from Castel. We kindly washerwomen like to gossip a little, but recently some ‘dirty laundry’ has reached some ears it shouldn’t, so as you can imagine we got into a bit of trouble. Soon enough, we discovered it was sly, malicious Madame Mahy sharing the gossip, but the funny thing was we never did her laundry. When I got home one day, I sat down and thought, until I remembered. The cat! You see, every time we washerwomen sat down to the washing, there was always a silky, midnight black cat, so I decided there was something supernatural occurring- I had a plan... Next morning I set off bright and early to Madame Le Tissier’s cosy, granite cottage in Torteval. Upon arrival, I immediately put the bulky iron on the stove to heat up while I began the washing. Shortly after, I heard a loud screech and saw the cat emerge from the window. I waited until it was comfortably perched on a shelf nearby and then went to check on the iron. Boiling. Perfect! I picked it up, slowly crept up behind the cat and quick as a flash slammed it against the cat’s nose. Hissss! It leapt off the shelf and darted away. “Goodness gracious!” my friends squealed. I was silent. The next day, I sauntered to Mrs Le Page’s house just down the dusty track, then continued to Madame De Carteret’s cottage. The cat was nowhere to be seen at either. News spread that Madame Mahy had experienced an awful accident; she supposedly fell asleep in her chair and tilted forward, scorching her nose on the stove, but I knew she was a witch who shapeshifted into a cat and shared all our tittle-tattle. After that, all our secrets remained secrets forever.

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