***Thank you for coming to chat with us today. Why do you think Vera Jane choose you to represent her?
She knows my observations are based on instinct and a very keen perception of people.
***Tell us a little about yourself?
I am a cat named Spider. I live in a little Eye-brow Colonial on Lilac Lane in Chanaakya. We face the river, which Bessie loves. She talks to the river, when there’s a storm though she fears it and shuts the shades.
***What is your birth date?
9 x9 years ago I was born, March maybe, it was cold.
***What do you wish people would know about you?
I can speak to the Gods, especially the one of rain.
***What music do you listen too?
Wind and River music. Is there any other kind?
***What is your perfect evening?
I like being in my favorite chair by the fire. Sometimes I’m on Bessie’s lap and she strokes me. I like that.
***What do you do to relax?
Watch rabbits break into Bessie’s herb garden.
***Is there anything you wish Vera Jane Cook had kept her mount shut about?
Yes, I do not have a pudgy tummy that falls to the floor. I am sleek and still beautiful, though I’ve been around a while. Any dialogue about me should reflect my still trim and handsome form.
***Do you feel you were portrayed fairly?
Yes, I had my own voice, how many cats can say that?
***What really pushes your buttons?
Hummingbirds I can’t catch
***What’s you biggest turn ons?
Kibbles that look like fish
***What are your biggest Turn offs?
Dogs who run amuck in my back yard.
***What’s your perfect day?
I like Apollo’s reign, when the sun is out, but he’s a fickle God. Thunder thrills me, much more passion to it.
***What’s your favorite Ice cream flavor, Chocolate, Vanilla, or Strawberry?
Just plain milk will do, ice cream is too hard to slurp.
***Do you believe in ghosts?
Of course, I see them down by the river.
***What is your biggest fear?
Bessie will plug up all the holes in our house and the mice won’t get in.
***Why should the readers be interested in your story?
Well, it’s not really my story, its Bessie’s. If it were mine I’d tell you how she found me under a car and took me home when my eyes were barely open, and even though she didn’t look like my mother, I was sure she was. If it were my story you’d hear how I had to put up with Bessie’s dog Halo, how he bit my tail and wouldn’t share the pillow. Well, if it were my story you’d hear how Lily brings me kibble and Richard overfeeds me and Chauncey’s voice always soothed me, and how my favorite word is melancholy, which Chauncey taught me. If it were my story you’d be aware that I always know when it’s going to rain. You’d know too that Davey owes me back scratches and belly rubs and I always know what’s in Bessie’s heart, which is always open, even when she thinks it’s not. But like I said, it’s not really my story.
Vera Jane Cook’s first published novel, Dancing Backward in Paradise, won the Eric Hoffer award for publishing excellence, 2007, and the Indie Excellence award for notable new fiction, 2007. The Story of Sassy Sweetwater, her second southern fiction novel, was released on January 20th. Lies a River Deep was released on March 2nd, both by Musa Publishing.
