While Rachel was here she told me something disturbing. She said that five years ago, when she moved in with her ex, he bought a kitten. Oskar. She never much liked Oskar (something about his expression, and the way he looked at her). Anyhoo, they installed a catflap in their garden flat and Oskar settled in, and she got the feeling that he was aware she wasn’t sure about her because whenever she was a little unfriendly or rowed with Jason (her ex) Oskar’d poo on the duvet. When Jase left, he went to America, so there was no chance of him taking Oskar, and she says it’s like being in a sinister marriage with an abusive man now. Oskar actually pees on the fruit in the fruit bowl. He jumps on her bed suddenly in the night…he stares at her through the windows when she’s watching TV…he tears rats apart on the sofa… he winds round her legs when she goes down into the basement, like he’s thinking of tripping her up. She says she couldn’t take him to the RSPCA, that would be too unkind. She’s just very uncomfortable in his company, and does everything she can to spend time away from the flat.
It made me look at Mirabelle Chanelle differently, when Rachel had left…
