The attic above Mrs Wainwright\u2019s old haberdashery shop was a sanctuary for the forgotten, the misshapen, and the thoroughly peculiar. On the top shelf, nestled among dusty lace, chipped china teacups, and lopsided dolls with missing glass eyes, lived the rejects of the handmade toy trade. In the quietest corner, there existed a basket known to all the local toys as the Forgotten Bin. It was filled to the brim with dirty plushies, knitted oddities, and well-loved textile creatures that had seen better days.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Amongst them lived Cattie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
To look at Cattie was to look at a triumph of chaotic craftsmanship. Her body was fashioned from textured loops of towelling fabric that resembled ramen noodles or boiled wool. Grey-and-pink lint patches were scattered haphazardly across her tummy, making her look as though she had rolled through a fluff bin after a particularly windy day. Her ears were small, fuzzy nubs and her eyes were two simple stitches of jet-black felt, pinned on slightly askew so that she always appeared mildly astonished.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Yet, her defining feature was her mouth: a bright crimson dash of thread that stood out brilliantly against her beige coat, shaped like a tiny, determined kiss.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Look at us,\u2019 sighed Bearnaby, a patchwork grizzly missing the right ear and half his stuffing. \u2018We are the unloved ones. The crooked stitches, the faded colours and the lop-sided ears.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Nonsense,\u2019 said Cattie, perking up her fuzzy head with immense pride. \u2018Ugly is merely a matter of perspective; in the eye of the beholder, as the saying goes. And besides, I am undoubtedly the most pretty cat among us.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The basket burst into gentle chuckles. An old sock monkey named Chorizo adjusted his unravelled scarf.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Pray tell, Cattie, what makes you so magnificent?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Observe my coat,\u2019 Cattie purred, striking a pose on top of a heap of frayed ribbon. \u2018Where others see scruffy lint, I see aristocratic shading. Look at my mouth, a perfect pop of scarlet elegance against my textured fur. While the sleek porcelain dolls on the top shelf look utterly frozen and dull, I possess character!\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The other toys could not help but laugh. Cattie had a way of looking at her frayed edges as if they were fine lace. She walked through the basket with the posture of a queen inspecting her grand court, her bright red mouth forever set in a cheerful pout. In a world of uniform perfection, Cattie was proudly, splendidly unique.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
One rainy afternoon, the brass bell above the shop door chimed. A little girl named Clara walked in with her mother. Clara was looking for a companion to join her on long railway journeys, someone sturdy, soft and completely one of a kind.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
She walked past the shelf of glossy dolls with perfectly curled hair. She bypassed the plush velvet bears with pristine satin bows. Instead, Clara wandered right up the stairs.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Everything up here is a bit scruffy, dear,\u2019 Mrs Wainwright warned gently as she led them to the back corner. \u2018Just old oddities and misfits.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Clara scanned the shelves, past the lopsided toys and the lumpy badgers, until her eyes landed squarely on the basket. She reached her hand and pulled out Cattie, then traced the rough towelling fur, looked at the black felt eyes sitting just a little unevenly and gently touched the tiny red mouth.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018Look at this one, Mum,\u2019 Clara whispered, her eyes lighting up. \u2018She looks like she has a hundred stories to tell. She is the prettiest cat in the whole shop.\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Cattie shot a triumphant look back at Bearnaby and Chorizo, who gave her a cheerful wave from the basket.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018She certainly has personality,\u2019 her mother smiled. \u2018Are you sure you want her?\u2019<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u2018I am entirely sure,\u2019 Clara said, holding Cattie close to her woollen coat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
As they walked out into the chilly rain, snug in Clara\u2019s warm pocket, Cattie smiled her stitched-scarlet smile. She had always known it, of course, but now the rest of the world knew it too: true beauty was never about perfection, but about the joy of being delightfully oneself.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
As they walked out into the chilly rain, snug in Clara\u2019s warm pocket, Cattie smiled her stitched-scarlet smile. She had always known it, of course, but now the rest of the world knew it too: true beauty was never about perfection, but about the joy of being delightfully oneself<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":4387,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[64,104,13],"tags":[449],"class_list":["post-4386","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-experimental-prose","category-photos-into-words","category-trails","tag-ugly-catling"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/eurolit.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4386","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/eurolit.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/eurolit.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eurolit.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eurolit.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=4386"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/eurolit.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4386\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":4393,"href":"https:\/\/eurolit.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/4386\/revisions\/4393"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eurolit.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/4387"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/eurolit.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=4386"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eurolit.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=4386"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/eurolit.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=4386"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}