Cat In The Closet

By John Westcott

Music (coming soon) by John and Donalda Westcott

Art (coming soon) by Rod Davila

UPDATE! The art for this story has been posted in a zipped file at my yahoo group in the 'files' section. If you're interested, please surf on over (the URL for my group can be found on my author profile page) and check them out.

Author's Notes: Okay, I'd say this one deserves an explanation. If anyone is familiar with my work (just check my author profile pages at and for more info), you know that a story called 'Cat In The Closet' is about as far from the norm as I can get. First off, let me be succinct, this is not about a cat coming out and telling everyone he's gay. This story is literally about a cat hiding in a closet. The last thing I need is someone telling me my story is a tool to recruit people into the gay lifestyle. My cat has no 'nads anyway. The vet saw to that.

This little story took on a life of its own while I sang the opening chorus to my neice off the top of my head, making up a story about our cat. After she left, I could NOT get the damn thing out of my head, so I decided it'd be best to write it down. More lyrics quickly followed, and I soon had what I considered to be a cute little story/song here.

When I read it to my wife she thought it was the cutest story I'd ever written, and together we came up with a tune on the piano to go with this it. She's even working out ORFF orchestrations for it (music teachers will know the term ORFF and it's creator, Carl Orff) for her kids at school. When the sheet music is done, I plan on posting it on a website I'm creating and sharing it with music teachers worldwide.

There's also some damn cute art on the way from an artist friend of mine named Rod, who's basing the appearance of our star on pictures of my own cat, Riley. I'll post links to the art and sheet music when it's done on my author profile page if anyone is interested. I can also be contacted by email if anyone should wish to get it from me. Again, my email is on my author profile page.

I hope you enjoy this little kid's tale I could not get out of my head.

Wow, my author's notes are actually longer than the story itself.

There’s a cat in the closet and he won’t go away,
He’s been in there for most of the day.
There’s a cat in the closet and he won’t go away,
We might as well just ask him to stay.

Well his name is Riley and his tail is long,
He loves it when I sing my song.
He purrs when he’s happy and he meows when he’s glad,
He chases his tail when he’s being bad.

He likes to drink milk and sleep all day,
When nighttime comes, he likes to play.
He has tiny claws but they never hurt me,
That’s because he’s my friend, you see?

There’s a cat in the closet and he won’t go away,
He’s been in there for most of the day.
There’s a cat in the closet and he won’t go away,
We might as well just ask him to stay.

My cat loves to jump and play,
Up and down our long hallway.
He keeps our house all free of mice,
To them he is not so nice.

He likes to sit on the windowsill,
His fur keeps him from getting a chill.
He loves it when I sing my songs,
It’s in our house that he belongs!

There’s a cat in the closet and he won’t go away,
He’s been in there for most of the day.
There’s a cat in the closet and he won’t go away,
We might as well just ask him to stay.