Noah was just an ordinary cat who liked to write and to build things with a wife and two kittens. He spent his days hunting mice in the desert area of his home to care for his family and couldn’t engage in his hobbies. Noah didn’t know what the name of his country was, but he had carefully marked his territory and knew every inch of it.
During the day, Noah busied himself with building tables, chairs, and other fine crafts that his family and neighbors enjoyed. The evenings were for writing.
This day was no different. But this evening would bring change.
Noah was sitting at his desk on a tree stump crafted to be a comfortable seat, with a sheet of papyrus and a quill for writing, as usual on the table in front of him. His brow was furrowed, not necessarily usual. He was puzzling with how to start off the latest piece he was working on. This was the piece he felt would be a masterpiece. So it was important. It had to be just right.eHe He scratched his chin, and he thought of something. He scribbled it on a notepad next to him. The beginning had been plaguing him for the past couple of weeks or so, and finally he had just the right one and his eyes lit up. Noah was overjoyed to finally progress with the story. Basically, things were calm and satisfactory for Noah and Emzara, Emza for short.
Noah was really, really excited to have thought of a great ending. He wanted to tell Emza who was curled up sleeping comfortably in front of the little fire that they had in their home. But as he looked at her and she was sleeping peacefully he couldn’t wake her. He’d tell her in the morning.
He couldn’t have awoken her anyway, because a voice out of the sky interrupted him.
Bastet, the Great Cat God, planned a great flood that would wipe out creatures of the world where greed had run rampant. But this created another problem for her . . . how to save all the various species that were innocent and had no part in the nefarious ways of the greedy ones. She needed a couple of each of those to keep living creatures alive. Bastet wanted to choose carefully to find the right creature to carry out her mission. Various names had crossed her mind.
After a lot of consideration Bastet concluded that Noah, the creative cat and craftsman, would be up to the task. The task she had in mind was to build an ark. So Bastet planned to make the request of Noah to fulfill her vision of a cleansed world.
So Noah’s exuberance was interrupted that night long before the storm. Bastet decided to speak to Noah and make her request. “Noah,” Bastet said. “I need you to do something.”
Noah was taken by surprise and somewhat afraid, but he was not going to cower in fear. So he replied, “Who are you?
“Do you not know me? I am the great Cat God,” was the reply.
Noah meowed in reply, “so mew say…but I wasn’t born yesterday.”
“No you were born February 17, 2011.”
“How do mew know? Asked Noah.
“I know it all,” was the reply.
Noah was perplexed, but wondered what he would be asked to do. Bastet decided she would tell Noah what she wanted Noah trusted her. So she spoke, “Noah, you are very creative. Now I want you to do something for me. You see… I have a vision. I want to get rid of the greed in the world.”
“That’s commendable, but what does it have to do with me?”
“Ah! Good question. I’m glad you asked.”
“You don’t sound formal enough to be a deity!”
“What do you want, a thunderbolt?”
“No, but it might persuade me.”
“I get so tired of this…but OK, here you go!” Bastet replied and sent down a big, scary, white bolt to cut through the tree in front of Noah.
Noah pondered this and thought, “I do believe this is the real lord of animals, the Great Cat God!”
Aloud he said, “So what do you want me to do?”
“Just build an ark. And then bring two of every known animal. One male and one female.”
“Oh, is that all?” Noah mewed somewhat sarcastically.
“I have the blueprints right here. I’ll message them down to you.”
Noah shook his head and scratched his chin, as he wondered just how this would be delivered. It didn’t take long to find out. A white dove flew in with a scroll in its beak. Further instructions also revealed that floods would cover the world in about 20 cat years.
“Oh, boy! This will take a long time,” thought Noah. “Good thing I’m only twenty- four now. I’ll be working on this until I have at least 55 years under my whiskers (his math wasn’t the greatest). Then I have to gather animals to get aboard. I hope my wife can help with that.”
Silently he thought about how he’d have time to pursue writing while working on building this ark. Still, he accepted the mission and thought, “I may have to sacrifice writing for… a long time.”
Later that evening, Noah told Emza of the task presented to him by Bastet. As he told Emza about the directive, she listened patiently.
After hearing the whole tale, she asked, “This is going to be a lot of work. And you didn’t actually see Bastet. Have you thought you might have lost your mind?”
“Well, either I have or Bastet has. You know, she threatened a thunderbolt?”
“So what are you going to do?” Emza asked.
“I’m going to do as Bastet said… and oh, she delivered blueprints and exact instructions for making this ark.”
Emzara went over to her husband and gave him a hug and purred so he’d feel better. She nuzzled a bit and then said, “I love you, Noah. For better or worse. And I’ll help in any way I can.”
Noah kissed her behind her ears, and he then said, “I’m a lucky male to have you as my wife. And the more you help, the more time I’ll have for writing.”
“Noah! Have you actually lost your mind?”
“What, why?” he replied, totally confused.
“The world as we know it is in danger, so are all the wonderful animals of the Earth, and you think of your writing!!!”
Noah’s face fell and his hurt was apparent. “It’s important, and great, too,” Noah asked almost in tears, “Don’t you think so?”
Emza couldn’t stand to hurt Noah’s feelings.
“Of course, it is, it’s beautiful,” Emza gently whispered in his ear and gave a little lick for good measure. “But if the world is sunk underwater, what will happen to your writing then?”
“I know . . . It’s just I felt I had finally developed into a good writer. And now I wanted to put this skill to the use I’ve always dreamed of.”
Emza knew this was a disappointment for him and so she told him, “You’ve only had one life, you have eight more to go.”
With that Noah cheered up.
Tomorrow he’d start on the ark while Emza would start gathering animals.
Bright an early the next morning, the couple set about their tasks.
Enza’s task was daunting, but she began at the farthest end of their known territory. She ran into wild dogs first, and reluctantly approached them. They wagged their tails, though, so she knew they’d be friendly. She got them to volunteer to help with the task of rounding up animals and keeping the number down to two. This was indeed a challenge when it came to keeping the rabbits from multiplying.
As the mice started to board the ark, Emza quickly called the guard dogs to come and help protect the mice. After all, two were needed to arrive at whatever destination Bastet had in mind for them.
Just as all the animals had boarded the ark, the rains began. Day after day the animals sailed along. Fortunately, so far there was enough food to sustain the animals, but tension was in the air after 15 weeks.
Noah and some of the other animals realized they needed to keep order, so to ease their concerns they told them, “We’ll soon be out of the storm and on land with plenty of food.” For good measure they gave the group some more grain to eat.
But there was a point where the hungry animals could stand it no longer and threatened to mutiny. Noah got word of this, and reminded them they were chosen for a reason.
This calmed them down somewhat. But it was only a matter of time. This is when a dove appeared with a branch in its beak meaning land was nearby.
Noah shouted out, “Hallelujah! Land! Land is near.”
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