You are writing under the premise that the story about Caty’s death is true. Yet i have always maintained that that “fact” can’t be anything more than a wishful rumor started by wishful rats. The same Rats who were just made aware of the elder’s plan to go on Caty’s crusade and wanted to nip the idea at the buds. (Fasika was around the corner, world cup was this very summer and there was no time for crusade)

“No need for the crusade, Papa”, said Mamush Rat. “iko leminabatk, ante kizenam bekt”, said Abey Rat. “coz Cat is dead”, responded Mamusha. “E?!?” said Abeye unconvinced, unable to believe that Mamush, this evil sprout of his own doing whose only ability in life is chewing on the mesob and shitting on the injera (while it should be the other way around), would ever be the bearer of good news.

“Curiosity killed it” said Mamushiye, offering the first word on this week’s spelling list (the Cs) as the most definite cause of death for Caty. He had just been memorizing for his dictation test, ironically the only thing in his life that could have made the crusade an acceptable activity for upcoming days.

Abeye, to whom “curiosity” sounded pleasantly like “Klashinkov” saw no reason to believe that the word meant anything other than a massive fenjee exploding right under Caty’s feet. How different the story would have been had it all taken place in Amharic.

Some weeks later, Abey died a happy rat. His last thought in his last minutes was that of a massive explosion near the Gulicha just as Caty was nearing it to do her “belahu-tetahu-istee-demo-tinish-isat-limuq” routine near the fire; the same routine he watched her do once while the blood from Mamusha’s enat was still visible on the corners of her mouth. That little thought, that little knowledge that justice had been served, gave him a great last moment.

Even as the new Caty, who looked ominously, almost exactly (had he not known better), like the old Caty, was mekoretatem-ing him piece-by-piece he had the comforting thot that he had not died at the hands of his archenemy.

“Curiously Getaye”, said he with his last breath “lijochen Tebikilign. Kegonachew atinetel”

Fair Enough?