Here's the instalment that Frank dictated to me and wanted me to post
when I got back to town. It's not so much part of his memoirs as a diary
from the island this summer so far.
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No, she's not here. I've searched all over the island, but there's no
sign of Nikki. I thought she might have ghosted here in advance, seeing
as we were so late to get here this year. I think I have to believe the
hoomin when she says Nikki will never come back. The hoomin says she
spread Nikki's ashes around a wild-rose bush, so Nikki will always be
near us here, on the island. I'm glad she's here. I can talk to her
whenever I feel like it.

On to other events. Today when I was preparing for the arrival of the
Mouser, I came upon a big black shoestring wriggling across the cliffs.
This was strange, since the hoomin was nowhere in sight. Usually, it's
she who makes the shoestring wriggle. Sometimes, I take a swipe at it,
just to be polite, but the brat, Miranda, thinks a wriggling shoestring
is just the bee's knees. Silly brat.

Anyway, since the shoestring was wriggling all on its own, I gave a
tentative hiss at it. It hissed back! Now this was the strangest
shoestring I have ever encountered! The brat came over to investigate,
but I told her to stand back. This was a man's work. For once, she
obeyed, but hovered around in the background.

Suddenly the hoomin appeared on the cliff, asking us what we were up to.
I ignored her as I didn't want to take my eyes off the hissing
shoestring. I hissed at it again and it hissed back.

The hoomin came over and the minute she saw the shoestring, she shouted,
'No Frank! It's an adder! Keep away from it!'

Of course, I ignored her. I was doing my duty, protecting my womenfolk
from the hissing shoestring. Annoying though she is, I do consider the
brat Miranda to be my womenfolk just as much as the hoomin. The hoomin
came and grabbed me from behind (oh, the indignity!), and lifted me away
from the shoestring, or adder or whatever. I scratched her and bit her,
but she didn't care. She kept waving and hissing at me and Miranda and
kept between us and the adder so we couldn't get to it. It slithered
away along the cliffs, and she kept us at bay until it had slithered in
between some rocks. Dratted hoomin! She won't let me carry out my duty
of protecting her and the brat.

Hoomin note: Adders are the only threat to cats on the island. We seldom
see any, since they are shy snakes and usually stay far away from
humans. One cat did kill an adder, and none of the cats have ever been
bitten, but we do have emergency meds just in case. Half a Prednisone
tablet should take care of a snake bite. I'm just glad this one was
content with just hissing at Frank. I think it was still a bit slow, as
it was still cool in the morning air. If it hadn't been so scary, it
would have been funny seeing them hissing at each other.

Have you ever tried to keep two cats away from something that they find
fascinating? Hard work that!