When Candy told Mitzi about Lucinda’s birthday, she thought that she might do something special for it. Candy had been so supportive of them, and in particular, she had been safeguarding Sasha during those ongoing poker game sessions. Candy and her partner had a lot of influence over Bruno.
When she mentioned this to Sasha, he said at once, ‘I will make Lucinda a cake!’
‘How will you do that, Sasha?’ she asked. After all, Sasha seemed to have no cooking talents. Or at least he had never demonstrated any to her. He depended on his furmother to provide meals when at home, and when he was out, he ate at a cafe. He was not a self-sufficient cat, although he insisted that he had hunting skills. She had not noticed those either.
His furmother had told Mitzi’s furmother that Sasha sometimes insisted that she hold the bowl for him while he ate! Mitzi had overheard the conversation on the phone while she was sitting in her own furmother’s lap. She was sure Sasha was also curled up beside his furmum, and he hadn’t protested.
There was no doubt he was extremely capable of manipulating humans. No wonder Bruno had given him so many responsibilities so quickly.

Sasha said, ‘I am in charge of many areas now, Mitzi, so I needed to acquire skills everywhere. I can’t be seen as an ignoramus. They would just ignore what I had to say. I have worked here and there in the kitchens on board, and the pastry chef for the Yacht Club has given me some lessons. He was astonished at how quickly I became skilled.’
Mitzi wondered if he would use those skills when he was back with his devoted pawmum, but she thought it wisest to say nothing and be grateful. At least that meant she wouldn’t get extra work to do. Hopefully, Sasha wasn’t just boasting, because it would be worse than nothing to present a substandard cake to these high fliers.
Here is Sasha, the cake chef at work.

‘That looks most impressive, Sasha!’ said Mitzi. ‘I am sure Lucinda will love this.’ And she felt relieved.
The images and videos were generated by AI from the author’s text.


