The cat smelt something fishy.

A fully fit Tom was extremely pleased with himself. He did not fail to notice that the only mouse, that used to stray into the garden, was keen to avoid a repeat encounter with him - for health reasons.  The Madame was busy battling her own bulging dimensions in aerobics, calisthenics and swimming sessions.

Tom had no inkling that his sea of tranquillity was about to be churned by a tsunami. The Master of the house was returning from abroad. Madame moved her bulk like a possessed dynamo, to set the house in order. Heaps of clothes, shoes and tinned food items went underground.

The Master was hard to please and fool with. At a glance he could gather all the needed information. The rumour in the household was that he could deduce what must have happened, even from Tom’s behaviour.

Every one feared him for other reasons too. A look at his physique will chill any body in his/her tracks - heavily built, ebony coloured and sporting  a shock of snow white hair on the cranium. Aptly, he has been nicknamed as the Ebony Man.

With him, a walk in the park was like stepping in tune with the tremors felt during an earthquake. Tom was the shaking testimony for that. The commanding voice was like the whiplash of a thunder. It froze Tom in to inaction, making him to hold his heart in his tightly closed mouth, whenever such endurance tests were inflicted.
Yet, the Ebony Man treated Tom like a friend, brought him special delicacies and proudly introduced him to other pets and pet owners, in the park. May be because of this reason, he was putting up with all these - Tom concluded.

At this point in his memory trip, he saw the car coming to a silent halt, under the portico. The chauffeur jumped out and ran to open the rear door - in milliseconds, as if expecting a lobbed grenade to explode at the slovenliness.

Tom took pity on the chauffeur for working under such a mortal fear. The chauffeur endured the sufferings – for economic reasons. The master chose well (poor background), paid well (more than the neighbours) and demanded more and more (unlike the neighbours).

The chauffeur and Tom could not fathom this dual behaviour. But the chauffeur sensed that Madam might also be harbouring such thoughts.  The trio were secretly planning for a raison d’être, independently.

Tom had his own axe to grind – he did not like fishes dead or alive. He hated them even more when the Ebony Man forced morsels of cooked fishes down his throat.

During his recent visit abroad, the Ebony Man along with his son went on a fishing expedition cum picnic. That experience kindled a serious interest, in him, in angling for fresh water fish. He craved for them - at lunch, every Saturday & Sunday.

Armed with a branded fishing gear and forcing Tom to accompany him, he marched to the riverfront - to try out his luck. He chose a spot on the gentle slope of the river bank, cast his line and started reading a popular magazine – as he had seen, people doing like that, during his foreign visit.

Tom had nothing to do and watched the activities of other anglers – local professionals & hobbyists, to pass time. He only prayed that the Ebony Man catches a few fishes quickly and signals it is time to go home.

After an interminable wait, the Master called it a day and returned home. His wife greeted him at the door and expectantly took the hamper from him. The hamper must have weighed next to nothing.

She showed her displeasure by simply lifting and lowering the hamper, using her little finger. She had her reasons- the Ebony Man gave such a build up, the day before, assuring her that he knew all about river fishing. That Saturday Mr. Ebony Man did not get to eat his customary plate of fried fish.

Redoubling his resolve to land plenty of fishes on the next day, he started early. Tom unwillingly went along with him - thoroughly bored to be a spectator at a non-event. The Ebony Man cast the fishing line, with a flourish and waited awhile. There was a slight tug at the line and hopping with mad joy, he reeled in the line to pull out the prize catch. What he saw just stunned him!

The fish which almost got impaled in to the hook, escaped by a whisker and in the process managed to pull out the worm for keeps. In his amateurish enthusiasm, he did not even secure the worm properly on the hook and looked sheepish.

The subsequent Saturday & Sunday efforts turned out to be a little more productive. The Ebony Man landed small fishes measuring 3 to 4 centimetre in length. Tom had his own doubt that these small fries were not intelligent enough to nibble at the worm and then make the great escape. He ignored all these funny acts enacted during these fishing expeditions. He had an inner feeling that some thing unusual was waiting to happen, at any time now.

After a string of failures, the Ebony Man called on a fishmonger. Both of them exchanged a few animated words. Tom smelt something fishy about the goings-on and became attentive. The fishmonger left for awhile and returned with a basket. Then the exchange of contents took place. The final ‘nail on the coffin of the fishing affair’ was the currency notes changing hand.  Tom did not fail to notice the ‘spring’ in the steps of the Master on the way back home, with a laden basket.

Tom felt delighted, that at last, a chink in the armour of the Ebony Man has been found. He started thinking seriously on how to share the gathered ‘intelligence’ with Madam or the chauffeur. He visualised and discarded many plans on second thinking.  A few days later, he hit up on a simple but laborious plan to involve the chauffeur in the plot.

He started sidling & snuggling up to the chauffeur, who at first took it as an intrusion in his reveries. Getting no positive involvement, Tom tried the second act. He placed an object at a distance and tugged at the driver’s pants and then rushed to the spot and brought back the object. After many false starts, he finally succeeded in getting the attention of the driver, who by this time had taken a liking to Tom.

Tom took the play acting to the next level. He placed various objects at different locations, when the driver was watching him. Then he came up and as usual tugged at the pants. The driver then understood that Tom wanted him to go and fetch these objects, one by one.

Both enjoyed this game - the cat imparting training and the driver finding a little diversion in the dull routine of standing by the car. Finally a strong communication bandwidth has been established between the two. Now, Tom started to plan for the final thrust in the confrontation.

That took more time to evolve, making the driver to understand and then to execute it flawlessly. He patiently waited for an opportunity. He got that chance to go out with the driver, on an errand for the Madam. As the cat’s luck would have it, they were passing by the fishmonger’s shop. On seeing the fishmonger in the shop, Tom’s hackles raised. He tugged urgently at the shirt sleeve of the driver. The driver, by now attuned to these pulls & tugs, stopped the car and looked enquiringly at Tom.

The actions of Tom suggested that he wanted to stop and get down from the car. Both of them got down and walked up to the shop. The fishmonger recollected seeing the cat on the river front and assumed that the man accompanying it must be a driver working for the fishing enthusiast.

The fishmonger smiled at the driver and threw a morsel of fish towards Tom. Tom ignored the offering and the driver started conversing with the fishmonger. After exchanging pleasantries, the fishmonger wanted to know if he had come to order supplies for the Master.

The driver, not aware of the secret, told him that his Master likes to catch the needed fishes by himself. Confused, the fishmonger informed the driver that for the last two months, every Saturday and Sunday he has been selling a basket of river fish to the Master.

Tom guessed that his mission has been accomplished, leaving the driver and fishmonger a little perplexed. The driver understood that had stumbled up on a secret and hoped to impress the Madame, who always found him below par for the salary her husband was paying.

Returning home, the first thing the driver did was to share the collected information with Madame. He left quietly allowing her to think over and act on it. But he was sure, she will not let go of such a golden opportunity.

With a touch of master stroke, Tom feigned sickness and acted it out like a thespian, to avoid going with the Master on his next fishing trip. He has had enough of these fishing expeditions.

The Madame had decided on her own, to wait at the door step and confront the Ebony Man on his shenanigans. Unaware of these developments, the Ebony Man entered the house humming a popular tune – from the very first movie both of them had seen after marriage.

He extended the basket with a catch of fishes towards his waiting wife. She gave him a scornful look and asked him “how much money you paid for this prize catch?’ The Ebony Man was stunned into silence as she narrated the story so far, like a recap in TV serials.

She did not allow him to offer any explanation. The Ebony Man was left standing at the door with the basket full of fishes, which he really had succeeded to reel in, after weeks of failures. Hurt was one thing he could deal with but how come it has become an open secret that all these week ends he had been faking success in angling. This vulnerability bothered him most.

The Ebony Man was very sure that none other than Tom or the driver could have stumbled up on his secret. He cursed himself for being blind to the subtle changes in the mannerisms of Tom and the driver, in the recent days. He decided not to go on for any more fishing trips.

He did not like to be upstaged by a feline or a servant.  No more walk in the park for Tom.  A new driver is now reporting for duty.