Tall And True Short Reads
The Cat in the Trunk
Episode 5 (26 October 2020)
Stevie was slumped on the living room sofa when his mum and dad returned home from the shops. Their raised voices drowned out the old gangster movie on the TV. “It’s junk,” Stevie’s mum snapped. “No it’s not,” his dad retorted, “it’s an antique. And a bargain. Only 30 quid!” Stevie slid down the sofa.
The Cat in the Trunk
Show Notes
Season One: Episode 5 (26 October 2020)
The Cat in the Trunk is a short story from TallAndTrue.com, written and narrated by Robert Fairhead.
Read the story: https://www.tallandtrue.com.au/childrens/example-writing-the-cat-in-the-trunk.
Podcast website: https://www.tallandtrueshortreads.com
Support the podcast: https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads
Buy Robert’s short story collections online:
- Amazon Kindle: https://www.amazon.com/Robert-Fairhead/e/B086HZ36NM
- Apple Books: https://books.apple.com/us/author/robert-fairhead/id1436773436
- Rakuten Kobo: https://www.kobo.com/au/en/author/robert-fairhead
Story Insight
I wrote The Cat in the Trunk for a writing competition in England in the early 1990s. The short story had to be 2000-3000 words long and based on the theme Curiosity Saved the Cat.
I was (and remain) fascinated by the possibilities of space-time travel, whether it be real-world, hypothetical or the stuff of dreams. Looking at my original notes, I borrowed the old travel trunk from another plot idea. In that one, the boy was transported to different places by polishing its exotic stickers. He cleaned the dust off a sphinx sticker, hopped in the trunk and ended up in Cairo.
For The Cat in the Trunk, I added Stevie’s arguing parents, the gangsters and, of course, the curious cat. And though I left the dusty stickers on the trunk, they no longer set the travel destination.
Did Stevie dream about Jerry and Daphne after watching the old movie on TV? Or did he travel inside the trunk to the gangster’s hotel room, in the same way as Tom-Tom had escaped to the shed? I’ll leave that to your imagination.
I hope you enjoyed The Cat in the Trunk as much as Stevie enjoyed finding Tom-Tom in it. Please subscribe and rate and review the podcast via your favourite listening app. And don’t forget to tell your family and friends about Tall And True Short Reads and the Tall And True website.
The next episode of Tall And True Short Reads, A Jittery Journey, will be in your podcast feed shortly. In the meantime, check your feed to make sure you haven’t missed any of the earlier episodes, Five Meet On Zoom, A Moving Sculpture, Too Late Lenny and A Song on the Radio.
Podcast Theme and Sound Effects
Royalty-free music from Pixabay.org: Beethoven Piano Sonata No. 15 in D major, Op. 28 ‘Pastorale’ – IV. Rondo. Allegro ma non Troppo, performed by Karine Gilanyan.
Sound effects licensed under Creative Commons 0 from FreeSound.org:
- TV on in Background: https://freesound.org/people/o_ciz/sounds/475477/
- Door Slammed: https://freesound.org/people/TiesWijnen/sounds/455540/
- TV Switch: https://freesound.org/people/EricsSoundschmiede/sounds/457410/
- Footsteps on Gravel: https://freesound.org/people/jedg/sounds/505831/
- “Shut-up”: https://freesound.org/people/rachyray/sounds/273710/
- Clunk/Thrown Tools: https://freesound.org/people/REACTORFACTORY/sounds/531831/
- Cat Meowing: https://freesound.org/people/UncleSigmund/sounds/246037/
- Loud Voices: https://freesound.org/people/PhonosUPF/sounds/488163/
- Trunk Lock: https://freesound.org/people/xyzr_kx/sounds/156649/
- Trunk Opening: https://freesound.org/people/toefur/sounds/280237/
- Cat Purring: https://freesound.org/people/tosha73/sounds/512223/
- Creaky Door: https://freesound.org/people/deleted_user_7146007/sounds/383816/
- Sneezes: https://freesound.org/people/macohibs/sounds/539224/
- Car Horns: https://freesound.org/people/craigsmith/sounds/479995/
- Kick/Drop Trunk: https://freesound.org/people/myluckyfeet/sounds/251648/
- Lit Match: https://freesound.org/people/magnuswaker/sounds/522166/
- Open/Close/Lock Door: https://freesound.org/people/sgcardinal/sounds/395753/
- Footsteps on Wooden Floor: https://freesound.org/people/Anthousai/sounds/398782/
- Pouring Water Into Glass: https://freesound.org/people/FillSoko/sounds/257957/
- Gulps of Water: https://freesound.org/people/Wizage/sounds/418853/
- Sips of Water: https://freesound.org/people/Sheyvan/sounds/471078/
- Door Knock: https://freesound.org/people/anagar/sounds/267931/
Production Notes
Tall And True Short Reads is produced using Audacity. Thanks to Josh (VoiceOverMaster) Meyer for Audacity recording tips and tricks.
Podcast episodes are recorded in Sydney, Australia, on the land of the traditional custodians of the Eora Nation.
Acast Podcast Supporter Page
Support this show https://supporter.acast.com/tall-and-true-short-reads.