大象传媒

Most of the family had gathered at my Nan's house for a 'do'. They were on leave or in between shifts and as the end of the War was in sight, much liquid merriment and light-hearted banter was prevailing. I was in my usual place to obseve such 'goings on', under the kitchen table. My Uncle Jim, a Marine on the Battleship HMS Revenge (still floating, much to everyone's surprise!), decided to demostrate to the assembled relations the efficiency with which the Marines operated the guns on board ship. My Nan had a black kitchen range with numerous hot cupboards around the face of it. She also had a cat. My Uncle, a large man who was at one time a heavyweight boxing champion on the Revenge, drew himself up to his not inconsiderable height and looked around for a suitable 'shell' for the demonstration. He opened up one of the hot cupboards in the range, stooped and lifted up the luckless cat. 'The breech is opened', he declared, 'In goes the shell', and to the amazement of all, in went the cat. He slammed the cupboard door shut. 'Off goes the shell', he cried, 'Open the breech and out comes the shell-case'. He opened the door and out flew the cat! He caught the cat in mid-air and repeated the procedure, much to the amusement, I'm sorry to say, of the gathering. The cat survived to a ripe old age and was spoilt to bits.

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