Me and My Shadow - The Saga Continues

Prolog

Me and My Shadow – The Saga Continues   is the original sequel to Me and My Shadow – The Fictionalized Account of My Life With a Cat.

It is a murder mystery revealing an underlying diabolical, global conspiracy as viewed from Shadow’s unique perspective. The Saga Continues is the tale of how Shadow solves the mystery surrounding the wanton murder of his lover Jasmine and in the process thwarts the diabolical plot of a maniac who seeks to rid the world of the feline race.

Note:

This significant threat would most likely have been completely swept under the rug by the media had Shadow not confided in me. In order to maintain to the best of my ability the accuracy of Shadow’s account I have employed an experimental method of transcription representing inter-species communication and dialogue. To the uninformed reader my crude transcript will appear to contain numerous misspellings, errors in capitalization and possibly many other anomalies not generally encountered in properly written human discourse. 

For the benefit of those who wish to better understand this work I have included A Brief Introduction to Inter-species Communication and my currently crude attempts to translate them into a more recognizable human format.

A Brief Introduction to Inter-species Communication

In order to better understand much of the narrative which follows it may be necessary to develop at least a rudimentary knowledge of cross species animal communications. This may be a bit tedious for the average reader, however it is essential for understanding the somewhat unorthodox structural, grammatical and linguistic conventions which  I will periodically employ in the presentation of this text. It must be accepted that the words and structure are not the whole story. They serve only as a key to open the door of the mind’s eye wherein the tale itself unfolds.

 Presentation of dialog presents one of the greatest challenges to any author, however it is an essential element of the literary process. Whereas most readers are quite capable of interpreting even poorly written human dialog, conversations between animals and especially inter-species communications presents a unique challenge. To this end I will share what little knowledge I have garnered on the subject from my interactions with Shadow.

Animal communication, like human communication involves many subtle nuances including verbal, non-verbal and contextual cues. Many of the more subtle intricacies do not lend themselves to literal translation nor is the English language or even the “QWERTY” keyboard capable of embracing all the subtle nuances required to  clarify the full intent of more than the most basic animal communication. There are accents and regional differences in the communication protocols as well as species specific “slang” and gestures. In short inter-species communication is a complex matter being more an art than a science. As a result of this situation there is often a great deal of misinterpretation and confusion surrounding it.

In as much as you must observe and interpret the whole of this activity via your mind’s eye it is imperative that I supply you the reader with whatever tools I may possess regardless of how flawed and limited they may be. To that end I will do my best to supply cues as to when a character’s action is just normal body movement or a sound just a random utterance and when such constitute a message or are a  key element in interpreting the overall  meaning of a specific message. 

The basic guidelines with which I will begin will assist the reader with identifying key elements of animal communications. (Inter human communications will comply as much as possible with currently accepted literary standards of presentation.) In the event that my knowledge or understanding of these processes improves or if the need to assist the reader during the course of this narrative occurs I will temporarily place the story line on hold and supply the required information within   “[ square brackets ]”. Minor details may be handled within the applicable paragraph. More extensive information may be placed in  a separate paragraph or group of paragraphs started with a ” [ “ and terminated with the corresponding  “ ] “ sign. The reader may skip such material as it is only intended to enhance their understanding of the narrative itself. 

The reader may also note that animal communications may entail unusual spellings and random capitalization of words as well as a somewhat unorthodox use of special symbols and symbol combinations in order to facilitate my attempts to transcribe the communication. You the reader may in fact gain a slightly different perspective as to  the true meaning of these exchanges as translation is as I have said before more an art than a science. 

These rules apply solely to animal to animal and occasionally animal to human interactions. Remember rules are sometimes meant to be broken. It must also be noted that the rules of animal discourse do not necessarily conform to those of standard English literary presentation.

Rule #1: All communications both physical and verbal will be surrounded by the traditional quotation marks ( “   “ ).

This means that the phrase: - Shadow scratched his ear refers to the normal behavior of scratching one’s ear, however … Shadow “scratched his ear” or sometimes written (Shadow)”scratched his ear” for emphasis  is a communicative gesture of doubt or disbelief. The use of capitalization further modifies this message indicating degree of doubt with total capitalization indicating the conveyor of this message is “in severe need of a trip to the litter box.” 

Rule #2: Capitalization matters. It may be partial or complete depending on the intensity of the communication. The use of all capitals or ”Flaming” as we humans refer to it has the same implications in animal discourse.

Rule #3: The use of all lower case letters implies whispering or speaking in a low tone of voice. Lower case letters are considered more intimate. Their use is generally reserved for family, friends, lovers and close acquaintances.

Rule # 4: Proper formal etiquette requires the capitalization of only the first letter of names and key elements. 

Rule #5: Brevity is encouraged with supplementary moves or gestures often employed to efficiently convey both meaning and emphasis.

There are of course other rules for communication and personal deportment that you will eventually encounter. Most will be evident from context others may require further explanation for purely technical reasons. Such supplementary explanations and minor points of order will be enclosed within (parenthesis) and will normally be embedded within the text of the narrative. 

This should be enough to give the reader a leg up in better understanding this narrative. I will only resort to the use of these protocols to the extent they are required, however an understanding of these rules will assist the reader when their application within the text is encountered. 

As for Shadow … I believe he understands every word I say …He just chooses to ignore me.