CHURCHILL INSISTED THAT THEY GO

 
It was in Meherazad that an unexplainable incident occurred. Someone sent Baba a beautiful Siamese cat. The animal had had a strange upbringing. It lived in a three-room cage. A place to eat, a place to sleep and a place for toilet purposes, and she did not want to come out and face the world.

Baba had the cage brought to my small room — it practically filled the floor space — with orders to me to train the cat to come out and run around in the usual way of cats. It took me some weeks, but in the end "Geisha," as she had been named, would let me take her out on the hills and from there she would return alone to her room.

One evening — the first night of the monsoon — the skies seemed to open and release something like Niagara Falls onto Meherazad and the country round about. It was difficult to hear anything else. Early in the evening, Baba opened the door of my room, came in and made signs that I should put the cat outside in the yard.

It was seldom — after all Baba's training — that I made any protests; but this time I pointed out to Baba that it would be hard on the animal to throw it out on such a night. Baba gave in to me.

The next evening, however, the same thing occurred. Again I started to argue. This time, however, Baba, who had never shown me power, only love, seemed to shoot up to about seven feet high, sending a wave of power towards me, and spelt on the board, "Is this my cat or yours?"

I could only say, "Yours, Baba," and hurriedly seizing the cat, took it to the door and threw it out into a dark bath of descending water. Cat lovers may be pleased to hear that Geisha found a hole in the kitchen wall and spent a comfortable night out of the deluge.

Now this happened to be about the same time during World War II when Churchill ordered the British fleet to cross the English channel to France. His admirals refused to go on the grounds that bad weather rendered a successful crossing and invasion impossible.

The next night the same thing happened, but this time Churchill insisted that they go, which they did, and the successful invasion of France started from that time.

If you wish to connect these incidents do so; I don't know.