M E R I E L
Meriel was mesmerized by this strange new world and all of the beauty that loomed over her head. It didn't take long for her to decide that she simply must be dreaming. After all, who had ever heard of birds half as big as she was and bees the size of her head? No, this was simply impossible. She nodded sagely to herself, decided. She would explore, then, and not worry too much. After all, if she got scared, she would just wake up--right?
And so she ventured on, peering around her with a wide-eyed sense of wonder, and before long she stumbled upon a disembodied voice. She cocked her head to the side, glancing around her with a rather puzzled air about her, and jumped when she saw a very large human sitting in a tree. He was huge! She had never dreamed quite like this before--such vivid detail! And she felt lucid, which was strange, for her. Oh, but the dreamed-up giant had said something to her, hadn't he? It was a strange statement, one that didn't make much sense, and Meriel was suddenly cross that her dreams were speaking in riddles.
But before she could answer, the honeybee was drifting back and, as it passed, she felt a horrid prick on her hind end. She shrieked--which, oddly, sounded remarkably like a screeching cat, and spun around. It was at that moment that she caught sight of a tail. Spinning, she searched for the animal it was attached to. After a few spins, she realized that it was attached to her. Looking down, she saw paws--her paws--and, paying attention for the first time to her body, she realized that she was indeed on all fours. Panic (exacerbated by the fact that one does not feel pain in dreams and, therefore, she must be dreaming) set in, and she caterwauled her realization that she was truly in a strange world, trapped in a cat's body to the strange man who had spoken to her. No wonder everything had seemed so big!
Too late, she realized that a hive had erupted from the tree on which the man sat, a small part of the swarm heading straight for her. She yelped--which came out as the type of screech that emanates from a cat who has just been stepped on--and plunged from the tree into the undergrowth, hoping that the plants would deter the bees from their attack. Still, she couldn't help but stay nearby even as she ran for her life on short legs. What if the man needed help?
