It was Shrove Tuesday, and of course we kids were looking forward especially to the Pancake Feast. We took it in turns to toss the pancakes, and naturally this turned into a sort of competition to see who was the Best Tosser in the Family. Of course a lot depends not only on personal skill, but on having a good frying - pan.
I chose a good frying pan, and soon was flipping them over neatly, mostly managing to do it first time. My younger sister looked on impatient - "Let me have a go!"; she really was desperate to toss some pancakes herself. After a few minutes, and some instructions and examples, I handed the pan to her. She put in a goodly dollop of Pancake Mix.
When it was ready to toss the pancake, she tried, but the pancake would not rise out of the pan. She tried harder - still did not work, the pancake seemed stuck in the pan. She made a sudden mighty effort, and the pancake shot out of the pan, flew up to the ceiling like a rocket with a steamy exhaust trail, and stuck flat on the ceiling.
Whilst we were all gawping at it, wondering what to do to get it down, it suddenly came unstuck, peeled itself off the ceiling, and fell squarely on top of my cat who was passing below at the time. The cat's head popped out through a hole in the pancake, and the rest of her body was completey covered by a steaming hot Pancake Poncho. Before anyone could do anything to rescue her from this steaming sweatsuit, the cat shot out of the door at high speed and ran down the garden, leaving a contrail of steam behind her just like aircraft leave trails in the sky.
I ran out in pursuit, followed by a few other helpers, and followed the steam trail for about 10 or 12 metres until it disappeared into a large clump of bushes with heavy undergrowth. The cat was in there somewhere, but although we searched, and looked out for telltale columns of rising steam which might indicate where the cat was, we could not locate her. After about 10 minutes, we decided that the pancake must have cooled enough to be incapable of harming her, and decided to take a break from the search.
About 30 minutes later the cat came waddling slowly into the house looking very pleased with herself. She also looked extemely fat, hence the waddle. It seemed obvious that she had enjoyed the pancake, probably all of it though it was a big one. She settled down and slept contentedly for hours. Once we knew she was safe and unharmed by this remarkable experience, we were able to relax with what was left of our pancakes, and enjoy the Holy Day. My sister has practised, and can now toss pancakes which don't reach the ceiling, and usually she manages to make them land back in the pan.