Hello and welcome to Catscast your weekly feline fiction podcast. This is

episode 289 for April 1st 2020. I'm your host, Laura Perlman, and we have an awesome story for you today,

followed by some listener mail and the results of our 2019 listener favorites poll.

But first, I have an announcement. Cats cast is now part of the

Escape Artist Podcast Network. If you're not familiar with them, Escape Artist produces four other short fiction podcasts.

Most of the stories they run don't involve cats in any way, for some reason,

but they somehow manage to be pretty good anyway. You should check them out.

The only change you'll notice to Catscast is it will be running fewer commercials

once the contracts with their current sponsors run out.

But they haven't run out yet, so...

Hi!

A few months ago, I realized I'd fallen into a routine.

I'd work all day, and when I got home, I'd fallen into a routine. I'd work all day and when I got home I'd be too

exhausted to even think about cooking dinner. So I'd order a pizza for me and open a

couple cans of fancy feasts for my cats. It was a depressing way to live and it wasn't

healthy for any of us. Then Hastie Fresh offered me a free trial subscription. It was life-changing. With their

pre-measured ingredients and easy-to-follow recipes, I could whip up a

delicious healthy dinner in no time. My evenings are so much better now. If I order a pizza

when I get home it'll arrive just in time for me to eat it while my cats enjoy their home-cooked meal. Our story this week is The Thing in the Basement

by Jerry Lean. This story first appeared in Intergalactic Medicine Show in June of 2017.

Jerry Lean likes to think of show in June of 2017.

Jerry Lane likes to think of herself as an author poet,

...