When Mr Kalle was released into his limited freedom, as it now happens every day, everything went as usual. The cellar was inspected and he stretched out in the courtyard and rested. When the fine gentleman had rested enough, once again his excess energy ran wild. He let out his dreaded, long-drawn-out meow and once again set to work on the cat net separating him from final as well as life-threatening freedom.

The servant looked up from his laptop and for a brief moment a diabolical grin flitted across his face. Let him. One less expensive energy robber to stand up to rule over him.

But then his eyes fell on the barn door. Behind it was a typical barn of medium size, with all sorts of ancient trinkets, a wood workshop, a mezzanine and an old hayloft stretching across the entire building. The servant remembered long ago times at court, when the maid used to beat him regularly with the carpet beater… Well, where was I? Anyway, there were already cats in the servant’s life back then and they spent most of the day in the barn climbing, playing, discovering new things and chasing mice. The great freedom did not interest them. Old, dusty barns seem to make cats happy. Should it really be that easy?

He opened the door and didn’t have to wait long before a lightning bolt of red and white shot past him and disappeared into the barn. The well-known meowing and sneezing followed, now and then a soft rustling and here and there a somewhat louder rumbling. When the servant looked after a while, dust was trickling down from above and Mr Kalle was peering down from the mezzanine. It went on like this for a few more hours.

In the evening, after the usual cleaning procedure for the cat, when the devoted servant wrote down the day’s events in his electronic diary, called a “blog” by the common rabble, a cat curled up into a red and white fur ball, purring and visibly content, lay on his lap.

And the servant? For the first time since this blog began, one saw his true nature flash behind the cynical, vengeful curmudgeon façade. A beatific smile.

Can old, dusty barns make cats happy? They can. And obviously not only cats.