A/N: Little Katz/Courage drabble =D
Fruit Tarts
Katz paced the living room floor, his long, thin tail lashing about frantically behind him. His paws clenched and unclenched nervously behind his back. The television droned on and on about the weather, but it was little more than background noise to keep the house from being completely silent.
Another glance at the clock.
Where is that stupid dog? Katz wondered, scowling angrily, I sent him to buy some strawberries over two hours ago!
The strawberry stand wasn't far away. Farmer Tom set up the stand on the side of the road every year and he was only one farm over. A 20 minute stroll if you were taking your time…or had short little legs. But this was just ludicrous!
The pup probably got guilted into doing old man Tom some favors. The dog was just too soft-hearted for his own good. The only time he seemed to grow a spine was when someone else needed saving.
Frowning harshly, Katz dared to look out the front window once more, only to be disappointed; there wasn't a little purple ball of fluff making his way to the front door. Grumbling softly and sparing his unfinished fruit tarts a mournful thought, Katz grabbed a light shirt and the keys to the truck.
Not five minutes later he found the stand with Tom asleep under a ratty beach umbrella. The old farmer startled awake as the truck backfired. "Hey there sonny, would you like some strawberries? Farm fresh, just picked 'um this morning" he said with a wrinkly smile and a weak yawn.
"Has Courage stopped by?" Katz asked, more than a bit confused. The stand was still full of fruit and he knew for a fact that Tom didn't restock during the day. It was still early, barely noon, but he should at least be missing one box of strawberries…
"Courage? Muriel's dog?" Tom asked, scratching his chin as he tried to think. "Nope, haven't seen him at all today." he finally declared.
Frowning, but unable to tell if the man was lying, Katz simply nodded. "…thank you Tom. Have a good day…."
Tom just smiled and waved goodbye, settling back into his chair to resume his nap with a sleepy, "You too sonny."
Katz slid back into the truck with a huff. Where could the dog have gone to? Did he head into town? If he needed something why didn't he just take the truck, it wasn't like the dog didn't know how to drive. Katz tried to think. Tom said he picked the strawberries that morning; Courage might have gotten there too early and gone into town to kill some time. They were almost out of milk. He wouldn't put it past the dog to try and carry an entire gallon back home from the market, on top of the strawberries, by himself…unless the dog took his wagon…? No, it had been on front lawn when he left.
Deciding it would be simpler to just go into town and check, Katz headed out again. Parking a block away from the grocery store, he locked the truck and headed inside. Spotting a somewhat familiar looking employee stacking shelves he quickly headed for the vested man. He was short, with a large nose, a bald head and a slight stoop. "Excuse me, have you seen Courage?"
"Your courage?" the man asked with a confused frown. "I don't know, try the wizard." He added with a dry, soft laugh.
"Not courage, Courage." Katz replied flatly, unamused with the joke, "The small purple dog that comes grocery shopping with me every week..."
"Oh! The scaredy-cat dog!"
Katz repressed a snarl but couldn't keep the twitch out of his eye. The man might be able to tell him where the pup was.
"No, I haven't seen him come in today."
Or not.
"Try the first register, Sue's been there since we opened." The man told him before turning back to the shelves.
Sadly, Sue hadn't seen Courage either.
He tried the pet shop after that, on the off chance that Courage had seen fit to buy himself something, for once. But he hadn't been there either. Nor had he stopped by the post office, the dentist office, the ice cream or candy stores, the dog park or the bakery.
Growing more and more concerned, Katz settled for asking every person he crossed paths with if they'd seen Courage. He never got a positive answer.
Horrible thoughts started filling Katz's mind. What if he'd gotten hurt? Or kidnapped? What if he'd fallen into a ditch or off a mountain or into a taffy making machine? Yes the dog was resilient but how much could one small mutt take?
The red feline suddenly jerked to a halt in the middle of the sidewalk. What if one of the villains had gotten a hold of Courage!? Katz was all too familiar with the underbelly of Nowhere and Courage had very few friends there. Any one of them could have seen the opportunity for revenge! Panic began to swell inside him, making it hard to breath. His vision grew dark around the edges and his fur heckled. He ran for the truck.
Despite nearly getting into a car accident with an annoying teenager in a corvette ("Watch where you're goin', ya foo'!") he managed to make it back to the farm in record time. Slamming the screen door open, any hope that Courage had come back was immediately squashed. Wasting no more time, he rushed into the kitchen, yanked the phone book from off the top of the refrigerator and began frantically dialing numbers.
After three rings, a snobby French accented voice answered "Bonjour?"
"Have you seen Courage?" Katz asked quickly, not wanting to waste any time on pleasantries.
"Courage?" Le Quack asked snootily, "No! I have not seen the pesky dog! Why do you ask, cat?"
"He's missing."
"Ah, and you thought maybe I had him? Non, you are wrong. Perhaps one of the others. Good luck finding your pesky dog, cat. Au revoir!" The duck hung up without waiting for a good-bye.
Disappointed, but satisfied the dog wasn't with Le Quack, Katz dialed the next number.
"Hello?"
"Have you seen Courage?" Katz asked, trying to keep his voice collected.
"Cat, if I'd seen the dang mutt I'd have made Puppy Stew, and since I'm eating Opossum Pie, that's a big no." Cajun Fox replied.
Katz shuddered in disgust and forced himself not to gag. "Thank you anyway. Enjoy your meal." He said quickly, hanging up before the fox could pull him into another horrible family recipe story.
The next call was particularly difficult, and he had to wait for several minutes before Big Toe finally got to the phone. "Hey, who's this, see?"
"Have you seen Courage?" Katz asked, pinching the bridge between his eyes with his paw, two seconds and he could already feel the headache forming.
"No, we ain't seen the dog, see? Ain't seen 'im since he squished our train robbery, and lucky for him or we'd put the squeeze on 'im something hard!"
"Alright, thank you, goodbye." Katz replied, slamming the phone down.
The next call was answered after the first ring.
"Hello?
"Have you seen Courage?"
"No, but I'm sure I'll see him when the raining season starts up again." Black Puddle Queen replied with an evil giggle.
Katz hung up without replying.
There was only one person left that might have Courage. Katz slammed his fist against the wall to make his paw stop trembling before he dialed the number. "Have you seen Courage?" he asked when the phone clicked.
"AUGH RAWW GGRRRWL, OUUUU"
"Ah, I see. Thank you, Waremole. "
"RAWWW GRRRRR"
"Yes, thank you, you as well."
Katz hung up the phone with a heavy sigh, torn between relief that none of Courage's enemies had him and concern over the still missing dog.
…perhaps…perhaps he was looking at it from the wrong angle. Maybe Courage was with friends instead. He could be visiting his sister, or Bigfoot, or the Hunchback…accept Kitty and Bunny were on vacation, Bigfoot was working and the Hunchback was on tour in Europe….
The sun was almost down. It was late.
Katz continued to pace until it was dark, when he finally decided enough was enough. Courage hadn't come back home, he wasn't anywhere in town, none of the usual suspects had taken him.
Swallowing what was left of his pride, he stalked into the police station. "I need to report a missing dog." He told the officer at the front desk. The man was broad, but short, with a large hat and a large moustache. Katz couldn't help but think that he looked familiar.
"He purple?" the officer asked suddenly, looking up from his paperwork and effectively snapping Katz out of his thoughts.
"Yes" Katz replied automatically, surprised at the question. Everyone had asked that question after he'd told them Courage was purple, as though they couldn't believe it.
Ignorant to his confusion, the officer continued asking questions, "Two spots on his back?"
"Yes!"
"Short tail?"
"Yes! Do you know where his is!?" Katz asked, hope and fear welling inside him simultaneously. Maybe the cop had seen him walk by the station? Katz prayed it'd been that and not the result of a crime that led to Courage being delivered for an autopsy.
"Of course!" the cop replied with a grin, "he's in the pound."
Katz didn't think he heard right. "…what?" he asked awkwardly.
"His dog license expired. He's in the pound, right next door." The cop answered, returning to his paperwork, clearly dismissing Katz now that his problem had been solved.
With a quick thank you, Katz rushed to the building next door. A bored looking teenager with thin legs and bushy short hair manned the front desk, filing her nails. Behind her was a single door with small window. Katz could just see the wall of cages. "Pardon me-"
Without looking up, the teenager simply gestured to the door, "Dogs on the left, Cats on the right, everything else on the back wall.
Twitching with anger, but also worried about Courage, Katz ignored the girl's rudeness and headed through the door.
There, in the second cage down, Courage was huddled in a little ball of misery. All the worry that had fogged Katz's mind vanished in an instant. He took a deep breath and it felt like spring. Courage was alright. He was here! "Courage!"
The purple dog jumped in surprise and finally noticed Katz was there. Jumping to feet, he rushed for the door to his cell, paws gripping the wires of the gate. "Katz! You're here" he exclaimed, tail wagging with joy.
Katz moved forward to undo the latch, "Of course I am you silly dog, why wouldn't I be?"
Courage whimpered but latched onto Kat's leg when the feline let him out of the kennel. "When they brought me in earlier I tried to call, but you weren't home…"
Not wanting to let the dog know he's been worried into a panicked frenzy, Katz simply said, "I was looking for you. Tom said you hadn't stopped by the strawberry stand." Detaching the purple pup from his leg, he carried him towards the exit.
"He hadn't set up yet." Courage mumbled, softly adding, "And we were almost out of milk…"
Katz let out a laugh at that, giving the mutt a few pats on the head. "Stupid dog. Let's go renew your license. "
Courage simply nodded, hiding his blush and his smile as he curled into Katz's neck. The red cat had come for him! He'd looked for him! Trying not to giggle from the joy of it, he buried his nose deeper into the feline's fur, smelling flour and whipped cream from the tarts that morning.
He fell asleep to soft pets along his fur. It was time to go home.
End