It was another beautiful morning in Muncie, Indiana. Garfield wandered into the kitchen.
"Good morning, Garfield," said Jon cheerily, "Here's your breakfast!" He proudly lifted a wheelbarrow full of lasagna onto the table.
"Great!" said Garfield, drooling at the thought of such an ample breakfast. He scooped up a pawful and tossed it towards his open mouth. Just before the lasagna reached his tongue, a shrill ringing noise came from nowhere. Then everything went dark.

Garfield reached out in front of him. He felt his blanket. He lifted it away from his face.
"Just my luck," Garfield thought to himself, "The one time Jon learns his place, it turns out to be a dream." He looked over to his right. There lay his alarm clock.
He picked up the alarm clock and threw it across the room, frustrated at it for ruining his dream. It sailed through the doorway to the kitchen.
"OW!" came a voice from the kitchen.
Jon walked into the living room. "GARFIELD!" he screamed.

Garfield began, "Jon, listen. I know you're mad right now but let's not get unreasonable abou-"
"NO, GARFIELD," Jon interjected, "You've gone too far this time. If you won't respect alarm clocks, I'm going to have to wake you up myself."
Garfield gulped. He knew he couldn't hit Jon over the head to get an extra ten minutes of sleep.
"But, Jon-"
"NO BUTS, GARFIELD."
Garfield was incensed. "WELL, HOW DO YOU LIKE THIS ONE?!" Garfield turned around and shook his rear end at Jon.
"THAT'S IT. NO LASAGNA FOR A WEEK!" Jon threatened.
"You know I can get more!" Garfield retorted.
"Garfield... You are grounded," Jon told him, "You will NOT get more lasagna, and furthermore, you will NOT tag along on my date tonight."

Garfield's ears perked up. "Date?" He rubbed his paws together at the thought of getting even with Jon. If he couldn't have lasagna, Jon certainly couldn't have a girlfriend.
Jon raised an eyebrow in suspicion. "I know what you're planning," he said, "And I won't have it." Jon picked Garfield up.
Garfield, though he valiantly struggled and clawed at his owner, ultimately was no match for an angry man with long pants.

Jon threw Garfield into the bathroom.
"You're going to stay right here," said Jon, pointing a finger at his cat threateningly.
Then, he slammed the door. Garfield heard a heavy object dragging on the carpet outside the door.
Garfield tried to open the door. He turned the handle and pushed as hard as he could, but the door wouldn't budge. Jon had obviously dragged his closet in front of the door.
Garfield tried the window; it was above the toilet, so he knew he's have to do some acrobatics. He hopped up first onto the toilet seat, then to the top of the toilet, then he jumped up and grabbed the windowsill. He pulled himself up far enough to lean his stomach against the windowsill, then reached up to the window and tugged the slide lever. The window was unlocked. He slid the window open and tried to climb out. He was too fat.

Resigned, he climbed down and waited.


Eventually, he heard the closet being moved away from the door. Jon opened the door.
"You can come out now," said Jon, strangely happy for someone who just had an argument with his cat.

Garfield ran out of the bathroom and straight to the front door.
The pet door was boarded up.
He tried the doorknob.
It would not budge.
He tried to ram the door down, but this too was to no avail.

He decided to try the window. He grabbed onto the windowsill only to find the window was not only locked, but steel bars were in place on the sill.
He ran to the back door. Locked. The pet door was also boarded up.
He ran around the house searching for an exit. Every window was barred and locked.

Garfield sighed. He walked over to the kitchen, hoping he could get a bite to eat. Every cupboard was triple-padlocked. The fridge had six padlocks, two combination locks and a chain on it.

Garfield fell to his knees, looked up at the heavens and let out a huge "NO!"


Garfield and Odie sat on the easy chair in the living room. Odie was gnawing on a bone. Jon came out of his bedroom wearing one of his trademark bad suits.

"How do I look, Odie?" Jon asked the dog as he adjusted his polka-dot bowtie.
"Arf!" replied Odie.
"Hey Jon," said Garfield, "Who's the unlucky girl tonight? Louis-Anne, the incredible gorilla-headed woman?"
"Ha, ha, Garfield," said Jon, "I've got a date with a woman named Langwidere."

Garfield and Odie broke into uncontrollable laughter. Once the laughter stopped, Garfield took the opportunity to say, "That name is ridiculous."
"Laugh all you want, boys," said Jon, "But this lady may very well turn out to be my future wife. Do you want me to turn on the TV?"
Garfield nodded.
Jon pulled the remote from his pocket and turned on the TV.
"...Welcome back to the Lassie Channel," said the man on TV, "Coming up next, a marathon of all 591 episodes of the Lassie TV series..."
Garfield screamed.

"I asked, you said yes," Jon said, with an evil grin on his face. He disappeared into the bathroom and closed the door.
Garfield and Odie pressed their ears to the door. Garfield held a finger to his mouth in a shushing motion.
"Stupid window," came Jon's voice from inside the bathroom. After that came some cursing, followed by the window sliding open and a faint thud.

Garfield and Odie walked over to the front window. Outside, Jon limped over to his car and drove off, narrowly missing an old lady as he pulled out of the driveway.


Garfield sat in the easy chair in front of the TV, utterly depressed from the show he was watching. Odie sat right in front of the TV, very excited to see the show.

"...Coming up next, a marathon of the 11 Lassie movies..." said the man on TV.
Just then, Jon's car pulled into the driveway. He got out and so did a woman, supposedly his date. Jon reached into his pocket and grabbed his house key. After struggling for a few moments, the door swung open. Jon walked in with his date. She was wearing a horrific yellow dress with polka dots, high heels with the heels snapped off, and each of her nails was painted a different colour.
Garfield screamed and covered his eyes before hiding under the chair cushion.

Odie, who was panting at Jon, noticed the woman and began growling.
"Odie, it's alright, she's with me," Jon reassured.
Odie went back to panting.

"This is my date, Langwidere," said Jon, introducing her to his pets. "Langwidere, this is my dog, Odie and my cat, Garfield."
Langwidere crouched in front of Garfield. "You can come out, Garfield," she said, in a voice that was neither friendly nor hostile.
Garfield crawled out fron under the cushion, taking care to look away from Langwidere's dress.

One awkward conversation later, Jon and Langwidere shared a kiss and they returned to Jon's car.


Jon, back from dropping Langwidere of at her house, burst in the door.

"Good news, boys!" Jon annonced, "I've got another date with Langwidere same time next week!"
Garfield and Odie glanced at each other.
"Brace yourself," Garfield whispered.
"Ruff," Odie whispered back.