Chapter 2- a warning to Nigel
Back in Susan and Lucy's cottage, Susan and Lucy were preparing to leave, having gathered all their equipment they would need for the job ahead. Dash, Ginger, Catina and Veggie and their puppies and grown-up kittens had all regrouped after having the big talk about cat and dog reproductive behaviour. As the group watched their two owners continue to get ready for work, Susan's eyes were captured by their presence.
"Hey, Lucy," she said, "When are we going to consider the sale of our greyhounds and cats' offspring to other people? They're just about ready to be sold on."
"Shall we discuss that when we get back?" asked Lucy, "We've a very busy day today…"
Suddenly, a musical tune emitted from something in Susan's pocket. At this, Susan reached into the pocket and took out her mobile phone. As she pressed the 'Answer' button and began to speak to the caller, Dash said, "That's got to be Tulio I believe. Now that the flock of glaucous macaws had been discovered and are now under strict protection on the Sanctuary, Tulio might be asking for certain ornithologists to go out and study those macaws."
"For a species of macaw believed to be extinct in the wild for decades," said Ginger, "I'm not surprised."
"I would love to visit the Amazon to see the various species of macaws and other animals," murmured Avellana dreamily, knowing that this ambition would be impossible to be fulfilled, "But the Amazon is just too dangerous for us domestic cats and dogs."
"I'm afraid it is, daughter, dear," said Ginger sadly, "There are all sorts of dangerous predators that lurk around every corner in the Amazon bush. Jaguars, snakes that can swallow prey the size of us whole, and amphibians that secrete highly toxic chemicals onto their slim as a defence against predators…"
Avellana shuddered. She clearly didn't enjoy the image of herself being strangled by a snake and then swallowed whole. But despite the disappointment, she was glad that she was unable to go into the Amazon rainforest anyway. However, Avellana had other aspirations. She wanted to start a class for the city's kittens and puppies and become a teacher when she was sold to another owner or owners much like how one of her brothers James wanted to open a music club exclusively for cats and dogs. Ginger smiled at her five offspring.
"You know something, sweetie," she said to Dash, "I think our puppies will make excellent pets when they get new owners."
"Yeah, I know," said Dash with a loving lean onto Ginger's head, "We're gonna miss them."
Ginger smiled and nuzzled against Dash's shoulder. Then Veggie said, "Well, I think we're going to go out for a walk. I could do with some fresh air and some lone time with my lovely sweet Catina if she would like to come."
"Oh, I would love to," said Catina. She then shot a glance at Lucy and Susan who talked on the mobile phone. Based on the voice picked up by Dash and Ginger's quite keen hearing, it was Tulio.
"I don't think either Susan or Lucy have any plans to take Dash or Ginger out for a walk this morning," she said. Then Catina turned to the two greyhounds. "Would you mind babysitting our grown-up kittens while we go out for a short walk?"
"Oh, sure," said Dash with an obliged smile, "We're always ready to babysit your kittens anytime."
"Yeah but as much as we like to babysit your puppies when you two want some lone time together," said Catina, "We sometimes find it difficult to handle your pups' energetic and occasionally reckless behaviour. We narrowly saved a vase from smashing onto the floor when Danny accidentally knocked it over by playing around with a small ball."
And with that, he shot Danny a frown, making Danny cringe and back away against Dash's side. He clearly remembered barging past a highly expensive vase placed on the hearth of the unreal fireplace while chasing after the ball, knocking it over and forcing Veggie and Catina to leap in and save the ornament from shattering onto the floor in time. After this, Veggie had scolded Danny more fiercely than he had intended, making Danny dive behind the sofa and not emerge until Dash and Ginger returned. This incident had happened when Dash and Ginger had gone out to spend some time together and when Susan and Lucy were at work, and Veggie and Catina were left to watch over the five puppies besides their four kittens. However, greyhound puppies were at times not easy to keep under control, especially for cats. Though Veggie and Catina liked to babysit Dash and Ginger's puppies, the two often found it difficult to discipline the highly energetic puppies, made more difficult with their four kittens to care for as well. Dash and Ginger were better able at handling their puppies than Veggie and Catina and since that near vase-shattering incident; Veggie had told Dash and Ginger that he and Catina will only babysit their puppies only when Susan and Lucy were at home to prevent any more accidents, therefore the two cats would have extra support and eyes to watch over the five puppies and the four kittens at the same time. Since then, the chances of an accident happening such as an ornament getting broken had been vastly reduced. While Veggie and Catina prepared to leave, Susan came into the room.
"I've just had a call from Tulio," she told Lucy, "He's going to organise a team, with himself as the leader that will go out into the Amazon and study the glaucous macaws in a few days' time. Jobs will include estimating the number of macaws in the population and the number of chicks, and studying their behaviour…"
The cats and greyhounds looked at each other as Lucy replied.
"Sounds like our mistresses have plenty of hard work out in the Amazon Sanctuary," said James.
"Yeah, some members will be checking the health of the macaws while some will be counting the individuals," said Broccoli.
"Haven't the number of glaucous macaws in that flock been estimated yet?" asked Daisy.
"That's why Tulio and the team of selected ornithologists are going to go out into the Sanctuary de Amazon, you two," said Ginger, "So it seems like the size of the glaucous macaw populations has not yet been estimated."
"Well, as soon as it is," said Dash, "It will give the ornithologists and conservationists a better idea of the flock's gene diversity as well as the population's reproductive fitness."
"Reproductive…?" asked Ginger confused.
"If a population is too small," explained Avellana, "The offspring of the individuals of that population are more prone to being less able to survive and reproduce to produce fit offspring due to a low diversity of genes in the population's gene pool. if the population of large, the chances of most of the offspring being unfit with the low chance of surviving and reproducing is reduced."
Dash smiled. "You certainly have had your nose in that ecology book, Avellana."
"She's almost the canine version of Blu, Bia and Ganymede," said Veggie. He then shot a glance at the door and the flap on the bottom of the door. The flap was large enough for Dash and Ginger to exit as well as for Veggie and his family, and the puppies. "Anyway, we're off. I'm itching to get some fresh air in my lungs and my leg muscles some exercise."
"Well, let's go," said Catina. Then before she and Veggie left for the flap, Catina turned to Thomas, Collette, Daisy and Broccoli and said, "Now you four be good and respect your greyhound babysitters until we get back. Understand?"
Broccoli, Daisy, Collette and Thomas all nodded while Avellana, Eduarda, Esperanza, James and Danny said goodbye to Catina and Veggie. With a smile of satisfaction that her grown-up kittens would behave, Catina turned and followed Veggie towards the flap.
"We'll be back in around half an hour," said Veggie as he put his front paws through the flap, "Make sure you look after our four grown-up kittens, won't you?"
"We will," said Dash.
"Have a nice and safe walk," said Ginger. Then within moments and two flap noises of the door flap, Veggie and Catina were gone. Dash sighed and looked over the nine young cats and dogs. "Well, while those two are away, we're going to have to think of things to do."
"Yep," said Ginger. Just then, Susan walked by to pet the greyhounds and the cats. Dash, Ginger, Avellana, Esperanza, James, Danny and Eduarda all barked excitedly and began to wag their tails. Broccoli, Thomas, Daisy and Collette also mewed and began to try and fuss against Susan's legs. While Susan began to say goodbye to the pets, Lucy checked the cat and dog beds and food and water bowls, as well as the tray where the cats and dogs would go to toilet when needed to see if they wanted changing. Satisfied that they don't require changing yet, Lucy left to say goodbye to the cats and dogs as well. The group of greyhounds and cats then moved from Susan to Lucy who then began to pet them as they either wagged their tails or fussed against her legs.
"Now you lot be good, my cats and greyhounds," said Lucy as she fussed Dash's head with her hands, "We'll be back in the afternoon. We've got a busy day today besides being prepared to be selected by our boss Tulio to go out into the Amazon to study the glaucous macaws but in the meantime, we have the usual jobs to do at Tulio's Aviary…"
Dash and company understood what Lucy meant. The main duties at Tulio's Aviary included treating injured birds and nursing them back to health, and checking the habitat of the Blu Bird Sanctuary. Then as soon as she had finished petting and fussing the other dogs and cats, Lucy stood up and left, Susan close behind. As they got their coats and out them on, Susan took one last look at the cats and dogs as the group sat and watched them leave.
"Bye, Dash, Ginger, the rest of you," said Susan, "We'll be back in the afternoon."
And with that, she opened the door and walked through it. Lucy followed and soon, the door was closed, a click of the lock heard as Lucy locked the door.
"Well, I hope they have a good day," said Dash. Then Ginger clapped her front paws to get the five puppies and four young adult cats' attention.
"Right, what do you guys want to do for the day?" she asked with a smile. Eduarda, Esperanza, Avellana, James, Danny and Broccoli, Thomas, Collette and Daisy all looked at her and smiled as they began to think of the activities.
A while later, while Susan and Lucy were walking to work and the usual activities of the city streets and roads were flowing, somewhere in one street, a bedraggled looking bird was looking for something to eat. The bird had white feathers with grey strewn through them, tattered wings, a green and yellow vest around its torso and red bags under its eyes. Its eyes were brown and it had a tattered pale yellow crest on its head. This bird was the same species as Travis but much older, and tis brown eyes were full of hunger. However, those eyes were not fixated on fruit on a fruit stand, but slabs of meat in the window of a butcher's shop. As the brown eyes of the cockatoo bore into the tasty pieces of pork, chicken and beef on display in the front window, drool dripped disgustingly from its beak and the tongue painted saliva around the mouth as the cockatoo licked with its tongue hungrily. Its stomach was growling and it was famished.
"Hmmmm," crooned the sickly cockatoo as his eyes burned with hunger, mesmerised by the tasty slabs of meat, "If only I could enter that shop and snatch a piece of meat, I'd be able to shut my stomach up…"
Surprisingly, passers-by did not notice the cockatoo named Nigel's presence and just continued walking on. Then Nigel began to formulate a plan on pinching a piece of meat from the butcher. The sickly cockatoo's eyes then travelled to the entrance of the shop. The door was open, much to his gladness. With an evil grin, Nigel began to prepare to enter the shop and steal a piece of meat and crept towards the door, where he backed against the wall and looked in. Making sure that no-one was looking and that the busy butcher and the shop assistants, and the browsing customers had their backs turned, Nigel made his move and tiptoed into the shop. A few minutes had passed after Nigel had entered the butchers but what happened next startled everyone. Cries and yelps of surprise and shock, along with angry shouts, erupted from within the building and within moments, a white, green and yellow blur dashed out from the entrance of the shop like a dog, a large chicken drumstick in its beak. The butcher came rushing out with a cleaver in his hand in pursuit of the cockatoo, shouting and swearing in Brazilian Portuguese as he chased Nigel out of his shop. Passers-by looked on in surprise as they watched the shop owner pursue the white, green and yellow blur for a few seconds before finally giving up and stopping. Nigel, with a triumphant grin on his face, continued running, his beak clamped on the bone of the super large chicken leg. As he continued running with his legs beating like pistons, some of the pedestrians, upon seeing the bird, jumped or leapt out of the way. Nigel kept on running and running until he finally came to an alleyway. He turned the corner and rushed into the relatively deserted and messy area. As soon as he felt that he was safe and well hidden from the pedestrians outside, Nigel slowed to a stop, puffing and panting from all that running. Then as soon as he had got his breath back, Nigel sank his beak greedily into the chicken drumstick and tore off a piece of the meat. Then he chowed down the piece like a gannet, his eyes burning with pleasure from the taste of the meat. After swallowing the piece, Nigel began to murmur and lament. His mind began to bubble with thoughts about something else.
"If only that frog Gabi hadn't made a fool out of me in front of those blue birds of my misery, particularly Blu," he growled, tearing another huge piece of meat from his stolen chicken leg like an eagle would its prey, "I would have got my revenge on that filthy blue macaw for reducing me to this tattered mess, and making my life miserable."
Then the most disgusting and gory things began to spill out of Nigel's beak as he began to wish what sort of method he could execute on Blu and Jewel as he continued greedily eating, as well as continue to take his rage out on all exotic birds. However, these sickening words were not going to go unheard of by two certain feline friends of Blu and company. Not too far away, at the entrance of the alleyway where Nigel was, a female calico and a male tabby strolled along, talking.
"Have you ever thought about having a second brood of kittens now that our first brood had grown up?" asked the tabby cat, Veggie.
"I did think about it but I'm still quite uncertain," said Catina, the calico, "You see, we cats are, after all, the natural enemies of birds including macaws…"
"True," said Veggie in agreement.
"…And even though you're vegetarian and the bird meat I generally eat is chicken," said Catina, "Any future kitten that we have may still be dangerous to birds, and that is not a very good idea to have our new kittens around Jupiter and his group should they ever decide to come back here to visit us…"
Veggie replied with an agreeing look. It was true. The majority of cats would often catch and eat birds, for it was in their instinct to do so. Cats that are bird friendly were very, very few and far between and though Catina and Veggie were glad that macaws or any other exotic birds did not appeal as a meal to any of their kittens, with Broccoli and Daisy being vegetarian and Thomas and Collette preferring chicken and cat food like how Catina does, the possibility of any future kittens Veggie and Catina had being a danger to the macaws and other birds including Travis and his family remained, and that was something Veggie wanted to avoid, for the macaws were his friends despite the natural predator-prey relationship cats and most birds had.
"It's a pretty tough decision, I must admit," continued Catina, "But at the end of the day, it is up to our owners Susan and Lucy to continue breeding us or have us sterilised."
"That would be a good idea," said Veggie, "It would eliminate the risk to any future pet bird Susan and Lucy might have, as well as to our current feathered friends."
"But if they do decide to continue breeding us, Veggie, they might give Travis, Sunset, Eustace, Rosa and Milo to another owner who does not have cats. Therefore, it will protect that cockatoo family from the risk of kittens attacking them."
"Yeah, absolutely, Catina. The last thing I want is any of my offspring attacking any of our feathered friends. But the sterilising idea seems more appealing to me but like you've said, it's our owners' decision by the end of the day."
Catina nodded in agreement. Then the feline couple continued walking on but before they could completely pass the entrance to the alleyway, Catina's sensitive ears picked up some odd sounds. At this, she stopped much to Veggie's surprise.
"What is it?" asked the tabby in confusion. Catina's paw shot up in a 'Shush!' gesture. Then Veggie stopped and listened. The sounds were the sounds of groaning and complaining, like that of someone having a bad day and moaning about the mishaps and the irritations that had happened on it. Then Catina's facial expression changed. Her blue eyes transformed from puzzled to suspicious as the calico recognised those complaining sounds. Then Catina began to pace into the alleyway to trace the sounds' source. Veggie followed.
"Catina?" he asked. Catina did not reply and continued scanning the alleyway with her suspicious eyes.
"I hope it's not who I think it is," she growled softly to Veggie. Veggie stopped with a perplexed look on his face.
"Who?" he asked. Catina just gave him a look and continued scanning the alley for the source of the sounds. Confused, Veggie followed. The two cats continued scanning the surroundings until finally, Catina's blue eyes landed on the source. The moment they did, suspicion transformed to anger and disgust. Veggie came in. "What is… ugh!"
The moment his eyes landed on the source of the sounds, which was a tatty white feathered form in a green and yellow outfit, Veggie flinched in surprise. Meanwhile, Nigel continued muttering and complaining about Blu and Jewel and how they had reduced him to becoming flightless while continuing to eat his chicken drumstick, unaware that he had two cats gazing at him nearby.
"Those two blue macaws are gonna pay DEARLY for what they have done to me," the cockatoo snarled, "For making me a laughingstock in front of everyone and destroying my ability to fly…" he looked despairingly and angrily at his tattered wing flight feathers, "…this is all because of Blu. This was his doing. He's gonna pay for what he did to me!"
Nigel then retracted his wing and continued moaning. "And it seems that he and his disgusting pretty bird Jewel have started a family too, based on my observations of those three teeny blue baby macaws…" Nigel's beak then widened into a wicked grin, "… That's it! I think I might have the perfect idea for my revenge plan. I'm gonna make Blu feel extreme loss… feel the excruciating pain I have felt because of him… I think targeting his family is an excellent idea…"
Nigel then began to allow evil titters to escape his throat as he relinquished his possible plan for revenge. However, those titters were cut short and the grin instantly vanished when Nigel turned and found himself face to face with a cat paw, its claws exposed, hovering above his head.
"Stay where you are, Nigel!" snarled the paw's owner, a white face with black and ginger blotches painted all over it, and blue eyes burning with anger. At this, Nigel, his crest raised glared back at the face, which belonged to Catina, in shock. Behind Catina, Veggie watched, his face flooded in revulsion. Veggie had never seen a sulfur-crested cockatoo as disgusting as this one, and the sight of Nigel's grotesque eye bags and his eating of a chicken drumstick made him flinch and his stomach turn slightly. When Nigel registered who the cat was, his shock became slowly replaced by sneer.
"Well if it ain't Catina the calico," he crooned, taking a bite out of his drumstick, "How are you doin' since we haven't seen each other after all this time. Still catching and torturin' those disgusting pretty birds with your leader Brutus, I hope?"
However, the angry expression never left Catina's face and her paw continued hovering near Nigel's face, threatening to come down and scratch him. Veggie continued looking on as recognition of the infamous exotic bird hating cockatoo slowly crept into him.
"So THAT'S Nigel," he whispered. However, under the surprise, Veggie did not like the cockatoo one bit. After hearing what Nigel had done to countless birds, including breaking Jewel's wing and traumatising Venus and Mercury when they were chicks, the urge to walk away was bubbling within the tabby cat. He wanted to tell Catina that but was hesitant, based on how angry she looked. Catina was practically furious. Her fur was puffed out and her back was arched, typical of an angry or threatened cat. Veggie, however, was not surprised to see his mate this angry, especially after hearing Nigel mention Catina's former life as a smuggler's cat. Catina then let a small hiss escape through her teeth at Nigel's mentioning of her former life.
"I've left that rotten business of catching and smuggling helpless birds, actually," hissed the calico fiercely. At this, Nigel's wickedly hopeful look snapped to one of surprise.
"You WHAT!?" he retorted.
"You heard me," snapped Catina, her paw kept close to Nigel's face, "I've given up that rotten life as a smuggler's cat for a better life."
This was met by an angry and disgusted glare from the sickly cockatoo. His crest rose and he shoved his beak right into Catina's face.
"Don't tell me you've become friends with those rotten, filthy brightly coloured feathered balls of slime, HAVE YOU!?" screeched Nigel, spittle flying into Catina's face. Veggie flinched at the cockatoo's temper but then he began to feel the urge to defend his mate creep in. Catina, however, stood her ground despite the unpleasant saliva flying from Nigel's beak into her face.
"Don't you DARE call those exotic birds rotten, filthy brightly coloured feathered balls of slime," she retorted loudly. Nigel flinched in shock before his anger returned.
"What has happened to you lately, calico?" he snapped, "Have you gone soft in the head or something!? You don't realise what misery one of them brightly coloured pigeons have caused me. Two of them in fact. First, a tacky green parakeet comes along and displaces me from my world of fame as a show bird and then this blue macaw reduces me to a tatty mess…"
"You were a show bird!?" blurted out Veggie in shock but then he immediately regretted for speaking to the infamous cockatoo. Veggie shrank behind Catina before Nigel could shoot him a glare, not wanting to be in the disgusting cockatoo's gaze.
"Well, that's just unfortunate that you lost your career as a show bird," snapped Catina angrily, "But that's NOT an excuse to abuse, torture and torment macaws, toucans and other exotic birds."
"But those exotic birds DESERVE to suffer," snapped Nigel who was boiling with fury this time, "And now, they deserve to SUFFER MORE THAN EVER, ESPECIALLY THAT BLUE MACAW WHO REDUCED YOU TO THIS TATTERED, and FLIGHTLESS MESS!"
"Well, it SERVES YOU RIGHT!" retorted Catina at the top of her voice, anger reaching boiling point, "And I hope…"
"DON'T you DARE SPEAK TO ME LIKE THAT!" snarled Nigel, "I'LL GET MY REVENGE ON THOSE DISGUSTING EXOTIC BIRDS ESPECIALLY THAT BLUE MACAW IF IT'S THE LAST THING I DO!"
He then calmed down a little and said, "But as for you, calico, for forsaking your career as a smuggler's cat and abandoning your leader Brutus, you're gonna pay DEARLY for that!"
Veggie, at this, instinctively jumped in and prepared to attack Nigel.
"You DARE attack my mate, you sickly bundle of feathers with a crest," he snarled, fur puffed out and body poised to pounce onto Nigel, "I'll rip ya feathers out!"
Nigel, however, ignored Veggie and prepared to attack Catina.
"I want you to do yourself a favour, Nigel," said the calico in a calmer voice.
"Oh yeah, and what's that?" asked Nigel.
"I want you to stay away from ALL exotic birds, including Blu and his family. You are NEVER, EVER to approach ANY of them."
Nigel, at this, let loose a scoffing laugh from his throat before allowing his anger to return and boil out of control.
"You sure have gone soft in the head, haven't YOU CALICO!" and with that, the cockatoo crouched to jump up and claw Catina across the face but Catina moved first. She swiped her raised paw across Nigel's face and knocked him down. Nigel was sent crashing into a spilt bin bag of decaying fruit. Veggie then rushed off to grab a cardboard box while Catina landed another paw swipe on Nigel's face to prevent him from getting up.
"You know, maybe I should break your wings or something," she snarled, landing a third swipe across Nigel's face to emphasize her message, "But it's never been in my nature to injure birds like that…"
Nigel tried to get up but Catina landed a fourth swipe across his face, knocking him back down and plunging his face into the decaying fruit pile. Veggie then rushed in with a cardboard box and gave it to Catina. Then as Nigel tried to get up, Catina jumped in and shoved the cardboard box over Nigel's head. The force was so great that it knocked Nigel over again.
"And if you EVER come ANYWHERE NEAR ANY exotic bird, especially Blu and his family," snarled Catina as she prepared to leave with Veggie, "You're in DEEP WATER!"
"Yes, definitely," put in Veggie fiercely as he followed Catina. Then the two cats quickly trotted out of the alley, leaving the dazed Nigel to struggle in the pile of rotting fruit, the cardboard box shoved over his head and stuck half way down his torso making it more difficult to get out of the pile.