CATTANOOGA CATS

Chapter One

"Get What At the Where Man?"

Night had fallen, and the Cattanooga Cats had begun their journey. It was cold and gloomy, and looked like it might rain. The cats had rain equipment, and Kitty Jo and Groove had brought umbrellas, but none of them had put these on yet. It wasn't quite cold enough.

Kitty Jo sat in the back with a blanket pulled over herself. Beside her, Groove played one of his drums. She shut her eyes and listened to the music. "A little quieter, please," she begged. "Ah think ah'd like to sleep part of the way."

Groove switched to a different song. Kitty Jo yawned, stretched, and tried to fall asleep. She was just starting to doze off, when Scoots said, "Hey, there's a place we can grab some stuff to eat on the way!"

"Like, my stomach is always grooving for some cooking!" Groove said.

"Okay, but let's not take a long time here," Country said, pulling into a parking spot. "I got a lot of driving to do!"

"Ah'll cover for you when you get tired," Kitty Jo offered, stepping out of the car and stretching, apparently not noticing the two human males in a pickup truck nearby. She followed the others into the store.

The place was like a 7-Eleven, only somewhat more rundown. "Ice cream bars?" Scoots suggested to Groove.

"You name it, I'll eat it!" Groove said.

On the way, they passed a collection of comic books. "Wonder if what's his name is still fighting what's his face," Groove said, digging through the comics.

"Pick out something interesting while I get the ice cream bars," Scoots said, passing him.

"Let's see now," Groove said, digging out a comic. "Oo! Flash has what happen to him today?!"

"This looks charming here," Kitty Jo said, picking out something that Country felt would be useless to them. "And this looks good!"

"Um...don't clean out the store, Kitty Jo!" Country told her.

"Do you really think that place will be a good place to perform?" she asked him. "Some of the places we've played in before were pretty darned weird!"

"I'm sure it'll be fine," he told her. "And anyway we'll get to relax and maybe have some fun on the ice rink outside." He grinned at her. "You can wear your new bikini!"

"Ah'm not jumping in snow and ice in a bikini!" Kitty Jo told him. "Ah'd freeze mah tookis off!"

"I'll bet you'd still look pretty cute without a tookis!" Country told her.

"Let's see..." Scoots said. "Vanilla...strawberry...chocolate...Hey, I'll bet that would make a good song! What brand of flavors do you...no, what brand of flavors do I? I should talk this over with Country!" He looked around the store. "Speaking of which, where is he? And Kitty Jo? We're gonna be here all night if they don't quit fooling around!"

Meanwhile, Groove had collected several comics. "Can't leave without finding out what happens to ol' Flash-a-roo!" he said. "And who can miss what the Hulk's into these days! And what's this..." He reached through the top rank, which was over his head, and pulled out a weird old comic with monsters on it. "Well, hello there, Mister and Miss Creatures from the Haunted Lagoon!" he said. "Never seen you before, but you sure do look interesting!" He proceeded to read the weird monster comic. "Well, goodbye color! Wonder why you're all in black and white there, hon?"

"Hey, Groove," Country called to him. "You getting stuff to take along, or just hoping Scoots brings you what you like?"

"Scoots knows what I like by now," Groove told him. "Hey, did you see what's been going on in Flash?"

"Are you taking those with you?" Kitty Jo asked him.

"You're right, I should grab Avengers!" Groove said.

"Hey, you guys gonna be all day?" Scoots suddenly called.

"We're ready to go if you two are," Kitty Jo told him.

"Dang!" Scoots said, suddenly rushing off. "Forgot my ice cream bar!" He suddenly hurried back. "Hey, Groove! Chocolate, strawberry, or vanilla?"

"Any is good for my tummy" Groove said. "But we'd better hurry if we want to get going! We still got a long road to travel!"

A few minutes later, the Cattanooga Cats were finally out the door and reentering their bus. As they took off, they didn't notice the pickup truck light and suddenly begin to follow them.