I never imagined running through town to be such a hard task, but the snow had made the tough pavement cold and slippery. Whenever I wasn't trying to keep my pawpads from splitting in two, I was trying to keep myself from sliding down the street and into the fence. Of course, the fence was so thin and rusted, I was sure it would break with even the slightest push. On the other hand, Toby seemed either completely unaware or completely indifferent to his surroundings. He kept on the path at his own pace, humming a tune, not even bothering to shake off the snowflakes collecting in his hair. I couldn't help but notice his straw hat hanging around his neck, sitting there untouched. The snow could have easily been collecting on that instead of his exposed head, but he didn't seem to want to put forth the effort of placing a hat on his head. Y'know, if he wasn't going to use it, I sure could've. Hey, with a few furnishings, you must admit it'd make a pretty sweet bed.

As I was thinking about the hat, I failed to notice Toby had stopped walking until it was too late. I ran right into the back of his legs and fell down onto my side. Toby looked down at me and gave a surprised look. "Hey, kitty, you followed me!" he said. Congratulations, genius, you figured it out. If I wasn't a cat, I'd clap for you. Toby turned away from me and towards an elderly man near the dock, who was leaning against a boat with a pipe in his hand.

"Where are you going, Pascal?" he asked.

Pascal smoked his pipe thoughtfully. "Oh, Toby, good morning. Just dropping some cargo off at Toucan Island." He patted the boat he was leaning on. "It's been a bit stormy lately, but I think she'll hold up."

The mention of Toucan Island made my ears perk as I remembered Felix, but the remainder of the conversation was nothing important, and I quickly grew bored of it. I yawned and sat down, waiting for them to finish. However, my bored disposition suddenly turned sour when I heard a familiar voice from behind me.

"Well, well. If it isn't Daisy."

I slowly turned my head around, and there it was. As snow was falling all around me, it looked as if the flakes had come together to form a terrible, annoying, ugly, smelly monster. However, I knew for a fact that it was just Raider, the only cat I knew whose voice made me want to off myself. He gave me a crooked grin, showing off his teeth, which matched the color of his coat. (If you ignored the patches of dirt and filth, that is. Or at least tried to ignore it, since it's pretty much impossible to literally ignore it. Did I mention he smelled? Bad?)

He stared at me with beaming blue eyes. "It's been far too long."

Not long enough, I thought. "What the hell do you want, Raider?"

"Oh! So cold! Colder than these chilling autumn nights!" He brought his paw up to his heart in a dramatic fashion. "Colder than the flakes that grace your beautiful whiskers." His grin grew wider.

I huffed at him. "Are you trying to make me barf? Because I think I just might. Even after all this time, I can't believe you're still the same drama queen." I glanced quickly at him. "And you smell like dead fish."

He just laughed at me. "Oh, Daisy, the more you try to push me away, the more I want to pull you in!" He scooted closer and closer to me, and for a second I thought I could feel the disgusting fishy fumes that were protruding off of every hair on his body. "Anyways, you didn't come here to go with Felix, did you?" he asked. "I'd miss you too much!"

I suddenly remembered Felix's plan, and how Pascal said the boat was headed for Toucan Island. "Felix is on that boat, isn't he?" I asked Raider.

Raider looked blankly over to the boat. "Well…I saw him get on it this morning. And since the boat hasn't gone anywhere…" He paused for a bit, as if it was hard to figure out. "Yeah, I guess he is on it." He looked at me with horror on his face. "I know what you're thinking. Don't do it! Toucan Island's so boring! There's nothing but trees and sand. And… sting rays."

"Have you even been to Toucan Island, Raider?"

He stuttered. "Well…I…errrr."

I sighed. "Nevermind. I didn't even come here for Felix, you know."

His face lit back up to his normal, freakishly annoying expression. "Really? Did you come here to see me?"

"No!" I shouted. I was definitely more annoyed at Raider than I should have been, but I didn't care. "I'm here because…" I looked over at Toby, who was still chatting with Pascal.

"Oh, something about Toby?" Raider glanced suspiciously at me. "Is he your owner or something?"

"No way! Owners are for the simple-minded." I looked over again and noticed that Toby was heading for the door, so, without giving Raider a second glance, I sprinted over to him. As he opened the door to let himself in, I sneaked in stealthily between his legs.

"Uncle, I'm here," Toby said, reluctantly leaning his fishing pole against the wall.

"It's about time. I was ready to go looking for you." I looked around, trying to find the source of the voice. A tall man came up to the counter, and I realized it must have been him. He had the same straw hat as Toby (except he actually wore his) and the same perpetually closed eyes. I figured that if these two weren't related, then my name is Pippy the Chihuahua (and thank God it isn't). There was, however, something weird about the shape of his head. Something I just couldn't quite put my paw on…

Then he suddenly looked straight at me. Don't ask me how I knew this. I just knew. He lowered his eyebrows and frowned. "Toby, what's with the cat?" he asked, still looking at me.

Toby jumped a little when he saw me standing beside him. "Huh? What the…how the…?" He looked at his uncle frantically. "I didn't know!"

"Whatever, just get rid of it," he replied, waving me away. I twitched my tail in annoyance of being called 'it', and fought the strong urge to climb onto the counter and claw his eyes open.

Toby looked at me as if he didn't know what to do. After a while, he said "it's okay, Uncle Oz. I'll make sure she doesn't get into anything."

Ozzie sighed heavily. "You better!"

I was half-expecting Toby to tie me up on the spot, but he simply went to work as if I wasn't even there. He knelt down over a large fishing boat that was leaning against the corner of the room, examining it carefully. He began to speak softly while gently stroking the wood with his fingertips. "There's a few cracks in the bottom of it. That must be where the leak sprung." He looked up at Ozzie. "Uncle, I'm going to need some epoxy sealant, aluminum foil, and a hair dryer."

Ozzie stared at his nephew as if he had escaped from the nuthouse, and then suddenly shook his head. "Toby, you were late. I already called Dale's Carpentry to have them fix the boat for us. Maybe you'll remember to arrive to work on time from now on." He turned away to focus on something else, and I could tell he didn't trust his own words.

Toby looked at the boat silently for a moment. I would say he was in shock, except his face did not show any sign of disappointment or anger. I could bet he was off in some far away world, probably full of fish. He stood up slowly and walked but a few feet over to his uncle, who silently pointed to the shelf in front of them. Toby apparently knew what he meant, since he then kneeled down and began pulling out various documents and cans of fish food.

It took me a while to realize that both Toby and Ozzie had their backs turned to me. I could feel a devilish grin form on my face, and I decided now was the perfect time to look around. Unfortunately, at first glimpse, the shop was not very promising. The creaky wooden floor and poorly plastered walls provided no fruit for the eyes and, well, nothing I could scratch. A life ring sat against the wall near the counter and I, finding nothing better to do, tried pawing at its loose strings. It only made my boredom increase, and I wandered into a room off to the side of the shop. That's when I found myself straightening out my legs and standing taller than usual. The room contained 3 beds. Giant, fluffy, warm beds.

…Warm!

I leapt onto the bed closest to me. It lightly bounced under my weight, and I happily moved with it. I sunk my paws into the soft, flannel sheets, then my stomach, then my head…My whole body slowly melted into the fabric. It sure beat lying on razor sharp blades of frosty grass while being pelted by frozen rain. I suddenly wanted to fall asleep and dream the cold away. I never did go completely out, however, and I couldn't help but listen to the rustling of papers and soft footsteps coming from the next room.

Ozzie suddenly shouted. "Oh, woops, I almost forgot. Dale wanted the money for the boat today. I should go pay him before I completely forget. Toby, I need you to cover the register while I'm gone." I heard a loud 'ding!' and the sound of a drawer closing, and then noticed Ozzie leaving the shop with a handful of money. I didn't hear Toby say a thing.

There was a long silence, and I made an attempt to fall asleep. I was on the verge of blacking out when I heard a soft voice. "Kitty?" it said. I lazily lifted my ears. "Kitty, where did you go?" I recognized it as Toby's voice. I heard his footsteps come closer to me, and he peered around the corner of the room. His mouth curled up slightly when he saw me. He mumbled something about it being okay, and something about Pascal's bed, then left the room. After a while, I realized that I couldn't fall asleep. Silently cursing Toby for disturbing me, I dragged myself out of bed. Toby was sitting slumped at the register, his elbow resting upon the counter and his face resting upon his hand. I walked by him, but he didn't turn his head to look at me. Probably in another trance, I thought.

A bell ringed, and I looked over at the door. A young woman was shyly entering the shop, and I couldn't help but eyeball her. Her dress looked as if it was a pile of old rags that had been sewn together and she smelled like she had slept in a horse barn. She brushed back some brown hair that was hanging in her face and stepped up to the counter. She gave a smile at Toby, who hadn't moved from his position. When he said nothing to her, she gave soft "hello". Toby's head looked up at her slowly, and he moved his hand back down from his face. "Oh, hi R-" He stopped and gave a silent yawn. "Hi, Renee."

My God, he had been sleeping.

"I'm here to buy a fishing pole," said Renee, smiling shyly.

"I didn't know you fished," Toby said. He stood up and went over to stash of fishing poles that were kept under the counter. At that moment, I suddenly felt sharp pangs in my stomach. Man, I'm hungry. It wasn't long before I caught a whiff of something fishy, and I followed my nose to the source.

"Well," said Renee, "I'm not really very good at it. Just a side hobby, I suppose."

"You haven't really fished that much, right? Maybe you should start with a beginner's rod…" I heard the sound of something hit the counter. I didn't bother to turn around and see what it was, since I knew I was coming close to something delicious.

"Oh. They aren't too expensive, I hope."

"Nah, not the beginner rods. They're pretty cheaply made compared to the other ones. Still work great, though, so nothing to worry about."

I came across a giant tub made of various blue tiles. I stood up on my hind legs and stretched out as far as I could, and I managed to see over the top. Eureka! I thought, grinning happily. It was full of water, and various types of fish were swimming around inside of it. I spotted a tasty-looking blue fish near the edge, and I stuck my paw in to try and get it.

"Oh, Toby, where are the best places to fish around here? I tried the ocean, but didn't catch many fish at all…"

The blue fish moved away from the side at the sight of my paw. Angrily, I splashed my arm around the water in hopes of catching something, anything.

"Well, my favorite place to go is Caramel Falls, but any place has…" He suddenly stopped talking. There was a temporary silence, save the sound of my splashing. I had my back turned to both of them, but I knew exactly where their eyes were.

"Kitty, no!" cried Toby. "Don't kill the fish!" He started to run over to me when I suddenly spotted a giant fish in the tub. The fish appeared to be after my paw, and he swam furiously towards it. When he was inches away from it, I became terrified that he would engulf my paw, and jumped back as quickly as I could. Unfortunately, the path behind me was not clear. I crashed right into Toby, who was unpleasantly surprised. Startled, he also took a jump back and struggled to keep on his feet. He ultimately lost and fell onto the side of the shelf in the back of the room. Said shelf was, unfortunately, a lot lighter than it looked, and it began to tumble down. It landed with a loud crash, right onto the cracked fishing boat in the corner.

Renee watched it all with a terrified look on her face. "Oh, my goodness! Are you alright, Toby?"

It just so happened that Ozzie picked this exact moment to return to the shop. He didn't get past the doorway before he froze. He looked at the fallen shelf and the crushed fishing boat with mouth agape. Then he saw Toby at the foot of the shelf, and me lying belly-up in his lap. His mouth closed, and he began to form a scowl on his face. He slowly lifted up a shaking finger and pointed it directly at me. "O…out," he said softly. "Out!"

It didn't take me long to realize the smart thing to do. I leapt off of Toby and high-tailed it for the door. Ozzie quickly closed it as soon as he was sure I was outside. I looked back at the shop with a look of disappointment, realizing I blew my best chance at getting warmth and shelter from the snow, which was now falling harder. My first thought was to head for the boat to Toucan Island, but I turned around to see that it had already left. Instead, I saw Raider sitting there. He was biting his lip, looking as if he was about to crack up.

"Awwww shut up, Raider!" I growled, and stomped away from the docks.

For whatever reason, that night under Ben's Tree seemed a lot colder than usual. Must be the snow, I thought. Must be the snow.