Disclaimer: You didn't have to wait too long, did you? This chapter is in a different style than the others; it's a look back on Eduardo's day so far. For those of you who need an update or a reminder on what's been happening. This kind of reminds me of my thoughts when I was in the fight with my friend, only I'm playing the opposite sex. Anyway, Read on! I guess that's become my catch phrase…. Oh well. Read on!
Part 9: The Memory
Eduardo stared out the window, trying to find something interesting to watch on the streets of New York. Nope, nothing out of the normal here. At least the streets were normal, nothing else was. They'd been all over town, chasing these stupid cats. He'd seen so many that day that he could cough up a hairball! In fact, he actually could if he decided to give in to his inner compulsions.
That day, Eduardo had seen gray tabbies, white Persians, gold Siamese, black, blue, red, yellow; you name it, he saw it. In fact, he'd seen a new breed being formed even as he thought. It was in the ECTO1 with him. In fact, it was him. For some reason, he'd been slowly transforming into a cat-like person; claws, teeth, ears, fur, eyes, tail; you name it, he had it. Well, maybe not all of it…yet. He could still feel that something wasn't right.
He finally grew uncomfortable and sat forward in his seat. The benches in the ECTO1 weren't the most comfortable seats, especially if you had a tail sticking out of your butt that you were trying to hide. He sighed and unbuckled his seatbelt to reposition himself comfortably.
Since he had been doing this all day, this time he didn't get a suspicious look from Kylie. Oh, the name made him shudder. This was just one of those days that everything that could go wrong, did. Between turning into a cat, hiding it under layers of clothing and useless apparel, still having to run around town on the job, and sitting on his tail for long amounts of time, he still had to deal with Kylie.
Maybe he could give this idea to Garrett one of his horror stories, nah, he'd never believe him. He looked back on his day and put in order, all the happenings and new mutations. Let's see, first it was this morning, waking up to find myself having a tail. He laughed at himself, remembering how he had thought it was a snake, attached to his hindquarters. I covered that up with these stupid baggy jeans. Then it was off to the zoo to check on the lions. That's where I got the cat eyes and these ridiculous sunglasses. Let's see, then we went to that old dude's hotel and I got the ears plus a cool hat. Then it was across town again to get the cat off the bookcase. That was where I got the claws. Luckily he had on his gloves so he didn't have to pick up anything new. I picked up this jacket from the hotdog vender in the park when I started growing fur on my arms. Good thing it stayed below my neck! Let's see, then back at the zoo, we took a look at the tigers. Yeah, they didn't get an idea from this morning that we couldn't do anything. That was when I got into the fight with Kylie and she stopped talking to me. Luckily, too; that was where I had gotten the teeth.
He then started listening to his thoughts and realized that he was talking funny. Great, now I'm acting all stuck up like a cat! He chuckled to himself and decided that he didn't mind this part so much. Maybe it would impress Kylie; if she ever acknowledged him again. He sighed and looked over at her. It wasn't like he hated her, it was just hard to talk to her when she was acting like………well………………her. This had to be hard on her too. He wished he could just tell her he was sorry and have everything back to the way it was, but he couldn't back down now, not in front of Garrett and Roland. Besides, she wouldn't listen to him now anyway.
The car slowed down to a stop and Roland said, "We're here."
"I noticed," said Garrett. He rolled out and looked up to the roof of the house we had stopped in front of. There was a cat, pacing back and forth along the roof, staring down at us. It's eyes were the normal red that we had been seeing all day long. It was like they were supposed to be that way.
An old woman came out to greet us and tell us what was wrong with her precious cat. He'd heard it all day, and he wasn't about to listen now. He zoned out while Roland listened to her story and explained that we were working on a solution on the problem. They'd been to hundreds of homes like this one and it was the same old thing as before (they'd been to more homes than those that were listed before; Eduardo just identified the places that he grew something or changed).
He paced the ground, bored, waiting to get back into the car and on to the next house, or apartment, or hotel, or cage. In fact, he was pacing the same distance as the cat on the roof was. They were parallel to each other, as Kylie noticed. Then she turned away, feeling disgusted that she had even noticed him.
The cat finally got tired of following Eduardo and sat down on the roof. It eyed Eduardo as he continued pacing, feeling almost amused. Then it noticed a piece of string that had unraveled from his hat. Doing as all cats did, it crouched down as low as it could. It waited until Eduardo was closest to the side of the house and pounced!
Eduardo was knocked off balance but regained it just in time. He ended up with the cat in his arms. The cat had brought with it his hat and his sunglasses, showing his ears and his eyes to anyone who cared to look. He just stood there, looking at the cat, stunned, for some while. He finally snapped out of it and slowly raised his head to the others. They just looked at him with their jaws dropped.
He managed a smile and said, "Surprise? Heh heh heh…".
The lady had run back into the house at the sight of Eduardo so Roland and the others didn't have to say their good byes. They just jumped into the ECTO1 and drove off, leaving the cat, still playing with the hat, and sunglasses.
