It's hard to pick at something unpickable but Joe tried his best. He searched around for a key but he didn't know where to look. There were so many strange nooks in the Cat's house that it was impossible to find them all. What was worse was that all that time Joe hadn't gotten any sleep. So there he was hurting his thumbs on the lock in the middle of the night when he should be getting to bed in the first place. Why didn't he object to Cat Jr. as it is? How could he know what to do if he didn't know what a glunk was?
He was dozing off on the job when a big sound woke him up. It was a trumpet, one of the instruments that was in one of the rooms no doubt, was blown in Joe's ear. It was Little Cat E tooting a very proud toot of victory.
The Little Cat army assembled down the stairs with the Cat in the Hat twirling his umbrella likes a baton at the very end.
"Nice job boys," he said. "Tell Joe there how to man the house while I get Cat Jr. alright."
"Got it Cat," all twenty small cats said together in their tiny voices. They turned to Joe. "Tell us if you hear any loud or small noises in the house. You'll know when we're there or not. And if anything crushes the house, think of it like an earthquake. That way it will leave you to believe you might actually get out in one piece."
"Um…Little Cats…"
"Cat Jr?" the Cat called into his son's room and down the hall. "Cat Jr? Where are you? I want you to come with me this time. I'll tell you on the way."
He came down stairs. "You saw Cat Jr. last, am I right?"
"Yes," said Joe. "He was here last night. But it's hard to explain. He already left to find Little Cat Z."
"What? Oh no, that can't be. I didn't tell him yet."
"Well Cat, or 'cats', I guess," said Joe looking at all of them, "Little Cat's U and Z have been here all along. C. J. hid them here in this pantry."
All the Little Cats gasped, some even shouting an "I knew it!" while waving a fist in the air. But the Cat in the Hat shirked it off.
"You know Joe," he said, "I do know a bit about my son. I know he isn't a liar. Really how could the Little Cats be in-"?
The Cat pulled out a skeleton key from his glove and unlocked the pantry door. Out flung Little Cat U, V, W, X and Y all gasping for breath.
"Cat! Thank goodness! We thought we'd never see you again! After Little Cat Z didn't get out, we've been worried sick!" said Little Cat V.
The Cat in the Hat frilled up in shock. He looked amongst the lost Little Cats attentively. Little Cat Z wasn't there. As the other Little Cats helped their missing members the Cat in the Hat took Joe by the shoulders. "You knew about this all along?"
"Yes," he whimpered.
"Why? Why didn't you tell me? Do you know what'll happen if I don't have all my Little Cats?"
"I know, the glunk that looks like it might be unthunk from its cave-"
"If you knew that why didn't you do anything?" the Cat in the Hat asked.
"Cat Jr. wanted it to be a secret so that you would be happy when he returned them to you. He kept pushing it back cause he thought it would make you really happy.
The Cat put Joe back on the ground. He really hadn't communicated with his kitten well.
"W-where did you say Cat Jr. was now?"
"He lost Little Cat Z down that vent and went off somewhere with the things in a big box. He felt bad about lying so he wanted to find Little Cat Z on his own."
The Cat in the Hat covered his mouth. He looked out his window at the hills bordering Solla Sollew, shuttering in fear. He straightened his hat and ran out the door.
"All of you stay where you are. I have to find Cat Jr." Then he slunk threw the bars of his gate and was gone.
The Little Cats dropped their supplies and looked out the door with Joe. They were on the west side of Solla Sollew, right next to the river. It was early in the morning and the sky was deep orange. It was very windy. So windy in fact that it blew some of the smaller Little Cats back in the house. Little Cat U almost fell over but Joe scooped up the first Little Cat he knew and held him close. Then something began to smell. It wasn't a bad smell, it just certainly wasn't good either. Think of smoke from a fire and that wax they put on new cars.
"W-what is that smell?" Joe asked Little Cat U.
Little Cat U patted his thumb. "If we're lucky, it's someone burning something that isn't usually burned."
"And if we're not lucky?"
Little Cat U didn't say anything. Instead the usually optimistic Little Cat Y snuck onto Joe's shoulder. "The glunk is waking up."
The Little Cats of course did not listen to the Cat's word. After an hour of strange smells and odd wind they assembled into Little Cat A's hat and came to Joe. "You'll be our transportation. As young as you are, you're faster and we must find the Cat. Time is working against us."
Joe did as the Little Cats said. He loaded Little Cat A and his hat onto his back and they left the house at noon. The house must've been nervous to. Usually it only disappeared and reappeared over night. Now every time they opened the door they were in a new part of Solla Sollew. This time the house was right by the park. Recognizing this area better then most Joe ran out the gate and down the street.
No thinks were outside. The once peaceful streets flooded by zeps and ghairs were quiet, frightened, and full of dread. Then suddenly a certain voice screamed at the skies.
"Hear it! Hear it!" it was a floppy-eared Bippo-no-bungus. "Hear it! Don't you hear it? Look!"
In a split second an enormous yawn was heard.
CRRRUUUUUUUMP
Then it showed itself.
The glunk was enormous! It was the size of three houses put together. It was a fluffy think with bright green fur. It had and orange tuft of hair and tiny hands. It had huge catlike eyes and a mouth wider then a hippopotamus. It was the one who made that load noise. It turned in the direction of Solla Sollew and smiled, its body still half way through its cave.
Suddenly the streets were alive as thinks of all shapes and sizes ran from their homes and to shelter. The glunk laughed at the effort to save themselves. It squeezed out of the cave and stomped across the hills to the river Wa-hoo.
Birds and bugs tried everything to delay the huge think but it was pointless. The only time the glunk was actually held back was when it stepped unknowingly into the river Wa-hoo and sunk. It screamed for a few seconds before clinging to dear life to a building and getting back on it's feet. Because the building was to high to scale, the slunk smashed it down to the first story and got through. Waiting for him on the other side where the braver residents of Solla Sollew willing to fight for their town.
"We don't tolerate troubles like you!" said a think to the glunk lighting a fizz-a-mag-itz and firing at its face. The glunk shook it off and used the top of the building he destroyed to push the party out of his way. It laughed as it watched them crash into their walls.
It was so happy that it let out a call to let the other thinks in Solla Sollew know it was coming for them too.
The Little Cats and Joe did as most thinks did and hid out of sight as the glunk destroyed their town. They heard the screams and cries of a thousand other thinks off in the distance where the glunk stood. They were all hiding under a fallen roof of one of the houses. It was a cramped space but it had just enough room in it for Joe to look around and notice the familiar faces in the crowd. In the corner, huddling under think's bushy tail were a frightened Izzy and Ichabod.
"Hey!" Joe called to them despite Little Cat A's best wishes. "You two!"
"It's you!" said Izzy. There was no stress about being quiet. There was no way the glunk could hear them and the many thinks inside were already yapping up a storm as it was. Joe sinked through the crowd to Ichabod and Izzy's side. He also hid himself under the tail they were using. "You found the Cat in the Hat didn't you?"
"Yeah, I did."
"Where is he now?"
"Gone again," said Little Cat A. "You have you seen him anywhere? Him or Cat Jr?"
Ichabod shook his head and Izzy shook hers too. "You're the first person today we've seen who we recognize. Our momma and papa are nowhere to be found."
"What about the pale green pants?" asked Joe.
"We haven't seen them at all. I hope they're alright," Ichabod said.
"Please," begged a voice from underneath Little Cat A's hat. It was Little Cat C. "A pair of pants is on the top of your agenda? How selfish of you children."
"It is not!" harped Izzy.
"Yeah!" Joe said. "If it wasn't for those pants I would never have made it to the Cat in the Hat's house!"
"Maybe you shouldn't have made it! If it weren't for you and that horrid Cat Jr. none of this would be happening."
"Little Cat C!" hissed the rest of the Little Cats from under him and in his hat. Silenced, Little Cat C scurried back in his place.
A voice called for the attention of all the thinks. "All of you listen closely. Try to keep calm and all eyes on me."
Joe tried to get a good look at whoever was talking. He couldn't because all the other thinks were nudging and budging to hard for him to see. Three figures stepped through the crowd. One of them stood high on the shoulders of the others.
"Quick! Hold us up boy!" said Little Cat A. "We'll see whose talking."
Joe held no objections. With the help of Ichabod and Izzy he hoisted Little Cat A and the others onto his shoulders.
"Well who is it?"
"A sneetch! Fleesh sneetch from the beach! He's here and I think that's Breetch sneetch holding him up. I'm not sure though."
Joe tried to see for himself but very soon did the sneetch decide to give his speech.
"Listen closely to us!" the plain-belly sneetch said. "We have a plan! If we all work together we can luir that glunk to a place where it will most defiantly be sunk! Think of something that will get the glunk to follow you! Then follow us to our beaches. We'll tie rope around the glunk's feet and make it sink in the ocean. It can't swim! It's full-proof!"
With no one giving the plan a second thought, they cheered and ran out of the hiding place at the sneetch's command. "That's it, let's not fret! Tell everyone who will listen! We'll get that glunk yet!"
Little Cat A hopped out of Joe grasp and tried to stop the much larger thinks running by him. "Wait a minute everyone! Stop! Stop! There's no need to run from danger! The Cat in the Hat has it under control, please!"
Little Cat A was ignored by everyone, even Ichabod and Izzy. They ran outside with the other thinks. Joe and the Little Cats were on their own again.
Those who weren't fending off the glunk in their own way, a pretty useless cause as it was, were busy out of the glunk's sight getting supplies and going over the sneetch's plan. Despite the fact that it sounded solid to Joe Little Cat A forbid him from talking with the other thinks as much as they could.
"What we need to do is find the Cat in the Hat!" they said. "That's our motive and that's what we need to do!"
"Hellooooo~" sang a sly voice to Joe's ear. It was the Fox in Socks again. "I see you're just as against this whole plan as I am?"
"Not now Mr. Fox," Joe said, "it's not a good time."
"Oh why not? There's always time for a rhyme. A rhyme for that glunk I should say, what you think?"
"I think-"
"The thunk glunk will sunk,
Less he has a funk,
That sunk or not sunk,
There'll soon be nothing left to bunk,
In his bunking-bump-bunk,
When he's bunk it all down,
He'll be just one thunk,
One sad unthinkable thunk-glunk,
Who if stopped will mot need to be sunk!"
"Stop!" said Joe.
"I know, that has to much "unk" in there. Sounds like I'm trying to hard honestly. Here, why don't you help me?"
"No! Mr. Fox we have to find the Cat in the Hat this instant. Bother someone else with your tongue twisters!" Little Cat A hissed. He and Joe ran into a crowd, pushing thinks out of the way. But every time they squeezed out of a situation they found themselves right at the blue socks of the fox.
"Well that won't work now will it?" said the Fox in Socks. "I don't know why you're even looking so hard for the Cat in the Hat."
"What do you mean?" said Little Cat A.
"Yeah, there's no way we can find him!" Joe said.
"Then who is that?" asked the Fox.
Joe and Little Cat A looked up and right across the way was none other then the Cat! Little Cat A ran towards the Cat but Joe stayed back to shake the Fox's sock. "Thank you so much Mr. Socks Fox!"
"No problem my Joe Slow," the Fox said.
Then Joe ran to catch up with the Little Cats and meet back up with the Cat. Maybe he had found Cat Jr. too! Just as he was about to reach him did four paws pinch his ankle.
"Wait a minute boy," said Little Cat B. "Stay out of the way for a second."
Someone Joe didn't recognize right away was cornering the Cat in the Hat on the street. It was Gus only without his hat. Sam I am, also hat-less was by his side. He had the worst looking open-wound on his head.
"You nine-lived numskull! You beast of true burdan! You…disgrace to the felidae family!" Gus shouted.
"Alright, alright, so maybe I should have told you two that wire won't protect you from glunk feet," the Cat in the Hat said.
"I can't believe you. After everything that's happened over the years you still can't be trusted! Why did we let you possess those small cats? You keep them safe in a hat of all things!"
"Now, now. Do not insult my hat good sir," the Cat in the Hat said. "Besides, I told you I am not the one who lost track of Little Cat Z. It was my son."
"That makes you look any better? He was your responsibility. You should have kept an eye on him."
"Now Gus," murmured Sam at last moving. He was trying to get his feet on the ground, but was also holding his bright red forehead. "Don't do that. He's our neighbor still."
Gus glared at the Cat in the Hat expectantly. He did nothing. Gus shook his head and pulled Sam-I-Am aside. "VOOMs are a thing of the past Sam. I think we should follow that plan everyone else has of luring that thing to the ocean. Well, I am at least. I'll find you some place where you can fix your head."
Sam-I-Am felt his forehead, still wobbling to the side a bit. "If only I had some green eggs and ham. That would do the trick I tell you!"
"If only we had a house again." Then Gus said to the already upset Cat in the Hat. "It serves you right if your son gets smooshed."
"No it doesn't!" Joe remarked. None of the men standing there noticed Joe until then. The Little Cats tried pulling him back but Joe wanted none of it. "Cat Jr. didn't know and didn't tell his dad anything!"
"You!" Gus said recognizing Joe. He forgot about the Cat in the Hat and let go of Sam's arm, who fell over. "You said everything was alright. You lied to Sam and I!"
"That's not-"
"It's because of you that we, and so many others in this town, don't have a home! We woke up this morning when we heard something hit our roof. Then all of the sudden our complex was crushed by a giant glunk foot!"
"I'm sorry to hear that-"
"We lost our home, I lost my hat, and Sam here was hit in the head by a door that fell out of nowhere! He's lucky if his brain ever works the same way again!"
"That isn't true!" Sam protested from behind, "ah'm fine…."
"The Cat is an idiot but you aren't even a think! You're more like a what than a think! What do you have to say for yourself?"
Angry as ever Joe decided he'd say exactly what he was thinking. "Why are you mad at the Cat when you should be helping your friend?"
The dog think looked at the small, red-faced little boy and then at his half conscious friend. Without saying anything to Joe he went over to Sam and got him to stand on his feet.
"Are you alright Sam?"
Sam wasn't paying attention to Gus. "Oh look! It's…um…what is that boy named again?"
Gus picked up Sam by the wrist and pulled him along. "It doesn't matter."
Joe watched Gus and Sam leave. He remembered being grateful towards them and the home they let him share. What ever that place looked like now must've been awful. This whole place he had lived in for almost a week was beautiful and now it was a nightmare.
The Cat did not sporadically disappear like he usually did. He just stood there looking at the ground.
He deflated. First his tail, then his whiskers, then finally his hat, which fell to his shoulders like a melting candle.
"Cat? The glunk is going to be here any minute," said Little Cat A. "We have to find some place safe we can stay."
The Cat didn't notice. "My son's been squished."
That was all he could say.
