Mandy and Robyn, both dressed, crept down the stairs, quiet as church mice.
Mandy was back in her casual outfit; a lavender turtleneck sweater with a matching skirt and belt, periwinkle tights, and white boots. She also had her wavy hair tied up in a high ponytail with a purple hair-ribbon.
As for Robyn; she wore a red T-shirt with white sleeves along with a red vest, light blue trousers, white socks, blue and white sneakers, and a red headband. She also carried an aquamarine-colored backpack.
"You've got everything?" whispered Mandy.
Robyn checked inside her backpack. She nodded her head 'yes'.
The girls reached the end of the stairs. They looked around, making sure no one was in sight.
Ferdinand had his job to keep a close watch on the girls. But, he was clearly distracted, for they could hear him eating in the kitchen.
"Ferdy's still eating," Mandy whispered. "Now's our chance."
Together, the sisters tiptoed over to the front door. Looking back one last time, Mandy quietly opened the door, and then slipped outside with Robyn following from behind.
"Let's go," Mandy gestured.
"Wait!" Robyn remembered something. "My locket!"
"Shh!" Mandy hissed, putting a finger to her lips. Looking back at the front door, she crouched down into the bushes. Then, she helped Robyn search the ground for her locket.
Earlier, Aunt Figg had stolen it and threw it out the window.
"Here it is!" Robyn picked up a gold heart-shaped locket with her name written on it.
"Good. Now let's get out of here, before they catch us!" Mandy proposed.
Crawling out of the bushes, Robyn put her locket on around her neck. As she and Mandy began to walk away from the mansion, they turned their heads and slowly backed away, keeping their eyes on the front door.
Then, the girls quickly scurried down the driveway, towards the gate entry. Once at the end, they looked around to make sure the cost was clear. Finally, the sisters took their chance and sprinted down the streets, running away.
"Robyn!" Aunt Figg's voice suddenly came in the house. "Robyn? Mandy? Robyn, Mandy, answer me!"
Robyn and Mandy both looked back in panic when they heard Aunt Figg calling for them, and kept on running.
"Robyn? Mandy?" Aunt Figg kept calling.
As they sprinted, Mandy tripped and fell down.
"Mandy!" Robyn noticed, and stopped to help her sister.
But Mandy motioned for Robyn to keep going, as she got back up. "Keep running!"
The girls ran as fast as their legs would carry them, disappearing into the night.
Mandy and Robyn came out from an alleyway, leading into town. They scurried onto a bridge, their shadows looming on the sidewalk from the lit street-lamps.
The girls stopped, and looked back to make sure they weren't being followed.
Mandy noticed a stairway. "Come on," she whispered to Robyn, taking lead down the steps.
Keeping her eyes out, Robyn followed her sister down. She leapt down to join Mandy under the bridge to hide.
There was a moment of silence. Just then, a clinking noise came from the stairs. An empty can came bouncing off the steps, and rolled over, stopping at Robyn's feet.
Robyn lightly gasped, clutching onto her backpack.
"Shh," Mandy tried to calm her.
It seemed pretty obvious that somebody was following them.
Thinking fast, Robyn swung her backpack at the steps.
"Whoa, hold it! Hold it!" A voice came from the stairs, startled by Robyn's sudden attempt to shoo that mysterious figure off.
Indeed, someone was there. But, this was a voice in which the girls were not familiar with. Taking a small peek out, they discovered it was just a bluish-gray cat walking on two legs.
"Huh?" Mandy tilted her head, confused.
"Who- who are you?" asked Robyn.
The cat simply shrugged. "Nobody."
From aside him, a little brown mouse came out, landing in the cat's hand. "Just us," the mouse replied, before introducing themselves. "He's Tom, and I'm Jerry."
The girls both sighed in relief. Mandy placed a hand over her chest, while Robyn put her own hand on her temple.
"Oh, we thought you were somebody else," Mandy apologized.
"We thought you were following us," added Robyn.
Tom narrowed his eyes. "Heck, no," he bluffed.
"Then, what are you doing out here?" Robyn asked the cat and mouse.
"We're lost," Tom said, "and we're looking for something to eat."
"Yeah, we're kinda hungry," agreed Jerry.
Showing sympathy for them, Mandy and Robyn looked at each other.
"Oh, well, um," Robyn reached into her backpack, and pulled out a couple of snacks. "We've got cookies, and an apple, and..."
Later, the quartet were all sitting under the bridge, having built a small campfire.
"So," Jerry spoke to Robyn, "you're name's Robyn, and you two ran away from home," he guessed aloud, before taking a bite of a cookie.
"How did you know?" Robyn asked in surprise.
"Your name's on your locket," Jerry pointed to her locket.
"Oh, yes, it's Robyn Starling."
Jerry looked up at Mandy. "And your name's..."
"Mandy," she answered. "And I'm afraid my sister and I don't have a home, anymore."
Robyn nodded her head. "W... we're orphans. Our mother died when I was a baby."
"What about your father?" asked Jerry. "What happened to him?"
Mandy sadly sighed at the mention of her father.
"Our father was on an expedition," Robyn explained, "climbing a mountain, when a snow gave way, in a, a... ava..." she couldn't finish.
"Avalanche?" Tom finished for Robyn.
The girls nodded.
"Uh huh, and he was the most wonderful father in the world," Robyn croaked on the verge of tears. She opened up her locket to show Tom and Jerry two photos; the girls' father on one side, and all three of them on the other. "We had our own secret place, just for the three of us. And..."
"And that's where you and Mandy were going?" said Jerry.
"Uh huh," Robyn wiped away some tears.
Mandy did her best to console her little sister.
"And to get away from our Aunt Figg," Robyn's sad frown turned into a look of hatred.
Mandy took her turn to explain. "She's not really our aunt, just our guardian. But she's taken over the house."
"She moved Mandy and me into the attic, and gave my room to her dog," Robyn added, crossing her arms. "Ferdinand."
Tom raised his eyebrows. "Ferdinand?"
Mandy nodded. "Yep."
"Aunt Figg was always calling me 'orphan'," said Robyn.
"She even made me become the maid of the house, and calling me 'scullery-maid' or names like that," Mandy added. "Just tonight, Ferdinand made another mess on the floors just as soon as I finished them."
"She even stole my locket, and threw it out the window," Robyn chimed back in. "But we climbed out, and found it. And... and..."
"Kept on running," Jerry finished.
"As fast as we could. And we're never going back!" exclaimed Robyn, as she turned around and crossed her arms in a huff.
Mandy did the same. "Even if it were the last place on Earth!"
"Oh, smart," Tom stood up, and paced. "Real smart, kids. You got a roof over your heads, three short meals a day, warm beds, who'd wanna leave that?"
Jerry nodded. "I hate to admit it, Robyn and Mandy, but Tom's right. You never know what you're missing 'til you don't have it."
But Robyn shook her head. "You don't know Aunt Figg. She seems sweet, but underneath she's mean. Real mean."
"It's true," said Mandy.
But Jerry just shrugged it off. "Aw, c'mon. I'll bet she's frantic looking for you two."
"Oh, sure," agreed Tom. "She's crying her eyes out for you right this minute?"
Mandy and Robyn both shook their heads.
Unable to convince them, Tom sat back down, reaching for the last apple slice.
Mandy then studied the two. "I didn't know cats and mice could be friends with each other," she said, smiling a little.
Hearing Mandy's words, Tom accidentally swallowed the apple slice whole. Then, he began to choke, and beat his chest repeatedly. Finally, the apple came flying out of his mouth, skipping away onto the river like a stone.
Mandy and Robyn blinked in surprise at Tom's apple incident.
Tom coughed, chuckling at the same time. "I- I'm sorry. I-I thought you said that Jerry and I were friends."
"I did," Mandy nodded her head. "You are friends, aren't you?"
"Oh no, no no no no," Tom shook his finger, trying not to laugh. "That's another thing about me and the mouse, here. We are not friends!"
Jerry glared at Tom. "Yeah? Well, then who was it that came back for me when our house was being destructed? Hm?"
"That didn't mean you could follow me!"
"And who was it that saved you from those alleycats torturing you?"
"That doesn't mean we're pals, either!"
Jerry huffed. "Excuse me, Fraidy Cat, but who knows if something might happen to one of us, again?"
Mandy and Robyn smiled a little, quite amused by Tom and Jerry's argument.
"Ha!" Tom laughed. "You're just saying that to hold me back! If I didn't have you, I could do a lotta things."
Jerry placed his hands on his hips, unconvinced. "Like what?"
"If I Didn't Have You"
(Tom)
"I'd be rocking with the dinos,
Swinging with the rhinos,
I'd de-rodentize this place in a minute!
Tom Cat, they would sing,
'Cause I would be the 'Kitty King',
I would love this world without you in it!
If I didn't have you!"
"If you didn't have me?" Jerry repeated, raising his eyebrows.
(Tom)
"If I didn't have you!"
"Well, how about if I didn't have you, huh?"
(Both)
"Oh, what I could be if there was only me!
Oh, what I'd do if I didn't have you!"
Mandy's silhouette came into action. "Stop bickering, and get your act together," she demanded, gently trying to break up the musical argument between the cat and mouse.
"Act?" Jerry's ears perked up. "Did someone say 'act'? I can act!"
(Jerry)
"If only I had separate parts,
My career would be the arts,
I'd be the star of Camelot,
You'd be the half that the whole world forgot!
If I didn't have you!"
"I should be so lucky!" Tom said, dramatically.
(Jerry)
"If I didn't have you!"
"Oh, wait! You'd be dead!"
(Both)
"Oh, what I could be if there was only me!
Oh, what I'd do if I didn't have you!
Oh, what I'd do if I didn't have you!"
"Trapped! Aah! Trapped!" exclaimed Jerry.
"Stuck here with you for all these years!" proclaimed Tom.
"Oh dear, it's learned to count."
"If you'd got me a good lawyer, I would have split from you years ago."
"Now, listen here, pal!" Jerry shook his finger in Tom's face. "I didn't come here to be insulted!"
Tom raised his eyebrows, sarcastically. "Oh? Where do you usually go?"
(Jerry)
"I'd be a fire-breathing lizard!"
(Tom)
"I'd be one high-flying wizard!"
(Jerry)
"You'd be nothing without me!
You'd be extinct!
You'd cease to be!"
(Tom)
"I'm so tired of your nagging!"
(Jerry)
"And I'm so tired of your bragging!"
(Tom)
"Without me you'd have no brain. . ."
(Both: w/ Background Voices)
". . . With which to think!"
(Tom)
"I'd be rocking with the dinos,
Swinging with the rhinos,
I'd de-rodentize this place in a minute,
Tom Cat they would sing,
'Cause I would be the 'Kitty King',"
(Jerry; overlapping with Tom's half)
"If only I had separate parts,
My career would be the arts,
I'd be the star of Camelot!"
(Both)
"I would love this world without you in it!
If I didn't have you!"
(Background Voices)
"If I didn't have you!"
(Both)
"If I didn't have you!"
(Background Voices)
"If I didn't have you!
Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"
"This way! Let me lead!" proclaimed Jerry.
(Background Voices)
"Yeah! Yeah! Yeah!"
Tom backed the mouse off. "No, this way, Twinkle-Toes!"
(Both)
"Life could be so sweet if these were both my feet!
What I'd do if I didn't have you!"
(Jerry)
"I got you, babe!"
(Both)
"Oh, what I'd do if I didn't have you!
Well, if I didn't,
Oh, if I didn't,
Have you!"
"Thank you very much!" announced Tom.
"Thank you very much!" Jerry chimed in.
"Thank you!"
"Jerry Mouse has left the building!"
"You've never sung before, have you?"
When the two finished performing, Robyn applauded with a big smile on her face.
Mandy simply shook her head, yet still amused by the cat and mouse's odd relationship with each other.