Chapter 3
For the remainder of the night, they went through the woods, never looking back. Their thirst was finally quenched by a simple pond that lay right in the middle of the woods, though they were still hungry. With very little options, they continued plodding through the unknown. After a long while, they finally stopped at a small clearing, and decided to rest here for awhile, and regain their strength and stamina.
Alonzo agreed to keep watch while everyone slept. Slowly, but surely, everyone else fell asleep, and Alonzo leaned back against a tree, keeping his senses sharp for intruders. Cassandra laid down, resting her head on his lap. The black and white tom smiled gently and stroked her face as she fell asleep, purring gently. For the longest time, he just watched her sleep, her face looking so peaceful. He truly did love her, and hopefully soon they would begin their lives together. Sudden voices broke the black and white tom's gaze on his love, and he quickly glanced around. He couldn't see anyone or anything nearby, nor smell anyone either. The voices, which he could quickly sense were queens, grew louder, and now he could hear clearly what they were saying.
"So ask me again, why are we all the way out here?"
"Do I have to tell you again? I want us to stock up on mice for the rest of the week, because it's going to be raining non-stop until Saturday!"
"Can't we ask for more from him?"
"You know he's not going to feed us for another 3 days so…" the voice stopped and Alonzo quickly turned behind him, where the voices had come from and saw that there were indeed 2 queens standing nearby, staring at them. They were both cream colored, one noticeably taller than the other. They were both very attractive, with slender figures, yet they had a look about them that showed they could hold their own in the cat world. The taller one spoke, "Well, hello there!"
Everyone quickly woke up and reacted to the intruding voice. Alonzo stood up, claws ready for reveal. Tumblebrutus and Pouncival joined him as did Mungojerrie. The queens grouped together, just behind the toms. As he glared at them, Alonzo noted there was sunshine coming through the trees and realized it was becoming morning. It didn't matter though, as he was now focused on protecting his group from harm. "You stay back!" he stated with threat, his tail starting to puff up. The cream queen that spoke chuckled, obviously not worried about being attacked.
"Don't worry, hon. We're not going to hurt you, we just wanted to make conversation, maybe even help you, since you look lost," With that, the pair came a few steps closer, which resulted in a threatening hiss from the black and white tom.
"And what makes you think we are lost?"
The queen grinned, which as a pretty grin, "Well, for one, your accent is foreign. Two, your coats are relatively dirt free, which means you don't live in the open. And three, you are sleeping in an open area. Any cat around here knows that it's best to sleep in bushes, or any kind of enclosed shelter. Goodness knows how many raccoons and coyotes wander around here!"
The black and white tom settled down a bit, amazed at how good their perception was, "Well, you are right in the fact we are lost, and that we are foreign. Do you know where we are?"
"Sure do! You are in central Wisconsin!" At that, all of the Jellicles' eyes popped open as wide as possible and they just stared at each other in shocked silence. They were very deep in the United States, in the Midwest, and it was a sickening feeling. A sudden thump caused them all to get distracted from their thoughts, and everyone saw that Jemina had fainted. The two Wisconsin queens giggled lightly as Victoria, Pouncival, and Mungojerrie tended to their unconscious friend. The taller queen's smiled widened more, "I see that this is hard news to take!"
Alonzo smiled a bit, a sheepish smirk, "Well, you see, we're from Britain, so you can understand our shock here."
It was now the cream queens to show a look of amazement and the taller queen spoke again. It was becoming obvious that the shorter one was not much of a talker, "British cats, eh? Well, that's a bit of a surprise! What are you doing here in the middle of the woods in Wisconsin?"
"Long story and I don't think I want to talk about it right now."
"Understandable. Maybe you would be willing to talk more about your sad tale if you had some food to eat? Come, we'll get you all some!"
Alonzo stood firm, "I would if we all knew your names."
The cream queen rolled her eyes in exasperation and slapped her forehead, "Of course! How impolite of me! Let me introduce ourselves," She held out a paw, "I'm Carly, with a "c", I insist. And this is my sister, Harley," she said, pointing to her apparently silent sister.
Alonzo took Carly's paw and shook it, "I'm Alonzo. The Siamese is Cassandra, the all-white cat is Victoria, that calico tom is Mungojerrie and standing beside him is his sister, Rumpleteazer. Those two are Tumblebrutus and his brother Pouncival, and the queen that's out cold is Jemina," he said, pointing to his friends. Everyone returned nods of acknowledgement, and all the Jellicles eased up in tension.
"It's nice to meet you all, and if you could follow us, we'll lead you all to our home and some food!"
"If there's any!" Harley suddenly spoke, which had everyone staring at her. Everyone else, besides Alonzo, hadn't heard her speak before.
"You…you talk?"
Carly spoke up again, "Of course she does! She just doesn't talk much, that's all. Anyways, do you want a meal, or not? If you do, follow us, otherwise, do what you want, and we won't bother you again!" With that, the two sisters turned away and started back to their apparent home. Alonzo quickly turned to everyone else and nodded. At that, they all followed the sisters, though Jemina was still knocked out.
Alonzo pointed to Pouncival, "Hey, carry Jemina and follow us, please?" His words caused the other black and white tom to stop in his tracks.
"Me? Why me? Can't you have Brutus do it?"
"I asked you, now hurry it up!" The tom that was now leader of the little group turned on his heel and followed the group. Pouncival just shook his head in shock, and finally picked up Jemmi, who lightly groaned in her unconscious state. As he turned to follow everyone else, he noticed Victoria looking at him with an amused look on her face. He quickly averted his stare at her and quietly followed the group, while Victoria walked behind, pleased at what Alonzo had forced him to do. It was unintentional, of course, but it was still something she liked to have happened. She had her first step in getting Pouncival and Jemina together, and now her plans could begin…
It was another hour before they finally reached Carly and Harley's home, which was quite a place. There was a big two-story house, with a dark brown roof and cream-colored siding, which matched the sisters' fur. The garage was of the same color combination as the house, with a woodshed just behind the house, though it was colored white. There was what looked like a homemade greenhouse just beyond the garage, and a forest green woodstove. All of the Jellicles looked at it in amazement and awe, as the sisters smiled with pride.
"Yup," Carly said proudly, "Home, sweet home!"
"You live on this property? All this area?" The sisters both nodded.
"All of our lives, we have. C'mon, we'll show you our living area," They followed the sisters to the garage, which had a garishly colored green concrete floor. There was no insulation or anything covering the studs on the walls, and a freezer that could use the service of a good dusting was on the far right corner. Above it were several shelves, all full of old boxes packed with age-old objects, including some badminton rackets, a deflated basketball, and several coolers. There were 4 bikes hanging on an overhead rack, with 3 more lying against the left wall. There were no cars in the garage, but there was an ATV which was caked with old, dried mud sitting on the left side. The sisters went passed all of this and to the left side, where there were several ladders lying against it. Two were colored white, but it was slowly fading away. The others were much more simple ladders, the kind used by every working family in the free world. The two white ladders were much taller, reaching up to what looked like an attic or a loft. The sisters climbed up the taller one with practiced ease, and gazed down at their visitors, "C'mon up! Come take a look at our domain!" Carly shouted down.
Everyone turned to Alonzo, who nodded, and began his trip up the ladder. The rest slowly followed, Pouncival and Tumblebrutus carrying the still unconscious Jemina up the ladder. During the carry Brutus constantly smirked at his brother, remembering what had happened between them in the box while in flight. All Pouncival could do was scowl back at him, knowing what he was thinking. With little effort, everyone was up in the loft that served as the sisters' living quarters. It clearly fit the image of an attic; Old deck chairs, golf clubs, Styrofoam boxes, and even 3 more unused bicycles. There was another section of the loft, another part of the garage that was angled to the left and was full of stacks of unused lumber.
"Here's where we spend our days when we don't care to go outside. You can sleep basically anywhere here that you want to."
Alonzo nodded, "Thank you kindly. Is there any food around? None of us has had anything to eat in a while."
Carly frowned, "That won't be possible. Our humans are gone for the weekend, and they keep the food stored in a room near the garage. We've never been able to open the door," This remark caused Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer's ears to perk, and they looked at their hostess with a smirk on their faces.
"Ya say ya can't open da door? Well, then, just leave it to us!" With that the pair ran down the ladder, the sisters and everyone else following. Carly pointed to a forest green colored door that was next to the main garage door.
"We've tried everything possible, and we can't get it open. Just a warning," Carly spoke with skeptic tone. The two calicos grinned.
"This sorta thing is our specialty!" With that, Mungojerrie crouched down and Rumpleteazer went on top of his shoulders. With practiced ease, he stood up and Rumple reached up to the doorknob. It was brass, but there was enough roughness on it to get a good grip on it. She gripped the doorknob and turned it to the right. It moved before it got slightly jammed, which told her that if she can turn it a bit more, the door would open. Mungo made sure her hind paws were secure on his shoulders and leaned against the door, ready to push it open. After some heavy straining, a dull "Click" was heard and the knob turned again. The door was pushed in and the calico pair fell to the ground, landing on their feet. Nodding to each other in approval, they turned to the awestruck group standing in the doorway, "Well, whaddaya say we get ourselves some food to eat?"
"Wow, you two are more resourceful than I thought. That was very clever opening the door," Carly said with an impressed look on her face.
"Ah, it's nothin'. Me and Teaza have always been experts at it. We always do these sorta things back home in Victoria Grove," With a smug grin, the duo picked up the container that Carly pointed out to be full of cat food, and with everyone's help, they got it up into the attic. It took a lot of investigating from the pair of cat burglars, but they finally managed to pry it open and tilted it over, revealing a huge pile of cat food. With loud gasps of delight, the eight Jellicles went all over the food and gobbled it up, purring loudly as they did so. The sisters grinned with satisfaction as they watch their new friends feast like there was no tomorrow. After a long moment, Harley turned to her sister.
"If they are indeed British, we are going to have to find some way to get them back to their home. You noticed some of them have collars, they must have families back there."
Carly nodded, "You're right. We can keep them here for a while, but that food isn't going to last forever. We do have to find some way to get them back home."
Harley thought for a moment. There was one cat that could help, but…should she suggest it? No, Carly would never want to get involved with him again. But then again, he could be the only way to get these foreigners back home, "What about…Rollin?"
Her sister's eyes flashed in anger and she promptly glared at Harley, "NO! Absolutely not! I have already sworn to never get involved with him again, and I am keeping that vow!"
"But he may be these cats' only chance! Please, you must try…"
"NO! N-O, NO!"
"Please, Carly! For them! Their families! Their loved ones! They can't spend the rest of their lives wondering what happened to these eight! What do you think Mother would've done?"
This caused the cream-colored queen to think for a moment. After awhile, she finally sighed and nodded in defeat, "All right, fine. Just this once. Ask the cats in the area where Rollin is, and tell him that we need his help…"
Ok, ok, so this isn't so humorous right now. I'm trying the best that I can, but with school ending and my job at KFC, I have hardly been able to sit down and enjoy life, let alone write a story! I was going to make this longer, but I decided to just sort of cut it in half and work on the next half in the next chapter.
The next chapter will focus on Carly's turbulent past with Rollin, very briefly I might add, and the beginning of the Jellicles' journey back home. I'm also going to include the first stage of Victoria's scheme to get Jemina and Pouncival back together, with a little help from a friend. Plus, for those of you who wonder why Harley is so silent to other cats, you'll find out in Chapter 4. I've changed this story for now to just Adventure, until the humor level rises up. Regardless, enjoy this chapt, please R and R, and keep readin' and writin'!
P.S. Harley and Carly are really my own cats, and the property they live on is my home. If you would like to possibly see a picture of them in real life, email me, otherwise, enjoy!
