Sorry for my tardiness on this one just some crazy stuff in my life anywho for this chapter I want to try something new for this chapter in honor of Miss Muriel Bagge herself Thea White (1940-2021) I may not know much about her work but what I do know is that her role as Muriel on the show was always so charming and sweetly to listen to when she does Muriel's voice and now...That voice is gone well enough being sad on with the chapter
In an open garden patch somewhere in Nowhere late at night, surrounding a slightly dilapidated greenhouse we see where different sorts of creatures in the form of plants, surrounding a secluded person hidden within the shadows, planting a plant-like creature that resembled a hybrid between a pitcher plant and a venus flytrap in its pot while loudly monologuing: "These people we live with will soon pay for everything they did to them, I can promise you by the time my plan begins all of this pathetic dungeon of a town will learn true suffering."
The next morning in the Farmhouse the family was gathered around the dining area decorated in honor of a very special day for the most beloved family member as they all sing her a happy birthday while Gavin brings in the cake made specifically for Miss Muriel Bagge celebrating her birthday.
After singing her the birthday song Muriel was filled with glee as Gavin says "and as a family, I can promise we will give you the best birthday you will never forget" Muriel giggles more "you don't have to dear, just being with my family is all I need" says Muriel.
Suddenly, there was a knock at the door interrupting the festivities. the family goes to see who it is, while Courage without anyone looking helps himself to "some" of the cake.
At the door, we see what looks to be a sweet woman with large rimmed glasses, a bob cut of messy blue hair, and ashen skin, and wearing only an overly large pink sweater with a picture of a koala eating leaves on it and jeans.
"Good evening," the woman says with a formal matter "my name is Catherine Gunkmeter, I represent the Nowhere Garden Cafeteria I am wondering if you or any other residents who live here would like to come and experience fine plant cuisine?"
Eustace who heard the woman, rudely retorts "we don't want any?" But just as he was about to slam the door Catherine responds "wait, have I forgotten to mention it's for a good cause?"
"You see" explains Catherine " I happen to be testing a new type of food from plants that can not only be delicious but also hopefully encourage more industries to see that the taste of plants can be just as good as a steak or a fondue" Everyone in the family was fascinated, unfortunately, Eustace retorts "big deal!"
Catherine simply giggles at what Eustace had said asking "I'm sorry, did I also forget to mention that what we'll be serving is all free?" This slowly changes Eustace's mind "I guess I am kinda hungry" he commented, as we see the farmer go for the keys to his truck.
When Muriel turns to Courage to ask him for his opinion, to her surprise Courage's stomach grew four times its original size, his snout was completely stained with frosting and crumbs from the cake that Muriel noticed, was now a small mound of baked cake and frosting. She looks back at Courage with a stern look on her face as if expecting an explanation from the pink dog, Courage simply looks at the readers and starts to laugh presenting to us his teeth caked in frosting and sprinkles, luckily for him Muriel forgave him.
Once Courage was cleaned up, The Bagge family minus the elders all got dressed up and followed Catherine to the Nowhere Gardens Cafeteria by vehicle, While the elderly couple was in the front seats the rest of the family are seated at the bed of the truck watching the road between them pass by. Courage and Katy noticed about the old woman they are following, is that she was riding a scooter to their destination.
Katy looks at the pink dog, asking "what's on your mind little guy?" noticing a look of concern on his face as he glances at the mysterious woman who showed up at their home unannounced." I have a bad feeling about that lady" answers Courage, adding in "or my name is Seymore Krellborne ...And it's not" Katy starts to share Courage's suspicions after realizing something was off, stating "you know it is kind of weird this lady would pick our family out of the many people who live in Nowhere to try her food."
Madeline interrupts the conversation, and asks "do you think the lady found a way to make broccoli good?"The family minus Courage and Katy laugh at Maddie's question. Before long, the party arrives at the Nowhere Gardens Cafeteria, once inside Catherine instructs the family to be seated at an empty table that coincidentally seats six people, what the family fails to notice is that it's the ONLY table at the place.
Once everyone was seated, Eustace asks Catherine " when do we eat?" The old woman responds "oh sooner than you think, now put your gum away now is not the time to have gum, sit up straight, please...Thank you" despite that Eustace has been doing none of the things that she had said. When Gavin asks in concern if Catherine was alright, she responds " young man I would respect you to not pick your nose during my lecture, we're learning something" now all the family was confused.
Catherine after a moment of silence leaves the group, explaining "I'll just get the first course for you" leaving in a hurry, luckily the family decides to forget about the awkward moment that happened, believing she simply had a lot on her mind Courage, on the other hand, wondered about Mrs. Gunkmeter's behavior. Suddenly after about four or five minutes pass, Catherine returns with a small trolley of what appears to be a cuisine gallery of veggies, whether roasted, steamed, cooked, or even baked in a pie Catherine serves it to the Bagge family, before moving on to Courage.
On the floor, Catherine places a bowl of fresh broccoli for the pink pooch, stating "and we can't leave out natures creatures" once everyone was served, Catherine leaves them to their meal explaining "I'll get the second course ready for you, make sure to leave plenty of room." Once she was gone, the family decide to try her delicacies some were more hesitant than others, yet they still tried it nonetheless.
Courage while eating decides to perform a trick where he hits a piece of broccoli with his snout like a seal, and opens his mouth to catch the flying veggie before it hit the ground only for the broccoli to hit his face instead, and bounce away in a cartoonish fashion. Courage not wanting to cause a scene, decides to go after it and get it back unaware that the broccoli was leading him to a big discovery.
The cowardly dog finally manages to catch the veggie eating afterward, before letting out a small giggle, he begins to hear the sound of what appeared to be a wild animal coming from a nearby kitchen. The door he heard it from was slightly opened leaving Courage to curiously look inside, and to his horror discovers a giant living plant the size of a sofa, that was the source of the noise as well as someone talking to it which happened to be Catherine.
"Easy sweetie, mommy promises you she brought you a very special full-course meal," Catherine says while preparing a salad as Courage suddenly notices Catherine adding some kind of purple salad dressing to her dish, and comments to herself, " I think we'll give this to the large woman in the family, she would be perfect to have for the main coarse wouldn't you agree my precious?" The plant lets out a small snarl, Catherine would then set turn on her oven and then take her plant outside for some fresh air while waiting for it to preheat.
When Catherine left, Courage quickly enters the kitchen to take a closer look at the salad dressing she added, and upon closer inspection Courage reads the label on the bottle that said Instant Sleep Sauce: Able to put you to sleep for a whole night! At this point, Courage realizes Catherine's intentions to feed his family to her giant plant, fearing that they plan to have Muriel for last.
Courage opened his mouth to scream, but instead of a scream, we hear an automated voice mail box say "you have: one message BEEP" after the beep was when Courage started to scream with fright, running back to his family as quickly as possible when the family takes notice of the pink dog, Muriel asks him what's wrong that's when Courage starts to babble about what he saw, sadly non of the family could not understand a word, especially when he takes the form of the man-eating plant.
Katy on the other hand manages to understand, asking "wait Courage is there something on your mind?" but just as Courage was about to say more, the conversation was interrupted when Catherine walks in to notice this, she says " class we do not play with our food, it is lunchtime, not playtime!" At this point, Katy asks "okay what is up with you, it's like you think your someone else the next minute when talking to us the first?" Catherine responds more strictly "ENOUGH! Young lady, I have half a mind to keep you after class and write me a hundred-word essay."
Muriel now getting upset with the way Catherine acts, responds in a firm tone of voice "excuse me, but who are ya to speak to my granddaughter in that tone of voice" Gavin backs up his mother, stating in a strict manner "Misses Gunkmeter my mother has a point, you do not speak to my family that way and quite frankly your behavior is confusing me just as much as the rest of my family, and I must insist you...LAY OFF!"
Catherine froze slightly with fear after Gavin told her off before she says "my apologies, sometimes my mind likes to drift off into other things, let me make it up to you " thus she leaves the family once again, only to return afterward with a trolley carrying six bowls of salad, exclaiming "here we are fresh plum salad made from scratch, I hope you enjoy" before leaving them to eat.
Courage, after she leaves once again, tries to warn the family of the danger they are in with his babbling, the only one to take heed however is Katy as we see the rest of the family continue to eat. When Katy asks Courage what the matter was, she soon realizes the answer when her entire family begins to pass out in their chairs, and wander immediately to slumber land. Courage once again attempts to explain to Katy what he had witnessed.
Soon Katy understood what Courage was trying to say "so basically, what your trying to say is our host plans to fatten us up and feed us to a monster?" she says as softly as possible so that she does not attract Catherine's attention, Katy in shock asks " got a plan to get us out of this one?" Before Courage has any time to even lay out a plan, Catherine can be heard returning. Katy acting quick pretends to sleep to not raise suspicion.
Catherine returns, this time bringing with her a utility dolly, next she proceeds to then place a sleeping Muriel upon it "today's your lucky day dear lady, you get to meet a very special friend of mine who would like a word with you and your family" dragging Muriel away on the dolly, Katy opens an eye to see Catherine leave with her grandmother. Carefully, Katy gets up from her seat and goes after her Courage joins her after he grabs one of Eustace's socks.
Katy after she witnessed Catherine in the kitchen seasoning her grandmother restrained to the dolly for her beloved plant to enjoy, shouts in an angered manner "WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO MY GRANDMOTHER!" Catherine takes notice of Katy standing before her and her plant creature, surprised that she was standing asking "how did you enjoy my special salad?" Katy still angry by what she is seeing asks " why are you feeding my grandma to a plant, and give me one reason why the cops shouldn't be involved!?" Holding up her iPhone. Before anything can be done, Katy suddenly notices vines growing around her engulfing the kitchen.
Just then Katy is suddenly coiled up in a vine tightly wrapping around her body, while her phone is seized by another vine. Catherine continues to watch now with a more sinister glare on her face "do you think I'm the one who should be put away because of all I had to put up with in life because you think it isn't right for your grandmother to be fed to a hungry creature when you do the same thing to an animal begging for his life?" Catherine asks, leaving Katy Puzzled as more vines cover up the kitchen.
What Catherine and Katy don't seem to notice during the showdown, is Courage walking in and noticing Muriel in restraints, before going to rescue her. As Courage does so Catherine begins to share her life story.
"Growing up as a single child in the family I lived unaware of what went on in factories that make our burgers and steaks until the age of nineteen. Did you know all the torture poor cows and pigs go through, just so you can enjoy all those burgers and hotdogs you eat? a perfect reason why I devoted my life to save them, by telling idiots about how we should be humane. Sadly, they don't seem to listen so I decided to try other methods of convincing people about how we should leave animals alone. One of those methods was as a teacher, sadly a month later I was told I was being "too pushy" or "creepy" no one understands my passion, so I decided to show the world how animals felt thanks to biotechnology from my experiences as a science teacher. I was able to make not only the first hybrid plant but a creature to show the world if they cant change they don't deserve to live!"
Hearing this, Katy replies "and you think force-feeding the people to a monster is going to help people see eating meat is bad!?" Catherine calmly explains "I prefer to see it as resetting the world so that the new generation can make smarter choices." Katy bewildered, simply says to her "something is wrong with you, you do know vegans and vegetarians exist right?" Sadly what Katy says does not get through to Catherine, who says "ENOUGH! You seem to not understand nor care for my plight, well no matter after your grandmother is eaten your next!"
As Catherine turns her attention to her prisoner, she finds Muriel had vanished only to notice Courage attempt to carry her out saying "Muriel I'll save you!" However his attempts fail badly when the way out becomes blocked by sets of vines that act as prison bars, Catherine starts to become more insane than before "NO ONE LEAVES until my baby has his meal, and unless you all want to satisfy his appetite I suggest one of you volunteer and make it easier for the others!"
While Catherine speaks, another vine coils the still sleeping Muriel leaving Courage to handle the situation himself, as standing before him was Catherine sharpening a knife. Luckily Courage was prepared and pulls out Eustace's sock launching it right toward Catherine hitting her face, annoying her more than anything as she simply scrapes it off her face, and says "you know for a harmless creature you sure are desperate to want to be eaten first" approaching Courage who was shivering with fear and hope that whatever he planned comes through.
But just as Catherine was about to hack Courage's head, the creatures vine suddenly grabs Catherine's leg lifting her off the ground, making her drop the knife before hovering her to its sight and sniffing her, while Catherine says "what are you doing your dinner Is right there" sadly it does not respond, for the creature was ensnared by the aroma of the smell of Eustace's sock now lingering on the bespeckled woman. Courage, seizing the opportunity he set in motion frees Muriel and Katy from their trap pulling out conveniently from his person a pair of shears.
Once he freed his family, Katy thanked Courage with a hug before the two witnessed Catherine get eaten whole by her plant, while her last screams are heard until she is swallowed belching out her glasses afterward. With the plant creature satisfied and its vines retracted back to the creature, Katy would then ask "I can guess you've dealt with monster plants before?" Courage answered "once, but I didn't think the same trick would work again" after another hug from Katy, she and Courage gather the family together again in the dining area.
When the family recovered from the sleeping sauce and return to the farmhouse that night as if nothing ever happened, the family once again is seen celebrating Muriel's birthday this time in the living room everyone is now seen eating a cupcake including Courage.
Muriel after eating hers, says "I must admit Gavin I don't know what happened today, but all I can say is thank ya and your family for the best birthday I have ever experienced" the family minus Eustace was in awe.
"Yeah yeah, happy birthday Muriel, now let's check out what's on T.V.," Says Eustace flipping the T.V. on as we are shown a contest hosted by the newsman, announcing "if your just joining us folks, you're just in time for the judge to decide on our first prize winner of Nowheres Extemporary BBQ Art contest" which we see on television the outdoor contest occur, and the contestant's entries are shown before the judge.
To Katy and Courage's surprise, it happened to be Catherine's plant in a top hat and red bowtie, sniffing cooked ground beef in the form of Napoleon Bonaparte, from which the creature proceeded to take a large bite of much to the contestant's surprise, as the Newsman announces "Ladies and Gentlemen it looks like we found our winner!" Handing the contestant the blue ribbon, the contestant takes it without ever changing his expression.
The family doesn't seem to mind the fact the judge is a living plant, despite Courage and Katy's shock they continue to watch knowing well the family was once again out of harm's way, as we see the creature guzzles down the other entries while smiling at the audience, showing off a set of crooked teeth similar to Courage's while it said: "don't knock it till you try it!"
Finally finished sorry for not posting sooner writer's block, as well as life, got in the way but for now, I hope you all enjoyed the chapter hopefully the next one I'll try not to take too long hopefully, and again in honor for not just Thea White but also the inspiration for Muriel Muriel Barrie (1926- 2022) I hope I didn't keep you waiting too long and as always reviews are always welcome.
