Chapter II: Kitty Karma
"Another reason to hate Mondays," muttered Garfield.
"What's wrong, Garfield?" asked Nermal. "Isn't it kind of lonely to be the only cat around? Besides, you get to hang out with me, the world's cutest kittycat!"
"Nermal, I suffered much sleep loss because of what you did to me in a dream, whether or not you intended to."
"What would I do to you, except explain how I'm so cute and you're so not?"
"Well, you certainly did that in the dream I had, and then some. I was going to take you on a trip to somewhere far away from here."
"Don't tell me that you were going to send me to Abu Dhabi! I'm over that, you know."
"By no means, Nermal! In this dream, I was going to send you to a city out on the coast so that you could enter a contest for the world's cutest kitten. To that end, Jon and I had built a teleporter to save airfare and other travel costs."
"I still think it was going to be a ruse, Garfield."
"As I said, you weren't going to Abu Dhabi in this dream. I mean it! Anyway, lest something go wrong, I chose Odie as a test case. As far as I'm concerned, he was the most disposable of us three. When I started the machine, though, I think you tripped me, and Odie and I ended up in a heap. Then, we got zapped, and the last I saw before waking up was you blowing a raspberry with your tongue out."
Nermal laughed once Garfield had related his dream. "Teleporters don't exist!" said he through his laughs. "At least that was the case last I checked."
"You really deny their existence?" sneered Garfield, who was now grabbing Nermal by the collar. "Don't you remember the time I got teleported into outer space by spilling some lasagna on that satellite dish that used to be in the backyard?"
"Okay, now I remember," Nermal sighed. "When will you let me go?"
Garfield promptly put him back on the ground. By now, lunchtime had come, so Jon summoned the two cats to the table. Garfield got his usual club sandwich, consisting of half a pound of ham, six ounces of lettuce, ten slices of cheese and twenty tomato slices between two slices of sourdough bread. As he was eating, however, he noticed what Nermal was eating: half a rotisserie chicken with a side of rice. Garfield finished his sandwich so quickly, having previously been most sleepy. For whatever reason, even this had failed to satisfy his stomach. Hence, he cast greedy eyes on Nermal's meal, waiting for an opportune time to pounce. Suddenly, Nermal became drowsy despite not finishing all that had been given him. He asked: "May I take a nap and eat my leftovers later?"
"You certainly may," Jon replied. "I often get that feeling after eating, too." Jon then put a blanket near the window where Nermal could take a nap. What an easy target, thought Garfield. As Jon went off to watch T.V., Garfield decided to check the mailbox outside the house. By now, Nermal had fallen asleep enough such that Garfield could simply get Nermal's leftovers by handing the mail to Jon. Once he had done this, he made his way to the kitchen and opened the fridge where Nermal's leftovers had been stored. With Jon distracted by the T.V., Garfield was able to consume what remained of Nermal's chicken and rice. He then decided to head outside, and as he opened the door, he smiled suspiciously.
Just as Garfield had made his escape, though, Nermal awoke. "May I get my leftovers, Jon?" he asked.
"I bet you're hungry, Nermal," said Jon with glee.
"A cutie nap sometimes does that." But, when Nermal opened the door to the fridge, his leftovers were gone. He was shocked but not surprised, and he knew who would do such as that. Just then, he saw Garfield taking a walk down the street. He knew that Garfield was not wont to do such a thing, considering his disdain of exercise. It was Nermal's only opportunity to get even.
"Where are you going, Nermal?" asked Jon. "You normally don't eat so quickly."
Nermal covered up his anger for a moment. "I was hungrier than I thought," he replied. "Thanks for the meal, Jon."
"My pleasure."
Once Jon could no longer see him, Nermal smirked and started to follow Garfield's trail. At length he came to a municipal park, where Garfield happened to be relaxing on a park bench. But Garfield saw his adversary and darted out of the park. Nermal had no choice but to pursue him.
The chase lasted a few minutes before Garfield ended up in an industrial part of Muncie. At this point, the simple pattern of streets had changed from gridiron fashion to a labyrinth of alleys and loading docks. Garfield wanted nothing more than to hide from Nermal, but he couldn't since there was no way into any of the plants. Finally, a door swung open for just enough time to admit Garfield but not Nermal, who was now hot on his tail.
In the dark of the plant, Garfield saw a distant light. He knew he must run into it, so he made for it. There, an empty box was lying on its side, so he decided to hide behind it, lest Nermal discover his tracks. Just as he was getting settled to wait for maybe half an hour, though, he heard a release of air, as the light he had found was a semitrailer truck about to leave for God knew where! "Now I really hate Mondays," he said under his breath.
After a few minutes, he accepted that he was about to leave Muncie, at least for a while, so he decided to check for clues as to where he was headed. It was dark in the semitrailer, but he was able to eventually make out his destination by looking at the return address. It was marked DOWNTOWN CITY.
"Hopefully they have a lot of Italian restaurants there," he said to himself, "and no stuck-up kittens, drooling dogs or irritating yellow-eyed clowns. But where is this Downtown City?"