Chapter 8: Bodies found
The next morning
It was a another new day as Ivy and Theo were currently inside the garage of the Lackadaisy tinkering with an engine under the open hood of a car. Since Theo wanted to be an auto mechanic in his future, Ivy decided to give him some hands on learning by letting him work on one of the bootlegging cars in the garage.
"Now this end of the radiator hose goes to this opening on the engine like so. Just squeeze her on." Ivy happily instructed
Theo nodded before he took the said radiator hose and shoved it over the fitting hole on the engine block with his two little paws.
"Perfect! Now tightened her down!"
Ivy then hands Theo a flathead screwdriver out of the nearby tool box so he could use it to tightened down the metal ring clamp that secures the rubber hose tightly over the fitting hole. After tightening and securing the hose, now came the final step which was filling the radiator up with water. Together the two young cats take a large metal bucket filled with fresh water and carefully pour it into a funnel right on top of the said radiator.
"Alright kiddo, easy does it." Ivy said
"This sure is heavy." Theo said as he carefully kept his hold on the bucket
Soon all the water was gone out of the bucket and the radiator was fully filled up. All the work was done and car was all set and ready to be driven again. Ivy and Theo both work together to secure the cap onto the radiator, close up the hood of the car, and put away all theirs tools.
"Great work Theo! You are already a mechanic!" Ivy praised before giving the kitten boy a high paw.
*SLAP!*
"*giggles* That was pretty neat Miss Pepper! I want to do it again!" Theo smiled
"Well kiddo lucky for you cars break down all the time so I promise you will do it again soon. Now waddya say we head back inside for a cold drink eh?" Ivy said
Theo happily nodded yes before walking with Ivy back into the Lackadaisy speakeasy via a secret access that connected to the garage.
Back inside the Lackadaisy, Viktor was behind the bar quietly cleaning some glasses and organizing drinks with his back turned as Ivy and Theo came into the room. Ivy approaches the bar and helps Theo up onto one of the stools.
"Here, up you go" Ivy said lifting Theo up
Theo gets himself comfortable on the leather bar stool with his paws on the counter while completely oblivious to Viktor behind the bar. Ivy was about to take a seat next to Theo and order some drinks with him when Mitzi suddenly showed up out of nowhere in a rather panicky mood.
"Miss Ivy! I'm sorry to bother you but can you come with me right away please? We have something very important you should really see!" Mitzi requested in a distressful tone
Ivy grew concerned at Mitzi's words.
"Oh?...Umm yeah okay, i'll be right there." Ivy obliged
Ivy turns back to Theo and gently puts a paw on his shoulder.
"Theo, I'll be right back. You sit tight here okay?" Ivy said before going away with Mitzi
Theo watches Mitzi and Ivy as they both leave the room together and rush back upstairs to the Little Daisy Cafe. Once they were out of sight, Theo turns back around to face the bar and patiently wait for Ivy to come back from whatever issue she had to go tend to. Theo fidgeted with his little paws on the counter surface when suddenly...
*AHEM!*
A loud male masculine throat clearing sound gets Theo's attention making him look up to find Viktor looking right at him with his sharp piercing remaining left eye while cleaning a glass in his large iron-clad paws.
*GASP!* Theo gasped out of fright as he almost fell back off his seat
Viktor remained silent and still as the little tuxedo kitten gazed at him from his seat while fearfully shaking like a leaf. Of course poor Theo had every right to be super scared of the large male orange cat in front of him due to what happened on the night Ivy first brought him to the Lackadaisy.
*Shiver, Shiver* "GULP!" *Shiver, Shiver*
Theo gulped down a knot in his throat as he kept on fearfully shivering with his ears folded back against his head. Viktor then let out a big calm sigh before turning back around to prepare a drink. Theo stopped shivering as his fear now got replaced with curiosity on what Viktor was doing behind the bar.
After pouring and mixing some sweetener syrup and brownish colored flavoring into an ice filled glass, Viktor turned back around presenting a glass of ice-cold raspberry sweet tea with a straw and cherry. Viktor sets the drink down on the counter with a coaster and gently slides it towards the young boy much to his surprise.
"Huh?...Is-...Is this for me?" Theo said in his thoughts as he silently stared at the cold drink before him
"Go ahead. It's non-alcoholic." Viktor said in a calm yet deep masculine tone breaking Theo from his thoughts
Theo was so confused as he hesitantly grabbed hold of the glass and started sipping the tea through the straw. The tea tasted so sweet and nice with its raspberry flavor exploding in Theo's mouth making him smile a little in delight. But why was the large hardcore orange cat being nice toward him all of a sudden? Maybe Viktor felt bad for losing his cool on the night Ivy first brought the kitten boy to the Lackadaisy and the sweet tea he made was a token of apology for it. Or maybe Theo reminded Viktor of Ivy Pepper in her childhood days when she hung around the Lackadaisy several years back. Who knows. But other than that, Theo was starting to not feel scared around Viktor anymore as he happily kept on sipping down his drink.
Meanwhile
Ivy and Mitzi arrived back up in the cafe where Rocky and Freckle were both waiting. Ivy noticed that Rocky had a regretful look on his face while Freckle was holding onto a newly printed newspaper.
"So uh what's going on here? What's the situation?" Ivy asked anxiously
"*deep breath* Let her see the paper boys." Mitzi regretfully ordered
Without a word, Rocky gestures Freckle to hand Ivy the newspaper which he reluctantly does so. Ivy takes the newspaper from Freckle's paws and immediately reads the front. Ivy's eyes lit up in sheer shock as she couldn't believe what she was seeing.
The headline of the newspaper said: SCORCHED BODIES FOUND IN BURNED UP AUTOMOBILE
Below the headline of the newspaper was a photo of a burned and wrecked up car being lifted out of a roadside swamp by a heavy crane machinery with a some recovery worker cats standing around in hard hats. There was another second photo below showing two dead cat bodies laying in the middle of the dirt road fully covered with blankets with a police automobile in the background. There was also two policer officer cats in the photo with the bodies. One officer was kneeling down next to the bodies taking down notes on a little notebook while the other officer was standing nearby taking photos of the scene with a large camera.
"...Oh-...Oh my." Ivy said as her lips quivered from what she was seeing
Below the photos, the news story described the time and location the burned up car was found and that the police concluded the situation as a deadly fiery automobile accident. However they were unable to identify the two casualties found in the car as they were severely burned up to a crisp like charcoal, despite the car having crashed into a watery wet swamp.
Ivy's heart dropped as she read over the severely tragic news story. Even though the burned bodies couldn't be identified, Ivy had a pretty good idea on who the bodies were as she recalled what Theo had told her long ago.
"W-We crashed in our car and-...*sniff* There was a fire and-...They-...They got burned!" Theo's voice echoed in Ivy's head
"Now Theo did tell you that his parents died in a car crash that one night, correct?" Rocky spoke up
"Y-Yes he did...Th-This sounds just like it." Ivy quivered not taking her eyes off the paper
"I'm afraid it is. The spot where they found the car is almost close to the graveyard where we were digging that night." Freckle said as he lowered his head in sorrow
Mitzi then comes up beside Ivy and gently lays a paw on her shoulder.
"I'm so sorry you had to see this Miss Ivy. It looks like our boy was really telling the truth about his parents. I'm afraid we're gonna have to go show this paper to him." Mitzi said softly
In truth, Ivy didn't want to show the newspaper to Theo in fear of how he would react to it. But they make sure for a fact that he was really involved in what they were seeing on the front page of the paper. So with that Ivy turns to Mitzi and gives her the okay nod to go back down to retrieve Theo. Mitzi takes a deep breath before heading back down into the Lackadaisy.
Meanwhile back down at the bar
Theo had just finished up his sweet tea drink as he licked and smacked his lips in delight. That's when Mitzi came back into the room and came up beside him.
"*sigh* Theo Darling, I need you to come with me." Mitzi said softly getting the boy's attention
Theo turns around to face the golden furred cat.
"Mrs. May...Why do you look so...unhappy?" Theo asked in concern noticing Mitzi's expression
"Well honey, we need you to confirm something for us. Now if you would come with me please dear." Mitzi kindly said as she held out her paw
Theo contemplates for a second before grabbing hold of Mitzi's soft paw and letting her gently escort him out of the room and back up the stairs to the cafe. Theo is brought into the cafe where everyone else was waiting. And of course the kitten boy notices the unhappy faces on everyone.
"What's-...What is going on here?" Theo asked as he grew more worried
Ivy then approaches Theo and kneels down to him with the newspaper.
"Sweetheart, I am so sorry we have to show you this." Ivy said before gently handing Theo the newspaper
Theo reluctantly takes the newspaper and quickly reads it. Next thing you know his pupils shrink out of shock and he gets a wrenching feeling in his heart from what he sees.
"Now tell us Theo, is this what you were involved in that night? Does that car look familiar to you?" Mitzi calmly asked pointing to the first photo
But poor Theo couldn't give an answer, nor could he speak any word as his throat had a knot and his eyes started to flood with tears. He fully recognized everything he was seeing in the paper. He recognized his parent's wrecked up car and the dirt road swamp it was being pulled out of. And the news story below made a lot of sence to him.
"Oh no, not good." Ivy whispered to herself in regret when she saw the grieving look developing on Theo's face
Things were just about to get worse. As Theo looked at the photo with the two blanket covered deceased bodies laying on the road, he noticed a feminine hand paw sticking out from under one of the blankets. The feminine paw had a fancy bracelet around the rist and a wedding band on one of the fingers.
Theo recognized the paw as his mother's.
"Now kid...it's alright. Just take it easy." Rocky said trying to keep things calm
But that didn't help as poor Theo dropped the newspaper on the floor before rushing out of the cafe through the front door with tears pouring from his eyes leaving little droplets along the way. Once Theo was out of the cafe, he reached the street and sat down on the edge of the sidewalk and begin crying his eyes out once again over the loss of his parents. Back inside the cafe, all of the adult cats were now fully convinced that Theo really was involved in a vehicular accident with his parents the night they found him at the graveyard. His tears said it all. But everyone also felt super guilty and regretful on making the poor kitten cry by making him recall his traumatic experience.
"*sigh* What have we done. I feel like this is all my fault. I knew I shouldn't have brought the newspaper." Rocky said in regret as he along with everyone else all watched Theo cry outside through the cafe windows
Ivy wanted to go out and comfort Theo right away but was stopped by Mitzi.
"Miss Ivy, perhaps we should let him cry it out first. Give him time to cool down." Mitzi advised
Ivy thought it over before nodding in agreement
15 minutes later
Theo's crying eventually ceased and reduced back down to sniffles after all his tears formed a small puddle on the pavement. He had his head down with his ears folded back as he silently hugged his own legs and not moving a muscle.
*Tap-tap-tap-tap-tap*
The approaching sound of leather shoe footsteps made Theo's ear perk up before he looked up to his left to find Rocky standing right beside him and looking down at him with a warm caring smile. Theo shows no reaction to Rocky's presence as he was still in grief. The kitten child sadly turns his head back down facing the ground again before Rocky takes a deep breath and sits down on the sidewalk edge next to the poor boy.
"Here. Use a tissue." Rocky said taking out a white handkerchief rag and offering it to Theo
Theo reluctantly takes the handkerchief and uses it to dry his remaining tears and blow out his nose.
"SNORRRRRRRT! *Sniff* Th-Thanks." Theo said weakly giving the rag back to Rocky
Rocky puts the handkerchief away behind his back before wrapping his right arm around Theo in compassion.
"There There. Now I know what you're going through kid. Losing someone important in your life is like losing a rare valuable bottle of whiskey. Except you can always get more whiskey, but you can never replace a loved one." Rocky quoted
"*sniff* W-What is a whiskey?" Theo asked
"...Ehhh don't worry about that. But you get my point here." Rocky smiled as he caringly rubbed Theo's shoulder
"*sniff* I- *sniff* I'm sorry I ran out here. I just miss my parents so much. I should've let you guys help me feel better back inside." Theo apologized
"Hey hey don't beat yourself up kid. Nothing is your fault. It's 100% natural for you to react like this after you uh...saw the newspaper." Rocky assured
There was 5 seconds of silence between the two until Rocky decided to lighten things up.
"Hey tell you what kid, wanna hear a joke?" Rocky smiled
Without a word, Theo reluctantly looked up and faced Rocky ready to hear what he was going to say.
"I take that as a yes. Okay so one time I put my luggage in my bed and tucked it in. Guess you could say...I rest my case." Rocky joked
This caused Theo to lightly chuckle as he wiped one of his eyes.
"Oh here's another one! Before I got into bootlegging, I used to have a job at a department store as a mannequin and I held that position for a long time." Rocky delivered again
"*sniff* Hehe. That's- That's funny." Theo lightly smiled
"Hey there's that smile! Oh here's one more! *clears throat* What do you call a beer bottle that says nice things about your looks? A complimentary drink!" Rocky joked once more
"*snickers* Teehehehe. You're funny Mr. Rocky." Theo said
Rocky was pleased to see Theo lightly smiling again. It wasn't a big joyful ear-to-ear smile, but at least it was something. Suddenly Ivy comes out approaching on Theo's right side holding a warm cup of hot chocolate in her paw.
"Theo, are you doing okay sweetheart?" Ivy caringly asked as she knelt down to check on the kitten boy
"He's fine right now. I managed to cheer him up a little." Rocky proudly assured
Ivy then hands Theo the cup of hot chocolate while smiling warmly at him.
"Here you go dear, I made this myself. This should cheer you up as well." Ivy smiled before taking a seat on the sidewalk edge to join in on keeping Theo company
End of chapter 8