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Chapter Two Page One
“The Ides of March” “Butchie” is
basking in the afternoon sunlight coming through the garage window. He is on his back on top of the pool table,
his legs pointing up. By his side is a
cat-nip toy. He is oblivious to his
surroundings. “Sunny” is in
his litter box covering a pile and grousing about being relegated to the
garage. Sunny suddenly
loses it; the cat litter begins flying everywhere and he queries his brother
Butchie: “What’s with us being locked
in the garage? We were the kings of
this whole castle and now our kingdom has suddenly shrunk dramatically. And what’s with that stupid smile on your
face, don’t you get it? We’ve been
replaced! We are no longer Mom and
Dad’s favorites. We’re not
kitty-people any more; we’re just plain old cats. Butchie!!! Are you listening?” Butchie jumps
straight up, knocking over a box full of Styrofoam peanuts, leaps off the
pool table and dives under the tool box.
He can feel his fur standing straight up. He sticks out his pink nose and wonders
what almost got him. He meekly calls
his brother: “Sunny, Sunny are you here?” Sunny is
watching this whole episode with bewilderment, entertaining the thought that
maybe his brother has had just a little too much cat-nip. “Yeah, yeah, I’m over here.” Butchie
crawls out from under the tool box, stretches and asks; “What was that?” Sunny ponders
the question for a moment and wonders if they are really brothers. “That, my dear brother, was the sound of
your future. The sound of no more
sleeping in a soft king sized bed on fluffy covers. The sound of M0m and Dad cooing over
someone else. The sound of being
locked in THIS GARAGE!!! That’s what
that sound was, GET-IT?” Butchie,
however, had been distracted by the movement of Styrofoam peanuts moving
around on the floor. Stirred by the
light breeze cascading to the floor from the crack in the window. Butchie had moved under the pool table and
was studying their random movements and had discovered that if you batted
them, they were very fun to play with, now forgetting all about that
screeching sound that had startled him earlier. Sunny was
chastising himself, as he was sauntering toward the cat door, for not seeing
this whole thing coming. He had
thought all those new swings and toys were for him and Butchie, after all,
the two of them had always received all Mom’s and Dad’s love and
attention. Everything had always been
about him and Butchie. Oh sure, Mom
and Dad had gone off and left them a few times but they always came back and
everything always, always returned to normal.
Mom always loved us and kissed us and Dad always let me sleep between
his legs in the big bed. Why shouldn’t
I have thought all this new stuff was for us, after all, who else would it be
for? Sunny reached
the cat door, which had always been unlocked, to test and see if it was still
locked. It was. He turned and began searching for Butchie’s
toy hoping he could drown his feelings in cat-nip. Beyond the
locked cat door in the house with the fluffy covers and giant bed, Sunny and
Butchie were the topic of conversation.
After all, they are the kitties Aunt Mimi was referring to, aren’t
they?
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Page Two Parker was released and went home with
Mommy and Daddy March 4th. Chase followed a couple days later. He joined his sister on Monday, March 7th.
They have since both meet with their
pediatrician and have received glowing reports. Parker is now like a little baby
weighing in at just over six pounds.
Preemie cut little shirts etc. no longer fit. She is getting little baby fat creases and
is doing well. Chase is gaining as well, weighing in at
just over five pounds. Life seems to
be more serious to him. Grandma Lillian arrived Wednesday the
ninth and has been a tremendous help for the fledgling parents, plus Mike and
Lisa’s support group of friends have stepped forward to help as well. Everyone is adjusting and the only
trauma is taking place in the garage. Sunny figured out that if he beat on the
cat door with his head long enough, he could break in, which he did. He was not going to relinquish his castle
quite as planned. He must have done it after he found
Butchie’s toy!
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Page Three Butchie had long ago lost interest in
the Styrofoam peanuts and was just wondering aimlessly around the
garage. Now where did I leave that cat-nip toy,
he asked himself. He jumped up on the
pool table and landed square astride his brother. Sunny was dreaming of sitting in his
Mom’s lap being loved and scratched behind the ears when something heavy
landed on him. He was sure he was
dead, but so what, he still had eight lives to go and he leaped up, ready to
do battle, and faced his attacker. “Butchie!!” Sunny exclaimed. “Geez, you just cost me a life, not to
mention interrupting a wonderful dream.” Butchie was taken aback by Sunny’s
grumpiness. “What’s your
problem?” Butchie asked. “My problem is, I want things back the way
they were.” Sunny responded. “I want
to be a kitty-people again.” “Forget it.’ Butchie suggested. “The sooner you come to grips with being a
cat the sooner you’ll be happy again.
Fact is, we don’t even know what other cats do. It might be a lot of fun being out
doors. We could join in that game of
tag those other cats play with that big dog.
Looks like fun to me.” Sunny just stared at Butchie, then he
turned and jumped down off of the pool table and headed straight for the cat
door. He was determined that this time
he was going inside his house. On the
other side of that door was heaven and his stride quickened. Wham!
Sunny hit the door head first and it opened! Oh yes, he was in at last. There was the kitchen table and his
favorite chair and, wait a minute!
What is that Mom is holding instead of me, and Dad has one too! Sunny stopped dead in his tracks.
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Page Four Chaaaaase! Whatzthat? It’s okay Parker. It’s okay, it’s just aaa---, I don’t know
what that is. It kinda’ looks like a
kitty only bigger and I don’t think it’s green either. Ooops, there’s another one! Chaaase, Chaaase, Chaaase. I can’t look, Mommy! Parker!
Get a grip, I figured it out.
It’s a big kitty cat. But boy
it is sure big, it’s bigger than us! Here it comes Chase! Here it comes! Sunny is taking in everything in his
view. “So this is how it is, huh?” he
is thinking to himself. “After all
these years of loyalty and sacrifice.
Humph! We’ll just see about
that.” Sunny trots over to the new swing and
leaps into the seat and prepares to clean himself. Just then he is startled, “Yeow! What was that? Yeow! There it is again.” Sunny jumps down and goes behind the sofa
and comes nose to nose with Butchie. “Hey Sunny, did you get a load of the
new kids?” Butchie ask. Sarcastically Sunny replies, “Oh, so
that’s what those things are, huh, kids! “Well, actually Sunny, they’re tiny new
babies and that’s what all this new stuff around here is about. So why don’t you quit pouting and go
introduce yourself? Carefully, Sunny
carefully.” Butchie warns. “Not on your life.” Sunny rebuts and he starts to sharpen his
claws on the sofa arm. Whack!! “So that’s what it feels like to get hit
by a car.” Sunny exclaims to himself
as he lands on his feet in the kitchen. Butchie thinks to himself, “My brother
is so smart and so dumb at the same time.
Oh well.” and he curls up next to Dad and the newest male member of
the family.
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Page Five “Chase, did you see that kitty fly? I didn’t know kitties could fly. He flew clear into the other room, just
like the kitty in our picture.” “Yeah, I saw that Parker, that was
pretty funny. But did you see him jump
out of our swing. It seemed like
something was getting him. I don’t
know Parker; there might be something bad in our swing. It might get us too.” Sunny, somewhat stunned, was evaluating
his position. So far he had
successfully broken into the house but it had pretty much gone down hill from
there. He figured he should just look
disinterested, so he jumped into the pile of clean clothes and began cleaning
himself. “Sunny, get out of there. What’s wrong with you? Look at your brother he’s being such a good
boy.” “Ooops, that was Dad and he sounded
serious”, Sunny thought. “Geez, wrong
again.” Then he mimicked his Dad
sarcastically, “Look at your brother he’s being such a good boy.” Then he thought, “I think I might have to
gag.” Sunny just stared back and watched as
Dad laid his baby he was holding down in the crib. Then Dad turned and started in Sunny’s
direction. “Oh, we’ve done this before,” Sunny was
thinking. “Oh yes” and he started to
purr knowing Dad was coming to pick him up and hold him now. “Hey Parker, want to see a kitty fly
again? Watch this.” Chase was peeking out through the slats in
the crib now that Dad had laid him down.
Parker was straining her neck trying to see around Mom’s arm and just
then Dad arrived at the pile of clean clothes. Sunny stood and arched his back waiting
for Dad to pick him up.
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Page Six Dad spoke: “Sunny, I know this is an
adjustment for you but times change.
Come here, I want you to meet some very special little people who are
going to live here with you for a really long time.” Then Dad bent and picked up Sunny, cradling
him like he was one of the babies. Sunny was purring and congratulating
himself for once again being the focus of Dad’s attention. Dad stopped by the crib. “Sunny this is Chase. And over there with Mom is Parker. It’s nothing personal, however, they will
be sleeping in our room for now and your new bedroom is in the garage.” Butchie opened one eye and looked at
Sunny whose pink nose had just lost all its color. Butchie was amused because he knew his
brother was near the explosive point. “THE GARAGE!” Sunny exclaimed as he
jumped down from his Dad’s arms. “THE
GARAGE!” he exclaimed again. “Only
dogs sleep in the garage and I happen to be a select member of the feline
community. There must be some
mistake.” He trotted into the bedroom
and jumped up on the bed sure he was on firm ground and his move would not be
challenged. “We’ll just see about
this.” Sunny thought to himself. This
was his kingdom and he wasn’t going to be replaced by some little potato bug. ‘Yeow!”
There was that surprise again.
“Yeow!” and again. Sunny one
more time was surprised and defeated. Dad met him at the bedroom door, spray
bottle in hand, where he scooped up Sunny and headed for the garage. Butchie had retired to the garage earlier
when Sunny had ducked into the bedroom.
He was rolling around on his cat-nip toy on top of the pool table. Just as Butchie tossed his toy into the
air, the door from the house to the garage opened. Butchie looked in that direction. Sunny was standing on the floor just
inside the garage with a miffed appearance about him. The door behind him closed. “What are you looking at?” he quizzed his
brother. “Ohhh—nothing. I just wanted to see what a kitty-people
looked like when it found out it was really a cat, is all.” Butchie said with a little innocence in his
voice. About then Butchie’s toy hit him square
on top of his head and he couldn’t contain himself any longer. He burst into laughter and collapsed onto
his back. “I just want things back the
way they were” he mocked Sunny and laughed harder. At first Sunny was hurt but Butchie’s
laugh was contagious and soon Sunny was laughing too. “Who wanted to be a kitty-people
anyway?” Sunny thought, “People do
stupid things.” When they caught their breath, Butchie
and Sunny both agreed that Mom and Dad would only change those babies’
diapers for a short time but they’ll clean our litter boxes forever. And Sunny and Butchie laughed harder still.
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THANK YOU FOR READING THE
ADVENTURES OF PARKER AND CHASE
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© Copyright January
2005
Bill Wink
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