The Case Of The Grey & White Feline League: Part II

*We would like to dedicate this blog to our good furriend, Misha. She was ‘One Ginger Beauty’! Now OTRB 🌈. We’ll miss you, Babe!*

The hardest thing I’ve ever had to do, so far, in my young life has been this . . .

“I did it!” I hung my head and confessed in front of the Kontinental Kat, Savoy and my brofur.

“He did!” Zen moved away from me.

I gave my brofur, my meanest look. How could a blood relative leave me to hang out to dry like this?

Zen picked up some of the packaged treats that Savoy had left on the desk. He gobbled them down. I felt so isolated.

The Kontinental Kat walked to the office window. He stared down at the street below and did not meow a word. If only he would make a sound . . . Then I could, at least, defend myself but this silence was grating on my nerves.

Finally, my Savoy offered a perspective, “Seems to me, your vacation was unproductive. Not everyone has the entrepreneurial spirit that I have.”

“You don’t understand . . .” I pleaded, “ . . . I tried to earn some extra treats . . . It, just, turned out very badly.” I ended.

The Boss turned to face me. He took a hold of Zen’s paw to stop him from scarfing down the last of Savoy’s samples.

Zen let out a bit of a hiss, directed at the Boss and Savoy. I had to step in. Just because I was in the doghouse, didn’t mean I would allow my brofur to take out his frustrations on my work colleagues. I moved towards him, tail puffed out.

Zen hid under the desk. Confrontation was not his strong point, especially when treats were not involved. I turned to the others and admitted, “It was all my idea. I’m the one who took the job and I’m the one who allowed us to work for the Muskrat!” I came clean.

“What?!” The Boss exclaimed.

“You’ve been working for the Muskrat?!” Savoy shivered in disgust.

I had to defend myself. “I was duped! I didn’t know that the Muskrat was the one behind the ad. Or that . . .”

“What ad?” The Kontinental Kat interrupted me.

“The one in the paper. Zen, do you still have it?” I leaned down.

He extended his paw out from under the desk and handed me the ad. I gave it to the Boss.

“You got hired for this?” The Boss asked, somewhat surprised.

“Yes. There were tons of grey & whites vying for the job, too.” I answered.

“And they took you on?” The Kontinental Kat continued this line of questioning. If I didn’t know any better, I’d think I was being interrogated.

“They did. But it wasn’t the Muskrat who did the hiring. It was some big, New York rat.” I added.

“He gave me the creeps.” Zen added as he crawled out from under the desk to join us again.

“How did you get hired? You aren’t a grey & white cat.” The Kontinental Kat asked my brofur.

“I was hired because I have the brains to be able to write.” Zen returned proudly.

“He was taken on when I told the rat that I knew of an all-grey cat who was looking for a temporary position too. The only thing was, he thought I was meowing about a feline cat. I don’t know what gave him that impression. He wasn’t happy when he saw Zen.” I recounted the events leading up to my brofur’s hiring.

The Kontinental Kat glanced from me to Zen to Savoy and clapped his paws together, “Aha!” He rejoiced. “And now the rat has closed the office down?”

“Yes. We worked for him, the last two weeks and when we went in on Friday to pick up our pay, the office was shut down. I don’t mind so much about the job but I want the treats for the work we did!” Zen explained his motives while eyeing what was left of the treats on the desk.

“We went to the landlord to find out what had happened and that’s when we found out that the New York rat had rented the office for a E. Muskrat. Which meant we’d spent the last two weeks working for a corrupt, inhumane, hater of felines!” I shuddered at the humiliation.

The Kontinental Kat turned to Savoy and asked, “When does your company, ‘Savoy’s Treats’, open?”

“The end of the week. We’re finishing off the vault in the basement and we have to sort out a little legal matter. There is a hostile takeover in the works. Someone is trying to buy the company out from under me. But we should prevail. Our prospects are very favourable.” Savoy seemed unconcerned.

“Ha! That should give us enough time but we have to act fast.” The Kontinental Kat revealed.

“For what?” I had to ask.

“Operation Sink The Rat!” He grinned.

*********

Normally, Zen would have returned to the monastery right away but he stayed on to help us. After numerous meetings with Chief Inspector Magic and P. C. Pumps, a plan was set.

My assignment was to go for a daily walk, with my walking stick. And I would tap the pavement on the road at the same time, in the same place while the Boss stood by the open window in the office. I admit, I was at a loss but the Kontinental Kat seemed to get something out of this odd behaviour.

Zen and P. C. Pumps (who were undercover as monks) stood on the corner chanting ‘🎵 . . . Haré Rabbits . . . Haré Bunnies . . .🎵’, while listening for any unusual street sounds.

The fact that we were all participating in a grand scheme should have given us a bit of comfort. If only I had a clue?

Then it all came to a head!

*********

The next day, Savoy and I joined the Kontinental Kat, Chief Inspector Magic, P. C. Pumps and Zen in the basement of Savoy’s new factory. We were being taken on a tour of the underbelly of this enterprise. And as production had already begun Zen, of course, wanted to see where the inventory would be kept. It’s not often one gets to see the insides of a treasure trove of treats.

As soon as we all descended to the basement and despite the cold, I could see a bead of sweat on the Kontinental Kat’s brow. He was anxious about something.

“What’s going on?” I asked the Boss.

“Shhh . . .” He answered.

We all kept schtum and before I knew it, I heard a faint pounding noise. I looked to the others and meowed, “Did you hear . . . ?”

I was motioned to keep quiet. I did so. In a matter of moments the pounding grew louder and we grew more silent.

Then the unthinkable happened!

A bunch of the blocks, in the wall, fell to the floor!

And from it, emerged a gang of furry little rodents!

*********

Needless to meow, Chief Inspector Magic and P. C. Pumps leapt into action and the gang of rats were apprehended. They forced us to give chase and one of the gang clamped on to my Savoy’s paw.

I swatted the offender clear across the floor where he landed against the wall. Before I could finish him off for the disrespect he showed my Savoy, the rodent disappeared.

Zen comforted my Belovéd which I admit riled me somewhat. I would have to keep an eye on them!

After the mad scramble, the others all gave up the ghost and resigned themselves to their fate.

*********

The Kontinental Kat stood in the office, after being privy to the police investigation, he explained to us what had taken place. “The rodents were eager to rat on each other. I have to meow, if loyalty is important to you, do not involve yourself with these creatures. Honour is not high on their list of priorities.” The Boss claimed.

“So, the New York rat was behind this scam?” Zen asked.

“He admitted that E. Muskrat paid him to make sure Dash and Savoy were out of the office for a couple of weeks. The fool didn’t know that we had closed the Agency for our annual vacation. That’s why, when he found out, he refused to pay you. You see, he thought it was Savoy, that Dash meant when he asked if a grey cat could be hired as well.” The Kontinental Kat addressed his remarks to my Belovéd.

“Me? But why me?” My, gorgeous, grey, Love asked.

“He wanted you both out of the office so they could tunnel their way into your factory. Apparently, the Muskrat got wind of how popular your treat company was going to be and he wanted to own it, so he could claim that he came up with the idea. When you wouldn’t sell to him, he intended to steal your recipes.” The Kontinental Kat explained.

“The bas . . .” Savoy stopped herself from swearing. You have to love a kitty with self-restraint, don’t you? At least, I do. 😻

“The treats are safe, aren’t they?” Zen meowed his concern.

“They are.” The Boss was beginning to warm to my brofur. “If you ever give up the monastery, call me. You might make a fantastic apprentice.” He added.

WTFLOOF?! Was the Boss planning to replace me?! 🙀🙀

“So, you had Dash tap the road every day so that you could hear if it was hollow underneath.” Savoy stated more than asked. How she came to that conclusion, I’ll never know?

“That’s right. I could tell they were getting close. That’s why we had you give us the tour of the basement. I knew they would break through and we could catch them.” The chubby, black cat confirmed.

“Did we catch the Muskrat? I didn’t notice him. But he could have disguised himself as one of the gang of rats, I suppose.” I added still keeping an eye on my brofur as he inched his way towards my Belovéd.

“He, definitely, was there. But he was the one that got away.” The Kontinental Kat told us. “One of these days, he’ll pay for all the chaos, he’s caused!”

“You chased him away and saved my company.” Savoy threw her arms around me and planted a huge kiss on me.

Holy Smokes! This caper ended better than I could have imagined! Take that, brofur! The lovely feline is mine!

The End.

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