Tony and Tommy were brothers, two
Siberian or Amur Tigers that lived in a town with other kitties near some
humans, as a matter of fact. How can a bunch of big and small cats
live near humans? Well, that’s simple enough humans are self-absorbed,
arrogant and only think of themselves. They have no concept of
what’s around them. In other words, they have no
imagination. In a way, that’s a good thing, if humans knew that so
many cats were near, they’d probably be dead. Anyway, you could find
Amur Tigers, Malayan Tigers, Amur and African Leopards, and any other cat you
can think of in the neighborhood. That was a good thing- everybody,
generally, got along and it was actually a great life for any cat that needed a
nice, safe place to live. These cats also had one thing in common-
They
loved holidays and they especially loved Halloween.
Tony
and Tommy were giddy at the thought of Halloween. Every year, they
tried to do something to do something to scare themselves. Last year,
they went exploring and pawed through a creepy cemetery that was in the middle
of nowhere. This year the debate was what were they going to do to
scare themselves now?
“We
could always find another cemetery,” Tony said to his brother, after lunch. “That
was cool finding it last year down by the river.”
“Who
are you kidding?” Tommy asked. “We need something
new. You can’t go out with a specific plan. You need to
be surprised.”
Right
when he said that their pal, Frankie the Fishing Cat pawed
in. Frankie, as you probably guessed was a world-class Fishing Cat
and he just happened to paw in bepaws he had some treats for the boys for
later. Tony and Tommy perked-up right away at this
fact. There was nothing like fresh fish to top off a yummy
lunch. “What are you guys talking about?” asked Frankie.
“We’re
trying to figure out what to do for Halloween,” Tony answered.
Frankie
perked up at this. Halloween always interested him just for the
simple fact that swimming on a spooky night was just purry
cool. “Didn’t you two find that cool cemetery last year?”
Tony
chuckled at that. Yeah, tigers chuckle and it’s a pawsome
sound. “Yeah. It was great, huh?” He was speaking about
the fact that many of the cats ended up joining them through the creepy
cemetery pawing. Like I said, all wild cats knew how to a-purr-ciate
Halloween.
“I
might be able to help you about the Halloween pawing,” Frankie said.
Tony
and Tommy just stared at Frankie with amazement/confusion. Tommy was
extremely amused. “What would you know about being
scared?” he asked. “You’re always underwater!”
Then
Tony and Tommy preceded to laugh hysterically like Tommy just made the biggest
joke in the history of comedy. Frankie though was actually a
good-natured cat and figured that the boys were a couple of goofs anyway- so
who cared if they were amused. Pawing right along though- he waited
until they calmed down and said, “I know a haunted swamp.”
The
boys stopped laughing and looked at Frankie with surprise. Frankie
was rather pleased with himself because he could see that they were genuinely
shocked. “Did you hear what I said? I know a haunted
swamp.”
“Where
is it?” asked Tony who was literally stunned by this
news. After all, tigers always prided themselves on knowing
everything around them.
“Well,
what are you looking so mad for?” he asked.
“I
can’t believe we never ran across it,” Tommy said, tail swishing.
“Well,
you boys don’t know everything,” Frankie answered. “Remember how you
found the haunted cemetery.”
There
was a friendly growl recollection of the fun they had last year. All
of the cats in town did join them, how could they not? When all of
the other cats found out the boys found a haunted cemetery, they were all
interested. I’m telling ya- animals know how to appreciate Halloween
more than humans.
“You
have to take us to it,” Tommy informed Frankie.
That’s
when Frankie gave that mysterious, fishy smile. “Pal, I wouldn’t
have it any other way!”
So, what happened? Where did Frankie take the boys? Well, surprisingly, it wasn’t as far as it
seemed. Remember pals, Amur tigers take
to water just as good as our Fishing Cat buddy, except they couldn’t do the
overall smooth strokes. Point being that
a 10 mile is actually a short swim with a large stride. Anyway, they had to come to land bepaws they
had reached it…
The haunted swamp!
Cue the scary music people…
“Meee-wow!” Tony exclaimed as they pawed onto the shore
which, of course was meowy slushy. “This
is pawsome.”
Tommy and Frankie were looking at him
like he grew another head. “What are you
staring at?” he asked.
“Why did you meow?” Tommy asked.
“Yeah,” Frankie through in, “you’re
not a cat.”
“Well, I’m reconnecting with my inner
kitten,” Tony answered feeling annoyed by the whole deal. “How big is this place?” he asked Frankie.
“About 20 miles,” Frankie
replied. “How do you like the trees?”
Tommy and Tony eyed trees with
awe. It was actually hard to
differentiate bepaws, naturally, it was dark and it was just so damned
creepy. “Wow,” Tony said, “Those things
are really big.”
“I know,” Frankie answered. “Let’s just head west here and I’ll show you the deep sides of
the swamp.”
Tony and Tommy had no problem with
that but all of a sudden a couple owls started hooting.
“Wha- what is that?” Tommy asked.
“An owl,” Frankie answered
calmly. “Hey guys! Guys wait!
Where are you going?”
Where were they
going? Nowhere. The boys were just pawing
away. Now, everyone knows that tigers have the reputation for being
really tough and the boys are no exception. However, the did have
one secret- they were really afraid of owls.
Meee-uhoh-
hey wait a second…
Tigers
are afraid of owls? How is that pawsible? Tigers are huge
and they have teeth that could give any animal nightmares. How is it pawsible
that they’re afraid of owls?
The
answer- I have no meowing ideas. Both Tony and Tommy were afraid of
owls and it was one of the best kept secrets in the land of
cat-dom. At the sound of the owl, the boys took off.
“Can
you still hear it?” asked Tony stopping. He was
panting. “Is it still around?”
Tommy
stopped and listened- nothing but silence. He sunk to the ground in
relief. “It’s gone,” he replied.
Tony
sat down and surveyed the swamp. It sunk into him that Frankie was
nowhere in sight. “Where’s Frankie?” he asked.
Tommy’s
eyes popped open. “You mean he’s not around?”
“Nope.”
Tommy
sat up. “Uh-oh. How are we going to get out of here
without him?”
Tony wasn’t sure how to answer this. Number one, what kind of tiger would he be to
admit that he needed the help of a Fishing Cat.
Secondly, no tiger was going to admit that he was scared. How could he?
He had a reputation to uphold, after all. Tommy was trying to look calm but not doing a
good job. Tony, being the oldest, knew
that he had to take care of his little brother.
“We don’t need him,” he answered, taking a look at the
creepy scenery and that’s exactly what it was creepy- with the tall trees, the
long branches- the leaves that looked thick in some parts, thin in others. There was nothing put darkness with a tiny
pit of the moon reflected off the swampy water.
It was horror-movie type scary.
Tony didn’t like it, especially when every direction looked like a dead
end. He looked at Tommy. “Don’t worry, we’ll get out of here. Just keep pawing along.”
Tommy followed, reluctantly. He, of course, didn’t like the looks of this
either. “It stinks in here,” he said.
“Well, what do you expect?”
Tony answered. “It’s a swamp.”
“Don’t you think we should just try calling Frankie once?” he asked.
Tony did think that was a good idea but didn’t want to
admit it. “Go ahead, if you want,” he
answered.
He stopped, licked his lips and roared, “FRAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANKIE!!!!!!!! FRAAAAAAAAAAAAANKIE!!!” Poor Tommy sounded like he used all his
air. He was panting by this point.
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