Conversations with Critters
Walk with the animals. Talk with the animals. And the adventure continues, the plot thickens and the mystery unfolds with Chapter 6 of The Case of The Misplaced Priority Envelope
Today, Critters, we are pleased to present Chapter 6 of The Case of The Misplaced Priority Envelope! We are dockside with our incredible sleuths as the plot thickens indeed. And if you need to catch up on all of the investigative action thus far, we have links to Chapters 1-5 listed in the Notes below. So without further fanfare, please, join us now in excellent detective agency critter conversation! Take it away, Critters!
Jasper: Welcome welcome back for our Tuesday Detective Storytime with all of the latest and greatest from the J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency! CwC presents a Crittertime Mystery Series with The Case of The Misplaced Priority Envelope, Chapter 6!
Chris: Critters, we left off with Mr. Serval, the Client of the Story, nowhere in sight on the streets of San Francisco!
Jasper: That’s right, Chris! After spotting a Missing Serval Poster and receiving another Haiku warning, our Sleuths are going to have to pull out all the stops!
Chris: So, let’s read all about it and find out! What. Happens. Next.
The Case of The Misplaced Priority Envelope
Book 1 from the J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency
By Jasper Kitten, Chris and Star in Heaven Furever and Ever
Dedicated in luvluvluving memory of Star
Chapter 6
By The Dock of The Bay
The Critters ran this way through the streets of Dogpatch and they ran that way through the streets of Dogpatch. They ran up the streets and they ran down the streets and they ran around the blocks.
“Gosh! No sign of him!” panted Star.
“Let’s split up,” suggested Chris in the fading light. “I’ll take the high road, Jasper you take the low road and, Star, you take the middle of the road.”
They ran hither, they ran thither and they ran flat out yon.
”Mr. Serval’s short term memory is functioning to a certain extent,” said Jasper Kitten, catching his breath when they all met up again at the wall of posters. “Perhaps he remembered the way back to the Earthquake Shack.”
“He sure got spooked in my humble opinion,” said Chris.
“As I have noted,” continued Jasper Kitten, “there’s no place like home. Cats really bond with where they live even on a short term rental basis.”
Chris tore the poster of the missing serval from the wall and they took off for home.
Meanwhile, back at the Earthquake Shack…
They burst through the front door, the porch illuminated from the orb of a streetlight as the fog rolled in.
Chris flipped a switch in the entryway and the dim interior lit up. Star padded over to the Couch in the Catio and knelt down.
”Gosh, Mr. Serval,” she stated as the light flashed in her eyes. “I see you under the Couch.”
“Hello, Star,” he whispered. Tears welled up in his green eyes.
”Mr. Serval, we have been looking everywhere for you on the streets of San Francisco.”
”I came back to the Earthquake Shack.”
”Yes, when we couldn’t find you, we put two and two together.”
“I’m sorry for causing any inconvenience. Again,” he added.
“Why did you disappear?” asked Jasper Kitten as he knelt next to Star. “Why did you run?”
”I was scared.”
“We’re here to help you, Mr. Serval. Please, come out from under the Couch.” Star gazed at him, but he stayed put.
“Mr. Serval, you’ve got to have courage, courage!” she cried.
Still, he wouldn’t budge from his hiding place.
”We are here to help you.” she went on. “You asked for our help.”
“Yes, but I didn’t know I’d be so scared.”
”Gosh. As promised, we are here to protect you and find out who you are and why you were in that Big Rig, but if you want to flatten yourself into a rug or, worse yet, turn into a puddle, then you are welcome to stay where you are. After such a long day, even my senior little dog patience, forged out of many years of life experience, is wearing thin.”
Star stood up and hopped onto the Couch, her Chihuahua can do attitude on high alert.
A minute passed and then another and then he crawled out from under the furniture. Jasper Kitten stepped aside.
“Are you ready to let us help you?” she encouraged him.
”Yes. Thank you, Star. Thank you very much.”
”Excellent. Mr. Serval, only Jasper Kitten has the key to the Earthquake Shack, so I would like to ask you, how did you get in?” questioned Star.
She extended a cinnamon brown paw to him and clasped his paw.
He extended a toe bean and a claw then sobbed.
”Your mode of entry is understandable,” said Chris, grabbing his toolbox. “I’ve got this.”
Chris repaired the slashed Catio screen in record time. While he was fast at work, Jasper Kitten, out of an abundance of caution, entered the security code for each of the locks on the attaché case and flipped the latches open.
The evidence was secure. The Treatise on Animal Magnetism, the Priority Envelope, the Haiku clues, and the chrome plated bell were all in order. He removed three magnifying glasses and a backup pair of reading glasses for Star and set them on the coffee table.
“Please, tell us what spooked you so much when we saw the poster.” Jasper Kitten asked in a calm mew. “Or was it the Haiku text message?”
”The poster,” he affirmed. “The poster triggered me. I saw an image flash before my eyes. It was a big steamer trunk.”
”I see,” replied Jasper Kitten with a tone of keen and deep instinctive interest. “Can you be any more specific in your recall?”
”It had a big padlock, the kind that opens with a key.”
”This is a most important detail and distinction,” said Jasper Kitten. “We can rule out a combination padlock.”
”Oh, thank you, Jasper Kitten. Thank you very much.”
”Were you able to see inside of this big steamer trunk?” Jasper Kitten rested a white gloved paw on the Serval’s shoulder.
”Nope.”
”Nevertheless, we have gained a great deal of intel. You have done very well,” praised Jasper Kitten. “Are there any other details that you remember?”
”There is something else, I believe, but it feels so raw and it’s so fuzzy. But I’m pretty sure, Jasper Kitten.”
”Please, proceed. I am most keen on hearing another detail excavated from your recovered memory, however remote, however raw, however fuzzy.”
”There were big letters stamped on the big steamer trunk, but parts of it were scratched out.”
“I see,” said Jasper Kitten. “Please, can you spell this out for us? Take your time, Mr. Serval.”
“Yes. I remember the letters, O-P. That was the first line.”
”Why, that sounds like a military code,” growled Chris.
”Chris, we must keep an open mind. Memories, especially recently recovered memories, can be elusive and highly emotional. Let’s give Mr. Serval more time.”
“Thank you for the clarification, Jasper Kitten. I understand. Your point is well taken.” Chris shifted his on his toe beans and settled, listening.
”There was a second line. S-E-C-R-E.”
”Gosh, that sounds French,” speculated Star.
“Chris and Star, please. Let’s proceed with all due logic and not hypotheticals,” cautioned Jasper Kitten. “Was there a third line, Mr.Serval?”
”I don’t think so, but there was a drawing.”
“And can you describe this drawing in any detail for us?”
”Yes, Jasper Kitten. It was a drawing of a jagged tooth.”
Silence fell over the room as The Critters absorbed the meaning of the Serval’s memory.
”Is that helpful?” asked the Serval.
”Yes,” said Jasper Kitten. “It is most helpful. Are you sure about the drawing?”
”I believe so, Jasper Kitten.”
”It was a jagged tooth not a, shall we say, a different part of one’s anatomy such as a skull and crossbones?” clarified Jasper Kitten.
”Correct, Jasper Kitten.”
”Thank you, Mr. Serval. You have done very well. Very well, indeed. My friends, it has been a long day on the road from our Condo in the Wooded Valley, our crossing of the Golden Gate Bridge, and running full tilt through Dogpatch. I suggest we sit down for a much deserved meal.”
They made their way to the Breakfast Nook of the Earthquake Shack. Chris poured kibble into their travel bowls and the spoons clattered as he set the table.
The city lights glowed through the Catio screens, beacons shrouded in fog, as the Critters chowed down.
After dinner and KP duty, after their bowls and spoons were clean and dry and stacked, they meandered back to the Catio and curled up on the Couch. They drifted into a deep, dreamless sleep with soft slow breaths.
Star stirred in her sleep and opened her eyes, aware of a distressed mewing. She thought she was having a bad dream and then thought otherwise. Perhaps, one of the cats was talking in their sleep. Fully awake now, she realized that the cats were also alert.
”Gosh,” she said. “Do you hear that, too?”
They all nodded and got out of bed.
“This cannot wait,” stated Jasper Kitten.
He grabbed the headlamp and they stepped out into the night, chilly and damp with fog. A ship’s horn sounded once in the distance, but the mewing remained, muffled and muted yet distinct and undeniable. Calling. Calling.
The Critters made their way through the winding, narrow alleyways between the dockside warehouses. Chris, with his gray coat, melded with the fog. They all stayed close, warming each other against the cold.
They paused by a dock and listened, water lapping at the pilings. A warehouse loomed out of the mist before them, shuttered and deserted and as dark as the night. They inched along the brick building and found a boarded up doorway.
Jasper Kitten leaned against the boards, pushing them away enough to form an opening and they all pressed inside.
The mewing, once faint, grew louder and more insistent in the stale and drafty and cavernous space.
”Gosh,” whispered Star, “this boarded up, abandoned dockside warehouse feels like it’s been vacant since the Victorian era.”
They moved in even closer to each other and walked deeper into the warehouse. The floor boards creaked and groaned with their every step, no matter how light they were on their feet, no matter how soft and steady the tread of their toebeans. The Critters moved along in their tightknit pack.
A sharp click echoed in the warehouse and they froze.
“Did you hear that?” whispered Jasper Kitten, bracing a white gloved paw against the band of his headlamp.
They all breathed yes under their breath and then the floor gave way and the Critters fell, down, down, one by one and all together, and tumbled into the unfathomable darkness.
🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
Poetry with Pets
Are they lost in space?
How will they get out of it?
A mew and a click
By Jasper Kitten, Chris and Star in Heaven Furever and Ever
Notes:
Catch up on all the Chapters of The Case of The Misplaced Priority Envelope!
This chapter is a real cliff hanger, Heidi and critters. Gosh! I hope everyone's alright...
An excellent chapter, Heidi. Really like the descriptions and imagery in this part! Looking forward to Chapter 7 and what has happened to the critter crew!