Conversations with Critters
Walk with the animals. Talk with the animals. And the highly anticipated release of Chap. 12 from The Case of the Misplaced Priority Envelope…
Today, Critters, we are pleased to present the highly anticipated release of Chapter 12 from The Case of The Misplaced Priority Envelope! At the end of Chapter 11, did Cecil the Serval see a pair of ghosts in a vacant Victorian cottage on Southeast Farallon Island? What just happened to the J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency and their Client?
In keeping with the season, the Critters tip their hats to Halloween with Chapter 12: Ghost Writer. Please, welcome our Core Community Cats, Jasper Kitten and Chris, in excellent detective critter commentary and conversation. Take it away!
Jasper: Hello, Friends! Or should I say, Trick or Treat!
Chris: Jasper, please allow me to go first. I’ll say, Trick. Full stop.
Jasper: And I’ll say, Treat. The end.
Chris: And now, Critters, please join us for the highly anticipated release of Chapter 12. Did we just see a ghost?
Jasper: Or did we just see a writer?
Chris: Or both?
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 & Star in Heaven Furever and Ever
Dedicated in luvluvluving memory of Star
Chapter 12
Ghost Writer
An aura of moonlight filtered into the room through the Farallon fog. No one moved, not a whisker here, not a whisker there. Stock still in the silence, in the void and in the gush of air from the gaping hole above them, Cecil began to cry.
Great tears welled up in his green eyes, splashing onto the floor, while words escaped him. Clementine, without hesitation, cried out with the loudest of mews and ran toward the two figures, one big and one small.
”Clementine! Oh, my darlin’,” called the big figure.
“Mama!” Clementine called back as they embraced.
“Petal!” cried Clementine.
Clementine then reached out to the small figure and mewed with joy as the three held fast to one another.
”Cecil, aren’t you going to say, hello?”
”Hello, Rose,” he sobbed. “Hello, Petal, my little furbaby.”
They rushed to his side.
“Cecil, I saw the Nefarious Perp knock you out on the dock in San Francisco and load you onto a Big Rig. There was nothing I could do. Are you o’kay now? You still seem a little concussed.” Rose reached out for his head.
“Rose. Rose,” he repeated. “That Big Rig crashed and I had amnesia, but now I can’t believe my eyes.” He wiped at his tears. “I recovered my memory when we found Clementine in the warehouse tunnel by the docks.”
“He hit his head when he fell through a trapdoor and then he remembered who he is!” confirmed Clementine.
“My brave little furbaby. My brave little girl.” Rose held Clementine close. “I told you to run from the boat at the docks, to try and save yourself.”
“Thank you, Mama. I chewed through the burlap sack and ran from the Nefarious Perp. It was so hard to leave you and Petal behind. I feel so much survivor’s guilt,” she cried into Rose’s fur.
“I’m so proud of you, Clementine,” said Rose. “Teething certainly has its advantages.”
“I’m proud of you, too,” said Petal, standing side by side with her sister. “I’ve been taking care of the two of us. We’re in good shape.”
Clementine and Petal, the Serval Furbabies, purred together in the embrace of their family reunion.
“Jasper Kitten,” said Cecil. “My family and I cannot thank you and the entire J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency enough for bringing all of us together again.”
“It is my honor,” replied Jasper Kitten, bowing his orange striped head.
“Star and Chris, thank you from the bottom of my heart,” said Cecil, his green eyes upon the detectives.
“Gosh, Mr. Cecil Serval, this is what we’re here for,” said Star.
“Ditto, Cecil, you’re most welcome,” said Chris.
“Now let’s get these two cleaned up!” Jasper Kitten led Rose and Petal out onto the porch and they shook themselves free of the plaster and debris.
Jasper Kitten switched off his headlamp and the group adjusted to the dim moonlight.
“Rose and Petal, how did you get into the cottage?” asked Jasper Kitten. “I mean, you must have escaped from the clutches of the Nefarious Perp, but how?”
“He brought us here against our will to Southeast Farallon Island under the cover of darkness, to this wild, remote and rugged place,” relayed Rose.
“He threw us in a bunker!” said Petal.
“We heard the key turn in the lock, then echoing footsteps down the corridor and that laugh, I’ll never forget it. That laugh.” Rose held her paws to her ears.
”I’m so sorry, Rose and Petal. I should have been there to help you,” Cecil cried again.
”We were left alone with nothing to eat or drink. Time felt like it didn’t exist, but even in the pitch dark, we were aware of a presence tapping tapping on the door,” explained Rose.
She described how they had waited through fitful bouts of sleep, through the cold that seeped into their very bones, through the hunger and the thirst, isolated and solitary, until they heard the lock turn, metallic and rousing, and a shaft of light spread into the bunker.
What stood before them was unlike a bird they had ever seen before, holding a Quill Pen in his clipped wing.
”Quickly,” he had whispered. “Come, quickly. Follow me. Follow me now!”
Rose and Petal hastened after the waddling bird.
“Oh my goodness, thank you for freeing us,” whispered Rose.
“You’re welcome, please hurry.”
“Did you pick the lock with your Quill Pen? What kind of a jailbird are you?” questioned Petal.
“Please, we must move quickly and remain as quiet as possible. Danger is all around us!”
They moved on with quiet stealth. They stopped at a grate in the floor and the bird looked up and down the corridor.
“They call me Bartleby, but that’s not my real name,” said the bird. “I’m a Rhinoceros Auklet, a Native Seabird of the Farallones. I’ve been held captive here by the Nefarious Perp and forced into servitude as a Scribe, a Ghost Writer of everything from Haiku to a Treatise on Animal Magnetism. There isn’t time for more details,” he said, lifting the grate.
Rose and Petal inched close to the edge.
“Follow this passageway at once. It will lead you to an open space. You are on Maintop Island. Look for the zipline and cross the Jordan Channel to the mainland of Southeast Farallon Island. You will find shelter there until Jasper Kitten and his detectives track your whereabouts. You must trust them! Godspeed, my friends!”
“But how can we ever repay you?” asked Rose.
“Your freedom is enough. And remember my real name. My name is Finnegan.”
Rose finished her story of how they had made their harrowing escape from Maintop Island, but the Critters were still held in rapt attention.
“Clearly,” said Jasper Kitten in a tone of awe, “we are in the presence of a genius. Finnegan the Rhinoceros Auklet, Native Seabird of the Farallones, is not only a fine writer but also a fine spy. We owe him our debt of gratitude for all of his writings and hidden meanings, for the acrostics and the other clues that have led us here.”
“Gosh, we really need to find Finnegan and rescue him, Jasper Kitten!” barked Star.
“Yes, Star, we must help him. Something is still very wrong on the Farallones if my instincts serve me correctly.”
“Why, I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again,” growled Chris low and slow. “When I get my paws on the Nefarious Perp, I’m gonna tear him to shreds.”
Jasper Kitten turned to Rose.
“Rose, it has not escaped my attention. Neither you nor Petal are wearing a collar with a chrome plated bell.”
“The Nefarious Perp said we wouldn’t be needing them where we were heading,” she shivered.
“This is deeply concerning. It also indicates, in part, why we weren’t aware of your presence in the cottage. We thoroughly inspected both cottages when we arrived on the Farallones and ruled out any occupants,” said Jasper Kitten. “You must have special skills to have secreted yourselves so effectively. This is most instinctive and impressive.”
“I’m so sorry to have eluded you, Jasper Kitten,” mewed Rose, “but Petal and I crawled into a small space between the floorboards. We were so scared of the Nefarious Perp who lurks in the vicinity even though you were here and brought Cecil and Clementine.” Rose hung her head.
“I see,” sympathized Jasper Kitten, resting a white gloved paw on her shoulder. “You did the right thing under the circumstances which are fraught with danger. None of us can say how we would respond in a similar situation.”
“Thank you, Jasper Kitten. As the night wore on, I looked through a crack in the floor, well, a crack in the ceiling that is. I could see how much Cecil and Clementine trust you. It took everything I had left in me and everything Petal had left in her, to wait and not run into the warm embrace of my lost family when that’s all we wanted to do.”
“Gosh, that must have been as hard as being locked in that bunker,” said Star.
“Harder, in fact, Star. By the time I felt safe enough, all of you had fallen asleep on the camp blanket and then I heard my sweet and luvluvluving family having those bad dreams. All because of the Nefarious Perp. I decided to come out of hiding, but when we started to move, the whole ceiling caved in.”
“We can’t say it enough, thank goodness for the J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency!” mewed the Serval Family.
Reunited, Cecil and Clementine, Rose and Petal, huddled and cuddled on the porch.
Star rolled up the camp blanket and took it outside. She shook out the debris. Splintered wood and plaster littered the ground.
“Gosh, this camp blanket sure is easy to clean,” she said, admiring her handy work. “Capt. Kangaroo Rat really picked out an excellent travel textile. The weave of it releases all kinds of extraneous material, even a collapsed and disintegrated Victorian era ceiling with plaster and lath.”
She brushed off the remaining dust with her cinnamon brown paws and draped the blanket over the railing of the steps. She tied the ends around the slats as the wind billowed around it.
“This will air out in no time,” she gave a satisfied nod.
The Detectives then conferred with one another in hushed voices a short distance away from the cottage, not wanting to disturb the Serval Family.
”We must solve an immediate circumstance which I find quite problematic and perplexing,” said Jasper Kitten.
“We’re all ears, Jasper Kitten,” said Star.
“ For as long as we are here, we must protect ourselves and most of all, protect our Clients. First, the cottage on the left, as we have previously observed and ascertained, does not have a front door. Second, the cottage on the right, in which we have been dwelling, however briefly, no longer has a ceiling.”
”Are you saying…,” started Star.
”You must mean…,” continued Chris.
”Yes, exactly. We must move the door from the cottage to the right and install it on the cottage to the left.”
“I’ve got this!” Chris took off running toward the Zodiac and returned with a small multi-tool and the rope clasped in his toebeans.
”Gosh, Chris. That was certainly good thinking to bring the right tool for the job.”
”The multi-tool was something I grabbed last minute and stashed in the storage of the Zodiac! I always keep it with the rope in the trunk of the car!”
He twisted and unfolded the multi-tool handle and set up the flathead screwdriver.
“Star, please hold onto these screws. They are in remarkably good condition, considering their age and exposure to the elements in this wild, rugged and remote place.”
In record time, with his toebeans stabilizing the hinges, Chris had the door removed from the frame. He lassoed the rope around the door, hoisted it up and carried it to the cottage next door.
”Hanging doors can be very challenging,” observed Star. “Nothing is plumb with this old threshold.”
Chris scratched at the dry rot and smoothed the edges of the frame. Jasper Kitten angled the beam of the headlamp toward the door jamb as Chris lined up the hinges. He adjusted the flathead while Star handed him the screws and helped balance the door in the frame. They secured the door with great success against the relentless wind from the Pacific.
In the dawning light, Jasper Kitten furrowed the brow of his orange striped head as he ushered the Serval Family into the cottage on the left. Cecil and Rose led their furbabies, Clementine and Petal, inside and closed the door.
“Please, stay indoors and rest. Chris has left you a supply of kibble and travelware, both bowls and spoons. Keep the door shut tight and locked. Make yourselves as comfortable as possible. We will return as soon as we are able, but we must investigate the Farallones further.” Jasper Kitten headed for the door.
“Thank you, Jasper Kitten. Thank you, Chris and Star,” said the Servals, secure in their surroundings.
“You’re welcome,” replied the Detectives as they departed the cottage.
They made their way to the zipline at the Jordan Channel, following the path that Rose had pointed out.
The channel roiled below Jasper Kitten, Chris and Star as they stood cliffside. The zipline swayed hundreds of feet above the crashing surf, the only connection they had to Maintop Island.
Jasper Kitten mewed over the roar of the sea and wind.
“Chris, we’ve got to get across this channel! Please, proceed!”
Jasper Kitten climbed into the harness. Chris clipped him to the zipline and gave him a push, watching an orange blur of fur accelerate to the other side of the channel. With a white gloved paw, Jasper Kitten released the clip and made landfall onto Maintop Island. He waved the go ahead to his companions.
Star went next. Her Chihuahua can do attitude propelled her, along with the force of the push from Chris, and she was carried from cliffside to cliffside like a breeze.
Chris glanced back at the cottages that sat distant and quiet among the rising morning cacophony of the seals and seabirds, and then he too clipped himself to the zipline and made his safe passage.
The trio stood together and scanned the terrain which proved itself to be as jagged and as rugged, as wild and as remote as anything they had yet seen on the Farallones.
The J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency set off in the direction of the bunker that had imprisoned Rose and Petal and they kept their eyes wide open and all of their senses alert not only for the Nefarious Perp, who lurked in the vicinity, but for a Rhinoceros Auklet with a clipped wing, a Quill Pen and an instinctive and sharp mind.
🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
Poetry with Pets
Did we see a ghost?
Or did we see a writer?
Or could they be both?
By Jasper Kitten and Chris
Critters! Catch up with all of the action and adventure from The Case of The Misplaced Priority Envelope! Chapters 1-11! Brought to you by the J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects!
Chap. 1🐾Chap. 2🐾Chap. 3🐾Chap. 4🐾Chap. 5🐾Chap. 6🐾Chap. 7🐾Chap. 8🐾Chap. 9🐾Chap. 10🐾Chap. 11
How lovely that the Serval family has reunited! And the mystery continues...I have a feeling we will meet Finnegan and the Nefarious Perp in the not too distant future. Thanks for posting, Heidi and critters.
Heidi, I think the takeaway phrase of the week, to your point, is: “teething certainly has its advantages!” I’ll be thinking about this for some time to come. Great piece!