Adventures of Cocoa, Chapter Three

I was curled up in my favorite spot and snoozing the afternoon away when I was awakened by loud yowling from a stranger. I rose, stretched, and jumped off the bed to see who, or what, was making that awful sound. The bathroom door was closed and the yowling was coming from within the room. I put my front paws on the door to push it open like I usually do, but it wouldn’t budge. I stuck my paw underneath and was clawed by whatever was inside. I was furious and I put my paw back, this time with claws extended, but the chicken didn’t take the bait. I tried to smell who it was but the scent was totally unfamiliar. The other members of the group straggled in and we began a vigil to see if we could discover the stranger’s name and intensions.

“I saw them bringing in a funny looking box with a stranger in it,” Salty said sticking his nose further under the door and sniffing.

“I was able to climb into the empty box when they set it in the living room,” Mittens said, “and the smell was definitely unfamiliar, except that I seem to remember something from when I was young.”

“I got to smell the stranger on my human,” Dusty said with a grin, “I think we might have a new member of the group.”

“Absolutely not,” I said with a slight growl for emphasis. “We have too many already in here. I refuse to allow another one in. I will fight them every step of the way!” I stuck my paw back under the door for emphasis.

“What are you gonna do when they let this stranger out?” Mittens said sitting down and watching me with an intense frown.

“Well, I am the cutest of all of us,” I said trying to decide how best to handle this. “I will just make my dislike known and that will be that.”

“You really think that will work?” Salty asked. "I seem to remember you showing dislike for us when you first came and, well, you're still here."

“No way,” Ash said shoving her way through the crowd. “I say that this stranger will be here for a short time and then they will take him away and we won’t see him again. I say we should ignore him and go about our business.”

“Well,” Mittens seemed uncertain.

“Hey," came a voice from the other side of the door, "you guys keep talking like I'm not here, but I am."

Ash moved gracefully down the stairs. Halfway down she stopped and turned, "see," she said, "I told you we should ignore him."

"Oh, come on," I said, "let's go."

I made my way down the stairs and the others slowly followed with the exception of Salty who decided to wait it out. I wondered if this would be another addition to our group and I was not happy with the thought. I had enough to compete with, I didn’t need another. I walked into the kitchen and found a human in there working with something that smelled wonderful. I wove myself between their legs, but all I got was a quick rub. However, that was enough to tell me that the human had been petting the stranger in the bathroom. I grumpily moved away and flicked my tail in irritation.

“Watch this,” Dusty said coming up behind me, “I’ll show you how it’s done.”

Dusty sat for a moment in front of the human purring loudly and then he rose and slowly stepped closer crying and purring even louder. The human continued to walk around the kitchen and seemed to be ignoring Dusty until a small piece of food fell to the floor and Dusty raced over to gobble it before any of us could get there.

“See,” Dusty said grinning from ear to ear, “I told you I could do it.”

I sighed. I was the cutest and I got a rub, Dusty got the food, and there was a stranger in the bathroom that could potentially take my place. I slapped Dusty to show my disgust at his blatant attempt to win the human and I left the kitchen. I could hear a door open upstairs and I raced up to see what was going on. The others quickly followed and we were soon gathered inside the bathroom smelling and checking things out. Mittens found a hamper in the tub and climbed in to see if the stranger had been in it. Dusty tasted the food to see if they had given the new guy something different but it was the same thing we had.

I climbed up on a chair and called everyone to attention, we had to get to the bottom of this.

"We need to find out who this stranger is," I said to the gathering. "We can't let another person into our ranks to steal away our human's attentions. Now, we make our way to every nook and crany in this house and we do our best to find the stranger. Is everyone with me?"

"Not me," Dusty said slowly making his way out of the room, "I'm late for my morning nap."

"Uh, me neither," said Salty climbing up on a rocking chair to look out the window, "I thought I saw that red head outside."

Tigger looked up from his spot on the bed and yawned. "I think I'll just stay here," he said, "I'm afraid of strangers."

Dakota dashed into the bedroom and just before she ran under the bed she turned and shouted, "I can't, the stranger might see me."

We nearly burst a gut laughing at Dakota, then we settled down and began to discuss what we were going to do about the stranger. The others didn't seem to be all that worried, but I was determined that another stranger would not be welcome in this house.

Just as the others moved away, a large yellow tiger cat waltzed into the room. He sat down as if he owned the place, "Hey, all," he said with a grin, "I'm Mittens brother, I'm baaaack." Then he climbed up on the bed and made himself comfortable as if he owned the place.

"Hey," I called, "are we gonna accept this stranger at his word?"

I looked around, but everyone had scattered. I was furious. How was I going to get this stranger out of here if no one would back me. I turned and flicked my tail in disgust at the whole idea and left the room in a huff. Tomorrow I was gonna show that stranger a thing or two about who was boss!