Muffin and Mr. Cat come into the living room. Meow, meow.=We not have much food left, you need to go shopping. Meow.=Yep, this no time for diet, need to keep in shape for next case. “Um, well, it’s like this,” I said, “we’ll have to cut back a little for awhile.” Meow, meow?=What you mean ‘cut back’? We cut back any more and we end up like ‘skinny’. For those who might not know, ‘Skinny’ was a name that Muffin gave to the first skeleton we found in one of our cases. Oddly, skeletons don’t bother Muffin much, but mention ghosts and she runs for cover! “Well, we haven’t had a case for awhile now and we didn’t get paid much for that last one, so…”, I continued. Meow.=That mean money gone and we starve unless new case come in. Meow, meow.=Must be slow season for cases…oh, here mail woman delivery person human! Maybe case come in mail.

Meow.=I hope so, big diet not sound like fun, not need to lose weight. Muffin stares at his stomach. Meow.=Hey, that not fat, just extra fur on tummy. Muffin rolls her eyes. Meow?=Hey, how you do that? “Look here you two, a nice case for us just came in the mail,” I said excitedly. I didn’t really like the idea of a big diet either. Meow, meow=Oh good, we go pack. They both disappeared into the bedroom. That should keep them occupied for a while. Then two little heads poke out the bedroom door. Meow, meow?=What letter like? “What do you mean?”, I asked. They come walking over to me. Meow, meow.=You know what I mean, let me see letter. She jumps up on my lap.

Meow, meow! Aha! It handwritten letter again! You know that mean people have no money so we don’t get paid and we starve. We need case that pays. She grabs the letter and jumps down on the floor with it. Then she and Mr. Cat have some fun. Rip, rip, tear, tear, shred, shred! Meow, meow.=Say no to case, we go unpack. And into the bedroom they go. We go through this so often. This might end up taking awhile this time though, I don’t have much to work with. “But this is an older couple in their 80’s, we can’t possibly say no to them”, I said. Two heads poke out the door. Meow.=Oh, older humans, we should help them. Meow, meow.=Okay, that maybe why they write letter. Say yes to case, we go pack. Hmm, that was easier than I thought, I just better not mention the strange things that have happened.

Two little heads poke out the bedroom door. Meow, meow?=What that? What strange things? Guess I better not think out loud like that, their hearing is too good. “It’s nothing much, we don’t need to worry about it,” I said. Meow, meow.=Strange things mean ghosts, not want case with ghosts! You say no to case, we unpack. Here we go again. “But Muffin, they need someone to help them, they don’t have any family or friends way out there on the farm,” I replied to her. Two little heads poke out the door once more. Meow?=They live on farm? Oh, that mean lots of good farm mice. We should help. Meow, meow.=Why you not say this first? Okay, we help, say yes to case, we go pack.

“Besides, we can’t lose on this case,” I said to them. Two little heads poke out. Meow, meow.=I get nervous when you say things like that. Say no to case, we unpack. Sigh. “But they have already sent the money to cover all expenses plus enough for one week’s work, whether we find the treasure or not,” I said. Two little heads poke out again. Meow?=This going to be treasure hunt? Meow, meow?=And we already get paid? Okay, you have slow way of saying things, say yes to case, we finished packing now. We packed your stuff too. “It will be a long trip though so be ready for lots of sleeping on the way,” I said. Meow.=Good, get paid to sleep, this good case already. Meow, meow?=Then why I have strange feeling about this one?

To Be Continued.

©2020 Steve McLeod.