The Spotted Tail

“What? Oh, that would be a good idea, but peas would be too big. No, this is a Popper,” Garon said as if she should know what a Popper was.

“A Popper?” Paxine said, looking very confused.

“Yep.” He twirled the spoon like a baton.

“And what does a Popper do?”

“I’ll show you,” he said, selecting a tiny black bead from a tin box. He fit it into the hole at the rounded end of the spoon. “This way.”

He led her around a cabinet to another metal door. Inside, he flipped a switch, starting a fan at the far end of the room. With a flick of his wrist, the bead shot out of the spoon, hitting the far wall. It made a loud pop, bursting into thick black smoke. The fan sucked away the smoke. He grinned as if that was the neatest thing.

“That’s it?” She was thinking maybe an explosion and black smoke would be exciting, not a pop?

“Not impressed, huh?” He led her out of the room.

“Nope.”

“Well, you would be, if I flicked it at you. It produces a lot of heat and can give you quite a burn. It can start your clothes on fire. It doesn’t take much to send it at someone. However, you do have to use a flick of the wrist, else, it won’t go. Hard to misfire it.”

“Oh. I guess that sounds more serious if it can start your clothes on fire.”

“And no one is going to disarm you of a spoon. Remember? A weapon is best when it’s not a weapon. Stick that back in your backpack, and I’ll give you a couple of beads for it,” he said, rummaging through a drawer, finding another tin box and putting Popper beads inside.

“Always wise to keep it loaded.” He loaded a bead into the spoon and handed her the spoon.

“Tache won’t mess with it, will he?” She had a right to be worried since Tache messed with everything.

“He won’t. Popper has a nasty smell to it. I think I ruined his spoon for him.” He put more metal pieces and tools on the table. “Here, let me show you how to make your own Screamers.”

He handed her a pair of tweezers. Paxine followed his instructions, putting together a spider.

“There,” he said.

“That’s it?” she said, putting the spider down, thinking putting spiders together was easy. Her spider walked across the table, stopping just before the edge. “Whoa.” She remembered the mouse that Greta gave her, pulling it out of her backpack.

“Yes, yes. Those are built on the same principle as the Screamer except it doesn’t scream.” He hardly gave the mouse a glance. His stomach gurgled. “Oh, dinner. Pizza okay? Oh, of course. Pizza is always okay.”

He dashed out the door they had come.

She wondered if he had to go all the way down the corridors. And where was a Pizza place in this part of the city? She didn’t wonder long. Instead, she put together her second spider, but added another set of legs. Now how could she get it to carry Popper beads?

“Soda?” Garon said, coming back through the door, carrying a pizza box.

She almost squashed her new spider. “Gosh, that didn’t take long.” She cleared a place on the table for the pizza.

Garon opened a cabinet, revealing a small refrigerator full of soda.

“That’s my favorite,” she, said, opening the pizza box to see what kind. Pepperoni.

“No, that’s my favorite ,” he said, filling two glasses with ice. “And I don’t share with just anybody.” He glared at her.

“You need to work on that glare.” She laughed and grabbed a glass. “So I take it pepperoni is your favorite pizza?”

“Yeah, it is.”

Yeowl.

Shaloonya appeared from behind a cabinet.

“Oh, what?” he said, looking down. “Oh, here.” He picked something invisible off his shoe. “A Screamer got away from us,” he said with a chuckle. “Not the first time.” He put the Screamer away in a box. “There.”

He patted Shaloonya who then disappeared. “Well, there is a story behind this shop.” He took a big bite of pizza, eating right out of the box.

“Yeah?” she said, helping herself to a slice while Tache slid up into her lap to check the pizza out. He whacked his approval, hoping for a bite.

“We are sitting right beneath our enemy.” He tried to sound dramatic. “The guys who were chasing us.”

“Ahuh.” She bit into the cheese stuffed crust, ignoring his dramatics.

“This is where they moved because of Tache,” he said, looking like he wanted more of a reaction out of her.

Tache popped his head up, dangerously close to her piece of pizza.

“Yes, you,” Garon said, pointing a finger at Tache who didn’t even blink an eye. “I know when they’re around or not. I pretty much control this building. Let me just say there are lots of spiders and other things creeping around up there.”

“So we’re pretty safe here, huh?” She focused on her pizza.

“I would say so,” he said, pausing to chew and swallow. “There are so many scanners and deactivators over our head that they couldn’t detect us even if they knew we were here. Now that they’ve moved, this is the safest place we can be.” He finished his first slice and dove into his second slice of pizza.

“Huh, I guess,” she said, grabbing another slice, but she really thought this was so neat and exciting. The metal slivers, plastic bits, and all the other things stuffed onto shelves and into cabinets were getting more and more interesting. There were so many cabinets…

“Where am I sleeping tonight? Not on the floor, I hope.” She pretended to be sore.

“No floor,” he said in between bites. “Done?”

She grabbed one more slice. “Now I am.”

He slid the leftover pizza into the frig.

“Over here,” he said, pointing around another cabinet, showing her a nook with a cot. “And over here…” He pointed out a normal wood door leading to a restroom with one toilet and a sink. There was no shower or tub, and only paper towels.

“Is there enough food for both Tache and Shaloonya?” she said.

“Oh, yes. Over here.” He led her around another cabinet.

“The Waterer like at grandma’s office,” she said, pointing out the familiar six-legged stool like spider.

“No, it’s an automatic food bowl filler,” he said. “As soon as the food bowl becomes too light, see it’s on a small scale, the spider fills it up again. And over here is the ever-flowing Tail water fountain.”

In one corner, connected to a pipe, was a fountain.

“If it gets too low, it automatically refills,” he said.

Tache trotted over and batted at the water bubbling up. He shook his paw, sending water flying.

“Tache, don’’t,” she said, waving him off.

“Oh, don’t worry about that.” He gestured, looking unconcerned, toward a rag sitting by the fountain.

“What? Tache’s gonna to wipe up after himself,” she said, laughing.

The rag moved, startling both she and Tache as it zigzagged around the water fountain, soaking up the water. Tache pounced, missing as the rag avoided him. The rag returned to its spot by the fountain. Tache batted at it, but it buzzed at him, flapping away his paw.

“Tache, leave it alone,” she said with a laugh. “A rag spider. What, no dust spider?”

“Dust spider?” Garon said, looking confused.

“To dust the shelves, of course,” she said.

“Oh, never thought of that. I have the Rag because Shaloonya, and I see Tache as well, likes to play in the water. Gets all over the floor.” He pulled out a pillow from a cabinet and threw it on her cot. “The Ball is in two more days. We have a couple of other things to work on. Then we have to work on you.”

“Me?”

“Yes. On the day of the Ball, your grandma has arranged for you to be beautified. Hairstylist and beautician I think are the terms. We will have to meet them in a place that I hope is safe (your grandma’s house).”

“Cool,” she said, feeling the excitement that she really was going to the Ball.

“Now, you get some rest. Tomorrow we have a lot of work to do. Good night.” He disappeared around another cabinet.

“Good night.” She heard the creak of another cot.

With relief, she found the cot was comfortable. Tache joined her, putting his head on her chest. She wondered if she could sleep.

Paxine’s hand slid down Tache’s side when she fell asleep. Tache rose, joining Shaloonya out by the table.

The table was clear except for two Screamers. He nosed one and it crawled towards him and up on to his fur. He flattened his ears. Its screaming was annoying.

Shaloonya nosed the other, letting it crawl on her before leading Tache to a small cat-sized door up above a cabinet. The door opened out on top of a pipe that followed the corridor. The utility lights lit the corridor below. Nothing stirred, but it wasn’t silent to Tache and Shaloonya with the two Screamers.

Shaloonya moved along the pipe until it curved. There she jumped down, activating a sliding door that opened out to a parking garage. She crossed through the garage toward the street.

There was no moon and the streetlights were gritty and dim. The parking garage appeared deserted, making it easy to stay undetected. Tache liked that, letting his tail whip and flick at will, until he found that Shaloonya was leading him toward a busier street a couple of blocks away.

He didn’t like the looks of the busy street. No one was out walking at this time of night, but there were still a lot of cars. He would rather have had the people.

Shaloonya settled in a shadowy niche of a building by a busy corner, looking like she was going to sit there forever.

Tache’s tail twitched. He couldn’t fit into the niche with Shaloonya even if he wanted to. Instead, he kept in the shadow of a No Parking sign. Why were they waiting?

Screamer screaming.

He didn’t know the whole plan. Shaloonya wouldn’t tell him everything. His tail whipped across the sidewalk.

Glaring eyes.

Shaloonya’s message was clear. They were on a mission, and if he messed it up… She puffed herself up. Tache sat on his tail, worried.

A scooter pulled up to the corner. A woman got off, removing a box. A side flap opened. The woman stretched, turning her back away from the box. The light changed and she strapping the box back on.

Tache didn’t like the box, sitting this close to Shaloonya. Her fur tickled his nose, and she kept standing on his tail. The box bumped and he slid into her.

Grrr

He tried to shrink against the opposite side, but there was little room.

Bump

Grrr

Screaming

The box was hot. Shaloonya threatened to bite off his twitching tail.

Bump

Grrrr

Screaming

Tache pulled his tail underneath him, scrunching into as tight of a ball as he could. It was getting hotter.

Grrr

Screaming.

The scooter stopped. Tache hoped it wasn’t a traffic light stop. The scooter moved, but…

The flap lifted with a rush of cool air.

“One hour,” the woman said in a low voice.

Tache flew out of the box as if his tail was on fire, stopping only under cover of the bushes. The woman drove off. He hoped Shaloonya was still in the box, but she wasn’t, passing him in the bushes.

Two houses down, Shaloonya stopped, taking cover under some low bushes. A tall wrought iron fence with a gate across the driveway surrounded the house that seemed to interest her. The fence was of no concern to them, having cat wide spacing between the bars. However, the short cut grass offered little cover until the line of bushes heading to a garden patio.

A guard appeared, coming around the house, down the driveway. Tache knew this was his cue before Shaloonya could remind him. He dashed between the fence bars, keeping as low as he could go, knowing he was in full sight until he reached the shrubs around the garden patio. The guard showed no sign of seeing him, showing no sign that he was paying attention to anything, jingling his keys as if he was out for an evening stroll.

Low flowering bushes, edging the house, provided enough cover for Tache to get close to the guard. He shook off his Screamer, sending it out into the lawn. His tail smacked the bushes.

The guard’s flashlight swept across the bushes when he stepped into the grass.

“Chirp,” Tache said, imitating the sparrows he had seen out a window the other day.

“Bird in hand is worth two in the bush. That doesn’t make sense. Why would I want two in the bush?” the guard said, muttering to himself as he turned off his flashlight.

Tache felt his whole body quiver with excitement. He had completed his mission. Why the guard needed a Screamer, he didn’t know. He didn’t understand Shaloonya’s explanation about getting the dog out of the way. What dog?

The guard scanned the front lawn, then turned around, retracing his steps around the house. He jiggled the handle to the back door, checking the lock.

“Woof.” A large dog jumped at the glass on the door.

“Easy boy,” the guard said.

“Woof. Woof. Woooooof.”

“Dumb dog,” a man’s voice said, yelling from within the house. “It’s just the guard.”

“Woof.” The dog sounded irritated.

“Shut up,” the man said again.

“Woof. Woof.”

“Then go out, dumb dog,” the man said, opening the door.

The dog bounded out, racing toward the guard.

“Easy boy. Haha. I got your treat, but you need to wait til morning,” the guard said, putting his hands out as if commanding the dog to stand down.

The dog lunged with bared teeth.

“Nooo. Git off. Ahhhh. NO,” the guard said, yelling at the dog, trying to keep the gnashing teeth away.

Shaloonya moved up beside Tache. He followed her when she moved closer to the back door.

“What’s got into that dog?” the man said, appearing at the door. He was in pajamas, holding a glass of milk.

“Help, here. We need some help here,” the pajama man said, calling back into the house.

“Help. Git off. Ow ow,” the guard said, screaming at the dog now latched onto his arm.

Another guard, holding a cup of coffee, ran out of the back door to help. “What’s...” His coffee flew to the ground as he raced toward the dog.

Snarl. The dog gave warning to the second guard but didn’t let go of the first.

“Git him off. Arg. Git him…aaarg,” the first guard said, getting more frantic as the dog tightened his grip.

“Sitz. Platz. Hier. Get off him you damn dog,” the second guard said, yelling at the dog as he tugged on the dog’s collar, using the German commands the dog should have obeyed. The dog ignored him.

The pajama man opened the door to go back inside as if thinking the two guards could handle the dog.

“Aaaaaah,” the first guard said, screaming, sounding even more desperate. The scream echoed through the neighborhood.

The glass of milk flew against the house when the pajama man raced to help.

For the split second that the door hung open, Shaloonya dashed inside the house.

Milk dripped off the siding. Tache licked his lips.

“Platz. Platz,” the second guard said, pulling as hard as he could on the dog’s collar. “Sitz. Platz. Hier.” He heaved his whole body back, twisting the collar, managing to disengage the dog from the first guard.

“What’s wrong with that dog? Get that man to a hospital. Oh, my…blood….The car. Get that dog in the house,” the pajama man said, half holding, half dragging the first guard toward the garage.

The second guard tugged the dog toward the house. Tache tensed. Shaloonya wasn’t out yet.

The dog lunged, almost freeing himself, trying to follow the first guard.

“I don’t know if I can hold him,” the second guard said with a grunt.

“No. No. No,” the first guard said, kicking his feet wildly to place more distance between him and the dog. His kicking unbalanced pajama man, who fell on top of him.

“Stop it. You’re getting blood on me. I got to get you to the garage. Get into the car,” the pajama man said at the top of his voice.

The second guard with the dog was losing ground as the dog dragged him closer to the garage, even after the first guard disappeared into the garage. The overhead door opened.

The second guard found it easier to guide the dog toward the entry door of the garage, away from the overhead.

The car pulled out and the overhead door closed. The guard released the dog into the garage, closing the entry door.

“What’s going on?” a woman said, standing at the door. She wore a pink frilly robe.

“Dog attacked…” the second guard said, getting into the car.

“What?” she said at the top of her lungs in a demanding tone of voice.

The driver’s window opened.

“The guard is dying. Got to get to hospital. Damn dog attacked,” the pajama man said.

“What dog?” the woman said, screaming back.

“The guard dog, you idio…” the pajama man said, closing the window.

The garage overhead door rattled as the dog lunged against it. The car screeched down the driveway.

The woman leaned out from the door to watch the car go, and Shaloonya slipped by.

“Hey, why is there milk all over my rose bushes?” the woman said.

Tache and Shaloonya flashed across the lawn, back to the bushes beside the road. The gate to the driveway clanged shut. The neighborhood fell quiet again.

A scooter coasted down the street, stopping near the driveway.