“What do you mean?”, Demanded Sable suspiciously as she shifted her phone to the other shoulder.
“I mean,” Began Teazer slowly. “There is no way to help you escape without causing a lot of suspicion and trouble.”
“So you aren’t going to help me?”,Questioned Sable, pouting.
“Don’t whine. It’s beyond my abilities to help you. Just avoid Tugger and cling to Munkus that should work.”, Teazer offered her advice in a serious, sagely tone, but Sable knew that she was just teasing.
“Fine,” Sable replied rolling her eyes and sighing. “I’ll just suck it up. Bye Teazer!”
“Good luck, Sable.”, Laughed Teazer before hanging up.
Sable turned off her phone and stuffed it in her bag. She looked in the full length mirror behind the door to check her appearance. ‘Bet Tugger’s the one who got that installed.’,Thought Sable with a little smirk. She looked nice. She had traded her outfit from school with a flowing mauve sundress. She was still wearing the sandles, but had replaced her scarf with a mauve one. She thought she gave off a good vibe, but sadly it wasn’t the one she wanted. Sable had agreed to come to dinner at Ol Deuteronomy’s so that she could hang out with Munkustrap, the tom of her dreams. Unfortunately, his younger brother Tugger was getting an “I want to sleep with you but I’m going to play hard to get” vibe from her. She had been forced to endure sitting next to Tugger all night during dinner, hearing about how great he thought he was. That tom was the incarnation of egotistical narcissism. All he talked about was himself. The only upside had been the fact that Munkustrap had been on the other side of her.
After dinner was over, though, she excused herself and ran to the bathroom. That’s how she got into this stupid situation. ‘No, that was wrong.’,She thought angrily. She got into this stupid situation because she was crushing so badly on Munkustrap that she would probably shave off all her fur if he smiled and asked her. She had it bad and she didn’t know what to do. She looked around the bathroom and saw that there was a linen closet. ‘That’s it!’, Thought Sable happily. ‘If I tie a bunch of sheets together, I can just shimmy out the window and run home.’ Sable ran to the closet and was about to open it when there was a knock on the door.
“Um . . . Someone’s in here!”, Called Sable desperately.
“Yeah I know.”, Called back Munkustrap from the other side of the door. “You okay?”
“I’m fine, “Replied Sable.
“I’m a little worried about you.”, Explained Munkustrap. “Do you . . . uh . . . want me to give you a ride home?”
‘YES! YES! YES!’, Screamed Sable inside her head. She felt like jumping around, singing, and shouting, but knew that was a bad idea. She didn’t want to seem desperate so she took a deep calming breath, checked herself in the mirror, and opened the door. Sable almost fainted at the sight of Munkustrap standing there. She had been to busy staring at his face to notice what Munkustrap was wearing. Her gaze traveled leisurely up his body starting with his shoes. Munkustrap was wearing black and green sneakers, tan dress pants, and a hunter green T-shirt sweater. He looked so refined and intelligent. At school that day, he had worn the same sneakers, black jeans, and a school jersey, which made him look strong and attractive. She didn’t know which look she preferred. When Sable’s gaze reached Munkustrap’s face, she internally melted. He was smiling knowingly at her, which made her blush a bit. She then connected with his eyes. She hadn’t got a chance to really look in his eyes before. They were dark, gray and hypnotizing. She found it hard to drag herself away from them. When she did, she looked away so that Munkustrap couldn’t see the blush, that Sable knew he had seen,
“Shall we go then?”, Asked Munkustrap offering Sable the crook of his arm.
Sable wrapped her right arm around his proffered arm and place both her paws on his elbow. They walked silently down the stairs. On the last step, Sable tripped and almost crashed face first on the hardwood of the floor. Luckily, Munkustrap caught her. Sable enjoyed the feeling of both his big paws placed steadily on her hips. They stood there for a little over a minute, when the sound of a clearing throat brought them back to reality. Both cats blushed and stepped away from each muttering apologies for clumsiness and other things. Sable had forgotten that the dining room was just to the right of the bottom of the stairs. ‘Seems like Munkustrap forgot, too.’, Pondered Sable with a little grin.
“Where’s Tugger?”, Asked Munkustrap ponderously scanning the other room, though it was obvious to Grizabella and Ol Deuteronomy that he was just trying to change to subject.
Sable’s gaze followed his up and down the dining room table. It was true. Tugger was nowhere to be found. She was happy that he hadn’t been there. Sable wasn’t prepared to deal with Tugger ranting about her and Munkustrap’s relationship, when they didn’t even have one yet. By the look, on her aunt and Ol Deuteronomy’s faces that they both suspected something was going on between Sable and Munkustrap. There was a glint in the big, old toms eyes that made Sable a tad bit wary. She couldn’t tell what he was thinking, but she knew it that her first instinct was probably right. He thought she and Munkustrap were up to something.
“He went out.”, Muttered Deuteronomy in a bored tone.
“What do you mean ‘went out’?”, Questioned Munkustrap curiously.
“He went for a drive with one of those queens that’s always chasing him around.”, Explained the old tom. “He took your car.”
“Dammit!”, Cursed Munkustrap angrily before turning to Sable and explaining. “He always takes my car without asking. I guess we’ll have to walk.”
“Fine by me.”, Replied Sable with a shrug while mentally she cheered. ‘Now I can spend more time talking to him.’
The two cats walked toward the door. They stopped for a moment so that Munkustrap could get his jacket. When he asked Sable about her’s she explained that she hadn’t brought one. Munkustrap stopped putting on his coat and, instead, helped Sable into it. They both said good-bye to the older cats and exited the house. The two older cats watched the door for a long while after the younger two had left. Finally, Deuteronomy returned to his dessert and spoke quietly to Grizabella.
“Well, the rumors are half right.”,He began with a laugh.
“About my Sable liking Tugger?”,Demanded Grizabella angrily. “Really, how can you think that?”
“That’s not what I meant, Griza.”,Answered Deuteronomy in a calming voice. “I meant that Sable is smitten with one of my sons. I never said it was Tugger. And I must say I think he feels the same.”
“Sable and Munkustrap?”,Questioned Grizabella not sounding altogether convinced. “Are you sure?”
“I do know a thing or two about these things, Griza.”,Interjected Deuteronomy. “Sable has been making goo-goo eyes at Munk all night. Munk was doing the same when he thought no one was looking.”
“I suppose I agree with you about Sable. She does seem to have taken a shine to Munkustrap. But are you sure he returns to feeling? I mean, he and Demeter just broke up and he barely knows Sable. And don’t try to use the fact that he’s walking her home as a reason to prove he likes her because we both know that Munkustrap has given many young queens rides home and they didn’t mean a thing.”
“True.”,Agreed Deuteronomy nodding his head. “But you’re forgetting one flaw in your logic.”
“What’s that?”,Asked Grizabella confused.
“He drove the other queens.”, Replied Deuteronomy. “He was in the company for a few minutes and that was it. The only queen I’ve ever seen him walk with before was Demeter.”
“Good point.”,Concurred Grizabella. “But Tugger has his car.”
“Yes, and my car, which Munk uses more then his own, is in the garage.”,Added Deuteronomy with a note of finality in his voice.
“Fine.”,Sighed Grizabella. “I suppose it’s possible that those two like each other.”
“It’s not a possibility.”, Muttered Deuteronomy in a very sure manner. “It’s a fact.”
Meanwhile, a few blocks away, Sable and Munkustrap were exchanging war stories about high school.
“That’s no big deal!”, Laughed Sable after Munkustrap told her about the time that he fell face first into a two-inch puddle of mud that was as long as he was. “One time when I was walking with my friends to the beach, we decided to climb over all these mini sand dunes that were blocking our path, instead of going around them.”
“Why do I have a feeling this has something to do with you hitting someone?”,Baited Munkustrap reminding Sable of the story she told about when she got the lead in Grease.
“Hey, That was totally different. How would you like it if someone went up to you all day going, ‘Tibetan Munkustrap’, ‘Munk is trapped’, or ‘Munkus the Monkey?’.”,Shot back Sable. “You know what I’m going to all you Munky from now on.”
Munkustrap laughed and nodded his head as a sign of agreement. Just then, a huge, icy gust of wind blew, almost knocking Sable down. Luckily, Munkustrap caught her again. He wrapped one of his arms around her waist, resting his paw on her abdomen. Munkustrap assured her that it was just so she didn’t fall down again, but Sable didn’t believe him. He hadn’t met her eyes when he said that so she got the feeling that he was lying. Whether it was the truth or not, Sable liked having Munkustrap’s arm around her. He felt warm, comfortable, strong, and safe. Sable didn’t want to move out of them, ever. She snuggled a bit closer to him.
“So about the beach?”,Asked Munkustrap his voice sounding kind of husky.
“Oh right, that.”, Muttered Sable trying to regain her train of thought. It was becoming increasingly difficult to think. “Well, as we were climbing over one of the dunes, one of my friend’s suggested I walk to the right of everyone so that it wouldn’t take us as long to cross it. They were wrong, though. It took us twice as long to get over because . . . I fell in.”
“You fell in?”,Demanded Munkustrap. Sable heard a lot of things in his voice; shock, amusement, concern. She got a warm tingly feeling thinking about it. ‘He cares.’, She thought happily before she continued.
“Yeah, right up to my underarms. It turned out that part of the dune wasn’t as solid as the rest. It took me months to get all the sand out of my fur. So, yeah I did hit somebody. It’s bad enough having to brush sand out of your fur in the middle of English, but to have someone shout out ‘Hey Sandy Sable!’ is a little too much.”
Sable and Munkustrap walked together all the way to her house. When they got there Munkustrap walked her all the way to her door. The moment they go there, he pulled himself away. Sable couldn’t understand why but she suddenly felt sad. She as if Munkustrap leaving was the worse thing that could happen right then, It was so weird. No tom had ever affected Sable this way. She had to figure out a way for him to stay a little longer.
“Would you like to sit and talk for a bit?”,Asked Sable pointing to the porch swing on her left. “Just for a little bit.”
“Sure.”, Shrugged Munkustrap and he sat down on the far left of it.
Sable sat on the center cushion. She was right next to Munkustrap without crowding him. The thing was Sable kind of wanted to crowd him. They swung silently on the swing for a few minutes, before Munkustrap turned to Sable.
“So you have a crush on me?”, He asked calmly. The way you would ask, ‘So your in grade 11?’. Sable didn’t know how to react. She became flustered. She began babbling. Saying things like “Where did you get that idea?”, “I’m going to kill that Teazer!”, and “It’s not as bad as you think.” Much to Sable’s further embarrassment, Munkustrap began to laugh. Sable felt her face turn crimson red. She looked away from Munkustrap very quickly. Sable couldn’t think of a moment more embarrassing.
“Do you remember when my dad was talking about my ex-girlfriend, Demeter, during supper?”, Interrogated Munkustrap. ‘This just keeps getting worse!’, Thought Sable feeling panicked. ‘C’mon Sable, just get up, run inside, and act as though this never happened.’ Sable listened as Munkustrap described how wonderful Demeter was. Sable wondered why he couldn’t see how painful this was for her. He was torturing her.
“The funny thing is,” Continued Munkustrap. “When she left, I wasn’t sad. I wasn’t happy either. But I wasn’t heart broken, you know? I mean, I really liked Demeter. She was a fun queen to hang around with, but I guess I just didn’t care for her the way I was supposed to. I don’t think she really cared that way either. I think I feel if for you, though.”
Sable turned her face toward Munkustrap quickly. She couldn’t believe what she heard. Were her ears deceiving her? Did the tom of her dreams just say he felt for her in a way he had never felt before?
“I don’t really understand it, but from the moment I saw you in Pre Cal, I just felt it. This butterflies-in-my-stomach-heart-doing-flip-flops-feeling-dizzy kind of feeling. I don’t know why I’m telling you this, I mean from your reaction a moment ago it’s obvious you don’t feel the same. I guess I just got the wrong impression. I seemed like . . . ”
Munkustrap was cut as Sable leaned forward and kissed him on the lips. It was a light kiss. As soft and quick as the landing of a butterfly. Sable lifted herself from her seat and muttered, “I like you too, Munky!”. Sable walked to the door and was about to open it when Munkustrap grabbed her shoulder and spun her around. He smiled at her and then kissed her. Munkustrap wrapped his arms around Sables waist and Sable wrapped her’s around the back of his neck. It was the kind of first kiss that romance novels were written about. Sable swore she saw fireworks. When they broke apart, both cats were out of breath. Sable’s tail was swishing back and forth in a languorous, content manner. Munkustrap smiled lazily at her and gave her a quick kiss, before saying good-night and turning to leave.
“Wait, your jacket!”,Called Sable to his back as he headed down the path to her front gate.
“Oh right.”, Mumbled Munkustrap and he ran back up to her. He leaned in and kissed her once more. “I’ll get it tomorrow evening before our date. We’ll work out the details in the morning.”
Munkustrap kissed Sable one more time then when running down the path, hoped her fence, and continued running back toward his place. Sable smiled and placed her paw to her lips as she unlocked the door and went inside. She went upstairs to her room muttering about how Tugger was supposed to be the Casanova. Sable quickly changed into her nightie and hoped into her bed. Hugging her plush kitten as she drifted off to sleep, she thought, ‘Maybe this night wasn’t so bad after all.’
*
End of Chapter Two
