Hold on, hold on—wait a minute….there’s more back-story to be told.
Twitch had been working on a project, and was very eager to show it off. She ran to the sliding door at the house next door and batted on the screen until Banana and Cheese, who were stretched out on the floor soaking in the sunbeam, woke up and raised their heads.
“Now what, Twitch?” yawned Banana. “I’ve only been asleep for 83 minutes. Leave me alone.”
“Listen, you two! I have a very special ‘project’…I call her Ms. Whisp…to show you, and I want you to leave your house and come to my house [the empty house at 311 Walnut] and see it! It’s important, and can you come tomorrow night (that’s when it will be all dry), and have some mouse bits with me and some others I’ve invited? I think it’s a party? Pleeeeeeease?” Twitch was talking so fast and was so excited, she fell backwards and knocked right into the Jack-o-Lantern on the bottom step.
“Oh! Pardon me, Mr. Orange!” Twitch was a very polite cat after all.
“Well,” Cheese stretched and yawned, “I think we can make it. Our people are having a party too, and it will be really noisy here.” Before Cheese could finish asking, “Do you know what the other cats will be wearing to your…,” Twitch was running off, shouting over her shoulder, “Great! Gotta go! I’ve got tons more cats to invite!”
“Well,” Banana noted, “Twitch seems a little more bizarre than usual. Do you think she even realizes that tomorrow is Halloween? Oh, never mind…..now, how are we going to sneak through the fence, AND, more importantly, what are we going to wear?”
The next night, as the streetlights came on, Twitch was adding the final touches to her creation. Her nana, a beautiful all-white cat named Switch, was perched on top of the dress form, “supervising”. “Twitch, give this contraption another push around the room! That will help it dry faster!” Switch neglected to add that, when Twitch would give her that “ride” back and forth a
cross the room, she loved feeling the breeze blowing through her own fur, and the great view out the window of 311 Walnut St. One more push across the room, and Switch jumped down.
“Twitch, I’m impressed by your masterpiece.” Switch squinted. “You know, it almost reminds me of some human, wearing a dress!”
“Oh, don’t be silly, Nana!” Twitch scoffed, but secretly was pleased. Her creation, made of white plastic shopping bags, and her special “glue” of: axel grease from that auto repair place down the street, tuna fish oil, and cat spit, was holding together nicely. She didn’t have time to completely admire her artwork, because the other cats had begun to arrive through the broken back door. But, why were they all dressed so funny?
In they came: Banana had been practicing being the scary vampire—and she was! Cheese had rolled in…cheese (he was terrible at being original!).
Zippy, Sadie, and Speedy were dressed as those famous monkeys: See No Evil, Speak No Evil, and Hear No Evil.
Zippy, Sadie and Speedy's Blog
Freya and Teego’s people had dressed them as Catman and Robin (not the bird).
Little Tabbouleh snuck in wearing a baby bonnet. Charlie the cat had a long, grey beard.
The honorable Admiral wore a few of his medals and ribbons.
Angel came as a ghost with a pumpkin head and Kirby came as Frankenstein.
Cokie came as a witch.
Hanna sported a frightful costume-dog mask and ears! Lucy wore a Charlie Chaplin moustache stuck to his whiskers.
And Miss Kitty? She photographed it all!
Unfortunately, Amy’s cats couldn’t make it; they had told Twitch they were having a party of their own.
“Happy Halloween!” the other cats yelled. Twitch was so pleased with all of her company, she neglected to properly admire every costume.
“Great!” Twitch exclaimed. “Now I’ll be able to start work on Ms. Whisp’s ‘dance’ partner!”
Just then, there was a knock on the door, and then the doorbell rang. The doorbell? It had never rung before, and Twitch looked bewildered, because she didn’t even know what it was. Banana pushed her to the door; “It’s the thing that makes Cheese run from our living room! Go open that door and see which friend is behind it!”
Twitch was a curious cat, and was interested to see who was behind that door. She jumped up and grabbed the doorknob. The door swung open, and there stood three little people. They were dressed funny too, and each one was holding a bag. Twitch looked at their faces; their eyes were opened wide, and their mouths were hanging open. Before she could invite them in, the little people turned and ran away…
The boys ran all the way back to Charlie’s house. “Crazy cats!” “White, plastic bags!” “Old, white cat!” “Smell!” Until they could fully catch their collective breath and wits, those were the only words they could choke out.
Minutes passed, and then Charlie whispered, “Did you two see what I saw back there?”
“I saw a bunch of cats!” Nick began, with some confidence. “They were…were…wearing bits of cloth, twigs, leaves,…a medal?” he sounded less sure now. “One had…was wearing cheese? One was wearing a vampire cape? OK—two were wearing those costumes that people sometimes put on their pets! They were Batman and Robin!” He hurriedly finished his part of the story, “Did you guys notice they were all carrying trick-or-treat bags too?”
“I saw…I saw…a white cat sitting like the head of a mannequin, and the mannequin-thing was wearing a dress…made of plastic bags?” Mike shook his head, not really sure that that was what he saw. “Could that be? Naw…” Mike shook his head, refusing to believe the “old woman of 311 Walnut” was really a bunch of bags stuck together.
“I’m not sure I believe all that I saw back there, but I sure know what I smelled,” Charlie started.
“TUNAFISH?” The three boys whispered.
“TUNAFISH!” They giggled.
And they never again went to the door of 311 Walnut again. Especially not when they started seeing TWO figures moving in the window!
