A NOVEL -AGNES ON THE MOVE – CHAPTER 6 – BY LORELIE & TIM OLSON

I had never seen so many cars.  From my perch on the back seat, I saw cars in every direction with people clogging the paths between parked cars.  I wanted to be home.  After Jake parked the car, he didn’t allow anyone out until he had me securely in his arms.  He held me so tight I could barely breathe, but at least I felt safe in his arms.  I didn’t  try to escape.  Even though I was scared, I still intended to catch Mickey Mouse in Disneyland.  A cat knows this is the only sure way to make humans do your wishes.  A cat wills it and waits.  I had practiced  this many times at home in willing myself out of the house.  I would simply sit and stare at the door knob.  Humans get the idea or even unknowingly provide me the right opportunity. I admit that Jake’s pretty thoughtful most of the time.  He just needs reminding now and then.

While Carolyn stood in line for tickets, Jake took me to the kennel.  I was tempted to make a move as we passed the gates where all the people were entering.  I did lift my head above his arms and saw a huge picture of Mickey just beyond the gates.  My fur rippled.  Jake, of course, sensed this and held me tighter.  Even if I could break loose, the leash was connected to his wrist.  Ready to spring, I waited for my chance.  Jake didn’t even take off the harness when he handed me to a smiling young woman who immediately plopped me into a small cage.

“What is that?” Jake asked.

“It’s a cat carrier.  I’m surprised you didn’t have her in one.”

“Cat carrier? Well, see, uh, Agnes is an outdoor cat.  We’ve never had a carrier like that.  Wow, we should have one of those.”

“I’d recommend it.  Much safer than carrying a loose cat in your arms.” she took me inside and quickly transferred me into a bigger cage with other cats all around me. Is this what humans mean by jail?   Close by, but not in the same room, I could hear yippy dogs.  At least I did have my own cage.  But to be in jail when I could be having fun in the tree house and the haunted house?  Humans couldn’t possibly have as much fun as I would.  I had to give myself a complete bath just to sooth my nerves.

A quick inspection assured me that I was here until a human let me out.  Sitting upright, my tail wrapped tight  around my body and curling around my front paw, I closed my eyes and waited . . .  I would get into Disneyland; I would get into Disneyland!

A click of the latch of my cage rewarded me for my waiting. The same human who dumped me into the cage pushed me into the carrier and carried me outside.  I made no attempt to resist.  Once outside, Jake pulled me out of the carrier, “Hi Agnes, enjoying the air conditioning in there?”  The truth is I’d been cold, but I curled up in his arms and purred contentedly.

“ Actually, Agnes, for the first time on this trip, I’m glad you’re here.  The family thinks I’m out here to check on you, when I’m really here to get away for the crowds,  and the kids wanting to do everything right away.”  While Jake talked to me, he began to stroke me to calm himself.  I understood what he was doing, it’s one of the services I offer my people.  With my bottom nestled in the  crook of his arm, I put my paws on his chest, looked into his eyes, encouraging him to relax.  Jake turned his head.  He can’t resist staring at a female human.  That’s what I was waiting for – a pretty woman. When Jake turned his attention from me to watch a female human walk by, I leaped out of his arms and I was on my way!

“Agnes?  Agnes!”

Skittering between legs, I headed for the gates with Jake chasing fast behind.  Tail straight, body flat, I raced for the entrance and scooted between legs and I was in Disneyland.

I kept off the path with all the humans so no one would see me. Hearing a rattle in the distance, I looked up to see two steel tracks raised above the ground where I walked.  Oooooooooooo, Ooooooooooo, Ooooooooooo.  A train puffing white smoke came along filled with people. Darting back deeper into the bushes, I waited until it passed, jumped across the tracks and entered a jungle, just like in the pictures I’d seen.  Soon I came to some dirty looking water.  I took a lap anyway and then found a partly shaded spot where I waited for Mickey Mouse.

Another whistle soon came around the bend.  I stretched, sniffed the air, and watched a boat filled with children gliding by in the channel of water in front of me. Prowling along the shore, I kept very alert hoping to stalk a mouse or bird.  Silently I slipped between the blades of high grass and low jungle plants.  

Suddenly, I stepped out on an open dirt area and confronted the biggest animal I had ever seen.  I crept back into the jungle growth.  It was gray and leathery looking with two great horns on its head, and it stared straight ahead.  The only part of it that moved was the head that bobbed up and down  like one of Billy’s toys.  Then I saw another strange thing.  Up on a telephone pole were these long tailed brown, furry animals with faces that looked almost human.  They didn’t move at all.  I considered climbing up to get a closer look, but the pole had no limbs to turn around on, so I crept quietly by and continued looking for Mickey.

A loud horn from another boat froze me in my tracks.  I turned my head to see the boat approaching the shore where I was watching.  The people laughed, talked loudly to each other, and pointed to the creatures I’d just passed.  Right in the front of the boat were Carolyn, David, and Billy!  I knew they couldn’t catch me on the shore, so I pranced out to the very edge, as close to the water as possible without getting my feet wet.  At first they didn’t see me because they were too busy looking at a creature standing in the water and blowing out a stream through its nose.  Then David spotted me, “Mom,there’s Agnes on the shore – right there.  Just beyond the monkeys on the pole.  Can’t you see her?”

Billy joined in, “I see her, Mom.  She’s really there.”  He pointed right at me.

All the people turned towards Carolyn when she yelled, “OH NO!” 

She’d seen me.  Then several of the others shouted to each other, “Did you see that cat?  It looked real!”  Of course I was real.  To prove it, I hopped right up to a tall, skinny, gold and brown animal with the longest neck I’d ever seen and brushed right up against its foot.  I heard people laugh as the boat disappeared around the bend.  Over all the laughter, I heard another, “OH NO!”

I thought for sure I’d find Mickey in the jungle, but I didn’t, and all the other animals stayed in one spot, and weren’t much fun.  I came to a huge tree.  High in the tree I could see people climbing ladders and walking on wooden paths that circled the tree and led to little houses  attached to limbs of the tree.  I remembered this tree; I’d seen it in the pictures.  Unlike the pole with the monkeys, climbing this would be fun.

No one spotted me as I inched up the trunk toward the wooden path circling the tree, and I bounced up the steps.  When I was almost to the top of the tree, I leaped to a landing, and jumped to a small platform nearby.  Before I could even begin to clean my paws, a small boy spotted me,  “Mom, doesn’t that cat look real?  I think it is real.  Do you think it’s real?”

“Of course not.  Nothing is real here.”

“Can I touch it?”

“No, you aren’t supposed to touch things.  Now move along.”

Turning to the man behind her, she said, “Isn’t it amazing how clever they are?  Look behind you, that cat is actually made to clean itself.” 

From my platform, I was certain I would see Mickey Mouse.  While I watched,  people would stroll by, often mentioning how I was positively the most clever creation they’d ever seen in Disneyland.  A few even petted me.  I’d preen a little which always startled them.  They’d jerk their hands away and move on, often staring back admiringly.  “Did you feel the fur on that cat?” I  heard one woman say.  A man said, “You’d think they would have at least made a handsome, exotic cat rather than a scrawny, striped one.”  If he’d been close enough, he would have gotten scratched.  His companion, however, replied, “No, the cat is just perfect for the Swiss Family Tree House.”  I agreed and arched my back a bit.

Then I saw him, Mickey Mouse! Right under me with a crowd of children.  Micky wasn’t like any mouse I’d seen.  Why, he was nearly as big as Jake and walked  on two legs.  I began to have a second thoughts about catching Micky.  What would I do with him after I caught him?  But a mouse is a mouse and I am a cat.  So I jumped down from my perch, much to the delight and amazement of the people nearby, padded down the walkway, and disappeared back into the jungle.  By keeping behind the fence separating the jungle from the concrete area where the people were, I could stalk Micky as he casually strolled through the crowd.  Such nerve, a mouse doing that.  Even if he was a giant mouse.  To get closer, I had to leave the security of the  jungle.  I squeezed through an opening in the wire fence, and casually drew closer to Mickey.  I was almost close enough to swat the tails of his fancy coat hiding his real tail when I heard Billy yell,  “Dad, there’s Agnes! Right behind Mickey Mouse.”

I turned around just in time to see Jake make grab for me.  Hearing Jake, Mickey turned around because of all the commotion.  I leaped away from Jake’s grasp and was scooped right up into the waiting arms of Micky Mouse.  How embarrassing!  To be caught by a mouse!  I struggled, but Mickey held me firmly in white gloved paws.  Fortunately, Mickey was a decent mouse because he stroked me with one of his paws while Jake tried to explain how I, Agnes, a real cat, was in Disneyland chasing Mickey Mouse that wasn’t a mouse at all.  

Quite a crowd gathered to see me. I enjoyed that. I arched my back, stuck my tail in the air, and flirted with Mickey Mouse while all the crowd cheered.  “Look, there’s Mickey Mouse.  He’s holding a cat.  Isn’t that cute?”  Billy and David enjoyed it too, being so close to Mickey while we walked back toward the entrance to Disneyland.  A photographer took all our pictures, one of them of me alone with Mickey Mouse.  Maybe my picture would be in the next Disneyland brochure.  

I was having a great time until Mickey handed me to Carolyn. “Jake, you take the children while I’ll see that Agnes is put safely back into the kennel.  I’ll meet you in an hour by the Haunted House.  I want you to explain to me how Agnes got loose.”  Jake blushed.

”I thought so.”

They were going to the Haunted House without me?

Jake, David, and Billy disappeared into the crowd while Carolyn held me and tried to make up to me. “Agnes, I was so worried.  Don’t you ever do anything like that again.”  I snuggled and purred loudly, trying to get her to change her mind, but Carolyn didn’t take any chances and put me back in the cage.  Carolyn said to the kennel keeper, “Why don’t we have one of these carriers?  Oh, and do you have facilities where Agnes, you know, can go?”

“Certainly, we have litter boxes for the cats.”

“Litter boxes?”

“Yes, it’s just a container with  in it for Tidy Cat litter for  the cats.”

“And they go in it?”

“Yes.  Why wouldn’t they?”

“I’ve got to talk to my husband about getting some of that.”