A Rescue and A Cat And Rat Story.

by michaelcahill

Background
Children being sold. Angela held hostage. A micro-chipped rat. A crazy homeless poet. A boat load of money. Let the games begin.

Previously, a customer came to the yacht anchored at sea. Antoinette was purchased by a couple of thiryish people. But, not before she jumped overboard. Angela jumped to her rescue. It appeared that no one else was going to assist her. Before she dove in after her she transferred her pet rat to Trip for safe keeping. We pick up the story now just before Angela decides to take action.

Barry looked at the kids lined up and began to unbutton his shirt. He was clearly pissed and glaring at the children. It appeared that he expected one of them to go after Nettie, but they were too conditioned to not doing anything they weren't told to do. It looked like Barry was about to get wet.

The man began to look up and down the line again. Angela couldn't believe that no one made the slightest move to go after Antoinette. Even her friend, Trip, did little more than furrow his brow and clench his fist. Angela couldn't take it.

She reached inside her coat and pulled out Beauregard and facing Trip so no one could see, she handed him to Trip. "Hide him", she said. She didn't wait for an answer. She ran for the railing and dove in after Nettie. Nettie had already begun to give up. Angela arrived just in time to keep her from going under.

Barry sighed and looked relieved as he threw a flotation donut overboard and hauled the two girls to the boat and helped them in. Angela made it seem as though he had no intention of going in after her. That impressed his client and scared the other children even more than they already were. Angela had done him a favor without even knowing it. As far as she was concerned, he was about to let her drown too.

The man laughed as though someone popped a large truck tire that someone had filled with hot oil. "I'll take them both."

"Sorry, Abdullah, the older one isn't for sale. Besides, one that spunky would always be trying to escape!" Barry laughed heartily at that.

Elsa and the other woman came upon the two men laughing and two soaking wet girls and joined in the laughter as well.

Abdullah grabbed Antoinette by the wrist and looked her in the eye. "If you jump off of my boat, the last thing you'll see, as the sharks eat you, is my boat speeding away. Behave, and we will treat you well. Bad behavior will be as quickly punished. Do you understand?"

Antoinette looked down at the deck, she was shivering and shook her head. "Yes", she rasped under her breath.

"Excellent. We are off then. Elsa, so good to see you again. Barry." Abdullah with Antoinette stumbling along beside him and the other woman boarded their boat and returned in the direction that they had come from.

Elsa called out, "Play time!" The remaining children returned to what they had been doing. No one mentioned the name of Antoinette, not even Trip.

Angela found a moment alone with Trip. "Where's my rat?"

"Oh. I… I'm sorry… I dropped him. He bit me. He must be on the boat somewhere. Elsa has a cat though. I hope he doesn't find him first." Trip looked embarrassed. He was terrified of rats and didn't want Angela to know.

"Crap. We'll have to look for him. But, don't be obvious. They didn't know I had him."

~~~~~~~~ Another part of the yacht

"Here, Kitty, Kitty, Kitty. Samson. Samson." Dammit. Where could he be. He has to be somewhere on this boat.

~~~~~~~~~Abdullah's boat at sea

"Hey! What the hell is this damn cat doing here? Who's cat is this. Ysenia, where did this cat come from?" Abdullah couldn't be called mad, just surprised.

Ysenia, his wife, was just as surprised. "I have no idea. Girl" She looked at a still shivering Nettie, "whose damn cat is this?"

Antoinette spoke, "It's… Elsa's cat ma'am. He must have jumped on your boat."

Abdullah laughed, like a snake that had swallowed something the other snakes said was impossible, "Hell, we'll drop it at the vets with a note. I'm not driving a damn cat fifty miles out from Catalina. They can come get it if they want it." He pushed the throttle forward and the boat lurched ahead.

~~~~~~~The cat and the rat story.

Angela handed the rat to Trip. Trip was afraid of rats and dropped it to the deck. The rat ran for freedom. The cat spied the rat and gave chase. The rat spied the getaway boat and ran onto it. The cat spied diner and ran onto the getaway boat. The rat was cornered. The cat had diner. May Beauregard rest in peace. He was a good rat. The cat could not help what its nature was. We should not judge the cat for causing us this moment of grief just to introduce a clever plot twist. Or, is it simply self-indulgent?

~~~~~~~

Abdullah and Ysenia pulled into Long Beach Harbor and docked their boat. Ysenia oversize purse now emptied of two hundred and fifty thousand dollars had become a handy cat carrier. Had it been a cat belonging to anyone other than Elsa, it would have received a crash course in marathon swimming already. Nettie was bound and gaged in the hold of the boat and they headed to the nearest vet to drop the cat off. The tower clock said seven thirty, so it was a good bet that the vet would be closed which would be perfect. Samson seemed resigned to his fate. They left him at the back door with a note taped to the purse. The note blew away before they even made it back to their car.

Abdullah smiled at Ysenia as he started the car to return to their boat. All of their business was complete. Their new possession awaited them. They had nothing but time now.

~~~~~~~The next morning at the Blackwell mansion:

The lack of phone calls filled the air with an unnerving silence. The tabloids camped outside the mansion hadn't thinned out. Rumors were the order of the day. These rumors were all true. Well, in essence, they were true. Harpster never was frozen, so he wasn't back from a frozen death. But, if they were saying that he was alive… well, yep… they had that right.

Johnathon Blackwell Senior Meets the Devil

La Brea and Sepulveda the New Crossroads

The stories read better than most novels available on Amazon.com. With the Bard there to read them they were extremely entertaining. There was no end to the voices he came up with. And Diamond couldn't get enough of him. Her laugh was impossible to resist. Considering the seriousness of the situation, it sounded like a frat party at the Blackwell mansion.

The phone ringing brought everyone to immediate silence. But, it wasn't the house phone, it was Susan's cell phone. It was wired too, just in case the kidnappers had her number and might call it. Lucy waved for the silence that already existed and pointed her finger at Susan.

Susan answered, "Hello, Mrs. Blackwell."

Lucy could hear the party calling, but no one else, other than Susan, could.

"Cat? We don't own a cat. Well… no… no cat. Micro-chip. Why no. Wait now one second, my husbands here, let me verify that… Johnny?" She put the phone by her said and addressed Junior, "Did you get a cat for one of the kids and not tell me?"

"A cat? Hell no. I hate cats. There's no cats in our house, here or in Beverly Hills. Dogs either. Nothing but that damn rat of Angela's."

"That's right" she put the phone up to her ear again, "no, no animals at all. My daughter has a pet rat with a chip in it. That's it. Well, hell… this all sounds pretty crazy, doesn't it. What are you saying the cat ate my daughters mouse in Beverly Hills and ran away to Long Beach?"

Lucy wrote on a piece of paper and showed it to Susand, GET THE ADDRESS.

Susan looked at Lucy with a questioning look and Lucy returned and angry stare. "Can I have your address there? Yes, we will look into it and get back to you. Yes. Okay then. Very well. Yes. Thank you. Bye." Susan wrote down the address and handed it to Lucy.

Lucy looked at Susan. "I want to know if that rat is at your house. Lets go."

"What? Are you kidding? You want to go right now? The maid is there. Why don't I just call her?"

"That will be fine."

The call was made and the cage was found to be empty. Upon hearing the news Lucy grabbed the Bard by the hand. "Care for a little ride? I thought we could see the Queen Mary."

"See her. I vowed I would never see her again after she left me at the alter. You'd think that being Pope would get you a little clout at Windsor Castle, but nooooooo. She had to have tea with the Stones. Do you believe it? It wasn't even the Rolling Stones either. Just the Stone family from Lankershire. William and Tammy, the three-legged hat maker. You know they say she was actually a man. But, that was just vicious gossip. Why would they name him William, then? Would parents be that cruel? Isn't it bad enough to be born with a tail and have a last name of Waggers? What was I talking about? Oh yes, The White Album. Well, Ringo was bound and determined that he would have a cut on each side of EACH record. You know how many songs that would be? No… I don't either. But, I bet it was a lot… "

The others watched as they walked to Lucy's car and the Bard's voice got fainter and fainter. No one said a word.

Finally, Tenaya spoke, "I wonder how many songs that would come out to. There were two albums with two sides a piece. It boggles the mind. And he's one of the ones that's still living. Think about it."

Diamond thought that was hilarious. She was a great audience.

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The children are up for sale. Angela is held for ransom. People are placing trust where they shouldn't. Everyone is underestimating the level of danger. Great input as always. Thank you kindly.

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One of the kids sold, the cat chases the rat.

A chapter in the book Bel Air: A Bard's Guide

A Rescue and A Cat And Rat Story.

by michaelcahill

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