Louis, Molly & the Woodchuck

by Michael Arnold

  Chapter 12

  It all happened so quickly but even in its quickness, Molly thought falling from The Valley of the Flowers was another one of her dreams. But when the fall ended with her hitting a soft patch of grass several feet down from where she was, then and only then did Molly grasped reality. “This is not a dream, this is not a dream. This is for real.”

  Although a different scenery, it was the same place where Molly was before her fall – a strange land. Molly didn’t think to check for any sprain ligaments or broken bones, instead she got up and checked her surroundings. She was cold, hungry, and the pain related to her sickness began to surface.

  How long will I be able to go before I can’t go anymore, Molly wondered. “Maybe there is the lake out here, and maybe, when I locate it, I will be able to find my medicine. Yeah, that’s what I will do. I will find the lake and I will find my medicine.”

  Optimism kept Molly smiling but the drizzle of rain and the increasingly cold weather carried weakness with it, not counting trees, rocks, weeds and other forestry scenes that nagged at her optimism. Feeling as if she was running in circle and her weakness bringing about drowsiness, Molly found a large tree with large leaves, some of them the size of her own body.

  “Wow, those are some pretty big leaves,” Molly said to herself. When she got mid-ways up the tree, she saw that the big leaves were shaped with a deep hollow on one side of them. Then her mind regressed to a couple of days ago when she was home with the two people she loved, Elvin and Fannie.

  Elvin, could you go get Molly a blanket? I believe she is cold. Oh, honey, you and that cat, with all the fur she has, I’m sure she is quite warm. She is not a human. She is an animal and you shouldn’t allow this cat to have a say. You and only you, Fannie, have the final word, not the cat.

  Okay, Elvin, since I have the final word as you claim, then, as I just said, please go and get Molly a blanket, because I believe she is cold.

  Molly smiled at the thought. She admired how much love Fannie showed her, well beyond what she expected. Then when her mind switched gears to Elvin, her smile disappeared.

  “I wonder; did Elvin ever love me? Of course not like he loves Fanny or any other humans, I’m asking like humans are supposed to love their pets?” Sadness came next, when she answered her question. “I don’t think he loved me like a human is supposed to love their pets, but I loved him just as much as Fannie loved me.”

  She paused to think about her answer. Then, with her right paw, Molly wiped away her tears. “Maybe he loved me, but he just went about showing it a different way than Fannie did,” Molly said. “Yeah, of course that’s what it was. Elvin loved me. He just went about it a different way or he really didn’t know how to show love for a pet. Yeah, that’s it.”

  Molly found a thick tree branch then broke the large leaf off the tree and used it as a blanket. Within seconds, Molly was sound asleep until she heard the sound of birds, then a song, a song that she knew. Her eyes burst open. She rose from the third branch from the top of the tree, the leaf that she used as a coverlet, fell from her body and disappeared before it hit the ground.

  “Hey, maybe I am back where I was, where all those flowers were.” Her excitement drew her down from the tree carelessly. The ground was the same and so was the tree. But the song. Joy, joy, joy, joy, she heard it vaguely. To Molly a vague song of Joy was better than no song at all. Molly smelled the fragrance of the flowers. It was a different fragrance from the one she smelled in the Valley of the Flowers.

  “Hum, the flowers smell so beautiful. Where are you, beautiful flowers?”

  When Molly got to the ground, her pain dissipated and the weakness due to her pain and sickness were no longer there. “If this is where I was before then…. Oh no,” she complained suddenly, “the mean, mean, coyote is somewhere lurking, and he will get me!” In spite of her seeding fear, Molly left the tree and walked through the grass of the forest. The smell grew stronger but there still wasn’t any sign of the flowers.

  “Please come out? There is no need to hide anymore. The bad coyote isn’t here. He is gone,” Molly yelled and yelled, although her assessment could have been wrong. As she got farther, there was a flower, a daffodil to be exact, floating in the air, about five feet up and about ten feet away from her. The flower moved forward fast, distorting Molly’s view of the entire dynamics of the flower.

  “It looks different. It looks like a…. like a…” Then before she could get the last part of her thoughts out of her mouth, Molly began to run after the flower. Through trees, down branches, and rocks, Molly was determined to find and capture the flower. Quickly, she caught up to it. When the flower stopped before what looked like fog, Molly saw it clearly. It was a small bird that looked like a flower.

  “Wow! You are a bird. How beautiful you are,” Molly said.

  The bird lit up with golden light. “Can you take me to a home? I want to be with a loving family again. My family cast me out of their house and took me to this place, a mean place where pets like me are hurt and they die there,” Molly explained.

  The daffodil bird turned to Molly. The bird didn’t speak but one tear dropped from its eye and fell to the ground. Then an amazing thing happened. The flowers, the flowers that covered the valley in which Molly found herself earlier, emerged from that tear.

  “I’m here! I’m here again with all the wonderful flowers. This is great,” Molly screamed with joy. She looked upon the flowers. They all had beautiful smiles and they were singing that song which Molly learned. In the middle of the Valley of the Flowers Molly saw water – clear blue water.

  Yet, the fog masked the view beyond the paradise scenery.

  “What is that? What is that place?” Molly asked when she saw the bird point to it. But the bird said nothing. Her wings fluttered in the air. “I can’t see it, it’s getting really dim. You’re getting dim. What’s going on?” Molly yelled.

  Then, all of a sudden, the coyote came out of the forest. This time Molly could not run. She wanted to, but something prevented her from doing so.

  “The flowers are not hiding anymore. They are not going inside the ground.” Molly saw the bird fly off over the water and toward the building. Then her attention went back to the coyote. He looked different. His coat of fur was purple, orange, white and gray. He was no longer rough around the edges. He was well groomed and beautiful.

  The coyote walked toward Molly but before he ever got to her and before Molly could react, the coyote said, “Here is your red flower.”

  Molly screamed then felt herself fall again. Her eyes closed then opened once more.

  “Oh my, I was dreaming. It was only a dream. I have to settle down. It was just a dream,” Molly told herself. She then got down from the tree making sure she was safe, that nothing around her could cause her any harm, then moved on. She didn’t understand the dream any more than she knew what the Valley of the Flower was and why it made her feel so much like a new cat.

  Another mile or so and Molly was out of the woodlands and on the main roads. She hated the main roads. It put her out in the open for people to see her and in greater danger of being hit by a vehicle or possibly stalked and hurt by a predator. I will go. I will find shelter. There has to be somewhere I can go out here. Every place can’t be about running and hiding.”

  She turned her head back from where she came. Going back in the woodlands seemed like the best thing to do, but when it dawned on her that the coyote could be there, waiting for her to come back or he could be close to finding her; she decided not to return to the forest. Which way do I go? Molly was at the crossroads again. She didn’t know which way was the right way to go. All she knew was that the places where she had been and perhaps where she was going were all wrong. Up to now, she was lucky to have survived it all. The more she moved away from the wastelands, the more the coyote didn’t seem a threat anymore. Yet the memory of him chasing her became something she wanted to forget at all cost.

  Molly loo
ked up when she saw the daffodil bird zoom out of the wastelands and fly around an empty store. Molly was excited, but she didn’t want to run there without using proper precaution. It was a store. A store has products, and products attract people.

  Maybe if they see me they may try to do something bad to me, like capture me or something. I don’t know what to do really, but I have to find that bird, Molly thought. Her suggestion wasn’t air talk it was truth talk.

  She looked both ways then ran as fast as she could, and entered the parking lot. Not only did the parking lot look empty, but so did the store. It was indeed strange but not unlikely. The store could have been closed, it could have been gone out of business or the workers there could be on break. They were all possibilities. But when Molly followed the strange bird around the side of the store, she saw a pick up truck with a half broken camper on it and a man coming from around the back of the store.

  “Drank too much lemonade, Daisy, but I’m alright now. Thank God for abandon buildings!”

  Daisy? Who is Daisy? Molly wondered. Then she heard a dog bark. I guess that’s Daisy! What would be best? Run off or try to find the bird? Where are you? I saw you run back here. You can’t have gone too far?

  Daisy continued to bark. Molly made out every word that the dog was saying. “You said, after you used the bathroom, you would feed me, now I want something to eat and I’m not going to shut my mouth until you give me something to eat! You fed your fat face, now I need my fat face fed!”

  Ugh, dog I can smell you from back here. You smell awful, Molly thought.

  “Alright, Daisy, would you cut me a little slack?” the man said, peering through the side window of the truck. Daisy, a large black German Sheppard, was barking and returning her owner’s glare out the window.

  “Would you? I forgot. Okay my memory is not as keen as yours. I’m going to get your food now. Give me a second, will you? Calm down already,” the man replied.

  “Yeah, it’s about time. I have been waiting for hours to eat!” Daisy said.

  The man walked from the driver side of the truck to the back of it.

  Oh no, he is coming this way. I should run. Yeah that’s it, run out of sight. He will never be able to catch me. No, no, no, I can’t run. He will put that nasty, smelly dog on me. There aren’t any trees out here, so I would be caught. She would catch me, Molly thought. Then she did the next best thing; she went around to the passenger side of the truck and lay down, curled up against the back tire.

  She saw the man’s brown, dirty work boots. They moved closer and closer, so she moved farther away to keep from her cover being blown.

  “Hey, you? What in the world do you think you’re doing?” Molly heard a female’s voice say from behind her. It startled her as she thought it was right over her, which it was. She swung around only to see Daisy’s head hanging out the passenger side window.

  “Yeah, I’m talking to you, cat!”

  “Quiet down, Daisy. I’m getting your food. Can’t you wait patiently while I get it out the back here? I have a lot of junk here, you know that,” the man shouted.

  “There’s a cat out here, and you know how much I hate cats. So I’m going to keep on barking until you let me out to get her,” Daisy yelled.

  Molly put her paw over her mouth indicating to Daisy to be quiet.

  “Are you shushing me, you litter bag?”

  Molly couldn’t make a sound. If she did the man would discover her, then it would be all downhill from there. But she had an idea and she was going to try it. She ran up to the passenger side of the truck.

  “I’m here by mistake. I’m looking for something. Now maybe if you keep quiet, then, just maybe, I can find what I am looking for,” Molly said.

  “Looking for something? Looks to me like you are hiding,” Daisy said.

  Molly inhaled than exhaled. “Could you please do us both a favor, old hag, and shut up. Besides you smell really, really awful. I just thought you would like to know!”

  Daisy looked at herself, smelled different parts of her body, and then looked up at Molly as to say, “You are correct. I smell awful,” but Daisy did have something to say just not that.

  “How rude of you! I wish I could get my paw on you, I would….” Then Daisy stopped. She looked toward the back of the man’s truck.

  “Yes, it is what you see: a cat! He is going to get you and bring you to me!”

  Molly turned in haste and as Daisy stated it, there he was; a man with muddy boots, standing over six feet tall.

  “Oh, would you look at that? My, you are one beautiful cat. Where on earth did you come from?” the man asked.

  “Wait a second. I will not approve of this. I am your favorite, so how dare you compliment that litter bag,” Daisy groaned.

  “Oh, Daisy, would you calm down? Is this what you griping about?”

  “Yeah, quiet down just like your owner said, flea bag,” Molly replied.

  She was surprised by what the man said, but wasn’t ready to trust him until she saw the bird. It flew from behind the man and inside the camper of the truck.

  “I tell you what; if you want to get out of the cold, I can take you with me. I have food and a place for you. Oh, and don’t worry about Daisy, she will be nowhere near you,” the man said.

  If this had been any other time, Molly would have turned down this man’s offer, but because of the bird it was a definite yes. Molly walked submissively to the man. He picked her up in his arm – the one that didn’t have the dog food – and walked back to the driver side of his truck.

  “Oh my goodness, you have to be kidding me. He has turned on me for a litter pouch,” Daisy said.

  “And I’m much better than an old drooling flea bucket like you, Daisy,” Molly replied.

  “You will be perfectly fine up here with me. Daisy is just a little upset, but she will get over it. You are going to be part of our family. What will I call you?” the man asked, looking closely at her name tag as he sat Molly on the opposite side of Daisy. “Oh, it says “Molly”. Would you look at that? Someone must have lost her, Daisy. She has a name tag and it looks pretty new to me.”

  “Who cares about her or her name tag? As long as you keep her away from me, everything will be okay,” Daisy replied.

  “And if I don’t, I’m sure you will drool me to death with your foamy mouth, you mean, mean hag,” Molly added for good measure.

  “Oh, and she even meows. I like her already! And for the last time, would you please be quiet?” the man said to Daisy. “Here is your dog food. Maybe if you eat, you will feel better about Molly. I know you don’t like it, but she’s going home with us. She is part of our family now, so you get use to it or you will be back in your dog house outside. Now please, be quiet!”

  This was too much for Molly. If there was a family for her, it wasn’t that family. She had enough of one person in the family liking her and the other person not. I want to be a part of a family like that, but it can’t be one person who likes me. It has to be everyone in the family that likes me, Molly thought.

  Daisy heeded what her owner said after he poured her dog food in a bowl. She glared at Molly then turned to eat her food.

  Molly mentally reconsidered her decision when she didn’t see any sign of the bird. What if I get to where he is taking me and I am not able to escape, Molly wondered. The humans are good for making everything they say seem so real and so genuine, but then when you get used to them, they want to take you away. We have no say in the matter. Whatever they want is whatever they get.

  Molly gazed up at the man. His dirty hands stroked the top of her head. It does feel good actually, but I guess I can’t get too used to this. She looked at the man then turned to the driver side of the window. To her surprise the bird was there. The bright and colorful bird that reminded Molly so much of the lovely flowers that she saw in the Valley of the Flowers was fluttering on the other side of the window. Then the bird skyro
cketed high in the air. To Molly it looked like the bird flew within the clouds.

  The man rolled up the window on Daisy’s side.

  “I’m sorry, Daisy. I know you like your side of the window opened a crack, but the rain looks like it is starting to come down a little faster than what I thought. And I wouldn’t want the rain to come in on Molly here, so up the windows goes,” the man said.

  “Just as I thought. I could see it when you were outside. You like that cat because she is young and pretty, and I guess I will be a castaway because I’m old and not pretty anymore,” Daisy said, looking up at her owner and Molly.

  Molly ignored Daisy’s ranting. There was a bigger picture to consider. She had no desire to live with or anywhere near Daisy. She didn’t want to live with this man. She wanted to be back in the Valley of the Flowers and if not there, somewhere similar.

  “Trust me, Daisy. You have nothing to worry about. I won’t mess up this already happy home.”

  “It looks like with all the dirt and the filth that you have already given him it would take to much time to clean. So hat’s off to you. Isn’t that what humans say?” Molly said. Her words came out to the man’s ears as soft purrs.

  Daisy snarled, because she bit her tongue, literally.

  “Oh, no need to whine, Daisy. Everything is going to be fine. You will have all the air you want when you get home. If that’s what you want,” the owner said.

  “I bit my tongue, you stupid man,” Daisy retorted.

  Molly laughed as quietly as she could without giving herself away.

  When Daisy realized that things weren’t going to change, at least for now, she didn’t mumble a single word or bark to her owner, all the way home.

  Molly was reassured a little when she saw the rainbow and the bird in front of it. She laid her head on the lap of Daisy’s owner. There she would find comfort and sleep.

  Hawk and Worm weren’t sure if the woodchuck was serious or if he just wanted them gone.

  “Come on, Worm, we should go now. There is no need in us sticking around here. We have other important stuff to do than be here. He isn’t going to help the dog and for whatever reason, it’s his reason. So, let’s go!”

  Worm didn’t move. He peered around him, sniffing, then his orange, sparkling eyes met Hawk’s.

  “What is it, Worm? What’s on your mind?” Hawk asked.

  Worm’s eyes turned up. He exhaled then he spoke. “Ugh, you think it’s a good thing to let him walk away?”

  “What do you mean? Do I think it is a good thing to let him just walk away?” Hawk asked. His facial expression was that of a confused bird.

  “Ugh, the groundhog would be a tasty treat and I would even give you half of my half, if, ugh, we go get him.”

  Hawk shook his head in disgust. He was fed up with this. Yet, he would not let his friend and best buddy know it. “There will be no more of this eating him or any other groundhog. They are not for eating. When was the last time either me or you ever ate a groundhog? If you can give me an honest answer than we both can eat him,” Hawk yelled.

  “Ugh, I can’t give you an honest answer, Hawk, but can I give you a dishonest answer?”

  “Case’s closed. Let’s go, Worm!”

  It was after the sun began to disappear slowly behind the clouds and the drizzle turned into hard rain, when the patrons of the community shopping center cleared out with their deadly weapons that they believed was going to stop not just Louis and the groundhog but every other animal which posed a threat to humans.

  Thank goodness they’re leaving, but I’m sure they will be back soon, the woodchuck thought, looking at the scene from the top of a tree nearby. He didn’t return to his hole until the last patron was gone. What else could be worse than the way I’m feeling? What could be worse than these stupid, idiotic humans? Oh, I like that word “idiotic”. Anyway, what is worse than these idiotic people acting like this? More idiotic people acting like this, the woodchuck answered his own question, then returned to his hole, sealing it off.

  His name was Onree John Thomas. He was five feet two inches tall and weighed no more than a hundred and fifty five pounds, even with several hundred bricks tied to his back. Onree and Edna had one thing in common. When they met for the first time, they both wanted to see every dog, cat and whatever animals they could get their hands on, out of their city.

  “I have created this device. It’s called a Stun Duh. It’s strictly for the animals. One blast of this and they are on their backs for the count. So, I suggest that once you get your cute little hell-raising dog back, Edna, you use it on him and he will be an easy catch, and back in the cage he will go!”

  That was the part that Edna liked about Onree, but there was a part that she didn’t like about him; a part that got under her skin more than Louis and the groundhog.

  Yes, you have reached the incomparable inventor of the dog and cat catcher. Right now I can’t answer my telephone, but if you would be so gracious to leave me a message, I will return the call. Always remember that the dog and cat may be your friend today, but will be your enemy tomorrow.

  “How does he expect me to do business with him, Randall, if he can’t find the time to answer his phone?” Edna asked.

  “When you walked in his office today and he gave you that Stun Duh he wanted to do business with you.”

  “This is Edna. I can’t seem to get any of those pesky cats or dogs today. It’s closed for a mandatory meeting, which I was told would last one day. We can pick up where we left off tomorrow.”

  “While we wait for him to call back, would you like tea or coffee?” Randall asked, hopping from the kitchen table, where he and Edna had been sitting, to the kitchen cabinets.

  “No, I will pass on both. I have some much needed business that I want to take care of before it gets too late. Now, if it is alright with you, I’m going to need the key to the warehouse,” Edna said.

  “May I ask what do you need it for?” You could have heard a feather hit the floor after Randall’s question. “I was under strict orders only to access the warehouse if we have animals. For any other purpose, it’s off limits.”

  Edna bit her bottom lip and both of her flabby cheeks turned bright red.

  “Edna, I know we are cousins, close cousins at that, but I have to follow Onree’s orders,” Randall replied.

  “Do you even have the key, Randall?” Edna asked.

  “Well, of course, I have the key. It’s laying right there on the couch in the front room. Why you ask?”

  Edna’s only reply was to walk to Randall’s living room where she picked up the key and walked out of his house without a word.

  “Wait a second! Come back here with that key! You can’t take that key, Edna. We don’t have any animals to put in that darn warehouse, remember?”

  Louis was close to dozing off when he heard a door slam and hard shoes walk over the concrete ground. He knew who it was. Louis didn’t hunker down this time or back away in the corner of his cage; instead he stood to attention and waited for Edna to stomp her way to his cage.

  “Louis, did you forget about me? Did you forget that you and I have a score to settle?”

  You have to be the funniest looking woman that I have ever seen in this whole entire world, Edna. You look stupid with that neck brace, Louis thought but held off laughing.

  “Where is that rat? I know you know where it is. You two vandalized my house, and I haven’t forgotten,” Edna yelled, pulling on Louis’s cage with such force that Louis thought she would pull the entire cage down to its side.

  “I know you know where he is. He is probably here in this very warehouse just waiting to jump out on me. Isn’t he, mutt?” Like a dog Edna snarled than let go of Louis’s cage. “Never mind, I got something for him just in case he wants to play unfair, but for now I have some unfinished business that I want to finish with you, Louis,” Edna said. Her voice was much calmer and through her bright pink lipstick there were teet
h, small white teeth without a spec of tarnish on them.

  Louis expected Edna to throw in a bowl of bones with hot sauce, or beer and wine mixed for water, but what she had for Louis wasn’t bad food and drink, but the Stun Duh pen.

  Louis backed away. He remembered the last experience he had with that thing. He hoped that it wouldn’t happen again, but his hope was soon dashed to be replaced by horror and desperation.

  “You and that rat tore my house up. I don’t know how you got out of that chain, you mutt, but I am willing to bet it was the rat, that ugly nasty rat, who helped you.”

  Louis pushed on the sides of the cage, then on the top of it, hoping that either side somehow would come open, but it didn’t. There was no secret door to Louis’s steel prison. The only exit was the one he conceived when Edna came closer to Louis’s cage with the Stun Duh in her hands.

  I don’t know what is going to happen next, but I hope that if I am struck with that electricity again, it takes me out of here forever, Louis thought, but then decided to confront Edna all the way.

  “Whoa, would you look at that. You know what is about to happen. You know if you resist it will be a lot worse, right, Louis?” Edna asked.

  “Come on and do it, if that’s what you going to do, because if I get out of this…”

  Those were Louis’s last words before a bolt of the electricity from the Stun Duh struck him right at the bottom of his front legs.