Louis, Molly & the Woodchuck

by Michael Arnold

  Chapter 15

  “Help me!” the coyote kept screaming. He was losing the fight against the brown weeds. It was evident. But he was known for fighting and so he vowed in his heart to get out of this situation. I have to find a way to get out of here. Even though I am under a curse, I must get to the Valley of the Flowers!

  “You are ours now; you belong to all of us, coyote. You will make a good meal!”

  A good meal, the coyote questioned. I had no idea that plants ate meat. I guess it is a first time for everything, he thought.

  He was able to get one leg out of the grasp of weeds, then his right front leg out, but the moment he moved forward a couple of paces, more weeds grew out of the ground and wrapped themselves around his two front legs.

  “No! Let me out of here!” The coyote was losing his voice along with his grip on things. More weeds began to come out of the ground and joined in the fight to pull the coyote below the ground. He wrestled as long as he could before giving into what was vital to the weeds.

  “This is my punishment for what I have done. If this is it, then so be it. I don’t have to have the red flower!” The saggy coyote with the multicolor patches of fur etched out the words out of his mouth before he caved in and gave up. He closed his eyes as he felt more weeds come out of the ground and wrap themselves around him like a blanket.

  “Open up thy eyes, coyote, for your Red Flower is nigh!” Those words sounded like a calm, beautiful whisper in the coyote’s ears. His eyes opened. The pulling of the weeds hadn’t gone, but along with it came the sunrays that were peeking through the black trees and the leaves that had turned a burnt orange from the extreme heat. “I see the sun. I also see the ray of the sun come down. It’s here with me. It’s so beautiful. Only if she could see this, she and I together,” the coyote whispered. Beholding the glow of the sun rays there was a dark orange beam possessing a part of the sun itself. From his eyes and throughout his body the coyote felt a certain kind of strength, a kind of strength that wasn’t his own.

  “I am getting my legs back. I feel powerful. I never had this much power before,” the coyote yelled in triumph. When he stood up, the weeds, one by one, weed by weed broke away, while others came apart at the root and disappeared. Those that had had a grip on his legs didn’t anymore. They were dead. He was a free coyote again. In front of him was his destination – the Valley of the Flowers.

  All he had to do was step over the downed trees and the coyote would be right there. And he did. He still felt the power of the sun residing in him, but what he saw before he pursued Molly, was the same thing he saw when he took his first step on the ground of the Valley of the Flowers.

  Nothing has changed. Everything is so dead here and I know why, the coyote thought. He sniffed the ground at times but he never stopped walking. The more he walked the more strength he regained. Then he came to that part of the valley where there were four trees, and hanging from them, were beautiful yellow and orange flowers. The coyote lay down as if he was going to sleep. He closed his eyes after looking up at the trees.

  “I have done this. It’s no one’s fault but mine. I have had the curse of desolation on me for quite sometime now. I heard about this place from the book of healing. My wife read it to me. It described this red flower that will wipe the curse away forever. But I want to say something. Even if the red flower can heal me, if I never find it, what use will it be?” he said; his head turned to the barren ground in which he lay. “I don’t care about that anymore. If those beautiful flowers can come back and they can sing their beautiful song, and that beautiful little cat can come back here for whatever reason, so be it.”

  “The curse was on my life not theirs. I am sorry,” the coyote said.

  With happiness and somehow relieved, the coyote opened his eyes. The power and the strength that came from the sun were gone. He wasn’t weak but he wasn’t strong either. He examined the horizon of the Valley of the Flowers. Then he knew where he had to go to get back to his wife and son.

  The coyote didn’t walk cautiously until he felt the hard ground under his paws turn soft. It felt like garden soil under his paws. Even then he tried with the greatest of ease to ignore what he felt, but the feeling was close to be a bother. What is going on here? He turned back to the four trees under which he had lain. The leaves were changing colors. “Okay, what is going on? Did I do something wrong again?” the coyote asked.

  This was a one-sided conversation, unless the swaying of the flowers on the trees and the sudden gust of wind was the response. “If I’ve done something wrong, please, please tell me and I will…” His words trailed off when the wind swept the coyote off his feet and in the air he went.

  “Please, please don’t do this. I am truly sorry for all that I have done. I didn’t mean it!” He closed his eyes, placing his two front paws over his eyes and holding on for dear life as the airflow took the coyote higher and higher...

  All of a sudden, in the background, somewhere beyond the cloud, there were voices singing, “Joy!” Then there was a pause then the chorus. This time it was accompanied with three words: “back, back, back. Joy, joy, joy, joy!”

  “I…, I know that sound. I know the voices. Hey, I know that sound! I know the sound. It is the song!” The coyote yanked his shabby paws away from his eyes. Way beyond the clouds the coyote saw beautiful birds fly in the thickness of the clouds.

  “It is so…, so…, heavenly!” the coyote said.

  As the gust of wind began to turn him around and around, the coyote happened to look down to see the ground. That barren ground, dark ground produced a lime green cover that extended as far as the coyote could see. As the ground was being laid anew and the singing in the clouds chimed in his ears, the lime green, flat land began to give up the flowers, the same flowers that were present when Molly was there. Yellow, green, pink, orange, blue flowers. Flowers that bloomed from deep lilac grass, flowers sprouting from leafless stems, flowers exhibiting splendid beauty before a russet sun, flowers of all sort and sizes, flowers that talked back to Molly when she needed to hear a voice of comfort and peace.

  What is going on? I don’t understand, the coyote thought. He wanted to speak, but the impressive transformation to the Valley of the Flowers put him in a trance. Slowly the gust of wind began to lose its strength and power. The coyote could feel the wind take him back down. The closer he got to the ground, the more he felt physically different.

  He never took notice of his saggy fur fly away while he was up there in the air and started shedding fur seconds into his curse. It wasn’t until he landed and all the singing had stopped that the coyote inspected himself. The first thing he saw when he put his paw to his face was a new coat of fur, dark orange, burgundy and pearl white kind of fur.

  “I think, I think I am different, I have changed,” the coyote said. Where he stood and where he walked, everything was the same color as his fur. When he reached a pond of clear blue water, he saw the reflection of himself – pointed white ears on a narrow white furry face. He looked like a mixture of cat and fox.

  “I have a long white and orange bushy tail. I like it,” the coyote said. There was giggling in the background. “Who do I need to thank for giving me a life without a curse? I’m free,” he yelled. There wasn’t an immediate answer to his question but, over the horizon, and walking toward him was a large coyote a little smaller than him. Following him was a third coyote that was very much smaller than the second one. Yet, they both had the same appearance as he did. The coyote stood and watched from a distance. “Is that my…? Yes, that is my wife Lora and my son Jacob!”

  The coyote ran as fast as he could to meet them. “Lora, Lora, I missed you. Oh, you look different. And, little Jacob, my little Jacob, how you have grown!”

  “Hi, Dad, I missed you,” Jacob replied when his father lifted him off the ground and held him close to him.

  “Oh, how I missed you too, son, but I am back now, me, you and mom, and look, I don’t have the curse o
n me anymore. I am back to normal…, well, a little bit better than normal,” the coyote said.

  “Yes, we are different, Noah.” Tears fell from her eyes.

  “But why, why all of this difference? What does it mean? I don’t understand. But don’t get me wrong, I love our new change,” Noah said.

  “Your repentance, your true repentance, Noah, made the difference. The beautiful life form here, Noah, is the reason for all of this. There is something about you, Noah, which is the core of something greater. The creator heard your plea and he honored it.”

  “Wow, I never thought about it like that,” Noah said.

  “Look up, Noah. What do you see?” Lora asked him.

  “I see my old fur and an old man. Doesn’t it look disgusting?” Noah replied.

  As Noah continued to watch his thick, shabby fur drifted around in the sky. He saw it coming together with other fur besides his own, forming something.

  “What’s going on, Lora? Whose ugly fur is that?” Noah asked.

  “That ugly fur is Jacob’s and mine, Noah. Not only did the curse affect you, it also affected me and Jacob. Since we are family, it trickled down from you to us.”

  “But that still doesn’t tell me about this fur so freely flying in the sky, Lora,” Noah said.

  Lora didn’t answer him. Hers and Jacob’s stares was the reply. Their old fur was turning into colorful butterflies with short skinny tails from which emanated a lovely fragrance.

  “Oh, that smells so good, Lora.”

  “How do you feel, Noah?” Lora asked with a smile.

  “I feel so loved. I feel as if someone really, really cares about me,” Noah replied.

  “Yes, that is correct. But humans don’t care or love each other like this, so maybe, just maybe, what you see now may restore some of that care, which was lost, like it did for you and me. Come on, let’s go home,” Lora said.

  “Thank you, thank you, all of you here,” Noah said.

  “You are welcome,” the flowers replied, giggling.

  The many butterflies didn’t fly in the same direction as the coyote went; instead they flew in the four areas of Charlotte, North Carolina and beyond – north, south, east, and west and everywhere in between.

  Throughout the many parts of the north, south, east, and west where they went, there were lands that had nothing but dead plants and weeds or unplowed soil and dirt. When the midst that they sprayed out of their tails reached the ground in the designated places, multicolored dots appeared out of the ground – each dot was the same color as the butterfly which had sprayed it.

  The morning light came two hours after the woodchuck had awakened. He was already up, he had eaten, and had found something as good as the Fruity Juicy in a trash can, but it didn’t make him feel tanked-up like the Fruity Juicy had done. Any hesitation to go with the garbage liquid over the Fruity Juicy to ransack the truck had just been a passing thought.

  “Maybe I could make me a wooden sword and then I would be the Woodchuck Zoro! If I come in contact with any predators I would slash them to smithereens! Naw, I don’t know if that will work. I will go just like this; me and this beautiful scarf the fox gang gave me. I have to go. No one is going to help me, so what choice do I have, if I want to get some Fruity Juicy?”

  The woodchuck wasn’t just early to rise; he was also early to get to the raid site. It was an extremely cold morning, which explained why the parking lot to the shopping center was totally empty.

  He got on a roof of a building where he thought the delivery truck would come. “Ah, come on now; how long do I have to wait on this truck? Gee whiz you come every day. Now that I decided that I want to – I guess I will call it what it is – rob you, all you want to do is to take your own woodchucking time. Come on, guys, drive up into the parking lot as you do every single day. Park and go in the store. And while you’re in the store giving them their stuff, I will be inside your truck, taking your Fruity Juicy.”

  The woodchuck was impatient but when he thought about opening the bottle of the Fruity Juicy and turning it up, the impatience went away. He took off his scarf and used it as a blanket and wrapped himself in it. “This is much better while I wait for the truck to get here. It won’t hurt anything to catch up on my rest,” he said, lying on the roof. He was almost gone to dreamland when he heard the blaring sound of a horn. He scrambled to get out of the scarf and to his feet. He then walked to the edge of the roof. It was a truck but it wasn’t the eighteen-wheeler truck he expected, as the one he always saw when products were delivered.

  “Wait a woodchucking second, that isn’t the truck, but I bet they have Fruity Juicy on there.” His excitement was aroused as his thirst was.

  While the single driver was out of the box truck the woodchuck was planning his raid. He was surprised that the single driver didn’t have someone watching, to avoid a raid. Then something else dawned on the woodchuck.

  If that truck is backed up and the door isn’t open in the back, then apparently the driver isn’t going to deliver anything, he thought. “This doesn’t make sense. They get a shipping of supplies every morning, why doesn’t he have that back door open so I could get the Fruity Juicy?” he yelled.

  Then as if he was left without a choice, he jumped ten feet down from the roof of the store. His landing was a little rocky, but since he didn’t make much noise, he was happy.

  It has to be in this truck, the woodchuck thought. He searched the top of the truck for an opening that would get him inside the truck, but came up empty. “There is only one way; I don’t want to do it, but I can do it, and I will do it for the Fruity Juicy. You are my love and I will find you and we will be together. I have to get it!”

  The woodchuck’s final act of courage found him at the door, trying to get it open. This is nonsense. I am not strong enough to get the handle of the door open, darn it! This is dumb. While other options were displayed on the big screen of his mind, the door to the store opened and out came the driver of the truck. By the time he got to the driver side of the truck, the woodchuck was hiding under the front tire. It wasn’t until the woodchuck’s desperation set in, that he eased his way into the door opening without the delivery driver knowing he slipped in.

  Oh no, what have I done, the woodchuck thought. The door sounded like a bomb had hit the truck when the driver slammed it shut.

  Louis was the first to rise from his slumber. He looked at Molly. He didn’t want to wake her, but food was a must, not so much for him but for Molly.

  I’m sure she will be hungry when she wakes, but leaving her here while I go to get some food, she’ll panic. No doubt about it, Louis thought. It won’t hurt to wait until she wakes, that way we could go together, if she wants to.

  What is Edna up to? What is she trying to do to pets? There has to be some way that I could find out and stop her. “Very funny!” Louis said to himself. “Like I can really stop someone and save the entire pet population. I can’t…, can’t find a home,” Louis said when he sat down as if he was on guard in front of the tree. He bowed his head toward the thistles and shrubs. When he was about to shake his head in disgust, Molly came out of the hole in which she had slept comfortably.

  “You saved me, Louis. I would not have known how or where to keep warm through the night, if it wasn’t for you,” Molly said.

  “Thanks, but if I recall, I was the one covered in a pile of mud trying to survive a fight with my former deranged owner,” Louis said a glimmer of laughter coming out of his mouth. “And how long were you spying on me, Ms. Molly?” he asked, a smile forming on his muddy mouth.

  “Well, let’s say that we helped each other. Is that better, Mr. Louis?” Molly replied.

  Louis laughed. “Thanks for helping me, Molly. Would you like something to eat?” he asked.

  “Yes, that would be nice, but where can we go that has cat food or wheat crackers?” Molly asked.

  “Wheat crackers? That’s no meal for a healthy and growing cat like y
ou.”

  “What do you mean, Louis?”

  “We have to get something with a little more substance than that in your system,” Louis said.

  “Okay, that sounds good. What do you have in mind, Louis?” Molly asked ignorantly.

  “If you follow me, I can show you.”

  Morning came fast and Edna wanted to sleep through it slowly, but she adjusted to the ringing of her messaging system on her phone and Randall calling it five times straight.

  “Randall, do you think I don’t know what time it is, for Christ sake.”

  “I tried to contact you last night but I figured you were asleep,” Randall said.

  “So, at four something in the morning you think that I would be up?”

  “We have a meeting today at seven and I also wanted to tell you that what you done by taking those keys from the couch would have got you cut from this job, Edna,” Randall said, his voice rising with every word.

  “Well, it didn’t. And if you have a problem with me taking your keys, then you know where I live,” Edna said. Randall laughed. “Or better yet, before the meeting that we have with Onree, we could settle our differences in the back of the warehouse, Randall.”

  “I love to get you stirred up, Edna. You are one character that means business. That’s why I like you so much.”

  “Yeah, sure, whatever. I will see you at seven sharp. Don’t bother me until then.”

  When she hung up on Randall, so did his hilarious grin. Afterwards, he made another phone call, this one was to Onree.

  “Is she still in, Randall?”

  “Yes, sir, everything is a go. She is still in.”

  “Good, that’s a plus. I thought we were going to have another problem, but since she is still in, I won’t have to resort to plan B,” Onree said. “So, is she still buying the entire advertisement page that I created?”

  “Yes, she bought it like a magic trick, sir. She really believes there is money in it for her, if she gets all of these animals,” Randall said.

  “That is how we are going to keep it, Randall. We have her along with others who were working in that shopping center parking to get me all the animals from every shelter in this pet-loving town, until I am done transforming them into mannequins in my warehouse,” Onree said.

  “I think Edna is going to be a big problem. We need to find a way to get rid of her.”

  “You are my right hand man and I agree totally. But it has to be at the right time. While those people are running crazy buying my Stun Duh pens, I will be busy making my masterpieces, my dog and cat mannequins. And when I have enough, then and only then will it be suitable to get rid of her,” Onree said. “I will see you at seven sharp; in a couple of hours, Randall.”

  “I don’t think I ever ate anything this good in my life, Louis. I was told by my owners that cats should only eat cat food, and the only thing close to table food that I could have were wheat crackers,” Molly said. “And you said this is called a Big Mac, Louis?” she asked.

  “No. It’s a Breakfast Wrap, Molly.”

  “Oh, this is a great Breakfast Wrap.”

  “Yeah, humans are so wasteful; I knew that I would find a wasteful human somewhere.”

  “Maybe he got the wrong order or something, or maybe his food was cold and he wanted something hot?” Molly said.

  “Naw, I don’t think so. If that was the case, he would have taken the bag of food back into the restaurant instead of throwing it in the trash,” Louis replied.

  Molly didn’t say anything; she continued eating her breakfast wrap. Then she peered up at Louis, who was eating five different types of biscuit sandwiches that he nabbed from three different customers. “If you’re looking at me because I stole this food, I do say I’m sorry for offending you, but a dog and a cat have to eat,” Louis said.

  Molly giggled. “That’s not why I’m looking at you, Louis. I wanted to tell you that you are brave, braver than any person or animal I ever seen in my life.”

  “There you go again with that…”

  “Yes, I am at it with the same thing again, Louis,” Molly interrupted. “I think you are brave and the reason why I think you are brave is because you were defending and protecting yourself from that horrible woman. The only reason why I was able to save you, Louis, is because while you were getting the best of her, I was able to help you.”

  “That’s what brave pets do, and I’m no brave pet, Louis, I’m just…, I’m just here in this world taking up space. I will never be brave. For me that doesn’t matter as long as I’m happy, Louis, and right now I am happy.”

  Louis stopped eating when he saw Molly’s blue eyes fill with tears. He walked over and hugged her. Her heart was pounding hard against her little chest.

  “You are brave, Molly. What you’ve done for me and trusting me to be your friend, that’s brave. In my world, this world that I live in, you’re not only brave, but you mean something, and together we will prove that you, me and every pet in this entire world, mean something special to every owner that wants us.”

  Now Molly began to cry as she held Louis tightly. “How are we going to do it?”

  “I’m not sure, but I know that we, me and you, are going to find a way to do it together. Okay, friend?” Louis pulled away from her to get an answer from her.

  She smiled. “Yes, friend, we will do it together.”

  Although it was hotter than a midday summer morning in the delivery truck, the woodchuck held on to the skinny pole that connected to the driver’s seat.

  Everything looked so big to the woodchuck from behind the driver seat. With every little turn and jerk, it felt as though everything that he saw inside the truck was going to fall over on him. He gazed at the back area. There were two more seats and a wall that separated the cab from the back of the truck.

  That must be where the Fruity Juicy is. I have to find a way to get back there, the woodchuck thought, his blue eyes focusing on the wall. Then he thought of a way to go through the back. He was almost driven to do that very thing when he felt a cold, rough hand touching his tail behind the seat.

  “My cigarettes have to be somewhere around here. I know they didn’t grow legs and walk out of here,” the driver said.

  The woodchuck turned his body around toward the front of the truck. The red cheeked man hadn’t noticed that he had touched the woodchuck.

  If he finds me, I am a cooked woodchuck. Crap!

  The woodchuck was able to get behind one of the seats while the driver found his cigarettes under the front seat. He opened the window at the same time as the woodchuck placed both of his front paws over his mouth to hold in the cough.

  That smoke is strong. What is he trying to do, kill me and him at the same time?

  “I guess I didn’t know how cold it was out there.” The driver rolled up the window so far up that the door panel and the window were keeping more smoke in than out. The smoke was strong. By now more of it had filled the truck. It was too much for the woodchuck to handle. He coughed and coughed.

  “What was that?” the driver said in a loud voice.

  The woodchuck was behind the second seat, behind the driver’s seat. The driver strained to look around but when he saw nothing, he returned his attention to the road.

  When the woodchuck felt another cough coming on, he snatched off his scarf and coughed in it, which masked the noise.

  Soon the woodchuck and the driver were back at the grocery store. When the driver got out, the woodchuck was able to get the scarf back around his neck and jump out before the driver slammed the door shut.

  The woodchuck hid under the front wheel of the tire. The driver walked carefree to the back of the truck, opened the door – the very same door through which the woodchuck wanted to go.

  “How you doing this morning? You have us some fresh bread today?” The woodchuck heard the lady say from the back door of the store.

  He continued to listen to the exchange while he thought; I
have to figure out how I am going to get on the back of the truck without being caught. I know there is a way. There has to be a way.

  The conversation continued all the way into the store. He didn’t close the back door. Maybe this is my chance, the woodchuck thought, and then ran out from behind the wheel and leaped into the back of the truck.

  “It’s going to take me forever to find the Fruity Juicy,” he said. He was discouraged by the great number of brown boxes he saw in front of him. “Oh no, don’t tell me I wasted my time by coming here. How am I going to get home? How am I going to eat if I get stuck out here?” Then he saw the hand truck roll up a metal ramp to the inside of the truck. The woodchuck squeezed his way between one of the boxes and the truck’s wall. He continued to slide down between the boxes and the wall while the driver loaded up boxes on his hand truck. Once he believed the driver was out of the truck, the woodchuck came out of hiding.

  “Where is the Fruity Juicy?” Frustrated, the woodchuck jumped on the top box in hopes of getting behind it to see if his new drink was behind the front row of boxes.

  About three of the boxes came tumbling down and one of them was the Fruity Juicy. The box split down the middle and a couple of the plastic bottles rolled out of the open boxes and onto the floor of the truck. “This can’t be for real. This has to be a dream! Yes, the drink that I came for,” the woodchuck said to himself, trying to take the whole box out with him. When he realized it wasn’t going to work, he used his scarf as a sack and placed four of the bottles inside the makeshift bag. “I can’t leave here without drinking at least one of these, right here and right now.” The woodchuck opened one of the bottles and turned it up.

  “Aww, yes, this is what I’ve been waiting for. This is it.” The woodchuck only got the Fruity Juicy down to about half, when he heard another conversation between the delivery guy and the lady in the store.

  I have to get out of here before he gets back. The woodchuck jumped on the ramp; it made a loud clink noise when the plastic bottles hit against the ramp. Immediately the woman began to yell but before the driver could turn his head, the woodchuck was gone.

  “What’s wrong? Is everything okay?” the driver asked.

  The woman pulled out a Stun Duh pen and pushed the button that released the current. By accident she struck the driver with it.

  “No, everything is not okay. I’ve seen a rat,” the lady hollered.

  Edna and Randall arrived at the same time. Onree was standing by his luxury car, obviously waiting for the both of them to get there.

  He’s got a hurt leg and she’s got a neck brace. I’m not sure how they are going to work for me and do the job. Only time will tell, I guess. I’m sure of Randall, but I’m not one hundred percent sure about her, Onree thought. “Glad to see you, Randall, and Edna. I must say I am very impressed with your punctuality. Being on time is the number one thing that makes a business work. If you’re not on time then as an owner of the company, you hate that as much as you hate your enemies.” Onree’s voice became low and creepy. He gave Edna a hard glare but if he was trying to put fear in her, he failed. She wasn’t the least bit afraid of the skinny-framed, short man. Onree led them to a room inside the warehouse. It was a dull office space that consisted of a long, rectangular table with six chairs on each side and one at each end.

  “Oh, don’t be shy, sit anywhere you like. Randall, I am sure you are going to be more comfortable near the front, so you can stretch out your hurt leg. By the way, how is it doing? Is it getting any better?” Onree asked. “Yes, it is feeling much better actually. I should have this cast off in a couple of days,” Randall said.

  “And what about you, Edna, how is the neck going? Randall tells me that you had a bad run in with a dog. I hope you used my Stun Duh pen next time.”

  Edna didn’t feel like talking. She wanted to know the extent of her job, instead of talking about her neck. “I’m fine, but I think the most important thing is for us to know what the job is going to be – correct me if I’m wrong, Onree.”

  Onree had his hand on his Stun Duh in his pocket and he was two seconds from pulling it out and stunning Edna right there. This woman is trying my patience. I swear, if I didn’t need her, I would do away with her as quickly as I could!

  “Yes, you are right, Edna. The most important thing is you doing a specific job, and for me to make sure that the job is handled correctly. Now, let’s proceed with what your job is, Edna.” Onree’s voice was soft and calm but inside he was fuming with anger and retaliation.