Louis, Molly & the Woodchuck

by Michael Arnold

  Chapter 17

  “You said his name is Onree?”

  “Yep, that is the name of the person who created what all these people have been using the last couple of weeks on these poor pets. You know what I showed you on television the other day, Dad,” Kelly said as if her dad didn’t know what she was talking about.

  “Oh, you mean that stun gun thing?”

  “Yeah, except it’s not called a stun gun, Dad, it’s called a Stun Duh. He calls it that because when he used it on the animals to protect himself it makes them go duh, duh. That’s what the animals are supposed to do! Anyway, on to the point, Dad…,” Kelly said.

  Her dad smiled. “Oh I’m not in a hurry. Take your time,”

  “To make a long story short, Dad, my CEO will be in tomorrow morning. He will already be here when I get here in the morning and I want to talk to him about getting those Stun Duhs off the street here in Charlotte or wherever else they may be. Honestly, Dad, does that sound a little out of my league by wanting to talk to the CEO of my company?”

  “No, it’s not strange at all, but what does your CEO have to do with this Onree John Thomas and the Stun Duh he has created, Kelly?”

  “It’s simple, Dad. What he has created is something cruel and it’s a crime against nature. Someone needs to put a stop to it!” Kelly’s voice became louder.

  “How do you prove that Onree hasn’t just created this Stun Duh to protect people from dangerous animals that are trying to hurt us, Kelly?” her dad asked.

  “What about the animals? We have protection every time we walk out in society, Dad, and it is called the police. But when it comes to innocent animals, they don’t have police pets. They have nothing. They are always at the mercy of mean humans like Onree. So, tomorrow when I go to work I’m going to let the CEO know how I feel about the Stun Duh,” Kelly said. “I’m glad I could get your two cents worth regarding this situation, Dad. Now I can go back to work!” Kelly was angry. That smile, which her dad bragged about, was gone. Her light brown cheeks were filled with the heat of rage.

  “Honey, wait a second. Can you at least stay just for a few more minutes so that you can hear me out?” her dad asked.

  “Dad, I have to go back. If I don’t leave now I will be late getting back to work.”

  “You just got here. You haven’t been here thirty minutes.”

  “I know I haven’t, but I have to figure out what I’m going to say when I see my CEO tomorrow morning,” Kelly said.

  “Sorry I couldn’t be more help, baby.”

  “When are you ever helping, Dad, when it concerns my job?” Kelly asked, storming out of the house. She slammed the door and sped off.

  Kelly’s father closed his eyes and then looked up at the ceiling and took a drink from his coffee mug. I really wish she could have seen where I was coming from. I want to save her a lot of pain, but, after all, she is a grown woman and grown women make their own decisions.

  When Hawk gave the signal to get off the train car, Louis jumped off with the groundhog then Molly followed. It was a smooth landing for Louis but for Molly it wasn’t without pain. She grimaced but did a good job of hiding it. They got to the burrows which was farther than Louis had expected, but when he got there he was happy.

  “I thought I would never see this place again,” Louis said.

  “Is this where the woodchuck lives?” Molly asked.

  “Yes, and I did, too, before…” Louis stopped, remembering why he walked away and what it was like when he walked away, and so did Worm.

  “Ugh, he was going to say “leaving”. When Louis left it wasn’t recently but he still left,” Worm said.

  “Is these the type of friend you are? If so in just about three seconds I am going to be friendless,” Louis said, growling and walking toward the tree branch where Worm stood.

  Molly jumped in front of Louis, preventing him from going any farther.

  “I’m sorry. I didn’t know I wasn’t supposed to say that,” Worm said.

  “I’m sure if Louis left here he had a reason. He just didn’t leave this poor little woodchuck,” Molly said, making sure the groundhog’s entire body was securely wrapped in his scarf.

  “Of course, I had a reason for leaving the woodchuck but I believe there are more important matters at hand. Molly needs a home and we need to find her one as soon as possible,” Louis said.

  “Hey wait a second. Speak for yourself, Louis. If you are throwing me away just throw me away, but don’t put words in my mouth. Besides, you know what you promised way before Hawk and Worm came along. So, I do hope you keep your promise,” Molly replied.

  “Yeah, you are right, Molly. I am a dog of my promise, and I will keep my promise. But I want to make sure you’re not hurt. You are a lady and ladies need to be protected at all times.”

  “What are you referring to, Louis?” Hawk asked.

  “Molly and I had a run in with my owner. Her name is Edna,” Louis said. “I think she is up to something and I think it has something to do with the pets. At least that’s the indication I got from her when she had me in chains at a warehouse.”

  Hawk placed a wing on his head. “Warehouse? I think we may have come across a warehouse. You remember coming across a warehouse, Worm?”

  He, too, gave the impression as if he had to give the question some thought.

  When Molly had the groundhog tightly secured in the scarf that was somewhat dirty, she reached down in his hole and placed him in it on his side.

  Sleep tight, little woodchuck. I hope you feel better when you wake, Molly thought.

  “I have an idea, Louis,” Hawk said, excitement in his voice.

  “I’m all ears, Hawk.”

  “While Worm here is wasting time trying to figure out if he saw a warehouse or not, he and I can go see what we can find and we will get back soon. Right, Worm?” Hawk said slapping him on the head. A few colorful wings fell to the ground.

  “Ugh, yes sure. I thought I saw a warehouse…, maybe I didn’t,” Worm added.

  They flew up out then they were gone.

  “Maybe with the information that Hawk and Worm get, we can find some sort of way to relay a message to the people who care and they can stop her, or maybe I can,” Louis suggested.

  “Whatever you choose to do, Louis, it’s fine with me. All I want is to help you in anyway I can. We are still friends, right?”

  There wasn’t any hesitation. “Yes, we are still friends, Molly, without a doubt.”

  The groundhog tossed and turned for a while. The smell of the food that was stored in the hole with him did absolutely nothing to wake him. He slept peacefully and quietly.

  Hunger was slowly creeping up in Molly and Louis’s stomachs. It wasn’t a question of what had to be done; Louis vowed to do it, even with Molly telling him that she didn’t want him to go out on another raid.

  In the long time Louis was gone she worried about him and she worried about herself; how bad her legs would get and would she ever find a home like the one she had weeks ago. These questions scared her not because she didn’t find positive answers, but because she wasn’t sure these positive answers were really the right answers.

  From time to time she checked on the woodchuck to see if he was still breathing. He must have drunk a lot of the Fruity Juicy, Molly thought, trying to take her mind off the situation at hand.

  Louis thoughts were to get as much food as possible without getting hit with anyone’s Stun Duh.

  I don’t know how easy this is going to be. I’m sure I have to be “America’s Most Wanted” and now I’m putting myself back in danger. What we do for the female gender, Louis thought.

  Hawk and Worm soared through the air. They ruled the air with each and every glide. Their massive wings spread majestically to their sides, hugged the air with each and every space their forward progress took these two beautiful birds. In the air they flew in perfect harmony, knowing where to look, when to speed up, when to crisscro
ss the air and taper off into a slow flight. Hawk and Worm didn’t have a worry in the world, although everything beneath was falling apart, where humans were involved.

  I just want to help, and as long as we are friends you will help too, Hawk, Worm thought when they flew high above the clouds then down out of them as something attracted his attention. It was maybe a hundred or possibly two hundred feet off. He wasn’t sure, yet Worm was sure that what he saw may have been what they were looking for.

  “I think I…, ugh, see something, Hawk.”

  “You do? I don’t see anything and I’m telling you if it’s something related to eating, save it. This isn’t what this is about,” Hawk said his voice stern. “This is very important, so what you see can’t be about food and eating all the time, Worm,” Hawk said.

  “I wasn’t going to say anything about that, ugh. I was going to say I see something like ugh…, what Louis was talking about.”

  “You see the warehouse?” Hawk spoke in utter surprise as he made a strong effort to see through the fog that was passing through. He strained his eyes. But when they got through the clouds, Hawk turned to Worm and Worm embraced his stare.

  “I think you might be right, ole friend, ole pal.”

  In the back of the warehouse there was an office and inside the office sat Onree John Thomas with his short skeletal crossed legs, leaning back in a leather desk chair. Open, in his hands, was the latest comic book by Michael Arnold called The Soul Project.

  “Awh, not really fond of this story; I rather be reading Stephen King’s, The Dark Tower, but when every comic book store is sold-out of it and you want something, and you come across this for 99 cents for a 65-page comic book, it will do me for now,” Onree said to himself.

  He placed the comic book on his desk when he heard a timid knock on his office door. There was a total of four knocks before Onree got to the door. “I’m coming; I’m coming. Hold the dog and keep that cat at bay. I’m on my way,” Onree said. Because of his height he needed a stepping stool to look out.

  “You are back early and I see you have the cast off. How does your leg feel, Randall?” Onree asked, able to hide the stool behind the door in the dark before opening it.

  “It feels fine.”

  “Then that means you’re not going to stand here all day and talk to me because there are some dogs and cats at the facility that you are going to be adopting and bring here to my warehouse, right?” Onree asked.

  “Of course. I have already started that process. So far I have adopted three cats and three dogs. It was all my car could hold and for some reason they give you a limit of how many pets you can adopt in a day. So, it looks like I have maxed out for today, Onree,” Randall said.

  “Well, why didn’t you say something? Let’s go and take a look at what you have for me,” Onree said.

  Amazingly Randall didn’t favor his leg nor did he have any type of limp but what were more amazing were the pets that were sitting there at the front door.

  Onree peered into the cages at the pets.

  “They are going to have to be much bigger than this. I need bigger, Randall. Bigger animals are better. They are always better,” Onree shouted.

  Randall took several steps back in fear.

  With Onree’s upturned grimace, his small slanted eyes and his eyebrows that went up in the corner, he looked not like a different man, but like a monster in Randall’s eyes.

  “Sorry I didn’t know you didn’t want puppies and kittens. You never told us what you wanted. If so I would have gotten what you wanted, Onree.” Randall didn’t trust his feelings about his friend and business partner, so he allowed his body to feel the way that it was supposed to feel, when it was fear that shook it.

  Then, as if Onree’s feelings were never that of an irate man, he spoke with calmness and a satisfactory attitude as if he was always happy with the kittens and puppies in the kennels in front of his warehouse door. “I will have to improvise. Small or large, nothing goes to waste in my lab of experiments, Randall. I want you to know that.”

  He wanted to grab Randall around the neck, but couldn’t since he was so short, he put the word ‘improvise’ into effect quicker than he had anticipated. He reached for Randall’s hand like a husband would his wife, squeezed it and rub the top of it with his free hand.

  “Just remember next time, Randall, it’s big and not small. I have something I have to take care of, so when the others get here, make sure you tell them that it is big and not small animals that I need. Can you remember that, Randall?” Onree asked as if he was a father and Randall was his young son.

  “Yes, Onree, I can remember that. No problem.”

  “Very good, and if any of them have a problem with big instead of small, you let me know,” Onree said. “There are shelves on this walkway. Put these lab animals anywhere on the shelves. When I get back I will figure out what I want to do with them from there.”

  It wasn’t long before Molly was caught up in her thoughts. She was so worried about Louis that she forgot about the woodchuck. Being out there alone she gained more courage than she ever had before; only enough to peep through the leaves to see if she could see Louis.

  He could be anywhere. That place is so big out there, she thought. She walked around and found a different vantage point where she hoped she would see Louis. But all it did was make Molly nervous. She remembered the store patrons with anger in their eyes wanting to capture and hurt animals.

  Why did I allow Louis to go out there? Those humans are going to do something bad to him if they catch him, Molly thought. But he won’t get caught. Louis is strong, brave, and more than anything he is confident he will make it back. Yeah, he will make it back and he will be okay, and he will have food. She then turned around to walk back to check on the woodchuck, when, looking her in the face, was an orange-hair creature standing in a fighting stance with balled fists.

  He screamed. Molly screamed then both of them back away from each other.

  “Who are you and how did I get back here to my home?”

  “You must be the woodchuck?”

  “Yeah, and you must be the cat,” the woodchuck replied.

  Molly gave him an evil glare. “I mean…, my name is Molly, thank you.”

  The woodchuck felt a little embarrassed but he tried to shake it off. “I’m sorry, I didn’t know your name but now I know. Hi, Molly,” the woodchuck said.

  Molly didn’t respond at first, believing that this first encounter with the woodchuck wasn’t going to go as smooth as she thought, with him apparently being a rude animal.

  “It’s a long story. How you got here? But Louis, you know him, right?”

  “Ummm…, you mean Louis the dog?” the woodchuck asked.

  “Yes, Louis the dog. It was his idea to bring you back. You were behind a store, tanked-up.”

  The woodchuck remained quiet as he took some time to put away his confusing thoughts and said the next thing that came to his mind. “Well, I had to do something and when I…, I…drank the stuff for the first time, I like the fruity taste in it and how it made me feel alright. I wanted to stop but I couldn’t.” He bowed his head, his eyes watered with tears. “How…, how did … Louis know? How did he know I was at the store getting tanked-up?”

  “I found you while Louis was protecting me. I wasn’t trying to, but it happened. I knew I couldn’t leave you there tanked-up and passed out,” Molly replied.

  “Oh boy, you are such a nice girl, I think I’m going to…, going to … CRY.”

  Within those few minutes of the woodchuck meeting Molly, her feelings toward Woodchuck changed. He wasn’t the mean and disrespectful groundhog that she thought he was. He was the gentle, innocent, adorable woodchuck that stood before her. She stood on her hind legs and embraced the woodchuck as if he was a new born kitten.

  “Thank you for saving me. I didn’t know where I was or if I was going to ever make it back here. Louis…, where is he anyway?” the woodchuck asked
his faced buried in Molly’s thick, white fur.

  “I’m right here, Woodchuck. Welcome back to the world. I thought you would sleep through the night.”

  “Louis!” the woodchuck yelled, jumping out of Molly’s embrace. “Louis. I can’t believe it. Is that you? Is that Louis?” he asked, looking at Molly’s smiling face.

  “Yes, as far as I know that is Louis.”

  Woodchuck ran toward Louis. Louis dropped the bag of food he was holding and met the groundhog halfway.

  “Louis, I just want to say thank, thank … thank you for bringing me back and Molly the cat for saving me.” The woodchuck held a tight grip around Louis’s neck.

  Louis strained to talk. “If you give me a little slack and my neck back, I could tell you something, Woodchuck,” Louis said as the woodchuck released his neck. “I want to say something to you, Woodchuck. First because it’s been on my heart and mind since I was away from this place, and if nothing more, I owe you what I am about to say to you.”

  The woodchuck looked at Molly. He then pointed to himself. Molly pointed back at the woodchuck, giving him a small smile.

  “Woodchuck, I was wrong for what I’ve done when I left here. You had saved my life and gave me a new life, although I wanted a home with humans,” Louis said. “My home was with you, my friend, my buddy, and my pal.”

  The woodchuck began to whimper. Oh no, Louis, you’re going to make me do it, I can feel it coming, the woodchuck thought, whimpering and wiping his eyes from the tears that had not fallen yet.

  “If I truly wanted a home with humans, it should have been a package deal; me and you, not just me walking off. Like you always say: leave you to be eaten by the predators since you are not at the bottom of the food chain, you are the food chain. So, I ask if you would forgive me, Woodchuck, for my selfishness.”

  The woodchuck stood between Louis and Molly. He gave a look back at Molly as to say: “What shall I do? Should I really trust what he is saying?”

  The woodchuck heard her whisper, “Go ahead, Woodchuck.”

  Louis’s frown wasn’t obvious through his thick facial hair but in his heart the frown was enormous.

  “It’s alright if you decide not to accept my apology, you will be well within your rights, Woodchuck,” Louis said.

  “I’m going to accept your apology, only because you are my friend, the only true friend I’ve had since I first met you. Besides, I need someone to clean up the mess that you left in my house,” the woodchuck said.

  Louis and Molly laughed.

  The obsession with Louis had gotten to Edna. She set aside Onree’s orders to go to the shelter and adopt some large animals. Instead, she went on a one-man search for the dog that caused her to walk around in a neck brace with puppies’ illustrations all over it.

  When Onree learned of her deliberate disobedience from one of his workers who spotted her at a pet store instead of the animal shelter, Onree was furious. He would have dismissed her from duties after her part of the job had been done, but not before. So when he was informed that she was doing her own thing, he knew it was time to dispose of Edna sooner than later, no questions asked.

  “Now this dog whistle will only work for a Fox Terrier, so if you are trying to attract another type of dog, then…”

  “What part of I lost my Fox Terrier don’t you understand?” Edna yelled.

  “Sorry, I just want to make sure, because you have pit bull puppies all over your neck brace,” the store associate said.

  Edna ground her teeth and blew air out of the side of her mouth before slamming a closed fist on the counter. “I have had it up to here with you!” Edna grabbed the clerk by the collar of his shirt and pulled him forward in kissing distance from her.

  “I said I lost my dog. I told you he is a Fox Terrier. I asked if you had a dog whistle to help me find my dog. You said, yes. So, just give me the God Blame dog whistle for my dog. That’s all I ask. Any other smart question is not needed,” Edna said, releasing the store associate and pushing him back behind the counter.

  When she did and the both of them turned around, there were several customers glaring at the associate and at Edna.

  “Oh, no worries. Go on shopping, people. This is my son and sometimes I have to let him know who is in control – like who’s the boss.” She tried with every muscle in her body to laugh it off. However, the customers weren’t buying Edna’s words. Nevertheless, they went on shopping and Edna got her Fox Terrier dog whistle.

  “Are you sure she is at Pet and Go Whistle?” Onree asked the worker who was keeping track of Edna.

  “Yes, she is checking out now, Mr. Onree,” the worker replied on the phone.

  “Good, we are making perfect time. Well, you are that is.”

  “What do you mean, Mr. Onree?”

  “I mean since you have one of my Stun Duh’s and I am about ten minutes out, in order to get a handle on her, someone is going to need to stop her, right?” Onree asked.

  The worker paused. “Ummm…, well, I was…”

  “You were going to pick up animals. I am very aware of that, and Randall was supposed to be the lookout man, but like I told you before, you are now the lookout man. You are to stun duh her as quickly as possible when she gets to her car. And don’t ask any question. Just do it. By the time that’s done, I should be pulling up,” Onree said.

  “What do I do once I stun duh her, boss?”

  “What do you mean what do you do, Nitwit? You get in your car and you drive to the animal facility and you get me dogs and cats. Is that so hard for you to understand?”

  “No, it isn’t, but I mean…., I mean her…, the lady, what do I do with her?” the man stuttered. Onree’s worker was scared and timid.

  “What we do with her is simple; we leave her there beside her car. She was a temp worker anyway. And now she’s become a problem in my work environment.”

  “Oh, boss, that is cruel and mean! What are we representing by doing this to this lady? She gave me a piece of bubble gum when I asked for a piece this morning.”

  “Shut up, I heard enough of you. She will be coming out of that store anytime now. So if you don’t want me to report how you threw berry cherries at the birds the other day, you better stun duh her before she gets in that car and drive away.”

  “Please, please, please, Mr. Onree, I didn’t know the cherry berries would make the birds sick. I was just trying to feed them.”

  “Well, animal control knows someone made them sick and I know you are the one who made them sick, so if you don’t want me to tell your secret then you…”

  “Alright, alright, alright already! I am going to do it now. She is coming out now…”

  “Good. Call me when the job is done,” Onree said, hanging-up abruptly.

  Onree’s flunky ran across the street where Edna walked out with her head down, inspecting the dog whistle. She didn’t notice the worker running toward her until she heard him yell at her.

  “Hey, Edna, Edna, remember me?”

  “Yeah, I do. You are Sam, one of Onree’s assistant, right?”

  “Yes that would be me! I was in the area and I saw you. So I wanted to say hi.”

  “Okay, hi! What do you really want, Sam?” Edna said, stopping right before she got to her car.

  “Onree wants me to stun duh you and leave you lying beside your car. He should be here any second, once I have stunned duh you.”