Conversations with Critters
Walk with the animals. Talk with the animals. And Chapter 4 of The Case of The Misplaced Priority Envelope…
Today, Critters, we dedicate The Case of the Misplaced Priority Envelope in luvluvluving memory of our precious Senior Shining Star. Furever and ever.
On Tuesday, we posted our tribute to Star and her recent Rainbow Bridge Crossing. As an ongoing tribute to Star and the tremendous role that she played in her life as a Little Senior Dog Ambassador, an advocate for adopting someone senior and someone special, we want to honor her life by continuing to characterize her in the mystery stories from the J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency.
And so, with that said Dear Gentle Readers and Dear Gentle Critters, we present to you Chapter 4 of The Case of The Misplaced Priority Envelope with opening commentary from our Core Community Cats, Jasper Kitten and Chris. Please, join them now in excellent detective critter exploration and conversation.
Jasper: Hello, Critters! Thank you beyond words for your kind thoughts and luvluvluv during this difficult time of being bereaved and bereft and dogless.
Chris: Thank you, Friends. Thank you very much. You help lift us up, so we can keep shining. We hope you’ll enjoy Chapter 4 as we take it away, Critters!
The Case of The Missing Priority Envelope
Book 1 from the J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency
By Jasper Kitten, Chris & Star
Dedicated in Luvluvluving Memory of Star, Furever and Ever
Chapter 4
An Uninvited Guest
The Critters skidded to a stop at the threshold to the Catio.
Their hackles went up as they made a rapid visual survey of the spacious room.
The treatise sat on the coffee table and the magnifying glass and the chrome plated bell remained unmoved nearby. Chris gave an almost imperceptible nod to the side table. The snacks were gone.
Not moving a muscle, they gave each other a knowing look in complete and utter silence while two large green eyes stared back at them, reflected in the chrome plated bell. The tips of two ears rose over the edge of the couch.
Chris took a half step back, Jasper Kitten took a half step forward, and Star, with her fearless Chihuahua can do attitude, forged in fire from all of her years of life experience, charged between the space created by her two cats.
She hit her target hard. Pound per pound, her full strength came as a complete shock and knocked the wind out of the critter. Then, in a seamless motion with her cinnamon brown paws, she pinned his big ears to the Catio floor.
“Gosh, what kind of a feline is this?” said Star, kneeling over the very big and very winded cat.
“A rather small head,” observed Jasper Kitten, “relative to a rather large body. Distinctive stripes and spots. Star, please check the back of his ears.”
Star, holding fast, folded each ear tip over in a brief and quick motion.
”Each ear tip,” she reported, “has a distinct white horizontal stripe.”
Chris tapped all of the physical parameters into his phone. “This sure is slow to load,” he said, tapping the screen again.
”This critter is most curious. A very big and a completely uninvited guest,” apprised Jasper Kitten.
“Here it is,” said Chris with a low growl. “My friends, this is no domestic house cat. This. Is. A. Serval. Laptailurus serval.”
Chris brandished the identifying species specific photo in front of Jasper Kitten and Star.
”Yes, just as I suspected,” nodded Jasper Kitten.
A wheeze came from the floor.
“Please. I’m no. Intruder. I. I. Need. Your. Help. Jasper Kitten, Sleuth. And Purveyor. Of. Bright. Shiny. Objects.”
“Star, let him up,” said Jasper Kitten.
Star relaxed her grip on the big ears and massaged her paws, never breaking eye contact with the Serval.
She helped him to his feet. He towered over her, but cowered while she stood her ground.
“How did you get in here?” demanded Chris.
”I squeezed in through the Catio screen.”
”You look, quite frankly, a little too large to accomplish that,” said Chris, pressing closer to the Serval.
“Well, honestly, I sliced it open with my claw.” He swallowed hard.
They shifted their attention to the screen and a narrow gap near the windowsill.
”That will require immediate repair,” said Chris, turning on his toebeans. He left the Catio and returned a few minutes later with the toolbox and got to work fixing the screen.
”The fact that you are here,” said Jasper Kitten to the Serval, “is quite suspicious.”
”Please. Jasper Kitten, I need your help,” cried the Serval.
”Look, Buddy,” said Chris, closing the toolbox. “What’s your game cuz we don’t play games around here at the Condo.”
”I. I didn’t mean to be a cat burglar at your Condo. I swear, I didn’t.”
”You ate our snacks,” said Star.
”I’m starving! Please, you gotta believe me!”
”Where is the Priority Envelope?” Jasper Kitten swatted the air with a white gloved paw.
”I’m sorry. I only meant to create a diversion, so you wouldn’t notice me! I’m starving!”
”Well,” said Jasper Kitten, leaning in. “You only came in here because you’re starving?”
”Gosh, well, no, no not exactly,” confessed the Serval.
”Then, tell us. Why are you here? Why do you need the help of the J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency? And where, I’m asking you again, is the Priority Envelope?”
”Yeah,” said Chris. “Who are you?”
“Yeah,” said Star, the light flashing in her eyes. “And how did you find us?”
”I don’t know who I am!” the Serval cried, rubbing his head. “I can’t remember anything. But here,” the Serval said, groveling, “I put the Priority Envelope under the snack tray.”
Jasper Kitten lifted the snack tray and picked up the Priority Envelope.
”Thank you for revealing the location. We were bound to find it, but you did save us some time by being honest. Clearly, your short term memory is operating on a certain level, at least. Why didn’t you hide the Treatise on Animal Magnetism instead?”
”It’s too big.”
“Here, Jasper Kitten,” said Star and handed him the UV flashlight. “Perhaps there may be another clue written in invisible ink?”
”Thank you, Star.” Jasper Kitten scanned the Priority Envelope with the special light.
”Gosh,” said Star. “That sure looks familiar.”
”It sure does,” replied Jasper Kitten. “Critters, the jagged tooth maker’s mark on the chrome plated bell is identical to what is now revealed by the ultraviolet light as it illuminates the Priority Envelope!”
He held up the Priority Envelope for all them to see the shape of a jagged tooth prominently stamped in the upper left hand corner of the envelope.
”What do you know about this?” Jasper Kitten asked the Serval.
”Nothing! I don’t know anything about it!”
”Did you send the Priority Envelope to us?” pressed Jasper.
”And the small envelope with the Haikus written in invisible ink, too?” asked Star.
”I can’t remember!”
”Are. You. A. Poet?” Chris shifted his weight.
”I can’t remember! I swear, I can’t! I can’t.” The Serval began to sob.
”It seems a little too coincidental, but not entirely out of the realm of realistic, logical possibility,” said Jasper Kitten. “We must investigate further to find out just who you really are.”
”I don’t know, Jasper Kitten! I swear! I can’t remember who I am since the Big Rig Crash!”
”Did you say, Big Rig Crash?”
”Yes.”
Jasper Kitten looked hard at the Serval.
”Tell me about the crash.”
”I was in the trailer. I hit my head on impact. I thought that I must be sleeping the big sleep because everything went dark. But! Then I woke up. Only. Only, I couldn’t remember who I am. I saw the trailer door was open and I, I lunged for it. I ran downhill and came to the creek. I was so thirsty, but when I leaned in I, I was swept away in the current.”
”You have amnesia,” stated Jasper Kitten.
”Is that why I can’t remember who I am?”
”Yes. The medical explanation is completely logical. I am inclined to believe your story.”
”Oh, thank you, Jasper Kitten. So, will you help me?”
”Yes, but I need to know more about your situation. What led you here? I mean,” he tapped a toe bean on his orange striped head, “if you have amnesia then how did you know who I am?”
”Yeah,” said Chris.
”Yeah,” said Star. “How did you know about the J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency?” Her eyes bore into the Serval.
”Please, I can explain. Like I said, I got swept downstream in the creek, but my collar snagged on a tree branch that was sticking out of the water. I was able to break free of it. Otherwise, I felt like I was going to drown.”
“Was that a break-away collar?” probed Jasper Kitten.
”Gosh, I’m not sure. I was writhing in the rapids, struggling to breathe, and then the next thing I knew, the collar broke and I was carried further downstream. It all happened so fast, but I was able to swim to shore.”
”What a harrowing experience,” sympathized Chris. “Quite frankly, Jasper Kitten and I are no fans of water.”
”Thank you for understanding, Chris. Thank you very much,” said the Serval.
”Star, you were correct in your assessment after scouting out the tracks in the ravine that stopped at the creekside. Well done,” said Jasper Kitten.
“Thank you, Jasper Kitten. The confirmation is truly humbling, but I can’t take the credit. It was teamwork, afterall.”
Jasper Kitten returned his full and undivided attention back to the Serval.
”Did you spend the night in the ravine?”
”Yes. There was a lot of smoke and I took cover, first from the fire and then from the crews who came to put it out.”
”I see,” said Jasper Kitten.
”When the three of you showed up to investigate the wreckage, I was hoping you might be friends and not foes, but I couldn’t be sure. So, I climbed out of the ravine and searched your car for your registration.”
”You mean to say that you went through the glove compartment?” asked Star.
”Yes. That’s how I found out who you are and your great renown as a detective, Jasper Kitten. I’m sorry to say that I went through your stuff.”
”Your own sleuthing skills seem to be quite good all on your own. Nothing in the car looked disturbed except for the fact of the slashed tire. What, in that case, is the logic in needing the services of our Detective Agency?” queried Jasper Kitten.
”Jasper Kitten. Please. I beg of you. I can’t remember who I am. I’m starving. I can’t do this on my own. Please, help me find out who I am and why I was in that Big Rig.”
“You slashed our tire as stated.”
”Yes,” said the Serval, bowing his head.
”Would you care to explain that?”
”I needed to slow you down. It gave me time to follow you home. You see, I can run up to forty-five miles per hour, so I could keep up with the car if I had a head start. I checked the map of the Northlands in the glove compartment for directions.”
”You could have asked for a ride,” said Chris.
”What if you didn’t believe me? Right there by the side of the road? I mean, I don’t know who I am, but look at me!”
”He has a point, Chris,” said Star.
”Maybe,” said Chris, still unconvinced. “You also could have knocked on our front door instead of slashing the Catio screen.”
”I’m sorry. I’ve been so confused and desperate!”
”Or, you could have texted. I have a phone.”
”I’m not computer enabled! And I have amnesia!”
”Chris,” said Jasper Kitten. “Let us proceed to help the Serval. It is entirely possible that he is not computer enabled because he is not, in fact, domesticated. That would also explain his inability to knock on the front door.”
”Your point is well taken, Jasper Kitten,” conceded Chris. “Yes, I see that the Serval could possibly be…”
“You mean…” gasped the Serval.
“Yes, you could possibly be, in fact, a wild animal,” concluded Chris.
Tears began to well up in the Serval’s green eyes.
”Thank you,” he cried. “Thank you to the J Kitten, Sleuth & Purveyor of Bright Shiny Objects Detective Agency for taking my case.”
”Of course, of course,” said Jasper Kitten. He extended a white gloved paw to the Serval. “And now, please, come join us in the Breakfast Nook. We don’t want you to go hungry.”
Chris set an extra place at the table for the Serval and they all sat down for a full meal of kibble in their bowls.
”Gosh, I’m so sorry, pardon me,” said the Serval as his spoon dropped to the floor of the Breakfast Nook with a clatter.
“Perhaps it is not natural for you to eat with a kitchen utensil,” observed Jasper Kitten.
“If only I could remember,” sighed the Serval.
“No worries,” said Chris. “We keep an extra supply of guest spoons in the Spoon Drawer.”
Chris passed a clean spoon to the Serval.
They continued eating in silence until Jasper Kitten sat stock still with his spoon suspended over his bowl.
”What is it, Jasper Kitten?” asked Star. “You have that look, like you’re thinking of something important.”
”My friends, I am still mystified by that jagged tooth mark on the Priority Envelope. It is most curious and confounding.”
They all nodded in agreement.
”I fear that I have overlooked something. But what? What is it? I keep going over it in my mind. Let us review the facts!”
They listened to Jasper Kitten with rapt attention.
“First! We have matching jagged tooth graphic marks on both the chrome plated bell and the Priority Envelope, neither of which are visible to the naked eye. Second! We have received two different types of envelopes, but both with a postmark from San Francisco.”
”And we’ve received creepy Haiku clues,” said Star.
”Yes,” agreed Jasper Kitten.
”Why, I’d like to sink my retractable claws into the perp,” growled Chris.
The Serval’s guest spoon clattered on the floor of the Breakfast Nook again.
”Did you forget how to hold your spoon again, Mr. Serval?” inquired Star with all due deference to their new Client.
”No, Star. I didn’t forget. In fact, when I heard Jasper Kitten say San Francisco, it rang some kind of bell in my, in my memory…,” his voice trailed off. “But, but, oh my goodness. What could it mean?”
Jasper Kitten pushed his chair back from the table and hopped down, making a beeline for the garage.
”Critters! Our Client has had a flash of insight!” he called over his shoulder. “Prepare yourselves!”
”Jasper Kitten, where are we going?” Chris called back to him as the car revved full throttle in the garage.
They pushed their chairs back from the table and rushed after Jasper Kitten.
Over the roar of the engine, they heard him say, “We’re going to the source! It’s time for a roadtrip! To San Francisco!”
🐾🐾🐾🐾🐾
Poetry with Pets
Starry starry night
Our dogstar furever
Illuminated
By Jasper Kitten & Chris in luvluvluving memory of Star
Notes:
Video by Heidi Zawelevsky: Pacific Ocean, Central Oregon Coast at the D River State Recreation Site, Lincoln City, Oregon, USA
Photo Credit of Serval
CHAPTER 1
CHAPTER 2
CHAPTER 3
The plot thickens! And a new friend! That was another fun installment. I love how they keep saying the full name of the Agency, too. Haha. The End... 😎
Another excellent chapter from our clever critter detectives, well done Heidi, such fun writing.
---
What big cat forgets
might reveal important clues.
Our sleuths continue
---