| abstract | - After Zoot left, the kittens went outside to watch him leave. Once he was out of sight, they all three ran to the kitty door at the same time. "Wait for me, wait for me!" Glasses called out. "Me first! Me first!" Yotsuba said, rushing to be first. Unfortunately, they were all first and got stuck in the door together. Yotsuba was on top, and Mr. Small and Glasses were piled under her. "Why should you be first?" Mr. Small asked, sounding a little upset. "Because I'm a lady, that's why." Yotsuba said, jumping onto the floor. "Huh! You're not a lady." Mr. Small scoffed. "You're nothing but a girl!" Glasses said, catching Yotsuba by the tail. "Oh! I’ll show you if I’m a lady or not." Yotsuba said, as Glasses ran after her, while Mr. Small hid under a chair. "Stop tickling!" Glasses had caught Yotsuba, forced her onto her back, and started tickling her stomach. "Get her, Glasses! Get her!" Mr. Small called out from his hiding space. Eventually, Yotsuba ended up chasing Glasses, and Mr. Small had switched to standing on the table. Finally, Yotsuba caught up with Glasses, and started pulling him by his bow tie. "Fight fair, Yotsuba!" Glasses said, struggling to break free. "Females never fight fair!" Mr. Small called out, and accidentally hit a candelabrum, making one of the candles fall, and hit Yotsuba on the head. "Ow! Now that hurt! Jess! Jess!" Yotsuba finally started calling for help. "Yotsuba, you need to stop this. It really isn’t ladylike." Jess said, as she walked into the room, and Yotsuba eventually let Glasses go. "And Glasses, such behavior is unbecoming for a young gentleman." "Well, she started it." Glasses tattled. "Ladies don’t start fights, but they can finish them." Yotsuba taunted, as Glasses stuck his tongue out at her. "Glasses, don’t be rude." Jess scorned. "We were just practicing biting and clawing." Glasses admitted. “Aweirdstocats don’t practice biting and clawing and things like that--it’s just horrible!” Jess reminded, as she fixed Yotsuba's bow tie. "But someday, we might meet a tough alley cat." Mr. Small said, jumping down from the table, and started to snarl and hiss, and then licked his lips. "That’ll do. It’s time we focus on becoming ladies and gentlemen. Now, Mr. Small, go and start with your painting." Jess said, laughing a little at the beginning. "Okay, Jess." Mr. Small said, as he walked to his painting place, hissing all the way. "Jess, could we watch Mr. Small paint before we start our lesson? Please?" Yotsuba asked. "Well, okay, but we need to be very quiet." Jess said, as Mr. Small mixed his oils together, splattering a little onto the ground, forcing Glasses to jump out of the way. "Oops! Uh-oh…" Mr. Small said, and then muttered something to himself, as he started to use his paws to apply the paint onto the canvas. Eventually, his painting was finished. "It’s Dimentio!" Yotsuba said, giggling a little. "Yeah. Old pickle-puss Dimentio!" Glasses joked. "'Old pickle-puss?' Now, now, Glasses, that isn’t nice. You know Dimentio likes us, and takes very good care of us.” Jess said. On the contrary, Dimentio was in the kitchen, cooking something, and singing. "Rock-a-bye, kitties, bye-bye you go La la la la, and I'm in the dough" Dimentio had a container of sleeping tablets, and he emptied the entire contents into the mixture. "Oh, Dimentio, you sly old fox." He said to himself, and stirred in some more ingredients, and was about to taste the mixture, but caught himself. "Oops! Oh, dear! A slip of a hand and it's off to dreamland. I say, that's not at all bad. "'Slip of the hand, dreamland'!" Meanwhile, back with the cats, Mr. Small was still painting, and Jess called Glasses and Yotsuba over to prepare for their time. "Let’s leave Mr. Small to his painting. Glasses, Yotsuba, run over to the piano, both of you." Jess said, slightly shooing them to their spots. "Okay, Jess." Yotsuba said, walking in front of Glasses, slightly sassily. "Okay, Jess." Glasses said, after glaring at Yotsuba. "It’s time to practice your scales and your arpeggios." Jess announced. Glasses was about to take his place on his seat, but Yotsuba pulled his tail, so he fell, and she used him as a step stool. "Ow!" Glasses called out, as Yotsuba stepped on him to get into her spot. When Glasses saw that she was ready, he took extra time--just to crack every single digit of his paws, including his forepaws! "I’m ready, maestro." Yotsuba said, waiting. Glasses, thinking it would be fun, ran his paw along the keys, making them hit Yotsuba’s tail, which was resting in the piano. "Oh! Jess! He did it again!" Yotsuba tattled. "Tattletale." Glasses whispered out. "Glasses, please settle down, and play your little song." Jess said, trying to calm them down. "Okay, Jess." Glasses said, and started to play, while Yotsuba started to sing: "Do mi so do do so mi do Every truly cultured music student knows You must learn your scales and your arpeggios And the music ringing from your chest and not your nose While you sing your scales and your arpeggios" It was then Glasses' turn to sing (while still playing): "If you're faithful to your daily practicing You will find your progress is encouraging Do mi so mi do mi so mi fa la so it goes When you sing your scales and your arpeggios" Then, Yotsuba went back to singing: "Do mi so do--" Without warning, Glasses started to play out of rhythm, making Yotsuba have to stop a bit. Mr. Small had also joined playing the piano (with paint still on his paws). Once the little bit of waiting was over, Jess joined Yotsuba in a duet. "Do mi so do do so mi do Do mi so do do so mi do Though at first it seems as though it doesn't show Like a tree, ability will root and grow" Mr. Small then joined the duet, making it a trio. "If you're smart, you'll learn by heart What every artist knows You must sing your scales And your arpe-e-e-gios!" Mr. Small and Glasses then banged on the keys in a piano duel, until they collided heads, and fell onto the keys. Afterwards, Dimentio walked in, holding four dishes of the drugged-up drinks. "Ah, good evening, little ones." Dimentio said, and while he came in, humming "Rock-a-Bye-Baby". "Your favorite dish, prepared a very special way. It's crème de la crème a la Dimentio. Sleep well. I-I mean, eat, eat well, of course." When the cats started eating their meal, Dimentio slowly left the room. While he left, a mouse came out of a crack in the wall. It was a small yellow mouse with a white belly with a red spiral on it. He wore a pair of glasses with spirals on the lenses, and a tiny pair of buck teeth protruded out of his upper jaw. He sniffed the air, and then quickly ran into the crack to grab a cracker and a very small satchel. "Ahem! Good evening, Jess. Hello kittens." He said, trying to hide the cracker and satchel as much as he could. "Hello, Kururu." Yotsuba said, looking up. "Hi, Kururu." Mr. Small said, also looking up. "Good evening, Kururu." Jess said, looking up as well. "Mmm! Something smells awfully good. What is that appetizing smell?" Kururu asked, sniffing the air again. "It’s crème de la crème a la Dimentio." Yotsuba explained. "Won't you join us, Kururu?" Jess offered. "Well, yes. I-I mean-- well, I don't mean to interrupt, but--but it so happens that... I have a cracker with me.” Kururu said, pulling out the cracker from behind his back. “Come on, Kururu, have some.” Glasses said, offering his dish. "Oh, thank you. Don’t mind if I do." Kururu said, dunking his cracker a couple of times, then sprinkling it with a powder from his satchel (it was curry powder). "Just a couple of dunks." He then started to eat half of his cracker. "Mm. Ooh. Very good. My compliments to the chef." "Mm! This is yummy!" Yotsuba said, licking up a little more. "Mm…delicious!” Kururu said, finishing his cracker. “Double delicious! This calls for another cracker. I'll be right back." Pretty soon, Glasses started to yawn, and Kururu, who was starting to walk slowly, also yawned, and then fell asleep. "So, that's... crème... de la crème... a la Dimentio..." Kururu groggily said, and that’s all any of them remember hearing, as all five of them fell into a deep sleep. The kind of sleep that Dimentio had planned for.
|
