The Day of the Cat.

Well, no one could have expected there to be such a big frog in Mrs. Crows ( Jarred’s Mom) special events purse, but then she never expected to leave it sit where anyone would bother with it. The front room closet was a good enough out of the way place for it. The problem was that the boys forgot about the frog and well, it died and bloated up too big to be just dumped or pulled out of the small hand bag. Mr. Crow used the same knife he cut the switch from the tree with, to cut the stitching from the bottom of the purse, just to get his wife’s things out without getting frog innards all over them. And after, with the mutual extended blessing of both of the fathers, the boys got a couple of swats each and a few extra chores for the week. Ouch. Will they ever learn? Hard to say but then the frog was discovered just one day after “The day of the Cat”. Oh for the love of sanity, was it even possible for a cat to be caught in such a condition?

It began with a game of “Dare Marbles”. You state your dare…someone agrees….you shoot. IF you hit your opponents marble out of the circle, he or she has to fulfill the obligation of the dare. If you hit one of your own marbles out of the circle, You have to fulfill the obligation. And if you miss altogether the dare goes into the kitty and starts stacking until……….Stephen and Jarred were both very good at Stacking the kitty, and the other night, just as duck was rolling in, there was a stack of three dares and one on the way. Stephen poised his best blue shooter and stated “DARE! Find, Kiss, and put in one of your moms purses, the biggest bullfrog we can find.” Jarred thought about it, for barely a fraction of a second (it was getting late and unfinished games seemed to often end in a round of arm punch exchanges, on the way home, to cancel out the dares). “Dare Accepted” he said with a sound of ‘what am I saying’ in his voice. Then even before Jarred finished exhaling his words, Stephen shouted “LEFTOVERS!” “Oh man!” Jarred cried out. He was too late to call “No Leftovers.” Leftovers meant that there would be no punches to cancel out dares. “&#$@ it.” He said. Stephens eyes got big, he looked around, and then laughed a nervous loud hic-up burp kind of laugh and a slimy one came out his nose.

The dare kitty was loaded. “That means I’d have to stick and egg in PickleByers (nick name for Principle) tail pipe. Pants the Jenkins kid at the next basketball game. Catch, shave & grease down, and then release a neighborhood stray cat into the school gymnasium during the girls next class, AND now the frog. Holy Crap Batman!” Stephen laughed uncontrollably until they both heard the back fire of Jarred’s older brothers car, which meant he was going to work, and the boys needed to get home before the street lights came on. Both their faces took on a look of serious play. Stephen crouched down, moved his hand and shooter into place and shot……………….POW, Jarred’s blue green cat’s eye went flying out of the circle. His eyes closed in a dramatic kind of slow motion way. The boys walked home. Stephen whistled “The Chatanooga Choo Choo” while Jarred kept his head kind of low while kicking a rock down the street. Each time Stephen got to the Choo choo part of the song, he would poke Jarred on the arm or his ribs and snicker through his nose. Then from down the street the boys heard “ICE CREAM” shouted. They kicked up some dust and were now all smiles.
To be continued…