Giblet & Belle: Kitten Conundrum

This story takes place approximately two months after the end of One Still Too Many.

Note that this story will make more sense after you finish One Still Too Many.

---

Ever since the two new kittens arrived in their house in Torrington, Belle hadn’t had much in the way of rest. Constantly she would be called to handle a problem that Hamilton or Holly Bear had gotten themselves into.

“Belle! The kittens are unrolling the toilet paper again…”

“Belle, we can’t find Holly Bear. Do you know where she is?”

“Belle, Hamilton is climbing the curtains!”

And then, this Saturday morning, a call echoed through the house in Torrington, “Belle, Hamilton is stuck behind the dryer and won’t come out.”

The intended recipient of that call was at that moment on the master bed, laying next to her friend, Giblet.

Dryer? Well, that’s a new one, Belle thought, coming instantly awake but without opening her eyes.

Giblet nudged his friend and said, “I think she is calling you again.”.

Belle groaned, rose groggily to her paws, and meowed back to Giblet, “What have they done now?”

“I’m not sure,” Giblet meowed, closing his eyes. “But, Cassidy is calling you from the basement. You better see what it is.”

“How about Uncle Giblet taking this round?” she purred while stretching.

“Nope, this is your special time. You wanted the People to get a new cat; well, now we have two, and Cassidy knows you understand her; that is why she called you. Get a move on,”

Belle stumbled out of the bedroom and headed for the step, only having been asleep a couple of hours since her patrol. Why can’t someone else handle this, she grumbled to herself, but she knew the answer. Mittens was the senior cat and queen of the clowder. She would expect the other cats to raise the kittens. Giblet’s excuse was that he was an old grouch with the little ones.

“In my day, a kitten didn’t…” was how Giblet started every conversation with Hamilton and Holly Bear. Then, after what seemed to be the hundredth time, the kittens stopped listening, and Giblet threw up his paws in frustration. “Aunt Belle will explain, go ask her,” was his standard reply these days.

Belle arrived in the basement to find Holly Bear sitting on the dryer, and Cassidy, the People’s oldest child, on her hands and knees trying to look behind it. “I think Hamilton is stuck,” the little girl said to Belle, getting to her feet.

Belle sighed heavily and nodded at the girl. As it turned out, Cassidy was a prodigy, and her Mom and Dad-People were just becoming aware of what it was like to raise a genius.

For the last couple of years, her parents had noticed that she would pick up and begin reading the university-level textbooks they used in their classes. When either parent questioned their daughter, they discovered that she could not only fully understand the material but could also apply it to other situations. The fact that Cassidy was in the 5^th grade made this ability all the more impressive.

They took her to be tested at the University, where they both were faculty, and she scored off the charts in reading and mathematics. So now, Cassidy went to special classes at the University where both her parents were tenured and attended middle school in the afternoon for socialization. Her parents were committed to giving her as normal of a life as any other eleven-year-old.

However, the fact that Cassidy could also understand when cats talked was a skill that wasn’t tested or shared with the rest of the family; it was a well-kept secret.

“You must keep your ability a secret,” Grandma Gaumont told the middle-schooler. “People won’t accept your ability to understand cat language.”

“But, you understand, cat,” Cassidy mentioned to Grandma.

“That’s true, but I also keep the talent to myself,” Grandma had said. “You and I are unique, and some skills shouldn’t be shared. Many people wouldn’t understand our gifts.”

Cassidy nodded, understanding; then said, “Yeah…Witch trials,” and left it at that.

“What has your brother done now?” Belle asked Holly Bear with exasperation.

“He’s not my brother!” Holly said emphatically.

“She’s not my sister!” Hamilton added from somewhere behind the dryer.

“Fine. Whatever. Hamilton, what are you doing back there?” Belle asked, leaping onto the dryer.

“I wanted to see where the hot air from the dryer went. Holly said it went outside, and I said she was wrong.”

“Uh huh,” Belle replied. “So, did you find out?”

“Yeah. It goes outside. But that was just a lucky guess.” Hamilton added with annoyance.

“So why aren’t you coming back out?” Belle asked.

“Uh, I’m kind of stuck,” the black kitten responded.

Belle cast a glance upward to the great cat in the sky as if to say, Oh Cat, give me strength. Then, turning to Cassidy, she said, “Go get your Dad-Person and bring him down here. He may have to move the dryer.”

“Okay,” she said and ran upstairs.

A few moments later, Cassidy and the Man-Person showed up. The daughter pointed at the dryer, and they all heard Hamilton’s plaintive meows from somewhere behind it. Shaking his head, he grabbed the dryer and pulled it away from the wall. Peeking behind it, he saw a tiny black kitten, covered in dust, looking up.

He scooped Hamilton up and deposited him on the floor near Belle and Holly. Then, after pushing the dryer back, he joked to Belle, “You should keep a better eye on your kittens.”

Belle rolled her eyes at the Man-Person’s comment, and after he had left, she turned to scowl at Hamilton. “If you are quite done getting into mischief, I am going upstairs and get some sleep. Stay out of trouble,” she warned, as she went back up the stairs.

—————————————-

Later that afternoon, Hamilton entered Cassidy’s room and found Holly Bear on the girl’s computer. Both young females seemed to like computer games, and Holly was getting quite good at moving the track-ball mouse and clicking the right button.

The room was like any other young girls’ room, but with a few exceptions. There weren’t any pop star posters on the walls; instead, there was a poster of Albert Einstien sticking his tongue out at the camera, and there was another poster that said:

 

Women belong in

all the places where

decisions are being made

 

There were some stuffed animals on the bed and a chemistry set on the table in the corner. The Chemistry Department at her parent’s University had donated several bottles of chemicals for Cassidy’s experiments. She enjoyed conducting these trials and then notating the results in her journal; apparently, she hadn’t finished her most recent test before she left with the family for the market.

 

Hamilton jumped onto the table and began looking at the various things. A bottle marked hydrogen peroxide – 30% and a bottle of dish soap were on the desk, and a tin of yeast was on the shelf. In a large beaker, it looked like Cassidy had combined a large amount of hydrogen peroxide with a portion of the liquid soap.

“I see what she was doing,” Hamilton remarked, after reading the instructions for the experiment. “She is going to put some yeast into this solution and gauge the reaction.”

“I wouldn’t mess with that,” Holly said, looking up from her game. “Cassidy said she had to do that experiment outside so it wouldn’t be messy.”

“Nonsense, I know what I am doing. I am just going to mix a little and see what happens.”

Hamilton reached up to get a little yeast with his paw, but instead, the whole tin fell off the shelf and landed in the beaker, popping the lid off the container in the process.

Holly was in the middle of killing Orcs on her game when she heard “Uh oh,” from Hamilton.

She looked up just in time to see steam rising from the beaker, and a second later, foam erupted like a volcano. The foam shot straight up, hit the ceiling, and went everywhere.

“RUN HAMILTON,” Holly screamed as she headed for the bedroom door.

Both kittens tore out of Cassidy’s room and literally crashed into Mittens, standing in the hall.

Glaring down at both kittens, Holly—panting hard—and Hamilton, with foam all over his tail and rear end. Mittens flattened her ears and said, “ Well?”

Hamilton looked up at the queen of the clowder and meowed, “Let me explain…”

————————–

It took the family the rest of the day to clean up Cassidy’s room. The foamy paw prints leading from the Tween’s room provided a good explanation of what had happened. Her parents weren’t angry but reminded her that she needed to put everything away before she left, especially with kittens in the house.

On the other hand, Hamilton was grounded to the room where he slept. “And don’t you dare come out until we say,” Giblet warned the kitten, then went off to meet with Belle and Mittens about their kitten problem.

“He’s not a bad cat,” Belle said as Giblet joined the meeting. “It’s just that he keeps getting into trouble.”

“He has more kitten energy than you had,” Giblet said to Belle. “If that’s even possible.”

Mittens nodded her head and spoke, “We need an outlet for his curiosity and chaotic energy. Suggestions?” she asked her two friends.

“I suggest a dart gun with tranquilizers,” Giblet said with a grin.

“How about Protector training?” Belle asked. “It would give him something to focus on, and it would certainly put some of his drive to use?”

Mittens thought about that and said, “That’s not a bad idea. He has a good soul and kind heart, even if he is full of himself. You would be responsible for training him,” she spoke to Belle. “Are you up to the challenge?”

“Sure,” Belle said. “And besides, I know all about cats that are full of themselves,” she added, giving Giblet a pat on the shoulder.

“Oh, very droll,” He snorted. “I think it’s a good idea, and it might keep him from burning down the house with us inside.”

“Very well. Belle will give Hamilton Protector lessons. But, while she does that, I want you,” she said, looking at Giblet, “to spend time with Holly. I don’t want her to feel left out.”

“I didn’t think she wanted us to do things with her. She always acts like she doesn’t care what we think or do,” Giblet reminded the group.

“Trust me, she actually cares what we think. Her tough-cat attitude is more for show,” Belle contributed.

“Okay, then. Let’s go talk to our furry little agents of chaos,” Mittens intoned as the meeting broke up.

—————————————-

“I’m going to be trained as a Protector?” Hamilton asked, looking at the three cats who were talking to him

“Yes, we think you have the right skills and would do well,” Belle chirped. “However, you have to do what I say and obey my orders every time. Understand?”

“Don’t worry, I will do what you say,” Hamilton replied, looking very proud of himself. “And, I will be the best Protector, ever,” he added.

Mittens rolled her eyes at the last remark but kept quiet. Then she said to Hamilton, “Listen to Belle, and I will be watching,” This warning caused Hamilton to lose some of his bravado, as he nodded.

“Well, this doesn’t concern me,” Holly said as she headed for the door.

“Hey Holly Bear, do you have a cat minute to show me how a computer works?” Giblet asked the retreating kitten.

“Uh, you want to know about computers?” She asked skeptically.

“Sure,” Giblet answered. “None of these other cats know anything about them, and I have always been curious.”

“Okay. I guess,” the little round bear replied. “We can go to Cassidy’s room.” And with that, Giblet followed her out.

Mittens watched her clowder disburse and sat thinking, This is a good group of cats. I can’t wait to see what the future holds. Then she stood up, stretched, and headed downstairs to sit with the Man-Person for Martini time.