"Get back! Go under the couch, now!!!'' Mother shrieked frantically, pointing downwards. Instantaneously, Cheesy and Sharp jumped off and scrambled under the couch, having not reached far up the couch leg.
I turned to nosedive off of the couch and do the same, but Mother grabbed my hand.
"Come!! This way!!" she directed me to lung over the couch arm, we wiggled our bodies in between the met of cushions where the Giant sat, and just as we did, I could see the light from outside come in as the Giant opened the door.
.........................................
Perkins marched in with a jingle of keys in one hand, swearing curses under his hole ridden straw hat and sweat drenched mustache. There was a package at the foot of the door that he rested on the floor, so shoving his keys into his pocket, he bent over and grabbed the box, continuing his advancement in. With a backward motioned push from the left foot of his hefty, construction boot, from a 90 degreed angle, he slammed the door behind him.
"Hehehe, y'all thought, y'all thought" a malicious smirk was painted on that usually bland canvas of Perkins' face. He was delighted about something, laughing and repeating the same phrase wildly, as if he got an inside joke that only he could comprehend. In his mud stained, worn out jeans' jumper and water boots, he bounced over to the marbled island, giddy at the box he held in his hand, like a little boy that found some money in an unexpected place.
From a minute hole in the flowery casing that covered the couch, a line of tiny eyes watched him joggle his large feet out of stank, dirt trekked boots, the hole partially hidden by shredded pieces of cloth from the worn-out casing, coupled with the darkness that was shielded them from being seen.
There, Mother Mince, Sharp, Burrow and Cheesy were sitting side by side, mushed up together on a piece of wood that held up the underbelly of the furniture, looking out at the wooden floorboards of the Kitchen passageway that they not long ago had sprinted across.
"Nobody makes a sound. Stay completely and utterly quiet " Mother Mince whispered to us with frightened eyes, her finger crossed over her mouth. No one was moving so much as an inch, or even breathing too hard. We all sat there silently and observed the Giant, waiting for Mother's signal to move. It was guaranteed we were going outside now. No way Mother would allow us to turn back after seeing that the Giant had come home.
He took the box up in his muscled arms and gently rested it in the middle of the Kitchen floor. It was a medium sized box, filled with pencil sized holes on every part of its surface. This was odd. The boxes that I had seen him bring home never usually had that many holes. In fact, they didn't have holes in them at all.
It was also odd to see that the top of the box was tapped up, in a well secured fashion. Whenever he carried anything in any box home, he always left the top open, or semi opened.
"Hmmm. I hope he has sweat potatoes and roasted Yams in that box. That would be delicious " Cheesy muttered, Mother instantly flashing him a warning look and pressing her finger against her mouth.
The filthy man trekked over to the white, frosty mechanism that was next to the garbage. A blast of cold breeze wafted out of the huge cooling machine as he opened it.
Perkins stood in the door of the refrigerator, enjoying the cool breeze from the ice created by it. He closed his eyes and took it all in, freezing the beads of sweat that covered his tanned, slim face, straightening the bushy mustache that sat on top of his lip.
His bulgy eyes carefully perused the contents of the fridge, as he searched for his roast ham and his wonderful French baguette that he bought last Tuesday.
"Ahhhhh....things will be easier from here on" he said to himself. He was in good spirits about an immensely important decision he made, and even though it was something he had never, ever done before or considered doing, he felt like it was the best thing to do. His rounded eyes wandered to the box that sat on the floor. Suddenly, he closed the fridge, walking slowly towards the box.
"What is he doing here so early? He isn't supposed to be back until the afternoon!!" Burrow complained, annoyed and confused to the extreme, fussing and hoping that the Giant would do what he usually did, which was either stomp out and close the door behind him to go back into the field, or go to bed.
"Shhhhh!!" Mother Mince nudged her arm in Burrows' side and glowered at him angrily, not wanting whispers to catch the attention of the Giant. Burrow rolled his eyes and sighed deeply, catching a quick glance at Sharp, whose lips were folded, and eyes were zoned in. Cheesy rested his hand on Sharp's shoulder, timidly rocking it from side to side in order to draw his brother's attention to something. Sharp ignored him, his focus too enthralled in the current series 0f events.
Perkins stopped. Being sure that he had heard something low and squeaky, his eyes lingered to the couch, where he left the remote on one of the cushions to the far end, facing the T.V. He narrowed his eyes to where he heard the sound close to the Aloe plant; then, being convinced that it was just a made-up sound in his head, he continued into the Kitchen, thinking that maybe he had worked so hard, he was starting to hallucinate in hearing things.
"Heh. Y'all thought yall got the best of ole Perkins eh? I'll show you damned pests something today" the man mumbled to himself begrudgingly.
He still remembered that day those rats gave him a run for his money, running him ragged on the Farm. To top it off, the damned pests had eaten yet another two pounds of his Cassavas since he checked in that morning, and he was sick of them. This was where he was drawing the line. To have them terrorize his produce and invade his home? No. No way, not over his dead body.
"Now, where the hell did I put ma scissors? Always losin em" He asked himself, looking around. There was a duct tapped seal on the box that he needed to cut open. He ran around to the other side of the Kitchen counter, opening various draws and searching through them for something.
Suddenly, a profound growl and lowered hissing rose from the box on the ground.
Mother Mince felt her gut constrict when she heard that. She kept her eyes glued to the box.
The hissings came out again....
She looked down, contemplating.
No..It couldn't be. Not yet..she thought to herself, nervously biting her fingers. She began to run it through the walls of her mind, even though the walls felt like they were tumbling on top of her.
I've been so careful.. We've been so careful...the only place we really take food from is the garbage, or under the couch. Unless he went in the garbage..but why would he do that? Giants never looked back in their garbage for anything unless they wanted to change it.
Oh no..
In her rift of thoughts, Mother Mince realized that she had made a terrible mistake.
"What is it? What is that noise coming from the box?? I thought I heard something from it" Cheesy made his observation known a little too loudly, Mother Mince jotted her eyes at Cheesy, throwing invisible daggers at him.
"If I have to tell one of you to be quiet again, I'll push you out there to deal with the Giant yourselves" She warned him sternly. He wasted no time in being silent.
"Don't. Make. A sound" Mother Mince whispered, motioning one of her fingers to her mouth. She kept her eyes glued to the box, watching closer than ever.
Abruptly, it shifted on its own. As if something was in there. The four of them jumped as it did, Cheesy almost falling off of the board they were hanging on to.
""Yes! Here it is!!Its show time" Perkins was exhilarated, his slimmed face widened in a smile as he found a red pair of scissors in one of the drawers.
His heart set on vengeance for those tiny, parasitic fiends, he loomed over the box, taking his hardened, brutal hands and striking the scissors into the middle of the grey tape, dragging it across. He used his thumb and index finger to squeeze down on the handle of the scissors, tearing open the tape as he dragged the sharp scissors through it.
The snarling emitting from the box became ever more present in the room. It wrang out, like a low humming. There was an energy attached to it. Something fearful and cold.
The three rodents' brothers stared at each other in confusion. They had never heard anything like it before..It sounded weird to them. Reminiscent of a low sizzling to a pot filled with hot oil, but not really. The cackling sounds were ..menacing. Malignant...
Meanwhile Mother Mince perched her eyes and ears to what bumped around in that box. These noises were so familiar to her, and no matter how much she denied her reality, she knew exactly what it was. A cold, unsettling feeling rested at the bottom of her stomach, her palms beginning to sweat.
"By the Creator in Heaven, I rebuke it. No, it couldn't be...'' she hoped.
Beside her, an irritated Sharp struggled to keep his cool from the annoying Cheesy, fighting the urge to claw him in his face. Cheesy kept patting Sharp's arm and calling him, shaking him and trying to bring something to his attention.
"Sharp!! Sharp just look here for a moment, please "Cheesy begged under a hushed tone.
"Be quiet you imbecile! You're gonna get us in trouble." Sharp grabbed Cheese's paw and brushed it off his arm, laying it by his side.
"Hush!" Sharp warned once more, Cheesy finally giving up, using his paw to cover his nose. In front of Cheesy was stretched out pieces of string, raffled out from the covering of the couch hanging right above his snout. It was filled with dust, and every time Cheesy breathed in, the dirt settled in his nostrils and itched him terribly. He was highly reactive to it, dust gave him a swollen face and red eyes, he wanted to switch places with Sharp since there was nothing immediate in his face where he was positioned, but he merely ignored him. It was becoming harder and harder to breathe. Each time he fanned the strings out of the way with his hand, it fixated above his nose. Cheesy twitched his pink nose and covered it with his paws, attempting to shake it off, but it only got worse.
Just then Perkins managed to cut the tape off the box, cracking noises reverberating throughout the room. He pulled the cover of the cardboard box off.
The man pushed back the flaps of the box and out popped a huge, furry head with orange and white strips on it; Perkins scooped his hands in the box and out rose the odd-looking creature, one that they had never seen the likes of before.
The thing had pointy ears that shot up into the sky; Its body was colossal and elongated, like a cylinder covered with soft, auburn fur.
It had a lengthy tail that flexed, forward and back, side to side, like a worm. The thing had similar parts of their bodies, it walked on four legs and had claws, as well as whiskers, but it was no rodent. At that moment, time froze for Mother Mince. She heisted up, her head in full alert when she got a full vision of what it was.
Suddenly, a wave of cold sweat dampened her fur; a jerk of uneasiness gripping her by her senses.
"Meeeeeoooooowwwww" The creature made another one of its drawn out, peculiar noises, casually striding out on its tippy toes, daintily swinging one foot across the other. What was truly terrifying, was it's eyes. Two snake like slits that slimmed to a channel of black, stuck in a pool of a bright, eerie green. It moved with an air of coolness around it, walking about on the Kitchen floor as if it had already inhabited this residence. Confidence like that had to be feared..
"A ...Cat" Mother Mince felt the moisture evaporate from her mouth as she said that, her stomach twisting in painful, aching knots, face filled with anxiety. Burrow looked down at his Mothers' hands. They were trembling.
"Hmmmm...you remind me of a friend that passed back in the day called To-mas, so that's what imma call ya" the farmer declared, reaching to pet the cat on its head. It sneered at him, striking him with his sharp claws and scratching his skin.
"Ow!!...Mean...I like you already To-mas" the man drew back his hand and rubbed the cuts he had now thanks to his new pet, going to his bedroom to spray some alcohol on his wounds. The cat stepped out nonchalantly, passing the couch; he stopped in front of the door and looked up at it, getting on his hindlegs and scratching at the door. The family looked on from underneath the couch, the three sons' eyes were glued to the creature and how different it looked from them, for they had never seen such an animal before. Well, Sharp and Cheesy hadn't, Burrow had seen them multiple times from his trips to the clearing glass, sometimes cats would roam about in the yard.
Mother Mince braced back, fretting and disturbed eyes dilating as she looked out into space. Mince rocked back and forth slightly, in a frenzied state of shock.
The memories. There was so much of them. And they were all coming back to her..She was seeing it like it happened yesterday.
She was only a child when it happened. Mince left with her friends to get some blueberries in the forest, even though her aunt told her not to. After galivanting, she came back home to her Family. Or what was left of it.
Nothing but blood, bones and skin from her cousins, her uncles, her friends...remaining's, scattered all over the place. Then, she heard something. Like a gnashing and clattering of something. She was hiding behind a huge log, and she peeped her head out. To this day she wished she hadn't done that...
It was a cat. A huge grey one, the same one that had been hunting them down for weeks. It had serpentine eyes and a long tail, which it waved back and forth as it came above Aunt Esther.
Aunt Esther's eyes were white, legs stiffened in the air, the cat dipping its head to eat the mid-section of her body out, coming up ever so often to lick its blood-stained fangs. Images of Aunt Esther's bloody intestines being eaten before her innocent, child-like eyes rocked her to her core. She could feel the adrenaline pumping through her veins again, the blood, the mess, the fear. She was feeling the fear all over again... She could still hear her agonizing screams. Her helpless whimpers...
Mother Mince laid there, spaced out, shaking. The man had brought in something abominable. A mortal enemy of the rodent kind, an adversary.
A Feline.
"Sharp! Shar- I can't take this anymore" Cheesy whispered to himself, the strings of dust filled cotton tickling his nose still. He could feel the tingles coming up in his snout. Placing his paws over his nose, he desperately tried to hold back, but he couldn't any longer. He drew his head back and opened his mouth, his body preparing to do what it needed to.
"Ahhh choo!!!!"
Cheesy sneezed loudly, Mince's eyes ripped from the Cat to Cheesy, and so did Burrow's and Sharp's.
The sound of the sneeze vibrated from under the couch, so loud that she was sure even the Giant heard.
"Cheesy!" they all whispered lowly, annoyed at how easily the rodent had given them away.
Suddenly, the Feline forgot about the door; his dangerous eyes looming to where he heard the sound coming from; the couch.
The cat raised up his ears and heisted on its two front paws, putting his head up and down, scanning the couch.
Mince flung her paw over Cheese's mouth, covering it and looking at the three of them. She held her finger up to her mouth and looked at the others, gesturing for them to be quiet, her eyes as wide as saucers.
The cat approached slowly, one foot behind the other as he came closer and closer towards the couch. He noticed a tiny, medium sized hole at the bottom of it. A hole that was so small and so convenient enough, for rats to go through... He reasoned. Taking long, cool strides he bent his head, eyes focused on the hole as he came closer and closer, inspecting it with heightened suspicion. To-mas was only two feet away from it now, stopping right in front of it.
"Listen to me. If anything happens, you boys run as fast as you can and never look back. All three of you scatter, and we will meet back at the hole" Mother warned us in all seriousness, her eyes scanning each and every one of us.
"Do you understand!!??" she murmured, all of us nodding our heads promptly.
Cheesy didn't like that idea. They were never separated from Mother in a situation like this....
To-mas' face was inches away from the hole they hid in. Mother Mince could feel the hot air escaping from his nose as he sniffed at the hole. Cheesy, Burrow and Sharp covered their noses from breathing in the cat's filthy air, rank of meat, while he curiously sniffed at the hole four of them were frozen in. Air stopped in the throat ways of each and every rodent under there. Sharp forgot how to breath, Cheesy was still holding his mother's hand that was plastered across his face. Burrow sat there terrified, but curious.
In that moment, Burrow wondered about the complexities and abilities of this creature who he had seen before, roaming about in the yard outside. Just what were these things capable of?? What were cats capable of? He thought back to the numerous horrifying stories Mother told about them over and over again, and suddenly, he was curious. Where they as bad as Mother had put them out to be? What could they do? He needed to know. He wanted to find out, himself.
"Hmmmm..this house stinks of rat scent" The cat hummed to itself, bending his head down to peak underneath the couch. There were somewhere close. He heard one of them make a noise, and he could smell them.
"Instant meal upon my entry into this house. Maybe living with a Human won't be so bad after all..." the cat licked his lips, feeling the emptiness in his stomach as it growled.