Gary and Morris Host a Fall Supper with Friends

Fall is around the corner and that means a number of things. The leaves change colour and gently fall to the ground, temperatures start to head south, and woodland creatures start their autumn routines. Humans tend to change their behaviour this time of year as well. They cook large birds, dress up like ghosts, and start to wear heavier clothing.

Gary and Morris, being the lucky cats they are, have a paw in each world. They have a host of woodland friends who live just outside The Hervey Foundation for Cats property, but they also spend a lot of time interacting with the humans within The Foundation. 

Marjorie, their mom, was working away at her computer with the window open, enjoying a cool, autumn breeze.

“Mmm. Can you smell that, boys?” she said to Gary and Morris. “That’s the smell of fall!” 

The two cats were sitting on and around her. Gary was on her lap while Morris lay down on the desk and sprawled himself all over her paperwork.

“I think I know what she means!” said Morris. “I love this time of year. That cool, crisp air is just my favourite.”

“I hear ya,” said Gary.

“I’m so excited about Thanksgiving, Halloween, and then it’s Christmas!” said Marjorie.

She continued to work for a few more minutes, typing up an email to someone, then suddenly the phone rang and she had to get up. Gary jumped onto the desk, alongside Morris, and plopped himself down, partially on top of him.

“Gary,” murmured Morris. “You’re on my face.”

“Sorry old boy!” said Gary, who moved over and then made himself comfortable. “You know what this time of year means?” 

“I’m not sure,” said Morris.

“It’s the time of year when some of our friends start to get ready to hibernate,” said Gary.

“Oh right!” said Morris. “Like the bear family.”

“And the chipmunks!” said Gary.

“And frogs!” said Morris.

“There are quite a few people we know who are going to be getting ready for their big winter slumber,” said Gary. “Maybe we could go help some of them?”

“The other animals will probably need help too,” said Morris. “While they might not be hibernating, they will certainly be stocking up on supplies to get through the cold.”

“Hmm. It might be hard to help them all in one day, but maybe we can spread that out a bit,” said Gary. “What if we did something nice for them today? Like a special dinner so they don’t have to worry about finding something for tonight.”

“It’d be a great way to get everyone together,” said Morris.

“Let’s do it!” said Gary. “Time to make a plan!”

The two cats stayed on Marjorie’s desk for a while, planning their big fall meal (to the best of their ability). After settling on some details, they decided they would head over to visit their friends Bullwinkle and Terrance to get some help. 

The dinner would be held at the same spot where they had their Canada Day fireworks hang out – right by the river, on the cliff’s edge, not too far from Terrance’s dam. 

They would then go visit Joey the squirrel and ask him to spread the word to the other animals that there would be a special dinner going down tonight.

From there, the four would head back to The Foundation to sneak a few blankets, some cat food (both wet and dry), a bag of treats, some cat milk and anything else they could find that might be enjoyed by their forest friends. 

Gary also knew about a local farmer who had a bunch of pumpkins that had been recently harvested and were sitting in a pile. He hoped they’d be able to slide one of them out to make it a part of the meal. Some animals really love the taste of pumpkin.

So off they went! The two cats made small talk about their peers at The Foundation while on their way to Terrance’s dam. 

“So anyway, I told Mittens her jump was impressive, yeah, but certainly not the highest I had ever seen. Remember, I was a city cat. I’ve seen a lot of jumps,” said Morris.

“Yeah, fair enough,” said Gary. “Mittens is always asking other cats to watch her jump.”

“Nice cat,” said Morris.

“Yeah, she’s pretty nice,” said Gary. “But I could do with less jumping.”

After a bit more walking, they pulled up to Terrance’s place, and for the first time in a while, Terrance wasn’t outside working on his dam. 

“Terrance!” shouted Morris. “It’s Gary and Morris!”

Suddenly there was a rustling in the bullrushes behind them. He had been taking a nap.

“Sorry, fellas. I was catching some Zs,” said the tired beaver.

“You scared me!” said Gary. “Tough day?”

“No tougher than the usual,” said Terrance. What brings you two here?”

“We want to put on a fall dinner for our friends as they get ready to hibernate or gather supplies for the winter. We were hoping you’d be able to help,” said Morris. 

“How so?” said Terrance.

The two cats went on to explain their plan to a now very excited Terrance. He even mentioned coming across another farm while out exploring for dam materials. Apparently, there was a bunch of corn and grain sitting in bins they could easily access. 

“This is great. All we need now is Bullwinkle and we are good to go!” said Gary.

The two cats and the beaver made their way to Bullwinkle’s cabin where they once again explained all the details of the supper get-together. When he heard the plan, his face lit up and he raced out of the cabin so they could get started right away. 

“I’d love to help… and chow down!” said the big moose.

Gary, Morris and Terrance all jumped on his back, and they strode off to their first stop: The Foundation.

“Life sure is exciting from up here, isn’t it Bullwinkle?” said Terrance.

“You mean because I am tall?” said Bullwinkle.

“Well yeah,” said Terrance. “I spend all day waddling around on the ground, or swimming with my nose an inch above the surface of the water.” 

“It’s funny because I am so used to being tall, I don’t even think about it as something special,” said Bullwinkle. “It’s just how I live!”

“I wouldn’t mind being this tall sometimes,” said Terrance. “But then I wouldn’t fit in my dam!”

After a bit more chit-chat, the fearsome foursome arrived at the edge of the property at The Foundation.

“Bullwinkle, you stay here. You are so big you might startle Mom and the volunteers,” said Gary. “Terrance, you come with us.”

Terrance and the cats ran up the yard to the side of the building and hugged the outside wall.

“Gary and I will go inside and load up a bag with food,” said Morris. “We’ll bring it out and plop it on your tail. From there, you run it back to Bullwinkle.”

“Got it,” said Terrance.

The cats slipped into the building and started looking for different foods to bring to the dinner. It wasn’t the first time Gary and Morris had loaded up a reusable bag. 

While the cats were inside, Terrance heard voices.

“People!” he said aloud. 

The voices were getting louder and louder, and Terrance wasn’t sure what to do. He waddled to the other side of the building where he saw a hole in the earth, just about his body size. He squeezed into it, then placed his tail at the top of the hole to camouflage with the dark dirt around it. 

The voices got even louder again, then suddenly they were gone. Success!

“Terrance! Where’d you go?” 

“Morris? I’m around the corner!” said Terrance.

The cats came around the corner and Gary had a cloth bag handle in his mouth. It was full of different foods from inside. He dropped the bag onto Terrance’s tail.

“Why are you covered in dirt all of the sudden?” said Morris. 

“No time!” said Terrance. 

The three bolted back to Bullwinkle. 

“We got everything we need!” said Gary.

“Let’s roll,” said the moose. 

The animals crawled onto his back and off they went to their next stop. 

“Let’s stop by Joey’s place before we head to the farms,” said Morris. “He can start to spread the word while we finish up.”

They all agreed that was a good idea and Bullwinkle sailed over the dense brush, all the way to Joey’s tree habitat. He lived in a squirrel-heavy neighbourhood. 

“Joey!” shouted Bullwinkle. “There are four animals here to see you!” 

Joey poked his tiny head out of the entrance of his tree house. It was a big hole in the side of the tree. 

“Bullwinkle! Terrance! Cats! How are you on this fine fall day?” said Joey.

“We’re good! We’re getting ready to have a big get-together and you’re invited!” said Morris. 

“We were hoping you’d be able to go spread the word,” said Gary. 

“Gentleman, let me say, I would love to help. I live to help. I love to live to help, to help my friends, the forest, the world over, I love to help,” said Joey.

“Squirrels sure talk fast, eh?” Morris whispered to everyone.

“Thanks, Joey! It’s at the cliff’s edge just by Terrance’s dam. Let everyone know!” said Morris.

“We’re taking care of the food, too,” said Gary.

Joey gave them a salute, rounded up his buddies, then all of them headed off in different directions to alert the other woodland creatures.

“Time for the hard part,” said Gary. “The farms.”

Farmers have a history with cats. They don’t hate them, but they also don’t love it when their goods go missing. Most cats don’t eat corn or fresh-grown gourds, so typically they aren’t considered a threat, but tonight they were gathering food for friends.

“What’s the plan, fellas?” said Bullwinkle, as he walked towards their destination with three animals on his back. 

“We aren’t too sure,” said Gary. “We brought extra bags in the bag of food, and I’m thinking we load those up and then head home!”

Terrance nodded his head in agreement. 

“The corn and a small pumpkin or two should fit,” he said. “This bag looks like it could hold that much.”

Terrance was inspecting the structural integrity of the bag. After all, he is a builder. “There is room in this one for some grain as well!”

“There it is!” said Gary. “The pumpkin pile!”

The two cats and the beaver arrived at the edge of the pumpkin farm. There was a fence surrounding the part of the property where the pumpkins were piled, so they walked over to grab one.

“Looks easier than it is. If we move the wrong one, the entire pile could topple and arouse suspicion,” said Gary. 

The cats started to talk about how they would approach getting a pumpkin.

“Um… Gentlemen,” said Terrance. “I present to you one medium-sized pumpkin.”

During their discussion, Terrance ran over to the fence, slid his tail under one of the orange gourds, then gently slid it out of the pile, under the fence, and into a bag. 

“Time for our last destination!” said Bullwinkle. “Saddle up and ride!” 

The animals crawled onto his back once again and headed to the corn farm. 

“Terrance, you are one sly dude,” said Morris. “Now where is this corn farm?”

“Close by, my friend!” said Terrance. “Close by!”

After only a few minutes of walking through the forest, they had made it. Just as before, Bullwinkle waited at the edge of the property while the other animals formed a plan. 

Lucky for them, this farmer had already put his materials into bins and Terrance thought he had figured out how they worked!

The three of them raced across the farm property towards the storage bins. Once there, he climbed up a small platform and asked the cats to stand underneath with the bag open. From there, he opened the side door of one of the bins and a tidal wave of corn kernels poured out everywhere! Thousands and thousands of them. Way more than he expected. 

A porch light turned on at the farmer’s house.

“Next one! Quick!” said Terrance.

They quickly ran over to the grain bin, got into position and Terrance opened that one too. Grain was pouring everywhere, and it was making a decent amount of noise. Suddenly a door creaked open and a dog started to bark. The animals ran as fast as possible back to the edge of the property.

“Bullwinkle! Let us up on your back then run as fast as you can!” shouted Terrance.

The animals climbed aboard and Bullwinkle took off as quickly as his thin legs would take him. 

“What happened?” he said.

“We may have caused more of a commotion than intended,” said Terrance. “Hopefully we didn’t do too much damage.”

“I feel terrible about it!” said Gary.

“Onward!” said Terrance, in a confident tone.

The animals made it back to the cliff by the river, and by the time they did, all their friends were there. There were Canada geese, Joey and his gang of squirrels, the chipmunks, the bear family, Mama, Papa, and the baby raccoons, the groundhogs, Lou the deer had made it, the ducks, and a whole lot more. Everyone was having a great time chatting and sipping on some water. There was excitement in the air!

“We are back!” shouted an out-of-breath Bullwinkle. 

“And we have food for everyone!” said Terrance, as he stood atop Bullwinkle’s head. 

The big moose lowered his head down so Gary, Morris, and Terrance could hop down to the ground.

Everyone helped unpack the bags of food and the one with the blankets. Bullwinkle took some of the blankets in his mouth and with the flick of his head, cast them up into the air, then let them gently tumble back down to the soft blades of grass. 

With the blankets spread out, the animals all moved the food into the centre, then sat around sharing stories about their summer and discussing their plans for the fall and winter. 

Some shared their difficulties with gathering food items for winter, and others agreed to pitch in and help. Others needed help with preparing their shelter and Terrance was happy to dole out some advice. It was a great time for everyone, but for those struggling to get everything done, it was a productive time as well. 

Gary and Morris were having a blast at the dinner, and they thanked all their friends for coming down and sharing their night with them. 

“We are truly lucky to know all of you, and we appreciate having you as our friends,” said Gary.

“I second that,” said Morris.

“I’d like to say something!” said Bullwinkle. 

“When I first met Gary and Morris, I was a lonely, sad Moose and I didn’t have anyone or anywhere to go. These two cats not only found me, but they also found me a place to live, and they helped me find myself!”

The other animals all cheered and applauded.

“Thank you, Bullwinkle!” said Morris. “You are a real gem.”

Everyone continued to eat and drink until the sun went down and there was nothing left. 

The Canada geese were so stuffed they could barely fly. Joey and his gang of squirrels had little pot bellies from all the acorns – the chipmunks too! The bear family had dozed off next to the raccoon family. The groundhogs had dozed off on top of those families. Lou was chatting with Bullwinkle, and the ducks were so full they could hardly quack.

It was the end of the night and everyone was moving slowly, but all with big grins on their faces. Bullwinkle agreed to take the blankets back to his place and the raccoons were going to keep the reusable bags while everyone cleaned up.

After returning the space to its original state, the animals all bid their farewells and headed back to their respective homes.

Back at The Foundation, Gary and Morris waddled in the door, full of cat food, then found their way back to Marjorie’s desk and lay down on top of her paperwork once more. It was a nice, smooth feeling. Something cats can really appreciate.

The best feeling of all, though, was the one they got from spending the night with good friends and good food, after an adrenaline-pumping heist of some vegetables from a couple of local farmers. 

The Hervey Foundation for Cats is a cat rescue located in Alberta, Canada.