Gary and Morris Run Into a Pool Party

Another hot summer day had fallen upon the crew at The Hervey Foundation for Cats. It was almost too hot. Marjorie started the day watering the plants but had since migrated inside where things were much cooler. Being cats, and we all know how much cats love heat, Gary and Morris were sitting underneath the patio in the shade.

 “Boy, it sure is hot out,” said Morris.

 “Almost too hot,” said Gary.

 “We could go inside, but-”

 “Why bother? We wait for this all winter and here it is! Glorious summer!” Gary interjected.

 “I feel so sweaty, my fur could slide right off!” Morris replied.

 “Same here,” said Gary. “But I love it.”

 “Amen.”

 The cats passed the time frequently rehashing their discussion about the temperature for another half hour or so. Morris, however, had an idea.

 “So I love the heat,” he said. “You know me. But if we are sitting in the shade, why not go for a stroll through the forest?”

 “It’s going to be humid,” said Gary.

 “And?” Morris replied.

 “I get all frizzy when it’s humid,” said Gary.

 Morris scoffed at such an idea and went over to Gary to get him up. Being a cat, his methods were a bit brash – he walked on Gary’s head.

 “Okay! I get it!” yelled Gary. “Let’s go to the forest, you don’t have to walk over my skull!”

 Morris laughed, but he was also happy he got what he wanted, and the two started a leisurely, warm day-style mosey across the backfield towards the valley.

“So what’s the real plan?” asked Gary. “We just walking around or should we go and invite some friends to join us?”

“Well if we are here, obviously we should go see our friends – even if they don’t feel like walking with us!” Morris replied.

Gary thought it was a good idea, and as always, he loved to spend time with his forest friends…. And Morris, of course!

The first stop they made, as usual, was at Terrance the Beaver’s dam. Terrance was a beaver, through and through, who was passionate about his work. almost every time the cats came to visit, he was outside slapping mud onto the top of his home with his tail. Today seemed different, though.

 “Hmm. He must be inside,” said Gary.

 “Terrance! Terrance!” yelled Morris. “Come outside, dude!”

 Gary mustered up all his strength before yelling as loud as he could, “TERRANCE!”

 Nothing.

 “He must not be home,” said Gary.

 “I have an idea,” said Morris. “I know he has a secret little window on the side of his dam. I am going to go yell into it.”

 Morris hopped onto the collection of mud, sticks and tallgrass, then found the tiny little porthole Terrance had made. He parked his muzzle in there and shouted for Terrance, just like before.

Still nothing.

“He must be out somewhere, I told you!” Gary yelled over to Morris.

 “Agreed! Let’s go see if the raccoons are home!”

 The two cats took off down the trail to the raccoons’ den.

 Once at the front door, they politely knocked three times.

 “Hello! It’s Gary and Morris!”

 Again, nothing.

 “That’s odd,” said Gary. “Are they out too?”

 “Well they have their own lives,” said Morris. “They don’t just wait on standby for us to show up!”

 “Oh right,” said Gary, sarcastically. “I forgot they were able to make their own decisions.”

 Morris laughed and then suggested they move on to Bullwinkle’s cabin.

 After walking through the trees and shrubbery for another ten minutes, they arrived at Bullwinkle’s cabin, which seemed suspiciously quiet.

 “I don’t think anyone is home here either,” said Morris. “I’ll take a look in the window.”

 Morris hopped up on the ledge and peered in through the broken glass, before realizing he could just walk right in. After a minute inside, he popped his head out and confirmed that nobody was home.

 Gary was about to suggest they go down to the beach when they saw Gilbert the Crow flying overhead.

 His nest was positioned right above Bullwinkle’s cabin, and since he was a diligent and hard-working crow, he couldn’t ever help himself when he saw something shiny. Whenever he did, he had to pause everything and fly the object back to his nest for safekeeping.

 The cats hollered up to him to ask where everybody was.

 “GILBERT! It’s Gary and Morris!” they shouted.

 The clever crow swooped down after depositing what looked like an aluminum washer in his nest.

 “Hey, boys! I’m surprised you aren’t at the party!” he said.

 “What?” said the cats.

 “What party?” said Morris.

 “Next time I am doing the invites,” said Gilbert. “Joey was supposed to go get you guys!”

 “Out with it! What party?” asked Gary.

 “Oh! Well, as I was making my morning rounds, I flew past one of the houses near your place with a really nice pool,” said Gilbert. “I also noticed that the humans there were leaving in their car and they had lots of bags with them.”

 Morris pressed for more.

 “And…?”

 “Well, I got the idea that it might be fun to have a pool party at their place!” said Gilbert. “I flew home to tell Bullwinkle and Lou, but they were already hanging out with Joey and some local ducks.”

 Gary pressed for more this time.

 “Gilbert, that’s where everyone is, isn’t it?”

 “Yes! We are having a blast! Want to join us?” Gilbert replied.

 “Lead the way!” said Gary.

 Gilbert pecked at his torso three times then beat his wings as hard as he could and took off into the air. Since the cats were to follow him, he made sure he didn’t fly too high up. Gary and Morris bolted down the forest path just behind him, with big smiles on their faces. If you were there, you would have thought they were having a race!

 After running for what felt like forever due to the heat, they arrived at the edge of the valley, but this time they weren’t behind the Hervey Foundation property, they were behind one further down the road.

 “This is it, fellas,” said Gilbert.

 The cats couldn’t see through the big wood fence, but they caught glimpses of creatures moving between the cracks. Moreover, they could hear all of their friends splashing around and having fun in the water.

 “See, there is a big fence, which would have made it hard, but those raccoons are something else and they scaled up the side, then opened the gate,” Gilbert told them. “Let’s go have some fun!”

 Gilbert took off across the long backyard and over the fence while Gary and Morris bolted up to the gate. They meowed as loud as possible and suddenly the door opened with papa raccoon hanging onto the edge.

 “Welcome fellas!” he called down. “Come on in!”

 The cats ran inside the yard and saw what looked like the party of the year. The humans must have been in a rush because they left all their fun pool toys out there.

 Lou the deer and Bullwinkle the big moose were standing in different parts of the pool with water up to their necks. The ducks paddled by while mama raccoon floated along in a big pink flamingo inflatable. Terrance the beaver was swimming with a small stick in his mouth, which he later referred to as a BFD – a beaver floating device, and Joey the squirrel was asleep in the cup holder of another inflatable pool toy.

 Outside the pool, sitting on the deck or in chairs, were all their other friends. One of the younger black bear cubs was there, sitting next to a choir of blue jays – who were all chirping up a storm. Gilbert was sitting by the edge of the pool deck dipping his beak in the water and flapping his wings to stay cool.

 Some of the local prairie dog clubs had shown up, all of them covered in dirt, and when they eventually got in the water, you knew it because the water around them turned muddy. When they did, all the other animals sighed and the prairie dogs replied with indifference.

 “We live ina de tunnels! Whadda you expect?”

 Gary and Morris laughed, then called out to Joey.

 “Hey Joey! How come we didn’t get an invite?”

 Joey awoke with a startle and then peered out of the cup holder he was using as a bed.

 “Sorry boys! I stopped by this morning and I didn’t see you, just your momma!”

 “Well we must have been inside at the time,” Gary replied. It’s okay!”

 “Why don’t you boys hop in?” asked the squirrel.

 “We aren’t big on water!” said Gary.

 “It’s no big deal, it feels nice in this heat!” said Joey.

 “That may be true, but water can be terrifying, can’t it?” asked Morris. “Or have we lived our lives freaking out about it for nothing?”

 Bullwinkle waded over.

 “Hey guys! If you aren’t sure about the water, hop on my back and I can take you around. If you want, you can jump in,” he said kindly.

 The cats looked at each other for a moment, then shrugged and hopped on the big moose’s back.

 “Life’s too short! Let’s do it!” said Morris.

 The cats stood on Bullwinkle as he made his way into the middle of the pool.

 Gary wasn’t too sure about things, but Morris was having a great time.

 Terrance swam past and slapped his tail on the water, showering it all over the cats. Gary was shocked by the cool sensation, but it felt nice in the heat.

 “Joey was right,” he thought. “But I’m still not jumping in.”

 Morris had a different reaction. He seemed like he loved it and decided to jump right into the water.

 SPLASH!

 Morris was in the pool. He did a pretty good job of swimming but it was obvious he wanted out right away. Gary chuckled as he remained atop the back of the big moose. Morris paddled as hard as he could over to the steps and exited the water.

 The animals all had a great afternoon playing in the pool for another couple of hours until they heard a car pull up in front of the house, then they heard its doors slam shut.

 “The humans are home!” shouted Gilbert, who was now sitting on the house’s chimney.

 The animals were so surprised they almost didn’t know what to do, but then the back door of the house swung open and they heard a human voice.

 “Oh my goodness! Tony! Get over here you have to see this!”

 Then another voice.

 “Oh no! Where’s your phone? I need a picture of this!”

 The humans started to scramble and so did the pets. Papa raccoon bolted over to the top of the gate and swung it open, while all the animals ran as fast as they could to get out.

 “Quick! Take a picture!” the humans said.

 By that point, it was only Gary and Morris, the bear cub, and Papa raccoon left in the yard.

 They all eventually made it out into the backyard and to the edge of the valley where they took stock. Most of the animals were soaking wet, and all of them were laughing at what had just taken place.

 “We had better get home you guys,” said Gary and Morris. “This was a blast!”

 “We don’t get many opportunities like that,” said Bullwinkle.

 “You are so right,” said the bear cub.

 They all shook themselves dry and Gary and Morris went back to the Foundation.

 As they walked up the stairs, coated in wet hair, Marjorie walked out onto the patio.

 “I just got an interesting photo from the neighbours,” she said. “You boys are too much.”

 She then bent down with a towel, wrapped them both up, and brought them inside.

 “I’d do that again in a heartbeat,” Morris said, from Marjorie’s left arm.

 “Me too!” said Gary, who was in the right arm. “Me too!”