Lucy

by Chris Coppel

  “Sort of,” Lucy volunteered.

  “We know there’s nothing that can harm us down here, right?”

  “Right!”

  “So, let’s keep moving and stay as calm as possible. In fact, why don’t you take my tail in your mouth and I’ll lead you down.”

  “I couldn’t do that!” Lucy said, sounding quite embarrassed.

  “Don’t be silly, this is an emergency. Just hold it in your muzzle . . . gently please! And I’ll guide you to the lower level.”

  “I’m not sure I feel comfortable with that. It’s so . . . so . . . personal!”

  “Really? You are so silly sometimes Goldie. After all we’ve been through together, you feel shy about holding my tail?”

  “It’s not decent. We don’t know each other well enough for that!”

  “Goldie, I’m not talking courtship here, though I should probably mention that sometime in the future, I just may; but for now, I’m concerned with getting both of us safely down to the bottom level and locating Angel.”

  “Do you mean that?”

  “Of course, I do. We’ve got to focus on safety first. I wouldn’t want to . . . ”

  “No, not that part,” Lucy’s voice held a gentle note of excitement to it. “I meant the part about courtship. Did you mean that part?”

  There was a moment of complete silence as Lucy imagined she could hear her own heartbeat as she waited for Rex to respond.

  “Yes Goldie, I did,” his voice was warm and rich as he spoke the words.

  Without another word being said, Lucy gently located his tail and closed her muzzle around it. She shut her eyes for a moment as a wave of total adoration swept over her, then Rex began to slowly lead her down the sloping drive.

  CHAPTER 27

  It wasn’t easy. Even with his worlds of experience, Rex couldn’t see where there was no light. They’d only gone a short distance when Lucy heard him bump into something metallic just in front of her.

  “You alright?” she whispered.

  “Yes, but I may have dented one of their vehicles,” he responded in a pained voice.

  She tried not to laugh or even smile, as he was certain to feel it through his tail. As they continued down the incline, even more slowly than before, the smell of the damp and decay began to reach them from the bottom level. Lucy tried to ignore it by recalling other, far more pleasant odours. She managed to retrieve a scent memory of Cook preparing a roast chicken in the oven. As she concentrated on the image, she began to not only smell the cooking bird with its seasoning of rosemary and garlic, but also those of the cottage itself. She could clearly smell the slightly lemony scent of the polish used on the wooden floors, of the flowers that bloomed directly outside the kitchen windows, even the tangy smell of the burned wood from the fireplace that seemed to hang on every molecule of air everywhere within the cottage.

  Lucy was so transported by her recalled memories that she didn’t notice when they had reached the bottom of the incline and the drive levelled out. She didn’t even notice when Rex came to a halt, causing her to run right into his rump.

  “Whoa! Steady on girl! Having a daydream, were you?” he asked.

  “Actually, yes. I was about to tuck into a fine dinner of roast chicken. Couldn’t you have kept going a little while longer?”

  “Sorry Goldie, but we’re at the bottom and . . . .” his words suddenly ceased.

  “Rex what is it?” Lucy asked, feeling the beginnings of icy fingers on her spine.

  “Shh!” His voice was very tense. “Angel? Are you there?”

  There was no reply.

  “Angel, I know you’re here. Come on, speak up.” He tried to make his voice sound as casual as possible, but Lucy could clearly hear the tension within it.

  They stood silently in the darkness, waiting for some sort of response. After what seemed like an eternity, Lucy was about to ask again what was wrong, when their missing friend finally replied.

  “Yes, I’m here.” Angel’s voice was noticeably quiet and definitely that of a scared dog.

  “Are you alright?” Rex tried to sound very calm.

  “Yes, thank you.”

  “Where are you?” Rex inquired trying to sound almost disinterested.

  “It doesn’t matter,” came the strained reply.

  “Yes, it does. Tell me, where you are?” he insisted.

  There was a long silence.

  “You’re not alone down here are you Angel?” Rex asked casually.

  There was another long pause, during which, Lucy was convinced she heard quiet movement all around them.

  “Angel,” Rex tried again. “I asked if you were alone down here?”

  They didn’t have long to wait for an answer.

  The bottom level suddenly lit up, blinding Rex and Lucy who were completely unprepared for the termination of the utter darkness.

  “No, she’s not alone,” said a velvety voice that was filled with superiority.

  It took Lucy a long time to be able to open her eyes to the bright lights. Finally, keeping her lids at half-mast, she was able to peer out and was stunned by the surreal and very bizarre vision that met her startled eyes.

  Cats! Everywhere she looked there were cats. Some were staring with sparkling, yet expressionless eyes at her and Rex; others were slowly moving with eerie fluidity as their lithe, feline bodies twined and intertwined with that balance of passion and disinterest that cats find so easy to achieve. In the centre of the teaming mass of fur, was Angel.

  She was clearly terrified. She was standing bolt upright, surrounded by purring and pushing felines who, though formidable, simply due to their number, did not seem in the least bit threatening. In fact, Angel didn’t seem to be in any danger whatsoever, unless one could be damaged by overt affection. As each cat passed by her rigid body, he or she would press their head against Angel, and with sensual deliberation, would rub themselves across her, in a show of total abandon. While clearly pleasurable for the cats, Angel seemed to withdraw further into herself with each caress.

  After recovering from the shock of this rather striking tableau, Lucy realised that there was light. Buckets of it! She looked away from the central mass of animals and immediately found the source of the illumination.

  The few cars that were parked on the seemingly abandoned level had their headlights on, providing an astonishing amount of illumination in the damp confines of the lower level.

  Lucy nudged Rex to point out the light source, but saw that his attention was firmly rooted elsewhere.

  One cat was approaching them. Slowly, deliberately, and fearlessly, one cat had broken from the melee, and was now walking towards them with as much nonchalance as one would expect from a housecat approaching a saucer of milk.

  While Rex and Lucy looked on cautiously, the animal circled the pair several times as his eyes passed over them with almost clinical interest. He was not a big cat, in fact as street cats go, he was quite small. His coat was a clear mirror to his obviously questionable lineage. His back was patterned randomly with black and white shapes that dissolved seamlessly into ginger grey stripes as they wrapped under his belly. His head was entirely black except for one ear which was stark white. His tail was almost the exact reverse, being entirely white but with a black tip. Three of his legs were black, while one was ginger-striped with a white sock. Though not a classically beautiful cat by any means, he was certainly a striking figure.

  He finally finished his perusal of the dogs and stepped closer, focusing his eyes onto each animal, one at a time. Lucy almost gasped at the sheer beauty of the creature’s eyes. They were green, but of a shade she’d only once encountered before. It was the colour of the ocean after a storm, as the first shaft of sunlight hits the water, which is still filled with sand and aeration following its tumultuous upheaval at the hands of the surface winds.

/>   “So,” the cat said calmly as it sat itself directly in front of them. “You’re expecting our help?”

  “No,” Rex responded, slightly surprised by the question.

  “Then why are you here?” the cat countered.

  “It’s a long story,” Lucy replied.

  “But you do want our help?” the cat interrupted.

  “Actually . . . no,” Lucy replied.

  “You must have intended to ask us for something,” the cat voiced. “or you wouldn’t be here.”

  “To be quite honest,” Rex joined in. “We’re not entirely sure where here is, so you’ll have to take our word for it that we didn’t come here to ask for anything from you.”

  “You’re joking?” the cat replied.

  “Not in the least,” said Lucy.

  “No, we’re not,” added Rex.

  “How frightfully odd,” The now puzzled feline uttered as he began to frantically lick his left front paw. “So, if you don’t know where you are, you therefore, presumably, haven’t a clue who I am, or indeed who we all are?”

  “Exactly,” Lucy responded.

  “Most odd. Most odd indeed.” The cat began to clean its other paw. It seemed to find one particularly tough bit of soiled fur and had to use its teeth to nibble at the area between the claws. His eyes however never left the two dogs. He gave the matter some deep thought while continuing to chew between his pads, then suddenly lowered his paw and began to laugh.

  At first, it was just a light-hearted little titter, but it grew rapidly into an out and out guffaw of incredible proportions. Lucy and Rex stared at the laughing creature in complete puzzlement, having not the slightest clue as to what prompted the outburst.

  The cat turned to the other felines and announced. “They don’t know who we are!”

  Laughter then erupted in every corner of the lower level. It jumped from one group of cats to another, then back again. Angel had the good sense to use their mirth to slip out between the yowling animals and move closer to Rex and Lucy.

  “What is going on down here?” Rex whispered to the Spaniel.

  “You tell me? I was checking around a few levels further up when a couple of big tomcats grabbed me and led me down here.”

  The lead cat abruptly stopped laughing, and after wiping a tear away with one paw, his eyes again focused pointedly at the three dogs.

  “You have, of course, heard of Los Gatos de la Noche?” he asked, expecting some clear signs of recognition.

  Lucy and Angel shook their heads in unison. It wasn’t until Lucy noticed that Rex seemed to not only have heard of Los Gatos de la Noche, but that he was suddenly quite pale and shaky. She realised that something very serious had just taken place.

  “Perhaps you should take a moment to acquaint your friends with the Los Gatos,” the cat said, smiling at Rex.

  Rex turned to Lucy and Angel, and after a deep breath began. “The Gatos are famous. Legend has it that during the time of the black years in Spain a few cats got together and . . . ”

  “Sorry to interrupt,” Angel interrupted. “But what were the black years . . . .and where or what is Spain?”

  They all turned and faced the Spaniel in amazement, even Lucy was stunned at this hole in her friend’s knowledge, especially as she had come to believe that Angel was a very well-educated pup.

  “Spain is a faraway country across a great expanse of water and the black years . . . ,” Rex explained patiently. “were the time, long ago, when the bipeds began to give up their houses and lands in favour of smaller dwellings called apartments. Humans who’d had numerous animal companions suddenly didn’t have the space for them.”

  “So, they let them go free?” Angel asked hopefully.

  “No, they didn’t,” Rex continued, his voice now low and serious. “They began an almost systematic, elimination of the cat population. Entire litters were drowned, older adults were taken away and given lethal injections, but the worse by far, was the neutering. Healthy adult felines, both male and female, were taken from their homes without warning and operated on so that they could never again have kittens.

  “Oh, how awful,” Angel cried, as she turned to the lead cat with an expression of great sympathy. “All this took place in Spain?”

  “It took place all over,” Rex responded. “But in Spain, something was done about it. A small group of cats banded together and vowed to avenge their fallen brethren. This group became known as, Los Gatos de la Noche…or, The Cats of the Night, as they are also known. They are no longer a small group. They exist in every country and have formed themselves into a formidable society.”

  Rex looked to the cat to see if he approved of his rendition of the tale. The grey-green eyes stared calmly back into his own without a trace of emotion. Rex began to feel uneasy and glanced over to Lucy for moral support.

  “Close enough,” the cat finally said. “Actually, we’re not so much into the . . . how did you put it, avenging our fallen brethren thing, anymore. We’re now more into . . . how can I describe it? . . . more refined pursuits!”

  “Like what?” Angel asked innocently.

  The cat took a step towards her and suddenly rubbed his head against her chin. “Such innocence. How refreshing! I’m talking about crime my long-eared friend. More specifically, crimes of the night.”

  “Oh,” Angel murmured trying to back away from the still pushing feline. “Then this must be your . . . hide out?”

  “Hide out! What a lovely term. It has a nice ring to it . . . hide out. Yes, you could I suppose, call this our . . . hide out. Wait!”

  The cat suddenly jumped back, causing the three dogs to edge closer together in fear of what was to come.

  “I haven’t introduced myself, have I?” he said apologetically. “It’s astonishing how one’s manners seem to simply vanish when usually having to deal with the scum of the earth.” He gestured to the other cats behind him.

  As if in response to his remark, the other cats all ceased what they were doing and smiled over at their leader.

  “Allow me to introduce myself. My name is Byxorician Ovintle Blyltrix.”

  “You’re kidding?” Lucy spoke before she could stop herself. “I do apologise that was very rude of me. It’s just that, that is a most unusual name.”

  “Do you really think so?” Byxorician Ovintle Blyltrix asked, with mild amusement.

  “Don’t you?” Lucy found herself replying.

  “Actually, no, but if it makes it easier for you, everyone here calls me BOB,” he stated with a huge grin.

  “In that case . . . Bob, allow me to introduce myself and my friends. That’s Rex, he’s our leader.”

  “Charmed,” Bob held out his paw, which Rex appropriately then licked.

  “Angel, you of course know.”

  “Delighted.” Again, the paw was offered. Angel was clearly slightly dubious about the whole thing but gave the offered limb a brief lick anyway.

  “And I am Lucy.”

  “Simply enchanted,” Bob purred as the paw was presented.

  Once the introductions were complete, a silence fell over the group, as each tried to think of something to say.

  “So,” Bob said as he began to lick his own belly with long careful strokes. “Now that you know who we are, you must be bursting with questions. I will allow you one, as you are our guests.”

  “How did you get the lights to work on those cars?” Angel blurted out, without even conferring with the others.

  Rex and Lucy both shot her a very disapproving glance, which she stoically ignored, keeping her eyes facing Bob.

  “I offered you the answer to a question that could have uncovered any of the most cherished secrets held by the Gatos, but instead you want to know how we control a simple human light! How simplistic. I like it. Well, my long-eared friend, it’s very simple. The biped
s leave these vehicles here for varying lengths of time to be safely looked after and maintained. These ones on the lowest level have been here by far the longest. Though they are no longer cleaned very regularly, they do have their batteries charged once every lunar cycle. All we do is send one of our BHD Specialists into each car and turn the lights on. It’s quite simple.”

  “BHD?” Lucy repeated questioningly.

  “Oh yes! In our business, it’s no longer possible to simply rely on feline instincts and abilities to carry out our work. We now use cats with specialised training in basic electronics, security systems, computers, you name it! They are our elite Biped Hand Dexterity unit.”

  “What exactly do you do that requires that sort of knowledge?” Lucy inquired, with keen interest.

  “You’d really like to know?” Bob asked as he moved his grooming efforts to his tail section.

  “Yes please,” Lucy replied.

  “What a shame then that your friend . . . Angel isn’t it, used up your one question. Oh well, life can be so hard sometimes.”

  “Please Bob, we’d love to know more.” Lucy pleaded.

  Bob stopped his washing and stood facing the three dogs. “Let me make one thing clear. The reason that Los Gatos has survived, is due to not simply our devotion to the cause and our talents, but because of our codes and rules. They were set down long ago, but even today, no cat ever breaks even one of them. Part of the code is that whatever we say we mean. It sounds mind-numbingly simple. But I believe that is one of the strongest attributes of our society and a key component to our survival. We always know exactly where we stand with anyone. It’s what makes us so unified and efficient. That’s the main reason human beings are always in such a mess. They always will be, as long as no biped can trust anything another one has to say. I personally would have thought that by now, they would have learned this, but I am obviously giving them far more credit than is truly due.”

  “But what’s that got to . . .” Lucy began.

  “What’s that got to do with my only answering one of your questions?”

  Lucy nodded.