Meowfia
Writing With Fictionistas
Hello all! This is my entry for
second “Let’s Write Together” activity which happened March 9th. The idea is to write a short story, 1,000 words or less, on the prompt provided. Details about how all this works can be found here:
So this represents my entry. The prompt is unusual and complex, but was a lot of fun to write! I hope you enjoy!
Prompt: Your Character: Someone who steals cats; Slacker
Your story: Includes something beautiful yet useless; something is wrong with the water
“My son,” Dad began, as he always does, “you have so much potential.”
I mouthed his next words while his back was turned: “You have so many talents that could be put to use for this family.”
I rolled my eyes and tuned him out. This family. Pshaw! Did I ask to be part of this family?
I am Felix Felinus—yes, of that Felinus family—and my dad is the head of the famous Cat Cartel of our state. My Great great grandfather opened a pet store here and resolved that “Every Cat in the state will be a Felinus cat!” and so the racket began.
“Felix, are you even listening to me?” He turned around and glowered at me from behind his desk. Behind him were tall, floor to ceiling windows, birds were flying around a bird feeder, and I could see a rabbit close to the hedge.
“Yes.” I lied.
My dad sat heavily in his chair, and let out a big, exhausted sigh. “How could your mother create someone so beautiful, so full of talent and promise, and yet so useless.”
I let that one hang on the air.
“Son, I want to show you the business. I want to train you to take over the family business one day. I need you to show some initiative. I need you to show me you want to be here.”
That one can hang, too.
“When is your shift today?”
“10 minutes ago.”
“Go, get out of my sight. This talk isn’t over. Get to work.”
= = =
“Thank you for coming to Pet-Get, I hope Polly enjoys that birdseed!” I lied.
As the old woman left, I locked the doors behind her. It was dark outside, and the real work was about to begin. I had the whole store to clean, plus Lou was coming.
The guys arrived after an hour. They made a huge ruckus, walked in like they owned the place, stepped over a section of wet floor I had just mopped. No remorse.
“Hey, Felix! How’s it going man?” Carl was the leader of the crew. He always starts his work here at the store. I don’t know why.
“Hey, Carl.” I say, nonplussed.
“Listen, uh, we’re about to make another run. You in?”
“What neighborhood are you hitting?”
“Edgewood. Heard there’s tons of strays.”
“A couple house-cats from competitors too.” One of his goons chimed in.
I did my best to look pained and remorseful. “Sorry guys, Lou is coming later, I gotta make sure the store is ready.”
Carl laughed. “LOU is coming? And you WANT to be here? Felix you’re crazy, my friend. We could really use you. You’re the best grabber on the team. Everyone knows it. We need your skills.”
“You really think so?” I asked, walking towards him.
“Yeah, yeah, I really do. You’re a natural.”
“My Dad tell you to say that?”
“What? No, dude, why would you—”
“You’ve got a wad of cash sticking out of your pocket.”
Carl flushed red and stuffed the cash deeper into his pocket. “Whatever man. You’re hopeless. You won’t help us, fine, go deal with Lou.”
“Later, Loser.” His goons said.
Whatever.
= = =
Lou was more than just Lou, he was Uncle Lou, my dad’s brother. My dad was the money behind the Felinus family, but Lou was the brains. He’s the one who kept the racket going, who thought of diversifying the pet store into other kinds of pets. My dad is the head of the family, but Uncle Lou runs the business.
And Uncle Lou was only happy when business was good.
He was on his way to check on just that.
I started going through each kennel and changing the litter, filling up the water or food. I noticed that something wasn’t quite right. None of the cats were drinking their water.
I took one of the bottles off their kennels and dabbed some water on my finger, and tasted it—blech. Something wasn’t right. When I turned the water bottle over in my hand, some water spilled out—there was a tiny hole in the bottle—big enough to fit a syringe.
Sabotage!
I had to find out how it happened. I ran to the security room. Everything was toppled over and broken. Sabotage!! Who would do this? Uncle Lou was coming, the water was poisoned, and someone got into the store!
I wracked my brain. I didn’t know what to do. Lou would be here soon, the water still wasn’t fixed.
Authors Note: I had to call an end to this story. I don’t know why this is the direction I went but I stubbornly stuck with the idea and I didn’t enjoy it and I couldn’t think of a good or clever place to take it next. This was frustrating to write but showed me an area where my creative imagination has room to grow. In that sense, I am grateful for this experiment!
(764 words)
If you enjoyed this, consider my other short fiction, which you can find in The Writing Gym! I publish a new short writing exercise every Tuesday!
Thank you very much for reading!
God Bless!
I love Felix's 'whatever' attitude! It's so relatable, especially when parents want their kids to continue the family business. I also want to see Felix get into some real trouble with Uncle Lou. Perhaps Lou accuses him of working with a rival gang to poison the cats? Then Felix has to go undercover to prove his loyalty, but he falls in love with the rival's daughter. I imagine a Romeo and Juliet kinda story unfolding...
I liked it because I enjoy a mystery and suspense at times. However I am an animal lover and can understand how you wouldn't want to continue with any harm done to the animals. But the way I look at it, is it's just a fiction story and as long as you don't really feel the way your imagination was taking you, it's alright. Just my opinion.