Cat in a Candy Store

Pepper peeked out from under the counter and groaned as he spied the woman setting up the Hallmark display with heart adorned cards.

‘Valentine’s Day, ugh. Humans are so tiresome.’ The woman was Candace and she owned Candy’s Sweet Shoppe. Pepper the rat’s ash grey fur puffed and his white whiskers bristled uncontrollably. They did that when he was annoyed.

Pepper scurried across the pink linoleum beneath the counter, across the floor to under the shelves. From there he was able to see the calendar on the wall. ‘Gads, it’s only January 12^th.’ He dramatically held a pink paw to his forehead. ‘A whole month of hearts and gushy crap.’  

A flash of white caught his eye just outside the door. ‘Fredrica.’ She was the shop cat that lived in the bookstore across the cobblestoned street. He watched as she slinked over it gracefully. She patiently waited at the bookshop’s door until it was opened. The fingers of a small pale hand curled around the doorframe like starfish legs clinging to a rock and pulled it shut. It was the hand of the young boy who helped the man run the store. The man could only be the boy’s father- same shaggy dark hair, same wideset brown eyes, same animated way they flapped their hands when they talked.

Pepper daydreamed. He would have killed for a boy of his own. He suddenly felt exposed and looked behind him. Candace came around the counter towards the shelves with an armload of heartsy, cutesy, stuffed animals. She was wearing her readers down low on her freckled nose, her hair a frothy red mop pinned up by butterfly barrettes. Her blue eyes peered over the eyeglass frames and grew huge and round when she spied Pepper. 

Woman and rat froze. 

Then Candace broke her paralysis and screamed like a factory steam whistle at days end. Simultaneously, she threw the small, plush animals into the air. They plopped and bounced all around Pepper- puppies, kittens, a fluffy green alligator, a ladybug bonked Pepper’s noggin. He shook his head, zig-zagged through the stuffed toy fallout (noting that there were no rat toys) and zipped across the floor to his little hole underneath the counter where he lived.

The next day Candace brought a cat to the candy store.

He was an orange tabby with deep pumpkin-colored stripes, the same shade as Candace’s soft plentitude of curls.

“Here you go Killer,” said Candace as she lowered a small bowl of milk to the floor. She placed it next to the counter and as the cat lapped lazily it purred. It looked up, white droplets pattered off its whiskers, the purring ceased. It sniffed at the hole and growled like a miniature tiger.

Killer crouched with ears perked forward, staring into the hole. 

At last, two hours later, it got up and padded to the front door. He sat and his head traveled from left to right slowly. Curious, Pepper skittered to the bookshelves, Killer’s whiskers twitched at the faint ticking noises made by the rat’s tiny claws. But he didn’t turn around. He was mesmerized by the sleek white feline slinking down the sidewalk across the street.

When the bookstore door opened, and Fredrica went inside the darkened doorway, Killer snapped out of it and turned around. Pepper ran under the shelves, darted under the counter, and he couldn’t help squealing with fright as he felt the ground behind him pound with heavy cat feet in hot pursuit. 

He made it to safety. But he felt like he was having a heart attack. The orange tabby was fast, the floor was slick, and the cat whumped into the counter, rattling the sliding glass doors in the back. 

The cat paced the length of the front counter. Pepper had an idea. He raced back to the shelves. Killer heard the tippy-tapping and hurried after the sneaky rat. Pepper crawled up the back of the shelving and came out on the third shelf. The cat leapt to the shelf and swiped at the rat who ducked out of reach. Killer knocked three stuffed toys to the ground. Then three more. After a pile of books clattered down, Heels clicked on the floor from the office in the back.

“Killer! What on earth? What have you done?” Candace’s voice was shrilly as she took in the mess. “You’re supposed to kill the rat. Not destroy the store. Grrrr.”

Pepper giggled as he climbed to the top shelf. He had a stash of candy up there and was safely out of reach.

After dark, Candace closed the shop for the day. She put a plate of sardines by the milk bowl and turned the lights off on her way out the door.

‘Fwap.’

Killer stopped scarfing up the fish and looked towards the sound. He frowned at the package of gummy bears lying on the floor in front of the door. His eyes grew soft and glistening as he caught the glow of white fur across the street. He went to the window in the door and stared as the lovely feline licked her paws and cleaned her face.

‘ticka ticka ticka…’ tiny footfalls.

Killer turned as the long, leathery rat tail disappeared under the shelves. He went to his dinner. The plate was licked clean. “Meeeeeooooooowwwwrrrr!” He howled in frustration.

The next day when Candace was occupied in the office, Pepper scurried like an ash being blown across the floor. Killer chased after. The rat squiggled under the metal revolving card rack then under the counter. The cat slid over the polished pink floor and straight into the rack. It toppled over in a jangling, twanging, pile of metal rods and crumpled cards.

“Oh come on!”

Killer slunk to the corner, head hung low, he looked like a sad orange gargoyle.

Candace sighed and said, “I thought you were a mouser…er…ratter? You’re more trouble than the rat!”

That night Candace left a plate of mackerel for the cat who had sulked in the corner behind the counter all day.

‘Fwap.’

Killer padded silently on orange pom-pom feet to the door. He sat next to the colorful package of sour worms and watched the white cat at the bookstore.

‘Tappity-tappity-tappity.’

Without turning around, Killer said, “Help yourself. I’m not hungry.”

Pepper looked up, surprised, his eyes glittered like black beads as they caught the dim streetlight outside. His cheeks were full like fat, fuzzy grey walnuts; he swallowed, ‘gulup’, and studied the cat.

“And why would I want to eat you anyways? I like fish. And chicken…turkey’s good too. Not rat. Yuck. Fur and whiskers and teeth? Hmmf.” The cat looked sideways towards the rat, as if he was keeping one eye on the rat and one on the white cat.

“You’re not messing with me?”

Killer shrugged. “Meh.” He turned towards the window again. The angel was gone.

“Her name’s Fredrica. The boy calls her Freddy.”

Killer’s ears perked up. He said in a dreamy low voice, “She’s sooo beautiful.”

“So ask her out.” 

Killer jumped when he realized the rat was sitting next to him. He said, “she’d never like an ole tom like me.”

“Women love wooing. Cats are no different.”

“What do you mean by ‘woo?’”

“Dude, look around this place. All this heartsy, cutesy crap,” Pepper said, his mouth in a downward grimace. He added, “It’s pure commercial poop. Humans spend boocoo bucks on it. Especially now, it’s Valentine’s season. Ugh. I hate the color pink. And all this foo-fooey stuff…makes my eyeballs bleed.”

Killer was looking at the rat blankly, like the rat was giving a sermon on Greek or something. The rat studied the cat’s face and realized he’d been ranting. 

He took a deep breath and said, “You can take advantage of it though.”

Killer looked dubious.

Pepper said, “I’ll help you. Let’s make a deal. I’ll help you win Freddy’s heart, and you don’t slaughter me.”

The cat said, “but if I don’t kill you, Candace will toss me out for sure.”

“Aw heck. I can find a new place. I’ve been eating candy all my life and am priii-teee sick of it. I’m more of a ‘salty’type.”

The rat waited patiently for the cat to process what he was trying to tell him. He could practically hear the rusty cogs and wheels turning in Killer’s head. After a minute, Killer smiled and said, “You’re saying I can woo Fredrica with this Valentine’s stuff?”

Pepper said, “Chicks dig it. They get all googly eyed and mooshy, even feline chicks. Seen it a million times.” He suppressed a gag. “We’ll start tomorrow. Now go eat your fish, you can have the rest.”

“Really?” said the cat sarcastically, “my own dinner? Gee thanks.”

“The omegas are great for a silky coat.” Pepper sat up and smoothed down his white belly.

The next day, Pepper was extra careful to stay out of sight. Perhaps if the woman didn’t see him, she’d let up on Killer a bit. That night, after the shop was closed, he came out and sat with Killer in the shadows under the shelves.

Killer excitedly said, “Oh, here she comes.” His orange fur bristled as if each strand was alive and ready to take off into orbit.

Pepper’s own pulse perked up along with his ears. He was having fun with this.

Fredrica’s silky fur glowed bluey in the merry white light of the big moon. They watched as the luminescent cat across the street approached the bouquet of flowers on the bookshop’s doorstep. They drooped a bit and a pale petal drifted to her feet as Fredrica picked them up and studied the pretty blooms. Pepper had picked them from the brick sidewalk planter from the store next door and wrapped the stems in some of the candy shop’s bright pink tissue paper. She looked down both sides of the street, the boys sucked in breath as her eyes lingered on the candy shop’s glass paned door. Then her own door opened behind her a crack. The cobblestoned street was more of an alley, it was in the boutiquey section of town only accessible to pedestrians. From forty feet away they heard the young boy say, “Why Miss Freddy, ah do declare you have an admirer.”

Pepper elbowed Killer and gave him a tiny thumbs up.

The next night, the cat and rat covertly watched as Frederica inspected the mini heart shaped box of chocolates on the doorstep. Instead of chocolates, the rat had filled it with sardine heads and anchovy tails. It had a pawprint on the red flocked top lid. This time she looked around smiling, with a snow-white paw pressed to her chest.

The third night, the white cat came home to find a plush stuffed woodchuck with a little pink (of course) shirt that said on it, ‘I’d chop for you.’ Killer had raised his brows at Pepper over that one.

Pepper only said, “Corny. Yes. But loveable to chicks. Besides…just watch” 

Fredrica tossed the toy in the air, squealing with delight. She hugged it and nuzzled it with her grinning cheeks.

Pepper said, “that’s the catnip.” That morning Pepper had stuffed some of the dried leaves into it. 

Killer had only raised his brows when Pepper had brought the cat contraband back early that morning. He had said, “where did you find it?”

Pepper shrugged and said, “I have my ways, my friend. I am a rat after all. Hello.”

Now, as Killer spied on the white cat, he waited for her to settle down. Apparently, catnip was like ‘cat pot’. Fredrica lay on her belly embracing the fuzzy toy. Then she sat up and looked around, apparently, she’d noticed something else. 

Killer looked at Pepper expectantly. Pepper grinned back. Both friends looked out the window.

Fredrica had rolled over the card. The clincher. She picked it up and read it. Then re-read it. Her white fur glowed like an ice-covered glacial lake, she looked like a spectral wood nymph as she twirled in the moonlight.

The bookstore door opened, and the dark-haired boy came out and observed the cat’s odd behavior. He watched her as she pranced into the bookstore. The boy looked around, but the narrow street was empty. He shrugged then followed the cat inside.

The card, ironically, had been one off the metal rack that had caused Killer so much grief the week before. It was goofy. At least Pepper thought so, but he had convinced Killer that it would be the final ‘Valentine’…like the cherry on the top of a sundae.

Both rat and cat had agreed that Killer should not actually sign his name.  That could only end up having her screaming and hiding in her closet the rest of her nine lives. He left another pawprint and ‘Candy Store tomorrow midnight.’

The red-haired woman had not seen the rat for days. She was so happy that she put a cat door in place of the bathroom window at the back of the shop. Ten minutes before midnight, Killer went out it and sat on the step in front of Candy’s Sweet Life. Pepper hid in the brick planter fifteen feet away.

At exactly twelve, the white feline came around the corner from the top of the street. She looked nervous; the tip of her tail twitched like the Queen’s white-gloved wave. Killer stood as she approached and said, “Hello Fredrica. You look beautiful as always. Um, my name’s Killer. Uh, not like in ‘Lady’ or ‘Serial’! But---”

Fredrica laughed. “That’s funny. Call me Freddy. Hey, you wanna come over for some warm milk?”

“There is nothing I would rather do.” Killer looked towards the planter where Pepper watched. He walked past him towards the bookstore. He gave the rat a thumbs up.

Pepper felt a twinge of loneliness though he wished his friend well.

A few days later…

“We’re in love, in love, in LOVE!” expressed the orange cat as he leapt about the pink frilly store. “It worked! I love Valentine’s Day.” He was acting like a kitten discovering a tiny bouncing red light flicking here and there.

Killer stopped frolicking when he noticed the sadness in his friend. He said, “Come with me.”

Pepper’s little grey legs skittered quickly to keep up with the cat’s long strides. At the step across the street, the door opened, and Freddy came out to nuzzle Killer’s face. The dark-haired boy of about ten goggled in surprise when he saw the rat. His freckled, dimpled face broke into an ear-to-ear grin as he dropped to his knees and bent with his hands open.

Killer said to Pepper, “It’s okay. He’s waited a long time for this.”

He ran into the boy’s hands and smiled at the giant face with the huge eyes. He was whirled around like a kid in a Tiltawhirl carnival ride. The big, grown-up version of the boy came out to see what had caused all the commotion. The boy let Pepper scamper up his arm. He giggled as Pepper snuggled against his neck and said, “can I keep him? Huh Dad? Can I? Pleeeeeeeeeeze!”

The man studied the rat. It was looking back at the man just as intently, as if holding its breath. At last, the man said, “Well, there’s something special about him that’s for sure. Sure son. I suppose Valentine’s gifts are meant for all kinds of loved ones, eh?”