When we left off...
Caff-Pow stood up against the long glass side of Tina the Turtle's 55
gallon tank and considered what she had said. One word, uttered just
as he had given up all hope of help from her. "Durkee." What could it
mean? He considered. A frown line gathered above his lovely dark weasel
eyes. Did she perhaps mean "Turkey?" It was no secret that she had
greatly enjoyed the small bits of roast turkey that the she-Hoomin had
dropped into her tank over Thanksgiving and then again at Christmas. He
could see Tina through the glass of her tank, still up on her rock. He
enunciated very carefully and loudly "Tur-key?" Tina swiveled her head
around to face him, opened her triangular mouth wide and snapped
"Dur-kee!" Then she slid into the water and went for a swim, ignoring
the ferret entirely.
Just then there was a feline snarl and a canine yip down on the floor
behind 'Pow. The ferret realized that he had very little time to figure
out this mystery before things spun completely out of control. 'Pow
turned to look across the room at the computer desk and chair and gave
one of his best ever leaps, a leap that only a young ferret in the
prime of his life could make. Did he even touch the floor? Maybe. And
maybe not. He remembered being in the air, his tail flying behind him
and then he was up onto the computer desk, manipulating the 'mouse'
with two paws and then typing into the Google search box. A single
word. He selected 'images' to go with it and all manner of strange
things came up on the monitor, including Hoomin grave-stones bearing
the name "Durkee." He frowned again and scrolled some more. What could
it mean? Hoomin cooking spices...pictures of Hoomins...more cooking
spices...little brown bottles of....what? 'Pow clicked the picture of
the little brown bottle because he was *certain* that he had seen one
of those before...very small...yes. Durkee Vanilla. Two ounce bottle.
He read the words "alcohol based extract" and his eyes grew wide! He
knew what to do. Without even having the words form in his mind, he
knew what to do. Which was a very good thing because just then....
<<SKWWWAAAAAAKKK!!!>>
It was a bleat of rooster outrage. Things were coming apart down there.
'Pow felt a swirl of panic come up into his chest from his soft grey
belly. There was another feline growl, and the sound of Todd trying
desperately to talk everyone into calming down. Nobody seemed to be
listening. So 'Pow would just have to be louder. He drew in his biggest
breath and just then--
A buzzing <<SHUT!! UP!!>> came from Tina's tank. The Turtle was
standing up against the glass of her tank atop her rock, face framed by
her clawed front feet. The room immediately fell into silence. Nobody
had *ever* heard such a thing from Tina before, and nobody wanted a
second helping. It was a voice to be obeyed, instantly, no messing
around. The proper number of paws returned to the floor. Feathers were
smoothed down. Rumpled fur was stroked back into place. 'Pow cleared
his throat from up by the computer. All heads swiveled from looking at
Tina to looking at him. He spoke quietly (a little piece of him that
had been driven half crazy by that evening's goings on wanted to say
"She is a poet, you know," but he managed to choke that weirdness back)
and said "I know what to do."
He did, and they did, and in the end it was pretty easy, at least for
the Dog. Getting Loki to bite the wooden spice drawer handle and pull
the drawer open and away from the kitchen island a few inches was easy.
Just doing that caused her to sneeze pretty violently a few times, but
she was a good sport about it. 'Pow flat refused to go into the drawer
to look for the little bottle. Todd was forced to remove his fetching
red turban with diamond brooch in order to actually make the climb
into the drawer amongst the shakers of sage, and pepper, and dill, and
twenty other things all of which Todd said were *quite* overwhelming to
anyone with a serviceable snout. Todd retrieved the little bottle and
unscrewed the cap. Just unscrewing the cap was all that was necessary
to convince al l assembled that they finally had their bottle of
spirits. Nobody was the least bit interested in actually tasting it!
No wonder their Hoomins didn't drink spirits.
The little bottle was placed atop the white altar cloth between several
of the 'shinies.' Loki Dog stole half a peanut butter sandwich from
the kitchen trash can to go with it as "a delicacy to please the
ancestors." Sterling the Cat argued about that particular selection but
by that time everyone just wanted to get on with it. The She-Hoomin's
favourite incense holder was retrieved and a brown stick of her
favourite incense was slotted into the little hole in the seated Buddha
figurine's head. All agreed that it did not need to be lit, it was
perfectly aromatic as it was and besides, nobody wanted to consider
trying to light it with one of the disposable plastic cigarette
lighters. It is true that animals have a deep-seated feat of fire.
Absolutely true.
Everyone but the chickens, who opted to remain close to the warmth of
the pellet stove assembled around the altar. Loki Dog. Sterling the
Cat. Caff-Pow the Ferret. And Todd the Ferret, who had put his little
red turban back on, and was once again shedding shattered specks of
diamond light over everything. Todd looked solemnly into each animal's
eyes by turn and said "the altar is in order and pleasing to the
ancestors. But...two things remain. The curse, and the sacrifice...
Part Six Tomorrow
Alexandra in MA
[Posted in FML 7298]
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