Oliver

Sticky Incognito

Oliver was quite convinced the great blue heavens were falling. Pete's news had shocked them all. The Sticky One was 1) a human kitten, or the closest they had to that, and, 2) Mobile.

The mobile bit had Pete in a panic. It was bad enough when Sticky came upon him when he was curled up by the fireplace, but the humans never seemed to like him crawling around there, so they could usually be relied upon to whisk Sticky away ASAP. But crawling about was one thing. This standing up on just two legs seemed to be encouraged by the humans, and, as far as Pete could tell, Sticky seemed to be getting the hang of it.

Now it's not like being around Sticky didn't have an upside. He dropped treats like no one else. He even occasionally lavished treats on you as you were passing by. And he wasn't picky. He'd give treats to anybody. Oliver, Harry, and even Cracker definitely were benefitting from his generosity. Pete caught him trying to pass treats through the glass of the aquarium to the fish. That stuff smeared like you wouldn't believe. When the humans brought Sticky outside, everyone loved to hang around, but, just out of reach, mind you. The trick was to nip in and grab whatever offerings he gave and then get out before he spotted you. The noises he was capable of making were, well... He'd failed Cracker's singing lesson class, but he got an 'E' for effort.

Whatever his charms in the food department, imagine all of that up on two legs & quickly gaining momentum. Destination: Anywhere. Pete had them so spellbound, Oliver shivered in dismay. As much as he liked Pete, he sure was glad his humans didn't have any litters. Harry and Oliver just couldn't hack it. The horror. Oliver felt a little taken in by this chubby little bald one. He worms his way into their circle, and then they find out he's merely a human after all this time. The betrayal was a little tough to swallow. Sticky slept the proper cat amount, and he seemed to smell like milk quite often. Oliver didn't know what to think. It was all too confusing. They had all thought he'd grow his fur any day now. Truth be told, there had been quite a few discussions about the whole fur/no fur thing. Pete had decided long ago that the humans had to wash Sticky so much, they kept washing off any fur that might be there. At least, that's what he used to think. Now, he was frantically listing off out-of-reach places that were no longer in Sticky's rule book. Where could he hide? Was nowhere safe anymore? He once woke to the awful realization that Sticky was attempting to eat him- sure enough, the little monster seemed to have teeth now, too. And he drooled whenever you even glanced at him. If that wasn't unnerving, nothing was.

With feelings of impending doom, Oliver and Cracker heard the rising tide of hysteria Pete was dishing up, and knew something had to be done. It certainly was bad before- lack of sleep, strange odours and ear-splitting shrieks at any moment, but this! Cracker had good reason to sound the alarm. Sticky, the cat-eating fiend was going to be on the loose!