Candy in Wonderland

Part 2: Cat Trees

                After we ran through the market square, we were surrounded by trees. Ella explained the mysterious forest to me before we entered. The bark of the trees were basically scratching posts and the leaves were a mixture of feathers and yarn. 

                Ella said that the forest was guarded by a person that was also half cat. I wasn't surprised by the news because everything was a bit strange. I was honestly kind of scared because I didn't know if the cat-person would be on our side or not. 

               We walked for a while without seeing any cats at all. Then all of a sudden, when we reached the middle of the forest, we saw about 100 cats. Maybe 101. They were hiding in the trees but you could see their glowing yellow eyes from where we were standing. 

            Then a human that was dressed in tons of fur and cheetah-print jumped from the tree in the middle. "Who are you and why are you in my forest?" she exclaimed. " You have no right to be here, oh, it is just you Ella! I am so very sorry your furry-ness." She was just being silly now. I could tell. 

            Ella replied with "It's okay Sarah. I am pleased that you are sticking to your duties and guarding this cove of the forest. And don't call me 'your furry-ness'. 'Ella' does just fine. Ella was probably Sarah's ruler or leader of some sort. 

            "I'm sorry master Ella, I won't do it again. My, who's this?" Sarah was talking a mile a minute. 

            "This is -" Ella started to say, but I cut her off with "I'm Candy. I fell through the Eastern Portal with Ella. Weare going to Hatter's corner so he can helpm get back home."

           Ella pulled me aside and whispered "I could have handled that. Sarah won't let us continue to Hatter's Corner alone. Let me talk from now on." I apologized and wewent back to Sarah. 

           "Ooh, Hatter's Corner! I love that place. Can I come?" Sarah asked politely. Ella told her that it was invatation only. She seemed to understand, but she still insisted on showing us her tree fort. Or me at least. Ella helped her build it. 

          "Come on Candy, I want to show you my tree fort. Don't worry, I scooped the litter box. You're not allergic to cats are you?" She was talking fast again and I just shook my head since Ella told me not to talk. "Well good, because I have at least seven in my house right now. They prefer the window seat or the cardboard boxes. They won't bother you, just let me enter first and calm them down. They are all from the same litter and they all look the same, but they have names. Now I don't expect you to memorize them all. Oh, we are here." Sarah stopped her explanation abruptly and climbed up a rope that led to the tree house. Ella followed, and then I followed her. 

          We stepped inside a very large cardboard box. The entire tree and tree house where made of steriotypical cat-toys. I recalled Sarah mentioning cat-trees earlier, which I figured was what they called the trees. Ella said now that we had to go really soon, otherwise we'd get lost in the cat-trees. 

        "Just a small tour. Maybe just let her look around quick. I'm guessing I will be seeing her more, so she needs to know her way around my place. We can't let her be outdoors alone. The king's men may find her." By now I was used to Sarah talking so fast, and I kind of shrugged it off. Ella let me look around for like 3 minutes and then we left, shouting a thank you on our way out the door. 

        We ran on, through the forest and to a split in the road. There was a large sign that said "tUrn lEft tO gO tO hAttEr's cOrnEr, TuRN RiGHT To Go To THe BaTHRoom, tUrn AroUnd to go to THe Queen's CoUrT And The FOreSt of tHe cChESHire CaT" We turned left and kept going. We followed this long winding road that led straight to a picnic table and a small cottage. There was a man and a Dormouse standing outside, talking and drinking tea.