Flynn Pets: Larry the Lover

9/12/13

Flynn Pets: Larry the Lover

          Larry was a simple tabby who was very willing to please. He was the kind of cat who wanted to be everybody’s friend. So one day, when his guardian put him out to sunbathe, he learned a very important lesson from the demanding feral cat colony outside his doorstep.  When he walked to the boat where the colony lived along the brush line the Alpha Cat, Chica, interrupted him. Her kittens frolicked around her playfully.

          “Good morning Larry,” she greeted, with her usual loving tone.

          “Good morning Alpha Chica. It’s nice to see you and your kittens healthy this morning.” Larry replied.  He tried to go around her.

          “I’m sorry Larry,” she began. “The colony had a little disagreement about you last night. I’m going to have to ask you to remain on your side of the territory today.”

          He sighed as he walked away. He wouldn’t be able to see his other cat friends today. Maybe it was for the better though. The mean orange tomcat might be on the prowl. When he reached the porch, he laid down to take nap. After a few minutes of light cat-napping, he felt a bop on his head. It startled him!

          “Dude, I’m sorry,” he heard his best pal Ringo apologize. “I didn’t realize you were sleeping light.” Larry laughed.

          “It’s fine,” Larry said. “I was starting to cramp anyways. So, what are you doing here?”

          “Just came to see you.” Ringo replied. “Hey, I heard what they said about in the colony meeting last night. And also what Alpha Chica said to you.”

          “Ehh, I can live with it,” he replied with a sigh. “But I don’t want to know what they said about during the meeting!” They both laughed.

          “Hey, you wanna go around the back block some?” Ringo suggested. 

          “Sure,” agreed Larry. As they walked towards the back fence, they ran into Ringo’s sister Tigress, the menace of the group. She was the touch-me-not times ten.

          “What are you to loonies doing out here?” she yelled, as she always did.

          “Just passing through sister,” Ringo replied gently. If they made her mad, one of them would end up with some sort of cut.

          “Are you out of your pea sized mind?” she continued to screech. “I’m not moving an inch, and you’re not moving anywhere near me.”

          “Look,” began Larry as sweet as possible, “all we want to do is go to the back block. We’ll be gone before ya know it.”

          “I don’t think so mister!” she continued. “And why are you talking to me? You shouldn’t even be here mister pet! I will cut you into pieces easily if you continue to walk near me!” ‘Pet’ was the word that feral cats use to make fun of domesticated cats.

          Larry started to walk the other way. But Ringo was confused and upset that Larry, once again, was being submissive. He wasn’t standing his ground and fighting for himself and others as other cats would.

          “Wait,” he began, “aren’t you gonna stand up to her? Isn’t that what you’re supposed to do anyways?”

          “If she wants to sit there and not be bothered she can,” Larry said. Ringo got furious at this, but he kept it to himself.

          “Well,” Ringo started, “if you can’t stand up to Tigress, I wouldn’t go back to the porch then.” They were heading back to the porch.

          “Why?” Larry asked straining his neck towards it to see what was wrong with it.

          “Aunt Pie Face and Samantha are having their daily sunbathing session on it,” Ringo replied. “And I think my brother Dingo is there as well.”

          “Rats!” Larry exclaimed. Those two (Pie Face and Samantha) were not to be messed with. He would rather face a human with a bat then them. Dingo not so much; he was laid back like his big brother.

          As soon as they reached their destination, Pie face lifted her head to confront them. Samantha just turned a cold shoulder, while Dingo gave them the ‘good luck’ face.

          “What are you two boys doing here?” Pie Face asked sternly. She seemed pretty mad.

          “Uhh, I was just about to lie down in the grass Pie Face.” he replied, as he lay down. “We won’t bother you three at all.”

          “You’re going to let them take over YOUR territory?!” Ringo complained. He was even more furious at Larry’s behavior.

          “Look,” he began. “I somehow mad the colony mad, and I don’t want to make it any worse. Chica doesn’t want me to bother the colony, so I won’t.”

          “Well, you’re bothering me.” Ringo said, with an unhappy tone.

          “But…” Larry started to say, but he was interrupted by Ringo.

          “Look,” his best friend said, “if you’re not cat enough to defend yourself, I’m gonna have to leave you again.”

          “But Ringo…” Larry began again.

          “No!” interrupted Ringo. “I think we’re done today. Hopefully tomorrow we’ll have a better day tomorrow.” And with that, Ringo walked off towards the boat.

          Larry sighed. He, once again, made his best friend upset. He hated it when this happened! There was nothing he could do about it, than sit around and wait for tomorrow. And that came with having to listen to the two older cats talk about the latest gossip, and what their kittens have been doing lately.

          “Larry,” Dingo began. But he didn’t hear him. He was too busy listening to Pie Face talking about how her kitten, Katie had a little misadventure with her brother and sister Matthias and T.C. (Tabby Calico).

          “Larry,” Dingo said a second time. This time Larry heard, and responded.

          “Huh?” he said sleepily. He didn’t realize that one of the kittens had ventured up, and was now sniffing him. It startled him so bad; he literally jumped about two feet in the air!

          “Sorry mister Larry,” apologized the kitten, whose name was Jenny.

          “It’s OK Jenny,” he reassured her. “Thanks Dingo for warning me.”

          “Hey anytime,” Dingo chuckled. “Can I ask you something?”

          “Sure,” replied Larry. “Shoot.”

          “Why are you trying to please everybody?” asked Dingo, as he hopped down from the top of the barbeque pit. “I mean, it’s not like this is your turf.”

          “I don’t know why,” Larry replied. “I mean, I just want everybody to be happy.” He sighed.

          “Well, take my advice: just give up.” Dingo advised. “It’s not worth the struggle to try to make everyone happy.” Larry didn’t get to respond, because right then his guardian opened the door. He jumped into her arms happily. At least she was easy to please.

          Once she set him down, he went to greet his Alpha Cat, Little (or, when she’s in trouble, Jessie). Once he found her he gave his formal greeting, he started to walk the other way.

          “Why so gloomy Larry?” she asked him as she jumped down from her sleeping perch from the cat tree.

 

          “I made the whole colony upset,” he complained. “And then I made them even more upset! I don’t know what to do.”

          “Well, what happened?”  She asked. He told the whole story from beginning to end, including about the part where Dingo gave him the advice. After his story was told, she chuckled.

          “Oh Larry,” she said, “Larry the lover, you know clear well that you can’t please everybody.” She bumped heads with him.

          “But I want to!” he complained. “Oh come on! It’s in my title!” She chuckled a little more.

          “What do I do now?” he asked her with a sigh.

          “Nothing for now,” she said. “Just remember what Dingo and I said. It’s very important that you do.”

          “I guess I will.” He agreed. And with that is guardian picked him up and loved on him.

 

The End