Chapter Three
“Who is that? What’s going on?” Chello sounded panicked and angry. “We don’t talk to pigeons! We never talk to the enemy.”
“Shhhhh,” said Torus, “Be quite, you idiot! It’s one of the Advisors. Do you want him to know we’re here?”
“An Advisor? Which one? Is it Dinnick?”
“No,” said Nevi, squinting through the dingy glass of the window. “It’s Nogolo, the one that’s always whispering in the Chief’s ear.”
“What then, did he come out to chase them away? Keep them off our building?”
“No,” said Nevi. “They were waiting for him. It was a planned meeting. They’re discussing something.”
“What is there to discuss with pig-birds? How about ‘Keep away from our dumpster!’? Rotten birds…” Chello growled under his breath and scowled at them.
“What do you care?” asked Torus. “They’re just birds”
Chello didn’t answer, but kept staring malevolently out the window.
“Look, they’re leaving,” said Nevi. “And Nogolo is leaving, too. There’s a tunnel entrance or something at the far side of the window frame.”
“I hope he told them to leave our pickles alone!” Chello’s dark mood seemed to pass as quickly as it had come. “Come on, let’s go. It’s almost dark.” He headed back the way they had come, under a loose board at the back of the cabinet and into the maze of tunnels that riddled the walls of the old building.
They wandered up and down and left and right. It seemed longer going back than it had coming up. Torus lost track of the turns, but Chello seemed to know his way even though it was the first time he had been there. Suddenly Nevi piped up from the rear.
“I wonder why that spot isn’t one of the Lookouts. It’s got a great view of the whole south side from that tunnel entrance. It’s got the perfect cover, too.”
“Maybe it is one of the Lookouts.” Torus said. “Maybe you just didn’t know about it.”
“I know about all the Lookouts,” she said. “I want – well, I just learned where they all are.”
“Maybe you ‘just learned’ where they are because that’s where the Scouts work,” said Chello, “and maybe there’s a Scout you want to know where he is, and maybe his name is – ”
“Shut UP!” shouted Nevi, and she jumped all the way over Torus and landed on top of Chello, knocking him off his feet. They scrabbled for a moment and when they stopped, Nevi was on top with her paws on Chello’s chest and his tail firmly in her teeth. He was laughing so hard he couldn’t talk.
“Okay, okay…” he said finally, gasping for breath. “I’m sorry, I just made that up. I didn’t expect it to be true!”
“Mff mf mffff,” said Nevi. Then she spit his tail out and said “You are a solid cheese moron and you have no idea what you’re talking about.”
“Obviously,” said Chello, grinning.
“Hey, where are we?” asked Torus. “I need to get home and help with the little ones so my dad can go on the forage.”
“I dunno,” said Chello. “Ask Scout-Girl.”
Nevi pushed him away with disgust and said “You know exactly where we are! Once we’re past the next corner we’re right next to your den!”
And so they were. Torus hadn’t recognized the area they were in, but once they got a little further along the tunnel he saw the small hole Chello shared with his parents and brothers.
“Hey! There’s your house!” said Torus. As they walked up to the entrance they could hear the clamor of voices inside.
“Yeah,” mumbled Chello, “home sweet home.” He paused for a moment. “Well, see you guys tomorrow. Let’s go poke around the north dumpster, okay?”
“Yeah, sure. See you,” said Torus.
Chello turned and headed into his family’s den.
“Hey, I’m home!” he shouted as he disappeared. Among the jumble of voices coming out of the hole it was impossible to tell if anyone responded to him or even noticed him at all.
They were back in a part of the building Torus knew well, and they walked along for a while without saying anything. Nevi suddenly muttered to herself. “I’m not a ‘guy’ you jerk…”
“He’s alright, you know. He just likes to get under your fur,” said Torus.
“I know. He just bugs me. He’s so self-centered.”
“I think he gets lost between all those brothers. But at least you know he likes you. If he didn’t like you he’d just ignore you while he plotted your ultimate downfall.”
Nevi laughed.
“I know. And I guess it makes sense he acts that way, since his older brother’s exactly the same only ten times more.”
They walked in silence beneath the floor of a human child’s bedroom, then Nevi spoke again.
“What’s it like being in a big family like that?”
“I don’t know. It’s okay, I guess. It’s busy. And noisy. But we don’t have as many kids as Chello’s family. And my folks didn’t fight like his do, you know, before…”
“Yeah, I know,” said Nevi. “I just wonder. It’s just me and Mom since Dad scrammed and we mostly just sit around trying to think of something to say. Mom complains about little dumb things and I complain about other dumb things, then she goes out to forage and I go to bed.”
“Do you ever hear from your dad?”
Nevi paused.
“No. No we don’t. Why?”
“Just wondering.”
They stopped in front of Nevi’s family’s den.
“Thanks for showing us your…your place,” said Torus.
“No problem,” she said. “I can show you the way again tomorrow, if you want. It’s nice to have a place to get away from everything sometimes.”
“Yeah, okay.” Torus felt awkward. “Well, see you later.”
“Okay.” She smiled and turned to go down the tunnel to her house and Torus turned finally for home. What a weird day, he thought to himself. Everything’s so crazy and tense lately.
He wandered slowly down the long tunnel that led to his den, stopping to look at things from time to time. The tunnel wound under the floorboards of some human’s living room, then up through the back wall of a bathroom, and finally along the shared wall between two kitchens until it finally came to an end at a snug little rat-house in the floor under a hot water heater.
When Torus finally poked his head into the den his father was waiting.
“There you are! It’s about time.”
“Sorry.”
“You knew I needed to go out early tonight. I’d hoped you’d take that into account and be home on time.”
“I said ‘sorry.’ I’m here now, so it’s cool…you can go.”
His father paused for a moment, then said, “There’s some food in the nook. Feed the pups when they get hungry. With any luck I’ll bring more home tonight, but just in case try not to eat up everything. Now I’ve got to go, I’m already late.”
“Sorry! I’m sorry! You could have left earlier, you know I’d be back! Cheese, they’re older than I was when you started leaving me by myself. Moki’s more than half grown.”
His father stopped in the entrance to the den and turned to look over his shoulder at Torus.
“That was a long time ago. Things are different now. I think you should understand that.”
Torus looked down at his feet.
“Yeah, I know. I’ll…try to…you better go before someone else gets all the good garbage.” His voice was calm, but his ears were hot.
His father came back in and put a paw on his shoulder.
“I know things are rough now, but we’ll get through it, okay? You and me and the kids, we’ll pull through.” He punched him gently on the shoulder and then went out. Torus listened to the scratching of his footsteps until they faded away in the darkness of the tunnel.
Then, he became aware of the sound of stifled gigg
ling coming from the back of the den. He turned slowly around and looked at the neat pile of rags that was the family bed. It was empty, except for three tiny rat tails poking out from under an old green towel.
“Gee, I’m tired,” he said, I think I’ll lay down and take a NAP!”
He leapt on the bed and tore the towel away. The three little rats shrieked with delight.
“Ho NO! What’s this? Rats! Rats in my bed!” The little ones squealed hysterically as he chased them around and around the room, and as they chased him in turn, until they finally collapsed in an exhausted heap in the middle of the floor.
He was still catching his breath when they started to clamor about food.
“We’re hungry! Feed us!” said Moki. He was the biggest, although he was only a couple of moons older. He was a dusty gray, like Torus and their father, but the two little girls were smaller and dark brown. Their names were Shona and Nosha, and he called them Beetle and Buggle.
“Are you hungry?” he asked them, and they looked up with their big eyes and nodded. “Well, okay, let’s see what there is here.” He went to the nook that served as a pantry high up on one of the side walls and pulled aside the little cloth curtain. There wasn’t much, some dry bread and an apple core and some popcorn in a plastic baggie. Torus was hungry, too. It had been a long time since he had half a pickle slice in the alleyway, and he had done a lot of running since then. He divided it up as well as he could, setting aside part of the apple core and some of the popcorn for later. The little ones gobbled up all their share right away and started looking longingly at Torus’s food. He was far from full himself, but he gave them each a piece of his popcorn and then hurried through the rest of his dinner.
“Why can’t we go look for food like everyone else?” asked Moki.
“You’re too little,” said Torus. “It’s too dangerous.”
“Shoo, we are not. We’re big enough to look for food, or at least stay here while you go.”
“I can’t go. Dad wants me to stay here with you.”
“Dad can’t get enough food by himself, though. My friend Mitti says his mom and dad both go out and they have plenty of food.”
“Well, we’ve just got Dad, so we have to make do with what we can get. Now shut up, I don’t want to talk about it.”
Shona spoke up around a mouthful of popcorn.
“You’re big, why don’t you go with Daddy to get food?”
“I haven’t come of age, yet,” said Torus. “I poke around a little here and there for food, but after I come of age then they’ll put me on a forage team and we’ll go out to the dumpsters and the humans’ kitchens to collect food for the whole clan.”
“Daddy goes out alone sometimes, though, right?” asked Nosha.
“Yeah, he has to sometimes to get enough for all of us, but it’s kind of dangerous to go out solo.”
“What’s dangerous about it?” asked Moki.
“Oh, there’s traps and poison and cats and humans and all kinds of things.”
“What if he gets sick?”
“He always says he’s too mean to get sick,” said Torus. “Now it’s getting late, so I need three little rats to go to bed.”
Moki and Shona said “Awwwww!” but Nosha looked up sleepily, said “Okay,” and shuffled toward the bed. Shona and Moki started wrestling on the floor. Torus rolled his eyes and followed Nosha to the bed. He helped her find her special piece of yellow satin cloth and got her snuggled into a corner of the nest. Then he went back to get the others, and by the time he got them to the bed (pulling one by an ear and the other by the tail) she was already asleep.
“All right, you twiddlebugs, keep fighting if you want, but if you wake up your sister I’ll weave your whiskers together.”
Moki said “Shoo!” and Shona yawned.
After they settled down, Shona said “Tell us a story.”
“Nope, no stories tonight. It’s too late.”
“Aw, come on,” said Moki. “It doesn’t have to be a good story.”
“Okay, but then go to sleep, okay?” He told them about the Great Pickle Hunt in the alleyway that afternoon. They gasped when Chello ran out under Sandwich Man, and laughed when the dog knocked the man over. When it was over, Shona was asleep.
Moki said, “That’s awesome! I’m as fast as Chello.”
“No you’re not,” said Torus. “No one’s as fast as Chello the Great Pickle Hunter.”
“I will be when I’m big, you big – ” he yawned hugely, “you big dummy.” Then he closed his eyes and Torus watched until his breathing was deep and even. Then he got up and went back out into the main part of the den. He knew, even with a half empty stomach, that lying down with the sleeping pups would put him to sleep as well, and he needed to stay awake. The last time he had fallen asleep while his father was out he had been in big trouble for two whole days afterward.
So he sat against the wall under the food nook and stared at the faint light that came through the floorboards above him and tried to remember everything he could about the afternoon. He wanted to ask his father about pigeons and about the Chief’s strange speech at the meeting.
He had been sitting there for he didn’t know how long, and he wasn’t really asleep, when a sound outside suddenly brought his attention back into the darkened space of the den. Someone was walking carefully and quietly outside at the entrance to the tunnel. He could tell it wasn’t his father, and he stood up and waited silently. The footsteps stopped and there was a tense whisper in the dark.
“Torus! Torus! Can you come out here?”
It was Nevi, and she sounded frightened.
* * *