Incident Eight:
Where A Cat Follows
After oversleeping, Fennel was in a rush to get to work. When she grabbed her bag she didn’t notice the extra weight of Webbit. She was the smallest and lightest of the cats, but Fennel should have noticed that her bag carried something alive and very clever.
On the train, the ambitious little cat almost got a little spooked, with all the horrible noises and strange movement. Just the once, she peeped out and her eyes flashed at the sight of people crowded together, all looking glum. Webbit hated the sight of strangers at any time, and now she realised why none of the other cats wanted to volunteer for this mission. She thought they wanted her to go because she was small, and good at hiding and spying.
Despite her fear, she kept to what Schnosenschnaft had told her and buried her head back down into Fennel’s bag. It was, as Schnosenschnaft put it, of grave importance and there was dire necessity that she gathered as much information as she could. He told her to ignore the taunts of the bigger cats, like Woddel and Dunk, who claimed that they wanted to go but they could not fit into Fennel’s bag. Webbit decided that she would give them each a claw across the nose when she got back home.
The worst part of the trip was when Fennel arrived at her work and dropped her bag behind her desk. Webbit let out a small yelp and was certain that she would be discovered. After waiting for over an hour, with nothing happening, she ventured out and was happy to see no people around.
She studied the room and quickly made up her mind. With a short series of jumps she was soon up on a hanging basket that contained a sad, withered plant, and then up through a ceiling panel. It was dark and dusty inside the space between floors, but the small holes in the ceiling panels offered a great view of the humans and their strange work environment. Webbit told herself to recommend to Schnosenschnaft that more cats go up into ceilings to advance their education of the human world.
She found that she could watch over the entire office without fear of being caught. Once she located Fennel she stayed with her, easily following her from room to room. It was hard to find Fennel at first, since her owner looked and acted entirely different from what Webbit had seen before. She was noticeably sad, and, of far more significance, not in charge of anyone. Webbit was also sad, to see Fennel being bossed around, and following after others like she was on a lead. If all the important things Webbit had learned, this may be the greatest: Fennel was not an important person in the human world. Webbit also suspected that her place of work held no real importance either.
Then Webbit’s fur stood up and her tail fluffed. Fennel was being surrounded by three others of equal size, who were approaching her from all sides, ganging up on her. She readied her claws and prepared to jump down to help. But then she licked her lips and needed to wash her right hind leg. When she finished her grooming she fixed her eyes back on Fennel. To her surprise, she saw that Fennel was not under attack at all, but rather, was among friends.
Webbit realised that she had overreacted and almost ruined her mission. She leaned forward to hear what they were saying, and tried to understand what some of the new words meant.
Fennel was animated. “Truly, it was the most amazing dancing I have ever seen, or anyone’s every seen. He went so high off the ground, it made everyone stop and watch. And I mean the entire restaurant. Everyone. The staff from the kitchen, and maybe even people from off the street. There were people everywhere, all trying to get a glimpse.”
“Bennet Noble, you’re talking about?” asked the tallest of the women. They were the secretaries of the other big bosses, and they always spent time discussing everything they could think of. They knew not to dwell on their love-lives when Fennel was there, but beyond that, nothing else was out of bounds. To hear her talk about a guy was a new thing, and that made them struggle to comprehend what she was saying.
“Bennet in sales?” asked another one, the youngest and prettiest. “What other Bennets are there? How many could there possibly be? You mean that guy?”
“I know,” said Fennel. “That guy. It was like he suddenly went from this guy behind a desk with a phone on his ear, to this magnificent dancer.”
“Where’s he been hiding that routine?” asked the tall one.
Fennel looked around and said quietly, “I think he can actually fly. I’m not kidding; I mean it. He was doing more than dancing.”
“Now you’re pushing it,” the tall one laughed, and gave the others a glance to suggest Fennel had lost her mind.
“So now he flies?” asked the young one. “Make your mind up, why don’t you?”
“What I mean is, he can defy gravity when he dances,” said Fennel, knowing they could not help but mock her, but not wanting to let it go without telling the full story. “Actually defy it. But not too much that everyone sees it. He just goes up a little bit, so no one notices, and makes it look like dance moves. But there’s more to it than that. I think he can actually fly up into the air. I don’t know how else to explain it.”
“Like, a bird-man?” asked the tall one.
“I guess so, yes.”
Then they laughed loudly, startling her.
Still laughing, they gave her advice that was intended to be helpful but it only hurt her feelings more. Webbit growled when she sensed Fennel’s sadness, and then followed her as she hurriedly returned to her desk.
As Fennel dabbed the tears from her eyes she did not notice Bennet walking up. Webbit saw him, and tensed.
“Something in your eye?” he asked.
“It’s nothing,” she said as she quickly finished and threw a tissue into a bin. “Just a bit of dust. I’m fine.”
“How are you today? I feel on top of the world. In fact, it makes me want to—“
“How did you do that?” she interrupted, not able to stop her curiosity getting the better of her. “How did you dance like that last night? Tell me the truth, please, Bennet. Don’t string me along. Was it a setup? No one can dance like that. Especially someone who works in phone sales. You’re a professional dancer, right?”
“I don’t know how it happened,” he replied in all seriousness. “All I know is, I wanted to do it. No, that’s not right. I needed to do it. It was something in me, from a very early age I’ve had the idea, to defy gravity. Before now, I’ve not really tried doing it.”
“Are you talking about those dance moves? Or are you talking about something else? Are you telling me you can fly? For real-type flying? Is that what you’re saying?”
“I think I can fly, yes,” he admitted quietly, checking around that no one else could hear.
“You think you can?”
“I know I can.”
“You know you can fly? Did I hear you right? You know you can fly?”
“You heard me right.”
“Is this some sort of joke?”
“Why would it be a joke?”
“Do you think you’re a bird or something?”
“I know it may be hard to understand—”
“People can’t fly. I don’t know why you’re saying that to me. I might be a little crazy, with my educated cats. They mean well, but sometimes they go too far. I send back the books they order if I don’t like them. I sent back the Hitler book as soon as I saw it. I have no idea why they wanted that.”
“The what book?”
“They’re just cats. Like any animal, they can be educated. They learn quickly, and sometimes I don’t know what they know and what they don’t know. And okay, I’ve been in denial about the books. Somehow, they’re getting them. Off the internet, I suppose. I have no idea why. I didn’t even know they could work the computer. How do their paws get the right keys on the keyboard? I never showed them how to type. And I didn’t give them bad books. The ones I showed them were nice ones, from the children’s section. But they seem to have this odd leaning toward violence. It’s very troubling.”
“I’m really not following you,” he said with a nervous laugh.
“But to tell me you c
an fly? And that’s why you can dance so well? Because you weren’t dancing, you were flying? That’s too much. That’s not helping educate intelligent cats. That’s just plain crazy. Bennet, I need to ask you to not talk to me anymore. Please leave me alone from now on. Can you do that, please?”
He looked at her and saw that she was serious. The old Bennet would have left at that point, but the new Bennet knew better.
“So,” he said with a playful smile, “you’re saying that if I wanted to go up and touch the ceiling, right now, right here, that I wouldn’t be able to?”
“You’re starting to embarrass me. I shouldn’t be seen talking to you. Can you go now?”
“You didn’t seem embarrassed to be with me last night.”
“That was different. There were a lot of shadows, and people, and loud music.”
Bennet did not wait for her to end her sentence when he began to lift up. She did not notice at first, but when she did she covered her mouth with her hands.
“What are you doing?” she asked with a muted yell, distressed at what she was witnessing.
“You said I can’t do this,” he said with playful nonchalance, “so I must be doing nothing. You said I can’t fly, so I can’t be doing that.”
He moved his feet like he was swimming, and that helped him move higher, toward the ceiling.
Webbit was transfixed, watching the man drift toward at her, and she bolted away. Workers in nearby officers looked up and wondered about the funny sound inside the roof.
Bennet easily floated down to hover in front of Fennel, who was now speechless. He held his hands out as if he was shrugging, like he was asking why she doubted. As he took her hands she stood up. Then she relaxed and they embraced.
“Are you a superhero or something?” she asked with a little laugh of relief. Then they kissed.
“At this moment, I am a total superhero. Otherwise, no. I’m just a guy with a gift. That’s all. Just a guy who figured how out to escape gravity.”
“You need to be on TV. Bennet, this is incredible. We have to tell everyone, as soon as we can.”
“No, I can’t do that. I’m not looking for attention.”
“What was all that last night? You created a lot of attention then.”
“No, you need to understand, I’d rather keep it quiet. Last night was just showing off, for you. I was making them think I could dance. The truth is, I can’t dance. I was just flying in disguise.”
“And just now? You went up to the ceiling right in front of me. That wasn’t about getting attention?”
“That was just for you too. I’m not ready for the world to know just yet.”
“But you will?”
“When it’s perfected.”
“It’s not perfected?”
“Going up to the ceiling just now, that’s the highest I’ve gone so far.”
“What are you waiting for? Go and practice going higher. What’s stopping you? The world needs to know.”
He was about to say that he needed to find more confidence and support, but then he realised that she saw it in his eyes, that she would be the one to help him. Perhaps the only one.