By: Elizabeth Kwan
Instead of laying out his reasoning like before, David Dog pushed Katelynn Kat’s logic further. “What makes you believe everything you say is right?”
“What, you don’t believe that?”
“I think you should believe everything I say.”
Katelynn crossed her arms. Her pupils suddenly dilated. “Well, you’re wrong.”
“No, you’ve been wrong all day, too! First, it was the choice of the car. Did you even consider those humongous bows? I could barely see anything while driving!” David fumed thinking about the early morning, how Katelynn pressured him into taking a pink car with too many accessories, bows that just happened to block the windshield view. What good was that?
The cat stuttered on the spot, “T-that’s why they’re made of glass.” Before David could utter a single syllable, she continued, “Besides! You totally didn’t see the muddy water splattered all over that sports car!”
“You could just wash your fur after, right? Don’t you like shampoodles?”
“You’re so selfish that the fact of cats being unable to stand water never crossed your puny mind. And what’s wrong with coming into the bank from the front? Let’s not add fuel to the fire,” Katelynn eyed their surroundings. The bank was spotless with shiny floor tiles and marble chandeliers.
“No, no, no! None of that makes any sense! Ug, why can’t you just follow my lead?!” David yelled, pulling his ears in frustration. Unfortunately, neither David nor Katelynn detected Robber Ruthie Raccoon sneakily slithering out of the opened vault because they were too agitated by one another’s refusal to collaborate effectively.
“We got here faster this way anyway. If we took the front, we might not have caught Robber Ruthie!” David explained as he moved his hands in all kinds of gestures.
For a split second, Katelynn understood David’s logic behind each choice he wanted to make. Then, with the mention of Robber Ruthie, she glimpsed at where the raccoon should be surrendered, only to be left baffled, her jaw dropped to the ground. David stopped talking. “What’s wrong now?” he queried; he turned to his left for Robber Ruthie. No one was there.
The pup yelped. “Where’d she go!?” “I’m not sure. Are you a magician?” Katelynn asked worriedly. “You better not secretly be one of those labracadabradors!”
David commanded, “She got away when we weren’t paying attention. Let’s move, she can’t be far!”
David Dog and Katelynn Kat split up. David searched the fifth floor and up; Katelynn probed the fourth floor and below. In the basement, there was a long hallway with golden pillars and marble walls. Golden-rimmed frames clustered the sides of the room with a diversity of organism portraits, a few being the endangered rhinos. Katelynn found herself mesmerized.
She quickly discovered that all these rows of animals were nobly recognized for exceptional service in the pawlice force. She read a few titles. “Thomas Tiger, professional communication.” “Giselle Gazelle, cognitive empathy.” “Kevin Kat, extraordinary teamwork.”
She blinked. Her dad was on this VIP list, and more surprisingly, he was appreciated for his teamwork skills. On a whim, Katelynn sprinted down the almost-infinite hallway, eyes darting from side to side, whiskers tickling her neck from the generated wind. She came to a screeching, abrupt halt when she unearthed what she was looking for.
“Daniel Dog, extraordinary teamwork.”
Her dad had worked with a dog himself! That can’t be morally right. Cats were meant to hate dogs and dogs were meant to hate cats. They simply can’t be together.
Suddenly, Katelynn heard growing stomps from above the basement, interrupting her clouded brain. She scrambled up the stairs and told David she had no new insights. David did the same.