Everyday Canvas

Sherlock

Prompt: Curiosity killed the cat. Write about what the cat was investigating...

=====================

The cat, Sherlock, was investigating the tiny holes drilled into upright rectangles on the wall. Those holes were twins who carried another hole on top of them. Each rectangle had at least two sets of those holes.

Had they been regular holes, Sherlock wouldn’t mind them so much because his humans loved drilling holes, but these holes were different, ominous, possibly because they were being operated by beings hiding inside the walls. Could they be the mice who wanted to tease him?

If it were so, the mice would have to pay, and pay big. If not for anything, just for the reason that when Sherlock’s human would stick a snake’s head into those holes, the normally silent beast outside that held on to the snake would wake up and roar all over the house, chasing Sherlock. If only Sherlock could find out if the being inside the wall was the gray big mouse that made fun of him while he, the great Sherlock, was being hunted by the beast holding the snake that took its orders from inside the wall.

This wasn’t a very easy feat, really. It took days and days of undercover work when the human wasn’t watching. To prepare for action, Sherlock, carrying his favorite catnip-filled toy, settled near the most unsteady looking rectangle. Then he acted as if he were playing with the toy because this was the best undercover idea he could come up with. Even if it weren’t the best, after a while, his humans got used to him sitting there and let him alone.

Sherlock first loosened the hold of the rectangle on the wall, making the screws jiggle in their places. If he could make the rectangle fall off the drywall, it would be a great success, but alas, this was impossible; however, after a good while of attacking it from one side or the other, the rectangle had slackened enough for Sherlock to stick his paw inside a corner of it.

Lucky! he thought. My humans both went to work. How could I accomplish this if humans didn’t have a work to go to?

With great care and excitement, he stuck his paw and hooked his claws at something that screeched and pulled. It is the gray mouse’s tail! he thought from the feel of the thing in his claws and pulled harder and harder. Through the loosened corner of the rectangle, Sherlock yanked out the thin wiry tail that snapped at him. Maybe it wasn’t the mouse, but another alien being. I’ll show you to snap at me! And Sherlock bit hard through the covering of the wire.

When the electricity went through Sherlock and kept shaking him, he still fought it with all his might. He just would not let go. He had gotten the alien, hadn’t he!