~*~::{Milo and Millie}::~*~ **FINAL EDITED VERSION**

Okie.  This is the final edit of my story.  This is the one that I turned in the the Chengmeister.  There really isn't too much added.  More personality and descriptions of Effie, a new character (Fluffy the guard dog) and a little more bit of a battle between Gertie and Milo.  

Sarah::  Yes, my cats can write.  They are fully literate now.  Take THAT.

Kyle:: Love you sis.  Part of the Milo/Millie relationship comes from our relationship.  I love you!!

Milo and Millie

Mitch Carter

 

 

~The Good Old Days~

 

The dark damp bed.  The cold nights.  The cement walls of the ally, dirty with mold and oil.  Some would call this Hell.  It was. I didn’t know any different.   It was my home.                   

My mother Martha had just given birth to yet another litter of kittens.  After the first week, only my sister Millie and I remained.  Martha left the ally and we never saw her again.  Millie and I were just your old run-of-the-mill street trash.  “Ally Cats” some would say.  We were special cats.  We were literate.  We could read, write, and talk even.   We loved doing it, and didn’t question how or why. 

We could’ve lived in a hole for all we cared.  As long as we were together, we were fine.  She was my sister, I was her brother; we were each other’s best friends. 

All was good in the world until that fateful day.  It was rush hour.  Very busy as usual.  Millie, the clumsy oaf she is, dropped her toy mouse, which bounced out of the ally and into the street.  I heard her scream and I chased after her.  A girl had picked her up and was taking her to the car.  The mother called after her.  “Gertrude McKinley!  Get over here, immediately!”

“Milo!  Help me!” she screamed for help.

“Ooh!  A special kitty, by golly!  Mommy!  This one can talk!” Gertrude called after.

I ran and ran until the car was out of sight.  She was gone.  My sister.  My best friend.  I was alone.

 

~Alone~

 

For days and days, all I could do was sit in my box and weep.  My best friend was gone and there was nothing I could do.

It’s worthless I constantly thought to myself.  I tried to make myself happy by playing with my toys and playing alone.  Nothing was going to bring me joy until my Millie was back.  I had to do something.  I couldn’t just sit and wait and hope for the best.  I was going to get her back one way or another. 

I was leaving my home, my hell-hole, for the first time ever.  I was shaking in my fur.

 

~ A Partner Among The Pack~

 

About a day’s voyage had gone by and I was exhausted.  I hadn’t eaten a decent meal since.  An occasional spider here, a flower there.  Anything that could fill my stomach, I devoured.  I had walked about seven miles from my home. 

There’s no turning back now… I kept telling myself, trying to boost my hopes.  It wasn’t working.  Still as pessimistic as ever, I stumbled upon a middle school.  A pack of 9^th graders, it looked like to me, out to lunch.  I walked up by them, and attracted tons of attention.  Everywhere, huge faces gazing at me in awe.

“He’s so cute!”

“I wanna pet it!”

“Let’s make it the classroom pet!”

“Let’s not…” I told them.  They all were startled.  Most of them ran away calling me weird names (Freak, Satan-cat, cat from Hell; I’ve heard it all before) except for this one boy. 

“What’s your name, cat?” the boy asked.  There was a slight glaze in his eye.  You could tell he was trying but couldn’t manage to focus on me to save his life.  He would look at me, then he would look away at a butterfly or a cloud or something completely disregarding the fact we were having a conversation…Attention Deficit Disorder, some would call it…

“Milo.  And yours?” I responded.

“Ephram.  My friends call me Effie…well, that is, if I had any friends…” The boy smelled of cabbage.  No wonder this kid doesn’t have any friends… I thought to myself.

“Well, Effie.  I’d love to stay and chat, but I’m on a mission.”

“Oh, really?  What would this mission include?”

“Finding my sister.  This one girl named Gertrude McKinley.”

“You mean her?” Effie pointed at a girl sitting alone by a tree.  It was her!  The girl that stole my sister.   Seeing her sparked an idea in my head.  Effie was the key.  I can get to Gertrude through Effie. 

 

~Smuggling A Convicted One~

 

Effie was a sweet kid, the loveable goof.  He let me come home with him and live with him until I found my sister.  Then we would go back home. 

“Here.  This is the only way…” Effie started.

“I’m not doing that!  It’ll hurt!”  I responded.

“Hey, if you want to find your sister, you’re going to have to sit in my backpack until school’s over.  Then we’ll talk about getting her back.  Okay?”

Reluctantly, I crawled into the backpack next to the math book and snugly up against the sharp compass. 

“It’s for Millie…it’s for Millie…it’s for Millie…” I chanted all day long.   

As Effie walked from class to class, I got jostled around in the backpack.  A smack on the head from the heavy textbook or a poke in the rear from that stupid compass. 

                  I wrote him a letter and put it in his backpack.

 

                  Effie.  I can’t take your backpack anymore.  My God, man, that compass is murder…literally.  I’m going to roam around the school a bit.  Meet me after school at the spot where we met.  I’ll be there.  You’d better be there, too.

--Milo

 

                  The school was huge.  I’m surprised.  I mean, I’ve seen buildings and looked at how big they were, but I’ve never actually been in one.  I was enjoying my roaming around until I heard screams of terror coming from the bushes outside.  It was a small mouse being harassed by some bigger looking mice (rats probably).  They took one peek at me and scrammed. 

                  “Hey, thanks for saving me, Cutie.” said the mouse.

                  “Yeah, no problem.  Why were they hurting you?” I replied.

                  “You see, my family is poor and they needed food.  I stole some cheese from those rats hoping they would understand.  They tried to kill me.  “It’s my cheese!” the one rat yelled at me.  They said they would get my family.  I am scared…they already got to my tail…” said the mouse.   She made me look around at her tail.  It was non-existent.  Ripped off, it looked like to me. 

                  “My name’s Milo.  Do you need somewhere to stay?  Just for a while?  I’m staying with this one human.  I can hide you from those rats…”

                  “Thank you.  That would be very helpful.  My name’s Scarlett.” 

                  Although she was a mouse, Scarlett was gorgeous, almost goddess-like.  I found myself in lust with her right away. 

 

~New Home~

 

                  “This is it!  Make yourself at home.” Effie introduced me into his house.  His room smelled of cabbage as well.  Scarlett was still in his backpack.  He reached inside as to grab for his homework.

                  “Um, what are you doing,” I distracted him.  It didn’t take all that much work to distract him, “it’s a Friday.  You don’t want to do your homework right now, do you?  You want to go be with your friends…oh.  I mean, uh, don’t you have to pee?  You’ve held it all day.  Come on, go whiz, kid.”  And with that, he rushed off to the bathroom.

                  “Quickly, Scarlett, go.”  I shoved her into a small hole in the wall in the corner of the room. 

                  “You’ll stay here.  During the school days when he goes to school, you and I will plot how to get my sister back.  I’ll relay information back to him, and we’ll keep in contact.  We’re gonna get her back.”

                  “What about food?  I’m going to get hungry…” Scarlett complained.

                  “I’ll bring you some of my dinner every night.  Don’t you worry, beautiful.” I proclaimed.  Beautiful?  Did I really just call her that?

 

                  ~My Secret Weapon~

 

It had been about four days living in Effie’s house.  Every day that went by, I snuck Scarlett some food.  Every day, I missed Millie more and more.  I longed to be in her arms with her playing games and laughing at stupid jokes again.  Every day, I would lose Effie at about seven o’clock in the morning.  I would get him back at about three o’clock in the afternoon.  From those times every day, Monday through Friday, I had to be alone to plot with Scarlett.

Something drastic had to happen if I wanted to get anything done.  I needed someone to help.  

“I need to know where Gertie lives.  I need to know how to get in her house.  Scar, do you know anyone that can pick locks?” I asked.

“You need a lock picked, you’ve got me!  How do you think I broke into the bank for all of that cheese?  I can get you into anything.  Safe?  Door?  You can count on me, Sweetie!”

My little beautiful secret weapon. 

 

~Lies~

 

Another two days had past and the plan was getting progressively better and better.  She lived at 8573 Oak Street.  We were 7562 Oak Street.  She wasn’t too far away.  I had been working with Scar to practice her lock picking skills.  This was legitimate; she could pick locks like no other.  Every day I fell more and more in love with her.  She came up with more pet names for me, too.  Fuzzy Cheeks, Pretty Kitty, Mr. Adorable.  They made me smile. 

Everything was going according to plan until I went to give her her daily food.  I knocked on the wall and announced my arrival. 

“Scar!  I’m here!  Got your din-din!” but she didn’t answer.  I reached my paw into the hole and got a letter with very small words on it.

 

                  Dear, Fuzzbucket:  I’m done using you.  I’ve eaten your food, used your home as shelter, and taken your heart.  I’m sorry.  I really did like you, but my family is more important than you.  Your sister should’ve been more important to you than I was.  If you really wanted your sister back, you would’ve paid more attention to trying to save her instead of impressing me.  I’m done here. 

–Scar.

P.S.  You’re a cat.  I’m a mouse.  How stupid are you?  I don’t love you.  Just your food.

P.S.S.  I have compiled a list of instructions on how to pick locks.  I really do hope you find your sister.  Good luck, Sweetie.

 

I wept yet again for the girl that I loved.  I was angry, though.  What do I care? 

She didn’t love me.  She used me.  I’m angry.  I wish…I wish… and at that moment, I walked out of the bedroom to hear Effie’s mother yelling and slamming things. 

I walked in on her with a broom being slapped against the ground.  It was Scarlett.  She was stealing more cheese.  What does it matter, now, though.  Effie’s mother picked Scar up by the stub of a tail she had left and tossed her lifeless body in the trash. 

“Goodbye, Sweetie…thanks for the instructions.” I whispered and gave a smile.

 

~Breaking An Entry~

 

Scar was right.  My mind was focused on her instead of Millie.  Millie was my only remaining family, and I was focusing on something that couldn’t possibly work. 

A cat and a mouse?  That’s just preposterous.  What was I thinking…? I felt so stupid.  I continued to read over Scar’s instructions.  It didn’t seem that hard.  To seem hard and to actually be hard are two very different things.  Practice and perseverance saw me through the hard times, and I soon became really good at picking locks.  It was time to act. 

The next night, I had Effie guide me all the way to Gertie’s house.  I could tell I was going to need help.  It was late, about eleven o’clock at night.  Gertie was asleep. I looked through the window.  Laying on the corner of Gertie’s bed was Millie. My sister.  My best friend.

 

~Fluffy~

 

I tapped on the glass quiet at first, then louder, then louder until Millie made eye contact with me.  She wiped her eyes and took a double-take. 

“Milo…is…is that you?” She asked?

“MILLIE!” I was ecstatic.  I told her to hold on.  Effie and I ran to the back of the house and found the back door, locked and all.  I began to pick the lock, and Effie was scared. 

“We shouldn’t be doing this…”

“Gertie shouldn’t have taken my sister.  It’s payback.”

The door was opened.  My heart was pounding so hard.  10 feet away was my sister, just as excited to be reunited as me.  I called for her.  Someone returned my calls for affection, but it wasn’t Millie.  The collar said ‘Fluffy’, but he looked more like a ‘Bones’ or ‘Crush’ or ‘Killer’.  The name didn’t matter.  What did matter, though, was the hateful gaze in his eyes.  He was ready to attack.

“What are you doing in my home, you furry Mongrel?” proclaimed Fluffy.

“Um, uh…um…we were just, um…” I stuttered.  Effie couldn’t understand 

Just at that instant when I thought I was puppy chow, Effie did something outstanding.  He was standing in front of a door.   A closet door it looked like.  Fluffy began to chase after me.  My heart was pounding like never before. 

“Effie!  Open the door!” I screamed in terror.  Effie went for the back door. 

“No, you fool!  The closet door!  GO!  NOW!” Effie went for the door and opened it.  Fluffy was closing in fast.  I ran right in front of the closet door-frame waiting for Fluffy to come after.  He ran straight into the closet.  The plan worked.

“Close the door, you moron!” I was having a mini heart attack.  Effie closed the door, sealing the incapacitated Fluffy inside.  I took a quick rest.  Effie started searching around the house for Millie.  I began calling.   

 “Millie!  MILLIE!” I called.  Nobody was answering.  Effie had distracted himself into opening random doors.  One of them happened to be Gertie’s room; the room with Millie in it. 

“Millie!  There you are!  MILLIE!” I was ecstatic crying with joy.

She came running and skidding across the wooden floor at me.  I missed her and how affectionate she was, giving me a hug and a kiss.  It was very emotional for all involved, all except for Effie, who was looking through a drawer with recipes in it in Gertie’s kitchen.  After I got his attention back with a little nibble to the toe, he led us back to his house. 

We arrived at the house, and it was one of those really cheesey goodbye moments.

“Well, Effie.  The past week has been a lot of fun.  Thank you so much for the help and giving me a home…”

“Yeah, don’t mention it.  I’m glad you and your sister are back together.”

Millie and I walked off into the moonlight, back to the home we always have known, when at that point Effie was calling after us.

“You know, I just asked my mom, and if you’d like, you can stay with us?”

“Hmm…” I pondered, “Millie, what do you say?”

“Oh, heck yes!  Why would I want to go back to that crappy ally of a home after living in such a luxurious home?  Let’s go home.  To our new home.  Together.”

 

And we did.