AAOOOSC! Mini Stories!

On one fine morning in Toronto, Joseph Cramarossa is padding down the hallway of the Cramarossa house to get to the kitchen.The hallway is dim with the sunlight from the living room as the only light; it is also empty, since everyone else is either out and about or in their room.

As he is lost in his thoughts of what to eat, he hears a strange sound:

“Meh… Meh…”

Joseph instantly halts in his tracks in a hunched position. He dares not to move a muscle in the empty hallway.

Or is it empty?

Stepping out from the opened room ahead of him to his left is a massive, scruffy loaf of fur. An animal. An awfully large animal.

Joseph’s heavy-lidded eyes actually grow wide as he follows the oversized furball trotting down the hallway with them.

“Uhhh…” He steps back slowly with his eyes on it. He then spins around and makes a dead sprint to another opened bedroom: his younger brother’s room, Michael Cramarossa.

“Mikey--!” Joseph immediately grabs his cool and as he enters his room. “Wild Mike.” He nods to him coolly.

Michael, who is putting on his socks from the edge of his bed, perks up at his older brother. “Yeah?”

“There’s something out there in the hallway.” He indicates the direction with a sway of his head.

Michael eyes him. “Yeah…?”

“It’s fuzzy. It’s grey. It’s an animal.”

“An animal?” His thick eyebrows rise.

“Yeah.”

Michael pulls himself back with a growing smirk and crossed arms. “And why are you telling me this?”

Joseph stares hard at him with a stone-like stature. “Because…,” he growls.

Michael signals him to continue talking with his hand.

“...an animal is not suppose to be in the house…”

Michael’s smirk grows bigger. “And…?”

Joseph pauses. Then: “...I’m freaked out.” He adds harshly, “Kinda.”

Michael’s smirk breaks out into a massive grin and chuckles. He rubs his hands with excitement at the rare expression of fear his older brother is displaying. He then stands up. “Let’s go take a look at this ‘animal.’”

Joseph scoots aside for his younger brother to head out first. He then slips out into the hallway, his eyes filled with caution for the animal. He silently follows his brother, who is swaggering in this scary situation, to the front of the house..

Michael then disappears around the bend, which leads out into the living room. Joseph creeps around the bend, then peeks out into room with a menacing mien.

Beyond Joseph, the animal is lounging on the armrest of the sofa, imitating a massive moldy loaf of bread. Joseph pulls back, not daring to step into that room.

Meanwhile, Michael approaches the animal in a friendly manner.

“Hey there, Bonnie.” He halts next to it and runs his fingers through its rough fur. “Just lounging on a Sunday morning?”

The bunch of fur shifts a bit from Joseph’s point of view.

“Mikey…!” Joseph hisses at his younger brother.

Michael peers over his shoulder to look at him. “Is this the ‘animal’ you’re talking about?”

“Why are you talking to it?”

Michael chortles as he shakes his head. “Oh, Big Joe.” He leans down toward the animal. “You have yet to meet Bonnie.”

Joseph knits his eyebrows. “Who’s that? Your new girlfriend?” He eyes his brother scooping the big ball of fur into his two arms.

“Not exactly…” Michael steps over to his brother. “Big Joe, meet Bonnie.”

Joseph’s eyes trail down to the pile of fur nestled in his arms. In that fur is actually a face: small, piercing yellow eyes, wet nose with a “W”-shaped mouth, wiry whiskers, and a pair of pointed ears sticking out.

Joseph’s eyes widen at the sight.

Michael meanwhile happily peers down at the fur in his arms. “Bonnie, meet my brother, Big Joe.”

The yellow eyes flick up to the oldest brother. “Meh…,” the fur says.

Joseph reverts his eyes up to his brother, then to the fur, then back at his brother. “Well, you two make a cute couple,” he says with a cynical tone.

Michael shoots him an unamused expression.

Joseph extends his hand out at the fur. “What the heck is that thing though?”

Michael shifts his arms to keep the fur in his arms. “I told you already--this is Bonnie.”

“Meh…”

“Nooo, it’s not like as if you just told me its name,” Joseph replies sarcastically.

Michael eyes him coolly. “Bonnie’s a Maine Coon cat, the biggest cat out there.” He peers down at her. “Right, Bonnie?”

“Meh…,” the cat responses.

Joseph makes a strange look at her. “Where did you get that thing from: the zoo?”

“Actually, I didn’t get it from the zoo-- I hadn’t been there in forever! When was the last time we went to the zoo, I think it was--”

“Where did you get it from?” the older brother cuts in seriously with crossed arms.

Michael begins running his finger through Bonnie’s fur. “Well, last night, Connor and I were talking down the street after having some late-night pizza, talking about the upcoming games when we heard some meowing--”

“Meh…,” Bonnie demonstrates perfectly.

Joseph stares the cat down. “Like that?”

“Yes…!” Michael flashes a proud smile at the cat. “Thank you for adding that to the story, Bonnie.” He scruffs her neck.

“So you found it in the streets?” Joseph asks, getting back on topic.

Michael peers at his brother.”We heard it coming from the alley. So Connor and I made the heroic dare to see where the meows were coming from. And there I found Bonnie…” His eyes trail down to land on the cat.”...waiting for me by a row of trashcans.”

Then the doorbell rings: Ding-dong!

“I’ll get it--!”

“No, I’ll get it.” Joseph breezes past his brother toward the front door. “Don’t want to scare any visitors off with that thing.”

“Well, what difference does it make with you answering the door?” Michael shoots at him from behind just as he was reaching out to the door knob.

Joseph gives him a deadly look from behind his shoulder. “Do you want to say that again?” He then quickly faces the door and throws it open.

On the other side is the young and familiar face to all hockey fans: Connor McDavid.

“Hey, Joey.” Connor smiles at him as he invites himself in. Joseph slams the door closed behind him.

Connor spots his friend in the living room. “Wild Mike!” He halts as he takes in what is in his arms. “Bonnie!” He pets her head. “How’s she doin’?”

Michael smirks at the cat. “She’s doing fine sublime.” He peers down at her. “Right, Bonnie?”

Bonnie slowly closes her eyes. “Meh…”

Connor chuckles as he scruffs her fur. “Same as last night. We gotta take it to the vet--”

“Take who to the vet?” a familiar voice that belongs to a woman is heard from behind the three guys.

They turn around to see Alessandra Cramarossa, the only sister of Joseph and Michael, sliding down the railing of the staircase in style. She then hops off to the same level as her brothers and puts each of her hands on one of their shoulders. “Mikey? Or Joey?” She smirks at them.

Before Joseph can pull out a snarky remark, Michael holds up Bonnie to her eye level.

“Bonnie!” he exclaims.

Alessandra’s eyes fly open at the pet as a smile grows on her face. “Kitty!” She extends her arms out. “Kitty, kitty, kitty!” She scoops Bonnie into her arms and begins petting her. “Awww, you're so cute and fluffy…!” she coos at her.

Connor asks Mikey with his eyes on the Cramarossa sister, “Does she know where Bonnie was less than twelve hours ago?”

Michael shakes his head with his eyes on her. “Nope.”

Joseph taps her on the shoulder. “Ale, we don’t have a cat.”

Alessandra spins around to face him. “But she’s so adorable!”

“You’re not even going to ask where that thing came from?”

Alessandra immediately halts petting the cat. She turns to him with wide eyes.”Where did this cat come from?”

“Connor and I found her in the alley last night,” Michael tells her while nudging his friend.

“Alley…?” Her face turns worried. “She’s clean, right?”

Michael shrugs. “Well, she does clean herself-- She’s good at it, I must admit.”

Joseph shakes his head slowly at his siblings.

“Oh…” Alessandra gently hands the cat back over to her brother. “I’ll be back.” She then scuffles upstairs. “I need to shower!!!” she bellows through the upper hallway.

Michael cranes his head at the cat. “Don’t take it personally, Bonnie. She didn’t mean to offend you.”

“Dude, really.” Connor nudges him this time, grabbing his attention. “We should take her to the vet, get her checked up, y’know?”

“Yeah, then dump her at the animal shelter,” Joseph adds on cold-heartedly.

Michael grapes at him. “Nooo! I-I can’t do that to Bonnie! That’s-that’s so...mean…!”

“Oh boo-hoo, crying over a cat.” Joseph rolls his eyes. “Take her to the shelter.”

Connor eyes his friend with concern. “Um, Mikey, I think Joey’s right…”

Michael hastily turns to him. “What?! You’re going against Bonnie? What has she ever done to you?!”

“I’m not going against Bonnie--”

“You want to dump her into a cold cage where she’ll shrivel up and die?!” Michael has puck-sized eyes filled with tears.

“What?” Connor makes a confused look .”No, no, I don’t want that to happen to her--”

“So why did you say--?”

“I’m saying we should go to the animal shelter to pick another cat as Bonnie’s friend.”

Michael stares at him in a daze as he is processing what his friend proposed “That...is...a brilliant idea!” He peers down at Bonnie. “Let’s go get you a friend!”

“I’m coming with you!” Alessandra is heard shouting from the bathrooms upstairs.

Michael and Connor are heading to the front door.

“You sure you don’t wanna come, Big Joe?” Michael asks as he slips on his shoes with the cat still in his arms.

“To get rid of her, yeah,” Joseph answers from across the room.

Alessandra gasps from next to him. Joseph turns to face his sister, who now is wearing a different outfit with wet hair.

“You want to get rid of me?!” She looks offended.

“Not you--that cat.” He nods his head toward Bonnie’s direction.

She gasps even more. “You want to get rid of the cat?”

He shrugs. “Yeah.”

She frowns at him from head to toe. “You have no heart!”

“When does he?” Michael exclaims from the front door as Connor exits the house.

“Leave before I make you eat your words,” Joseph snaps at his younger siblings.

Alessandra and Michael chortle as they high-five each other. “Bye, Big Joe,” they say together. They then stroll out with the cat.

Joseph watches the door close behind them. “Just what we need,” he grumbles as he turns around and storms away, “another cat.”


The End.

Notes