I sat awkwardly in the back of the cab, barely listening to the driver, Kapp'n, talk about how dreary and lonely his life was. It was a sunny araw in northern Yorkshire. Though still a misery; gum was still stuck to the paths, litter still rolled by, teenagers still swaggered sa pamamagitan ng abandoned apartments they had rented to make themselves seem cool and superior. I couldn’t complain though, because we began to pass through a wood where trees were covered in moss, birds sang and the sunlight left soft little dapples on the road, were we even driving on a road?
"Um, I think you missed a turn back there, I said, in fact, I knew he'd missed a turn back there, the trees were turning from dark green canopies of mossy branches to surreally triangular bundles of Esmeralda green leaves.
"You sinabi you wanted to go to Hansory right?" I was shocked, was this some sort of joke, was he kidnapping me? "Well kid, we're here now, once you get into this world, there's no going back,"
"What the-?" He threw my bags onto the damo beside the invisible road he was driving along, leaving me to chase after them, exasperated, and drove off. "You have got to be kidding me," I grumbled, picking my bags up, and the contents that had fallen out.
"Need a hand?" sinabi an unfamiliar voice. Two black...paws...were already folding, packing and sorting things into my bags. "I'm Kiki," the voice continued. This couldn't be happening. Unwillingly, I turned around to face her. She had big yellow eyes, shining under the dim sunlight filtering through the trees, a tentative smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, and she was a cat.
"You're a cat," I sinabi slowly, madami to myself than to, what was her name? Oh yeah, Kiki.
"A black cat," she added proudly.
"A black cat," I repeated. "And you can talk," It wasn't a question. She giggled, a little madami confident now.
"Well of course I can talk, this is Hansory!"
"Hansory," I was feeling a little faint now, and must have been shaking because she offered me her paw. "I need to get out of here" I whimpered, but took her paw anyway, it felt like velvet.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "Once you're in Hansory, there's no getting out..." I felt three little claws digging into my palm. Rather than caring about my problems, I wondered about hers.
"How did you get stuck here then?" I wondered aloud.
"Oh no. I was born here, but my mother died as soon as I was. You see, something about Hansory, it’s like it can only take so much population at a time..."
"So your mother was a cat,"
"A black cat." Kiki added. Then I remembered to be sensitive.
"I really am sorry about your mum..."
"Oh, don't you worry about it, I'm sure she was a lovely person, but I never really knew her."
"Where are we going?" I asked suddenly. I was quite creeped out now, the damo was made up of little green triangles, clouds were white and looked like dollops of whipped cream, and the very few houses we passed looked like they'd been pulled out of a fairy tale.
"To the town hall,"
"Why?"
"Well if you're gonna be living here you'll need a house."
"I'm not gonna be- Oh yeah, no getting out..."
"Pelly, our clerk will tell Tom Nook, our shop-keeper/engineer that you're in need of a house, and it should be ready for tomorrow, meanwhile you can stay with me, if that's alright."
I laughed, "Let me guess, Pelly's a pelican!"
"As a matter of fact she is!" We laughed together, and then we reached a large, stone building.
"And yes, I'll stay with you, thanks."
She held open the door for me "My pleasure," Her tail swished with satisfaction, I could tell we were going to be great friends. “Pelly?” called Kiki
“Over here!” A small white pelikano sat behind a desk, not looking up from the papers her...wings... were combing through.
“This is...I don’t think I got your name,” sinabi Kiki, turning to face me.
“Alison.” I sinabi shyly. Pelly looked up, and extended a wing towards me. I took it gingerly, her feathers were so delicate, so soft...
“I’m Pelly, if you need to mail anything, save up money, or anything at all just ask me or my sister Phyllis.” I looked around for another pelican. “But she only works at night...” something about the way she sinabi it gave me a bad feeling about Phyllis. “In need of a house?”
“Yes, please!” sinabi Kiki for me.
“I’ll call Tom Nook right away, excuse me.” We left her alone to use an makaluma telephone, and went back out.
“Where do you want to go now?” Kiki asked.
“What do you mean ‘where do you want to go?’?” she understood immediately.
“Didn’t Pelly give you a map? Here, take mine, and this jacket.”
“Thanks, why do I need the jacket?”
“You never know how many things you might come across in Hansory, you’ll need all the pockets you can get!” I tried it on, it was a perfect fit! “Open the map!” sinabi Kiki eagerly. I unfolded the little square.
“How about we go back to your place,” I said, seeing it was only round the corner of the museum, which we were standing outside now. Kiki deflated a little.
“Yes, my house...Alison, have you ever heard of the happy room academy?” I heard the sad tone in her voice.
“No, what’s that? Your school or something?”
“Its a group of people who evaluate your house, like feng shoui or something...” again, she sounded dismal.
“What about it?”
“Well, when I first started, I got really low scores, I figured I’d learn madami as time went by, but I’m still no good at decorating my room,” I barely knew her, but I didn’t need to think before wrapping my arm around her waist, she seemed so...sad, I guess. We walked slowly, and I noticed that the jet black balahibo on her cheeks was wet, shining.
"Are you crying?" I blurted out, not thinking, and I realised how tactless that must've sounded.
She sniffed, and made a weak noise that sounded a little like a laugh. "Yeah, I guess I am,"
"Oh Kiki," I pulled her into a proper hug, stroking her back, she didn't complain.
"You're not mad, are you?" the words sounded doubtful, but I could tell as she tensed in my arms that she meant it.
"What, for you crying?" I was taken-aback, then I burst out laughing, knocking us both to the soft, spongy ground. "Why would I be mad at you for that? Everyone gets stressed and upset about little things like their home, Kiki! You can't honestly think that I'd get mad at you for that!" She laughed a little too. "No, I suppose not. You're a great friend Alison," I could feel her smile, and reflexively, I smiled too. We strolled along, seeing who could spot the most ladybirds, finding shapes in the clouds, until we reached a small kahel cottage.
"The door's open," sinabi Kiki, watching me as I turned the little brass cat-paw knob, and pushing open the door. I gave her a look.
"And you sinabi your house looked bad! Didn't anyone ever tell you about lying?" I waggled my finger at her, and, as I'd hoped, she came fully out of her sad aura and giggled, the whole room seemed to be full of her golden light.
"Come on, I want to ipakita you my bedroom!" she said, taking my hand and leading my up a spiral stair case, holding onto a banister of wrought iron roses. She opened a white arched door. Considering it was only a room, it was...I didn't know what to say... The walls were sky blue, with little kulay-rosas paw prints dotting walang tiyak na layunin areas of them, the ceiling was sloped on one side, painted kulay-rosas with blue paw prints, a baby kulay-rosas window upuan lay basking in the sun that streamed through the open square window, overlooking a garden of wild bulaklak of all kinds, two single beds were there, four posts holding up on one, light blue curtains, and on the other, pale pink, in the middle of the two Kiki sat, waiting for my response. Only when I needed to lunok did I realise that my mouth was hanging open, and I quickly shut it. She sinabi her house was embarrassing, I didn't believe it!
"You said-" she cut me off.
"My mum did it before I was born, I added the paw prints before my Dad moved away. He went sa pamamagitan ng boat, he sometimes sends messages in bottles, he's on an island paradise, we get the odd coconut washed up on the beach, but he says he eats 10 every day!" I grinned, Kiki was so easy to get along with. "Pick a bed, any bed." she said, bouncing from one to the other.
"Um, blue please. Why do you have two beds anyway?"
"For days like these when I need them, silly!" I didn't understand her at all, so I just nodded.
"Hey, Alison, do you know how long I should cook my spaghetti for to get it al dente?"
"I don't know, 'bout 10 and a half minutes?"
"Ooo, and then you fling it to a wall, and if it sticks, it's done? Well thanks, here, take this." She handed me a small, holey green leaf.
"Uh, thanks?"
"Well open it silly! Just throw it on the ground!" doubtfully, I did as she asked, and a small white leather sofa opened up out of no where in the middle of the room. I was sure now that I was dreaming, I wasn't sure if I wanted to wake up but I cofmorted myself with the fact that it was probably all in my head. Kiki spoke again. "Do you like it? I figured if you were getting a house then you'd need some furniture to fill it."
"I pag-ibig it Kiki, thanks." I must've looked how I felt, because she didn't look convinced. I walked across the room to where her light switch was. "May I?"
"Go ahead, Its getting dark out anyway." She sat on her window upuan and closed her kulay-rosas curtains with a satisfying swish. I flicked on the light, the light bulb span slowly, I wondered why. Kiki climbed onto her kama and put a small metal takip on the rotating bulb, suddenly, little spinning paw prints were projected into the room, I watched in fascination. I looked over at Kiki, who was also watching the waltzing shapes and noticed how her buttery yellow eyes sparkled like a liquid.
"You have really pretty eyes," I said, not quite meeting them.
"Oh stop it, you want something!" she blushed, looking up at me through long black eyelashes, how come she had to be so beautiful.
"No, you do." We sinabi no madami after that, but we were comfortable in our own silences.
"We should make this a proper sleepover!" Kiki sinabi suddenly, eyes sparkling with a new excitement.
"Yeah! We can have a unan fight, talk about secrets and boys," I winked at her, and she grinned in response.
"Hey, how about first we have that spaghetti, see if our method works," the plural caught my attention, how she'd put us as a pair, it made me even happier. So we trotted down stairs, and got to work. "White sauce?" Kiki said, getting out two pans while I scanned the ingredients in front of me.
"Check."
"Salt?"
"Check."
"Pepper?"
"Check."
"and spaghetti?"
"Check." We got started, experimenting with different flavours, pag-awit about pagkain while we cooked until we had two bowls of delicious al dente spaghetti in front of us.
Kiki smiled up at me. "Dig in."
After eating our evening meal, we ran upstairs to her room, where I realised something.
“Shoot!”
“What?” Kiki asked, alarmed.
“I haven’t got anything! PJs, toothbrush, hair brush, UNDERWEAR!”
“Calm down, I have way too many PJs, you can use my hair brush, if you don’t mind, and I’ve got a spare guest bag I keep in my closet in case of times like these!”
“So I’m sorted for toothbrush and underwear?”
“Yes.” Thank god Kiki was always thinking ahead, if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have a bed, toothbrush, underwear, PJs, hairbrush or anything! We sat cross-legged on the window seat, Kiki's head on my lap while I combed my fingers through her thick black fur, just talking. Not about anything in particular. She told me about two porcupines, Mable and Sable, who were tailors, and how she loved her Argyle Knit sweater that Sable made. She also told me about the museum, how Blathers, the owl owner, despised bugs, and then she asked me an unexpected question.
"Alison, when's your birthday?" I stopped combing.
"March 30th, why?"
"Well lets say it was today, I couldn't just pass off your birthday! I'd give you a cake and a birthday card and everything!" I could feel her excitement sending small shivers through her fur. She turned her head around, and watched me with big bright eyes.
"Uh, thanks, but you don't have to make that big a deal of my birthday when it comes." She rotated her whole torso now, and put her paws on my knees.
"Yes I do, what kind of a friend would I be if I didn't?" Her head tilted, she was confused.
"Okay, okay, do what you want." I muttered, knowing I couldn't win.
"Yay! Hey, Do you know K.K. Slider?" Her eyebrows waggled playfully.
"No, who's that?"
"Only the dreamiest musician in all of Hansory! He's so...wow," She poked her head under the curtains to gaze wistfully at the moon. "He comes to play his gitara in the museum's roost every Saturday night, of course I go to all of his shows, I even put them on my calendar." She trotted across the room to a calendar with pictures of black Pusa on it and pointed. Down the last column, Saturday's column, was a picture of a white dog with small black eyes and big bushy black eyebrows.
"Saturday's today, have you already been to see him?"
"What?!" Kiki exclaimed, startled, knocking over a blue vase. "Let’s go, let’s go!" She grabbed my arm and ran us out of the room, down stairs, until we were out into the unseasonably crisp air. She didn't stop there. She ran south, dragging me behind her now, and stopped excitedly infront of the mueseum.
"You, have, an, un, healthy, obbsession, over, this, K.K, dude." I gasped, and dramatically fell to the ground. I didn't puncture her happiness.
"Come on!" She dragged me inside, nodded politely to the owl I thought must've been Blathers, ran through another arch way and sighed dreamily. 4 other mga hayop were in the room. One was a purple ostrich, another was an old turtle, one I recognized, K.K Slider, and behind a mesa was a posh-looking pigeon. I went over to the old turtle, he wouldn't bite, or peck.
"Say, who's your favourite person in this town, the mayor, the town hall assistant, the shop-keeper or the tailor?" sinabi the pagong in a dead voice.
"Uh, the tailor?" I wasn't sure what to say.
"Oh, well its nice to know how you feel..." he sinabi sadly. "You see, I am the mayor, you can call me Tortimer,"
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said, guilty. I turned away from him, knowing a good impression was the key to every good conversation. I saw Kiki amble gracefully up to the stage, where K.K. Slider was tuning his guitar.
"Hi," Kiki giggled shyly, batting her eyelashes up at the dog.
"Hi." He said, and went back to tuning. Kiki didn't move. "Um, do you want something? A song or-"
"Ooo, a song, a song!" Kiki said, a little too enthusiastically. "How about K.K. Lullabye!"
"Sure," sinabi K.K. The light went down, everybody stopped talking, took their seats, and a spotlight fell on him. Soft music filled the room, and a high voice peirced through my soul. I couldn't let myself be so impressed sa pamamagitan ng him, but it was amazing, it was like an angel singing. I noticed the ostrich, Queenie, I thought I'd overheard her name as, was looking at him the same way Kiki did. I stopped forcing my emotions, and let his heavenly voice infatuate me, pull me deeper into unconciousness...
I woke up an a blue box, no, I woke up in my, well, Kiki's bed.
"What happened?" I mumbled, knowing Kiki must've been susunod door, though I had my curtains shut. I heard a long yawn, and then the cat snoring noise of purring. I opened my curtains, then Kiki's, put my hands under her front legs, and...
Kiki burst out in giggles. "Okay, okay, I'm awake! Stop tickling!" I stopped. "Why do you feel the need to wake me at four a.m anyway?" I hadn't realised the early hour.
"Oh, sorry, Kiki,"
"'S okay,"
"I just wondered how I got back here, I was listening to K.K.'s music and then...Oh, shoot I fell asleep didn't I?!"
"Queenie and I carried you back here, I shook you but you wouldn't wake up, and you kept muttering something about a lizard." I groaned, I'd always talked in my sleep, I had a butiki named Barry when I was 5, and he somehow popped into my dreams last night. I rolled back on to my side and yawned. I couldn't go back to sleep, who knows what could come out of my mouth. Kiki suddenly dropped her voice to a whisper. "And you were saying....things....about K.K. Slider," My cheeks burned, even though I wasn't facing her. I scowled, got out of kama and stomped downstairs. "Where are you going?" Kiki called after me, and I heard her voice break. I felt so bad, but I couldn't let it get the best of me.
"Out!"
"Allison! You're still in your pajamas anyway!"
"Don't Care!"
"Please," her voice was barely a whisper, her voice choking out the desperation in a sob that would break a grown man's heart. Slowly, I turned around to face her. "Please," she sobbed again, I resisted the temptation to cry aswell, I couldn't believe how much I'd upset her over such a little thing.
"What did I say, Kiki?" I whispered, my eyes closed. She ambled to the lounge.
"Take a seat," I sat on her white leather couch, holding my head in my hands while she went to the kitchen, making breakfast I assumed. I was completely infatuated sa pamamagitan ng K.K. I could've sinabi anything, and though I trusted Kiki, I wasn't sure if I could trust her reactions. And that girl Queenie! She could know anything. And If I'd fallen asleep in the Roost...K.K., the Mayor... Kiki returned, her eyelashes still wet, from the kusina with two bowls of Cheerios. "You sinabi you loved him," she mumbled, not meeting my eyes.
"When?" I demanded.
"Promise you won't get mad?"
I let out a heavy sigh. "Yes." I sinabi through gritted teeth.
"In the Roost, he heard you..." I wanted to scream at her. Instead, I went into hysterics.
"Oh my god! Kiki! No, no, no, no, no!" I started hyperventilating into my hands. Kiki pulled me into a hug, and I felt something click between us, like two puzzle peices connecting, like two friends, becoming true friends.
"Um, I think you missed a turn back there, I said, in fact, I knew he'd missed a turn back there, the trees were turning from dark green canopies of mossy branches to surreally triangular bundles of Esmeralda green leaves.
"You sinabi you wanted to go to Hansory right?" I was shocked, was this some sort of joke, was he kidnapping me? "Well kid, we're here now, once you get into this world, there's no going back,"
"What the-?" He threw my bags onto the damo beside the invisible road he was driving along, leaving me to chase after them, exasperated, and drove off. "You have got to be kidding me," I grumbled, picking my bags up, and the contents that had fallen out.
"Need a hand?" sinabi an unfamiliar voice. Two black...paws...were already folding, packing and sorting things into my bags. "I'm Kiki," the voice continued. This couldn't be happening. Unwillingly, I turned around to face her. She had big yellow eyes, shining under the dim sunlight filtering through the trees, a tentative smile tugged at the corners of her mouth, and she was a cat.
"You're a cat," I sinabi slowly, madami to myself than to, what was her name? Oh yeah, Kiki.
"A black cat," she added proudly.
"A black cat," I repeated. "And you can talk," It wasn't a question. She giggled, a little madami confident now.
"Well of course I can talk, this is Hansory!"
"Hansory," I was feeling a little faint now, and must have been shaking because she offered me her paw. "I need to get out of here" I whimpered, but took her paw anyway, it felt like velvet.
"I'm so sorry," she whispered. "Once you're in Hansory, there's no getting out..." I felt three little claws digging into my palm. Rather than caring about my problems, I wondered about hers.
"How did you get stuck here then?" I wondered aloud.
"Oh no. I was born here, but my mother died as soon as I was. You see, something about Hansory, it’s like it can only take so much population at a time..."
"So your mother was a cat,"
"A black cat." Kiki added. Then I remembered to be sensitive.
"I really am sorry about your mum..."
"Oh, don't you worry about it, I'm sure she was a lovely person, but I never really knew her."
"Where are we going?" I asked suddenly. I was quite creeped out now, the damo was made up of little green triangles, clouds were white and looked like dollops of whipped cream, and the very few houses we passed looked like they'd been pulled out of a fairy tale.
"To the town hall,"
"Why?"
"Well if you're gonna be living here you'll need a house."
"I'm not gonna be- Oh yeah, no getting out..."
"Pelly, our clerk will tell Tom Nook, our shop-keeper/engineer that you're in need of a house, and it should be ready for tomorrow, meanwhile you can stay with me, if that's alright."
I laughed, "Let me guess, Pelly's a pelican!"
"As a matter of fact she is!" We laughed together, and then we reached a large, stone building.
"And yes, I'll stay with you, thanks."
She held open the door for me "My pleasure," Her tail swished with satisfaction, I could tell we were going to be great friends. “Pelly?” called Kiki
“Over here!” A small white pelikano sat behind a desk, not looking up from the papers her...wings... were combing through.
“This is...I don’t think I got your name,” sinabi Kiki, turning to face me.
“Alison.” I sinabi shyly. Pelly looked up, and extended a wing towards me. I took it gingerly, her feathers were so delicate, so soft...
“I’m Pelly, if you need to mail anything, save up money, or anything at all just ask me or my sister Phyllis.” I looked around for another pelican. “But she only works at night...” something about the way she sinabi it gave me a bad feeling about Phyllis. “In need of a house?”
“Yes, please!” sinabi Kiki for me.
“I’ll call Tom Nook right away, excuse me.” We left her alone to use an makaluma telephone, and went back out.
“Where do you want to go now?” Kiki asked.
“What do you mean ‘where do you want to go?’?” she understood immediately.
“Didn’t Pelly give you a map? Here, take mine, and this jacket.”
“Thanks, why do I need the jacket?”
“You never know how many things you might come across in Hansory, you’ll need all the pockets you can get!” I tried it on, it was a perfect fit! “Open the map!” sinabi Kiki eagerly. I unfolded the little square.
“How about we go back to your place,” I said, seeing it was only round the corner of the museum, which we were standing outside now. Kiki deflated a little.
“Yes, my house...Alison, have you ever heard of the happy room academy?” I heard the sad tone in her voice.
“No, what’s that? Your school or something?”
“Its a group of people who evaluate your house, like feng shoui or something...” again, she sounded dismal.
“What about it?”
“Well, when I first started, I got really low scores, I figured I’d learn madami as time went by, but I’m still no good at decorating my room,” I barely knew her, but I didn’t need to think before wrapping my arm around her waist, she seemed so...sad, I guess. We walked slowly, and I noticed that the jet black balahibo on her cheeks was wet, shining.
"Are you crying?" I blurted out, not thinking, and I realised how tactless that must've sounded.
She sniffed, and made a weak noise that sounded a little like a laugh. "Yeah, I guess I am,"
"Oh Kiki," I pulled her into a proper hug, stroking her back, she didn't complain.
"You're not mad, are you?" the words sounded doubtful, but I could tell as she tensed in my arms that she meant it.
"What, for you crying?" I was taken-aback, then I burst out laughing, knocking us both to the soft, spongy ground. "Why would I be mad at you for that? Everyone gets stressed and upset about little things like their home, Kiki! You can't honestly think that I'd get mad at you for that!" She laughed a little too. "No, I suppose not. You're a great friend Alison," I could feel her smile, and reflexively, I smiled too. We strolled along, seeing who could spot the most ladybirds, finding shapes in the clouds, until we reached a small kahel cottage.
"The door's open," sinabi Kiki, watching me as I turned the little brass cat-paw knob, and pushing open the door. I gave her a look.
"And you sinabi your house looked bad! Didn't anyone ever tell you about lying?" I waggled my finger at her, and, as I'd hoped, she came fully out of her sad aura and giggled, the whole room seemed to be full of her golden light.
"Come on, I want to ipakita you my bedroom!" she said, taking my hand and leading my up a spiral stair case, holding onto a banister of wrought iron roses. She opened a white arched door. Considering it was only a room, it was...I didn't know what to say... The walls were sky blue, with little kulay-rosas paw prints dotting walang tiyak na layunin areas of them, the ceiling was sloped on one side, painted kulay-rosas with blue paw prints, a baby kulay-rosas window upuan lay basking in the sun that streamed through the open square window, overlooking a garden of wild bulaklak of all kinds, two single beds were there, four posts holding up on one, light blue curtains, and on the other, pale pink, in the middle of the two Kiki sat, waiting for my response. Only when I needed to lunok did I realise that my mouth was hanging open, and I quickly shut it. She sinabi her house was embarrassing, I didn't believe it!
"You said-" she cut me off.
"My mum did it before I was born, I added the paw prints before my Dad moved away. He went sa pamamagitan ng boat, he sometimes sends messages in bottles, he's on an island paradise, we get the odd coconut washed up on the beach, but he says he eats 10 every day!" I grinned, Kiki was so easy to get along with. "Pick a bed, any bed." she said, bouncing from one to the other.
"Um, blue please. Why do you have two beds anyway?"
"For days like these when I need them, silly!" I didn't understand her at all, so I just nodded.
"Hey, Alison, do you know how long I should cook my spaghetti for to get it al dente?"
"I don't know, 'bout 10 and a half minutes?"
"Ooo, and then you fling it to a wall, and if it sticks, it's done? Well thanks, here, take this." She handed me a small, holey green leaf.
"Uh, thanks?"
"Well open it silly! Just throw it on the ground!" doubtfully, I did as she asked, and a small white leather sofa opened up out of no where in the middle of the room. I was sure now that I was dreaming, I wasn't sure if I wanted to wake up but I cofmorted myself with the fact that it was probably all in my head. Kiki spoke again. "Do you like it? I figured if you were getting a house then you'd need some furniture to fill it."
"I pag-ibig it Kiki, thanks." I must've looked how I felt, because she didn't look convinced. I walked across the room to where her light switch was. "May I?"
"Go ahead, Its getting dark out anyway." She sat on her window upuan and closed her kulay-rosas curtains with a satisfying swish. I flicked on the light, the light bulb span slowly, I wondered why. Kiki climbed onto her kama and put a small metal takip on the rotating bulb, suddenly, little spinning paw prints were projected into the room, I watched in fascination. I looked over at Kiki, who was also watching the waltzing shapes and noticed how her buttery yellow eyes sparkled like a liquid.
"You have really pretty eyes," I said, not quite meeting them.
"Oh stop it, you want something!" she blushed, looking up at me through long black eyelashes, how come she had to be so beautiful.
"No, you do." We sinabi no madami after that, but we were comfortable in our own silences.
"We should make this a proper sleepover!" Kiki sinabi suddenly, eyes sparkling with a new excitement.
"Yeah! We can have a unan fight, talk about secrets and boys," I winked at her, and she grinned in response.
"Hey, how about first we have that spaghetti, see if our method works," the plural caught my attention, how she'd put us as a pair, it made me even happier. So we trotted down stairs, and got to work. "White sauce?" Kiki said, getting out two pans while I scanned the ingredients in front of me.
"Check."
"Salt?"
"Check."
"Pepper?"
"Check."
"and spaghetti?"
"Check." We got started, experimenting with different flavours, pag-awit about pagkain while we cooked until we had two bowls of delicious al dente spaghetti in front of us.
Kiki smiled up at me. "Dig in."
After eating our evening meal, we ran upstairs to her room, where I realised something.
“Shoot!”
“What?” Kiki asked, alarmed.
“I haven’t got anything! PJs, toothbrush, hair brush, UNDERWEAR!”
“Calm down, I have way too many PJs, you can use my hair brush, if you don’t mind, and I’ve got a spare guest bag I keep in my closet in case of times like these!”
“So I’m sorted for toothbrush and underwear?”
“Yes.” Thank god Kiki was always thinking ahead, if it weren’t for her, I wouldn’t have a bed, toothbrush, underwear, PJs, hairbrush or anything! We sat cross-legged on the window seat, Kiki's head on my lap while I combed my fingers through her thick black fur, just talking. Not about anything in particular. She told me about two porcupines, Mable and Sable, who were tailors, and how she loved her Argyle Knit sweater that Sable made. She also told me about the museum, how Blathers, the owl owner, despised bugs, and then she asked me an unexpected question.
"Alison, when's your birthday?" I stopped combing.
"March 30th, why?"
"Well lets say it was today, I couldn't just pass off your birthday! I'd give you a cake and a birthday card and everything!" I could feel her excitement sending small shivers through her fur. She turned her head around, and watched me with big bright eyes.
"Uh, thanks, but you don't have to make that big a deal of my birthday when it comes." She rotated her whole torso now, and put her paws on my knees.
"Yes I do, what kind of a friend would I be if I didn't?" Her head tilted, she was confused.
"Okay, okay, do what you want." I muttered, knowing I couldn't win.
"Yay! Hey, Do you know K.K. Slider?" Her eyebrows waggled playfully.
"No, who's that?"
"Only the dreamiest musician in all of Hansory! He's so...wow," She poked her head under the curtains to gaze wistfully at the moon. "He comes to play his gitara in the museum's roost every Saturday night, of course I go to all of his shows, I even put them on my calendar." She trotted across the room to a calendar with pictures of black Pusa on it and pointed. Down the last column, Saturday's column, was a picture of a white dog with small black eyes and big bushy black eyebrows.
"Saturday's today, have you already been to see him?"
"What?!" Kiki exclaimed, startled, knocking over a blue vase. "Let’s go, let’s go!" She grabbed my arm and ran us out of the room, down stairs, until we were out into the unseasonably crisp air. She didn't stop there. She ran south, dragging me behind her now, and stopped excitedly infront of the mueseum.
"You, have, an, un, healthy, obbsession, over, this, K.K, dude." I gasped, and dramatically fell to the ground. I didn't puncture her happiness.
"Come on!" She dragged me inside, nodded politely to the owl I thought must've been Blathers, ran through another arch way and sighed dreamily. 4 other mga hayop were in the room. One was a purple ostrich, another was an old turtle, one I recognized, K.K Slider, and behind a mesa was a posh-looking pigeon. I went over to the old turtle, he wouldn't bite, or peck.
"Say, who's your favourite person in this town, the mayor, the town hall assistant, the shop-keeper or the tailor?" sinabi the pagong in a dead voice.
"Uh, the tailor?" I wasn't sure what to say.
"Oh, well its nice to know how you feel..." he sinabi sadly. "You see, I am the mayor, you can call me Tortimer,"
"Oh, I'm so sorry!" I said, guilty. I turned away from him, knowing a good impression was the key to every good conversation. I saw Kiki amble gracefully up to the stage, where K.K. Slider was tuning his guitar.
"Hi," Kiki giggled shyly, batting her eyelashes up at the dog.
"Hi." He said, and went back to tuning. Kiki didn't move. "Um, do you want something? A song or-"
"Ooo, a song, a song!" Kiki said, a little too enthusiastically. "How about K.K. Lullabye!"
"Sure," sinabi K.K. The light went down, everybody stopped talking, took their seats, and a spotlight fell on him. Soft music filled the room, and a high voice peirced through my soul. I couldn't let myself be so impressed sa pamamagitan ng him, but it was amazing, it was like an angel singing. I noticed the ostrich, Queenie, I thought I'd overheard her name as, was looking at him the same way Kiki did. I stopped forcing my emotions, and let his heavenly voice infatuate me, pull me deeper into unconciousness...
I woke up an a blue box, no, I woke up in my, well, Kiki's bed.
"What happened?" I mumbled, knowing Kiki must've been susunod door, though I had my curtains shut. I heard a long yawn, and then the cat snoring noise of purring. I opened my curtains, then Kiki's, put my hands under her front legs, and...
Kiki burst out in giggles. "Okay, okay, I'm awake! Stop tickling!" I stopped. "Why do you feel the need to wake me at four a.m anyway?" I hadn't realised the early hour.
"Oh, sorry, Kiki,"
"'S okay,"
"I just wondered how I got back here, I was listening to K.K.'s music and then...Oh, shoot I fell asleep didn't I?!"
"Queenie and I carried you back here, I shook you but you wouldn't wake up, and you kept muttering something about a lizard." I groaned, I'd always talked in my sleep, I had a butiki named Barry when I was 5, and he somehow popped into my dreams last night. I rolled back on to my side and yawned. I couldn't go back to sleep, who knows what could come out of my mouth. Kiki suddenly dropped her voice to a whisper. "And you were saying....things....about K.K. Slider," My cheeks burned, even though I wasn't facing her. I scowled, got out of kama and stomped downstairs. "Where are you going?" Kiki called after me, and I heard her voice break. I felt so bad, but I couldn't let it get the best of me.
"Out!"
"Allison! You're still in your pajamas anyway!"
"Don't Care!"
"Please," her voice was barely a whisper, her voice choking out the desperation in a sob that would break a grown man's heart. Slowly, I turned around to face her. "Please," she sobbed again, I resisted the temptation to cry aswell, I couldn't believe how much I'd upset her over such a little thing.
"What did I say, Kiki?" I whispered, my eyes closed. She ambled to the lounge.
"Take a seat," I sat on her white leather couch, holding my head in my hands while she went to the kitchen, making breakfast I assumed. I was completely infatuated sa pamamagitan ng K.K. I could've sinabi anything, and though I trusted Kiki, I wasn't sure if I could trust her reactions. And that girl Queenie! She could know anything. And If I'd fallen asleep in the Roost...K.K., the Mayor... Kiki returned, her eyelashes still wet, from the kusina with two bowls of Cheerios. "You sinabi you loved him," she mumbled, not meeting my eyes.
"When?" I demanded.
"Promise you won't get mad?"
I let out a heavy sigh. "Yes." I sinabi through gritted teeth.
"In the Roost, he heard you..." I wanted to scream at her. Instead, I went into hysterics.
"Oh my god! Kiki! No, no, no, no, no!" I started hyperventilating into my hands. Kiki pulled me into a hug, and I felt something click between us, like two puzzle peices connecting, like two friends, becoming true friends.