Once More Into The Breach (2/3) by Arletta, Shelley, Deborah, Rhonda and Brandi (formatted & posted by Cousin Tok) immediately following part 1, more or less evening of Thursday, July 5th, 2001 Tok sighed and dialed the next number on her list. Down the hall, Tser did the same. --------------------------------------------- Ring ... ring." Deborah picked up the phone. "Hello." She listened to the voice on the other end of the line, "Yes. I'll be on the first plane I can get. Can someone meet me at the airport or should I just get a cab to the station?" ----------------------------------- "Hello," Rhonda said, ... "yes, I understand. No, it's OK. I think I'll be able to catch a flight within a couple of hours. See you at CERK soon." ---------------------- The phone rang for the third time as Shelley raced to locate it. "Dang these cordless phones" she muttered as she fished it out from under the couch. "Hello? Oh hi.....What? War?? Okay, I'll get to Toronto as soon as possible. What? Oh sure, I'll let the Light Cousin's know as soon as I hang up." Hanging up the phone, she silently wondered just what excuse she could give her husband *this time* for leaving him with the kids for two weeks. Putting the thought temporarily out of her head, she dialed Arletta's number. ------------- "War?" Arletta echoed. "No. Not NOW!" "What's wrong?" Shelley asked. "The others are ..." Arletta said trailing off wondering what she should do. After a pause she added, "They've just left on an Italian Food Cruise." "Italian Food Cruise? I've never heard of such a thing?" "Well that's not what it's officially called but that's what it amounts too. Fourteen days of sailing in the Caribbean and eating spaghetti and linguini and ..." "Why didn't you go? Oh!" Shelley exclaimed suddenly remembering Arletta's tomato allergy. "You couldn't." "Right. I tried to talk them out of it. A Scandinavian cruise would have been so much nicer. But there were special discounted rates on this one and everyone went except me and ..." Arletta smiled suddenly remembering. "...me and Brandi. *She* couldn't go because of her ferrets." "What have her pets got to do with a cruise?" "She told me ferrets aren't allowed on cruise ships and she couldn't find an experienced pet sitter for them. I'll call her right away." ------------- "Ring....ring." "Hello," Brandi said and was surprised to hear Arletta's voice on the phone. "Didn't you go on the cruise? ... War? ... Of course I'll come as long as I can bring my pets. I'll leave right away. Are we staying at the monastery this time? CERK? Okay. See ya soon." -------------- Waiting at the airport, Shelley finally spotted Arletta coming off the plane. "Hi!" she yelled, waving wildly. "What?" Arletta replied, cupping a hand behind her ear. "Hi" Shelley repeated, slightly less enthusiastically. "WHAT??" yelled Arletta in response. Shelley looked at her companion oddly. They were only 3 feet apart. "ARE YOU OKAY?" she yelled. "I'm fine. Have you ever heard of a plane called a Turboprop? They were meant to torment air passengers, I'm convinced. They're loud, noisy, loud, bumpy, loud, cramped, loud.." "Oh good, I was worried there for a minute. You didn't seem to be able to hear me. Did you check any luggage?" "Check for bugs? Why?" Arletta replied, looking perplexed. "No, no, LUGGAGE! Do you have LUGGAGE" Shelley said, pantomiming carrying a suitcase. When Arletta shook her head, Shelley heaved a sigh and led her temporarily-deaf friend out of the terminal. -------------- Climbing into the van, Arletta noticed a small, furry gray cat sitting calmly on the back seat. She was staring at the floor, and didn't take her eyes off of one particular spot. Straining, Arletta could still see nothing but carpet on the spot. Watching the cat for a few minutes, she noticed it didn't move. "Ummmm, Shelley?" "Yes?" "What's with the cat?" "Oh, well you see, I lost my other cat last month, and this one is very lonely. She's never been without her sister before, and she follows me everywhere. So I decided to bring her along...her name is Tiger." "Uhh, okay, but ummm....why is she staring at one spot and not moving??" "Well, uhhhh, she does that sometimes....how can I put this? She's one french fry short of a Happy Meal?" -------------- Several hours later as they were approaching Toronto in Shelley's van, she said, "We should be at the monastery in just a few minutes now." "Uhh, Shelley, I forgot to tell you the *other* reason that this was a really bad time for a war." Shelley turned to Arletta quizzically, after all wars are *always* called at a bad time. "What do you mean?" "Madge wrote me that she had found a way to earn some extra for the upkeep of the HQ. Some group of about 20 architecture nuts, er ... architecture enthusiasts wanted to use the monastery for a seminar they were scheduling. Unfortunately it officially starts *tomorrow* and goes on for two weeks!" "CERK?" Shelley asked. "CERK." Cousin Tok and the Cousinly kitties tokaara@mindspring.com / AIM Tokaara / ICQ 46441308