Joe's Loose Tooth

Joe was growing up.  Last year he was 5, now he's 6, and soon (very soon, in fact!) he will be 7.  One way a person could tell that Joe was growing up was looking at the amount of teeth remaining in his smile.  Every few months the number would get smaller.  The smile would still be as big and bright as ever, but there just weren't that many teeth in there to twinkle and sparkle.

"I guess it's a part of growing up," Joe said to himself one day.  With so many teeth missing, Joe decided that eating had become a problem.  He went to his mom and asked her to buy him a blender.

"What do you need a blender for?"

"Well, I don't have enough teeth to enjoy carrots and cauliflower and all of those crunchy things I loved to crunch."  Just the thought of it made him break down.  "I'm afraid I may never get to crunch another crunch again!"  And with that, Joe crawled up into a little ball on the floor next to his mom's feet, and had a little cry.

"Oh, Joe.  Don't you know that you will get bigger and better teeth?"  His mom explained.

"Huh?!"

"You've lost your baby teeth, and soon your adult teeth will grow in, allowing you to crunch and munch even more.  Even as much as your Dad could crunch!"

Joe's Dad was a master cruncher.  He crunched any vegetable.  Go ahead, name one vegetable.

Onions?  That's too easy!

Carrots?  Not a problem!

Rutabagas?  In his sleep!

Joe's Dad had walked into the room.  Joe didn't know why, but lately his Dad looked different somehow.  He thought about it for a moment and realized that his Dad had a lot of new things to wear.  He noticed his Dad's sparkly new watch that he bought a few months ago, and now he saw a shiny new necklace hanging from his neck.  In fact... New suit, new tie, new hat, new socks, new moustache, new fingernail polish, new glasses, new everything.  Joe's dad was fannnncy!

"Hey Champ!  Any loose teeth today?"

He would always ask him that, and now that he had time think about it, with all of the new clothes and jewellery, Joe became a little suspicious.

"Yeah, this one in the front."  Joe replied as he wiggled said tooth back and forth with his tongue.

"Sweeeet doggie!"  His Dad yelped, as he jumped up in the air and slapped his knee.  "I'll go fetch the string."

Soon enough, Dad was back with a spool of string, and faster than you could say 'Hot sauce on a mean boss' and without even one little ouch, Joe's tooth was yanked out.

His Dad picked up the tooth and held it up to the light.  He pulled out a magnifying glass to examine it with.

"Oh, yeah.  This little number is going to fetch me quite a pretty penny."

"What do ya' mean, Dad?"

He must have forgot that Joe was standing right there, for when he turned to answer Joe he had a look that seemed to indicate that he really didn't want to answer Joe's question.  In fact, the next moment he acted like Joe didn't even ask a question at all.

"Um, uh... I really must be going.  I have an appointment with my fashion consultant."

Joe knew that he himself was the one to profit from this tooth business.  And before his mother told him that he would get new teeth to replace the old ones, Joe didn't think it much of a profit at all to trade all his teeth just for a few bucks.  He was relieved to know that he would be getting adult ones to replace them.

For each pulled tooth, a strange and mysterious creature named Tooth Fairy would come into his room at night and, in exchange for the old tooth, give him a shinny Toonie.  He kept every one in his hockey card box, as he was currently saving up for a new Bob Maplesauce hockey Jersey.  The Jersey cost $40 and so far Joe had $6, so he was going to have to lose a lot more teeth before he would be able to skate around in a Sunland Golden Hammers' #63 jersey.

So all this talk about his Dad getting money was strange.  Very strange indeed.  Joe was going to have to do a little investigative work.  A little bit of night-time investigation.

That evening, Joe rode his bike to the local coffee shop and ordered 4 super strong, super large, super energy coffees.  He chugged 3 of them in the parking lot and sipped on the last one as he rode home.

At home, he played it cool.  He was wide awake, but to trick his parents he yawned a lot, rubbed his eyes at just the right time, and even complained a bit about not wanting to go to bed just to throw them off his track.  He brushed his pee and went teeth... I mean, he brushed his teeth then went pee, and then he was off to bed.  Oh wait; he went pee one more time.  That was a lot of coffee, remember?

Joe lay awake.  He was curious of what he would see.  Maybe his dad had a deal with the Tooth Fairy.  Maybe he did some accounting work for her.  Maybe he was helping her with her taxes.  There was a lot to think about for Joe.  How could his dad possibly be working for the Tooth Fairy?

It got so late that eventually Joe did fall asleep.  But the coffee had worked because around 2 in the morning Joe awoke to a small "click".  Joe stayed perfectly still, like a sleeping statue, only moving his eyes around like little marbles in his head.

The "click" was the bedroom door opening.  A faded light slowly grew brighter and brighter as the door creaked open.  And there she was!  Tooth Fairy floated in with her wings, hovering no more than 2 feet above the floor.

She wasn't graceful, bouncing into the wall and knocking over some stuffed bunnies and a plastic turtle with no face.  She seemed to be disorganized, like she was late for school.  She had a bag that hung around her waist and some sort of magical looking dust seemed to be leaking out and onto the floor.  She stooped down and tried to scoop up what she could, but as she shoved it back into the bag some of it got in her eye.  She scratched it and then some got into her mouth.  She spit it and then some got into her nose.  Then she sneezed and felt down onto the floor.  Out cold.  

‘What on earth is happening?!’ thought Joe.  It must have been some sort of sleepy dust.  She had accidentally put herself to sleep!

Minutes went by until she finally woke up.  She floated back up into the air and dusted herself off, careful to hold her nose while she did.  Then she looked in Joe's direction.  His eyes slammed shut.

He could feel her warmth getting closer.  She was right next to him when he felt the warmth go under his pillow and snatch up the tooth.  Joe peaked to see her examining the tooth with a glass, just like the one his dad had only much, much smaller.

Up close Joe could see that Tooth Fairy was like a grandma.  She must have been working at her job for a long time.  She must be tired, staying up so late, he thought.

Finally, she placed the tooth deep into her pouch and at the same time pulled out a very small change purse.  She clicked open the clasp and pulled out a big, crisp 200 dollar bill!  It looked so big as she attempted to balance herself while holding it, which was like a big piece of drywall for her.  Yet she was able to roll it up and placed it under Joe's pillow.  She scribbled down some notes in a little pad she had hanging from a string dangling from her neck, and dusted off her hands.

Oh no!!!

Down she dropped, floating back like a feather onto the floor.  There must have been some magic dust still on her hands!  She's such a silly and forgetful Tooth Fairy, thought Joe.

Immediately, another sound could be heard from the doorway.  There was Joe's Dad, sneaking into the room dressed all in black!  He tip-toed across the room like a sneaky ninja, picked up the Tooth Fairy by her legs, and started shaking her upside down!  Coins, big and small rained down onto the floor.  His Dad could be heard giggling as he continued to treat poor Tooth Fairy like a salt and pepper shaker.

Once the stream of coin clink sounds died down, he placed the Tooth Fairy on a shelf and scooped up all of the coins on the floor.  He dug through them in his hands until he found a nice, shinny Toonie.  Then he switched it with the 200 dollar bill from under Joe's pillow!

What a Skunky thing, thought Joe.  But he was too tired to say anything.  Some of the dust must have fallen onto his head during the robbery.  Yes, robbery.  That's what it was, as far as Joe was concerned.  His Dad had robbed the Tooth Fairy.  Took everything she had.  And then he stole from Joe, too!

But wait!  What was happening now?  As Joe's Dad was busy giggling and counting money in the middle of the room, Joe could see that the Tooth Fairy had woken up.  And she was not happy!

She got up and fluttered herself above Joe's Dad.  She dusted him good, and he dropped like a pile of crumby bricks.  The money spilled everywhere.  His head hit the toy shelf and toys went everywhere!  Stuffies, race cars, robots, and golden toy stars crashed down onto the floor, and on top of a very unconscious, and a very greedy Dad.

In all of the commotion, the cat walked in and he must have thought that all of the magical dust on top of Joe's Dad was actually litter box sand.  He bounced up on top of him, peed, and then flicked the dust onto Joe's Dad's face!  Then the cat fell asleep!

Meanwhile, the Tooth Fairy had gathered all of the coins up, and returned Joe's $200 under his pillow.  And before you could say 'Strawberry Fodder, A monkey's Got er',' she disappeared!

In all of that commotion, the dog strolled in.  He sniffed Joe's Dad, the sleeping cat, and must have thought that the dust on them was some sort of fancy dog food, because he licked it, and fell asleep!

So Joe's dad had a sleeping cat on his neck, a sleeping dog on his legs, and yucky, sticky magic dust on his face!  Joe thought that that was a pretty good punishment for stealing.  What a bad Dad he was being.

Suddenly, Tooth Fairy had reappeared.  She had brought another Fairy with her.  This Fairy looked like a Doctor Fairy because she had a stethoscope hanging from her neck and she was wearing a lab coat with holes in the back of it so her wings could poke out.  She began taking Joe's Dad's vitals; checking his pulse, processing blood work, and cleaning out the ear wax from his ears.

After writing down her notes, she suddenly swooped down and into Joe's Dad's left ear!  In she crawled until she disappeared!  Joe could see her travel further into his Dad's head because her glow shone through his skin.  When the glow reached the middle of his head, his eyes opened.  Joe couldn't hear anything, but Dr. Fairy must have been speaking to him from inside his head.  His face looked like someone had him in a "stick up".  He didn't dare make any false moves.

"No ma'am."  His dad answered the voice in his head.

"Yes, I am very sorry.  I am most certainly not a good dad.  Stealing from you and from Joe is wrong.  I will never do it again.  I feel so much shame."

Now Joe could see tears in his eyes.

"Yes, I know.  I know.  He is such a good boy.  Yes, I will buy him his very own Sunland Golden Hammers #63 Bob Maplesauce jersey."  He whimpered.

"Ok, yes, I will put the money I stole into an account for Joe's College fund and I will buy him ice cream whenever he asks."

With that, the glow popped out of the left ear.  The 2 Fairy's looked over in Joe's direction, winked at him, and then disappeared.

Joe didn't know what happened next because all he could remember was waking up in his bed the next morning.  He was very tired.  Leaning over he saw that the $200 was still there.  The rest of the room was empty.  No dog, no cat, no fairies... and no Dad.  The shelf was fixed, the toys were in their right place.  All seemed well.

It was the smell of bacon that drew Joe out of the room and into the kitchen.

And there he was; Joe's dad busy making pancakes and bacon, pouring coffee for Joe's mom, and smiling away.

"Hey, little Joe!  Good morning!  Can I get you some pancakes?  How about some crispy bacon?"

Joe smiled big.  "Dad, all I really want is some ice cream."

Curious Little Milo

Milo was a curious little boy.  He was always getting into mischief.  If he smelled freshly baked chocolate chip dream cookies, his nose would lead him around the house until it found the source.  Then, when his big sister Kylo wasn't looking, Milo's nose would lead his hand up, up, into the jar, where it would snatch a cookie or two and carefully bring them back down and into his mouth.  Both at the same time!  He was sneaky like that.

If his ears heard some strange sort of scratches, Milo would tilt his head and shuffle his way out of the house and into the yard.  His feet would scurry this way and that, with his ear twitching and itching itself towards the source.  When it finally settled on the fence, Milo would peer through the slots in the boards to see Mr. Humphrey sawing on some boards.  Mr. Humphrey loved fixing things.  He fixed his shed, then when he accidentally burned it down in an unfortunate barbecue accident, he built it back up again.  On those hot days, Mr. Humphrey loved drinking lemonade.  The good thing for Milo was that he also loved Lemonade.  When Mr. H wasn't looking, Milo would slither over the fence like a sneaky snake, and sneak a couple of quick sips from his cup.

While watching tv with his dad, Milo loved feeling the cushiness of the fluffy pillows piled high on the couch.  His fingers would investigate the corduroy grooves, and would scratch at them until it sounded like fingers strumming on an old, beat up banjo.  Zuppy, zup, zup.  Zuppy, zup, zup.

So, you see, Milo was quite keen on being aware of what was going on around him.  This came in handy one deep, dark, night.

One deep, dark, night, while Milo was sleeping in his bed, a splash of light began to shine across the wall in his room.  Now, an ordinary boy his age would have just kept on sleeping, but Milo had the sense that something was going on and his eyes flicked open.  To his amazement, just above his head, some little lightning bugs were dancing a jig.

"Hey, what are you bugs doing in here?"

"Excuse us, sir, but we were under the impression that you were fast, fast asleep.  We did not mean to wake you."

"Mmm, that's okay.  But why are you in here and not outside?"

"Oh, it is because your wall is the perfect wall for jig dancing."

Milo squinted as he looked up to the wall.  He didn't realize it until now, but the wall was definitely the perfect light dancing wall.  It was big and white and... and, well that was all.  No posters, no pictures, no shelves or switches.  Just a big, blank wall.

"We love your wall because it is so clean.  So pure.  It allows us to dance and sway our lights all through the room.  Let us show you what we mean."

Milo sat up as the bugs moved into their starting positions.  There were 6 of them, and they all fluttered their way into the centre of the room.  They held hands, but Milo could barely see this as their lights all slowly dimmed down until there was hardly any light at all.  Milo was just about to point this out to them when suddenly BANG!  Their lights boomed on all as one, casting a circular beam across the room and onto the wall.  Their formation tilted and turned as the circular light turned and transformed into different shapes and sizes.

Milo was amazed.  The light seemed to be alive.  One moment it looked like an ordinary circle, the next it resembled a pizza with a piece being taken out of it.  Suddenly it was a T-Rex on the wall, clawing towards Milo, who jumped back under the covers of his bed.  The bugs saw this and they immediately turned the T-Rex into a puppy dog.  With Milo still cowering under the covers, the bugs began to bark and pant.

Milo peaked out and then, when he saw the light puppy, he laughed and laughed.  The puppy leaned on the wall towards Milo and tried to nip at his ear.  Milo giggled, as even though the light could obviously not touch his ear, just the thought of it made it tickle.

Finally, the bugs formed a circle again.  They twisted, up, up, up until they hovered just beneath the ceiling, then bam!  They all scattered and faded away.  It was so dark now that Milo wasn't sure if they were still in his room.

"Um, you bugs still here?"

"Yes, sir!" a voice rose from the dark.

"Do you guys think you could do that again? Or maybe you could show me another jig?"

"Oh, I don't think so."  Said the lead bug.  "We must get going soon."

"Oh, please... just maybe one tiny little bit of another dance?"

"Well, okay.  But only if you tell us your name."

Milo knew he wasn't supposed to talk to strangers, but he also knew that he probably wasn't supposed to talk to Lightning bugs either, so he figured it would be okay.

"I'm Milo."

Suddenly, the bugs all lit up and formed a giant glowing hand.  It reached out to shake Milo's.

"Nice to meet ya', Milo.  My name is Ziggy.  These are my companions Miggy, Tiggy, Swiggy, Sliggy and Greg."

Milo reached up for the hand, and to his surprise he could feel the warmth of it, as if it was a real hand that belonged to someone really big, like his Dad or a giant or maybe God or something.  He gently pressed his fingers against the warmth and it felt like a nice, toasty mitten.  Not sweaty or slimy like a clam or anything.  Just a nice, warm, handshake.  Like Milo was some sort of grown up making business deals with lawyers or something.

"Ok, Milo.  we could do another dance for you, or we could sing you a song."

"Both!  Both!" cheered Milo, wheeling and dealing at his best.

"Okay, okay." conceded Ziggy.

The bugs all came to the centre of the room again.  The lights went out.  Then Milo heard a small hum.  Normal humans probably wouldn't be able to hear it, but Milo was no ordinary human.  Remember, he had sneaky ears.

The hum slowly built into a nice, dum, de-dum beat.  The lights began to glow, this time in the form of a star.  The bugs were probably screaming their words, but since they were so small, they just sounded nice and soft.  Like a lullaby.

"We sing and dance, we dance and we sing.
we glow in the dark, and the light that we bring.
Is a light that shines on down, shines on down to you.
And when our light finally dies, some sleeping you must do.
Oh.... some sleeping you must dooooooooo.  Boop, boop, be-do."

They sang it one more time....

"We sing and dance, we dance and we sing.
we glow in the dark, and the light that we bring.
Is a light that shines on down, shines on down to you.
And when our light finally dies, some sleeping you must do.
Oh.... some sleeping you must dooooooooo."

And just as Ziggy was going to lead the group into the 2nd verse about monsters and aliens, Miggy hushed them down.

For down on the bed, all cuddled up tight in his blankets, was little Milo.  All of his curious and sneaky little senses were all tuckered out.  Milo was fast asleep.

The Sound of the Cat's Coat

Marvin wasn't what you would call a 'fat cat', or a real 'big cheese' sort of feline.  Yet cats from all around would do a double take whenever Marvin walked down the alley.

Marvin wasn't the coolest cat you ever saw.  He wasn't a high jumper, or a fence leaper like some of those other daredevil cats.  No, but the reason other cats knew for a fact that Marvin was 'all that' was his big and beautiful, super soft fur coat.

Marvin felt like a million bowls of fish flavoured cat food with that coat on.  It was a deep red colour, with specks of orange and sparkly blue rubies sewn all over it.  It flowed long and lean down his back, brushing against the sidewalk like a very satisfying back scratch.  Marvin liked to pop the collar on his coat and just purr down the sidewalk without a care in the world.

At home, Marvin would brush his coat with a brush made of golden bristles of softness.  He would brush it 45 678 times each afternoon before his cat nap.

Marvin spent his days strolling the alley.  Cat Alley was a pretty normal place, as far as alleys go.  But when Marvin strolled by, cats took notice.

Little kittens playing yarn ball in the gutters would stop to stare.  Teen cats would stop playing their game of Cattleship and stare.  Sickly old grand cats would come up to him for prayer.  Their eyes were getting dim, and they mistook the coat for a Friar's frock.  He told them he didn't have healing powers, and advised them to just lick their wounds and hope for the best.

And maybe there weren't any magical powers in that coat.  Maybe it was simply just a beautiful coat.  Well, let's read on and find out.

One day, down at the Ol' Trashpile where all of cats would hang out, Marvin joined his catmates as they dug through the trash for yummy treasures.  Delicious things like fish bones, broccoli soaked in garbage juice, tuna flavoured sour candies, or even Marvin's very favourite –  old, smelly socks that smell of the smell of a thousand deadly smells that just plain stink. 

Before Marvin got in there to dig around he was sure to carefully take his jacket off before hand, knowing that his mother did not want him to spill anything on it.  He gently draped it over the steel rail that stuck out from the side of the large dumpster sitting next to the cans.

It was a dark and damp alley, but during the summer days like today, on particularly clear days like this one, at just the right time like now, for just the smallest moment like this one, the sun would peak its way into the alley and down all the way to the dumpster. 

And that's what happened today!

With the sunshine, Marvin's coat lit up like an explosion of Fireworks!

The blue rubies twinkled and shone like nothing any cat in Cat Alley had ever seen before.  Cats from all around him stopped chewing on their garbage treats.  Cats licking themselves stopped licking themselves.  Other cats gathered around admiring the amazing robe of light.  It was too beautiful for words.

News quickly spread and cats from all around the neighbourhood began to arrive at the radiant spot.  Soon enough, local cats started to see the benefit of having such a spectacle in their alley.  It became a tourist attraction.  And like most tourist attractions, there was big bucks to be made.

Lou Cat, a rather hip cat, begun selling sunglasses to those who needed a little protection from the light.  "My shades are all the rage, man!" He would say to no one in particular, waving the glasses in the air to prospective customers

Marge Cat, the chatty cat of the community, brought a megaphone out and began to announce all sorts of interesting things about the coat.  "Dis here coat is made of the finest silks of North Arabia, don't ya' know?!" She would holler.  Marvin didn't have the guts to tell her that there is no such place as North Arabia because Marge Cat was known for clawing cats that disagreed with her.

Gerry Cat sat next to the coat, closed his eyes, and fell asleep.  Other cats joined him and soon enough the area was a full on cat nap zone.

The coat continued to sparkle.  Tears filled the eyes of those closest to it.  They weren't sad tears, but tears of joy.  The light just seemed to be getting stronger and stronger.  

A small group of artists began to paint pictures of the coat.  The array of colours they had splashed on the canvas looked pale and dull compared to the real thing.  Frustrated, the cats would break their paintings over their little cat knees and start over, determined to capture the essence of the coat.

Milky Cat, the Philosophical cat, had a small gathering around him as he orchestrated a debate about whether or not the coat had some sort of meaning that which portrayed an aura of logical illusions of solar reproduction.

Perry Cat, the poet cat from the next alley over, prepared and delivered a poem:

"The sun spoke, to the folk, 

Who crawl and claw, near the coat.

My eyes look, my heart it took

For the coat of coats, I'd cross the moat

Of love

This old cat, loves fish and that,

But be close to me, thus mine coat

Of dreams."

Cats all around applauded the great rhymes by clicking their claws together.

The party was wild.  What a day in Cat Alley!  Friends and family from the other side of town, reunited with their loved ones.  Cat gangs put down their weapons and declared it a day of peace and reconciliation.  

A trapeze of acrocats showed up out of nowhere, diving down from the walls and windows, swinging on the clothes lines strung between.  Cat-flips, cat-stands, cat-wheels – the whole kitten caboodle!  The crowd applauded.  The little kittens dreamed dreams.

The old timers hadn't seen the alley this hoppin' since the days of the great fish truck stall of '99. What a time to be alive!

In all of the excitement and commotion no one heard the strange noise but Gerry, who sat closest to the coat.  His eyes popped open.

"Shhhhh!" He called out.

But the good times kept rolling.

"Quiet!!!" He hollered.

Silence.

"You hear that?"

A small sound seemed to be coming from near the coat.  Marvin put down his smelly sock cocktail and moved in close.  The sound was in fact coming from his coat! 

Yes, If you squinted hard enough, and turned your good ear close enough, you would be able to make out some sort of song flowing out of the coat, like chimes in the wind.  No!  More like angels pouring out purple flavoured melodies of an ancient hymn.  

A murmur floated over the crowd.  Some were too far away to hear anything.

Marvin quieted the crowd with a raised paw.  

Marge's megaphone squeaked one last time as she dropped it to the ground.

Those cats with sunglasses lowered them in a quizzical, slow-motion kind of way.

Nothing could be heard but the distant traffic rolling through the city streets.  They all waited, whiskers twitched, and their tails silently tamping the damp concrete.  

They waited... and waited... deeper into the silence they fell...  their restraint was the stuff of cat legends.  Their patience, a holy act.

And suddenly, there it was again.  The music of light, filling the air with it's distant ring, like a small bell calling the cats to dinner... or maybe prayer.  The community basked in the beauty of the sound.  Their tails patted the ground in unison.  That dungy old alley, for that brief moment, was holy ground.

Then somebody burped.

"Bruno!!!"

Bruno, the biggest cat of them all, hobbled over with a big can of Cat Cola in his paw and, through no fault of his own, accidentally stood in the way of the sunshine, snuffing out the beautiful and raw wonder of the coat.

"Hey, what's everybody lookin' at?" said Bruno, as his shadow blocked the 'Corium de Cattus', as Latin cats would later come to label the historic event.

"Bruno!  Move out of the way!"  They shouted.  But it would be too late, for the moment had passed.  The music faded, the glory of the blue rubies fizzled out.  It was as if it was all a dream.  Marvin looked around at the other cats.

"Way to go, Bruno!  Doing what ya' always do." Cried Rusty the Rat.  The cats thought it was mighty generous of them all to let him hang out with them, so some were a little annoyed with his complaining.  Billy Cat picked up Rusty by the tail and punted him to the curb like a football.  Rusty landed on a pile of old newspaper, rubbing his backside and thinking about what a mean rat he was being.

Yet others agreed with him.  "Bruno, why are you such a klutzy cat?  

"Dunno.  I'm not trying to be.  Just wanna know what you guys are up to."

Professor Snorgglecat chimed in.  "Dah, just the most breathtaking display of solar jusxtsposation, complex acute catricity, that will rule in catish lore for ages into which our great grand cats will only be able to speculate of its verified truthfulness."

"Oh, um.  Sorry, I think."

With that, all of the cats went their separate ways.  All but Marvin and Milky... and Bruno, who was trying to figure out what juxaposation means.  He also felt very sad with his hurt feelings spilling out of his eyes and drip-dropping into his soda pop.

Marvin and Milky understood what had happened.  What they had been witness to.  It was something that no Bruno burp could ever take away from them, no matter how loud and smelly.  They would cherish it for their whole 9 lives.

Marvin looked at Bruno, the clumsy but lovable cat, and knew what he needed to do.  He reached for his coat, and took his wallet and cell phone out of the pocket.  He didn't notice at the time but his cell phone had two missed calls on it.  And if he did notice the 2 missed calls he would remember that he changed his ring tone that morning to "Holy Angelic, Purple Beauty of Wonder", a ring tone song he had received for free with a 2 year fixed term phone plan.  

After feeling the smooth fur in his hands one last time, he threw the coat over Bruno's shoulders.

Bruno's sad puppy dog eyes turned into big happy, well-would-you-look-at-that cat eyes.  He smiled at Marvin and Marvin gave him the go ahead.

Bruno waltzed down the road in his shiny new coat.

"Hey Bruno!  Not half bad!" Came a shout from across the way.

"Brunoooo, you da' cat, man!" rang the voice of Lou Cat.

For once, Bruno would feel like a million bowls of fish flavoured cat food.

"Hey, isn't that your favourite coat?" Milky asked Marvin.

Marvin thought about it for a moment.

"Yeah, maybe, but there's more to life than just waltzing around the alley in some ol' piece of fur."

We know that the magical song in the coat was just a free ring tone, but you know what?  Marvin and Bruno don't.  They still believe that this coat is the most amazing coat in the whole wide world of cats.  It may not be true, but that's okay with me if it's okay with you.

Miles drawing Marvin with the coat

Sad Bruno before he got to wear the coat