"Um, I think Du 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 smaragd green leaves.
"You sagte Du 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 Du get into this world, there's no going back,"
"What the-?" He threw my bags onto the gras, grass 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?" sagte 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 sagte slowly, Mehr to myself than to, what was her name? Oh yeah, Kiki.
"A black cat," she added proudly.
"A black cat," I repeated. "And Du can talk," It wasn't a question. She giggled, a little Mehr 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 Du get stuck here then?" I wondered aloud.
"Oh no. I was born here, but my mother died as soon as I was. Du 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 Du 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 gras, grass 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 Du 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 pelikan 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,” sagte Kiki, turning to face me.
“Alison.” I sagte 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 Du need to mail anything, save up money, oder anything at all just ask me oder my sister Phyllis.” I looked around for another pelican. “But she only works at night...” something about the way she sagte it gave me a bad feeling about Phyllis. “In need of a house?”
“Yes, please!” sagte Kiki for me.
“I’ll call Tom Nook right away, excuse me.” We left her alone to use an altmodisch telephone, and went back out.
“Where do Du want to go now?” Kiki asked.
“What do Du mean ‘where do Du want to go?’?” she understood immediately.
“Didn’t Pelly give Du a map? Here, take mine, and this jacket.”
“Thanks, why do I need the jacket?”
“You never know how many things Du might come across in Hansory, you’ll need all the pockets Du can get!” I tried it on, it was a perfect fit! “Open the map!” sagte 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 Du ever heard of the happy room academy?” I heard the sad tone in her voice.
“No, what’s that? Your school oder something?”
“Its a group of people who evaluate your house, like feng shoui oder something...” again, she sounded dismal.
“What about it?”
“Well, when I first started, I got really low scores, I figured I’d learn Mehr 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 pelz on her cheeks was wet, shining.
"Are Du 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 Du crying?" I was taken-aback, then I burst out laughing, knocking us both to the soft, spongy ground. "Why would I be mad at Du for that? Everyone gets stressed and upset about little things like their home, Kiki! Du can't honestly think that I'd get mad at Du 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 orange cottage.
"The door's open," sagte Kiki, watching me as I turned the little brass cat-paw knob, and pushing open the door. I gave her a look.
"And Du sagte your house looked bad! Didn't anyone ever tell Du 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 Zeigen Du 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 rosa paw prints dotting Zufällig areas of them, the ceiling was sloped on one side, painted rosa with blue paw prints, a baby rosa window sitz lay basking in the sun that streamed through the open square window, overlooking a garden of wild Blumen 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 schlucken did I realise that my mouth was hanging open, and I quickly shut it. She sagte 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 Von 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 Du 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 Du 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 Du 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 Du like it? I figured if Du were getting a house then you'd need some furniture to fill it."
"I Liebe 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 sitz and closed her rosa curtains with a satisfying swish. I flicked on the light, the light bulb span slowly, I wondered why. Kiki climbed onto her bett and put a small metal kappe 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, Du want something!" she blushed, looking up at me through long black eyelashes, how come she had to be so beautiful.
"No, Du do." We sagte no Mehr after that, but we were comfortable in our own silences.
"We should make this a proper sleepover!" Kiki sagte suddenly, eyes sparkling with a new excitement.
"Yeah! We can have a kissen 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, Singen about Essen 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, Du can use my hair brush, if Du 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 oder 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 Du 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 Du 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 Du want." I muttered, knowing I couldn't win.
"Yay! Hey, Do Du 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 gitarre 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 Katzen 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 Du 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 Tiere were in the room. One was a purple ostrich, another was an old turtle, one I recognized, K.K Slider, and behind a schreibtisch was a posh-looking pigeon. I went over to the old turtle, he wouldn't bite, oder peck.
"Say, who's your favourite person in this town, the mayor, the town hall assistant, the shop-keeper oder the tailor?" sagte the schildkröte in a dead voice.
"Uh, the tailor?" I wasn't sure what to say.
"Oh, well its nice to know how Du feel..." he sagte sadly. "You see, I am the mayor, Du 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 Du want something? A song or-"
"Ooo, a song, a song!" Kiki said, a little too enthusiastically. "How about K.K. Lullabye!"
"Sure," sagte K.K. The light went down, everybody stopped talking, took their seats, and a spotlight fell on him. Soft Musik filled the room, and a high voice peirced through my soul. I couldn't let myself be so impressed Von him, but it was amazing, it was like an Angel – Jäger der Finsternis 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 Weiter 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 Du 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 Musik and then...Oh, shoot I fell asleep didn't I?!"
"Queenie and I carried Du back here, I shook Du but Du wouldn't wake up, and Du kept muttering something about a lizard." I groaned, I'd always talked in my sleep, I had a eidechse 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 Du were saying....things....about K.K. Slider," My cheeks burned, even though I wasn't facing her. I scowled, got out of bett and stomped downstairs. "Where are Du 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 Von K.K. I could've sagte 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 küche with two bowls of Cheerios. "You sagte Du loved him," she mumbled, not meeting my eyes.
"When?" I demanded.
"Promise Du won't get mad?"
I let out a heavy sigh. "Yes." I sagte 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.
