"I'm Not Known for my Compassion"
The beginning of a splendid day was previewed by its usual messengers. The chlorophyll in the trees showed their vitality and their life. The trees’ relatives, the grass, showed their quality of vivid life. The brightest star of the blue sky arose to give the inhabitants of the third rock from itself its brilliance.
The first of the inhabitants flew across the cool sky to bask in warmth as they scoured for worms for their young. Some of them did not bore young, so they would perch themselves on the houses of a neighborhood to watch, to chirp or to rest. One bird returned to his usual spot: the windowsill of a house. As he landed, he began to chirp. This chirp defined itself with a quality no children could ignore. They would gather around the bird and gaze upon in awe.
But that was only for children. Not for one inhabitant of the house.
As the bird chirped, fueled by the morning, a hand emerged out from the inhabitant’s blue blanket. The hand scoured across the floor in search of a noise. A tick-tock noise. Five attempts to find the object creating the mechanical noise were fruitless. But the hand tipped the metal siding of the object and soon, the object was grasped into its hand. Shut up, you annoying bird, the inhabitant sleeping in a box thought. With a flicker of the wrist that could that could be personified into the emotion of irritation, the being flung the alarm clock onto the bird.
“AUGH!” The bird yelped as the clock forced it though the window with shattering glass. The face on the bird showed he could take a hint. He pushed the clock on top of him away and flew away from the house. With the grating voice gone, the inhabitant felt it safe to come out from his bed. A pair of round eyes came out under the blanket, followed by a yawn from his orange mouth. He smoothed out the bent whiskers on his face and fluffed out his stiff tail.
“Mmmmmm…Ah!” The cat stretched out his arms with a euphoric force. “And now for the most exciting part of the day.” The cat thought as he made his way into the second revered place in the house.
The kitchen.
“Time for a well-balanced breakfast.” The cat opened the refrigerator and reached out for the necessities of a morning meal. It took around a minute to gather the supplies, but nothing was too good for this cat. And so, he began his morning meal.
At the same time, the human of the household walked into the kitchen, sporting his usual red-and-white striped pajamas. And his… Bunny slippers. “I think I’ll have some toast with butter and jelly today.” He pondered aloud while trying to wake up. He believed drinking coffee would jolt his energy, but what was on the table surprised him and gave him an excess amount of energy. “Garfield! Is this all the food from the fridge?!” He walked over next to Garfield
“Exact-a-mundo, owner of mine.” Garfield consumed a bagel topped with whipped cream.
“For the love of- Now what am I supposed to have to eat?!” The owner, Jon, raised his hands in the air in annoyance. Garfield’s response was handing him a half-eaten piece of bread with a nearly empty jar of jelly and a piece of butter.
“By all means, knock yourself out.” Garfield thought as chomped though a box full of a dozen donuts. He spit out the box away from Jon.
“Garfield, this doesn’t qualify as a full breakfast meal.” Jon dryly pointed out.
“And I’m suppose to know what this ‘full’ is?” Garfield pondered. Jon let out a disappointed sigh as he walked towards his room.
“Now I’m going to have to take another trip down to the groceries-” Not even a second did Jon finished his sentence with the ‘s’ did Garfield bolt to him and hugged his leg. “Garfield, you know full well that you can’t enter the supermarket for another ten months.”
“Geez Louise, pull the bottommost cereal box from a pyramid from itself and you pay for it. Or rather Jon, you paid for it.” Garfield looked at him. With a wiggle from his leg, Jon threw Garfield away from him.
“I’m going to get dressed and head out. Behave yourself while I’m gone Garfield.” Jon instructed the cat. “And this does not mean while I’m getting dressed. It also applies to while I’m out.” Jon took wind of Garfield’s tendency to twist his words.
“Rats.” Garfield’s ears folded back in defeat. Jon walked away and closed his door to make himself presentable. With a sigh, Garfield walked to the living room. “I wonder where Odie is? I haven’t seen him for a while now. Usually he’d slurp my face or stand stupidly at the edge of the table by this time of day. Oh… what to do now?” Garfield placed himself on the purple recliner and grasped the television remote to begin his daily round of viewing odd or humorous shows.
Garfield had to make sure he actually was holding the remote. A few years ago, he had a chocolate bar by his side. As he tried to see the other channels, Jon had asked him why he was trying to change the channels with a candy bar. Garfield eyes widened with a nerve-wrecking realization as he burped.
“Let’s see what’s on TV.” Garfield started his channel flipping through a myriad of TV shows.
“And now welcome back to World’s Most Amazing Idiotic Stunts! I’m Werner Bogzwart and today we have five lucky contestants with us today! Stuart Belser from Ohio will now be playing ‘We Wish you a Merry Christmas’ by stepping on these assorted mousetraps. Ready Stuart?”
“Ready- Whoa, who left water on this floor?” *Snap* *Snap* Snap* “Aaaaahhhh!” *Snap* *Snap*
“We’ll be right back after these messages!”
“But Stuart won’t.” Garfield thought. He changed the channel.
“Welcome back to Cooking at the Funny Farm. I’m Martha Smith and our next guest will show us how to prepare a duck flambé. Now where is our guest?”
“Uh… Martha, we just got word that we weren’t suppose to remove the straightjacket from him.”
“What? Well, where is-”
“HAHAHAHAHAHA! Now I’ll show you all how to prepare a TV show flambé!”
“Someone take that flamethrower away from him and put him back into his straightjacket!”
“Personally, I would’ve preferred a T-Bone steak.” Garfield flipped to another channel. He hadn’t noticed Jon had left the house.
“Why look Sharing Rabbit, here comes Mr. Sneaky Fox with the Happy Gem to restore FunfunWorld to its bright state!”
“Now all our problems will be solved, Helping Hedgehog!”
“Mr. Sneaky Fox, are you going to bring the light back to FunfunWorld?”
“Yeah…no, Helping Hedgehog.”
“Really? Because I thought…”
“Helping Hedgehog, where’d you get the mace?”
“that you would bring the light back…”
“Hey, what’s with your eyes? They look scary.”
“You are going to bring the light back. Aren’t. You?”
“Stop doing that sharp teeth thing! Of course I’m going to bring the light back!”
“Good!”
“If only Mr. Sneaky Fox had seen what Helping Hedgehog did to Bargaining Bear when he didn’t want to share his honey with her.” Garfield recalled before flipping to another channel.
“Thank you all for helping me get the cake safely on the dessert car.”
“Thank you for inviting us all to go with you to Canterlot for the National Desert Competition.”
“Oh great. Not this show.” Garfield facepawed at the ‘pony show.’ He was about to flip to another channel when something caught his attention. Something yellow. And it wasn’t the pony with the pink mane.
“Odie?” Garfield leaned in closer to the tube to see his beagle friend. Yes, indeed it was Odie, far into the background the dog was but Garfield also noticed something wrong with the TV. The episode of the show was playing, but as Odie moved, the TV flickered and the episode became slightly transparent. What struck Garfield as odd was the colors of these ponies were faded, but Odie’s colors were the brightest.
“How in the world did he get inside the television set?” Garfield jumped out of the recliner and walked to the screen. “Oh right. I forget: Nothing makes sense with Odie.” Garfield reminded himself as he tapped onto the TV screen a few times. Garfield’s eyes widened when a peculiar event struck him. He let his finger move to the TV.
But it didn’t hit the screen. It went through it.
“Gah!” Garfield jumped back and cringed. “Wait a minute. Why am I scared of the TV set? It’s not a horror movie or anything.” Garfield frowned at the show on the TV.
“… the Cakes' Marzipan Mascarpone Meringue Madness. All that rich creamy goodness of the marzipan, combined with the tart tanginess of the mascarpone, blended perfectly with the smooth, silky sweetness of the meringue.” As the lovely and sublime cake took up most of the screen, Garfield’s mouth began to water. His tongue drooped over his mouth as he salivated over the delectable snack. Well, snack to him. He shook his head to bring himself back to reality.
“No, no, no! I am not going to go gaga over food on TV. Not unless I want it ending up in my mouth again.” Garfield thought with his arms crossed. Unfortunately, Garfield’s mind was taken control over the succeeding deserts.
The chocolate éclairs made Garfield forget where he was. “No…”
The sprinkles on the ‘Donut-Topia’ made Garfield’s eye twitch and teeth chatter.
Finally, the chocolate ‘mousse’ forced Garfield into his breaking point. “Hahaha ha!” With a maniacal look on his face, Garfield ran into the TV set, ignoring the possibility of crashing through it. Except he didn’t. Garfield warped inside the TV and into the show.
<><><><
“Cake! Éclairs! Donuts! Mousse! Gimmegimmegimmegimmegimmegimmiegimmiegimmiegimme!” Garfield was still in his Food Crazed state and he failed to notice he was no longer in the living room anymore. Even in his twisted mindset, part of him expected to end up in the train car of the show. But he wasn’t. He wasn’t even on solid ground.
“Ok.” Garfield’s mood reverted back to normal at both the deserts not being here and wondering where the heck he was. He looked down. He found himself over a lake. About 50 feet over the lake. And as the rule goes, the laws of gravity do not apply unless one is painfully aware of it.
“Oh, Garfield. You know what happens when you’re up in the air and look dowwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwnnnnnnn…!” Garfield yelled as he dropped down. Miraculously, he landed into the lake without any injuries, though one question remained:
“Where’s the water?” A shadow loomed over Garfield, giving him the answer. The water slammed on top of Garfield, drenching his fur. Garfield pulled himself out of the lake and laid himself out on all fours. With the same repetitive motion as normal for his kind, Garfield shook his body as strong as he could to rid himself of a wet and heavy fur.
Garfield was disappointed that there weren’t any deserts around here. “Wherever here is.” He looked around. Nothing but the lake, a few benches and some bushes. “Bright. And colorful here too.” He took note. “Straight from a TV show.” Garfield started to walk, hoping to find some form of civilization.
Garfield traveled over a bridge, thoughts intact. “Just what I needed. First my owner doesn’t have enough food in the fridge, then I’m denied the opportunity to travel to one of my favorite places in the world. And now I’m in whoever-knows-where, denied deserts and I have to find Odie. What more could I ask for?!” Garfield yelled to the heavens. What he did not expect was for the heavens to send raindrops on his head. “Thanks. I needed that. How is it raining when it’s sunny all around?” Garfield noticed.
“Oops! Sorry!” Garfield heard a female voice before the rain moved away from. Before it was out of his eyesight, Garfield looked up to see where the voice came from. It had come from a grey, flying horse.
“What? A flying horse? Oh, yippee. I’m in that pony show. All of shows Odie had to be in, why this one?” Garfield thought grumpily. He would’ve thought more, but has nose had taken hold of a smell.
A tasty smell. The smell of pie.
“Is that…Oh yes it is! Pie! Sweet, blueberry pie!” Through some convoluted way, Garfield levitated himself off the ground and let his nose follow the delicious scent. He found himself standing at a windowsill, where the scent in question did come from a pie. Without a second thought, Garfield mentally prepared how he was going to snatch the pie. “Nothing a smart cat like me can’t figure out.” Garfield placed his hands on the metal plate of the pie. “Place hands, set eyes on pie, grab plate, and run like Jon like the time he went jogging in his bunny pajamas-”
But Garfield never even made it seven feet from the house, because a white fluffball launched itself at him and had him by his chest, sending the pie splat onto the grass. “And mess up and have another great opportunity taken away.” Garfield finished.
“How dare you try and steal my owner’s pie!” Garfield could see it was a cat, a white one that had assaulted him.
“Ah, buzz off, pipsqueak.” Garfield leered at the cat. But his attitude started to fade when the other cat’s claws popped out.
“First, ‘pipsqueak’ is the name of one of the colts here. Second, you will not speak to me that way.”
“What we have here, ladies and gentlemen, is a failure to communicate.” Garfield thought.
“Opal! Where are youuuuu!” Garfield heard another female voice, but in singsong. This one coming from the house. Sadly, his distraction lessened his guard and the cat proceeded to engage him in a claw-sharp cat fight. Tried as he did, Garfield could not get the cat off of him. During the fight, he heard a gasp. “Opal, my dear! You! Get away from my cat, you brute!” The white cat found herself levitated off of Garfield and onto the side of the owner.
Garfield recollected himself and tried to brush off any claw marks he could. He looked at the owner: A white pony with a regal purple mane.
“Yay. A pony.” Garfield didn’t like the sight of it.
“And what is that supposed to mean?” The pony inquired, but she did give Garfield a chance to answer. Her gaze flowed away from the orange, bipedal feline and onto a most horrific sight. “M-M-My pie!” Tension and fury rose through her blood veins and reached to her eyes. With all her energy, she unleashed her indignation through stare at the cat, hoping it would give any indication it was sorry.
“Sorry for dropping your pie, but you ever think about keeping that furball of yours inside? Or on a leash” Garfield asked the pony.
“Why, how rude! And very uncouth!” She frowned at the cat.
“I’m not known for my compassion.” He smirked. “Come along Opal. Let’s get you back inside and I’ll whip up another pie.” The pony walked back inside with her cat behind her. “Hopefully, the next one won’t attract such boorish creatures.” As soon as the two were inside, the pony with all her might slammed the door shut.
“I might be offended if I knew what ‘boorish’ meant. Now with that being over, time to find Odie.” Garfield proceeded to walk away.
“Ooooooodieeeee! Oooooooooooooodieeee! Oooooodieeee!” Garfield yelled out as he walked through a grassy part of this new land. Up ahead, Garfield could make out another house, although this one was different compared to the other abode he trespassed upon. This house possessed a leafy roof and looked a place to unwind and relax, as opposed to the upscale and haughty purple house of the white pony. Garfield’s ears picked up a sound of streaming water and the common rustling of fresh, fallen leaves. As Garfield walked closer to the house, he could see more objects up close. Blue and pink flowers bloomed in glory, next to the river stream. Grass grew out from fallen logs. Bird nests and birdhouses were handled with care and love. To top it all off, the house itself was an observer to the clear, blue and fresh sky-
Garfield’s eyes widened. His brain alerted him of a surrounding, prominent only to him. “Birds’ nests and birdhouses?” He looked at the miniature homes up in the branches of the trees as well as the allocated sticks set up in a circular pattern. If large smiles were worth a thousand bucks, Garfield would be raking in millions. Already, his feline mind was formulating a complex plan to satisfy his innate desires.
“Hide in bushes, wait for birds to come and it’s Spectacular Bird Buffet for me!” Garfield’s teeth sharpened as his grinned deviously. He ran to a bush he felt would be both close enough to the birds, but no so as to give him away. “Heheheh. That stupid dog can wait.” At that moment, both a white puff of smoke and a red puff of smoke appeared on his separate shoulders.
“You can’t do this!” A little Garfield wearing a halo and in white clothing beseeched on the fat cat’s right shoulder. “Finding Odie is your top priority in this strange world!” The bigger one rolled his eyes.
“Bah, don’t listen to that goody no-shoes!” The diminutive Garfield wearing a devil costume and wielding a red spatula on the left shoulder blurted.
“What’s with the spatula?” The Garfield not wearing any clothing asked.
“All the other evil versions of other beings took all the pitchforks. It was either this…” The devil-Garfield held the spatula out. “Or a baby rattle. And I say, ditch the ugly dog!”
“No! Odie is as much as his friend and he is Jon’s companion!” The angel-Garfield argued with the Id of Garfield.
“Actually, there’s something here now that’s bigger than Odie.” Garfield conveyed onto his purity and primal instinct.
“Which is?” The two asked.
“Filling the bird capacity in my stomach.” The devious smile returned onto Garfield.
“Mm-mm! I could go for some bird grub!” The devil-Garfield licked his lips. “How ‘bout you, angel?” The angel-Garfield was in thought.
“I don’t know… I do like birds as both of you, but…” Before he could finish, another white and red smoke appeared simultaneously on the angel’s shoulders.
“Are you out of your mind?!” The second angel-Garfield chastised the other. “You’re supposed to be the superego; the consciousness and righteousness of the whole Garfield. You can’t succumb to your animalistic wants!”
“Boo! Boring!” The second devil-Garfield yelled to the angel of the angel-Garfield. “Hey, buddy!” He called out to his larger counterpart. ‘What say you and me take care of this guy?”
“You got it!” The devil hopped out from Garfield’s shoulder as did the smaller devil from the angel-Garfield’s shoulder. Together, the two head butted into the other angel.
“Wait! This isn’t how it’s supposed to work out in making moral decisions!” The angel getting pummeled yelled out. With a swing from both of their spatulas, the devils knocked the angel away with a white puff.
“Phew! Now that he’s gone, I feel much better about bird consumption!” The angel still existing proudly boasted.
“That’s good and all, but could you all just go away?” Garfield looked at his angel and two devils. “It’s getting crowded here.”
“Aw…” The three exclaimed in disappointed.
“Don’t worry.” Garfield smiled. “I’ll eat as much as I can for you guys.”
“YES!” The three shouted. “You heard the guy! Let’s amscray!” The angel said to the other two. Puffs of a white smoke and two red smokes appeared on Garfield’s right shoulder before they disappeared. Not a few minutes later, the sounds of chirping birds overpowered the swirls of the river. “Oh yes. Come to papa” Garfield moved a part of the bush to gain a visual perception of the outside world. As he could see, birds were flying back to the house. Garfield found it odd some of them were flying to his right, but the rest were flying to their houses and nests.
“Nine… eight… seven… six… five… four… three… two…” The birds were a few inches away from their houses and nests. “One.”
Garfield leaped out from the bush, mouth open wide, showcasing all of his sharp, eating machines. The birds were taken by surprise and some of them flew away. Two of them closest to Garfield could not fly away in time for the cat to snatch them by their bodies. The birds were moving towards a black abyss with white, sharp stalagmites and stalactites. They cried out for help.
“No one’s gonna hear you in two seconds!” Garfield mocked them as he placed the birds in his mouth. Garfield’s tongue pushed them into his stomach. Fight as much as they could, Garfield’s stomach acids went to work. Soon, Garfield did not feel their struggles and he mentally congratulated himself for a job well done.
Or, at least he would have if something hadn’t stomped on his tail with the force of a falling anvil.
“YEEEE-OOWWWW!” Garfield shrieked in pain. The sudden upstart caused the birds to be pushed back to his throat. At the glance of the blue sky, hope surged inside them, giving them the strength to push out from their predator’s mouth. Granted, this caused the predator to begin choking, but the birds saw this as incapacitating him. With a forceful ptoo!, the carnivore spit the birds out and they flew as fast and as far as their wings could take them.
Garfield, in short, was not happy.
“Okay, who stomped on my tail?!” Garfield demanded to know.
“Right down here, buddy.” A smart-aleck, guy voice responded. Below Garfield’s eyesight. Garfield eyes pointed down to see a bunny with his arms folded and disapproving eyes. “That. Was not cool.” The bunny jumped up and stomped Garfield on his right foot. Another energy of pain spiked throughout Garfield.
“Ngh! Owowowowowow!” Garfield jumped up and down, caressing his foot with his hands.
“What is wrong with you?! Do you know how heartbroken Fluttershy would’ve been if two of her birds had suddenly gone missing?”
“I don’t…” Garfield jumped. “Know what this… Fluttershy is… but it sounds… like a pansy.”
The bunny stomped Garfield’s other foot with all the might he could muster up.
“Ah. Ah…” The pain in Garfield’s left foot sent him onto the floor and rendered him speechless.
“Oh my gosh!” Despite the agony in his tail and feet, Garfield heard another female voice. “Angel bunny, what happened?” Garfield focused his eyesight on the bunny and then now-present yellow pony. The bunny performed a series of fast hand motions, some pointing at the bush, the birdhouses and to Garfield. “Um…The birds found this cat in pain and left him here?” The pony guessed. Angel shook his head. “He thought he was a bird and tried to fly but landed in the bush?” Angel shook his head again. He opened his mouth in front of the pony, pointed at the birdhouses, clasped his tiny paws and put something imaginary in his mouth, where he chewed and swallowed.
“He tried to eat a birdhouse and got a tummy ache?” Angel facepawed before shaking his head for the third time. “Well, never mind. He needs my help!” The pony rushed over to Garfield, who still couldn’t move from pain. The pony placed her head underneath Garfield and placed him onto her back. Wasting no time, she rushed back into her house and closed the door.
…Leaving Angel and his mouth agape in aghast. He wasn’t sure what to feel more shocked about: at his owner’s idiocy or that the cat would get off scot-free. A multitude of emotions pounded against Angel’s head: Initial shock followed by suppressed anger, sympathy for the birds that may have been scarred for life and pity for his caretaker’s naiveté. The mental onslaught wore Angel out and he passed out onto the ground.
<><><><
“You poor kitty-cat!” The yellow pony showed concern as she brought Garfield onto her couch. “You really shouldn’t be trying to fly from a birdhouse.”
Garfield looked at the winged-being. He wasn’t trying to fly; he was trying to have an avian lunch. But it didn’t seem like a good idea to mention it. “Good thing Angel saw you when he did, or Celestia knows what would’ve happened.” Before Garfield had a chance to speak up, she trotted away to the restroom. He heard the sound of an opening door and the rustling of supplies.
“I’ve got to get out of here…” Garfield noticed dozens of different animals inside the pony’s house. A snake, a raccoon, a goat, a toucan, a seal, bunnies, mice, dodos, bats, bees, chickens, butterflies, a bear… A plethora of wildlife in this one tiny house.
Garfield found both his feet weren’t sending a shooting pain up to his spine, but he could not move them as well. His brain said ‘Move at a hundred percent!’ His feet could only muster two percent. If he could throw himself to the floor, he would be able to use his hands to pull himself out of this house of claustrophobia. Too bad for him, the pony emerged out from the restroom holding a bag of supplies in her mouth
“Okay! Now, where does it hurt, Mr. Cat?” She asked through the bag. Now, Garfield couldn’t escape. This decibel-deficient pony would keep her eyes on him at all times. He may as well make the best of it. Until he can find a way.
“Just on my feet and tail.” The pony jumped back from Garfield, letting her bag fall to her hooves
“Y-You… can talk!”
“Yeah… Doesn’t every animal talk here?”
“Oh, no! Not with words. Well, except for one dragon I know.”
“Wait… how can you hear me?” Now that Garfield thought about it, how was the white pony from earlier able to understand him?
“I shouldn’t?”
“Usually, my owner can’t understand anything I say.”
“You already have an owner? She must be so worried about you! First thing I’ll do right after I bandage you and feed you is go around the town and post flyers.”
“First, my owner is a guy. Second- Wait, did you say ‘feed’?” Garfield could see himself eating to his heart’s content.
“Of course.” The pony zipped out from the room.
“How did she do that? I thought only my world could do that.” Garfield scratched his head. The pony zipped back in front of Garfield, holding a bowl in her mouth. Inside the bowl was an assortment of various vegetables. She set the bowl down in front of him and smiled, “Eat up!”
“What. Is. This?” Garfield frowned.
“It’s lettuce mixed with tiny pieces of cucumbers and olives along with cut-up broccoli and cauliflower with trimmings of celery!” She beamed at her job well done. While this dish was not hard to make, she did not make it often because it used most of her usual ingredients.
Now, how could Garfield put this in a way as calmly as he could and with as much tact as it required?
“WHAT AM I, A COW?!” Garfield questioned with irritation. Garfield kicked the bowl across to the other side of the room. The vegetables spilled out from the bowl onto the floor, ruining both the pony’s hard work on the food and her carpet. Garfield should’ve thought better before using his numb foot to kick it as it sent a volt of pain up his back, but the satisfaction from rejecting one of his most unfavorable foods made up for it. All the animals stopped what they were to look in horrified awe at what Garfield did.
“Uh-oh…” One of the dodos uttered. The animals surveyed the look of both dismay and horror on their caretaker.
“But-but-” A look of shock and sadness formed on her face.
“If you got any lasagna or steak around here, I’ll take that. Otherwise, I’m not eating any vegetables.” Garfield placed his arms behind his head with the composure of a spoiled prince.
“S-Steak? As in meat? As in from an animal?” The pony quivered.
“Hey, I don’t care where it comes from as long as it enters my mouth.” Garfield said without care. The pony dragged herself back to the kitchen, head down on the floor.
Garfield waited for her to bring something more edible and tasty, but his mental list of options were diluted by the quiet chatter of the animals.
“What?” Garfield turned to the animals, demanding to know.
“You are so in for it now.” One of the chickens glared disapprovingly at him.
“Am I now?”
“It’s not uncommon for Fluttershy to hear of other animals that eat meat,” The bear spoke up. “But she doesn’t take rudeness and disrespect. Ever.”
“So that’s Fluttershy?”
“Yep, buddy.” The three mice spoke altogether.
“And you are-” The first mouse said.
“In for-” The second continued.
“It” The third mouse finished mice spoke separately. The animals turned back to Fluttershy, who brought a new bowl with the vegetables the other one had.
“I already told you, I don’t like vegetables.” Garfield caustically reminded Fluttershy. After hearing such coarse language, she decided it was enough.
The animals knew what was to come. Some turned away while covering their eyes while others like the flamingo clenched their eyes tight-shut, since they didn’t have anything to cover their faces.
Fluttershy flipped her mouth more to her right side so the cat could get a better look of her stern gaze.
She let loose one of her most powerful weapons: her eyes.
Fluttershy widened her eyes yet stilled her cold, spine-shivering irises. Her mouth frowned in such a manner that contributed to her heart-stopping eyes. The Stare, is what she called it. It was both powerful and terrifying enough to render even the toughest animals into servile submission.
To say Garfield was frightened would not even be close. He forgot all about the numbing sensation on his feet and tail because a new feeling set inside him: fear. Never had his fur been so raised and stiff. His eyes widened to the size of plates. His mouth drooped in fright as he slowly sank himself on the couch. That proved to be a mistake, because the more he sank, the higher Fluttershy raised her neck while not losing her focus on him. It may as well be a manifestation of Garfield’s worst nightmare and he was powerless to do anything.
Without losing her iron gaze onto the ungrateful cat, Fluttershy set the bowl by his side. Garfield wanted to do anything to escape from the unnerving moment. Anything. Garfield reached out for the bowl to grab it with a tight grasp; he feared of even letting one piece of lettuce drop to the floor, lest her eyes became more terrifying. Garfield dumped all the contents of the bowl into his mouth without even chewing it. Nevertheless, the food settled down into his stomach.
The Stare disappeared and a warm, smile replaced took over.
“Now that wasn’t so bad, was it?” Fluttershy asked and Garfield instantly response, “No. Not at all” It was safe for the animals to look again. “Now, just sit down while I help place this gauze over your feet and tail.”
“That won’t be necessary. The lettuce helped soothe them.” That was a lie, but Garfield wanted now more than anything to run from this house.
“Oh, how wonderful!”
“And I just remembered my owner is supposed to…” Take a jog? Go to the post office? Go to the bakery? Grocery-shopping? List of alternatives ran down Garfield’s mind. “Go to the groceries todayyy.” Garfield drawled out, hoping it was enough to convince her.
“Okay then.” Fluttershy replied. Garfield jumped up from the couch, onto the floor. He still felt the numbing sensation on his feet. “Bye-bye!” Garfield ran from the house as fast as his feet could carry him.
Garfield thought it would’ve been useful to ask if she had seen Odie, but he could only think of distancing himself from the scary pony as much as he could.
