Good morning. It is I Gigi the parti poodle sending greetings to you from the beach. As you can see from the photograph below, I am lounging on a lovely cream-colored couch in a quaint little cottage by the sea. After working on the garage sale my novelist treated me…and unfortunately Tucker the Maltese to a getaway by the ocean to relax and listen to the melodious sounds of the seagulls flying in the sky. While here we encountered some unusual bugs. Upon downloading a bug identifying application we found it was the Strawberry Root Weevil, a harmless little pest which our temporary abode’s host helped us out with posthaste.

Our cottage is quite unique in that it contains an extensive and eclectic library. I have been partaking of a book of Aesop’s Fables. I read it out loud to teach the Maltese how to behave in a proper manner. Although, he is struggling with the concepts. After that I intend to conquer Asimov’s Guide to Shakespeare by Issac Asimov for some light summer reading. And with that thought, here is chapter fifteen of Catzilla. Enjoy and may the clams be with you.  

Catzilla

by

Gigi the parti poodle

Chapter Fifteen

I stood in front of the standing mirror in my room examining my mint green dress with the vertical sequins and matching mint green shoes with the straps and the silver buckles. I studied my reflection and decided I looked stylish. Usually, I don’t wear makeup but tonight I wore a little pastel eyeshadow, light pink blush, pale pink lipstick, and a touch of mascara. Even with the sparse makeup I looked quite different. But I was okay with that. Sometimes it’s fun to be different.

My mother knocked on my bedroom door. “Are you ready to go, Briar?”

“Yeah, I’m ready to go.”

“May I come in?”

“Of course.”

She came into the room, looked at me and said, “You’re a princess.”

I growled.

“Oh, come on. Just because you look like a princess doesn’t mean you don’t have the mind of a nuclear physicist.”

“Lyle is the nuclear physicist.”

“Lyle wouldn’t be your friend if you couldn’t go toe to toe with him intellectually.”

“You look fantastic too,” I said suddenly realizing my mother was dressed up as well.

“I felt like putting on the ritz. I’m fed up with this company I’m working for.”

“Why?”

“They cannot get through their heads they are about to spend millions of dollars on all the wrong things and not on the right things. They want to run their company based on fads instead of what’s in their best interest. They think their moving forwards but instead their heading backwards.”

“What are you going to do?”

My mom sighed. “Try to get them to turn the boat in a different direction. Someday you may find yourself in the same dilemma.” She studied my reflection in the mirror. “You look like you could use an accessory.”

“Okay…” I said warily, not being one to accessorize.

Mom handed me a small box wrapped with silver paper tied up with a green satin bow. “I thought you might like this.”

I untied the green ribbon and unwrapped the velvet box. I opened the spring lid to find a heart shaped sterling silver locket with a hand engraved floral design and near the point of the heart was an imbedded 14k gold puppy paw print with a small diamond in the center.

“Do you like it?”

“I do,” I said surprised.

“You should put it on.”

I removed the locket from the box and fastened it around my neck. It looked perfect with the mint green dress.

“Where did you get it?”

“Beryl’s Jewelers,” she said. “They make them in their shop. I had them add the paw because of how much you like dogs.”

“Thank you,” I said.

“Of course.” My mom looked at her watch. “We’d better get going. I need to arrive at the dance early. The chaperones are meeting beforehand to go over what the rules are you kids need to follow and all that.”

For not being a prom, the dance was rather spectacular. The committee had decided on a King Kong theme which I thought was strange. A couple of students must have been into the new version of the film that had just come out and the accompanying video game. There was a huge blowup King Kong set up at the front of the gym. It depicted the Empire State Building with King Kong hanging off it with Ann Darrow clenched in his hand. A large arrangement balloons in the school colors green and red arched over it. The basketball court had been blocked off to protect the floor. The school sprung for a live band which played familiar pop songs as the kids danced.

I scanned the gym for Lyle. I regretted our last conversation and hoped he’d forgotten about it and would make an appearance. As I searched, Ellery sided up to me.

“Well, well,” he said. “Look at what the cat dragged in.”

Quincy slithered up beside him, of course, which made me wonder what conversation had gone on between them about Lyle and I acquiring the tranquilizers.

“So, how’s about that dance?” Ellery continued.

“Get lost,” I said.

“I don’t see your freaky friend around. No one here to come to your rescue.”

About a year ago my mother had made me take yet another self-defense class and I found myself faced with a couple of choices. I could palm-heel Ellery in the face or grab him by the ear and slam my foot into the side of his knee, both of which seemed extreme. Or I could do the best self-defense move of all: escape the situation. So, I pushed myself off the wall I was leaning against and began walking away.

“Hey,” Quincy said and blocked me. “Where do you think you’re going?”

This, of course, meant my attempt to use my best self-defense move had been thwarted.

“There’s a lot of chaperones here. And unlike when our parents were teenagers, they had the good sense to keep the place well-lit and not dark where they can’t see you. Now, get out of my way.”

Ellery stepped up to the other side of me making sure I was trapped. “Let me teach you some arithmetic, Gagnon,” he said. “You came to this dance, and I came to this dance. Now we’re going to dance.”

Just then, I heard a crackling sound. Quincy screamed and hit the floor with a thud. Suddenly, I saw my mother stick a cattle prod into Ellery’s side. The prod crackled, Ellery yelped, and hit the floor. She stuck the rod into Quincy’s side zapping him again and then repeated the action on Ellery.

“I know they’ll never want me to chaperone again,” my mom said. “But it was worth it.”

“Since when did you start carrying cattle prods?” I asked.

“Since I knew Ellery would be at the dance. Have you seen Lyle anywhere?”

I shook my head. “No.”

“Have you tried texting him?”

“Yes. He never answered.”

“Huh.”

“I’m in pain!” Quincy said.

“Then you shouldn’t have harassed my daughter,” my mom told him.

“I’ll have my parents fire you!” Ellery groaned.

“I don’t work for your parents,” my mom said. “Briar, get out of this corner, text Lyle again and failing that go and look for him.”

I did as my mother said and followed her away from Ellery and Quincy. I texted Lyle:

            R U @ the dance?

I waited for a reply and still didn’t get one. I headed over to the entrance to the gym, walked up the steps to the main door and scanned around. I still could not find Lyle.

Suddenly, we all heard a siren. Not a normal siren like you would hear from a police car or a fire truck or an ambulance, but the kind you would hear as a warning for a natural disaster. The band stopped playing. Confusion filled the gym with students whispering, “what’s that?” and “what’s going on?” The chaperones all moved together into the center of the dance floor and began talking. My mother looked around. Our mutually confused eyes met. My phone buzzed. I looked at it. It was a text from Lyle:

            Kitten coming your way!

MY BOOKS

You can check out my books Chicane and all five installments of the Musicology book series Musicology: Volume One, Baby!, Musicology: Volume Two, Kid!, Musicology: Volume Three, Twist!, Musicology: Volume Four, Sweetie! and Musicology: The Epiquad on Amazon in Kindle and Paperback editions. You can also check out Musicology’s web site at www.musicologyrocks.com and vote for who you think will win Musicology!

STREAM OF THE WEEK: LEON: THE PROFESSIONAL (1994)-NETFLIX

One of the best movies streaming on Netflix right now is this marvelous gem from 1994. It was written and directed by the wonderful Luc Besson who also wrote and directed the original la femme Nikita. Leon (fantastically played by Jean Reno) is a fastidious professional hitman living in New York City. He works for delicatessen shop owner Tony (Danny Aiello) who holds Leon’s money for him like a bank.

Leon lives in an apartment building where he takes great care of his beloved house plant, drinks milk, keeps himself in shape and maintains a low profile. His next-door neighbors are a husband and wife who have three children: a teenage girl, a preschool boy, and a middle child, a tweener named Mathilda (Natalie Portman in her brilliant first major motion picture performance). Mathilda is a smart and plucky but abused child and Leon always sees her sitting in the hall secretly smoking with new bruises on her face.

Mathilda’s abusive father (Michael Badalucco) has a drug running business relationship with a psychopath named Stansfield (Gary Oldman in a gleefully disturbed performance) and when Stansfield comes to collect, Mathilda’s father comes up short. Stansfield gives Mathilda’s father until noon the following day to come up with the missing dope. But Mathilda’s father does not have the missing dope. He’s been skimming a sizable sum of the profits and hiding it in the apartment. And Stansfield knows it. The next day at noon, things get ugly, and Leon finds himself having to choose between maintaining his low profile or using his special set of skills to protect Mathilda.

Netflix is running the original release of the film as opposed to the Director’s Cut which contains extra footage that gives more insight into Leon and Mathilda’s friendship. That said, even without the missing footage this is a spectacular film in every respect and a must see 90’s classic.