The sun was getting low in the sky over the Ernst-Happel Stadium in Vienna. Felix settled into a corner connecting two metal bars and let his tail dangle down towards the open space above the stadium. He took a moment to take in the view of workers dismantling the stage.
He initially thought that the noise of humans and machines would disrupt his peaceful mourning, but turns out it’s just white noise. In fact, he felt perfectly content with staying in that haze, licking his paws and humming to himself, for the rest of the day. Then, Willow came up the metal bar to his left.
Willow was seven the summer she changed her name, around six years ago. It wasn't very common for a cat to change their name at such a late age, nor was it common to change your name to one based on a human song, but she did it anyway.
Human songs are to cat songs what snacks are to food, these little things that you listen to until it's time for a real song.
“You know, you really need to come down.” she said.
“Am I being too loud?” said Felix, somberly looking over the vast stadium.
“Funny.” she said. “But it’s not what I mean. Sometimes sono you will have to move on.”
“I just want to enjoy this moment.” He said ”So peaceful and quiet.”
She was quite for a second.
“Mind if I sit with you?” she asked and didn’t wait for a response before taking the other side of the corner that connected the bars.
“Sure.” Felix said. More for himself then anything else.
They sat there for a long moment, silently listening to the humans in their rushed paced motions.
“They can’t dismantle the stage until their scheduled transport is ready.” said Willow, responding to the thought he didn’t say.
Willow knowing this shows she cared to much about human technology. The human music thing Felix got, like the concert that should have been held a couple of nights back. They say she likes cats. But human technology was too much for him. Maybe he was just getting older. Too bad he’s not getting wiser.
Suddenly, Willow stood up and pointed with her tail.
“Is that Rello?” she said.
She was pointing at the one of the trucks, where humans were packing all of the outfits for the show. Near the back of the truck, a small shadow with four legs and a tail stepped out of the woods and closer to the truck.
Rello wasn’t a bad cat, he just liked to feel free. And you never feel more free then when you break the rules. So, on occasion, when he felt the pressure of the social structure weigh on him too much, he’d break a rule. In the past he’d stuck to small things. He’d steal some insignificant things, scratch his name into someone else’s tree stump.
Lately though, it seems that these things weren’t enough. He’s been talking about doing bigger, bolder things. About a month ago they found him trying to steal some human tools, which was potentially catastrophic. Dealing with him was always difficult, but it was even harder now that he’s grown. He's gotten so big, almost no one took him in a fight.
Felix and Willow watched quietly as Rello waited for the moment when the humans weren’t looking, and sneaked into the truck.
“What is he doing?” Willow asked, sounding both afraid and angry.
A moment later they started hearing humans screaming in the truck, and Rello screaming back at them. The screaming continued for a few seconds and then Rello stepped out of the truck, dragging something in his mouth. Something big and black.
He took it and ran back into the woods. A few humans tried to run after him, but this was his home turf, and there is nothing that can catch up to a cat in their home turf. They managed to stay up close behind him up until the moment he got up to a hole leading down the tunnels that ran beneath the forest. He dragged the black object, squeezing it into the hole, and vanished from sight.
“Did he just...” Felix started, but before he could finish Willow was moving.
“Willow!” he yelled after her, but she was already too far away.
Felix let out a tired sigh and started after her. He went down the metal bars of the stadium and through the tunnels behind the seats. He ran as fast as he could and got to the other side of the stadium just in time to catch Willow. He jumped on her back and pinned her to the ground. She tried to fight him, but even though he was way too old for this, he could still take her.
“What are you planning to do?” He asked her, holding her down. “You can’t possibly take him in a fight.”
“He took the dress.” She said.
“And what are you going to do? You can’t even push me off of you. And how are you going to find him in there? You’ll get lost trying to find him.”
“She can’t perform without it. He’s going to ruin the show.” She pleaded.
“I know.” He said. ”Let’s be smart about this.”
She grunted, fighting him for a moment, then relaxed.
“Fine.” she said.
“I’ll let you go and you won’t to run after him, deal?”
“Deal.” she said.
A deal is binding. He let her go.
She stood up, gave a little shake to her head and sat next to him.
“What do you want to do?” She asked him.
“I’m thinking about it.” he said. Felix really thought the days he had to deal with this shit were over. He thought the community has reached a stage where everyone can take care of themselves. There’s always a Rello.
“What do you think he’d going to do with it?” Felix asked her. That was the real question. If they knew Rello’s plans, they could disrupt them.
“He’s probably going to take it back to his burrow.” said Willow. ”Maybe he’ll ruin it?”
“I don’t think he knows how to open the lock on that thing.”
“It’s called a zipper.”
“Whatever.” He said. Human tech.
“If he can’t get it open then we have time.” He said. “We need to find a way to get to him and take the dress.”
“We don’t have that much time. The humans are leaving tonight.”
“Do you think they’ll leave without it?”
Willow thought for a second. “I don’t know...”
“Let’s not take that chance. We want to get the dress back to the truck before sundown, right?”
“That sounds right.”
“That leaves us three hours. That’s not enough time, but we’ll make do. Do you have any ideas on how to get it from him?”
Willow turned from the forest and looked at the stadium.
“I might have something in mind.”
It took Willow an almost an hour to find who she was looking for. Daisy sat on the roof of the western ticketing booth, Licking herself and occasionally scratching. This is important work, so it wasn’t a surprise that she was annoyed when Willow called her name repeatedly until she turned to look at her.
“Ugh. What?” said Daisy. “I’m kind of busy.”
“I know, I’m sorry. But it’s kind of an emergency.”
Felix turned to Willow and whispered quietly. “That’s your idea? Going to the oldest brattiest hoarder in this entire arena?”
“Just trust me.” she whispered back. She turned to look at Daisy, who still had the annoyed look on her face.
“I just wanted to see if I can have one of your blankets.”
“What?”
“Your blankets? The black one, please.”
Daisy paused her cleaning for a second, considering it.
“What’s in it for me?”
“I know how Rello’s been taking your stuff. How’d you like him to stop?”
“Interesting.” said Daisy, thinking for a moment before saying “You can have it, but I’ll need some collateral. What do I get if you can’t get him to stop?”
“I’ll give you half my share for a year. Deal?” said Willow.
Felix looked at her with shock. Around here you have relatively little food as it is, there’s no way she could live on half a portion for an entire year. This is suicide.
“Willow...” he started, but she cut him off.
“I got this.”
Daisy also looked at Willow with surprise. But she didn’t seem to mind too much that Willow was putting herself in danger. And she was a gluttonous one.
“We have a deal.” she said. A deal is binding.
“Great!” said Willow, then skipped on to behind the tickets stand to take the black blanket.
Another hour passed, and they were standing on top of a tree not far from the truck. The blanket, now turned into a sack filled with human items gathered from around the stadium, was hanging off the tree near the ground. It was mostly garbage, but there were some cool things like bracelets and t-shirts. Willow insisted on collecting it all. She called it merch.
“Are you sure this is going to work? I have no experience with home invasions.” Said Felix.
“Yes, I’m sure.” She said. “Just wait a minute. The smell will draw him near.”
So, felix waited. It really only took a minute before Rello showed up, stepping slowly towards the bag of merch. The moment he came close enough, Willow cut the rope with her nail and let the blanket fall to to the ground, the content dispersing.
Rello ran into the pile and started to look around for the best thing to take. He grabbed something in his mouth and started dragging it away.
“Follow him. Bring one of the bracelets.” Said Willow and jumped off the tree.
Felix jumped after her and they started following Rello, always staying a couple of trees behind him. They continued following him as he stepped into a hole in the ground and to the underground network of burrows and tunnels.
Nobody really knew how many tunnels there are. They’ve been here before the oldest cats were born. The twists and turns of them made it almost impossible to navigate unless you knew exactly where to look.
They followed him for a while, until finally they were standing in the tunnel that was only twice their height and just around the corner from his burrow. Willow stopped and turned to Felix.
“Wait here. And give me that bracelet.” She said.
He did as she asked. She took the bracelet on her hind leg and stepped into Rello’s home.
Rello turned sharply when he saw, and then visibly relaxed and gave her a dangerous smile.
“What are you doing here?” He spat.
“Oh, nothing.” She said. Felix saw from behind what Rello didn’t see. Willow kicked her bracelet to the side of the room. She gave a quick look around, then grabbed the bracelet with her mouth and ran out.
Rello, thinking she stole something from him, immediately ran after her, leaving his burrow empty. Felix hid against the wall of the tunnel, and when they took the turn to the other side of the fork Rello didn’t seem to notice him.
Felix waited a second for them to turn another corner, then stepped in, took the dress wrapped in black case and ran out. He heard Rello catching up to Willow, but her instructions were clear. For this to work he had to run as fast as he could after getting the dress without looking back. So he did.
He managed to run all the way back to the tree where they left the merch before Rello came up on his tail. Their deception was good, but they knew it will only hold for a bit. He had no interest in the bracelet. He wanted the dress.
Rello jumped on him, pinning him to the ground.
“What made you think you could do that?” He hissed.
“Why would you take it?” asked Felix. “It has nothing to do with us. There is no reason to take whatever it is you’re going through on her. Is it just because we like her?”
“What? I don’t care what you like. I wanted that dress, so I took it. Isn’t that how things work?”
Felix didn’t answer. Nothing he’d say could change the mind of someone who thought like that. Rello gave a dry smile.
“That’s what I thought.” he said. “Next time don’t underestimate just who you’re stealing from, ok?”
Did he just... must be a coincidence.
He grabbed the black lump that Felix dropped to the ground and walked back into the tunnels.
Felix remained on the ground, staying still, until Willow approached him.
“Did it work?” She asked.
“Just like clockwork.” Said Felix. “Is the coast clear?”
“Yes.” she said.
He got up, shook his head and stretched. He got a little beaten, but nothing he didn’t survive before. He still had at least three and a half lives left.
Willow went to the pile of merch and dragged the black lump of fabric that hid beneath it.
“See?” she said, pointing at the line running on the side. “That’s a zipper.”
“Yes. I see.” he said. “I’m just glad you were able to hold him off for long enough for me to make the switch. I’m shocked he didn’t notice.”
“It’s the smell of the merch. It was too distracting for him to notice it. It's impressive that you switched them so quickly.”
Replacing the dress and the blanket was easy, it was placing all of the little pieces of merch back on the dress that took time and made him think that he wasn't going to make it in time. There was still one thing he didn't get.
“What about Daisy?” He asked. “He's still going to take things from her.”
“Not anymore now that he has the blanket.” Said Willow. “He'll get used to it's smell. And since her things all smell like it, he won't notice them as much.”
“That... might actually work.”
She took the dress in her mouth and started walking towards the truck. They slipped underneath it, waited for the humans to look away, and placed the dress on the ground next to it. A few moments later, they heard one of them call for the others in joy.
Later that night, after all the humans had gone home, the two of them were sitting back on the metal bars above the now darkened stadium, watching the city lights in the distance.
“Are you still sad about the concert being canceled?” Willow asked him.
“Aren’t you?”
“Of course I am. But you seemed to take it harder.”
“It was just my first opportunity.” He said. ”There’ll be more.”
“Good.” She said. “There will be more.”
“And a lot of that is thanks to you.” He said.
“No, it’s thanks to us.”
“Sometimes it’s us. This times it was you. We’re really lucky to have you around here.”
“But you-” she started.
“Just take the complement?” He asked.
She smiled and didn’t continue.
They sat there in silent for a moment, just enjoying the view of the stars over the stadium.
“You know,” said Willow, “it still kinda sucks that cats like him get away with things like this.”
“Oh don’t worry, I’m sure he’ll get what he deserves.” said Felix.
She gave him a surprised look. “How are you so sure?”
He took a second to take in the breeze in his hair.
“Because we keep our side of the street clean.”