Utterly Mad

“Thanks for sharing Kyle.” L snarked. “C’mon Catnip, let’s do some window shopping.”

     The fence around the yard wasn’t difficult to bypass with the bolt cutters they had brought from the truck. Once inside though, Catnip was irritated to find that one side of the fence had been ripped down in a pile of twisted chain link, corrugated metal, and razor wire. “It’s hard to tell through all the cars and sheet metal Catnip. What about this one?” L stopped and made an exaggerated pose over an expensive looking convertible. “It’s very nice, but there’s only room for three, if someone sits on somebody's lap.” L giggled awkwardly, which suggested to Catnip that the idea embarassed her. Catnip popped the hood on the candy red vehicle and took a look inside. “It looks alright… Hey, if this Mark guy is so hung up on money like Kyle says, what if we brought him a couple cars?”

     “It’s a good idea, but cars aren’t really in demand because Pricetown is too crowded to drive around.” L told her, “Mark isn’t much of a salesman anyway.” Catnip checked the car’s oil level, then noticed something odd. “Hey L.” She said, “The starter thingy is gone.”

     This was a theme with all the cars in the lot. One after another, Catnip would run through her list of things to check until she got to the starter. In each and every vehicle, the starter had been removed. “Weird.” Catnip said, scratching her head in wonder. “That’s a very specific bit of damage for every single one to have isn’t it?”

     “It’s not damage.” L sighed, “They must have removed the starters to keep people from stealing them. Anyone can hot wire a car or have a key made. Back then they could anyway.” It was a bit disappointing. Especially since they had come all this way in the uncomfortable heat. The two of them stood there in mutual discomfort at the way they had both begun to sweat and stink with exertion. For the first time, Catnip complained openly about the heat, and L checked her watch. “Do you think we could find and get a starter installed-” L began, but just then, they both sensed something had changed, causing their ears to perk and Catnip’s long whiskers to twitch. “Did you hear that?” Catnip had, it sounded like shouting. It sounded like Kyle shouting.