Tales from Hallowed Hollow
The Odd Couple
Written by
Marg Watt
Published by Moorna Publications at Smashwords
Moorna Publications
Text copyright © Marg Watt 2010
Illustrations copyright © Jenny Finn 2010
ISBN: 978-0-9871069-6-4
The moral rights of the author and illustrator have been asserted.
All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted by any means or entity, including internet search engines or retailers, in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying (except under statutory exceptions provisions of the Australian Copyright Act 1968), recording, scanning, or by any information storage and retrieval system without the prior written permission of Moorna Publications.
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The Odd Couple
“Don’t worry Folic, we’ll be able to rest soon and perhaps find something nice to eat.” Arabesque told the plump little guinea pig clinging tightly onto the long fur at the scruff of the back of her neck. He struggled to keep his balance as she made her way through the undergrowth.
Anyone seeing the two animals together could be forgiven for finding the odd combination very strange, as the sight of a totally blind, glossy coated, jet black, short haired guinea pig riding on the back of a long haired, pale fawn Persian cat who had mere stumps of ears was very unusual indeed.
These two however had become inseparable as Folic totally trusted, and wholly depended upon the cat to help him find his way when getting about.
In turn Arabesque relied upon the guinea pig for his keen sense of hearing. She was all but totally deaf and could only hear certain pitches of sound, but as luck would have it, Folic’s squeaky, high pitched voice hit just the right level, making his help essential to her.
Yes, indeed they were an odd couple to see together, but they had been through a great deal together since being placed into separate cages within the sterile confines of a testing laboratory, before they managed to escape by lucky accident.
After arriving in the laboratory, Arabesque had had numerous kinds of creams, drops, lotions and potions forced into and around her ears during the months that followed.
Folic had had his eyes continually filled with various kinds of creams and liquids since he had been placed into his cage a while before Arabesque’s arrival.
The result of these unwanted attentions upon them both was that Folic had become blinded permanently.
Arabesque had not only lost the greater part of her hearing range, but had also suffered serious chemical burns to her sensitive ears, which over time had caused ulcers and sores.
Her ears had become so badly affected after a while it had been necessary for a vet to operate on her to remove the greater part of both of her ears, almost level with the top of her head.
It was this operation that had resulted in giving this otherwise beautiful looking cat her now unusual appearance.
After both animals had suffered in such terrible ways the people who ran the laboratory had decided that neither of them were suitable subjects for further use.
They arranged for a local veterinary surgeon to collect them both from the laboratory to take them away to be humanely put to sleep.
After collecting the two animals from the laboratory the vet returned to his surgery on the outskirts of town.
He had just taken Folic out of his transport cage and placed him on the work table in readiness of giving him the small injection that would end his life when the telephone in the office further down the hall began to ring.
Knowing that the vet office was closed, and that no other staff members were in the building, the vet knew that it would have to be him who answered the call in case it was urgent and his assistance was needed in a hurry somewhere.
On the spur of the moment, he decided that the little guinea pig, now sitting quietly in the center of the table, was unlikely to go anywhere on his own, so the vet hurried out of the room to answer the phone in the office along the hall, leaving Folic to his own devices.
Upon arriving at the vet’s surgery, Arabesque had sensed that both she and the little guinea pig were in some kind of danger, but had been unable to work out what sort of threat faced them at the time. She was now convinced that whatever it might be, it wasn’t going to go away unless they were able to do something about it themselves. Again, she had no idea what she might be able to do.