Chapter 9
“Downs & Ups”
You may wonder where our three spies were during that last meeting; all three attended. Gato & Fan did not know where Pluma was and Pluma did not know where Gato was, nor did she know about Fan. I should add that it was from the mental notes of all three, that we received such a complete retelling of the meeting. However, not all the story has yet been told.
Gato had already “trained” Fan, that two invisible beings sitting on the same seat, was problematic; so when the pair entered the room before the start of the meeting, one went left, the other right and to separate corners. They decided on this tactic, only after a joint attempt to listen from a wall-vent. Not only did they discover their movements were very noisy inside of sheet-metal duct-work, the two became stuck in the duct and had a heck of time time backing out. Gato knew he was a very small man and after this failed idea, he judged by the small amount of room he had to wiggle, that Fan was a very big man. Luckily, when they fell out of the vent-access, tipped over their ladder in the process and the tangled-duo smacked the floor, not a soul was near enough to hear the groaning end of this fine idea.
Pluma came down from the attic, hoping that Gato had the intelligence to try and find her at the meeting. She came in shortly after the other two snoops had already reached their spots.
Fortunately for our heroes, the overriding tone of the meeting was one of general suspicion, which dominated whatever wits each member of the cabinet possessed. While in the room, our trio had a few close-calls that may have been detected if any had happened in a single occupied office.
The first duel involved Fan & Loco. Fan’s mistake was that he intended to get behind the plant in his corner, but he was too big and before he was able to move the pot out for more room to could get behind it, Terra-Firma came through the door. Fan froze in place, that is until during the meeting, when Carlos came over to get a glass of water.
Our large Fan had not considered water to be any possible threat, and of course we would all normally agree, unless it is a large body of water and a potential swimmer knows that he/she cannot swim. However, when Carlos spilled ten ounces of water and it splashed on Fan’s invisible jewels, that water proved to be ice-cold and frosted the said jewels. That our new-spy did not grab Carlos nor yell justified curses towards the visible man, soon gained the respect of Gato and Pluma...especially Gato.
Pluma’s mistake was entirely different. Because of her natural habit of wearing perfume, she did not consider it (the best-seller
Lureia) could remotely be a dangerous-risk. However, at the time that the wealthy Eldorado recognized her expensive aroma, was the very moment he began bragging about his deals with the Americans and his mind remained fixed on his beautiful bank-account.
Of the three, as we should probably expect by now, Gato’s fortune soured and sweetened again, when Marco sampled one of the rolls on the snack table and found it not fresh enough for his Presidential-pickiness, he tossed the unwanted-roll over to the wastebasket. His aim was long and the roll hit Gato in the stomach and fell straight down into the trash-container. (Had that toss happened in basketball, it would have been called a back-board shot)
It would have been impossible for the President to have missed such a score, if he had not been distracted by a basket of nuts. Now dear readers, I admit that a basket or bowl of nuts, has a very fitting and symbolic meaning for this tale but in this case, these nuts were almonds, which happen to be Terra-Firma’s second favorite nut. The President has a strong explicable affinity for Carlos and I will merely venture a guess and say it is highly likely to be a feeling of fatherly-protection for Carlos, because Carlos does seem to need protection and also a large...allowance.
The Stairwell
After the meeting ended and the members had all left, it was time for our spies to head back to safety and relaxation. Now you may wonder why our friends would need to rest, since each do not have real jobs anymore and are not bothered by the daily-grind that most people face day to day but it is an error for us to forget their invisibility. It is a very difficult and tiring task to be constantly chilly, feel totally exposed, threatened by things that you never considered dangerous before and then to be endlessly avoiding mindless people that quite often do not know themselves where they are going.
Now we find our trio on the stairs leading to their hideouts. Gato & Fan are holding hands (both men strongly stress – only for safety) and Pluma is just two steps ahead, when another unforeseen event occurs; the Boss & the Worker exit an upper-hallway and are now talking at the top of the stairs.
Our trio slowly backs down the stairs.
The Boss mentions some other task and the intruders leave the top of stairs.
Six naked feet began sneaking up the steps again.
Our spies hear the
Workman ask;
“I thought the kitchen was more important?” The
Boss says,
“Oh right” and the visible pair head back to the stairs.
Six naked feet began sneaking down the steps again.
However, again the
Boss changes his mind and said; “
We are forgetting the leak”. And again they turn around.
Now before Gato, Fan and Pluma could react, another man, dressed in the same clothes that the workman wore, came to the bottom of the staircase and began calling-up to the two men upstairs.
Six naked feet DID NOT begin sneaking up the steps again. Both Gato and Fan too well remembered the close-call with the two chatty-guards in the hallway and instinctively did the very same maneuver; only this time, instead of carrying a bag and knocking down a guard, they scooped up a slower Pluma and the dynamic-trio bolted out of the stairwell, evaded the two clothed-men and pitter-patted (their form of “raced”)to find a resting place that
showed no evidence of a leak.
