Pop Odyssey
By Neko
Part 4
Kat woke up slowly. She could feel Justin’s strong
arm draped ever her. She turned slightly so she could see his face.
She liked to watch him sleep; it was the only time she could truly admire
him. Any other time he would be making a mess or getting in trouble
in some way.
She carefully slid out from under his arm and went into the kitchen.
She was sitting at the table drinking tea when Justin came out of the
bedroom. He wiped the sleep from his eyes. He sat down opposite Kat
and watched her. “I know.” Kat said as if she’d been
through this before. She got up and went over to one of the cabinets
and got a bowl out and filled it with cereal. When she was done she
set it in front of Justin, who smiled at her. “You’ve got
me trained, now if only I could train you;” Kat said and then
sat back down. Justin started to eat like a wild animal. Kat looked
at him. “We’re going to need to work on that.” Kat
said. When he was done Kat took him over to the sink and cleaned him
up. “If you weren’t cute, I wouldn’t do this.”
Kat said. Justin just stood there.
The phone rang. “Hello?” Kat said. “Hi, I haven’t
seen you for a few days.” Mandy said. “Yeah well Justin
is a handful.” Kat said in reply. “I know, so you want to
go do something?” Mandy asked “I don’t know.”
Kat said turning off the water so Justin would stop playing in it. “Come
on, it’ll just be you and me, you can lock Justin in your apartment.”
Mandy said. “That doesn’t sound like a good idea, but I
have to get away from him for at least a few hours. So I’ll do
it.” Kat said. “Great, I’ll be over in 20 minutes.”
Mandy said and then hung up.
Kat turned and looked at Justin. “You better be good!” Kat
warned then went to get ready. Mandy came on time, “ready to go?”
Mandy asked. “Yeah” Kat said heading for the door. Justin
followed her. “No you stay.” Kat said pushing him back.
She quickly stepped out then shut and locked the door. Justin was shocked.
He just stood there.
“Where are we going?” Kat asked. “The mall, maybe
a movie.” Mandy said. “Cool” Kat said as Mandy started
her car. At the mall they caught a movie and hit a few shops. “We
should go back.” Mandy said. “Yeah we got out and had some
fun.” Kat said as they made their way to their car. “I have
so much to do.” Mandy said. “What kind of work are you doing?”
Kat asked. “Research on the year 2000.” Mandy said. Being
a historian sounds like hard work.” Kat said. No harder than being
a writer. How’s the book coming anyway?” Mandy asked. “It’s
going faster now that I stopped Justin from writing on my papers!”
Kat said.
“How did you do that?” Mandy asked. “I bought him
his own pad of paper.” Kat said. Mandy laughed. “So how’s
Lance?” Kat asked. “About like Justin.” Mandy sighed
as they parked the car. They walked to Kat’s apartment first.
“I wander what he did all day?” Kat said opening her door.
When the door came open Kat’s jaw dropped. Mandy looked in. “Maybe
leaving him alone wasn’t a good idea.” Mandy said as they
stepped inside. The apartment was trashed. Furniture was knocked over
and trash was everywhere. “When I find him I’m going to
kill him.” Kat yelled. “I better go see what kind of shape
my apartment in.” Mandy said running out. “Okay see you
later.” Kat said. She walked around and picked up a few things
up.
“Justin!” Kat yelled walking into every room trying to find
him. She finally found him sleeping on her bed covered in feathers,
flour, and dirt. He’d ripped all her feather pillows open and
flung them around the room. “Justin!” Kat yelled as loud
as she could. Justin woke with a start. He looked over at her and smiled.
His smiled quickly faded when he realized she wasn’t happy. He
wasn’t sure why. “I don’t care how long it takes you,
but you are going to learn how to clean and then clean up every bit
of this mess.” She said grabbing his ear and pulling him into
the other room.
She grabbed the vacuum. “You can start in the bedroom, since we
have to sleep in there tonight.” Kat said. She pulled him back
into the bedroom and put the vacuum hose in his hand. It took her 15-minute
to teach him to use the vacuum. But once he got the hang of it, he almost
willingly worked. He would get bored and try to stop, but Kat would
yell at him and he would work more.
When he was finally done she moved him on to the next room. Mandy came
back over to see how things were going. When she walked in the apartment
smelled of cleaner. Kat was on the couch folding bedding. Justin was
sitting on the floor in the kitchen with a rag and bucket, wiping up
the flour he had spilt.
“So what did Lance do?” Kat asked. “Nothing like what
Justin did, thank god.” Mandy said. “Yes, but Justin learned
a new and useful trick.” Kat said. “Really?” Mandy
asked. “Yeah, he can sweep, scrub, and pick up after himself.”
Kat said smiling. “Cool, the only thing Lance can do is try to
eat things. When I came home Lance was trying to eat my plastic plant.”
Mandy said. Kat laughed. “He made a little mess do you think Justin
wants to come clean my apartment?” Mandy asked. Kat peeked around
the counter at Justin.
Justin was just sitting there rubbing the wet rag across the same area
of floor. His eyes were half closed and he was about to fall asleep.
“No, I think he’s about had it. But that’s what he
gets for wrecking my apartment.” Kat said.
“Yeah, well I just wanted to see how things were going. So I’ll
leave so you can get him to bed.” Mandy said. “Okay, see
you later then.” Kat said as she left. Kat turned back to Justin.
She walked over to him and wrapped her arm around him. Justin looked
up at her. He was worn out and about to crash. “Come on sweetie
there is one more thing to clean up.” Kat said pulling him up.
She helped him into the bathroom and started to fill the tub. She pulled
his shirt off, Justin looked at her. She hugged him. He had made her
so mad earlier but he tried so hard to make her happy again. It meant
a lot to her. One Justin was all cleaned up Kat fixed him a quick supper
and then sent him to bed.
