The Cat Food Crisis ::: Chapter One

Stay tuned over the weekend for the rest of this short story, based on our Ben and Pip's superhero persona's!

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“Go eat your food Jack, there’s a good boy,” said the voice which towered over Jack with a patronising tone from above. Today was a good time of the day for Jack. Well normally anyway but today WOULD be different. Jack paused, and stared at the food. Something peculiar was going on. Something didn’t seem right, somehow. As the owner receded back into its house, this Sprollie knew that something was different about the food. It smelt weird for a start. Jack eyed the food with disbelief.

“Cat food”, he muttered to himself. The breeze of the outdoors ruffled his fur as he stood outside his kennel gazing at the sky up above. He then glanced back down at the food and ate some. It was terrible, he thought and certainly not the usual stuff.

“Smells like Kitty Nibbles. Hmm. I wonder if Super Little Pip and Super Ben-Job will think the same...”

Something WAS going on, and he thought he knew. It was KITTY NIBBLES! Perhaps... this would remain quite a mystery to ponder.

Meanwhile, in the not so distant kitchen, Ben and Pip stood. And then, moments later the “Dog Food” came down in the dishes. It came from the same usual tin but this food was very different. Pip stared at the food suspiciously before eating while Ben, being Ben gobbled all his grub down without hesitation.

“There’s something funny about that food. It tastes different somehow,” said Pip slowly.

“Really? Tastes good to me, just like chicken. Chicken is goooood,” said Ben eagerly.

“I don’t like it. Tastes like....”

“Chicken?”

Those Sprollie senses were tingling.

“Not quite what I presumed Ben. There’s something iffy about this. It seems like quite a sudden change. I mean, it looks and tastes extremely different to the normal food we eat.”

“Maybe, the humans made a mistake,” remarked Ben quite thoughtfully.

“It’s bizarre how different the foo-,”

“KONG! MUST HAVE KONG!!”

Pip was interrupted by Ben, who excitedly had found the Kong. Not any Kong, but The Kong. His craziness and excitement could never be contained.

Jack walked into the human’s house casually, to find Ben in hyper mode playing with Kong on his own excitedly, while Pip sat on the rug nearby in deep thought. Pip thought this was a fitting opportunity to continue her sentence.

“It’s bizarre how different the food is today. I mean what was going on out there. Was it meat or steak flavoured or something?”

“STEAK?! WHERE?” said Jack and Ben at the same time. The thought of it sent drool on the old, beige (and now wet) rug.

After he stopped briefly salivating, Jack observed the still half-empty dog food bowl of Pip and remarked indifferently -

“It’s a bit like that, em, what’s it called...” He pondered for a moment. “Kitty Nibbles! Yes, that’s it!” He burst out suddenly with pride.

“You know what I mean don’t you Little Pip?”

Pip glanced and beamed; “And how would you know?”

“I.... tried it once when I was extremely hungry!”

Ben listened carefully. This story could be worth remembering.

“OK... I think we smell an investigation coming on-” said Pip.

Ben butted in - “With gadgets? Exploring?”

“That would be quite fun,” said Pip calmly. “You never know what will happen....”

All three dogs then decided to go for a relaxing stroll on this great sunny day. The sun shone brightly over the evergreen grass of Greenhill and reflected on the dogs’ coats.

Then they saw something approach them. It was a small dog. A cream Chihuahua. She looked mysterious somewhat but friendly.

“Greetings. You want to know who’s done this terrible deed?? They call him Great Dane.  He is tall, dark and the cause of this terrible crisis. All you have to do is track him down in the town, with him last being spotted heading to the joke shop on Medley Road.”

“Wow,” said Jack energetically. “Goodbye Super Ben-Job and Super Little Pip!”

“So, Ben,” said Pip. “Fancy a road trip?”

To be continued...

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WRITTEN BY JAMES ::: EDITED BY RUTH ::: ILLUSTRATED BY RUTH