Mat opened a box. In it was a cute toy train set. Mat had just gotten home from a fantastic adventure with the box. "I can't believe you risked your life for this," murmured Sally. "Well, here you are," said Freckles. "No wonder it was so big. You can sit in it." "Actually, Freckles, it was pretty small," Sally said. "Oh yeah,'' he answered. The kittens climbed into it. "Blow the whistle," Mat said. "Ow,'' Mat said. The whistle was loud. "Let's go to the beach in celebration!" "Yeah!!" yelled the kittens. "Not so loud!" cried Mat.
At the beach, a large commotion was going about. Mat asked someone what was going on.
"He says the beach has been robbed of all it's nuts," said
Mat. "Where's Fletcher?"
"No nuts?!" said a voice. "I can solve that!" Mat looked confused. "Ark! Who goes there?... Uh... Or was it hark, or mark. Anyway, who's there?" "Me," the voice answered. "Who's Me?" "Me." Whoever it was jumped down in front of them. "AAH!" cried Mat. "It's a dachshund, part of the wiener family", Teddy explained. "We learned about them in school." Mat was still dodging every move the dachshund made. "Well, it is pretty big for a wiener," Freckles whispered to Sally. "A wiener?" said one of the kittens. "But he doesn't look like a hot dog." Mat was hopping back and forth. In the confusion, nobody noticed that they had three kittens instead of four.
Mat finally settled down. "W-who are you?" he stuttered. "Roger, Dodger, D. tective. DD for short." Mat looked up. He frowned. Roger was wearing an Olympics hat. "What's with the hat?" he asked him. "Why it's my detective hat of course!" Roger said. Mat still looked strange. "Got it from my grandma when I was a puppy," Roger confessed quietly.
Suddenly, Sally screamed. (Say that five times fast) "One of our kittens is missing!" she cried. Mat and Roger Dodger(DD) raced over. "It's Fletcher!" she said. "Hold on. I think I see him," said Roger. "But what on earth is he doing?" shouted Mat. "He's rowing a boat to Dessert Island. Yum!" Roger said. "WHAT?" yelled Mat. "I'll explain to you in the boat. Let's go!" said Roger. They jumped in. Sally tried to jump in too, but Mat held her back. "Please, honey. Let just us go, this time." Mat said, as he grabbed an oar. "But.." Sally protested. Sally sighed. "Okay," she said. "Goodbye!" But they were already gone.
"No nuts?!" said a voice. "I can solve that!" Mat looked confused. "Ark! Who goes there?... Uh... Or was it hark, or mark. Anyway, who's there?" "Me," the voice answered. "Who's Me?" "Me." Whoever it was jumped down in front of them. "AAH!" cried Mat. "It's a dachshund, part of the wiener family", Teddy explained. "We learned about them in school." Mat was still dodging every move the dachshund made. "Well, it is pretty big for a wiener," Freckles whispered to Sally. "A wiener?" said one of the kittens. "But he doesn't look like a hot dog." Mat was hopping back and forth. In the confusion, nobody noticed that they had three kittens instead of four.
Mat finally settled down. "W-who are you?" he stuttered. "Roger, Dodger, D. tective. DD for short." Mat looked up. He frowned. Roger was wearing an Olympics hat. "What's with the hat?" he asked him. "Why it's my detective hat of course!" Roger said. Mat still looked strange. "Got it from my grandma when I was a puppy," Roger confessed quietly.
Suddenly, Sally screamed. (Say that five times fast) "One of our kittens is missing!" she cried. Mat and Roger Dodger(DD) raced over. "It's Fletcher!" she said. "Hold on. I think I see him," said Roger. "But what on earth is he doing?" shouted Mat. "He's rowing a boat to Dessert Island. Yum!" Roger said. "WHAT?" yelled Mat. "I'll explain to you in the boat. Let's go!" said Roger. They jumped in. Sally tried to jump in too, but Mat held her back. "Please, honey. Let just us go, this time." Mat said, as he grabbed an oar. "But.." Sally protested. Sally sighed. "Okay," she said. "Goodbye!" But they were already gone.
Once
they were steadily cruising, Roger began to explain. "I'm so sorry," he
said. "The people and animals in this town have a rumor that somewhere,
not far from the coast, there is a dessert island. The little fellow
must have heard it and set off to find it himself," he sighed. "What is
this island?" Freckles asked. "Never mind that," Roger said. "Because I
think I can see Fletcher's boat!"
"Thank goodness I brought these fishing tackles. I knew they would come in handy," said Mat. "We'll throw our ropes onto Fletcher's boat!" While Roger was showing Mat how to throw the rope, Freckles got impatient. He threw the rope. It soared way over his head... and latched on his tail. "YOW!!!" yelled Freckles. While Freckles tried to unhook his tail, Mat threw his hook. It landed in the water. Mat pulled it out. Hanging on the hook, was a very large, very dirty old boot. "Ha, ha!" laughed Freckles. "Mat didn't catch Fletcher, he caught old boot!" "I'll catch him yet," said Mat, dumping the old boot back in the sea. Roger threw his hook. It landed on Fletcher's boat! Roger jerked the line, but Fletcher thought a shark was chasing him. He zigged and zagged away into the mist. The line snapped and the hook sank into the sea. "Well," Roger was the first to break the silence. Suddenly there was a crash and a scream as they headed into the fog. "DADDY!" It was hard to see. Before long, they crashed into a rock. Their boat smashed into pieces. It wasn't long before everything went black.
"Thank goodness I brought these fishing tackles. I knew they would come in handy," said Mat. "We'll throw our ropes onto Fletcher's boat!" While Roger was showing Mat how to throw the rope, Freckles got impatient. He threw the rope. It soared way over his head... and latched on his tail. "YOW!!!" yelled Freckles. While Freckles tried to unhook his tail, Mat threw his hook. It landed in the water. Mat pulled it out. Hanging on the hook, was a very large, very dirty old boot. "Ha, ha!" laughed Freckles. "Mat didn't catch Fletcher, he caught old boot!" "I'll catch him yet," said Mat, dumping the old boot back in the sea. Roger threw his hook. It landed on Fletcher's boat! Roger jerked the line, but Fletcher thought a shark was chasing him. He zigged and zagged away into the mist. The line snapped and the hook sank into the sea. "Well," Roger was the first to break the silence. Suddenly there was a crash and a scream as they headed into the fog. "DADDY!" It was hard to see. Before long, they crashed into a rock. Their boat smashed into pieces. It wasn't long before everything went black.
When Mat woke up, the
first thing he thought was: "Where am I?" He opened his eyes and sat
up. Roger was standing over him. "Wake up!" Roger said. "We made it!"
Mat could not believe his eyes. Fletcher and Freckles were licking a
giant ice cream scoop. Roger was flattening out the cone to make a
blanket. He grinned. "This is your dessert island, Mat!" Mat stood up
and hurled himself onto a large piece of cake. With watery eyes he exclaimed,
"Catnip cake! This is the same kind of cake I get for my birthday! Let's get this party started!" He pulled out a radio and
turned it on full blast. "Come on!" he said, grooving to the music. "Who
wants some cake?!" He threw out all the plates and a boomerang that was
in the trunk. It hit a tree and bounced back. "Who wants a curved
stick, anyway?" he muttered, ducking. "OKAY PEOPLE! Here it comes!!!" He
screamed, throwing the cake onto the plates. One hit Freckles. He threw
it back. "Take that!" Mat grabbed a cookie as a shield and began
dodging the cake. Soon, the air was full of cake. Suddenly Mat realized,
"This is too loud!" and just as the piece of cake hit him, he fell
backwards into the sea, passing out from the excitement and just dodging
the boomerang again. .
When Mat
woke up again, he was under the ice cream cone blanket. He looked up. They were in the deep forest. A path led down to the beach were they had
had their food fight. Freckles was digging in the side of a hill. "Hey
Freckles, what you doing?" Mat called. "Digging a mound shelter,"
Freckles answered back.
Mat overheard Roger talking to Fletcher. "Now, I have a list of things we left off with. When I read that item from the list, you take it out and say 'check'. Now if it isn't there you..." Mat didn't hear what Roger was about to say, because he was hit with dirt from Freckles' shovel. "Hey, cut that out!" he shouted. "6 deep fried cookies." "Check!" "Oof!" (This was Mat getting hit with more dirt) "9 fishing tackles." "Check!" "OWWW!"(Mat again) "Curved stick." "Uh uh." "Doggone it!"(Guess who) "Stop that, Freckles!" Mat exclaimed. "I've got sand in my eyes!"
Mat didn't get to finish his sentence, because suddenly everyone heard the sound of metal hitting metal hard. The short, sharp clank echoed through the forest. "I hit something hard!" cried Freckles. Everyone started digging. Mat finally pulled it out. "It's a chest," which he proudly displayed. They opened it. "It's a scroll!" Fletcher shouted. "A long piece of paper rolled up!" Roger unrolled it. " ' To find my secret treasure,' " he read, " 'Go to the banana tree.' " They raced to the banana tree. Mat started to dig. Fletcher found another box. They opened it. " ' Now, look under the two palm trees,' it says," Freckles said. "THE TWO PALM TREES!" Freckles screamed. "Yow!" yelled Mat. "Not so loud." "But I think this is it!!! '' yelled Freckles. "Hurry on down the beach, Mat. It's up there! It's up there! It's up there!" Freckles was beginning to sound like a broken record player. "Do the cha cha cha cha cha cha.*" Mat sarcastically replied.
" ... Oh Brother!!" "Oh Sister!" said Freckles. "Look who's talking. You're not my bro." "Who Cares??!!!! And before we started this whole thing, large as it may be, I do not see on any blog post, on this whole site, somewhere written that you are my best friend," Mat grinned. "True," continued Freckles. " Spats is your best friend. It says so on the blog on post..." He popped up his portable laptop. '' What did you say your blog's name was?" Freckles asked as he connected to the internet.
Mat rolled his eyes. "You got a notepad and a number 2 pencil?" he asked. "Eh, no." Freckles raced to the trunk and rummaged through it, throwing all the deep fried cookies into the air. They all hit Mat's head and crumbled on it. "Freckles!!!" "This could get dangerous." said Roger DD. "You still got those fishing tackles?" "Yep," answered Fletcher. "got it!" Freckles emerged. "All right," said Mat. "WWW., TAILSOFACAT, .BLOGSPOT.COM." "All right, It's on post QUICK FIND!" said Freckles. "But you know Spats could be annoying." "Ha, I heard that." Spats' voice echoed around them.
Mat's homepage disappeared and Spats' face came on the screen. "Rats, I forgot I had video phone connection." Freckles said. Mat groaned. "So, guys, what's going on these days?" Spats asked. Mat told him the whole story. "Wow," said Spats. "But what were you saying just now about me?" "FIRE!!!" yelled Fletcher. Before Mat knew it, he and Freckles were being towed deeper into the forest by a fishing tackle hooked on their tails.
Fletcher threw the other tackle onto the trunk, jerking it so that some cocoa fell out of it onto Freckles' laptop. "Guys, GUYS?!! All I can see is chocolate milk!" said Spats. Suddenly Freckles' laptop fizzed, and crackled out. "Guys??!!!" was the last they heard of Spats. Spats' screen was black. "I hope those guys are okay. I'll call a rescue mission. We'll save them!" Spats said. Meanwhile, as Freckles' laptop lay smoking, little did the group know -as they went deeper into the forest- that they were being watched. A furry figure darted from behind the bushes and grabbed Freckles' laptop and scurried off. Freckles continued to dig the mound shelter he had started earlier that day. It was finished later and they all got to sleep in it.
*MAT HAD ONCE PUT A CHA- CHA RECORD INTO A BROKEN RECORD PLAYER AND THAT'S WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE.
Cheddar looked at Freckle's laptop. He wiped off the chocolate milk and saw the logo. "Mat?" he said softly. Instead, Sally appeared on its screen. "Cheddar? What are you doing here? I expected Freckles?" " Well, I am stranded on this dessert island as well." "Desserts?"said the kittens. "Shh," said Sally. "Spats is arranging a rescue party right now with Chester the dog. You can imagine how that's going over." Cheddar smirked, rolled his eyes, and headed off.
Cheddar slid down a long black tube. It seemed like it was used to transport something. Water was splashing everywhere. A nut tumbled and followed him, ahead was an intersection. Cheddar slid down one tube and the nut went down another. Suddenly, Cheddar popped into the fresh air. All around him were nuts. He didn't know why they were here and who had put them there. The nut tumbled down and hit an old steam whistle. The sound echoed everywhere.
Cheddar heard the sound and jumped down another tube. Halfway down, a horse stood in his way. "Alright, Brownie, you win," said Cheddar. He pulled a tree root, and horse feed fell from the ceiling. Brownie ate, then stepped aside to let Cheddar pass.
Finally, Cheddar got to the old steam train. It was covered in moss. He stepped in and started the locomotive. He climbed into the carriage. The train started to climb a hill. Then a face began to appear on the engine. Then a radio appeared. The coach began to speak. "I am Sheila. I will be your tour guide today." The moss began to disappear and revealed a number. Cheddar gasped. This was the mysterious 49 quarry train. It had disappeared over a cliff working at a quarry with a load of coal. It was traveling over a bumpy road when some coal fell out. The locomotive slid on the coal and toppled off the track. Then Cheddar gasped. The rusty chain holding Sheila was about to snap! Cheddar climbed up to the engine and jumped in. Sheila raced down the hill.
Meanwhile, this is what was going on in the search party. "Heave, Hooooooooooo- !" Sploosh! "Chester, stop that. You wave the oars like this. N-no, not like that!" Spats slid from the back of the boat to the front, front to back and so on. "No!" said Spats as the boat flipped over.
"Ah!! What are you trying to do, chop me in half?" asked Mat. Freckles' shovel swayed in front of his nose. "Think about it. We're going to be rich!" said Freckles. They suddenly heard the old steam whistle. "I wonder what it is?" asked Fletcher. Then Roger tripped over something. "What is it?" asked Freckles. "It looks like an old railway track," said Mat.
Chester
stood on his shovel and forced it into the ground. "Harder!" said
Spats. He was making Chester practice digging. Suddenly, Chester saw
something. It was a big black tube. "I wonder what it is?" he said. Then he slipped down it. Spats followed.
Chester was having a great time in the water slide. He sloshed about. Spats, however, was not. He was going headfirst and every time water hit Chester, Spats got sprayed. Spats slid in front of Chester. He could see daylight. He splashed headfirst into a chocolate river! The current was moving fast. Suddenly, they were swept over a waterfall. Spats grabbed a root and held on.
Sheila, the coach, raced beneath them. Chester fell into Sheila. Sheila rocked and rolled. She slipped and swayed.
Spats hung on the root. A piece of cloth fell onto it. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the laptop fell on top of him. He struggled to get his whiskers out. "Hello, Sally,"he said. "Where are you?" asked Sally. Suddenly the the root snapped. Spats fell down, and landed in a giant donut. The laptop fell onto the edge. The root stuck into the donut and the cloth landed on top of the root, making a perfect sail. Spats tasted part of the donut. "Yum," he said. Sally rolled her eyes. But then the donut made a sharp turn in some rapids. The laptop fell out. It drifted past Mat. Mat grabbed it. "Sally, Sally, are you there?" Teddy appeared on the screen. "No," said Teddy. "She's trying to get Tom to stop eating Wylie's chicken leg."
Chester bounced up and down on Sheila. Sheila suddenly changed tracks and raced by Mat's group. Mat threw out the fishing tackle on to Sheila's back bumper and hung on. Fletcher jumped onto his back. Freckles grabbed Mat's tail. He held another fishing tackle attached to the trunk. Suddenly, the trunk hit a rock. They all collapsed in a heap. Mat jumped up and ran into Sheila. The others followed. Cheddar stopped his locomotive in front of Roger. Roger climbed aboard carrying the trunk. "Hi, guys, I've found you!" said Chester on board Sheila. "Me and Spats went on a search party to find you, but now I don't know where he is."
Spats raced down the rapids in his donut. He slid down into a forest. He suddenly hit a tree. The tree toppled down on to the track. "Yikes!" said Freckles. "There's a tree on the line in front of us!"
Cheddar chased after Sheila. Roger threw a hook onto Sheila. Inside the locomotive, Cheddar turned a giant pulley. With every turn, it pulled Sheila closer to them. Inside Sheila, Mat's friends braced themselves for the crash. Roger Dodger put on the brakes. And they stopped. Just in time. Mat and his friends jumped out of Sheila, and Cheddar and Roger got out of the quarry train. Spats jumped out of his donut.
The friends talked. "Let's go back to that treasure hunt, guys. Maybe that will help us figure out this strange island and help us find out about the nut thief, too,"said Freckles. "Good idea!" Mat said. "Let's go over the clues. Chester and Spats, how did you get here?" "We went through a tunnel filled with water and it dumped us in a chocolate river." said Spats. "Where do you suppose all that chocolate came from?" asked Freckles. "I don't know, but I know the tunnel," Cheddar said. "I use it to get around this island. There's this one part of the island where some nuts are. I eat there every day." "Nuts? Maybe the thief has hidden them there," said Mat. "I don't know, Mat. I'm starting to get a strange feeling about this island. Maybe the island brought the nuts there," said Cheddar. "But whenever I go through the tunnel there''s usually a loose nut in there with me." "You think the island brought them? Hogwash! But if there is one nut there's probably more. I'll send Freckles and Spats to check it out. Freckles and Spats, here are walkie-talkies so you can call us any time," Mat said. "We will be on the treasure hunt." Freckles and Spats set off to find the tunnel.
"Each of us have special backpacks to carry all the supplies we need. Now to find the two palm trees. that would be over there. Come on!" Roger started to dig until he hit a chest. Mat and Cheddar carried it out of the hole. "It's locked!" Cheddar said. "Not for long!" said Chester. He swung once with the shovel and missed. He swung again and missed. Cheddar giggled. Mat grabbed it from him and swung hard on the lid. It banged and dented the lid but didn't unlock it. The shovel bounced back and Mat went flying.
A tiny piece of paper fluttered out the keyhole. It said 'to find the key you must safely make it through the labyrinth'. "What labyrinth?" asked Chester. Then they felt a big rumble. As if in answer, the ground started to open up. The laptop started to fall in the crack. Mat, Cheddar, and Chester all grabbed for it but it fell down the crack. They jumped after it. Cheddar found he couldn't stop falling. He pulled a string on his backpack. All the things that had been stored in it fell out and hit Mat in the face. "Ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow, Owwwwwwwww!" Teddy watched from the laptop. The last thing he saw was Cheddar's belly as it landed on the laptop. Cheddar finally found the parachute string and pulled it. But it was too late. Cheddar was on the ground with Mat and Chester on top of him. The parachute popped up and all the supplies fell on it. Chester looked up. "Get up guys," he said. The guys got up.
"The labyrinth..." said Cheddar. "You go this way, I'll go that way," said Mat. The walkie- talkie crackled. Roger and Fletcher appeared on its screen. "No," said Roger. "You should stay together. That way, none of you gets lost." "Roger's right," said Spats as he appeared on the screen.
"Guys! How's the tunnel check going?" Mat said. "It's going good," said Freckles. "No sign of danger at all, but you get a strange feeling whenever you're in it." "I have an idea," said Fletcher. "Use a ball of string to get through the labyrinth." "Why do we keep calling it a labyrinth?" asked Teddy from the laptop. "Because it sounds more cool than 'maze', "explained Fletcher.
Mat opened up his backpack and shook out everything in it. A large pile appeared on the floor in front of them. The strange thing was that the pile was bigger than the backpack. Mat rummaged through it until he found a ball of string. He yelled, "Got it!" Cheddar picked up the laptop, and Mat tied a piece of string to a wall, and they were off.
There were many dark corridors and shelves. At last they came to a hole, but it was too small to get through. So they went back. At all the other ways they found dead ends. " Oh, this is useless!" said Chester. "Maybe we should contact our friends on the walkie-talkies." Mat called Freckles and Spats and asked them how they were doing. "We're perfectly fine, but this tunnel is really Weird!" answered Freckles. "How are you guys doing?" "Not very well," said Mat "We're stuck."
He explained what had happened. Suddenly, the phone in Chester's paw began to crackle, and Roger DD appeared on the screen. "Why don't you go back to where the hole was. Maybe you can find out something there." So they went back.
Cheddar noticed a keyhole in the wall. "Maybe it's a door," he said. He reached through the hole and moved his paw around until he grasped something. It was a key! He inserted it into the slot. All of a sudden the ceiling slid open and the panel beneath their feet moved upwards and they stood on solid ground. Roger and Fletcher were waiting for them up top.
Mat had an idea. "Maybe, the key will work in the treasure chest." Then they went back and inserted the key. Inside was another small box. They inserted the key into that one. Then they opened box after box after box of small chests. Cheddar got a bad feeling. "Maybe we were gipped." "Nah, that can't be. I have a feeling whatever it is that's in here is coming up soon,"said Mat. He was right. The next box they opened contained a beautiful ruby. Chester held it up to the sunlight. "Wow," Mat whispered.
Inside the tunnel, Freckles and Spats heard a rumble and a roar. "I wonder what that is?" asked Spats. They soon found out! Nuts of all sizes barreled towards them! "Let's get outta here! Spats said. Freckles cried "But there's no Emergency Exit!" "OH NOO!" cried Spats. The nuts had hit them full force and now they sliding down the tunnel at top speed. Brownie the Horse saw them coming and jumped back fast! Freckles turned around to face the nuts but they knocked into the wall. Freckles hung on for dear life. Surprisingly, the nuts past right by him without sweeping him away. Unfortunately, they swept Spats away a good deal. "The walls, Buddy!" Freckles yelled to his far off friend. "The walls!" Ahead of Spats, a root hung on the wall straight out.
"Oh no," whimpered Spats. But Spats slid under the root as gracefully as if he was doing the limbo.
The nuts didn't. They hit the root with such force that they packed together, making a solid wall between the two friends.
Spats pulled out his walkie talkie and called Freckles. Luckily, Freckles was okay, but he had no way of getting out of the tunnel. Spats could safely exit the tunnel but he didn't want to leave his buddy. In frustration, he bashed his head against the wall of nuts. A nut fell out from the top of the stack and hit Freckles. "Ouch," said Freckles. But the wall wasn't so tightly packed together anymore! Spats watched as the wall of nuts slid down from the ceiling and swept him away again. Freckles hesitated, then sighed. He jumped into the sea of nuts after his friend.
Spats decided to call Mat and the gang back at the treasure chest. Mat explained how they had gotten out of the labyrinth. Spats told them what was going on. "Uh, oh, the ruby might have something to do with that." "What ruby?" cried Freckles, who had joined the conversation. Spats was getting worried. He could see daylight ahead. Mat explained. "Well, what do you think it Meeeaaans?" cried Spats.
The stream of nuts had shot out into a grassy field and Spats was bumping along towards a slanted rock. "AIIII!" he screamed. "What's going on?" asked Cheddar. Mat almost cracked up looking at Spats' alarmed face on the screen. Freckles heard Spats' scream farther down in the tunnel. He was beginning to see daylight too. He thought about the strange tunnel, and the Mysterious Ruby, and how the nuts had started so suddenly, and he began to see the connection. He heard another scream and glanced down at his walkie talkie just in time to see the Sky, the Sweet Sky. The screen twisted and fell straight down into the stream of nuts. Spats and the nuts flew straight up the rock, into the air, and back down again. The walkie talkie had escaped his grasp and spun around in the air. Cheddar was getting queasy just watching from his walkie talkie. The next thing they saw was Spats' butt and a bunch of nuts soaring over the video phone. Fletcher and Teddy were scared. Freckles shot out into the open. He held on tight to his walkie talkie and turned the screen away from him so that Mat and the gang could see what he was seeing. Spats and his walkie talkie were being swept into a cave and around a curve. Freckles quickly explained his theory to Spats and the others. "Hahk hahk haa! That's nonsense!" Spats scoffed. He slid further into cave and was going to be swept over a cliff onto a hard rock. "Aaa! Okay, Maybe it's true!" Spats tried running back but he just flipped over and landed on his back.
"Where are you?" asked Freckles. "All we can see is black." "I'm in a cave and I'm about to be swept over a cliff into a very hard rock!" "I can see the cave now, and I'm being swept in too!"
Freckles shot into the darkness around a curve. He aimed his walkie talkie ahead of him, so that Mat could see the cliff too. "Don't just stand there!!!" Freckles screamed. "For Goodness sake, Chester, put that ruby back in the box!" said Mat. And just as suddenly as they had begun, the nuts stopped.
The nuts had stopped but Spats, his walkie talkie and Freckles did not. They slid all the way to the edge of the cliff. Spats grabbed a stalagmite and hung on. The walkie talkies stopped. Spats could just grab it, but he didn't want to do so in risk of losing his grip on the stalagmite.
Mat overheard Roger talking to Fletcher. "Now, I have a list of things we left off with. When I read that item from the list, you take it out and say 'check'. Now if it isn't there you..." Mat didn't hear what Roger was about to say, because he was hit with dirt from Freckles' shovel. "Hey, cut that out!" he shouted. "6 deep fried cookies." "Check!" "Oof!" (This was Mat getting hit with more dirt) "9 fishing tackles." "Check!" "OWWW!"(Mat again) "Curved stick." "Uh uh." "Doggone it!"(Guess who) "Stop that, Freckles!" Mat exclaimed. "I've got sand in my eyes!"
Mat didn't get to finish his sentence, because suddenly everyone heard the sound of metal hitting metal hard. The short, sharp clank echoed through the forest. "I hit something hard!" cried Freckles. Everyone started digging. Mat finally pulled it out. "It's a chest," which he proudly displayed. They opened it. "It's a scroll!" Fletcher shouted. "A long piece of paper rolled up!" Roger unrolled it. " ' To find my secret treasure,' " he read, " 'Go to the banana tree.' " They raced to the banana tree. Mat started to dig. Fletcher found another box. They opened it. " ' Now, look under the two palm trees,' it says," Freckles said. "THE TWO PALM TREES!" Freckles screamed. "Yow!" yelled Mat. "Not so loud." "But I think this is it!!! '' yelled Freckles. "Hurry on down the beach, Mat. It's up there! It's up there! It's up there!" Freckles was beginning to sound like a broken record player. "Do the cha cha cha cha cha cha.*" Mat sarcastically replied.
" ... Oh Brother!!" "Oh Sister!" said Freckles. "Look who's talking. You're not my bro." "Who Cares??!!!! And before we started this whole thing, large as it may be, I do not see on any blog post, on this whole site, somewhere written that you are my best friend," Mat grinned. "True," continued Freckles. " Spats is your best friend. It says so on the blog on post..." He popped up his portable laptop. '' What did you say your blog's name was?" Freckles asked as he connected to the internet.
Mat rolled his eyes. "You got a notepad and a number 2 pencil?" he asked. "Eh, no." Freckles raced to the trunk and rummaged through it, throwing all the deep fried cookies into the air. They all hit Mat's head and crumbled on it. "Freckles!!!" "This could get dangerous." said Roger DD. "You still got those fishing tackles?" "Yep," answered Fletcher. "got it!" Freckles emerged. "All right," said Mat. "WWW., TAILSOFACAT, .BLOGSPOT.COM." "All right, It's on post QUICK FIND!" said Freckles. "But you know Spats could be annoying." "Ha, I heard that." Spats' voice echoed around them.
Mat's homepage disappeared and Spats' face came on the screen. "Rats, I forgot I had video phone connection." Freckles said. Mat groaned. "So, guys, what's going on these days?" Spats asked. Mat told him the whole story. "Wow," said Spats. "But what were you saying just now about me?" "FIRE!!!" yelled Fletcher. Before Mat knew it, he and Freckles were being towed deeper into the forest by a fishing tackle hooked on their tails.
Fletcher threw the other tackle onto the trunk, jerking it so that some cocoa fell out of it onto Freckles' laptop. "Guys, GUYS?!! All I can see is chocolate milk!" said Spats. Suddenly Freckles' laptop fizzed, and crackled out. "Guys??!!!" was the last they heard of Spats. Spats' screen was black. "I hope those guys are okay. I'll call a rescue mission. We'll save them!" Spats said. Meanwhile, as Freckles' laptop lay smoking, little did the group know -as they went deeper into the forest- that they were being watched. A furry figure darted from behind the bushes and grabbed Freckles' laptop and scurried off. Freckles continued to dig the mound shelter he had started earlier that day. It was finished later and they all got to sleep in it.
*MAT HAD ONCE PUT A CHA- CHA RECORD INTO A BROKEN RECORD PLAYER AND THAT'S WHAT IT SOUNDED LIKE.
Cheddar looked at Freckle's laptop. He wiped off the chocolate milk and saw the logo. "Mat?" he said softly. Instead, Sally appeared on its screen. "Cheddar? What are you doing here? I expected Freckles?" " Well, I am stranded on this dessert island as well." "Desserts?"said the kittens. "Shh," said Sally. "Spats is arranging a rescue party right now with Chester the dog. You can imagine how that's going over." Cheddar smirked, rolled his eyes, and headed off.
Cheddar slid down a long black tube. It seemed like it was used to transport something. Water was splashing everywhere. A nut tumbled and followed him, ahead was an intersection. Cheddar slid down one tube and the nut went down another. Suddenly, Cheddar popped into the fresh air. All around him were nuts. He didn't know why they were here and who had put them there. The nut tumbled down and hit an old steam whistle. The sound echoed everywhere.
Cheddar heard the sound and jumped down another tube. Halfway down, a horse stood in his way. "Alright, Brownie, you win," said Cheddar. He pulled a tree root, and horse feed fell from the ceiling. Brownie ate, then stepped aside to let Cheddar pass.
Finally, Cheddar got to the old steam train. It was covered in moss. He stepped in and started the locomotive. He climbed into the carriage. The train started to climb a hill. Then a face began to appear on the engine. Then a radio appeared. The coach began to speak. "I am Sheila. I will be your tour guide today." The moss began to disappear and revealed a number. Cheddar gasped. This was the mysterious 49 quarry train. It had disappeared over a cliff working at a quarry with a load of coal. It was traveling over a bumpy road when some coal fell out. The locomotive slid on the coal and toppled off the track. Then Cheddar gasped. The rusty chain holding Sheila was about to snap! Cheddar climbed up to the engine and jumped in. Sheila raced down the hill.
Meanwhile, this is what was going on in the search party. "Heave, Hooooooooooo- !" Sploosh! "Chester, stop that. You wave the oars like this. N-no, not like that!" Spats slid from the back of the boat to the front, front to back and so on. "No!" said Spats as the boat flipped over.
"Ah!! What are you trying to do, chop me in half?" asked Mat. Freckles' shovel swayed in front of his nose. "Think about it. We're going to be rich!" said Freckles. They suddenly heard the old steam whistle. "I wonder what it is?" asked Fletcher. Then Roger tripped over something. "What is it?" asked Freckles. "It looks like an old railway track," said Mat.
Chester was having a great time in the water slide. He sloshed about. Spats, however, was not. He was going headfirst and every time water hit Chester, Spats got sprayed. Spats slid in front of Chester. He could see daylight. He splashed headfirst into a chocolate river! The current was moving fast. Suddenly, they were swept over a waterfall. Spats grabbed a root and held on.
Sheila, the coach, raced beneath them. Chester fell into Sheila. Sheila rocked and rolled. She slipped and swayed.
Spats hung on the root. A piece of cloth fell onto it. Suddenly, out of nowhere, the laptop fell on top of him. He struggled to get his whiskers out. "Hello, Sally,"he said. "Where are you?" asked Sally. Suddenly the the root snapped. Spats fell down, and landed in a giant donut. The laptop fell onto the edge. The root stuck into the donut and the cloth landed on top of the root, making a perfect sail. Spats tasted part of the donut. "Yum," he said. Sally rolled her eyes. But then the donut made a sharp turn in some rapids. The laptop fell out. It drifted past Mat. Mat grabbed it. "Sally, Sally, are you there?" Teddy appeared on the screen. "No," said Teddy. "She's trying to get Tom to stop eating Wylie's chicken leg."
Chester bounced up and down on Sheila. Sheila suddenly changed tracks and raced by Mat's group. Mat threw out the fishing tackle on to Sheila's back bumper and hung on. Fletcher jumped onto his back. Freckles grabbed Mat's tail. He held another fishing tackle attached to the trunk. Suddenly, the trunk hit a rock. They all collapsed in a heap. Mat jumped up and ran into Sheila. The others followed. Cheddar stopped his locomotive in front of Roger. Roger climbed aboard carrying the trunk. "Hi, guys, I've found you!" said Chester on board Sheila. "Me and Spats went on a search party to find you, but now I don't know where he is."
Spats raced down the rapids in his donut. He slid down into a forest. He suddenly hit a tree. The tree toppled down on to the track. "Yikes!" said Freckles. "There's a tree on the line in front of us!"
Cheddar chased after Sheila. Roger threw a hook onto Sheila. Inside the locomotive, Cheddar turned a giant pulley. With every turn, it pulled Sheila closer to them. Inside Sheila, Mat's friends braced themselves for the crash. Roger Dodger put on the brakes. And they stopped. Just in time. Mat and his friends jumped out of Sheila, and Cheddar and Roger got out of the quarry train. Spats jumped out of his donut.
The friends talked. "Let's go back to that treasure hunt, guys. Maybe that will help us figure out this strange island and help us find out about the nut thief, too,"said Freckles. "Good idea!" Mat said. "Let's go over the clues. Chester and Spats, how did you get here?" "We went through a tunnel filled with water and it dumped us in a chocolate river." said Spats. "Where do you suppose all that chocolate came from?" asked Freckles. "I don't know, but I know the tunnel," Cheddar said. "I use it to get around this island. There's this one part of the island where some nuts are. I eat there every day." "Nuts? Maybe the thief has hidden them there," said Mat. "I don't know, Mat. I'm starting to get a strange feeling about this island. Maybe the island brought the nuts there," said Cheddar. "But whenever I go through the tunnel there''s usually a loose nut in there with me." "You think the island brought them? Hogwash! But if there is one nut there's probably more. I'll send Freckles and Spats to check it out. Freckles and Spats, here are walkie-talkies so you can call us any time," Mat said. "We will be on the treasure hunt." Freckles and Spats set off to find the tunnel.
"Each of us have special backpacks to carry all the supplies we need. Now to find the two palm trees. that would be over there. Come on!" Roger started to dig until he hit a chest. Mat and Cheddar carried it out of the hole. "It's locked!" Cheddar said. "Not for long!" said Chester. He swung once with the shovel and missed. He swung again and missed. Cheddar giggled. Mat grabbed it from him and swung hard on the lid. It banged and dented the lid but didn't unlock it. The shovel bounced back and Mat went flying.
A tiny piece of paper fluttered out the keyhole. It said 'to find the key you must safely make it through the labyrinth'. "What labyrinth?" asked Chester. Then they felt a big rumble. As if in answer, the ground started to open up. The laptop started to fall in the crack. Mat, Cheddar, and Chester all grabbed for it but it fell down the crack. They jumped after it. Cheddar found he couldn't stop falling. He pulled a string on his backpack. All the things that had been stored in it fell out and hit Mat in the face. "Ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow,ow, Owwwwwwwww!" Teddy watched from the laptop. The last thing he saw was Cheddar's belly as it landed on the laptop. Cheddar finally found the parachute string and pulled it. But it was too late. Cheddar was on the ground with Mat and Chester on top of him. The parachute popped up and all the supplies fell on it. Chester looked up. "Get up guys," he said. The guys got up.
"The labyrinth..." said Cheddar. "You go this way, I'll go that way," said Mat. The walkie- talkie crackled. Roger and Fletcher appeared on its screen. "No," said Roger. "You should stay together. That way, none of you gets lost." "Roger's right," said Spats as he appeared on the screen.
"Guys! How's the tunnel check going?" Mat said. "It's going good," said Freckles. "No sign of danger at all, but you get a strange feeling whenever you're in it." "I have an idea," said Fletcher. "Use a ball of string to get through the labyrinth." "Why do we keep calling it a labyrinth?" asked Teddy from the laptop. "Because it sounds more cool than 'maze', "explained Fletcher.
Mat opened up his backpack and shook out everything in it. A large pile appeared on the floor in front of them. The strange thing was that the pile was bigger than the backpack. Mat rummaged through it until he found a ball of string. He yelled, "Got it!" Cheddar picked up the laptop, and Mat tied a piece of string to a wall, and they were off.
There were many dark corridors and shelves. At last they came to a hole, but it was too small to get through. So they went back. At all the other ways they found dead ends. " Oh, this is useless!" said Chester. "Maybe we should contact our friends on the walkie-talkies." Mat called Freckles and Spats and asked them how they were doing. "We're perfectly fine, but this tunnel is really Weird!" answered Freckles. "How are you guys doing?" "Not very well," said Mat "We're stuck."
He explained what had happened. Suddenly, the phone in Chester's paw began to crackle, and Roger DD appeared on the screen. "Why don't you go back to where the hole was. Maybe you can find out something there." So they went back.
Cheddar noticed a keyhole in the wall. "Maybe it's a door," he said. He reached through the hole and moved his paw around until he grasped something. It was a key! He inserted it into the slot. All of a sudden the ceiling slid open and the panel beneath their feet moved upwards and they stood on solid ground. Roger and Fletcher were waiting for them up top.
Mat had an idea. "Maybe, the key will work in the treasure chest." Then they went back and inserted the key. Inside was another small box. They inserted the key into that one. Then they opened box after box after box of small chests. Cheddar got a bad feeling. "Maybe we were gipped." "Nah, that can't be. I have a feeling whatever it is that's in here is coming up soon,"said Mat. He was right. The next box they opened contained a beautiful ruby. Chester held it up to the sunlight. "Wow," Mat whispered.
Inside the tunnel, Freckles and Spats heard a rumble and a roar. "I wonder what that is?" asked Spats. They soon found out! Nuts of all sizes barreled towards them! "Let's get outta here! Spats said. Freckles cried "But there's no Emergency Exit!" "OH NOO!" cried Spats. The nuts had hit them full force and now they sliding down the tunnel at top speed. Brownie the Horse saw them coming and jumped back fast! Freckles turned around to face the nuts but they knocked into the wall. Freckles hung on for dear life. Surprisingly, the nuts past right by him without sweeping him away. Unfortunately, they swept Spats away a good deal. "The walls, Buddy!" Freckles yelled to his far off friend. "The walls!" Ahead of Spats, a root hung on the wall straight out.
"Oh no," whimpered Spats. But Spats slid under the root as gracefully as if he was doing the limbo.
The nuts didn't. They hit the root with such force that they packed together, making a solid wall between the two friends.
Spats pulled out his walkie talkie and called Freckles. Luckily, Freckles was okay, but he had no way of getting out of the tunnel. Spats could safely exit the tunnel but he didn't want to leave his buddy. In frustration, he bashed his head against the wall of nuts. A nut fell out from the top of the stack and hit Freckles. "Ouch," said Freckles. But the wall wasn't so tightly packed together anymore! Spats watched as the wall of nuts slid down from the ceiling and swept him away again. Freckles hesitated, then sighed. He jumped into the sea of nuts after his friend.
Spats decided to call Mat and the gang back at the treasure chest. Mat explained how they had gotten out of the labyrinth. Spats told them what was going on. "Uh, oh, the ruby might have something to do with that." "What ruby?" cried Freckles, who had joined the conversation. Spats was getting worried. He could see daylight ahead. Mat explained. "Well, what do you think it Meeeaaans?" cried Spats.
The stream of nuts had shot out into a grassy field and Spats was bumping along towards a slanted rock. "AIIII!" he screamed. "What's going on?" asked Cheddar. Mat almost cracked up looking at Spats' alarmed face on the screen. Freckles heard Spats' scream farther down in the tunnel. He was beginning to see daylight too. He thought about the strange tunnel, and the Mysterious Ruby, and how the nuts had started so suddenly, and he began to see the connection. He heard another scream and glanced down at his walkie talkie just in time to see the Sky, the Sweet Sky. The screen twisted and fell straight down into the stream of nuts. Spats and the nuts flew straight up the rock, into the air, and back down again. The walkie talkie had escaped his grasp and spun around in the air. Cheddar was getting queasy just watching from his walkie talkie. The next thing they saw was Spats' butt and a bunch of nuts soaring over the video phone. Fletcher and Teddy were scared. Freckles shot out into the open. He held on tight to his walkie talkie and turned the screen away from him so that Mat and the gang could see what he was seeing. Spats and his walkie talkie were being swept into a cave and around a curve. Freckles quickly explained his theory to Spats and the others. "Hahk hahk haa! That's nonsense!" Spats scoffed. He slid further into cave and was going to be swept over a cliff onto a hard rock. "Aaa! Okay, Maybe it's true!" Spats tried running back but he just flipped over and landed on his back.
"Where are you?" asked Freckles. "All we can see is black." "I'm in a cave and I'm about to be swept over a cliff into a very hard rock!" "I can see the cave now, and I'm being swept in too!"
Freckles shot into the darkness around a curve. He aimed his walkie talkie ahead of him, so that Mat could see the cliff too. "Don't just stand there!!!" Freckles screamed. "For Goodness sake, Chester, put that ruby back in the box!" said Mat. And just as suddenly as they had begun, the nuts stopped.
The nuts had stopped but Spats, his walkie talkie and Freckles did not. They slid all the way to the edge of the cliff. Spats grabbed a stalagmite and hung on. The walkie talkies stopped. Spats could just grab it, but he didn't want to do so in risk of losing his grip on the stalagmite.
Freckles flipped straight off the cliff and grabbed Spats' tail. They could hear cracking noises. Freckles gulped and fumbled around in his backpack, found some rubber bands and strapped the walkie-talkie to his head. "Uh-oh," said Spats.
The piece of earth snapped. Spats and Freckles were sent hurtling downwards on a piece of rock.
Watching from the camp, Cheddar began to get very queasy. But that was nothing compared to what was going on on the rock. It was plummeting straight down! Spats' walkie talkie flipped off the edge of the rock and began spinning around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around and around. Now, everyone watching was getting queasy. Suddenly, it fell into a chocolate lake and fuzzed out. "Oh no!" said Mat. "I hope they're all right!" The rock suddenly turned upside down and Spats and Freckles found themselves in the chocolate pool.
Freckles wedged the rubber band off his head, but it shot back and hit him in the nose. "Yow!" Freckles cried. Spats fumbled around in the lake and pulled out his walkie talkie. It was dripping chocolate. Spats shook it off. Some of it landed on Freckles. "Umm," said Freckles as he licked his lips. They didn't know that the lake was just a few yards behind Mat and the gang.
The rock smashed to pieces on the riverbank. Spats and Cheddar jumped and turned around to look at it. As the rock crumbled, Spats could see the campground!
Spats and Freckles rushed to their buddies. "I'm glad you guys are okay," said Cheddar. "The video phone screen was making me sick!" "Yeah, well it flipped off the rock into a chocolate pool."
"Oh no!" said Mat. "I hope the film isn't ruined!" "What film?" asked Chester. Mat Grabbed the walkie talkie, slid open a compartment in it, and a memory card fell out. Mat breathed a sigh of relief. "What's going on, Dad?" asked Fletcher. Mat took the memory card and put it in the laptop as he explained. "This video phone also has a record feature on it so that it also records what it sees. I hit the record button just before I handed them to you. I'm downloading the video right now."
Mat popped up a live feed of the video so they could see the video while the computer was downloading it. First, they saw Freckles' stressed face. "Don't just stand there!!" They heard him shriek. Then the next thing they saw was Freckles' body flipping over the camera. For a minute, everything was completely calm. Then the camera hurtled downwards showing Freckles and Spats' feet as they danced around nervously on the rock. One time, Freckles' foot got too close and knocked the camera off the rock and it began to spin around and around and around and around and around and around around and around and around and around. "Oh no, I can't watch this again," said Cheddar and closed his eyes.
Pretty soon the video had downloaded. "Now you know what we have to do." Freckles said. Everyone nodded. "We'll get off this island and tell the others what we know," said Mat. "But how do we get off this island?" asked Chester. "Easy," said Cheddar. "We use the tunnel." So, Cheddar and Roger DD led the group into the darkness of the tunnel.
Water sloshed all around. They were going uphill so it was a hard climb through the tunnel. Brownie came out of his hole to say hello. "Hello, Brownie," Said Cheddar. "I wonder why Brownie didn't get swept away by the nuts." "Oh, he was in there all right." said Spats. "He just ducked his head into his hole before the nuts could get him." "Goodbye Brownie," said Cheddar.
Chester suddenly slipped and he found himself soaring back to where he came from. Cheddar, Fletcher, Freckles and Brownie jumped after Chester. Mat and Spats looked at each other. Mat shrugged. "Oh well," said Spats. Then they jumped down the tube. Seven of them shot down the tunnel at lightning speed. Roger stayed at the top of the tunnel. Then they came to an intersection. Five of them went right, but Mat and Spats went left. Mat flipped over and grabbed a corner of the tunnel. Spats grabbed Mat's tail, and Mat hauled them up the tunnel and into the other one. Cheddar grabbed Chester. Brownie grabbed Cheddar. Fletcher jumped on top of Brownie. Mat grabbed a wall. Spats and Freckles grabbed Mat, and Brownie twisted his tail around Freckles' leg. Together they pulled themselves back up the tunnel.
"Goodbye Brownie!" said Cheddar. "Come up and see me some time." Brownie whinnied, turned around, and slid down the tunnel, Waving goodbye.
Roger Dodger turned. "I can see some light," he said. Pretty soon, they were emerging into the bright sunlight of the beach. The first thing they saw was an upside-down paddle boat with two splintered oars on the top. "Hmm," said Mat when he saw the boat. "I wonder what happened." Spats rolled his eyes. "I know what happened." "WHAT?" Everyone but Chester asked. "Chester flipped the oars too high, And we ended up going home wet." said Spats. They all had a good laugh about that.
Suddenly, Sally shrieked (say that five times fast). "There you are!" she Cried. "I was getting worried. Teddy was hogging the computer for so long I didn't get to contact you. And then I had to stop Tom from eating Wylie's chicken leg." Mat smiled. "This time, I'll have a story that will top Wylie's." "I wonder what Teddy was doing on the computer for so long. In fact, he's still on it now!" said Sally. The group exchanged sly grins. "You know," said Mat. "We just may know the answer to that question." Roger pulled the laptop out from the trunk and popped it open. On its screen were Tom and Teddy. "Hi!" Said Teddy. "But Mom," said Tom "That chicken leg was soooo good!" "Teddy was helping and watching along on all our adventures since you got tangled up with the chicken leg mishap." "Oh, so that's what he was doing." said Sally. And they all started to giggle.
THE NARRATOR: And they all had a good time on the beach. THE END.
MAT: No, it's not the end yet. We still have to tell the beach folk about our discovery.
THE NARRATOR: Oh... Right...right.
Mat and the gang trudged along the deep sand. Soon they saw a big crowd. "That must be where we want to go." Everybody was making a big deal about the nuts. "GUYS, WE HAVE A SOLUTION." shouted Mat to make himself heard. When everyone quieted down, Mat pointed at Freckles.
"Before I begin," said Freckles. "I want to ask you where you got these nuts." "We got them from the island," someone said. "Just as I thought. Those are the island's nuts." Freckles told them. "What?" "Those are the island's nuts. You took them from the island. I know it sounds crazy but I have a detective to vouch for me." And Freckles told them all about their adventure. "You love desserts, right?" Freckles asked. Everyone nodded. "Well it's the island that makes them. The island is alive and the ruby is the heart of the island. It is very powerful. It grows wonderful desserts for you and ships them to your stores. It has a gigantic water tube that goes down from the beach to the island. It uses it to transport nuts and desserts to the beach and other parts of the island. The island needs the nuts to help make a new wonderful dessert for you. Mark my words, I think you'll be very surprised by the end of the year."
And indeed they were, when they found on the beach humongous almond chocolate bars!
"So now I can say I've been skydiving, sledding, skateboarding, driving, mountain climbing, astronaut training, and been trapped on a Dessert Island," said Mat. "Wow," said Cheddar. "There's not many cats who can claim THAT!" "I know," said Mat. "Case Closed," said Roger.
THE NARRATOR: THE END.
MAT: This time you got it right.
The
End.
