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The
Adventures of
© 2005
by David Lourie
Registered, Australian
Writers Guild #4330
"Dharma Finds A Treasure" Dharma is a handsome black and white male Kitten. He has beautiful soft fur, big green eyes, white paws and a sweet innocent smile. One bright sunny day, Dharma is out in his back yard, enjoying his favorite meal – a large saucer of warm goat’s milk. Dharma’s little pink tongue laps up every last drop, and then he sniffs the bowl all over, just to make sure the job is complete. Dharma likes to do things properly, even if it’s only a small thing like drinking milk. After his meal he cleans his whiskers and paws with his rough tongue. Then he licks and licks his fur coat until he is spotlessly clean all over. He enjoys a big yawn and a long, lazy stretch, and then he thinks, “Now that that’s done, I can lie in the sun.” But suddenly Dharma’s ears twitch, as he hears strange grunting noises. Being curious as a Cat, Dharma peeks around the hedge, and there he sees his friend and feeder, Emily. Emily is a kind and sensitive little girl who loves Dharma very much. Emily is struggling with a long tree branch. She is trying with all her strength to pry a rusty old anchor out of the fish pond. Emily is the sort of person who isn’t afraid to take on a big job like this, and she doesn’t give up easily. Dharma rubs against her leg and purrs. Emily giggles and says, “Stop it, Dharma – that tickles!” But Dharma likes to hear Emily giggle, so he keeps on doing it. “Not now, Dharma – I’m busy!” Emily says. “Emily, tell me what you’re doing in the yard, and why are you trying so hard?” Dharma asks. Emily puffs and strains against the branch as she answers in a low voice, “I’m being a detective, Dharma!” “Well, tell me what you’re detecting, so I can start inspecting!” he says. Emily giggles again, and stops pushing on the branch. She bends down and pets Dharma lovingly. He purrs even more loudly as she gives him a good scratch under the chin. Emily whispers, “Guess what, Dharma – I’m searching for the lost Map to where the Pirate Treasure is buried!”
Dharma says, “Wow, searching for Treasure? I’m in it, with pleasure!” “Shhh!” says Emily. “This is a secret!” “Oh,” whispers Dharma, “Okay by me. But how do you know where the Map will be?” Emily points at the rock pool. “See that old anchor there?” Dharma sniffs the anchor. Emily explains, “That’s exactly the kind of anchor they used to have on the old Pirate ships!” “Well, please forgive me for not being hip, but what in the world is a Pirate ship? “You know,” says Emily, “a ship with Pirates!” “Oh, I see,” says Dharma, not having the faintest idea what Pirates are. He sniffs the anchor again. “And where there’s an Pirate’s anchor, there’s probably a Pirate’s Map,” Emily assures herself. “Come on, Dharma, let’s find it!” Emily puts all her weight on the branch again, and Dharma does the same, although his added weight doesn’t make much difference. Suddenly Dharma looks up and sees the garden statue starting to tip. He warns Emily, “Be careful, go slow – you could topple the statue and hurt your toe!” Emily looks up just as a piece of the statue breaks off and falls into the fish pond. Two frightened goldfish jump out of the pond and land right on top of the rock wall, flipping and flopping in fear. Just then Emily’s mother comes by, pushing a wheelbarrow full of young flowers to plant in the garden. She sees the piece of statue topple into the pond, and she cries out, “Emily, watch out! You’ll get hurt, Dear!” Emily drops the tree branch and tries to pretend she wasn’t really doing anything. Dharma slinks away and hides under the hedge. The goldfish are still flipping and flopping on top of the rock wall. Emily’s mother says, “Quickly, Dear, put the fish back in the water, before the poor little things suffocate!” So Emily gently scoops the two goldfish back into the pond, where they join their fishy friends and have a happy swim. Then Emily puts the fallen piece of the statue back in place. “I was just helping Dharma get that old anchor out,” Emily explains. “Oh, I see, Emily,” her mother sighs and shakes her head. “The things you and that little Kitten get up to! Now you’ve got mud all over you, so go inside and clean up for lunch.” Emily goes inside the house, and Dharma scampers in right behind her. But as they get halfway down the hall, Dharma stops and sniffs at the door to the water heater. It’s usually locked, but now it’s just the slightest bit open. Dharma thinks, “Wow, I’ve never been in this room before! There was always a lock on this old door.” So he hooks his paw under the door and pulls on it. The door opens slowly, with the creaky sound of old rusty hinges. Dharma starts to stick his head inside, but his whiskers touch the edge of the door, so he backs off and opens it a little wider. Now his whiskers don’t touch, so he sticks his face inside the warm, dark mysterious chamber. He gives a few good sniffs, and thinks, “Hmm, smells like it’s dirty and dusty. So if I go in, I’ll come out smelling musty. . . Oh, well, it’s just a smell!” Dharma takes one cautious step inside the room and peers into the darkness. He thinks, “This sure is a creepy space, so maybe it was a Pirate’s place . . . whatever that is.” Emily’s mother comes out of the kitchen just in time to see Dharma’s tail disappearing through the doorway. “Emily!” she shouts, “what’s your Kitten doing?! You know he mustn’t go through that door! He’ll get filthy in there! Quickly, get him out, Dear!” Emily dashes into the hallway and grabs Dharma before he gets too far into the dark, dusty chamber. “Oh, Dharma,” Emily warns, “if you get all dirty, you’ll get us both in trouble again!” Dharma protests, “But to find Treasure you have to look in dark places! And anything worth finding is worth dirty faces!” Emily picks him up and whispers, “Shhh. I’ve got an idea! But it could get us in trouble.” Dharma says, “That’s okay, a little trouble is good for a Cat! Though it could be bad for a Rat or a Bat – and even worse for a Gnu or a Gnat!” “Hmm,” Emily says as she thinks it over. She takes Dharma into her room, closes the door and sits him down on the bed. She whispers to him very seriously, “See that little door in the ceiling up there? That’s exactly the kind of place a Pirate would hide a Map, or maybe even the Treasure itself!” “Oh, wow,” says Dharma, “that’s getting me really curious! But if I go in there, you know who’ll be furious!” “But if we find the Treasure, she’ll be really happy!” says Emily. “We have to get that door open, and get you inside!” “How?” asks Dharma. Emily looks around the room, and then says, “We’ll put that chair on top of the chest of drawers, and then I can reach up with the broomstick and hold the door open for you.” So she moves the chest of drawers, with Dharma’s help, and then puts the chair on top of it. She stands on the chair and props the little ceiling door open with the broomstick. Then Dharma jumps up onto the chair, and Emily lifts him through the doorway. Dharma puts his paws on the ledge, opens his big green eyes as wide as he can, and peers into the dark, narrow space above the ceiling. “Because Cats can see in the dark,” Emily says, “you won’t even need a light, Dharma.” “But there’s nothing to see in here!” says Dharma. “And there’s also nothing to smell or hear – all I can sense is the smell of my fear!”
Just then Emily’s mother pokes her head into the room and sees what’s going on. “Oh, Emily, don’t put Dharma in there, Sweetheart! He’ll get filthy, and then he’ll get the dirt all over you!” She watches as Emily and Dharma move the furniture back to where it was, and then she shakes her finger and warns them, “I don’t want any more mischief from you two!” Emily and Dharma sit on the bed, looking very disappointed. “I’m sure the Map is up there!” Emily says. “I don’t like that creepy place,” says Dharma, “I bet the Treasure’s in that other space!” “You mean the old doorway in the hall? You smelled something in there?” “I want to go back there and really explore, but if we get caught, there’ll be trouble galore!” Well, a little trouble is good for a girl sometimes, too,” says Emily. “What’s the plan?” “Well,” says Dharma, “you unlatch the door and go back to your room, and pretend you’re sweeping with that old broom. Then I’ll sneak in, as quiet as a pin!” “Well, I suppose if I were busy sweeping and looking the other way, I wouldn’t even know that you were being naughty.” She and Dharma grin at each other. Emily giggles, then goes down the hallway and quietly unlatches the door, leaving it ever so slightly open. Then she starts sweeping the hallway, looking away from the door. Pretty soon she lets out another little giggle. Dharma sneaks down the hallway, hooks his paw under the door and opens it again. Then he enters the dark, warm space. “I’m only as curious as I should be,” he thinks. “After all, every Cat’s as curious as me!” Dharma sniffs his way around behind the water heater, where the tiny pilot flame gives a slight glow of light. His tail twitches as he feels a cool draft coming through the brick wall next to him. He pushes his nose against the source of the draft, and a loose brick moves. He pushes harder on the brick, and it falls out of the wall, leaving a space just big enough for a Kitten to squeeze through. Dharma slowly sticks his head through the opening, then places one paw inside, and rests it cautiously on a mysterious object. He feels the object carefully with the soft pads on his paw, but he can’t make out what it is. “This is scary, not a pleasure. I sure hope this leads to some kind of Treasure!” Just then he hears Emily’s mother call out, “Emily, what’s that Kitten of yours up to?” Dharma freezes. Emily answers, “I don’t know, Mum, I can’t see him. I’m sweeping.” Emily’s mother says, “Well, he’d better not be up to any more mischief, or you’re both in big trouble!” Dharma thinks, “Maybe it’s best to not do any of this. But for a Cat to back down now would be amiss!” He pulls himself through the gap in the wall, placing all his weight on the mysterious object. But as soon as he does this, the object collapses under him! Dharma crashes down onto all sorts of tinkly, noisy little things. Emily’s mother shouts, “What was that noise?!” “I don’t know,” Emily answers, feeling scared. Dharma panics. “Oh, no, not again! Trouble is where I’ve always been.” “Emily, come here!” her mother says. “Oh, I wish I hadn’t let Dharma go in there,” Emily thinks, as she goes to her mother in the hallway. “Look at this door,” Emily’s mother says. “This must be Dharma’s handy work.” Dharma doesn’t move a muscle. He is so frightened he trembles. “Mummy,” Emily pleads, “if Dharma is in there, we don’t have to punish him, do we? After all, he is a Cat, and all Cats are curious.” Dharma’s heart pounds as he listens to their voices. “Well,” Emily’s mother asks, “if we don’t punish him, how will we teach him to stay out of places he doesn’t belong?” Just then Emily and her mother hear the weakest, saddest, most trembling little meow they’ve ever heard, coming from behind the water heater. “Well,” says Emily bravely, “we can’t teach him to not be curious, because he’s a Cat. So it’s up to me to keep him out of those places.” “So will you take responsibility for that?” her mother asks. “Yes, I will,” promises Emily. “I’ll never leave a door open where we don’t want him to go!” “Okay,” her mother agrees, “then that’s your job from now on.” Emily is very happy. “Don’t be afraid, Dharma,” she calls to him. “You can come out now!” Dharma comes out all covered in brown dust. But he is also dragging a long pearl necklace which has caught around his neck. Emily is so happy to see him, she picks him up and kisses him, even though it gets her dress all dirty. “I love you, Dharma,” she says. Dharma purrs happily and rubs his dusty cheeks all over Emily’s face. Emily’s mother is ecstatic to see the beautiful pearl necklace. “This belonged to my grandmother! It’s been lost all these years!” “Where did you find it, Dharma?” asks Emily. Dharma goes back through the doorway and shows them the hole in the wall. Emily reaches through and pulls out a fistful of jewellery from the small box that had broken under Dharma’s weight. “My goodness!” cries her mother, “Dharma, you’ve just uncovered the family jewels! Grandma’s missing jewellery box has been a mystery ever since she died!” Emily and her mother laugh and hug each other, as they celebrate their good luck. But they are not nearly as happy as Dharma is that night, because for dinner he has been given the best reward he could ever imagine: two big saucers of warm goat’s milk!
And ever since then, Emily and her mother have always left the hallway door unlatched, so Dharma can go exploring and satisfy his Cat’s curiosity whenever he wants to. Besides, who knows what else he’ll find in there! |
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