Chapter 10

CHAPTER 10 Meanwhile, Mr. Nemesis peeked down from his perch in the walnut tree, keeping an eye on Bob and Mary through the open window below. The cat's left paw rested over the knothole in the tree, still holding Larry hostage. "What's going on down there?" Larry asked. "Shhhhh!" Mr. Nemesis hushed him. "I can't hear them with you talking." Some fidgeting and scrabbling sounds came from inside the tree. "I really need to go to the bathroom," came Larry's voice. "Can you let me out for a sec?" "What?" Mr. Nemesis scowled. "Why don't you just go in the tree?" "Excuse me?" Larry replied, insulted. "I'm not a barbarian. Do you use the bathroom inside your home?" "As a matter of fact, I do," Mr. Nemesis said, recalling his litter box in the laundry room. "You're staying right where you are." Most common squirrels don't have a problem with peeing in their trees, but Larry was a bit of a neat freak, and he wasn't about to start doing it now. "Please let me out!" he begged. "Quiet!" the cat hissed.

If you've ever been in a place where you've really needed to go potty and couldn't, either because you were in a car stuck in traffic or in a department store where you couldn't find where the restrooms were hidden, you know how desperate Larry was starting to feel. "C'mon! It'll just take me a second!" Larry pleaded. "You are not going anywhere." Inside the tree, Larry looked around anxiously for possible alternate exits. Nothing. He could feel the sweat starting to bead on his forehead. He looked at the main exit, blocked by the soft, pink pads on Mr. Nemesis's paw. The cat was too strong for Larry to force his way through.

That's when he spotted it— a large, sharp splinter, about the size of a pencil, hanging off the side of his enclosure like a stalactite. Desperate times call for desperate measures, Larry thought as he snapped off the splinter. "I'm asking you one more time!" he called out. "And I'm telling you no one more time," Mr. Nemesis replied. "Okay," Larry said. "Sorry about this." "Sorry about whAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA?!!!!!" The cat screamed as the splinter lanced his paw. Reeling backward, Mr. Nemesis lost his footing on the large branch where he stood. As his back claws slid off the branch, he tried to reach out with his front paws, but the stabbing pain from the splinter prevented him from being able to grab it. He fell.

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