The second in the Adventures of Sheriff McRattripper Adventures. Read the first part here.
It was a gloomy, rainy evening. The rain was like a grey canopy covering the usually sunny ranch of Catnada. Every house looked cold, mournful and sad. But one of the houses looked warm, a slope-roofed house. It was filled with light. Indeed this was the invincible Sheriff McRattripper's office.
The old fashioned and comforting voice of Frank Catnatra filled the room with a warm and cosy atmosphere. There on the wall, hung a mouse bandit's head with ears, nose, eyes and fangs. A shelf in the corner of the room contained all the Sheriff's awards including the oldest, bravest Sheriff Award from the Dragon Lady.
Sitting in a soft, warm chair was the Sheriff himself, fat and covered with scars. His eyes were shut, but his whiskers were alert. It was like, if a door opened, the whiskers would jump up like an alarm.
Exactly what I said just happened. The door burst open and a fat milkmaid came barging into the room. The whiskers jumped up at the same time. "Sheriff, Oh, Sheriff", said the woman in her worried voice, "The E.L.E.F.P.N.M has been stolen!"
Just as she said 'stolen', the Sheriff's old and weary eyes burst open. First he looked at his own nose and then stared back at the cat-milkmaid. "Mouse bandits, very clever and unusual mouse bandits", said the Sheriff in a thoughtful voice. "I'll see to this case t'morrow. G'night madam", he said and tipped his hat to her.
Once the milkmaid had gone, the Sheriff sat in deep thought. "Elliot", he called, and a young cat appeared. "Yes sir?", he squeaked. "Be a pal and gemme some milk", the Sheriff ordered him. He came back with some warm milk.
Ratripper sipped at the milk and thought aloud, "hmmm... whoever this mouse bandit is who stole the formula, he isn't an ordinary one. He will come back for more. I must be ready."
The next morning was the same as before, except, it wasn't raining. The Sheriff was up and about, limping with his walking stick to reach the Dairy. As he walked, people stared at him. He was a respected person in Catnada, but there were some that were jealous of him too.
As the Sheriff reached the dairy, the door opened and the same milkmaid of the day before stood there. "Sheriff, come in, come in!"
The Dairy was a small place, with a wooden desk at the reception area. Here a thin cat lady sat, who when she saw the Sheriff froze to her seat. After a while she said, "Welcome to the dairy sir!" She led him to the place where the E.L.E.F.P.N.M had been stored.
The E.L.E.F.P.N.M was stored in a greenhouse like place, surrounded by guards. The Sheriff first eyed the guards suspiciously and shifted his gaze to a small stone pillar. The pillar had an empty container on it, where the E.L.E.F.P.N.M bottle should have been. The sheriff stared at it for a while and then said, "Would you mind if I asked the guards some questions?"
He moved towards the guards and asked, "May I ask, what you saw when the E.L.E.F.P.N.M was stolen?. "Sir, we saw the most extraordinary thing! The bottle was floating in thin air , it kept moving till it was too late to catch it and disappeared. The others here will tell you the same, don'tcha fellas?"
The other guards nodded in agreement.
"Thank you, guards", said the Sheriff, "I want 10 guards in here and more in the front entrance and the back entrance. Oh, and the remaining E.L.E.F.P.N.M will be kept in my office. Anyone disagreeing with my plan can plead in my office." And with that, the Sheriff limped back towards his office.
Once back in his cosy and soft arm chair, Sheriff McRatripper sat deep in thought. He knew that the thief was still hiding somewhere in Catnada, somewhere nobody would go, somewhere everybody would be scared of. The Shack of Ghosts.
The Shack of Ghosts was a small, broken-down hut, rumoured to be haunted by the ghosts of Catnada. No one has ever come out alive from the shack. The Sheriff headed here. As he reached the shack, he heard an odd sound of a knife sharpening. Someone was in there and he was going to find out who!
The Sheriff reached for the door and there came flying at him, a dagger. However, he wasn't stunned, instead, he tapped his walking stick on the ground and the knife froze midway in air. With a clatter, it dropped to the ground, the Sheriff walked past it with a frown.
The door closed with a creak behind him and he was in darkness alone. But was he alone?
"I know your secret and I know where you are. There's no use hiding", said the Sheriff.
"Aaaaah, you found me", said the whispering voice,"I didn't expect this!".
Suddenly from the shadows, leapt out a mouse bandit. He was no tinier than a dwarf and wore a lab coat and black goggles. "Sherifffff Mc Rraaatrippperrrr.....", said the mouse.
"Who are you?", asked the Sheriff?
"I am the Cat-inator. I destroy caaaats and will make all your cheese mine! But with you around, I can't even get half my work done", said the mouse bandit. He turned to show his tail and said in a rasping voice, "TWITCH!" and instantly, he disappeared. The Cat-inator had become invisible!
The Sheriff walked back home, but in his mind something was brewing... He looked up at the night sky and thought, "I wonder where the Catinator is now..."
The Sheriff opened the door to his home. As he entered, the door closed with a force. He heard a rasping voice and then a 'TWITCH!.
There in his office room stood the Catinator with an evil grin on his face. He hadn't noticed the Sheriff walk in.
"Buhaahaahhhhaa! That coward Sheriff must have been scared of me. Lets hope Catnada ranch doesn't call him a traitor, after they find the E.L.E.F.P.N.M missing from his own office room!"
The Catinator stood eyeing the E.L.E.F.P.N.M bottle like it were a brick of gold.
As he reached out to take it, he heard a gunshot.
He also felt a searing pain across his tail end. He look back and saw two things.
His tail lay on the floor.
Sheriff McRatripper standing in the entrance of the room.
"H-H-How did you know I would come here?!!!", demanded the Catinator.
"I asked the E.L.E.F.P.N.M to be kept in my office, and ordered the news of it being here to go around the ranch. I knew you would come here!"
There was silence.
Then the Catinator said in a shaky voice,
"D-D-Deathh is only t-the B-Beginning!" And dropped dead.
"Elliot! Tell the Deputy that we caught another big fish, ahemm, mouse today!", said the Sheriff.
Alex Legina mouse, also known as the Catinator was an intelligent scientist, but everyone thought he mad. This angered him, so he decided to use his intelligence in an evil way.
Evil often meets with a gory, sticky end.
Soon the Sheriff's office was flooded with the police examining the dead Mouse bandit.
Sheriff Mc Ratripper sat in his warm, cosy chair with a glass of milk in hand. Frank Catnatra sang in the background, 'Just singin' in the rain....'.
"I'm too fat and old to go out adventure shoppin'. Instead my enemies are bringin' me the adventure!" - Sheriff Mc.Rattripper.
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