A Visit with the Thundercats

“Yah! Go get ‘em Lion-O! Use the Sword of Omens! Yah-hoo!” I cheered on the Thundercats as they battled the evil Mum-Ra on TV. Man, what I wouldn’t give just to be like them. Too bad I couldn’t meet them some day…

Sitting back in the well broken down couch (I jumped on it every time I watched Thundercats) I quietly watched the rest of the show. After it was over, I decided to go get online where I could sink into the realm of fantasy and actually BE Cheetara, my favorite character, in a Role Play.

“You’ve got mail!” the monotone voice of the computer told me as I logged onto AOHell. Checking it before I went to CatsLair.com, I noticed a strange e-mail from someone named JAGA. Hmm… No Jaga’s in the RP I’m in. Could be someone from another Thundercat site. I opened it and was quite surprised at what I read.

Dear Cheetara01:

Due to low ratings of the show, the Thundercats are in need of temporary lodgings and perhaps some new training.

I have been watching the mass amount of Thundercat sites online in my quest for a new home for the Cats. You have been selected as one among many to watch the Tundercats for an unspecified amount of time. They will be sent directly to your house upon your acceptance of this e-mail.

Thundercats Ho!

-JAGA

I could hear myself snorting with laughter at the ridiculous e-mail. Yah, right, the Thundercats need a place to stay? Hehe, sure hope they don’t mind a cramped house and having to cam out in the attic or garage or, even worse, the backyard with my family’s horses! Shiesh, Licia had probably sent me this e-mail as some sort of joke. Ok, I’ll humor her. Sure, I’ll watch the Thundercats! It only took a few seconds to tap out a reply.

Dear JAGA:

Sure I’ll watch the Thundercats! Just hope there’s enough room in my house for all of them!

-Cheetara01

Shaking my head, I got up to find some sugar. Hey, the best time to write crazy stories is when you’ve had plenty of Sun Drop and chocolate! While rummaging through my leftover Easter candy, still in the basket and tucked safely away in my bedroom, I heard the doorbell ring. Nah, I wasn’t going to answer it, I needed sugar! It rang again and I still didn’t answer it. Hey, let Mom or Dad get it. Oh, wait, they were out with the horses! Blast it, now I have to go answer that silly door.

A half eaten Easter bunny in my hands, I ran down the stairs and to the front door. I opened it slowly and… BAM! I slammed the door shut again. No, it couldn’t be… Could it? I opened it a crack and peeked out. Yes, I had seen them.

A tall, very muscular man with very wild hair and a very hansom smile politely knocked on the door. “Excuse me, are you Melanie Murphy?”

I opened the door a little wider. “Yes…” My jaw must have been lower than the floor I was so astonished. How could Lion-O be standing on my front porch? He was a cartoon character for crying out loud! And not just Lion-O, but Snarf too!

“JAGA sent us here for awhile. They said you agreed to our being here.”

hey? “Uh… yah… Yah! Yah, I did! In that e-mail. But I thought it was a joke.”

Lion-O’s deep, red, gorgeous eyes looked into mine and he laughed. “Should have expected that Kitten!” He continued to laugh. “And I’ll bet you don’t know who JAGA is, do you?” He studied my face for a moment, and then answered before I had a chance. “JAGA, Just Aggravating Good Adolescents, is a group that seems to get great amusement from sending TV, book, or comic book characters to some poor teen and making them put up with us for a while! Last I heard, the Beast Warriors were sent to someone called Lady Dementia.”

“Uhhh….” I still hadn’t recovered from the shock.

“Can we please come in?” he asked.

“Uh... Sure!” I just stood there, still gaping.

“You may have to step aside for us to get through the door,” he pointed out.

“Oh!” I quickly stepped aside and allowed them through. What would my parents think? “So, uh… Have you ever been in Ohio before?”

“Ohio? Where’s that?” Snarf asked “I’ve never even heard of it before!”.

“You’re in Ohio. And I’ll take that as a no. You guys want me to show you around?”

“That would be a good idea. We should know the lay of the land in case Mum-Ra or the Mutants decide to attack.”

Great. Are they going to try to fight a battle in my house? I certainly hope not! “OK, Grand Tour of La Casa del Murphy is under way! This way please.” I lead them around the house, showing them where my room, my sis’ room, parent’s room, kitchen, bathroom, living room, and all the other rooms of the house were. I felt kinda silly leading a cat/human and strange feline creature through my house telling them what this room and that room was. But when done, I realized just what a problem I was going to have. How was I going to keep them entertained? Where were they going to sleep? How was I going to feed them?

Not knowing what to do, I went to the TV room and let them go through the house, figuring out or doing whatever. They wouldn’t do much damage, would they? Nah, they were the good guys from my favorite show, not the bad guys!

“Snaaaaaaaaaaarrrrrrffffff!!!! Lion-O! Help me!” Snarf cried out as he went barreling through the TV room and into the laundry room, my dog hot on his heals.

I could only watch in amazement as my fat, lazy, extremely tame little dachshund chased the much larger red and yellow cat through the house. What on earth had gotten into Penny? Still, Snarf’s yowls coming from the laundry room weren’t all that comforting. Giggling to myself a little I quickly ran into the dark room and flipped on the light switch. Somehow, Penny had chased Snarf onto the washing machine! Poor Snarf was shivering with fear and Penny was just sitting on the ground wagging her tail quite happily at him. “Penny!” I picked her up and cradled her like a baby. For some reason, Penny loved being held like a baby. “Snarf, are you Ok?”

“Where are they?” Lion-O shouted and came barging into the room with the Sword of Omens out and ready to protect his childhood nanny.

“Snarf is on the washing machine,” I calmly answered. Now that I had gotten used to the fact that the Thundercats were going to be spending some time with me, I could think a little clearer and was ready to deal with almost any crises. “Put the sword up, please. You’re going to scare Penny!”

“Penny?” Lion-O looked around the room and, satisfied that no one was attacking, put the sword up. “Who’s Penny?”

I held up my little dog. “This is Penny. She’s really sweet, but you have to watch out for her tongue. She likes to lick a lot.”

“That is not a sweet creature!” Snarf cried as he leapt into Lion-O’s arms and then to the floor. “It tried to eat me!”

“No, Penny just likes to play.”

“Snarf! I’m surprised at you! She’s just a little fuzzy creature.” Lion-O reached over and petted Penny a little while Snarf just stared at him. “I know what I saw, snarf snarf. Just you wait, one day it’s going to get you Lion-O and I won’t be there to help you because it will have gotten me first!”

The back screen door hitting it’s frame once again signaled my Mom coming up from the barn. She walked stopped in the laundry room and gazed at Lion-O. She was covered in mud and grime from lunging one of our horses. I knew she had been out lunging because she still had the lung-line in her hand. Mom stared evenly at Lion-O before saying anything. “And you are…?”

“I’m Lion-O, Lord of the Thundercats. And Snarf is around somewhere too.”

“Uh-huh…” She kept staring at him. “Well, no battles in the living room; I finally got it cleaned up.”

“Sure mom! No battles; got it.” I quickly jumped in.

“Get washed up. Dinner’s in a few minutes.” She took off her mud crusted barn boots and gingerly walked across our off-white carpet towards the kitchen.

After showing Lion-O where he could wash up we had dinner.

***

I stared at the canopy over my bed. Just think, a Thundercat in my house! Who knew what tomorrow would bring… I rolled over and tried to sleep, but Snarf running from Penny again broke the silence. I decided to ignore it and deal with it in the morning.

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