Garfield and The War on Lasagna

Chapter 1 - War on Lasagna

Garfield had found himself in a drab, bleak world. As of two years ago, all Italian cuisine was utterly outlawed. No spaghetti, no ravioli, no alfredo, no lasagna. What was Garfield without lasagna? He couldn't bear to eat the gruel churned out from those factories any longer. Today was June 19th, and Jon would soon return from a week out of town. With him, he carried a briefcase of highly valuable contents.

"You hear that Odie? Jon's right down the road. He called me on his telephone."

"Arr arr! Woof"

"Yeah, yeah. He knows what he's doing."

The two pets waited for their owner. Odie patiently watched the door, and Garfield twiddled with his stuffed bear Pookie.

After what felt like ages, the door sprung open. Jon took off his long coat and placed it on the coathanger. As he began taking off his gloves, hat, and sunglasses, he smiled with joy and triumph.

"Garfield, Odie, I did it! Perhaps the greatest swindle of our time. Both of you meet me in the kitchen right away."

Garfield shimmied to the kitchen, he gave Odie a celebratory high-five on his way. The 3 friends gathered at the counter. Jon unlocked the bottom cabinet. There was 6 padlocks, 2 combination locks, and one fingerprint scanner. All of this for him to pull out a metal pot, a cheese grater, and an oven pan. Now he opened the briefcase, ironically only having one combination lock keeping it secured. Garfield and Odie stared in wonder. A jar of sauce, A wheel of cheese, herbs and spices in glass jars with holes at the top. Tomato paste. And a box of long, thinly sliced pasta noodles.

"In the city" Jon said. "They have a secret lasagna ring."
"Tons of chefs, they hid all of their stock before the nationwide ban. People are giving an arm and a leg for this stuff. But our old pal Vito was able to help me out, and gave me all this just for your birthday, Garfield. Some day you'll need to thank him."

"This is heaven!" Garfield thought. Jon began stirring tomato sauce and salt and other magic ingredients into the saucepan. He and Odie watched this ritual. The three sat in the kitchen for a couple hours while Jon rebelled at the oven. Garfield daydreamed about biting into a slice like he once used to. A smell was filling the house, Jon had made sure to lock and board up every window beforehand. They could only hope that no cheese or basil could be smelled from outside. Finally, after three hours, he opened the oven.

"Voilà!" Jon exclaimed. "Our first lasagna in 730 days!" They all cheered hooray. Two plates were placed in front of Garfield and Odie, with a fork each.
"To Italy!" Jon cheered
"To our freedom of choice.. to lasagna!"
And he cut right down the middle. The knife sliced a clean line like it was butter, he scooped up 3 pieces. Jon's fork sunk into the yellow and red stack of pasta..
CRASH