A mystery in St. Louis (a Lackadaisy fanfic)

20th century Cats

Francis' P.o.v.

We arrived at the McMurry's home and saw Freckle, an 18-year-old orange cat, mowing the lawn. "Hey, Freckle!" Rocky greeted. "Hello, Freckle," I added.

"Hey guys," Freckle replied. "I'm almost done. Can you wait while I finish up?"

"Sure," Rocky said. "And while you're at it, you might want to wash up."

Now, Rocky and I were waiting for Freckle when we saw his mother, Nina McMurray, in the garden. "Hey, Aunt Nina," Rocky greeted his plump but sweet-looking aunt.

"Do you have any laundry for me?" she asked him in a friendly yet annoyed tone, aware of her nephew's recklessness.

"Nope," he answered, and she noticed me "And who is this?" she asked while trying to place me.

"Oh, you remember Franky," Rocky said. "From that dinner a couple of weeks ago"

"Francis Brown at your service," I bowed my head, "Nice to see you again, Madame McMurry."

"Oh, yes, now I remember," she said. "Agnes Brown's brood."

"Her granddaughter from Paris to be precise," I replied. She doesn't seem to dislike me for my heritage but her smile strains a bit. Granny tends to cause that reaction a lot when she's mentioned.

"Explains your accent love, though your hair is red," she notes curiously, "In fact, I don't think I've ever met a cat with your coat before either." She's not the only one there are a lot of cats with similar coats to mine but so far none in Missouri.

"I took after my father but my hair is a bit of a mystery," which is true all Browns are shades of brunettes, blondes, raven, or grey and my dad's family is gone so no clue.

"Well nothing to fret over, it looks well on you," she said.

"Thank you," I said to her polity, and then Freckle came up.

"You ready cuz?" Rocky asked.

"Yeah," he replied and turned to Nina "I'm done with my chores ma, I'll be back later."

"Well don't stay out too long there's been a lot of people missing so please be careful and steer out of trouble," she says as she hugs him.

"I will ma," he said as they hugged.

"I meant Roark, love" she added as she patted his back and turned to her nephew. "You may not live here anymore but you're still family, so please try to maintain yourself." she implored her nephew, while she can be annoyed with him she still cares.

"Yes Aunty," he said smiling at her and giving her a quick hug, "Well let's go!" He shouts as he rushes to the car with us following.

As we're driving off and waving goodbye to Mrs. McMurry she yells, "And keep away from those slappers!" I laughed seeing Freckle's cute red face and Rocky well he just had his usual smile.

"Okay since Ivy's still at school how about we go find some fun," Rocky said.

"I still have some small errands to run," said Freckle.

"And I have a library book to return."

"I said fun!"

"It will only take a second Rocky and Freckle's errands are for the Daisy chain so it can't be that bad right?"

"Hmm"

"Plus, I can show you the dirty books they keep in the library," he perked up when I said this and looked intrigued.

"Doesn't the library clean them?" Freckle innocently asked.

"Not that kind of dirty Freck," I explained and added. "They are how you say erotic."