The Story of Tiberius

Chapter 92

"How much farther do we have to go Buddy? My feet are killing me..." Chloe the tabby cat whined, dragging her paws. Turning his head around to face the obese gray feline, Buddy the dachshund replied curtly, "Maybe if you ate the diet food your owner gives you everyday and went out on walks like us, you wouldn't be complaining so much. Take Sweetpea for example." Perched on the head of Mel the pug, Sweetpea the parakeet chirped and whistled. Scowling, Chloe muttered, "That's because he's getting a free ride. Lucky."

"Keep in mind Chloe, you were the one who managed to talk these guys into coming along. Thank you by the way," Gidget piped up from where she was in the lead with Buddy. Chloe, who was trailing behind them, merely huffed and rolled her green eyes. Mel and Sweetpea were behind the cat, seeming to enjoy the fresh air. Taking up the back of the pack, Tiberius was thankful that he could have some alone time. Well, he was almost alone.

"What's your favorite color? What's your favorite food? How tall are you? Can you fly very fast? How old are you? Do you like celery? What's your favorite movie? Can you breathe fire? Hey, what's your phone number? Why is the sky blue? Can you..." Norman the guinea pig had been asking question after question after question. Tiberius was feeling a headache coming on. Looking down at the small rodent beside him, the old red tail spoke softly, "Hey, here's an idea. How bout you go ask someone else these questions and leave me alone? Okay?" He had covered Norman's mouth to keep him quiet while he talked. At the same time, Sweetpea happened to look behind him. Chirping loudly, he launched himself off Mel's head and right at the hawk's face, pecking and clawing. Chloe and Mel quickly grabbed Norman while Sweetpea finished his attack. Pointing a single claw at him, Chloe hissed at Tiberius, "And YOU keep your filthy talons off Norman!"

"Chloe, he wasn't trying to eat Norman. Right Tiberius?" Gidget jumped in when she and Buddy saw what happened. The fluffy white Pomeranian glanced over at Tiberius, who was rubbing his left cheek with his wing. Looking up, he cast a hateful glance over at Sweetpea and Chloe as he snarled, "Yeah. And my talons are perfectly clean for the time being. Try something like that again and we'll see how clean they are afterwards." Mel and Sweetpea jumped a little while Chloe bared her teeth and made weird angry cat noises. Sighing heavily, Gidget facepawed herself and shook her head quietly.

Biting his lip, Buddy cleared his throat. Getting the rest of the group's attention, he pointed out quietly, "Not sure if you guys care or not unless you somehow forgot what we were doing but uh... we're here." Without another word, he turned left. The others followed him.