"Four months!" Luke shouted as Lori walked into the living room from the kitchen. In one hand she had a cup of tea and in the other, a cup of coffee which she handed to Gio who was sitting on the couch, watching tv.
"Why is Luke yelling at you this time?" She asked as she sat down next to him.
"Just ignore him," he said as he sipped his coffee.
"That's how long you watched me water a fake plant!" Luke took a deep breath and then sighed. "That's not my biggest issue right now, what I'm most concerned about is the funky smell coming from the kitchen,"
"Yeah, I was wondering what that was," August said as she sat in the recliner, next to the couch. Jasper was nestled in a bean bag chair, calmly eating an oatmeal cookie.
"I'm just relieved that the smell isn't me for once," Vinny laughed as he sat backwards in a wooden chair.
"It's the trash, it's piling up and becoming a problem," Luke pinched the bridge of his nose, "tomorrow's garbage day."
"Oh wow, I can't believe they have a whole day dedicated to you." Gio switched channels.
Luke sighed, "Can you please take out the garbage?"
"No,"
His eye twitched, "What do you mean, 'no'?"
"I mean no, you wanna hear it in Spanish? ¡No!"
"Are you trying to make me look stupid in front of everyone?"
"Trust me, you don't need me to do that for you."
Jasper's eyes darted back and forth as if he were watching a tennis match.
Luke took another deep breath, "I'm not going to get mad, I'm just going for a walk," he said as he walked out and slammed the door.
Lori looked concerned for a moment, then her expression changed to one of mischievous delight, "Well, since Talon's out with Tony, I'm going to try doing flips off the roof,"
Vinny jumped up, "That sounds fun! Let me join you!"
"Ah, is that such a good idea?" August stood up, but they were already out the door. Jasper just watched them run out. "Isn't anyone going to stop them? Excuse me, who's in charge here?"
Gio switched the channel again, "Well, if neither Talon or Luke are here, it's usually whoever yells the loudest."
August looked down, "Hey, Gio, why are you so mean to your older brother?"
"I'm just giving him a hard time, because he's my brother and that's what we do to each other."
"Don't you think you're being a little harsh at times?"
"He can take it, he's a big boy,"
August looked at him concerned and Jasper seemed to share her concern.
Gio looked at them and sighed, "You really wanna know, huh?"
Both August and Jasper nodded enthusiastically.
"Ugh, fine! You wanna know so badly? Then sit down and shut up, because I'm only going to tell you this once."
August obeyed immediately and sat down next to Jasper as Gio shut the tv off, before he took the wooden chair and sat in front of them. "Well, alright, the truth is that Luke and I weren't on the best of terms when we were kittens. I don't want to make him sound like a bad guy, because he's really not. You should know that he would do anything for his family, and even though Tony is the youngest, I was the latest addition, so I wasn't considered part of the family yet." Gio leaned back, as he looked away, afraid of their reactions, "There's something you should know about me. Because I'm a black cat, I cause bad luck wherever I go. So growing up was... difficult,"
~
Gio didn't speak much as a kitten and while he was overly cautious of his new family, he desperately wanted somewhere he could call home. He wanted to find somewhere he belonged, so when Talon had invited him into her home where three kittens already resided, Gio thought it was too good to be true. Even at the young age of seven years old, Gio proved to be precocious, curious and intelligent. Luke was already nine and Lori was eight while Tony was only three years old when Gio joined the family.
One day, while Lori was carrying Tony around the house, Gio was watching intently, as if he wanted something that they had.
Lori noticed him watching and carried Tony over to him. "Do you wanna try holding him?"
"Can I?" Gio asked.
"Sure, but be careful, he bites," she told him as she handed Tony off.
Gio held him at arm's length, but when he looked at Tony's big, blue eyes, he seemed to feel something. "Hi, there," he said, shyly and Tony's little tail wiggled with excitement.
"Look out!" Luke shouted as he pushed Gio and Tony out of the way of a falling light fixture.
"Oh my goodness, are you kids ok?" Talon ran over to check for injuries.
"What happened?" Lori asked as Luke took Tony from Gio.
Luke: "I should've known something like this was going to happen when he showed up,"
Lori: "What are you talking about?"
Luke handed Tony to her, "Haven't you heard that black cats are bad luck? He shouldn't be here, he's just going to cause trouble for us,"
"Luke!" Talon scolded.
Lori: "Whoa, how can you say that? Talon's already named him. He's part of the family now,"
Luke glared at them, "Fine, he can stay," he then poked Gio in the chest, "so long as you keep your bad luck in check. I'll do anything to protect this family, even if it means protecting them from you."
Lori looked between the boys and coughed, "Hey, it's a nice night, why don't we go to the park?"
Talon nodded, "That sounds like a good idea,"
~
"Chicken," Tony cooed at the duck as it nipped at him, "bad chicken,"
Off to the side of the playground, Gio sat alone with a four leaf clover in his hand. Talon stood nearby, watching the kids play.
Lori: "Gio! Are you coming?"
Luke: "Don't bother him, you know he can't play with us,"
Gio looked down, "Why can't I play with the others, Mom?"
"Oh, you can, you just—have to be careful. I don't believe that black cats are bad luck, but odd things do tend to happen, so be aware of your surroundings," Talon said gently, and Gio looked sadly at the clover.
Talon: "Why don't you go play in the sand with Tony? Hm? That seems safe,"
Gio hesitated, but then looked at Talon as she nodded and he walked over to Tony who was building a sand castle.
"Can I help you?" He asked.
"Yeh," Tony stuck his tongue out as Gio knelt down. While playing, he found a stick in the dirt. He pulled on it, but it was in there deep, so he pulled even harder. He pulled it so hard that when he dislodged it, it flew out of his hands and bounced off a nearby tree and towards Tony. At the last second, Luke pulled him out of the way, just in time, but the stick hit the sand castle causing it to fall apart, making Tony cry.
Luke: "Gio! What did Talon say about being careful?"
Gio: "I'm sorry! It was an accident, I didn't mean to—"
"Go play over there!" Luke pointed across the playground.
Gio: "But I—"
Luke: "Now!"
Gio sighed and kicked the sand as he walked away. When he was far enough away, Luke set Tony down and patted the sand out of his fur.
Luke: "Are you ok?"
Tony: "I'm fine, but why did you send Gio away?"
Luke: "He's dangerous to be around, you're better off playing with Lori,"
Tony: "But I wanna play with Gio!"
Luke: "Maybe tomorrow, now go and be a good boy and play with Lori over there," he pointed towards Lori who was on the swings.
Tony: "That does look fun,"
Luke: "There you go, go on,"
~
Later that night...
Talon: "I'll only be gone for a few minutes, while I get some supplies. Luke, take care of your siblings,"
Luke: "Yes ma'am. Alright, you guys, you heard mom, I'm in charge and it's time for dinner,"
Lori: "You're like nine, do you even know how to cook?"
Luke: "How hard can it be? You make some food and then you eat it,"
Lori: "And then you die from food poisoning, because your nine year old brother poisoned you,"
Luke: "I'm not going to poison you, I'm just going to reheat some leftovers from last night,"
Lori: "Oh, thank goodness,"
The kittens gathered around the table as Luke reheated the food and began serving.
Tony: "Can I please have some?"
"Of course you can," Luke said as he handed Tony a plate.
Gio held out his plate.
Luke: "What's the magic word, Gio?"
Gio set down his plate.
Suddenly they heard a creaking sound and the chandelier above the table began to tip. "Move!" Luke shouted and Lori grabbed Tony and ducked underneath the table just as the chandelier fell on top and shattered. Bits of glass and metal flew everywhere. Luke stood up and glared at Gio. "This is all your fault!"
Gio: "But I didn't do anything!"
Luke: "Can't you see what you've done? Go before you cause anything else to go wrong!"
Gio began crying and instead of running to his room, he ran out the door and into the cold night air.
"Gio!" Lori called, but he was already gone, "Don't you think you were being a little harsh?"
Luke: "He knows that his bad luck is harmful to this family. We can't do anything about it, but the least he can do is be aware of the trouble he causes,"
Lori: "I'm going to go comfort him. You're welcome to join us, when you're done being a white knight,"
Luke tried to clean up, but there wasn't much he could do since he was just a kid. After cleaning up, he tried to feed Tony, but for some reason, he was refusing to eat.
Luke: "Tony, please, you have to eat something. It's been hours since you last ate,"
Tony: "No! I want Gio!"
Luke: "Why are you being so—hey, why do you look so weird?" Luke put a hand to Tony's forehead and gasped when he felt how warm it was. "You have a fever!"
Talon: "Kittens, I'm ba—oh my, what happened here?"
"Thank goodness you're back! It's Tony! Something's wrong," Luke grabbed her by the wing and dragged her over towards Tony, who had been moved to the couch.
Luke: "Tony, there's someone here to help you,"
Tony: "Is it Gio?"
Luke: "No, she's a doctor,"
Tony: "Gio's a doctor?"
Luke: "It's not Gio!"
Talon looked around the room, "Where is Gio?"
Luke: "He and Lori left, I don't know where and I don't care,"
Talon: "Luke, they are your siblings! You have to go find them! I'll stay here with Tony, while you go out and look for them,"
"Ugh, fine!" He ran out and began searching, but it wasn't hard to find them. They weren't far from home, as they were sitting in the park, on a bench, far away from the sand pit. "There you guys are!"
Lori sneered, "Luke, why are you here?"
"I came to bring you back,"
Gio frowned at him, "You're the one that told me to leave, remember?"
"I know, I just... something's wrong with Tony. He's sick and he refuses to eat,"
Gio looked up, "Tony's sick?"
Luke nodded. "Mom's with him right now, but I'm afraid he's going to get worse, unless you come with me right now,"
Gio looked at him. He couldn't be mad at him when he looked so exhausted and pathetic.
Gio: "Ok, I'll help,"
Luke: "Really?"
Gio nodded and put a hand on his shoulder, "Yeah, anything for family, right?"
As soon as the three got home, they rushed to Tony's side. Talon had him propped up in bed with some soup and carrots, but even Talon couldn't get him to eat. She smiled when she saw Gio come in.
"Can I try something?" He asked and she stepped aside for him.
"Hey, Tony, look at this," Gio said as he grabbed a baby carrot and in his hands it disappeared. Tony stared at him in amazement as Gio did a little flourish and pulled the baby carrot out from behind his ear. Tony laughed with delight as Gio handed him the carrot and Tony happily ate it. Luke stared in similar astonishment, before he collapsed onto the floor and fell asleep right then and there.
Lori looked down at him, "We should at least put him on the couch,"
Gio sighed, "Yeah,"
After they finished feeding Tony, Lori and Gio carried Luke onto the couch, cradled his head with a pillow and covered him with a blanket before going to bed.
~
Gio sighed as he finished his story, "I guess at the end of the day, I really do respect Luke for all he's done for this family, and maybe one day I'd even admit that he's—"
"Hey, I'm back," Luke said as he opened the door and in followed Lori and Vinny with some notable bruises. "and I found these two lying on the roof with multiple injuries,"
Lori gave a thumbs up, "Totally worth it,"
"It's about time you got back," Gio shouted, "August was starting to miss your bossy voice,"
August: "Hey!"
Luke laughed, "Hey, can I ask a dumb question?"
Gio: "Better than anyone I know."
Luke: "Why must you attack me with words?"
Gio: "Want me to use rocks?"
Luke: "Think you can answer some questions without the usual level of sarcasm?"
Gio: "If you can ask the questions without the usual level of stupid."
Luke: "What's the height of stupidity to you?"
Gio: "I'm not sure, how tall are you?"
"Never mind," Luke growled and left.
Lori gave Gio a look, "It wouldn't kill you to say something nice, you know?"
"I know, but why risk it?" Gio shared a look with August and Jasper and they both rolled their eyes.
August: "I guess some things never change,"
