Wednesday Briefs - Trouble Comes in Threes Ch 2

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Welcome to the Wednesday Briefs flash group (click to go to the site). The short stories have a maximum of a 1000 word count plus links at the bottom to the other flashers. If interested in joining us, drop me a line and I'll tell you how. :) 

The prompts for this week are:
"I have a frog in my throat""I gave him/her the cold shoulder.""I got the short end of the stick.""Whatever can go wrong will go wrong." - Murphy's Law"Burning the midnight oil""One foot in the grave."or use: haircut, masochist, plateor feature a dust storm in your story.or use: bottle, robe, box or use a blow-dryer in some wayor use: Red, grass, lamp"You need coffee" or Mummers or "Don't they screen these people?"



Trouble Comes in Threes - Chapter TwoGiving up, I fixed the white cat the tuna. I received a quick ankle rub, then it deserted me, tail held high. Well, look at that. White kitty was another male. He pounced on the food, and good Lord, he inhaled what was on the plate, licking every morsel… and managed to sound like a 747 getting ready for take-off. Jesus, here I’d thought the black one was loud. And seriously, did cats normally gulp down their food like this? The white kitty nosed the plate around the kitchen, determined to get every scrap. Poor kitty. Had he never tasted tuna before tonight? But that didn’t make sense. Okay, maybe he hadn’t had tuna before, but I’d bet my last fifty dollars someone had been feeding him just like the black cat. Were they litter mates? They seemed to be comfortable with each other. It was odd that one was completely black and one was completely white, though honestly, I didn’t know. The plate scooted across the kitchen floor. It was funny in a sad kind of way. The cat had practically spit-cleaned the thing. “Jesus, when was that last time you ate? Look, you get sick I’m not going to be happy. Cleaning up cat puke isn’t my fucking idea of a good time, Snowball.” The black cat sat on the floor, staring at the white one. “Mmmmrrrh.”The white cat looked up, whiskers twitching. “Meerow.”  It stared at the black one, then returned to eating, but a bit more slowly.I, on the other hand, stood frozen. “Fuck a duck, I just named you too.” Hell, I’d slipped up and named the black one, but I damn sure hadn’t planned to repeat that mistake. Wasn’t there some old saying about if you names something it belonged to you? Fuck I hoped not because now I’d gone and named both of them. Tiger and Snowball. It wasn’t the most creative use of names, and the likelihood of me getting rid of them just plummeted to zero. I’d become attached… and I’d just fucked myself. Too bad I didn’t get to enjoy it.I shoved my hand through my hair, fingers catching a tangle. “Ow, shit.” A haircut was on the list of thing I needed too. Soon. At some point. Aw, fuck, who was I kidding? I couldn’t afford that. My hand dropped to my side. Now I really couldn’t. Instead of a haircut I’d probably be buying cat food.  Fuck.“Well, this is just fucking unbelievable. Like I don’t have enough problems, I just took on two more. I didn’t think I was a masochist, but I’m beginning to wonder.”Both cats abruptly looked at me.Damn. That certainly got their attention. Must’ve been my tone or something. Both cats continued to stare at me and that funny, neck-prickling sensation raced across my body. Shit, I wish they’d stop eyeing at me like that. I shifted from foot to foot, then frowned back at them. Damn if a couple of overly-large felines were going to get the better of me. I crossed over my chest and returned their stare. I never was very good at that game. Of course I blinked first.“What?” I demanded.Why were they still both staring at me like that? Okay, it was a little creepy how those weird blue eyes tracked my every move. I understood now why some people were afraid of cats… and I did a mental eye roll. Wow, it was possible I’d just passed wuss and headed into… What came after being a wuss? Well, whatever it was, I was there.“Okay, stop with the creepy stare thingy, guys. Please.”Tiger blinked, then strolled over to me and rubbed against my leg, back arched. His rumbling purrs floating up to me. When Snowball joined him, I had to laugh. They kept bumping into each other—which led to exchanging some impressive swats—while they tried to rub against me. [image error] Unexpectedly Snowball stood on his back legs, his paws resting on my right thigh. “Mmmmeow.”Those bright blue eyes gazed steadily at me. “What? You can’t possibly be hungry. But that does remind me. I need to clean that plate.” I was talking to them now as if they understood me. Yup, I was so fucked.The white cat dropped down and Tiger nudged Snowball toward the living area. While they investigated, I fixed them some water and washed the dirty dishes. Ten minutes later, beer in hand, I flopped down on the couch. I’d glanced out the window in the kitchen while straightening up. It was still snowing hard. Nothing I could do about it, so I clicked on the TV. One hour left until midnight. Hee-fucking-haw. I leaned my head back against the couch. Looked like I was ringing in the New Year alone this time. The invitations hadn’t exactly poured in, not that I wanted to go out. I took a swig of beer. Nope, I was more than happy to sit right here, get flat-out drunk, and watch a little telly with my two new friends. At least I didn’t have to worry about roadblocks.
Oh God, what had my life become?
(Yes, I added the pic lol.) TBC. Make sure to check out the other flashers:
Jon KeysGrace Duncan  Chris T. KatShelly SchulzRaine O’TierneyJC WallaceRob Colton Victoria AdamsElyzabeth VaLey Cia NordwellTali SpencerSarah HayesMichael MandrakeAndrew Q. GordonMC Houle  Renee StevensJulie Lynn Hayes