Sunday, June 04, 2006

The Amazing Zeus: Gemini, Georgia, and Cheysuli and The Stolen Swordfish

What a day it has been, my friends!

At around five in the morning, Phil Keoghan knocked on the front door. This time, I took the liberty of answering since my human pet had already fallen once in the foyer. I did not want her to have any additional injuries due to my travels.

"Zeus, you know the drill. Here is the production crew's credit card. You're going to Seattle, Washington today. You set?" Then Phil looked behind me, at what I assumed, was my human pet. "I'll have him back here by midnight this evening, Marina. I don't want you worrying about him."

I heard a tremendous thud, and when I turned around to see what had happened, there was my human pet lying on the floor in the kitchen, coffee staining the carpet. I turned to look up at Phil. "I don't think you should talk to my human pet anymore, Phil. You have a poisonous mouth or something. It might be time to go to the doctor to have that checked out."

Phil chuckled, collected me up into his arms, and drove me to the airport. My flight was fairly uneventful. I did get some scritches from two of the flight attendants, and they even gave me extra peanuts. I felt very important for all the attention they lavished upon me.

Once there in Seattle, I caught a taxi (thanks to one of the crew's help) and made my way to Gemini, Georgia, and Cheysuli. Considering there were going to be four of us, I wondered what Phil might be planning. That was a lot of people for a team, and I had heard of The Amazing Race: Family Edition, but these were my friends - not my family!

I walked up to the front door of the home and knocked. I heard some rustling and loud meows, and then I saw their human pet: "Welcome, Zeus! They are all waiting for you! Come inside!" I purred and rubbed against their human lady pet and told her thank you.

"Z-z-zeus? Is it really you?"

I turned my head to see Gemini coming at me from my right.

"It is him!"

I turned my head to the left to see Georgia.

"Of course it's him! Who else was supposed to be coming today? The Queen of England?"

Cheysuli was dead in front of me.

We didn't even really get a chance to talk as there was a knock at the door. We turned around to see who else might have shown up at the house.

"Wow, that was f-f-fast. I didn't think it would be that fast," said Gemini a bit nervously.

"I had a feeling it might be like this. There's four of us instead of two so they might expect us to do more," I explained.

GGC's human lady pet opened the front door, and sure enough it was Phil. He looked down at us pointedly: "Gemini, Georgia, Cheysuli, and Zeus: You have $200.00 for this leg of the race. Make sure to read your clue carefully, and be safe on your travels."

"Holy hairballs! $200.00?! Alright!" screamed Gemini.

We read the clue together:

Make your way to Hat n' Boots. Once there, look for your next clue.

The four of us looked at one another curiously. The four of us had no idea what the clue meant, but as our luck turned out, GGC's lady pet knew exactly where to find this strange icon. "Let's all get into the car, and I'll show you where it is so you can find your next clue!"

It wasn't too long of a drive, but once we arrived, the four of us were more than a bit confused.

"It doesn't even look operational!" Georgia said.

"We're still going to have look around, though, for the clue," I told her.

"Leave it to me, you three. I know what we need to do in order to find the clue," said Cheysuli.

Gemini, Georgia, and I watched Cheysuli trot off. "What is she doing?" I asked. "I think she has lost it finally," replied Georgia.

"Guys, look!" screamed Gemini.

Cheysuli had found the clue in no time at all simply by putting on her funky cowboy hat and glasses. "I knew this part was meant for me as soon as we drove up," she beamed.

We huddled around Cheysuli to read the clue:

Make your way to the Space Needle. Once there, you will find your next clue.

We jumped back into the car while GGC's lady pet drove us off to Seattle Center. Once there, we stepped out of the car, and the four of us began to walk the grounds towards the Space Needle. As we neared the structure, Gemini tugged on my tail.

"Why don't we try to get it, Zeus?"

"Get what, little one?"

"The clue! I sees it!"
Gemini pointed, and as my eyes followed the direction of his paw, I let out a small gasp. The cluebox was located a good distance up the metal supports of the building. "Gemini, I don't know. I have a bit of a...weight problem," I said softly.

"No worries! We'll do it together!"

I struggled to get enough momentum together to even attempt a leap to the cluebox, but it was no use. Too much stinky goodness had inhibited my jumping abilities. Gemini, however, was marvelous! He crawled through the crevices and various nooks to reach the cluebox, and he wasn't even afraid to come back down as leapt from beam to beam!

"-ere -ou -o," he said with the clue in his mouth. Georgia, Cheysuli, and I all said in unison, "Huh?" Dropping the clue in front of us, Gemini said with a smile, "Here you go!"

We read the clue together:

Make your way to the First Starbucks Store. Once there, find the golden coin. There, you will find your next clue.

"Oooo, my human pet is going to be so jealous! She loves coffee! How exciting!" I said.

We scampered back to GGC's lady pet and the car. When she heard of where we were headed, she seemed quite happy. "I could use some coffee for all of this," she said. If I had been the coffee-drinking-type, I probably would have agreed with her.

When we arrived, there were many homo sapiens milling about, attempting to get their caffeine fix. The smell of freshly brewed coffee and the long-winded orders with requests of "two shots of this" or "heavy cream, not milk" filled our noses and ears. It was quite difficult to get through the maze of legs and avoid the walking of feet. Cautiously, we weaved our way through different sale stands of signature coffees and a tower of mugs. At one point, Georgia almost knocked one down with but a flick of her tail, and I thought all was lost.

"That's it! Right there!" Georgia cried.

We looked up, and we couldn't believe we had been walking right past it this whole time. The four of us touched the coin, and as we did, a cluebox appeared out of the ground. To say the humans were shocked would be quite the understatement.

We snagged the clue and made our way outside to read it:

You are almost finished. Do you smell something fishy? Make your way to Pike's Place Public Market.


With the end in sight, we climbed into GGC's lady pet's car and raced to the market. "Isn't this the same market that was on the postcard you three sent me?" I asked. The three of them nodded. "There's lots of yummy fishes there. Maybe we can eat some!" said Gemini.

To say there were "lots" of fish there was perhaps a poor choice of words. To say there were squillions of fish there would be perhaps a more accurate use of words. My eyes simply bulged out of my head when I saw all of the different types of fish that were located in this one marketplace. Homo sapiens were walking in every direction, buying or selling goods, and the intoxicating smell of cod, tilapia, flounder, mahi mahi, and salmon hung in the air.

And perhaps one of the biggest reason the smell hung in the air is because the fish were FLYING through the air! I was in shock!

"Hit the dirt!" I cried. The four of us sprawled on the ground as a swordfish sailed through the air. All of the humans cheered for the duo who were tossing the scales back and forth. "This is a bit crazy," I said.

"Crazy, yes, but fun! I'm going to snag that fishy!" Before we could stop her, Cheysuli was off and running.

We heard the homo sapiens count off the throw: "1...2...3!!!!" The fish was up, flying to its destination, when suddenly, there was a heavy thwap of scales meeting pavement.

Cheysuli had done it. She had intercepted the flying fish!

"Help me with this quickly! We need to make a break for the car!" she cried out. Running over to her aid, Gemini, Georgia, and I each took a side of the swordfish and carried it to their lady pet's car.

"What the -?" she said confused.

"No time for questions. Step on the gas, woman!" shouted Cheysuli.

The four of us sat in the backseat with the stink of swordfish filling up the car. GGC's lady pet couldn't handle it and rolled down the windows. The sun was shining, and with the huge fish underneath us, we knew life could not be any better than this.

It was interrupted, though, when GGC's lady pet sternly said, "Ok...I think it's time to put an end to this. Stealing swordfish is where I draw the line. Cheysuli, Georgia, and Gemini: we're taking Zeus to the airport, and when we get home, we're going to have a very long talk."

Gemini, Georgia, and Cheysuli all giggled. Gemini whispered, "It was definitely worth getting in trouble with the Mama, Zeus. Don't worry! Now we're going to have fish for weeks!" Georgia nodded as did Cheysuli.

"This definitely has been a terrific time, and I sure am going to miss you three. I hope we do it again soon!" I said.

In unison, they said, "Absolutely!"

I want to thank Gemini, Georgia, and Cheysuli for all of the great fun I had in Seattle. I will never forget it. I also want to thank GGC's lady pet for driving us around to where we needed to go. I also apologize for the stolen swordfish, but I hope it lasts you a long time now that you have it. After all: Why let it go to waste just because it was stolen?

8 comments:

Bonnie said...

Actually Zeus, I said CHAI. I don't do coffee either... but Chai is to die for...!

Zeus said...

I must have had a lot of gunk in my ears. Allergies and all...

Fat Eric said...

Wow! This is your best adventure yet Zeus!
My mum and dad went to Seattle on their last trip to Mericky in 2003 and they had a great time! They went to the fish market place too and up the Space Needle. Now my mum is getting all nostalgic. Can't wait for the next installment of your adventures, I wonder how long it will take your postcard from London to arrive?

Gemini said...

Oh I thought it was a wonderful adventure. You need to watch out with those allergies Zeus, they get bad here in Seattle... Too bad we couldn't go to the Music History Museum too...

Tommy and Teaghan said...

Yee haw! what an adventure. All that fish and coffee too!

ANGEL ABBYGRACE said...

GRrreat adventure Zeus!

**ABBY

Anonymous said...

Cool adventure, Zeus! You had me on the edge of my seat. Way to get that really fresh fish -- now you know it doesn't start out as stinky before it becomes stinky goodness!

Victor Tabbycat said...

If you left the fish wif GG&C, did you get any Zeus?
On their trip to Seattle, my beans went to the sy-fy muesum next to the music history museum. And up the needle, a course.
I can't wait to see you in Madison!