An Archive of Our Own, a project of the Organization for Transformative Works
Final chapter (epilogue) now up on AO3.
A cat objecting to misplaced apostrophes! Wonder if that makes it a cat-astrophe?
AKA fluff and family feels and truly awful dad-jokes from Robbie! Read a snippet under the cut.
Laura put the kettle on, setting out teapot and mugs while waiting for it to boil, and watching with amusement as Robbie and James executed some sort of dance around the rubbish and the recyclables, taking each out in turn to the larger bins behind the garage. Until they pulled out the box Robbie and she used as a waste paper receptacle, currently filled with old newspapers, torn up pamphlets, brochures, and takeout menus, shredded documents for disposal, and such. James snorted at the sight that met his eyes.
“What’s with all the balled-up paper, Robbie? It’s almost worse than our old office waste basket at the nick during those slow times when we would be catching up on paperwork and using it for target practice!”
“Forgotten your feline self’s makeshift toys, have you? T’was quite a load of pamphlets you attacked.”
They all chuckled reminiscently as James started smoothing out the paper balls to stack, only to stop short when he caught sight of the holes and rips in several.
Robbie leaned over to see what had stopped him, and a grin stole over his face. James noticed, of course, and raised an eyebrow.
“Take a closer look, detective. And tell me if you can spot why some of these have been ripped apart.”
Shaking his head and disclaiming all desire to ever be a detective again, James nonetheless returned to the papers he was now continuing to smooth out, this time paying more attention to what they were.
“I don’t get it. They are all just stupid pamphlets. Adverts for things nobody buys.”
“Look closer. Pay attention to where the rips and holes are. Those were sharp claws you had.”
“I don’t get it. There’s no real pattern, is there? I mean some are ripped at the top of the sheet and some halfway through. And the adverts are for all sorts of things…no common thread there!”
“You’re still not looking carefully enough, lad. Read the first few and see if you get it.”
Shaking her head, Laura turned back to her tea-making, suddenly grateful she hadn’t started the brew before getting distracted by Robbie and James.
There was silence for a couple of minutes before James uttered a sort of strangled gasp.
“These are all ripped around erroneous plurals and misplaced apostrophes! Come on, my feline self couldn’t have known that.”
“Dunno how or why it happened, lad. But you can see the evidence with your own eyes. A cat objecting to misplaced apostrophes! Wonder if that makes it a cat-astrophe?”
“Oh, no, no, no, no! That’s the worst marriage of a pun and a dad joke I’ve ever heard!”
izzy806
andulkaphoto
prguitarman
yousharknotpass
stormborns
