The Misadventures of Taylor R. Bailey

James and I shimmied out of the library and scampered towards the barn. CJ was already inside the barn tying a raw pork chop to the inside of the trap when we darted inside. He was as startled as we were to find us almost nose to nose looking at him. The only thing separating us from him was the ginorrmous Wampus Cat trap. “What you two young ‘uns want?” CJ asked with hesitation in his voice. James poked me in my side with his elbow. He thought for a few seconds. Then in a scheming voice he said, “Ummm, Oh nothing. We just came to see what you were making.” “Yea, we heard you singing that beautiful song and just came out to see what was going on.” I added. CJ stood there for a few minutes. He looked us up one side and down the other with his one good eye and his other grisly eye. One hand was on his hip and the other was scratching his greasy, scruffy hair as he sized us up. “You two ain’t ever wanted to see nuthin’ I did before. Why you two up inside this here barn with me now? “Gosh Uncle Joe, Your trap looks cool. What’s it for?” James said looking at me with a grin. “Well, I don’t know if I should say anything. ‘Specially to you two rug rats” CJ stammered. Please! It looks so weird and exciting. We want to know what it’s for.” James whined. “Oh alright. Stop your whining. I’ll tell ya only because I expect you’ll find out sooner or later. I’ve been trying to shelter you young ‘uns and your mom from this, but I just can’t no more. She would just go plain nuts if she heard me talking ‘bout this to you two. She’s what ya call ‘overprotective”. You got to promise not to say a word to her if I tell ya what’s going on here.” CJ explained. “It’s got to stay a secret between just us.” With my fingers crossed behind my back I muttered to CJ, “Oh no, we won’t say a word to Mom. We promise. Right, James?” With a grin on his face James nodded his head in agreement. CJ went on with his story. ”You see, word around town is that there’s a Wampus Cat in this here area and I was gonna try to catch it so it wouldn’t hurt none of ya. This here Wampus Cat is a strange devil. Yes sir, a strange devil indeed. They’re awfully mean and powerful ugly creatures. They’re supposed to be part wild cat and part human. Last word I heard is that the creature likes to come out at night and eat farm animals. Mostly young animals that are small sized like you two. But the most horrible part of it is that the Wampus Cat is partial to eating young ‘uns. He kills ‘em and guts ‘em just like a deer hunter does.” He slowly wiped the sweat off of his forehead. Then he ran his gnarly fingers through his muddled up hair trying to decided what to tell us next. Turning to me, CJ thought aloud, “It would be just awful if either you or your brother was eat up by the Wampus Cat and I didn’t try to do nuthin’ to stop it. It is my job as your Uncle to take care of you two when your Mom and Dad ain’t here. That’s just what I’m intendin’ to do. Yes sir. That’s why I’m building this here trap.” “Oh, come on CJ, I mean Uncle Joe. You expect James and me to believe that big load of baloney?” We followed in CJ’s footsteps as he quietly picked up the trap and moved it to the front of the house. He laid the trap down by an old dead tree stump. The bowels of the stump had withered away and left a large gap at the foot of the tree. “I don’t suppose you two would think that a Wampus Cat would fit inside this here hole in the stump, do ya?” He said pointing to the stump. “You’d be surprised at what one of those creatures can do. They’re peculiar I tell you. No Sir. I never want to be around a loose Wampus Cat. There ain’t no tellin’ what could happen to a body if it were to meet up with a wild varmint like that.” CJ tied the trap to the bottom of the stump, “You two let me do the worrying. Don’t you fret your pretty little heads one more minute about the Wampus Cat. Try and forget all that craziness I told ya ‘bout that there wild flesh eating animal. Go on now. Get. I’ll take care of it. All you have to do is keep away from this trap that’s tied to the stump and stay inside the house after dark tonight. Yes sir. That’s all ya gotta do to stay safe. Think you two can do that for your poor old Uncle Joe?” Not knowing whether CJ was in his one of his crazy moods or being serious about the Wampus Cat, James and I walked to the house confused, dazed, and scared. Once we were safely inside the house James asked, “Tay, do ya really think we’ll be eaten alive tonight by the Wampus Cat if we go outside?”