Oz: A remake of the tale 1.7

8. The Glass Cat.

"Dorothy, I am telling you that we could be lost." Scarecrow spoke up after we have reached a road on existing from the jungle. "It does looked like a road. But which way? More to it, I see no yellow bricks on it.."

Scarecrow looked at my boots before she remarked; "I thought the Witch said the boots could find you the yellow brick road. But I see you walking behind the droid; following him most times."

"Well, he did lead us here. Its a good start." I point to the road. I looked up at the sky but there was no sun to show me the directions. Then I saw the cat; I mean it does looked like one, but this one looks transparent except for the eyes, the marbles on the head...pardon me, its in the head, with a tail made from spun glass.

"Hello there, nice day for a walk." The feline creature walked past us. It was then Toto barked out at the so called cat which stopped to looked at me.

"What incessant noise is that wolly fur ball doing? Can't you just keep it silent or knit it for better measures." The cat replied and then continued its journey. It did not take more than three steps before it paused.

"Meow! That noise have disrupted my thoughts. I need to retrace my steps now to rebuild my thoughts." The cat stepped back and then stopped in front of me.

"I don't supposed you could get that furry ball to barked again. It would help me in jolting my memory." The cat asked of me. I be darned when Toto did it again.

"Perfect, I think I got my thoughts in sync now." The cat proceed to continue its stroll, but this time it find it blocked by a sharp metallic axe in its path.

"Ah! Baxon axe. Such an exquisite design." The Cat looked up at the droid. "Are you selling it? Or intending to remove my head with it?'

"I would be removing it if I do not get directions to the nearest town or village." The droid threaten the cat.

"Temper? You are an automation. So stop displaying those silly emotional vibes. You disgrace your own kind." The cat raised up its paw to display its claws. "I can removed your processor with one long slash across your chest."

"Stop it, both of you." I interjected in. "Cat, please direct us to the nearest village or town. And he won't threaten you anymore."

The cat looked up at me and meow her reply. I can see then the marbles on her head are revolving like in a closed container It began clanging and then some of the marbles fell into certain slots before jumping out into the main pool. Then all activities stopped.

"Are you Dorothy Gale?" The cat asked me. I nodded, and it meow its reply.

"I am pleased to meet you." The cat glared at the others with its marble eyes; they are green in color. "Rude companions, ain't they? With some refinement, I am sure I can market them off as slaves."

The battle axe came down again within centimeters of the cat' head. The cat looked at the droid.

"Do it right or right it on your own head." The cat flared up with glass shards appearing all over its frame, and it was getting ready to pounced onto the droid. I stepped in between the two before any fight could start. The cat on seeing me there, retract its sharpened body shards

"An amicable intervention. After all, I have been looking for you, Dorothy Gale." The cat revert to its cute feline looks. "You seek the yellow brick road."

I nodded.

"Well, the road ain't exactly difficult to find if you know how." The cat purred in its reply. "You see, the road is a metaphor for the people who is to tread on it."

"I don't understand." The cat looked at Toto. Then it went into a playful pounce stance. It may think Toto is fluffy ball of wool.

"Oh no, you don't." I grabbed Toto just in time before the cat reached it on its jump. Toto on seeing the panic situation thought I was in danger; evolved into the griffin.

"Oops! Pussy, pussy...I am sure we can be friends." The cat on seeing the over sized griffin looming over it.

Then the cat started walking at its leisure speed again, but in the direction it came from.

"Ain't you following? I am walking the Yellow Brick Road now."

We followed suit and I asked the cat on his earlier metaphor.

"The road is laid in the jungle which is all green and dark in most places. So the best way to find a path is have it in a brighter color like yellow. So the name became the metaphor the leading anyone out of the jungle. There are only two such roads in this jungle and you are on the express one."

"Express? Its shorter?" I asked back.

"Metaphor represented; yes, but it can be also be a shorter journey as there are a lot of dangers on this route, so you may not survived the journey, hence the concept of express. You would be dead sooner than you think."

I hate cats.

Soon it led us past by a small village. I saw some children sitting there looking very forlorn and there was no adults around. I raced up to the cat and asked if we can rest at the village.

"Rest? Surely, you do not mean there?" The cat points to the village. "Its a village condemned to be clear of all its inhabitants. Its a village which is in the way of the Lord's farm. He owns it and he can do whatever he desires."

"But I saw children there. I am sure the Lord would relocate them." I protested That made the cat stopped walking and cocked up it head at an angle to speak to me.

"Dorothy, my task is to guide to the yellow brick road. Not go around worrying about some kids sitting at the doorsteps. So let me do my task or .."

I did not offered to listen to the cat and stepped off the road to go to the village. The cat meowed out its ugly shrilling sound but I ignored it. By my ten steps, I find the cat in front of me.

"Look here, young lady. You either get back on the road or I am leaving." The cat can traveled fast when she wants to.

I ignored the cat and walked round it towards the village. Soon I reached the village and greeted the children. There are ten of them there with the age range of five to ten of years.

"I am Dorothy. How are you?" I extend out my hand. A young child among them stood up to greet me.

"Dorothy, do you have any food with you? We are hungry." The one who spoke was like six years old. I turned to my companions and remembered that Scarecrow have some food in the bag she carries. Scarecrow understood my intentions and she reached in to bring out some food and drinks.

"How did you get so much into that bag?" I asked of Scarecrow in which she replied to me.

"Never question a ladies bag contents." We both laughed. The children laughed with us as they have their fill of the meal offered. The droid pulled at my arm to speak to me.

"Dorothy, I find ourselves at a loss here. We are losing time and resources on some .....children which know not of their origin or even cared to do so." The droid complained to me. "Can we proceed?"

It was then one of the children came up to offered the droid a piece of cake. Not only the droid refused the cake but it also refused to acknowledge the child.

"Droid, you could say no." I reprimanded the droid and it replied to me harshly; "I am not programmed to have a heart."

The sound of the crying child was heard. I looked down to find the child who brought the cake had cut his finger on the blade of the battle axe. Immediately I bend down to calmed the child and tend to the wound. All this time, the droid stood there without any expression or movement.

"Droid, stand guard at the perimeter." I gave the command and the droid left to do its duty. I tended to the child and then got all of them sit down with me. I asked them of their parents.

"We are Rampsies; we own no land but we toiled it for others. Our parents toiled this land and until recently, the Lord decided to change the corps. Our parents protested and the Lord imprisoned them all. The Lord now intends to demolish our homes so that we would move on. But we can't as we are Rampsies."

I asked more on the Lord and they could not tell me more. It not until the cat who told me of their Lord.

"He is Lord Nolan; a Flutterbudgets. Like his people, he worries over anything and everything. That is why he never buys the land; he leases it for he fears the investment would failed. He borrows from others to lease the land. And gets the Rampsies to toiled it. If the crops is good, he takes it all, and if the crops is bad, he still takes them all. His concern was no crops to be collected." The cat spoke of the unique Flutterbudgets. "Lately, with the Witch of the East going for a certain change in diet, the Lord decided to breed creatures here but the Rampsies are farmers, not breeders. Hence the conflict starts."

"Since the death of the Witch, I was just advised that the Lord is now leasing the land from his lease to the Nomes; for mining. He gets a cut on every dig." The cat told of the latest plan.

"The Nomes? They are disgusting to be allowed into Oz." Scarecrow barked out on the name of the subterranean people. "Yuck, they are disgusting."

"They are all coated in grime and dusts. You can hardly see their eyes unless you stand close." Scarecrow remarked on the Nomes. "The Munchkins fights them if they ever showed up at our land. So they dig long underground tunnels to reached across to our land. We hunt them by stomping the grounds."

On hearing of the Nomes, the children all went into a berserk mood. I had to come them down and send them off to sleep. Later I confer with my companions.