still lookin'...

I'm still lookin'.

Yup, I'm still lookin'.

Oh yeah, I am most definitely STILL LOOKIN', for sure.

MOUSES!

I know, I know...  I know what you're thinkin'.  You're thinkin' that I, Seville the Cat, have lost somethin' of great importance and as I can't seem to find it, I am STILL LOOKIN'.

Well...

Well, you're kinda right about that, my friends, but then, you're kinda wrong about it, too.  You see, the thing is...

The thing is...

The thing is, the thing for which I am lookin' isn't really lost, on account of my never havin' had it in the first place.

Although, yeah, I Am. Still. Lookin'.

MOUSES!

Long story short: another St. Patrick's Day has come and is almost gone and I STILL haven't found a huge patch of four-leaved clovers, or a big ol' pot of gold at the end of a rainbow, or even a leprechaun or two I could hold for ransom, and...

I know, I know...  I know what you're thinkin'.  You're thinkin' holdin' leprechauns for ransom isn't a very good idea.

Yeah, you're probably right about that.  I've heard stories 'bout leprechauns and their uh...

Umm...

Ill tempers.

MOUSES!

Plus, if I WERE to find one hangin' about, I might be tempted to think of him as a...

Well...

You know...

Snack.

Don't tell anyone, but I've heard they're magically delicious.

MOUSES!

So I guess I'm just gonna have to give my ol' diary a read and reminisce 'bout all the St. Patrick's Day adventures I've had in the past.  When four-leaved clovers and leprechauns were definitely easier to find.

And then...

Well...

Well then, I'll have to have a snack.

Unfortunately, said snack is not likely to be magically delicious, if you know what I mean.

MOUSES!

Oh, I know!  Wanna reminisce with me?  Oh, come on...  It'll be fun.  Hold on a sec and I'll get you the links.

MOUSES!

2014:  Seville's Four-Leaved Clovers

2015:  Catnip and Fairy Dust

2016:  Finders Keepers...  Maybe

2018:  The Infestation

*******************************

And remember:

IF IN DOUBT,

DON'T. GO. OUT.

Continue to practice SOCIAL DISTANCIN' measures

AND KEEP WASHIN' YOUR PAWS.

MOUSES!

Remember to mask up, too.

finders keepers... maybe

"Two hundred and nine, two hundred and ten, two hundred and eleven..."

Creeping up behind Seville, Mason leaned over her brother's shoulder to ask, "What are you doing?"

"I'm just...  Awww... MOUSES!  You made me lose count, Mason. One, two, three..."

"Lose count of what? What are those things? They look like gold coins."

"That's 'cause they are gold coins," Seville explained, excitedly.  "Darn it.  I've lost count again.  One, two, three..."

Mason chuckled while turning to leave.  "Gold coins.  What will he think of next?"

"But they ARE gold coins," declared Seville, standing up on all four paws.  He gently bit down on one of the coins and held it out for his sister to see.  "Look, my fangs made marks.  That means it's real gold, for sure.  MOUSES!"

"Let me see that," and Mason grabbed the coin out of Seville's paw.  "Oh my mouses, Sivvers.  It is real.  Where the heck did you find a stash of gold coins?  Have you been holding out on us regarding those nip futures or something?"

"Nope," Seville replied smugly.  "Come on, guess again.  Bet you can't!"

"You haven't...  You haven't...  You haven't gone into business with the Weasel Syndicate, have you?" Mason asked hesitantly.  "I know they're constantly offering get-rich schemes, full of promise and everything, but the weasels are really nasty little varmints, Seville."

"Me doing business with weasels?  NEVER.  Have a little faith in your brother, Mason.  Besides, I learned my lesson 'bout working with them last time.  MOUSES!"

"Then where did you...?"

"I found the whole lot of these coins out in the backyard this morning," and Seville grinned from ear to ear, making himself look like the Cheshire Cat.  "There there were, sitting in a pot, waiting for me to find them."

"In our backyard?" Mason asked incredulously.

"Yup, right there at the end of the rainbow.  If you remember, it was raining this morning and then the sun came out and then there was a rainbow.  I was super lucky to discover that its end was right here in our backyard.  Very fortuitous, indeed."

"Fortui...?"

"It means," Seville began to explain.

"I KNOW WHAT IT MEANS.  Just didn't know you knew what it meant, is all.  Besides, I'm not entirely sure that that is how you should describe it.  Fortuitous, I mean."

"Mason, I have no idea what you're talking about.  All I know for sure is that I need to count up these coins and that once again, I've lost my place.  One, two, three..."

"Seville, did you ever wonder how that pot of gold came to be in our backyard?"

"Nope," Seville answered.  "I did tell you 'bout the rainbow, right?  Mason, it's a well-known fact that pots of gold can be found at the ends of rainbows.  Didn't you learn anything in school?"

Mason bit her lip, resisting the urge to smack her brother upside of the head.  "Seville, I think that maybe that pot of gold might belong to someone.  Pots of gold don't just materialize at the ends of rainbows."

"Actually, they do," explained Seville.  "At least I think they do.  They must.  How else did this particular pot of gold end up at the end of one in our backyard?  Mason, do I have to explain everything to you?"

"But," began Mason.  "But what if this particular pot of gold did belong to someone?"

"Finders keepers, Mason.  It's the law of the jungle, you know.  The fact that we don't actually live in a jungle is irrelevant.  Fact is, I found the gold and the gold, therefore, is mine.  MOUSES!"

"Or perhaps it is his," and Mason pointed to a face peering in through a window.

The two cats stood motionless, staring at the face in the window.  The face in the window stared right back at the two cats before gazing down at the pot of gold coins sitting in the middle of the kitchen floor.

"Ummm..."  murmured Mason.

"Oh boy," whispered Seville.

"Uh...  Um..." Mason stammered.

"That there is a leprechaun," Seville stated in a very low voice.

"A very angry leprechaun, by the looks of it," added Mason.

"An EXTREMELY angry leprechaun who is looking for the marmalade cat who stole his pot of gold," yelled the leprechaun as he opened the back door and marched into the kitchen.

"Excuse me, Mr. Leprechaun sir, but uh...  But I'd just like to point out that although I do have a few hints of ginger in my fur, here and there, technically I'm cream.  Seville's the marmalade cat around here," and Mason pointed a paw at her brother.

"Way to go, sis," Seville hissed under his breath.  "Thanks for having my back."

The leprechaun glared at Seville with beady eyes.  "Exactly what do you think you're doing with my pot of gold there, you orange ball of fur."

"I was uh...  I was um..."  Seville swallowed, hard.  "I was...  I was merely counting the coins... Making sure they were all still...  Ummm...  You know, keeping them in safe keeping for you, for your return."

"What happened to finders keepers?" Mason whispered into Seville's ear.

"Finders keepers applies to peeps, other cats and weasels," Seville hissed.  "Leprechauns are a whole different kettle of fish."

"Mr Leprechaun," Mason coughed nervously but stood up firmly on all four paws.  "It seems to me that we have a bit of a dilemma at paw.  Legend has it that if a cat can catch a leprechaun, said leprechaun has to reveal his pot of gold to said cat.  Now my brother here might actually be the true owner of this pot of gold.  He could make a case that as he found your gold and now we have apparently caught you..."

"He did no such thing!" the leprechaun cried.  "He never caught me.  I only have to reveal my gold if you catch me..."

And with that, Mason swiped at the leprechaun and caught hold of his jacket with a claw.  "Like this?" she asked, holding him up like a cat would hold a rat.

The leprechaun struggled, trying to free himself.

"Not so mean looking now, are you," Mason said and added, "Might I say, you're a very little leprechaun to have such a big pot of gold."

"Let me go!  LET ME GO!" and the leprechaun continued to struggle.

"I think you should let him go," Seville told Mason.  "Look how red his face is getting.  If he was angry before I don't know what he's gonna be..."

"I'll tell you what," and Mason lowered the leprechaun onto the floor, still holding onto him with a claw.  I'll exchange your freedom for your pot of gold."

The leprechaun pursed his lips together.  "The legend says I do have to take you to my gold in exchange for..."

"But we already have your gold," blurted out Seville.  "Got it right here," and he pointed toward the gold.

Narrowing his eyes, the leprechaun said, "But do you have my even bigger pot of gold?  The pot of gold that makes this one look like a mere trifling..."

"You have an even bigger pot of gold?" gasped Seville.  "Mason, do you have any idea how much nip we could get with an even bigger pot of gold?  We could..."

Mason glanced over at Seville, loosening her grasp on the leprechaun for only a moment but a moment was all it took and right before their very eyes, the leprechaun and the pot of gold vanished like magic.

"Awww.... MOUSES!" Seville cried.  Sitting back on his haunches he said, "legend also has it that those little green fairies are slippery and sly.  Was he too slippery to hold onto, Mason?  Is that why you let go?"

"Wrong kind of slippery, Seville," answered his sister.  "Never pays to be too greedy, I suppose."

"Nope, never does," Seville stated.  The corners of his mouth began to curl up into a smile.  "But it does pay to be careless!  Looky here. I happened to be sitting on this coin when the little feller and his gold disappeared."  Seville bit into it.  "Yup, solid gold, for sure.  Nip store here I come!"

"I think you mean here we come," Mason grinned.  "Come on, we can teleport over in a jiffy and get ourselves a whole gold coin's worth of really good nip."

"We sure can," agreed Seville.  "And as luck would have it, we'll get it just in time for St. Patrick's Day, too.  MOUSES!"

Seville's four-leaved clovers

Nissy softly padded into the kitchen, only to find his brother Seville up on the table, surrounded by a mess of glue, paint, workbooks and other assorted paraphernalia. "Whatcha up to there, Sivvers?" he asked.

"Oh, just super gluing some clovers together."

Only half-listening to his brother, Nissy continued over to the fridge and poured himself a cold mug of nip beer.  "Uh-huh...  I see. WAIT A MINUTE," and he stopped in his tracks.  "Did you say you were super gluing clovers together?"

"Yup.  Not working out all that well, though.  They keep fallin' apart.  Plus, I think I accidentally super glued some stuff together I didn't actually mean to super glue together.  FYI, don't sit in that chair over there," and Seville pointed to one of the kitchen chairs with his tail.  "And I wouldn't jump onto the stool, either."

"MOUSES!  Why on earth are you super gluing together clovers?" Nissy questioned.

"Well, I tried hot gluing them together but the glue kept melting the leaves," answered Seville.

Nissy shook his head furiously.  "Not what I meant, Sivvers.  Perhaps I didn't word that well.  I wanted to ask, why on earth are you workin' with the clovers in the first place?"

"Peep #1 said she'd really like to find a four-leaved clover 'cause they're supposed to be lucky and I thought I would give her one for St. Patrick's Day, tomorrow."

"Hmmm..." Nissy pondered.  "I think they're only lucky if they grow that way naturally.  I'm not sure that the luck sticks if they're glued together."  He picked up one of Seville's supposed four-leaved clovers and a leaf fell off.  "Apparently your glue isn't stickin', either.  I thought super glue stuck to everything.  That's why Ol' Peepers is always tellin' us cats to keep away from it.  You know...  in case it sticks to our fur."

"Oh, it sticks to fur, all right," confirmed Seville.  "I now have a green permanent marker permanently stuck to my...  my...  my ummm...."

Nerissa noticed the marker and exclaimed, "You sat on it?"

"Yeah...  I spilled some glue on the marker and the rest is history."

"MOUSES!  Seville, Ol' Peepers is gonna be furious when she sees this mess."  Nerissa took a sip of his nip beer.  "And may I ask why there's an open time vortex in our kitchen?  You been messin' with whisks again?"

Seville glanced over at the vortex.  "Oh...  that.  I needed some clovers for my work and, in case you hadn't noticed, there's still snow on the ground outside.  Needed to make a quick trip to July to pick up a supply of the stuff."

"Makes sense, I suppose," and Nissy nodded in agreement.  "But how come the vortex is still open?"

"I might have accidentally glued it open.  I didn't realise I had spilled super glue on that whisk..." and Seville looked away, somewhat shamefully. "Not quite sure how to fix that yet."

"MOUSES!" Nissy cried.  "The peep is gonna explode when she finds out we've got a permanently open time vortex in the kitchen.  You're gonna have to find a way to close that before she sees it."

"I was sort of hoping she wouldn't notice," explained Seville.  "And if I can just get these clover leaves to stick together, maybe even if she does notice, she'll be so happy about the lucky clovers that she won't freak out too much about the vortex."

"I've got a better idea, Sivvers.  Why don't we just teleport on over to the Emerald Isle..."

"And run away before the peep finds out about the permanently open time vortex in the kitchen?" Seville interrupted.

"No," and Nissy looked pointedly at his brother.  "I was gonna suggest that we teleport on over and grab some REAL four-leaved clovers.  Ones that might actually be lucky.  I've heard that leprechauns grow them by the millions.  Shouldn't be too difficult to find a few there."

"I don't know," Seville hesitated.  "The peep said we weren't to do any more teleporting after the trouble we caused in Ottawa at the Worldwide Weather Offices, Forecasting and Control, Canadian Division."

"Seville, you've permanently glued open a time vortex in our kitchen!" and Nissy slapped a paw on the table.  "A little teleporting is nothin' compared to that.  Trust me.  SIVVERS, PREPARE THE TELEPORTATION DEVICE."

Moments later, the two cats were hurtling through space and time on their way to a heavily leprechaun-infested area of Ireland.  Thinking ahead, Nissy grabbed some gold coins to cover any tariffs the leprechauns might demand as he was well aware that leprechauns are notoriously anti free trade.

After a surprisingly smooth landing, Nissy and Seville hopped out of the frying pan teleporter and onto a lawn of lush green grass.  Seville nosed about in the grass hoping to find a clover or two but, unfortunately, he found nothing but grass.  Nerissa grabbed a paw full of the stuff and started chewing. "That last mug of nip beer gave me the munchies," he explained to his brother.

"Where do we find the clover?" Seville asked.

"Let's ask around in that pub over there," suggested Nissy.  "Someone is bound to know about the clover farms, there."

The two cats approached the pub with trepidation.  Talking about leprechauns was one thing. Talking about meeting leprechauns was another.  Actually meeting a leprechaun was something neither Nissy nor Seville had ever done before and the thought was making the pads of Nissy's paws sweat.

The pub door closed behind them.  "Perfectly normal pub," Nissy muttered sarcastically.  He glanced around, seeing groups of leprechauns gathered here and there, sipping beer and doing jigs.

A fairy darted past Nissy's head, sprinkling fairy dust over him.  "Hey!  Watch it with that stuff," and Nissy shook himself violently while Seville took a swipe at the fairy, narrowly missing a wing. "Don't annoy the fairies, Sivvers," Nerissa told his brother.  "Not a good idea."

Nerissa boldly walked up to the bar and ordered two nip beers.  Paying for the beer with a gold coin, he asked in a low voice, "We're looking for four-leaved clovers.  Anyone here who might be able to help us out?"

The fairy was back, hovering by Nissy's ear.  "I can take you to a clover farm, if you like.  But you'll have to tell the orange cat to keep his claws to himself."

"Deal!" squealed Nissy with delight. "Hear that, Sivvers?  We'll get you those clovers in no time."  Turning back to the fairy, Nissy quickly explained the situation and why the cats were in dire need of the four-leaved clovers.

Suddenly and out of nowhere, a vortex of some sort opened in the corner of the room.  "The clover field managed my Sean and Seamus O'Reilly is on the other side," explained the fairy.  "Follow me."

"How did you do that?" asked Nissy, suspiciously.  "How did you open a vortex without an egg beater or whisk in sight?"

"They use magic," hissed a nearby leprechaun.  "Don't question their means.  Just do what she says and you'll be fine."

Nissy briefly wondered if the vortex was some sort of trick but desperate times called for desperate measures and the cats were pretty desperate for a paw full of four-leaved clovers.  He watched the fairy disappear into the vortex, grabbed Seville by the tail and together, they followed her through.

The other side of the vortex proved to be a beautiful, sunny lawn.  Small white, daisy-like flowers were growing here and there and although quite pretty, there wasn't a farm in sight.  Nissy questioned the fairy about the clover farm.

"Take a closer look at the grass," the fairy suggested.  "You'll find what you're looking for, there."

The boys nosed about in the grass and, sure enough, there were clovers everywhere.  The lawn was the farm, Nissy realised and what a clover farm it was.  A very high percentage of the clovers growing there were of the four-leaved variety.

"Fill your boots!" Nissy exclaimed to his brother.  "Start pickin' clover."

"But I don't have any boots," Seville sadly replied.  "I never wear the things."

"It's just an expression, Sivvers.  Oohhh...  but you can fill that hat with clover.  Just pick the four-leaved ones and put 'em in your hat for transport.  You start picking and I'll go make a deal with those two approaching leprechauns.  They must be the O'Reilly brothers."

Nissy worked out a deal to trade the gold coins he and Seville had brought with them for two hats worth of four-leaved clovers.  The fairy acted as a witness to the deal, making sure everything was in order.  Nerissa headed back to Seville and grabbed a paw full of grass to munch upon while his brother finished collecting the required clovers.

"Isn't this a whole lot easier than workin' with super glue?" Nissy asked Seville.

"Much easier," Seville answered with a smile.  "Especially for you," and he looked over at Nerissa preparing to take a nap on the sunny lawn while he continued searching for clovers sporting four leaves.

A short while later, the boys had all the four-leaved clovers they could possibly want and the fairy offered to escort them back through the vortex so that they could retrieve their teleportation device and return home.  They left Sean and Seamus behind, happily dancing jigs and counting gold coins.

"Never caught your name," Nissy said to the fairy.  "What did you say it was?"

"I didn't," replied the fairy with a smile.  "A fairy very rarely reveals her name," and with that, she disappeared, leaving behind a cloud of sparkling dust.

"MOUSES!" Nissy cried.  "She's gone and I was just about to ask her if she knew how to close that open time vortex in our kitchen.  Oh well, you'll have to figure out that one, Sivvers, but I'll help you clean up the mess with the glue when we get back home."

"Thanks, Nissy.  I'd appreciate that. Maybe you can help me get rid of this marker glued to my butt, too.  I just know the peep is gonna notice that and know I was workin' with super glue."

"That one is on you, Sivvers...   literally.  But I will help you clean up the rest of the mess.  Consider it my St. Patrick's Day gift to you."

The two cats climbed back into their teleportation device for the trip home and as they soared over the Emerald Isle they cried out, "HAPPY ST. PATRICK'S DAY!" to everyone in sight.