5.58am The alarm clock switches on. BUZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZZ.
“Meow!” yawns Blackjack as he rolls out of bed, crawls into the kitchen, before dunking his whole face into the sink and turning on the tap.
“Glug glug glug” supped Blackjack from the running tap.
These long nights on the Jamaican Dark Rum hit him harder each month but the Jamaicans knew how to make damn good rum, second to the Cuban stuff of course depending on who he was in company to at the time.
Water was very re-hydrating and fairly tasty, not as tasty as rum or the cat milk he had as a kitten but pretty good nonetheless.
He put on his brown trench coat with matching hat and strolled to the office. It was a still morning. The sky was grey currently but the rising sun would break that cloud, he was sure.
On arriving at the building where his office he noticed a pretty young thing stood outside. She was albino white with long fluffy hair and a pink bow. It had been a long time since he’d seen such a pretty she cat. In his line of work he didn’t get much of a chance to socialise or even hold a relationship together due to the nature of the business he was in. He sighed and ignored her and went back to the business of getting to his office where he could get into the thought process of the day ahead.
Blackjack entered the building said ‘meow’ to the receptionist who took calls for the offices in the building, walked the three flights of stairs and unlocked the door. He was a forgetful puss so always left the key under a Spider plant pot next to the door. Click.
All as was yesterday. Filing cabinet, desk, couple of chairs, a filter coffee machine and.….”Oh no not another bill?” he thought, it turned out he’d underpaid the electric last month. He tossed the bill on his desk, took off his overcoat and switched on the coffee machine. Coffee is the devil but its lovely to warm the brain he thought….
At that point the young thing from outside the building strolled in feebly.
“Mmmmmrrrr Blackjack?” she said.
“Yes, that’s correct. Take a seat. Would you like a coffee? How can I help?” he replied.
“Well you see Mr Blackjack my father went to the Amazon jungle several months ago and recently stopped returning correspondence to me, his daughter. He would never normally do that. I’m worried something awful has happened.” She answered before bursting into meowful cat cries.
“Right, jungle you say? First you need a strong sugary coffee. There there. I’m sure he’s fine.” He replied.
After a time had passed and she had licked at her creamy sweet coffee she explained she was Elise and the story of why her father Sir Raymond Catmus had gone to the Amazon jungle. In the deepest depths there was a ‘Temple of the Apes’ supposedly full of great magic and treasure. Although there were great riches there he had gone in search of the ‘Jade Monkey’ a monkey statue carved of such a high quality Jade stone that when brought near sickly people it could fully heal them.
Sir Catmus’ wife was incredibly sick and the best doctors of the land could not help. Finding this ‘Jade Monkey’ might be the last chance for her survival even if he died searching for it….
Blackjack would always agree to a case such as this on a moral ground, unfortunately he was not a cat who took money and apart from a plane fare to Brazil he would have charged his normal pittance rate. Elise, who had a kind heart and access to her fathers large bank account, could see this luckily. She offered five times his normal rate as she had foresight to realise this case would require more than Blackjack’s work. He bowed, thanked her for the advice and took the cash knowing she was right.
He noted all the detail she could give, took a photograph and contact telephone number for her residence before dashing outside, the airplane to Brazil was in half an hour….
On the way he went via a couple of acquaintance’s homes; Sergeant Harvey, an expert in cat warfare and Rose Seymour, an expert translator. Both of whom were happy to help an old friend with a great task such as this.
The three boarded the airplane for Brazil. The journey was a tiresome long one. The airplane eventually landed, the three collected their baggage and took a bus to the nearest town. There they found a Guide with a LandCat, 4x4 all terrain vehicle, who could take them to the last village in the Sir Catmus had sent correspondence from.
When the LandCat turned up the village was silent. The four got out. There was crying in one of the natives huts. They entered as the door was already open.
There was a cat on a reed bed with a horrible wound, two locals were attempting to nurse the cat. Rose Seymour was actively listening and said at this point;
“they say she has been wounded by the beast and the wound will not heal….”
“…until the beast has cleansed the reason why he has awoke!”
Sergeant Harvey replied “Golly, what kind of beast is this that has control of flesh?”
Rose Seymour answered “They just call him the beast.”
Concerned at this Blackjack asked the Guide to take them to the village Elder to speak.
There appeared to be animosity at outsiders on meeting the Elder. Blackjack seeing this, brought out a bottle of Cuban Rum and several Cuban Cigars, if you’re going to do introductions properly bring out the expensive stuff he thought.
The idea of these intrigued the Elder and came around to Blackjack’s way quickly.
Rose Seymour translated the Elder’s story of how the Sir Catmus had come and journeyed to the ‘Temple of the Apes’. The Elder and his Witch doctor had warned that although the ape leaders of the temple had all died out that there was a curse on the temple. If treasure was taken and not substituted the the Jade eyed Monkey would come back from the grave and wound or even kill anyone associated with the thieves!
Blackjack the asked the question “How did the Jade eyed Monkey die to begin with?”
The Elder replied with a word Rose could not translate, unfortunately.
With this information to hand the four headed to the LandCat. At this point the Guide said he would not drive any further and they would have to walk but could drive them back from this village on return, he would wait and they agreed.
The 3 walked towards the Ape Temple in the distance. It was extremely humid, which is not ideal if you’re a cat. However the 3 were brave, strong and journeyed on to the temple.
On reaching the temple they rested and talked about the plan to get the information they needed. After about half an hour there was a terrific rustle and a massive ape jumped down. Sergeant Harvey grabbed his rifle and attempted to aim for the ape, the ape’s bulky left arm hit the rifle out of his hand as quickly as a Pro Chinese Table Tennis Player can serve.
The three were frozen looking at the great ape’s eyes that were jade!
“You Three! You Three go now!” “Arhhhhhhhh” “You Three go now or a terrible price you pay!” With that the Jade eyed Ape jumped into nowhere….
There was further argument on whether they should go in but Blackjack convinced them, however they would have stick together.
They entered; the temple looked like an Inca build but the usual bloody sacrifice paintings were apes ruling the natives! It was a maze. Having done orienteering in Cat Army Sergeant Harvey went about directing them to the central chamber.
The central chamber was massive room full of all kinds of treasure. The gold and diamonds were like a drug. Blackjack noticed a red stain on some of the gold, he followed it to an alcove room. This led to a massacre proportion cat slaughter. The three found it hard to hold their normally strong stomachs with so many dead cats. There was no way to tell who most of them were due to the nature of the wounds. It was an extremely meowy time.
At the end of the alcove was another room with a green light, this could be were the ‘Jade Monkey’ was. Only Blackjack entered, he advised his friends at the first sign of danger escape. Blackjack entered slowly, he found a cat lying on the floor by the ‘Jade Monkey’. “Sir Catmus?!” he cried.
“Meoooooowwww!” Sir Catmus replied.
“I am Blackjack, I have been sent here to rescue you. Are you alright?”
“I am fine young one. The power of the ‘Jade Monkey’ has kept me in health. I am afraid now we have come here and ignored the curse we have re-ignited his curse.”
“Unfortunately you have Sir Catmus. Is there anyway to bring the Jade Monkey to your loved one and escape though?” Blackjack answered.
“I did extensive research before I came young one. We cannot kill the Jade eyed Ape who has arisen as the Jade Monkey statue power will also die. We can however replace it with alternative gifts. I do not have any on my person though as they were lost in the Amazon river. Do you?”
He took out his Grandcat’s Pocket Watch and said “This is all. If it means lives are saved the Ape can have it.” He left the Watch, took the Jade Monkey and the 4 left the temple.
About a mile away they could here the Jade eyed Monkey screaming as if his soul had been replaced by a time piece that could eventually die….
They reached the village and were happy to find the cat who was previously injured was now fine. The Guide was still there surprised they’d returned but had obviously stood by his promise and took them to the airport in knowledge of urgency of the mission.
The four returned safely home. Elise was happy to be reunited with Father and Mother who is now fully healed due to the ‘Jade Monkey’.
Although Jade Monkey was a powerful and great artifact Blackjack realised it could be used for evil, he also knew the Jade eyed Monkey needed to have it’s curse lifted and felt a return visit was in order.
Blackjack made a subsequent journey to the Amazon jungle to return the Jade eyed Ape his treasure and reclaim his Pocket Watch. Fini.
