CHAPTER 8: A Magical Rescue

Sherlock sat at his usual lunch spot. The wind blew, cooling the air slightly. He pulled his lunch out of the knapsack and noticed that the mirror was no longer in there.

“One of the kids must have been in my knapsack” Sherlock complained out loud. “They probably played with it last night while I had a bath. That explains it. How else could it disappear?” Though he said this he didn't quite believe himself.

As he sat thinking about the bag, someone crept up beside him. It was Luna and she did not look happy.

“Sherlock” she said angrily. “Why did you leave me there to pay for everything and without saying goodbye.” Before Sherlock could reply she spoke some more. “How dare you! Don't ever speak to me again!”

She stormed off before Sherlock could say anything. He hung his head down and cried in a mournful tone, “Eee ooooh.” Suddenly he wasn't so hungry.

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The week past slowly for Sherlock. The weekend came and Sherlock went fishing with Charlie and Kato. Sherlock was still felt upset, but Charlie had talked him into going out, saying that it would be good for him. Sherlock didn't agree but Charlie hadn't left him with much choice. Early Saturday morning Kato literally dragged him out of bed and now Sherlock was here moping and fishing.

Charlie had driven them to the river near the middle of the city. He thought that a different location would help keep Luna off of Sherlock's mind. Their usual fishing spot, after all, was where he had first seen her. There was a nice wooden gazebo dock made special for fishing and here is where they stood on this beautiful warm and sunny and day. People were out with their pets or families, enjoying the weather. A cat and a fox also stood fishing nearby.

“There are plenty of other cats out there Sherlock” Kato said, trying to make him feel better. Sherlock just continued to sulk and didn't answer his friend. “Try to cheer up” Kato added.

Sherlock didn't want to cheer up and he didn't want to fish. “I think I will just head home” he said sadly.

As he got up off the ground, he looked at the water. He could see her. Luna was in a speed boat with Chauncy, and he was driving fast. Luna looked scared.

“Stop this thing now!” he could hear her scream over the roar of the engine. Chauncy came to a sudden stop and Luna went over-board. “Help! Chauncy, help me!” she screamed.

Sherlock watched as Chauncy put out a hand, but she was too far from the boat. It had now drifted further from her. Why doesn't he just jump in? Sherlock wondered. He has a life jacket. Chauncy just sat in the boat watching, frozen in horror.

Sherlock wanted to go in and save her, but she was too far up the river for him to swim out. Suddenly, a thought jumped into Sherlock mind. The knapsack! The mirror hadn't been in there before. What if the bag was magic? Desperate times called for desperate measures so why not look. Sure enough, something was in the bag.

“Now what am I supposed to do with that?” he cried out loud. Charlie and Kato gave him a funny look. Inside the bag was toy rowboat. He took it out of the bag and tossed it behind him. It landed in the water and expanded into a full-sized boat.

“Cool!” both Charlie and Kato exclaimed.

Sherlock turned around and noticed the boat. His jaw dropped and he couldn't say anything. He went to the boat and looked inside. It was a rowboat which meant it should have oars but there were none in the boat.

“Now what?” Sherlock cried. He thought he saw a glow come from inside of the bag. He opened it up again and found a life jacket that would fit Potato inside. He tossed it onto the ground and it too expanded.

He put it on. He looked once more into the bag and a hand mixer was inside. “A hand mixer? The boat was weird enough but now this is crazy! What am I supposed to do with a hand mixer?”

“Where did all of this come from?” Kato asked. “You've got some unusual stuff in there. Was that boat magic?”

“I didn't think magic was real,” Charlie said. “At least not until now.”

Sherlock was still staring at the mixer and didn't answer them. He could still hear Luna screaming for help in the background. She sounded very scared even though she had a life jacket on. The current was moving her further along the river and he knew he had to hurry.

Suddenly he had an idea. Sherlock quickly hopped into his boat. He placed the hand mixer to the left of the boat and began mixing. It began to move with quite a force as though it were a boat engine. He mixed from the left and then to the right. Back and forth he continued until he was near Luna. He set the mixer down and reached out for her.

He pulled her inside the boat, and she gave him a huge wet hug. “My hero” she said.

Chauncy still sat in his boat watching everything from afar. As soon as Luna had been pulled out of the water he headed to where Charlie and Kato were.

“Where did you get such an unusual boat?” Luna asked him. Sherlock just smiled thinking that she'd never believe him if he told her.

They reached shore and Chauncy reached for Luna. “Come on Luna,” he said.

Luna hissed at him. “How dare you!” she cried out angrily. “You left me out there and I could have drowned. I don't want to ever see you again. You, you sour puss!”

Chauncy hissed at Sherlock who was now grinning. He stormed off back to his boat and headed for home. Sherlock had won and it didn't look like Luna was mad at him anymore.

“Thank you, Sherlock” she said to him. “Maybe I was wrong about you. Would you like to go for another drink some time?”

Sherlock thought he was in heaven. He began to purr loudly and knead in the air.

“I take it that is a yes” Luna chuckled. “I would love to go with you tonight if you are free.” Sherlock purred and kneaded even more while he nodded. “I'll see you at 7pm then. Would one of you mind taking a wet cat home?”

Sherlock offered to take her, but he first had to get rid of the items that came out of his bag. He took off the life jacket and tossed it onto the ground. It once again shrunk before their eyes.

“I wonder if we pulled the rowboat onto the shore, if it would shrink too?” Charlie wondered out loud.

Kato and Sherlock pulled the boat onto land while Charlie put the mixer into the bag.

“Everything is magic?” Luna asked feeling a bit confused. Charlie then began to describe what he'd seen happen. “Amazing!” she said as the boat began to shrink too.

Sherlock said goodbye to his friends and drove Luna home. Just before she got out of the car, she stopped and turned to him. “Sherlock, I don't care if you can't meow. I like you for you. The cat I met at the bakery, the cat I talked to. I didn't know if he could meow or not. I liked him for him.”

Sherlock grinned from ear to ear, purring as she left. He kneaded all the way home.