A World Apart

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Chapter 7

I knew that shopping with Robin would be an adventure, but he sure does love it. Later we came across a large building as we turned the corner. A sign hung from the top of the building and it said "Challerts". I followed my brother though the open entry door and into the store. He was right, it was like a department store. The first floor was women’s. The style was casual. I noticed many flowing, colorful skirts and shirts in that new age bohemian style. The store was pretty empty, but it was the middle of the week in the afternoon.

"Men's clothes are upstairs," Robin said.

So, once again, I found myself following him up a spiral staircase to the second level. Instead of seeing the bright, feminine colors disappear, there was the same multitudes of colors here too. The shirts were all made of light, airy material in a peasant shirt style. Some shirts had sequence around the collar and hems, but all were basically the same style. I found some button up shirts that seemed to be a kind of work shirt, while the peasant shirts were more casual. The casual pants were linen with drawstrings and there were suede and leather pants in a variety of color.

"I know the style isn't what you’re....used to, but I looked, Rave! All the stores have these kinds of clothes and the people around town wear them, too!"

"Aren't any of my old clothes left?" I asked, irritated that I had to buy an entirely new wardrobe.

"No, because mom and dad had a garage sale...that week while you were in the hospital. They sold our stuff and bought new," He paused, fingered through a rack of shirts and finally looked up at me," They only kept one thing - your leather jacket. They found it at the place where we found you and mom and dad knew you'd be mad if you didn't have it."

"My jacket? They kept it? Good...what about everything else? Surely it didn't all sell," I said, wanting answers.

He shook his head, “Most sold and what didn't, well, they gave it to charity. My clothes too. All of them are sold or at a thrift shop right now. I wasn't very happy, either. But now, they gave you tons of money to buy a new wardrobe-"

He was startled out of his sentence by a young lady who was approaching us, “Hi. Did you need any help finding anything?"

"No, we're just looking, thank you."

She smiled kindly and walked away, a striped brown tail following her.

"So anyway. You really should find some clothes. You have to come home with something. There are dressing rooms over there," He said, pointing to some curtains on the other side of the room.

"I really don't want to do this," I said, mostly to myself.

"Well. How about I pick stuff out that I think you'll like and you can try it on. They have some jeans over in the other corner and I know you'll want to get a few pairs. We'll need to find you some shirts and underwear too!"

Before I knew what was happening, Robin had grabbed my hand, leading me to the dressing rooms. I shook him off, cursed under my breath, and let him shove me into a tiny stall of a room. I looked around, seeing a full size mirror and a small bench in the corner. I waited until Robin came back moments later with a handful of hangers with clothes hanging from them.

"Do you like this shirt? I like it. The only things they wear for casual are these peasant shirts and I know that you like dark red. I found some nice dress shirts too. Here," He handed me the shirts and I took the clothes reluctantly, “Try these on."

He pulled the velvet cream curtain shut and I put the clothes on a knob, just staring at them. Finally, after much delay, I decided that I did have to buy something. So, I picked out a few shirts I liked and pulled the shirt I was wearing over my head, letting it fall onto the floor. I pulled on a green button up shirt and stared at myself in the mirror. It looked okay, so I shrugged it off and put it in the newly acclaimed "keep" pile.

I went through a few more clothes until I came across that shirt my brother had specifically pulled out because of its dark wine color. I stared at it for a moment. I could never wear it out in public. It had purple and tan stitching around the top and came to a V in the chest area and a string tied it together. Robin was wearing a shirt in a baby blue color similar to it this morning. But, I finally put it on and stared in the mirror.

"Raven? Have you tried on any clothes yet?" Robin asked from outside," Let me see!"

"No!" I yelled through the curtain," Go find me some pants or something."

The curtain was ripped open and there Robin was gawking at me. He leaned over and pulled on the ties on the front," It looks good. You should get it. You look so different...more like the kitty that you've always been."

"Just what I want," I replied sarcastically.

There was a pause before Robin quietly asked," Why do you hate it so much? It's who you are. It's what you are. It's a part of you that will never change. And now that you've found so many others like you, can't you just accept it?"

I shook my head and sat down on the bench behind me. I lowered my head, played with the tag on the shirt I was holding and replied," I never wanted to be this way, Robin. Everything I had tried to hide for so long was suddenly forced upon me. It's hard because nobody understands and you guys like it so much."

"I do understand, Rave," He said softly.

A moment later I felt his hand on my good ear. He rubbed it gently and I pulled away after a second or two," I know this is going to sound weird - coming from me, but you are handsome. You’re not weird or strange, or whatever you think. I don't know why you tried hiding who you are. I can't imagine trying to hide my tail or my ears for so long. They might be strange to the humans, but to us, its just normal. I think that some day you will find someone like you and you'll probably spend the rest of your life with them."

He leaned over and gave me a brief hug," I'm sorry you hate this so much, but I know what you're going through, too. Everything here is so different. Even though I like it, I don't think I could ever get used to a lot of things around here. I know this is really hard for you, too."

Robin left and came back with some pants, which I tried on. When I was done with clothes, I went through my keep pile again to see what I decided to buy. There were a couple of dress shirts, but surpringly more peasant shirts (only because that's all the store had!). I ended up with a few pairs of jeans and, after much deliberation, a pair of tan suede boot cut pants that would match my red shirt perfectly. I found some boxers and socks (even though I didn't need shoes) and finally went to the register to pay.

Robin whipped out a few hundred dollar bills from his pocket and presented them to the female cashier. She grinned and accepted the bills. With every cat person I meet, I notice their personalities are more relaxed than the humans. The environment isn't so fast paced and they have more time to talk to you as if they know you. We left the store with our bags and went back out into the sunshine.

"There seems to be more people around now," I said, looking around, noticing groups of people walking and talking.

"School gets out at one. I think it's just down the street, do you want to go see it?" He asked.

I placed my free hand on my injured ribs and shook my head," My bruised ribs are kind of hurting. I think we should relax for a while."

"Okay," He said," We can get something at that cafe over there. Do you want to? I've got plenty of money left."

I nodded and we crossed the street to join others our age that were having an early afternoon treat. I ordered a cookies and cream ice cream cone and we sat in the chairs outside with the sun warming us.

"This is nice," Robin said, leaning back into the chair," You must have been hungry. I know you didn't eat much this morning - ever since Rhea just had to tell you that the oatmeal had catnip in it. He's so stupid sometimes. That kind of catnip is just an herb anyway."

"It was the way he said it," I mumbled.

Robin smiled and propped his hand up to support his head. He sighed, glancing up at the sky. Then he yawned and rubbed a hand through his hair and over his ears," I'm kind of getting tired. That's another thing that's weird here. You can take a nap whenever you want and no one cares."

"Why don't we just go home?" I asked.

"We can. I wanted to see the school, but we'll be going there on Monday already, it's that soon! I'm kind of nervous. I wonder what people will think of us. I'm sure they all already know we're coming. One thing is for sure, people can't think of us as freaks anymore, because we're all cats now."

I didn't say anything, so he continued talking. He was more like Ren than I'd ever imagine," You make a good cat, you know that."

I raised an eyebrow," You make it sound like I'm wearing a Halloween costume or something."

He giggled," No, it's just that I haven't seen you like this for so long. With your tail and ears and your whiskers, they're finally starting to grow again. You look normal now. Well, as normal as a cat guy can get."

"So, have you met any of our neighbors or anything?" I said, trying to change the subject, “I saw some lady behind our house in a garden."

"Well, I don't know who that is, but I've seen her out there too. But, next to us a girl named Sasha lives. She's about 16 or so. I met her and she started flirting with me, but when I didn't flirt back, I think she got the idea. She asked if I had any other brothers. When I told her I had three she kind of got excited. So if some girl starts watching you out the neighboring window, it's not a ghost, it's Sasha."

"Great. I'll probably have a stalker now, thanks a lot, Robin."

"Well, maybe just a fan. She was kind of interested in the human population. Said she's never met a human before, can you believe that? This place is so secluded," He looked around and noticed I was finished," Ready to head back?"

"Sure."