Revised When I first met Kit

The Tale of Two Kitties

By G.W. Hogg

©2-8-16

I first met Kit late Saturday night as I walked back to my company’s apartment in Cebu City. It was almost midnight as I made my way down the dim and quiet street. The end of my first week of training had gone well and I had been out to dinner with eight of my coworkers from the planning group. Despite being a thirty something single guy, I was careful how I acted with the group. So despite the encouragement of my coworkers, especially one rather cute one, I was careful not to drink too much.

I turned off the dim street, onto the dark alley that led to the back of the apartment complex. The full moon had just risen, but shed little light on the narrow alley. I hadn’t gone more than a few steps in when I noticed something moving high up on a wall. I flattened myself into a shadowy doorway and watched.

A guy was carefully pulling himself onto the top of the high wall. He was being slow and careful, trying to avoid the jagged pieces of glass set into the top of the wall. If it weren't for the full moon, he would have been invisible in his black, head to toe, skin tight outfit.

I was preparing to run when the figure stood and silhouetted by the full moon, I could see the special curves that told me it was a woman, and a rather nicely shaped one at that!

   The bulge on her back told me that she was successful and had filled her backpack with loot. I was curious, so I stayed in the shadows to watch.

Balancing herself on the edge, she pivoted on one foot, turning so she faced back the way she came. In one smooth motion, she crouched, grabbed the top of the wall, kicked off and hung for moment, then dropped to the alley below.

And something went terribly wrong! As she landed silently, I heard a nasty crack and she stifled a scream as she fell over. I stood there for a moment, listening to her quiet moaning and wondering what I should do. Does a gentleman help a damsel cat burglar in distress?

Not sure of the karma, but remembering the tantalizing silhouette I saw, I stepped out of the shadows. Whistling a tune, I started down the alley. This way, I hoped she would not be startled.

She was a darker shape amongst the dark gray bins and boxes cluttering the alley and I could just make her out as she froze against the wall. I continued, pretending I didn’t see her until I was abreast of her, then I turned and stared at her.

 "Are you in need of assistance my dear?"

She let out a little squeak, there was a flash and I was facing two feet of naked Japanese steel.

Because of the black hood, I could only see her eyes, but the pain and fear in them was unmistakable. I stood there for a few moments, not wanting to test her skill with a blade. It never wavered.

Finally, she spoke. "Go Away!"

"I thought you could use some help, especially since I think you broke your ankle."

"I don’t need your help, you stupid American! This doesn’t concern you. Go before trouble falls on your head!" She shifted her leg and from the sharp intake of breath, I knew it hurt.

Her voice sounded young and judging by her stubborn attitude, she was very young. "Now darlin’, be nice or I’ll get a long stick and hit your ankle."

Her eyes went wide. "You wouldn’t!"

"Probably not. Still, I think you need my help. Or do you want to crawl all the way home?"

"I told you I don’t need your help!"

"Okay, I’ll leave if you show me you can stand." I stepped back and waited.

She seemed to think it over and sheathed her short sword. Then using it as a cane, she levered herself up onto one leg and stood. "See! Now leave!"

"Okay." I turned and walked away.

I was maybe four yards away when I heard her cry out, followed by a thud. I knew what had happened, but I kept walking.

"Help!" I heard in a quiet, plaintive voice. I kept walking.

"Please help me!" A little louder this time. I stopped, turned and sauntered back.

 "Does the little girl now need help from the stupid American?" I asked as I stood over her.

Her fierce dark eyes glared at me, and then she let out a sigh. "Perhaps I was a bit hasty. If this kind American would be so good as to help a poor damsel in distress…I…I might be in his debt."

Her last few words were so forced; I thought she might hurt herself. I reached down for her wrist and she grabbed mine. "Nothing would please me more than to help this charming young damsel."

I pulled her up, steadied her and we took a hop-step. She almost lost her balance. She was rather short compared to me, so I had to bend over to put an arm around her slender waist. We tried again, but her sharp intake of breath told me that even this jarred her foot too much. "I don’t think this will work."

As we stood there, we heard sirens in the distance, then noise over the wall. "I think we need to hurry!" She said.

I let go and hunkered down. "Get on my back and I’ll carry you."

She put her arms around my neck and as I stood, she hoped up and wrapped her legs around my waist. "Giddy up!" She said and laughed.

I jogged to the end of the alley and started across the street. "Hey!" She said. "My place is to the right."

"My place is closer and I promise I’ll be a gentleman."

"Ah…okay." Then she whispered in my ear. "But I can’t promise to be a lady!" And she laughed deliciously.

We made it across the street and into the next alley unseen. I fumbled a bit getting the door to the apartments unlocked, but made it through without dropping my cat burglar.

Despite her small size and light weight, I was a little winded when I got us to my apartment on the third floor.

I let her slide off onto the small couch and got her a chair to prop up her foot.

"Is there someone you can call?"

"Yes, just a moment." She shucked the backpack off and pulled it around to her front. As she unzipped the front pouch and pulled out her phone, the pack fell over and bundles of cash fell out of the unsecured top. She froze.

I casually picked up the bundles of dollars and pesos, placed them on the dining table, then grabbed two Red Horse beers from the fridge. I opened them, walked over and placed one before her, then sat down next to her.

"Well, my little cat burglar, I think you have some explaining to do."

She gave me a frightened look, then grabbed the beer, lifted her mask just a bit and took a long drink.

"You probably think I'm a common criminal?"

I looked her over and smiled. "Perhaps not 'common', but a criminal none the less."

She smiled back, and it was a really cute smile.

"I'm not really a criminal! That house belongs to the mayor; it's where his mistress lives. He's well known for taking bribes and other bad things. My cousin told me the police are going to raid the house in the morning and all the bribe money might not make it to the police station."

"So you thought you'd help keep the police from getting their hands too dirty?"

Her smile turned impish and there was a little sparkle in her eyes. "The police don't know how much there is to seize, and if there is some missing, then the mayor will just assume the police kept it. I wasn't going to keep all of it. Most was going to the homeless children's fund that my church runs."

"And you were going to keep just enough to cover expenses?" I could not tell if she was blushing, but her smile turned uncertain and she looked away. When she turned back, the impishness was back in her smile. "You could be one of my 'expenses'?" She said hopefully.

"For a cat burglar, you're not a bad kitty. Call your friend. Your broken foot needs to be looked at."

As she called, I went over to inspect the loot. I picked up all but one bundle of hundred dollar bills. As she was talking to her friend, I stuffed the rest of the cash back into her pack and secured the top.

I wished I knew some Tagalog. She would say something, then glance at me and look away. It was probably best I did not know what she was saying.

She closed the phone. "My cousin will be here in twenty minutes." Her eyes traveled to the table. "Hey! You didn't give me everything back!"

I smiled wickedly, "Expenses."

She gave a small pout, then smiled. "Not such a stupid American after all. I guess it's only fair."

"You know, we have not been properly introduced. My name is Greg. And yours?" I held out my hand and she shook it, strong and firm.
" I think it's best you don't know my name."

"Hmmm…perhaps you're right. Well, I'll call you Kitty, since you're a cat burglar. The tale of Kitty the cat burglar. It has a nice ring."

"Depends how you spell tale."

"Either way, it's a nice tail."

She looked away, as if she was blushing, but she was smiling too.

We had just finished our beers when her phone chimed. "Oh, my ride is here."

"Then let's get you downstairs."

I helped her stand, and put on the backpack full of loot. "Ready for another ride?"

"Sure."

Despite our care, she hit her bad foot when she wrapped her legs around me.

"Sorry."

"It's okay." She said through clenched teeth. "You were being careful."

"You know, it's a good thing you're light and petite. Makes it easier to carry you."

She gave me a bit of a squeeze. "Giddy up!" Was all she said.

When we stepped out into the alley, there was a beat up white Isuzu trooper waiting with the back door open. I carefully set Kitty down, then helped her into the seat. As I went to pull away, she tugged on my arm, stopping me.

"Thanks for your help." Then she pulled me closer and kissed me, her tongue saying more than her words did.

She released me. "Maybe I can thank you improperly when my foot heals. Let's go cousin!"

She smiled impishly, pulled the door shut and they drove off.

Monday, my driver picked me up late, so by the time I got to the conference room, everyone was ready and waiting. While I set up, the supervisor introduced the two new faces, Katrina and Alfonso, who had been on vacation the previous week.

Training on the new software package went well and I wrapped up the introduction just before lunch.

"It's almost lunchtime." I said as I stood. "So let's break a little early. After lunch, I'll have each of you run the software and we'll do some hands on work. After that, I am sure I'll be flooded with questions."

They looked to their supervisor and when she nodded, they all thanked me and left for lunch. All except one.

I walked over to the young lady. "Katrina isn't it?"

"Yes, but you can call me Kit, everyone else does."

 "Well Kit, shouldn't you be heading off to lunch? Or did you have some questions?"

"No questions, you covered everything quite well. It's just that I was off last week and have a million emails to catch up on."

"I see. I thought it might be that you didn't want me to notice that your foot was in a cast."

She gasped.

"Not bad for a stupid American, huh Kit? Or should I call you Kitty?"

"How did you know? You never saw my face!"

"But I saw your cute smile."

She looked away and almost blushed.

"So, leave your work and let's go join the others for lunch."

"Okay."

I helped her up and retrieved her crutches from under the table. "Maybe later, you will think of a nice restaurant where you would like me to take you to dinner."

"Some place expensive?"

"If I can afford it."

"Oh You!" and she playfully hit me on the arm.