I Just Found THE MOST Awesome Hideout!

People, it's me, Random Awesome!

I'm way too excited to bandy words right now, so I'm just going to say -

I've always loved wandering the back alleys around my neighbourhood. Not at night, of course - but in the evening, when everyone's at the park, I slip to the alleys and spend a happy half hour there. When I was small, I liked looking for treasure: tinfoil, red glass, the occasional penny, you know. Now I'm bigger, well, I STILL like looking for treasure, but of a different sort. You know. Soccer balls people have kicked over ages ago and were too scared to reclaim. That kind of thing.

The alleys can be a little creepy, I'll admit, but I'm smart. I keep the dried leaves behind me at all times. If someone's coming, then I'll be able to hear them.

Besides, there are always some maids taking in the washing or stacking up the dishes, and we wave hello. Friendly alleys.

Not to mention stray cats.

I should probably mention Mango here, seeing as he was with me when I discovered the awesome hideout.

Mango is the most hideous cat in all existence. Typical that he chose to team up with me. Birds of a feather flock together, which would imply that I am hideous too. Great.

Ginger, lean, scarred pelt, one fang sticking out, wonky ear, one eye, crooked tail, rasping meow, tendency to bite. I don't have a picture of him - the camera would explode if I pointed it in his direction - so I'll post some other pics of other cats.

I found him ages ago, and one scratch of his ears and a tin of tuna later, we were great friends. He's my alley-wandering companion. I originally called him Mangy, but it seemed kinda mean, so I replaced the y with an o, and it seemed much better. It fits, too - his fur is yellowy-orange.

Whenever I am walking backstreet, Mango, who somehow seems to know where am and what I have in my pocket, appears and yowls loudly for food.

I give it to him.

Love.

So yesterday, I was just wandering around, kicking a pebble, when I noticed two things.

The first was that I was behind the empty house in the neighbourhood.

The second was that although the little back gate had a lock, it wasn't LOCKED, if you know what I mean. It was just hanging there.

So what else was I supposed to do?

I opened the gate and sneaked in.

Whoa.

It was awesome. A whole HOUSE, just for me... and Mango, I guess.

Brilliant as it was - a hideout! - it was kinda creepy too. I mean, great, empty, echoing rooms, covered in dust.

Don't get me wrong, I wasn't that fussed about ghosts. As far as I knew, my neighbourhood was relatively new, and nobody had DIED in this house. So, it couldn't be haunted.

But as I stood there, watching the dust motes in the light, I sarted to get a little freaked out.

I mean, sure, there might be no HUMAN ghosts. But I was sure there were plenty of ants that had died here.

A horde of zombie ants nipping my ankles was too unbearable to contemplate.

Plus, they wouldn't die if I stepped on them, now, would they?

So I hightailed out of there as fast as I could, making a promise to come back and conquer my fear of zombie ants.

A perfectly reasonable fear.

But I'm not going to let my fear conquer me. I mean, a whole HOUSE is sitting there, just waiting for me to go in and use it as a hideout.

I'll come back tomorrow, armed with socks and a bottle of insect repellent.

Tuning in later, (unless I die first, of course)

Random Awesome