Volume I: Loose Ends

Across town, Enola ducks into a playground to change into her civilian clothes once more. She carefully removes Mr. Sleepy from the bag and places him on the ground.

"You’re not going to try running away, are you?" she asks the cat with an expectant glance. The creature gives a half-hearted meow before stretching and lazing on the cold grass. "Yeah, I didn’t think so."

She removes her clothes from the bag, disgruntled by the feline hair now caked upon it. She gives an audible click with her tongue. A nearby squirrel scurries towards her. Enola hands the critter her clothes and the rodent begins plucking as much of the hair out as it can, collecting it so it may bolster its nest. Once changed, Enola then packs her costume, dons her backpack, picks up the lump of fur beneath her armpit, and heads off to Angie’s house with a thankful salute to the squirrel.

On the way, she runs through the interaction in her head. Her goal is to sound convincing while leaving out as many details and inconsistencies as she can. To organize her thoughts, she acts as if she is speaking with Mr. Sleepy.

"So how am I supposed to play this? We’re definitely going to say Deion found you while leaving all the stuff about superheroes and zombies out. Then why didn’t Deion come make the drop off himself? Simple. Angie’s on the way home to my place and it’s getting late. Where did we find you? In an alleyway downtown. You were following a particular scent that led you to a discarded can of tuna. Why did you act so out of character? You’re a cat. You got bored and wanted to try something new."

As she arrives at the end of Angie’s walkway, Enola brings the cat up to her eye level, glaring into its tired eyes. "Don’t blow this." She then perches the cat against her shoulder, walks up to the door, and knocks.

Mr. Sleepy leaped off Enola's shoulder as soon as the front door opened. Without so much as a meow for hello, he walked right past the sandy-haired woman standing at the door frame as if he hadn't gone missing for the last couple of days.
"Hey, there, Mister!!!" the woman called after the arrogant cat, but he already disappeared into the house like he owned the place, heading straight for his food bowl, and the comfy cat-bed. "I'm sorry" she turned her attention to the young teen "I can't believe he's back"

Yelling down the hallway for her daughter was unseemly. She wouldn't normally have invited a stranger into her house, and she did for a moment consider telling the young teen to wait outside while she went to fetch Angelina, before finally changing her mind: "Please; come in"

"Oh! Uh, thanks but I…."

Enola pauses herself. Although she’d rather keep this succinct, she needs to provide a worthwhile explanation to sell the excuse. She doubles back on her words.

"Thank you. That’s very kind of you."

She stands just inside the doorway, not wanting to overstay the welcome she has. The less of a big deal this is, the easier it will go.

Remember: tell the story and don’t get fancy. Keep it simple.

Enola was left standing at the doorway while Angelina's Mom went to tell her the news. A short squeal later, accompanied by a muffled meow, and the young girl herself hurried down the hallway, a smothered cat that didn't look so appreciative of the sudden burst of love in her arms.

"Oh. Hi" The girl didn't know Enola beyond the short exchange they had at school that afternoon. Certainly, she didn't expect to see her at her doorstep

"Hey. Uh. Deion found Mr. Sleepy downtown and wanted to make sure he got home safe. He had to get home to his mom so he asked some supe to stop by and drop him off. Seeing as how you're on the home, I figured it'd be better that I bring the little guy over."

Enola glances at the massive ball of fluff sprawled on the floor and smiles. Rodents are more her preference, but she cannot deny Mr. Sleepy's lethargic brand of cuteness.

"I can see why you were worried. He's definitely a special cat. Anyways, I'm glad to see he's safe."

"He did?" there was more than a hint of suspicion in her voice. Not because of the claim about Deion finding her cat, but because of the claim about where he found him. Downtown? How did Mr. Sleepy ever get so far away from home?

Her mind took her to a dark place, but she immediately thought better of it; Enola didn't look like the type to play a cruel, elaborate prank at her expense

"Thank you. Thank you both" she relented, and let go of Mr. Sleepy, who happily strolled back to his bed "I guess I should call him" she was sorta hoping that Enola would tell her she didn't have too. She was still embarrassed over breaking down in tears earlier, and calling Deion up would feel ... awkward.

"Sure, you can try calling him, but I think it’d be a better idea to call him later. His mom sounded pretty steamed about him being out so late. Might be better to talk to him at school."

The suspicion throws Enola for a loop. Her mind starts to race with worst-case scenarios of she already messed this whole charade up. However, just like how she keeps her composure when navigating between her civilian and heroic identities, she stays level-headed. She’s already dreading the amount of work that will have to go into preserving this lie, likely needing to follow up with Deion as Enola to explain why it wasn’t Vermite that dropped off Mr. Sleepy.

I just made this overly difficult, didn’t I? Fuck.

"Anyways, I don’t want to take up too much of you or your family’s time. Again, glad to see your cat’s home okay. I’ll see you around."

It’s already been a challenge for Enola to fit in at school. She can tell this is an awkward interaction, so rather than stay to try and remedy it but inevitably make it worse, she elects to disengage and give Angelina some breathing room. Enola turns to make her way to the door.

Angelina waved Enola goodbye, all too eager to get back to Mr. Sleepy and spend some time with him. Check if he was harmed after spending a couple of days outside. Thanking Deion could wait till tomorrow morning. Enola had that much time to figure out how to explain Mr. Sleepy being handed over from Vermite to Enola without either Deion or Angelina figuring out the two were one and the same.