Written by: Faith Nelson
Penny wandered by the "kitten room" and heard "two parts to one" "that's not one, that's seven." "Oh. Uh-oh. But why...?"
That sounded like Harley and Trillian, Penny thought. She stepped into the room, asking "what's going on, girls?"
Trillian immediately jumped to hide a book, saying "Nothing! Just, reading practice. Nothing!" putting a paw over Harley's mouth as she said "we just thought..."
Penny cocked an eyebrow and looked at Harley and then at Trillian, and asked "READING practice? What are you reading?"
Trillian's bravado started to crumble. "Well, it's just... you know how when they vacuum, and they move the drapes, the dust trapped way up in the top POOFS out and drifts down and settles on my fur, and it makes my nerves go all twitchy? And then when John brushes it all out, his hands are so soothing it makes all my nerves settle right back down and I can sleep again?"
Not seeing where this was going, Penny watched closely and said "Yes, and?"
"Well, we just had an earthquake, and it did the same thing, only MORE poofs and the vibration had my nerves all jangled anyway. And John was GOING to brush it out, but then he got busy, and he's been taking for EVER and he still hasn't brushed me! I can't SLEEP!"
Penny prompted "okay, yes, I see that. But what...?"
Trillian took a deep breath and said "Well, Harley and I were talking and we thought maybe if he got a little extra sleepy he'd go sit down and I could hop on his lap and he'd remember to brush me, and I remembered seeing this book about remedies and treatments and stuff. And it said Valerian root would help make him sleepy, so we mixed some with his coffee that he always drinks - but we got the amounts a little bit wrong."
Harley giggled "A little bit."
Penny said 'Harley, please. So, Trillian - did it work? It sounds like he should have been WAY more sleepy."
Trillian wailed "NO!! He just keeps drinking the coffee and rubbing his eyes and drinking the coffee and muttering bad words at his computer -"
Harley jumped up and down "Like he said..."
"HARLEY!" from both Penny and Trillian finally calmed her down a little bit, so she just quietly giggled to herself.
"Do you want to know WHY it didn't work?" Penny asked.
"Yes please," Trillian pleaded.
"Well, the humans and their silly time changes just messed up all their clocks again, and he's been working to try to fix everything broken by people who woke up and thought their computers were messed up."
Trillian's eyes got big as she thought about the carnage John was likely handling, while Harley asked "How many of them were managers?"
"Harley..." Penny sighed.
"Sorry! Sorry!" Harley quickly apologized. She thought about it for a minute, and kept watching Penny. "But, really, though?"
Penny sighed. "Lots. So, come on. Let's go keep him company. And for the love of Bast, no more messing with the coffee."