KOND Pt. 2

A figure walks toward the light after jumping down from the bell rope. She walks outside as she looks at the sky, then at a baby bird. She is a 16-year-old female cat, with light-brown fur, brown eyes, and long blond hair, and she is wearing a pink dress with a light-blue jacket and a white belt (with a golden buckle in the front) around her waist. A light-blue headband (with a small flower with light-blue petals attached to it) is nested neatly on her head. She is known as Angel Snooper, the appointed bell ringer of Notre Dame and the adopted daughter of Pete.

Angel: (sweetly) Hey there, little guy, good morning.

The bird chirps happily inside the mouth of a statue with another statue looking like it was holding the other's mouth.

Angel: Today may be the day for you. You ready to fly?

It chirps in concern, looking worried. Angel frowns a bit, but then looks at the bird.

Angel: Come on, today's a great day to try. (Sighs) If I wanted any day to fly, this would be it: the Festival of Fools.

She grins as he shows the bird some activity below. The bird looks concerned, however.

Angel: It's exciting and very fun with juggling, music, and even dancing...maybe even some fun games. (Sighs) Too bad Pete won't let me go out.

The cat then lets go of the bird slowly. Its instincts take over as it begins to flap its wings. The bird smiles, then realized what it was doing as it flies back to Angel's paw.

Angel: (smiles) Heh, go ahead! Go on! Nobody wants to be cooped up here forever!

The bird nods, then begins to fly off at last. Smiling, Angel sighs as she looks at the free bird. Just then, the statues begin to move. The first one that giggles is a small gray cat named Rita.

Rita: That was really nice of you, Angel. You could get props in the future for saving poor little things like that bird.

The other statue is spitting the nest out of her mouth as of some feathers. He is an orange fat cat with black stripes. His name is Garfield.

Garfield: Bleck! Gross! Aw, man! I thought he'd never leave! I'll be spittin' feathers for a week!

Another statue moves, he was another gray cat, named Tom.

Tom: Well, that's what you get for sleeping with your mouth open.

Garfield: (sarcastic) Heh, heh, heh...go scare a bum! (to Angel) Hey, Angie! What's goin' on out there? A fight? A flogging? A lasagna cooking contest?

Angel: A festival!

Garfield: (excited) You mean the Feast of Fools!?!

Angel: Yep!

Garfield: All right, all right! Pour the wine and cut the cheese!

Tom: It is a treat to watch the colorful pageantry of the simple people.

Garfield: Boy, nothing like balcony seats for watching the old "F.O.F."

Angel: (sadly) Yeah...watching.

Angel leaves them while looking disappointed. Garfield then grins as he sees Mime (from Happy Tree Friends) performing a pantomime act down below.

Garfield: Sweet! A mime!

He then prepares to make a huge spit, but Tom quickly covers his mouth, stopping the cat. As he lets go, everyone notices the teen cat heading back inside.

Tom: Aren't you going to watch the festival with us?

Angel makes no reply.

Garfield: (concerned) What's with her?

Tom: Maybe she's sick.

Rita: Impossible. If 16 years of listening to you two hasn't made her sick by now, nothing will.

Tom: But watching the Festival of Fools has ALWAYS been the highlight of the year for Angel.

Rita: Yeah, but what good is watching the party if you never get to go hear it? It's not like she's a loner or something.

Just then, a few pigeons are flying all around her, annoying the cat.

Rita: (trying to hit them) What the...hey! Get out of here! Shoo! I'm not a statue, you birdbrains! (The birds disappear) She's not made of stone, like us.

They go inside as they walk over to where Angel is. She is sitting in front of a table, looking depressed. In front of her are models of the city and the people, including themselves. Rita then walks up to her as she speaks.

Rita: Hey, kid, what's wrong?

Angel: (sighs) Well...I just...I don't feel like watching, the festival, that's all.

Rita: Well, did you ever think about going there instead?

Tom: Sure!

Angel: (surprised) What? Me? Go down there? But guys! I'd never fit in down there. I'm not...normal.

Rita: Angel, please...

Just then, a pigeon lands in front of her, making her frown.

Rita: (frustrated) I want a minute with the girl, if you don't mind!

Garfield: Aww, come on, Angie, stop beating around the tower. What do we have to do? Paint you a fresco?

Tom: As your friends and guardians, we insist you attend the festival.

Angel: (shocked) What?! Me?

Garfield: (sarcastically) No, the president. (normal tone) Of course, you!

Tom: It would be a veritable potpourri of educational experience.

Garfield: You can see lots of cute boys, drinks, and lots of singing.

Rita: Know many types of food, and you can learn to identify various regional cheeses!

Garfield: Bobbing for apples!

Tom: And the indigenous folk music.

Garfield: Dunk the monkey!

He takes a bucket of water, then slams it to Tom's head, annoying him.

Rita: (rolls eyes) Oh brother. (to Angel) Look, kid, take it from a cat like me: Life's not a spectator sport. If watchin' is all you're gonna do, then you're gonna watch your life go by without ya.

Garfield: Yeah, you're a cat, with the flesh, and the fur, and the navel lint. We're just part of the architecture, right Tom?

Tom: Yet, if you chip us, will we not flake? If you moisten us, do we not grow moist?

Then, Rita giggles as she takes the bucket off of Tom, then shoves it over Garfield's head. The others laugh as Tom speaks.

Tom: Yeah, it's all easy. Just get a cloak, a clean pair of clothes and--

Angel: Thanks for the encouragement, guys, but you're all forgetting one thing...

All: What?

Angel then picks up the figure of the cat's master.

Angel: My adoptive dad and master, Pete.

All: (disappointed) Oh, yeah, right, okay, e.t.c.

Tom: Well, when he says you're forbidden from ever leaving the bell tower, does he mean "ever ever?"

Angel: Never ever! And he hates the Feast of Fools! He'd be furious if I asked to go.

Garfield then gets an idea.

Garfield: (grins) Who says you gotta ask?

Angel: Oh, no...

Garfield: You should sneak out.

Angel: But I can't...

Garfield: And sneak back in.

Rita: (grins) He'll never know you were gone.

Angel: But what if I get caught?

Tom: Hey, it's better to ask forgiveness than permission. After all, he's your dad.

Angel: But he might see me.

Garfield then grabs a cloak and puts it on himself.

Garfield: You could wear a disguise, just this one. (Posing) What Pete won't know can't hurt you.

Tom: As one song goes, "Ignorance is bliss".

Garfield: (to the side) Look who's talking.

Rita: Besides, nobody wants to stay cooped up here forever.

Angel pauses for a minute, then looks at herself. She then smiles as she speaks.

Angel: Guess you're right. I'll go.

She walks inside the bell tower and prepares herself.

Angel: I gotta clean up. I'll just head downstairs, then go through the door and--

Just then, she stops as he gasps, seeing a familiar figure in front of her.

Angel: Aah! Pete!

Pete: Mornin', Angel. How's my little sugar plum? (Tousles her hair)

Angel: (sweatdrops) Ah--um, good...morning, Dad.

Pete: Hmmm, I thought I heard you talking to someone up here.

The two look as Angel sees the animals have turned back to statues while she waves.

Angel: My...friends. They're my friends, yes.

Pete: Ah, and what are they made of?

Angel: Uh, stone.

Pete: And can stone talk?

Angel: (sighs) No.

Pete: (smirks) Good, very good. You can be taught.

He then walks over to the table nearby, then takes out a basket.

Pete: Now then, it's time for lunch. (Grabs a tray with dishes, then comes back to the table and places each dish in front of Angel and himself. Then he takes out his book) And while we're eatin', whaddaya say we review your alphabet today from last week, shall we?

Angel: (groans) Of course, Dad. I would like that very much.

Pete: Now, A.

Angel: Abomination.

Pete: B...

Angel: Blasphemy.

Pete: C...

Angel: Contrition.

Pete: D...

Angel: Damnation.

Pete: E...

Angel: Eternal damnation.

Pete: F...

Angel: Festival.

Pete suddenly spits out his sandwich at that, before glaring at Angel angrily.

Pete: (surprised) What?!

Angel: (quickly) I mean, forgiveness!

Pete: You said...festival.

Angel: No, I didn't!

He sighs in annoyance, then closes the book and gets up before he begins to walk away.

Pete: You're thinking about going to the festival, aren't you?

Angel: It's just that...you go every year.

Pte: I'm a public official. I must go! But I don't enjoy a moment.

The cat follows him while Pete walks down the stairs.

Pete: Thieves and hustlers and the dregs of humankind, all mixed together in a shallow, drunken stupor. Who knows what will happen to you if you associate with those...idiots?

Angel: I didn't mean to upset you, Dad.

Pete: (sighs) Angel, can't you understand? When your heartless mother abandoned you as a young kitten, anyone else would have drowned you. And this my thanks for taking you in and raising you as my daughter? Through the years I've given you clothes to wear, food to eat, and bought you toys and a color TV with a VCR so you wouldn't get bored. I even had you potty-trained!

Angel: I'm sorry, I didn't mean to mention it...

Pete: (looks at the view) My dear Angel, you don't know what it's like out there. Trust me, though, I do.

PETE: (singing)
The world is cruel
The world is wicked
It's I alone whom you can trust in this whole city
I am your only friend

Angel frowns sadly as Pete continues.

PETE: (singing)
I who keep you, teach you, feed you, dress you
I who look upon you without fear
How can I protect you, girl, unless you
Always stay in here
Away in here?

They head inside as she follows, still listening.

Pete: You must remember what I taught you all these years.

Angel: Yeah.

PETE: (singing) You are unworthy

ANGEL: (singing) I am unworthy

PETE: (singing) And you are ignored

ANGEL: (singing) And I am ignored

PETE: (singing)
And these are crimes
For which the world
Shows little pity
You do not comprehend

ANGEL: (singing) You are my one defender

She picks up a few figures, including one that looked like herself and Pete.

PETE: (singing)
Out there, they'll revile you
As a loser

ANGEL: (singing) I am a loser

PETE: (singing)
Out there, they will hate
And scorn and jeer

ANGEL: (singing) Only a loser

PETE: (singing)
Why invite their calemy
And consternation?
Stay in here
And be faithful to me

ANGEL: (singing) I'm faithful

PETE: (singing) To be grateful

ANGEL: (singing) I'm grateful

Pete moves the figures out of the way as he places down the basket he was holding. He takes the figure of Angel out of the cat's hands.

PETE: (singing)
Do as I say
Obey

ANGEL & PETE: (singing)
And stay
In here

ANGEL: (singing)
I'll stay
In here

He then places the figure in the model of Notre Dame, then glares before he leaves Angel.

Angel: You are good to me, Dad, I'm sorry. I promise not to ask you about it ever again.

Pete: (grins) You are forgiven. (Prepares to leave) Just remember, Angel, this is your sanctuary.

Pete then leaves the bell tower while Angel is in deep thought. When he was gone, Angel groans about what he said.

Angel: (To herself) Sanctuary...ugh. Don't I have EVERY single right to know what's out there? Out there...

She looks up at the bell tower, then begins to sing once more.

ANGEL: (singing)
Safe behind these windows and these parapets of stone
Gazing at the people down below me

Angel climbs up the bell tower, taking a good look, then smiles at the festival about to start.

ANGEL: (singing)
All my life I watch them as I hide up here alone
Hungry for the histories they show me
All my life I memorize their faces
Knowing them as they will never know me
All my life I wonder how it feels to pass a day
Not above them
But part of them

She picks up a few figures, then looks outside as she takes another look at the festival. She grins, sighing.

ANGEL: (singing)
And out there
Living in the sun
Give me one day out there
All I ask is one
To hold forever

Sliding, she greets the animals (who came back to life). Garfield and Rita smile as the cat hugs them both happily.

ANGEL: (singing)
Out there
Where they all live unaware
What I'd give
What I'd dare
Just to live one day out there

Down below, Angel looks at the various people and animals doing activities below, including a Marco Bellies and Suki Hirougashi, a raccoon named Bert hanging upside down on a pole (on accident), and a rug that was made to look like the Genie's magic carpet.

ANGEL: (singing)
Out there among the millers and the weavers and their wives
Through the roofs and gables I can see them
Ev'ry day they shout and scold and go about their lives
Heedless of the gift it is to be them
If I was in their skin
I'd treasure ev'ry instant

Angel smiles as she slides down a water pole nearby and looks at the city, liking every moment.

ANGEL: (singing)
Out there
Strolling by the Seine
Taste a morning out there
Like ordinary girls

She laughs as she splashes water onto her face at the stoned animals. She then begins climbing her way to the top of Notre Dame.

ANGEL: (singing)
Who freely walk about there
Just one day and then
I swear I'll be content
With my share

Angel then climbs down and runs in front of Notre Dame, smiling a nice smile.

ANGEL: (singng) Won't resent
Won't despair
Old and bent
I won't care
I'll have spent
One day
Out there

A flock of birds fly as the camera zooms away from the smiling cat.

Angel: (to herself) Today's a new day...