It certainly had been a couple of very busy but very interesting days, those last few days of Minty's week-long vacation. From the day she had almost ran over the pink-haired kitten named Sophia who had ran away from her foster home, the green mousette's life had taken quite a turn. Instead of a leisurely vacation, which she had thought she would get that week she took off work, Minty had found herself being busier than ever, finding out the kitten's foster status, making contact with Dusty and the foster agency, getting together with the white angora lady Kayleigh Anderson from the foster agency to arrange new housing for Sophia, and then, of course, came the even biggest and most busy parts of the new situation; Sophia had to get furniture for a room, not once, but twice, since she would be living with Dusty during the week and with Minty during the weekends and school vacations.

As arranged, the pink-haired kitten would stay with Minty for the rest of the green mousette's vacation, during which both Minty and Dusty had a meeting or two at the foster agency and the foster home where Sophia came from to collect all of the kitten's personal belongings, and then took her out shopping in Salem and Willamina respectively, for some new extra clothes, school supplies, and room furnishings like obviously, a bed, as well as a small desk and chair, wardrobe, nightstand and a drawers cabinet for various odds and ends. Minty had wanted to hire a contractor to redecorate the small spare room in her house that would become Sophia's room, but Dusty had stopped her and, just as she had helped Minty out on Sophia's actual foster care with the contacts she had in her ALTYO group, she helped the green mouse out with some other contacts from that group who could take care of redoing the room in Minty's house. The help was greatly appreciated, because while Minty could take care of something like wallpapering or painting, she was not exactly very apt at putting down flooring, and the furniture was very heavy as well, needing several people to get it up the stairs and put it in place.

When all was done and taken care of, Kayleigh Anderson came by again to inspect the rooms at both Minty's and Dusty's house, promising she would come by a lot more often to visit as well. She could make that look like business calls, although all of them knew, after the intimacy they had all shared with each other, that the fluffy white Angora cat would not exactly be coming over in her function of area head of the foster bureau to just check up on one of the girls under the care of the foster agency. But that was something they would keep between just the five of them.

Since it had been a quite intense procedure to get everything taken care of, Minty took another extra day off work in the following week so she could relax a bit and calmly think about everything that had happened, and how her life would look like from there on out. To do so, the green mouse took advantage of the nice and warm after-summer weather and went out to her favorite relaxing place, the small female-only nudist beach at the tiny Pacific bayou just behind the town of Beaver. It would close soon for the winter season, so Minty took her chance to enjoy the place while she still could.

Calmly driving past the town of Beaver and finding her way along the narrow forest road that led to Beaver Beach, the green mouse hummed a tune to herself and scanned the premises for a vacant spot once she reached the small parking space. A bright and cheerful smile curled her lips as she spotted a vacant space next to a somewhat unusual car; a small 1980 Fiat Ritmo 75 in a dark azure-blue color that was fading all over the bodywork and had gotten discolored by streaks of rust along the wheel arches, doors and thresholds and the unusual looking circular door handles. It was a European model that had never gotten released for sale in America, and therefore Minty immediately recognized it since it was such an unusual sight; that car belonged to a quite good friend of hers she had met years ago on that very same Beaver Beach, in the time the green mouse still lived in Portland.

Parking her also faded and rusty mintgreen and white '55 Chevy Bel Air next to the faded and rusty dark azure-blue Fiat, Minty took her bag off the backseat and slowly walked onto the premises, looking around at the few naked women that were around to enjoy the sun or a little swim in the bayou and seeing if she could spot the owner of the old Fiat. She did not expect to see the car's owner, however, as Minty knew that her friend who owned that car was most likely underwater in the ocean the bayou bordered on. Indeed, as she stepped further along the small beach, the green mouse eventually found a towel and a few bags that had obviously held scuba gear sitting in the sand quite near where the bayou flowed into the Pacific ocean. With a soft giggle to herself and a merry shake of her head, Minty set her own bag down next to the other bags, took off her clothes and put them in her bag and spread out a towel to sit on.

She calmly leaned against her bag, holding one leg pulled up and her arms wrapped around her knees while she enjoyed the sun and the ocean breeze caressing all of her green fur, looking around at the other women present and greeting some of them. Every time however, she found her gaze drifting back to the opening of the bayou and the ocean beyond. And sure enough, after a little more than half an hour, the surface of the water broke to let through the head of a brown-haired woman, wearing underwater goggles and a pair of scuba tanks. She took off the goggles and let go of the mouthpiece, shaking the water off her head and out her ears, then she calmly swam into the bayou and waded out of the water near where she had left her bags.

She was quite clearly a tigress, but also quite clearly not a regular tigress. She had the orange fur all over, the white fur on her chest and tummy, and dark brown stripes, but by far not as many stripes as a tiger normally would have. Her much fewer stripes were also interspersed with dark brown rosette-like markings with a white inside, reminiscent of the markings of a leopard. That, along with the much more slender build of a leopard rather than the more muscular build of a tiger, proved that this woman was more than likely a mix of both a tiger and a leopard.

As she waded out of the water, she pulled out a scrunkie that had held her brown hair in a pony-tail, letting her hair fall loose around her shoulders and a bit over the double air tanks that were strapped to her back. It was a bit remarkable that she was not wearing a wetsuit but instead was naked with just the harness for the scuba tanks around her chest and shoulders, but then again, she was at a nudist beach after all. Once on the shore, she leaned over to take off the flippers she was wearing on her feet as well, holding those and the goggles in her paw as she started walking over to where she had left her bags. And a cheery sparkle of recognition gleamed up in her deep golden eyes when she spotted the green mouse sitting next to her bags.
   "Well well well! Are my old eyes deceiving me, or do I actually see a green mousie sitting there?" she said with a voice that sounded as if she had spent a lot of time in countries where English was not the main language.
   "Hello Angie," Minty giggled. "So when the heck did you get back in town?"
   "Week or two ago," the orange and white-furred woman said, slipping off her air tanks and sitting down on her towel next to Minty. She took a second towel to dry herself off as much as she could, and as she leaned over and gathered her hair into the towel to rub it dry, she looked aside at Minty. "So how've you been? It's been a long time since I last saw you."
   "Likewise," Minty said with another soft giggle. "I've been good, though, if not quite busy over the past week." A light, cheery grin curled her lips. "I have a daughter now."
The tigress stopped rubbing her hair mid-movement and lifted her head, looking at Minty with an expression of very much surprise.
   "What?"
Minty giggled cheerily and pointed a finger at the tiger's nose.
   "Ohh, look at your face, Angie! Hee hee! But well, yes, I have a daughter now, or sort of, anyway. I'm fostering." She told the whole story of how she had almost run over a young kitten on her way back from the airfield and ended up being a partial foster home for the girl together with her friend Dusty. "So, yeah, it's been busy," she concluded. "Over the past week I had to get the small spare room in my house redecorated as a bedroom for her and everything."
   "I see!" Angie nodded in understanding, taking the towel off her hair and pulling her hair back into a pony-tail. "Wow, that certainly was unexpected, alright. But it's very sweet of you to help that poor girl out like that. Gonna change your life a lot though, I reckon."
   "Well, it already has, actually," Minty chortled. "What with the re-doing of that room and everything, and all the things I had to buy to take care of a kit, the extra cooking, the extra washing, even if she'll only be staying with me during the weekends and school vacations. So yeah, lots of changes indeed, but I'm prepared to take it on. That girl deserves a lucky break."
   "Indeed," Angie nodded. "Well, good luck on all that, Minty. It'll be tough at times, but I'm sure you can do it." She busied herself with releasing the last remnant of air from her scuba tanks for a moment. "Where do you live nowadays, anyway? I heard you moved out of Portland, what, like a year ago or so?"
   "Over two years, almost three years, actually," Minty nodded. "I live in Amity now, I moved in there in... somewhere at the end of April in 2010."
   "Wow, time sure flies, doesn't it? Almost three years already," Angie said. "Any specific reason you moved there?"
Minty giggled softly.
   "Mainly because Weyerhaeuser transferred me. They opened a small branch in Amity to provide the smaller towns around here; Amity, McMinnville, Willamina, Sheridan, Lafayette, even all the way down here to Beaver. The Salem branch stretches their service more towards the east rather than the west, so that's what the Amity branch will cover now. And they needed crew for that branch, but since the Salem branch doesn't have crew to spare, I was approached with the question if I would like a promotion. One condition; it came with an address change."
Angie chuckled.
   "Did it come with a pay raise too?"
   "Actually, it did, and the company was very helpful in aiding me to find a new home and providing a moving company and everything," Minty nodded with a chortle.
   "That's very nice," Angie smiled. "A shame you left though, I missed you. It was so handy having a friend with a plane to fly me to remote diving locations," she added with a giggle.
Minty chittered a giggle of her own and poked out her tongue.
   "I can still totally do that, you know. Only thing is that there will now most likely be an extra passenger in the form of Sophia, since I only have time to fly people around in the weekends or vacations, and that is now also when Sophia is staying at my place."
   "True I guess," Angie giggled. "But it's not like I'd mind about that. She sounds a cute kit, I would like to meet her sometime."
   "I'm sure she would like to meet you too," Minty nodded. "After all, she's a cat, so I'm sure she loves fishies, and you have plenty of those."
   "Haha! Very true!" Angie laughed. "In fact, I have even more now, because just before I left this time, we were busy opening a second store as business has boomed recently and we needed to expand our services. It also means I am currently looking for a new house because I need to breed a lot more, and my current place has no room left for all the additional and larger tanks."
   "Don't you breed fish at the store itself?" Minty asked. "And where did you go to this time, anyway?"
   "Tahiti. I spent about a year there overseeing a marine sanctuary I adopted part of," Angie smiled, letting out a soft and cheerful laugh. "They asked me if I knew of anything they could use for a base to let new corals and such grow on, you know. And as it was, I had just bought a wrecked second Ritmo to have some parts for mine, so I pulled the engine, transmission, wheels, the good doors, tailgate and hood, all the windows and the interior off that second one and dumped what was left of it into that sanctuary to serve as a reef base. Win-win situation, now I have a bunch of spare parts for my car, and the marine sanctuary has a good base for a new reef to form."
Minty chittered cheerily.
   "That sounds so weird! Usually you would think marine biologists and such would raise all hell about cars getting dumped into the ocean!"
   "Well, sure, but I made sure this one was all clean," Angie grinned. "Like I said, I pulled the engine and transmission out of it, also made sure every last trace of all the other fluids were removed from it and that there was no trace whatsoever left of anything volatile or otherwise possibly harmful before we rolled it off the ship and into the water."
   "Sounds logical," Minty chittered. "So did it work?"
Angie gave a light shrug.
   "Well, it takes several years before there's any real results, of course. We did do the very best we could to help the project along though; we roughed up the surfaces of the car, and from a spot where there was some building development going on for a hotel that was gonna stretch partway into the ocean we carefully removed a lot of plants and sponges and corals which we brought to the sanctuary to settle there, some of which we also placed on and in that car, plus we put out some coral seed. And as a matter of fact, just before I left two weeks ago, I did a last dive there to check on the car, and the things we had placed on and in the car seemed to be settling, and there was new algae and underwater lichens growing on it, and a very careful start of some new corals. So the prospect is looking good," she smiled. "I'll be going back in a year or two to check on the progress, unless of course something happens that requires my presence sooner." She giggled softly. "And as for your other question; yes, we do breed some fish at the shop, but that's only the easy, tolerant fish, mostly fresh-water varieties like Platies, Mollies, guppies, gouramis; you know, the kind of fish that breed easily in someone's home tank too. But for the more difficult fish it's too noisy even in the backrooms of the store, so I have to keep those at home where they can be left in peace and quiet."
   "Ah, I see. Yes, come to think of it, that sounds logical too," Minty nodded. "Hey, do you think you could set up an aquarium at my place too? I've been thinking about having one, I think I'd like it, and I think Sophia would like it too, but I wanna make sure I'll be well informed about what I can't and can do, and that everything gets done right."
   "It'll be my pleasure, darling," Angie smiled. "But it'll be a while before I would be able to get to it, because I do need to find myself a new home and set up all my own decorative and breeding tanks there and all, of course."
   "Oh, of course, of course, there's no rush," Minty smiled. "I just kinda thought to ask you now because suddenly seeing you again and talking with you reminded me of it, is all." She giggled softly. "I'd be happy to help you out with finding a new home too, I know there's a nice place for sale in Amity, but I'm guessing you're looking for something in or at least near Portland because that's where your store is, right?"
   "Right, I would prefer to stay at least near Portland, although I sure wouldn't mind getting a bit more solitude and quietude," Angie chuckled. "Spending so much time in little-populated tropical paradises like I do kinda grows on you; it's a bit of a rough transition returning to a life in a place as busy as downtown Portland after I spent a year, two years, or even more in like an inlander village on the Seychelles somewhere, population; twenty-eight people, five goats, seven hens and a slightly aging cow," she giggled.
Minty chittered a cheerful laugh.
   "I can imagine that!" She suddenly looked up with a bright twinkle in her eyes. "Hey! I got an idea! Try this on for size; that place I know for sale in Amity is not too expensive, it's right in the middle of Enos Street but the houses on each side are a good deal away from it, and it has a very large copse of large trees around the back and the side, and it's close to the creek; a very lovely place, and quite secluded. It's close to where I live too; I live on the corner of South First Street and Stanley Street, that's like only about two blocks away. What if, and this is just a wild thought, but what if you would buy that place and use it for like your weekend getaway while keeping your place in Portland to be close to your shop during the week? You can set up your breeding tanks in there, they'll be in perfect peace and quiet, and I can look in on the place for you as well on my way home from work because it's close to where I live. That way you can even get twice the amount, or size, of tanks to work with your fish, you're still close to your shop when needed, and you have a lovely and quiet place to spend your weekends and such." She giggled and gave a little wink. "I happen to know the premises stretches to include the big copse of trees as part of the garden, so even while there's houses on either side as well it's secluded and private enough to walk around and sunbathe naked in the garden, and you could go swimming in the creek as well."
Angie held her head a bit tilted and every now and then ran a paw over her whiskers as she listened to Minty talking. When the green mouse finished, Angie curled her lips into a bit of a grin and poked out her tongue.
   "You sure do know how to make it sound irresistible, darling, don't you? I must say the idea sounds nice though, in several respects; I'd love to have a quiet getaway place, and the extra room for more and bigger tanks sure would come in handy. Having two houses, though... I dunno. I can probably afford it, but it still sounds a bit much, don'tcha know?"
   "Oh come on," Minty tittered, playfully pushing the tigress' shoulder. "You own two big shops now, you own fairly large chunks in several marine preservations, I seem to remember you even own a small marine preservation in whole, and don't you have like a summer cottage in... what was it, the Bahamas or the Canary Islands as well?"
Angie grinned wider and gave her head a little shake.
   "Okay, I guess ya got me there; that's all true." She shrugged a bit. "Heck, and who knows, maybe I could like use a part of it solely for my breeding tanks and have the rest of the place as a spare housing for when someone of the shop or a friend needs a place to stay for a while or something. Or I could use it entirely for my breeding tanks and have my current place as a spare for when a friend or someone from the shop needs a place to stay. Gotta think about that, I guess." Drawing in a deep breath, she ran the fingers of one paw through her hair and sent Minty a smile. "You know what? I think I'd like to see it, might help me a bit to make a decision."
   "Ah yes," Minty nodded with a smile. "I don't know if there's anyone from the broker's office at hand to give you a tour of the inside, but I can drive you over to the place and let you at least look at it from the outside. And since it's so close to where I live, I can right away show you my place afterwards as well."
   "I would certainly like that," Angie smiled. She drew in a deep breath again and stretched a bit. "Yes, you know what, let's do this thing. Gotta admit you got me rather curious."
Minty chittered softly.
   "You cats and your curiosity," she teased.
   "Hey, you started it," Angie giggled, poking out her tongue.

Minty chittered another cheerful giggle, giving the tigress a push against the shoulder before rising up and putting her clothes back on. Shaking her head a bit and grinning, Angie got up as well, taking her towel to dry the last bits of moisture from her fur as best as she could. Not bothering with brushing out her wildly peaky and tufty fur after that, the tigress merely shook herself a bit and grabbed her clothes from one of her bags to put them on again as well. After also packing her scuba gear into her other bag, Angie shouldered both bags and walked along with Minty to the parking spaces. She grinned a bit as she looked at Minty's old rusty Bel Air convertible while she opened the tailgate of her own old four-door Fiat hatchback and put her bags in the trunk, which was enlarged by the backseat being steadily flipped forwards.
   "Still driving that old wreck, I see?"
   "I could just as well say the same to you," Minty retorted with a giggle, putting her own bag on the backseat of her car. "At least my car is a rather valuable classic, your car is just an old eighties compact, and it's not even American!"
   "Yes, well, it runs great, gets a great fuel economy, it's roomy enough for my needs and it gets me where I need to get to," Angie chuckled, closing and locking the tailgate of her car. "And besides, when was the last time you could pick up a car that's perfectly suited for your needs and runs great for only fifty bucks?"
   "Point for you I guess," Minty giggled, opening the driver door of her car. "Well, just follow me, I don't know if you've ever been to Amity before so I'll lead the way."
   "Fine by me, darling, lead on and I'll follow," Angie chuckled, getting into her own car.

She started the engine, waiting for Minty to pull out of the parking spot next to her and turn her car around before backing out of the parking spot herself as well and turning her car around. Driving calmly, she followed the green mousette's old convertible as Minty led the way out of the forest, past the small town of Beaver, and back past Willamina and Sheridan towards Amity. Taking SouthWest Bellevue Highway, the 153, which eventually changed into 5th Street, Minty drove into the outskirts of Amity, taking a left onto Stanley Street and then the first next left again onto 4th Street. That street ran on towards a ninety degree turn where it turned onto Enos Street, which Minty led the way down past the intersection with West 3rd Street, and a couple of houses further down, where she pulled up to the driveway of one of the houses on the left where a For Sale sign was planted on the corner of the driveway and the street.

Angie parked her car behind Minty's car, getting out and looking at the house the green mouse indicated with a gesture of her paw. It was indeed a relatively small house, but a large rectangular add-on had been built onto the right side of it. And the tigress saw Minty had been right; along the left side and around the back of the house was a large cluster of quite large trees, overshadowing part of the house. She smiled as she slowly walked up the driveway and looked around her a bit.
   "It looks nice indeed, darling," she commented with an appreciative nod of her head. "Not too big, but that add-on provides some good space; I could use that for all my breeding tanks. Lots of space around it too, by the looks of it, and this seems like a nice calm and quiet street."
   "That it certainly is," Minty nodded. She turned a bit and pointed down the street. "And look, down there; if you turn right there onto West 2nd, then take the first left back onto Stanley and drive straight on to the end, you'll drive into the trees that surround my house. And come look at this..." She took Angie by a paw and walked around the right side of the house, past a high hedge that fenced off the backyard and past some more large trees, making a wide gesture with her paw as they reached the creek that ran along the back of the houses. "A very lovely creek, and as you can see it makes a sharp curve right towards the backyard too, so it's very close by."
   "Oooh, yes, I like this," Angie nodded, looking at the calmly flowing water and the shoreline along the creek that protruded out towards the backyard of the house in a sharp curve. "This looks as if it directly borders the backyard, and with those trees around I can walk out naked into the backyard and all the way up towards this part of the creek for a swim without anyone seeing or taking offense at my nudity."
   "Exactly," Minty nodded with a giggle. "I thought you'd like that."
Angie also nodded again, looking along the creek for a bit before turning and looking between the trees at the enclosed backyard of the house, slowly running a paw over her whiskers.
   "Do you know how much this house is in the books for, by any chance?"
   "Somewhere around eighty-two, five hundred, but I'm not sure," Minty said. "But we can find out easily; the number of the broker's office is on that for sale sign, we can just call them and ask."
   "Sounds like a plan," Angie chuckled as she started to walk back to the front of the house together with Minty, looking around a bit again. "So what does this little town have to offer?"
   "About all you need to live calmly," Minty giggled. She pointed down the road again. "Down there where we came on, see? The corner of 4th and Enos? Go down 4th, cross the railway line and take a right onto South Trade Street, and bam, you're in downtown. There's the Amity Market mall, there's a Blockbuster if you want to rent a movie, a restaurant or two - the Blue Goat is a very nice place with very good food - there's a hair and fur styling salon, we even have a winery. And there's the library, two churches, a high school, middle school and elementary school, bank of course, post office... so, yeah, just about all you'd need."
   "Definitely sounds good," Angie nodded. "I'm liking the sound of this town so far." She gestured at the house. "Heck, who knows, if I take this place, I might even open an extra small shop here in town."
   "I'm sure the people here would love it," Minty smiled, fishing her cellphone out of her pocket and nodding at the For Sale sign. "Wanna call the broker and see what this place'll cost? And maybe they could send someone over as well to give you a tour."
Angie ran a paw over her whiskers again, nodding slowly.
   "Yeah... yeah, you know what? Let's do this thing."

Minty chittered a soft, cheery giggle while she flipped open her cellphone. Looking at the sign, she dialed the number of the broker's office handling the house and brought the phone to her ear, listening to the line ring. It was answered after only two rings already.
   "Hello, yes?" Minty smiled into her phone. "This is Minty Mouse, I'm standing here with a friend at the house at 105 Enos Street, which is for sale through your office. My friend here is interested in possibly buying the house; would it be possible we'd get a tour of the house and information on the price and such? Yes, we're on the driveway of the house right now. Yes? Okay, thank you, that's fantastic, we'll wait. Yes, thank you, goodbye." She pressed out her phone, flipped it shut and slid it back into her pocket, smiling at Angie. "Someone'll be here in a little while."
   "Awesome," Angie chuckled, stepping over to her car and sitting down on the hood, leaning one foot on the ground and the other on the large plastic front bumper of the car. "So I guess we'll wait then, huh?"
   "Indeed," Minty nodded with a chitter.

She leaned against her own car, looking down Enos Street in the direction of 4th street, knowing that since the broker's office was downtown as well, and that both West 2nd Street and West 3rd Street did not cross the railway lines, anyone coming towards Enos Street from downtown would have to come via 4th Street. Indeed, not fifteen minutes later a white sedan pulled around the corner from 4th onto Enos and drove up to where Minty's and Angie's cars were parked, letting out a black cat man in a smart suit.
   "Good afternoon, ladies," he said with a friendly smile after he had taken a briefcase from the backseat of the car.
   "Good afternoon," Minty smiled. "I'm Minty Mouse, this here is my friend Angelique Delaney, she's interested in the house."
   "Pleased to meet you," the black cat said, shaking paws with both of them. "My name is Arthur Stevenson, representing the Down Home broker's office. I take it you ladies already had a look at the outside of the premises?"
   "Indeed, we looked around the place, and I was very pleased by what I saw so far," Angie nodded. "I'd love to have a look at the inside as well and see if it'll suit my needs."
   "We can certainly do that," Mr. Stevenson said, producing a set of keys with which he unlocked the front door of the house. "If you ladies would like to follow me?"

Both Angie and Minty nodded, following the black cat into the house. The front door opened into a small, rectangular hall which had a door with several small glass panes in it plus a large, narrow window next to it in the wall opposite the door. Stepping through this door, they walked into a corridor with a flight of stairs that curved around where it met the wall, two doors in the side of the staircase, a door in the opposing wall and a door at the end of the corridor. The first door in the side of the staircase led to another flight of stairs going down towards the basement, the second door gave way to a small room with a toilet and sink in it. The door in the wall opposite the staircase turned out to lead into a living room that had a wall quite close to the right of the door, with large and quite artful French sliding doors in that wall leading towards a front room, a sort of den. To the left was a wall with a large, wide archway in it, giving passage to the dining area at the back of the house and the open kitchen. A door opposite the door leading into the living room from the corridor led to another small hall which had a door leading into the large rectangular add-on that had been built onto the side of the house. The dining area and open kitchen had one large, wide window and one smaller window in the back wall overlooking the backyard and a door with a large glass pane in it that led into the backyard, plus a second smaller window was in the side wall, looking directly at the clump of trees that surrounded the left side of the house.

Mr. Stevenson also unlocked the back door and led the way into the garden so Minty and Angie could see the backyard. It showed that all the way to the side, a little way past the add-on, the backyard was fenced off by the almost twelve feet tall hedge, while most of the backyard was filled with the large trees. There was a nice roomy patio directly behind the house, however, plus a fairly large open space by the add-on. To the left, the backyard was pretty much fenced off by the small forest of trees surrounding that side of the house, and towards the back the yard was open all the way to the shore of the creek that flowed past the houses at the back.

Going back inside, the black cat led the way up the stairs for Minty and Angie to show them around the first floor. The stairs came out on a landing with a quite nice balustrade along the stairwell, a door directly to the left of where the stairs ended, and three doors in the wall opposite the balustrade. The left door opened into a quite roomy bathroom which had a bath tub, shower booth, full-body dryer booth, a double sink and a toilet, plus a narrow window in the side wall that had some kind of weirdly patterned glass in it, rendering the window unsuitable to see through while still letting in the light fully. The other three doors all opened into bedrooms, the first two being very spacious, more or less looking like large squares with a smaller square taken out of one of the corners - this was because at the back bedroom, the bathroom protruded into the room, and at the front large bedroom, the smaller front bedroom protruded into it. That smaller bedroom at the front was more L-shaped, but still very spacious as well, about two-thirds the size of the larger bedrooms.

Finally, Mr. Stevenson showed the two females into the add-on built onto the right side of the house. It had a very simple set-up; from the small hall into which the door from the living room opened, another door went to a narrow corridor that had a door at the end and one on each side, all leading into respectively a roomy square space at the back and two very large rectangular spaces on both sides. There were windows in each space, as well as electrical outlets, heater outlets and even connections for running water, so the large spaces could be used for practically anything.

After the entire tour, Mr. Stevenson led the way back into the living room and from there into the dining area and open kitchen. As the house of course had no furniture at all, and the open kitchen had a breakfast bar, that was the only place where the black cat could put his briefcase down.
   "Well then, ladies," he said with a smile. "That was the entire house; what do you think?"
   "I like it," Angie nodded. "I like it a lot." She gestured with a paw at the archway separating the living room from the kitchen/dining area, and the wall with the French sliding doors on the other side of the living room. "I really like this arch, and those sliding doors are gorgeous. Those rooms upstairs are great too, that bathroom is amazing, and that whole add-on... so much space to put all my breeding tanks."
   "Excuse me?" Mr. Stevenson asked with an expression of surprise.
   "Ah, you see, I'm an avid scuba diver," Angie explained. "I also own a large tropical fish store in Portland, where I currently also live, and we recently opened a second store as well. I do almost all the breeding of the fish for the store myself, and as the store got so successful that we could open a second one, of course the demand for new fish has gone up a lot as well, which is why I was looking for a larger house to accommodate not only my personal decorative aquaria, but also all the tanks that hold the fish I breed, which need to be large and plentiful so I can fulfill the demand."
   "Oh, I see," Mr. Stevenson understood. "Pardon me for asking, however, but if your store and current residence is in Portland, is Amity not very much out of the way for you to buy a new house?"
   "Well, it kind of is, indeed," Angie nodded. "I was originally thinking of selling my current house in Portland and buying a new, larger house also in Portland, because I do need to be relatively close to where my store is, of course. However, my store, as well as the new store we opened, are run by very competent personnel; I hardly do duty in the store myself save for delivering the new fish I bred and such. That's because, like I said, I'm an avid scuba diver, and I also own parts in several marine preserves around the world, so I'm often out of the country for years in a row. I told my friend Minty here that the new place I was looking for should preferably be in a quiet neighborhood with plenty of space around me, since living for a year or two years in the peaceful solitude of a tropical island somewhere gives one rather a longing for such peace and quiet, you know? My friend Minty here knew of this place for sale and she knew it has much of that solitude I'm looking for, and she suggested I keep my current place in Portland and buy this place as a second getaway where I can also keep my breeding fish in the perfect peace and quiet they require to successfully reproduce in captivity. Some of the fish we sell are very difficult to breed, you see, they need everything [i]just[/i] so, and the smallest disturbances can already upset them into killing their own young or simply not breeding at all."
   "I understand," Mr. Stevenson nodded, showing a wider smile. "And of course, if you are set on buying a house, far be it from me to stop you. It would not be very good for our business if instead of helping you with the purchase, I would try to dissuade you from it."
   "Exactly," Angie grinned. "So how about you tell me what this place has to cost? My friend Minty mentioned she seemed to remember it was around the eighty-two thousand region."
   "That is quite correct," Mr. Stevenson said with another nod, opening his briefcase and pulling out some papers. "As it is, we have this house listed for..." He leafed through the papers for a moment. "Eighty-one thousand, two hundred and fifty dollars. The previous owner dropped the price a bit since it has been for sale for quite a while now."
   "Well!" Angie said with pleasant surprise. "That is certainly good to hear. Are there any other additional costs I should keep in mind?"
Mr. Stevenson took a couple more papers from his briefcase and spread them out on the breakfast bar.
   "Costs for registering and mortgaging are to be paid by the buyer," he pointed out. "The cost for reinstating the gas, water and electricity are covered by our office, and we will make sure the utilities are reconnected and fully functional by the time the deal is completed and we hand the keys to the new owner."
   "That sounds great," Angie nodded, looking through the papers. "Can you tell me if I need to register as a resident of Amity in order to be able to buy a house in this town?"
   "It is not a requirement asked for by our office," Mr. Stevenson said. "You can buy the house whether you already live in this town or not, however you may want to make an appointment at City Hall to require more details about residency nevertheless."
   "I will do that," Angie nodded again. "But my first appointment will be with your office to seal this deal, because I'm definitely buying this house."
   "I am very pleased to hear that," Mr. Stevenson smiled, pulling a planner out of his briefcase and opening it, leafing through the pages. "How does... coming Friday, at eleven o'clock suit you?"
   "Sounds perfect to me, I'll be there."
   "Wonderful," Mr. Stevenson nodded, making a note in the planner, then shaking Angie's paw. "We will see you then, Miss Delaney, and thank you for your patronage."
   "You will, and thank you as well for your help and good service," Angie smiled, chuckling softly as she added; "And you can thank Minty as well, she's the one who persuaded me and got this whole thing going."
   "Of course, thank you very much as well, Miss Mouse," Mr. Stevenson said with a soft chuckle, shaking Minty's paw as well.
   "It was my pleasure," Minty giggled.

Mr. Stevenson let out another soft chuckle, putting his planner and papers back in his briefcase and closing it. Leading the way outside, he closed and locked the front door of the house, then walked to his car and again shook paws with Angie and Minty. As he drove off, Angie turned to Minty and gave the green mouse a big hug.
   "Well, thanks a lot, darling, this really is an awesome place. So much room, just perfect for breeding my fish, and so nice and secluded, it's a perfect getaway. Thanks so much for pointing it out to me."
   "You're perfectly welcome," Minty chittered. "I'm mighty happy you decided to take the place too, now I have one of my good friends living close by again! Even while I've already lived here for over two and a half years, I still haven't made very many new friends yet, so it'll be great having you around again."
   "True that, it'll be fun hanging out with you again, I did miss you," Angie smiled. "And once I'm settled in here, I'd love to meet that new daughter of yours sometime too."
   "I'm sure you will meet her soon," Minty giggled. "And right now, at least I can show you my house and all." She chittered a louder giggle. "And we [i]gotta[/i] do something about that fur of yours too."
   "Sounds like a plan," Angie grinned. "So, what was it, just down the road here?"
   "Yup, down the road here, right at that junction onto West 2nd, left at the next intersection onto Stanley, then straight on until you drive into the trees at the end of the road," Minty giggled. "I'll lead the way again."
   "I'll follow again," Angie chuckled.

They both got into their cars and started the engines, Minty once more leading the way and taking the route she had described, turning right at the junction where West 2nd Street came out onto Enos Street, driving past a couple of houses, taking a left turn onto Stanley Street at the intersection where Stanley Street crossed West 2nd Street, and then driving down to the end of Stanley Street where it came out onto South 1st Street, indeed more or less ending in a large clump of trees. Turning right, Minty drove past the clump of trees and turned right onto the driveway leading towards her house that was sitting concealed behind the trees, followed by Angie.

As the tigress got our of her old Fiat, she looked around her with a smile and gave an appreciative nod of her head at the view.
   "Very nice place, darling. I love how secluded it is, and..." She gestured with an arm at the fields and hills and forest that started behind the house, "...you have so much nothing going on there; lovely view."
   "Yeah, I'm really happy with this place," Minty smiled. "This used to be an old farmstead. Look..." She pointed out across the fields. "In the distance there you can still see what's left of an old shed or barn or something. But the second-previous owner who bought this parcel had the old farmhouse and barns torn down and built this small house on the grounds instead, plus that shed on that side there." She tittered softly. "At least the field with that old collapsed building in it belongs to me as it's part of the premises I bought, and I've been playing with the idea of buying the other fields as well and having an airstrip laid down and a hangar built so I could store my Sunny here and take off and land from my own backyard. But, well, I can't do that because the price per acre for those fields is really expensive." She shrugged. "I'm actually even considering selling that one field that does belong to me, because I have no clue what the heck to do with it."
   "Well, don't sell it just yet, it's better to hang onto it in case the value goes up even more," Angie advised, grinning a bit. "Hey, and who knows, maybe you could make it a sunbathing field for a girlie nudist colony."
   "Hee hee!" Minty giggled. "That would certainly be wonderful, yes! But for now, my actual backyard works well enough for that." She fished her keys from her pocket. "Come, I'll show you the place."
Angie nodded with a giggle and followed Minty to the house, giving another appreciative nod of her head again.
   "Lovely porch. That's the one thing I think that house I just agreed to buy is missing."
   "Just wait till you see the back porch," Minty chittered.

She unlocked and opened the front door, showing Angie inside. The tigress looked around her with appreciative glances again as Minty led her through the house, smiling at the antiques in Minty's living room, and curling her lips into a wide grin when she spotted the large glass sliding doors leading from the dining room onto the back porch and the deck with the hot tub.
   "Well well well, now that is most definitely something that looks very lovely."
   "Yup," Minty chittered. "Like I said, the second-previous owner who bought this lot had the old farm torn down and this house built, and after that it had another owner who added those doors and that hot tub. That was actually the whole reason why I bought this house when I got transferred here; there were three houses for me to choose from, but this one took the cake because it had that hot tub." She laughed cheerfully. "I was shown the first house, then this one, and the moment I spotted that deck with the hot tub, I was like; I'll take this one! I didn't even look at the third house."
   "I can most definitely imagine that," Angie nodded with a chuckle, her lips curling into an even wider grin. "One of the houses you could choose from wouldn't happen to be that one I just agreed to buy, was it?"
   "Hee, no, that house has only been for sale for some... eight or nine months now," Minty giggled. "It was still inhabited when I came to live here, the people living in that place moved out about two years after I moved in here."
   "Right, right," Angie chuckled. "So, any chance we get to try out that hot tub?"
   "By all means, let me set the pump and the heater, and in the meantime you can check out the backyard and we can do something about that wild fur of yours," Minty chittered.
   "Sounds perfect," Angie grinned with a soft purr.

She followed Minty to the sliding doors and out onto the back porch. For a moment or two, she looked at the green mouse kneeling down by the hot tub to set the pump and heater, then she stretched and took off her clothes, shaking herself a bit afterwards. Minty smiled as she rose up again, also taking off her own clothes, dropping them onto one of the deck chairs.
   "This, is much better," Angie stated with a wink, running her paws down her sides to somewhat smooth down her still very peaky and tufty fur.
   "Absolutely," Minty agreed, motioning at the chairs. "Here, have a seat; it'll take a couple of minutes before the hot tub will be ready, so while we wait, I'll brush you a bit."
   "Sounds great," Angie smiled.

She sank down comfortably onto one of the deck chairs, leaning back with her arms crossed behind her head and looking aside at Minty. The green mouse smiled while she stepped over to the cabinet against the wall that held several towels, and also a number of combs and brushes. Taking a brush, she stepped over to the chair Angie was lounging in and sat down next to the tigress, beginning to slowly brush the wild peaks and tufts of orange and white fur back into a more smooth coat. Angie purred softly, rolling her head back and closing her eyes contently.
   "Mmm... always much better when someone else does that for you," she purred.
   "Yeah, I know," Minty smiled. "And it was about time you got it done too; from just after you dried yourself off at Beaver Beach, you've been looking like a hedgehog in a storm," she tittered softly.
   "Yeah well, I didn't have a fur brush with me, and I was gonna have to take a shower once I'd be home again anyway to wash the salt out of my fur from my dive in the ocean," Angie chuckled. She rolled her head again and opened her eyes to look at Minty. "Which reminds me, it won't be bad if that gets into your hot tub, would it?"
   "Nah, it has a good filter, don't worry," Minty smiled, gently drawing the brush along Angie's side. "Last autumn, I had forgotten to put the cover on one time, and a lot worse muck got blown into it that time, so a little bit of ocean brine certainly won't hurt."
   "Ah, okay," Angie nodded, closing her eyes again and also stretching her legs and wiggling her toes a bit when Minty's brushing reached along and down her hips. "Mmm, you're good at that."
   "I got a lot of practice," Minty giggled softly, working the brush down along Angie's legs.
   "I can tell," Angie chuckled, perking and swiveling an ear when a soft 'ding' chimed out. "Was that the tub?"
   "Yup, it's ready," Minty smiled. "If you wanna help me take off the cover, we can take this bit of fur care into there."
   "Sounds wonderful," Angie grinned. "Nothing more relaxing than a soak in a hot tub. Except maybe getting brushed like that in a hot tub, or some good sex in a hot tub."
   "I'm sure we can arrange that," Minty tittered, rising up and laying the brush aside.
With Angie's help, she removed the cover from the hot tub, after which both of them climbed in and sank down into one of the pre-formed plastic seats along the edge of the tub.
   "Mmm, wonderful," Angie purred, stretching out and leaning back against the rim of the tub. "You're so lucky to have a place like this, so secluded and private and with such a lovely hot tub, Minty."
   "I know," Minty chirred, taking another, softer brush. "And well, once you're settled into your new place down the block, you're welcome to come over any time and make use of it."
   "I'll certainly keep that in mind," Angie grinned softly, giving her tail a slow-motion swish under the water when Minty drew the softer brush along the curves of her breasts and letting out a soft chuckle. "Reacquainting yourself, are you?"
   "Mmm, yes, I missed the twins," Minty chittered, cupping one breast with her free paw while she kept drawing the brush along the curvature of the other. "Hello babies, did you miss me too?" She giggled softly as Angie's nipples perked when she traced her fingers around them. "Ooo, looks like you did."

Angie grinned softly again, her purr slowly deepening a bit while she relaxed against the rim of the tub, holding her arms crossed behind her head again and letting Minty's ministrations come over her, warming her even more than the temperature of the water was doing. She kept swaying her tail in slow-motion under the water, again stretching her legs and flexing her toes a bit as Minty kept playing with her breasts. Eventually, the green mouse lay the brush aside and merely used both her paws to caress Angie's half orange, half white breasts, gliding her fingers along the smooth curves and leaning down her head to flick a light lick against each of the perked pink nipples, drawing a deeper purr from the tigress.

One of the green mousette's paws slowly started drifting further downwards, smoothing the creamy white fur on Angie's lower chest and tummy until her paw dipped under the surface of the water, coming to rest upon Angie's thigh. With one paw still cupping one of Angie's breasts, Minty rolled her head a bit to look at her other paw, fingers splaying to sift through the white fur of the feline's pubis, the tips of her fingers tracing ever so lightly around the very outer edges of Angie's fleshy pink inner labia which flowered sideways from between her plump white outer labia like a pair of fleshy pink butterfly wings. Angie sagged a bit in the seat, the tone of her purr deepening as her breathing increased. She did however roll her head and open her eyes to look down along her own form when Minty's fingers started playfully wiggling the fleshy pink lips back and forth with quick motions, one finger every now and then running up and down through the feline's slit in a similar wiggle.
   "Mmm, whatcha doing there, mousie?"
Minty looked up for a moment, letting out a soft titter.
   "Just washing out the ocean salt."
   "Ah, right," Angie grinned with a purr. "Well, you better be thorough..." A light shudder traversed the entire length of her spine, making her ears flick as Minty's finger slipped past her inner labia and twisted around inside of her. "Mmrfh... like that, yeah."

Minty chirred, rolling her head a bit to graze one of Angie's perked nipples with her front buckteeth while she slid her finger deeper inside the feline, twisting left and right slowly to rub against the warm, rippling inner walls. The tigress leaned back again, stretching and purring, her hips giving a wiggle when Minty's finger slipped back out of her and instead slid upwards along the side of her quivering inner labia, joined by a second finger on the other side. A bit teasingly, Minty pressed her fingers together, squeezing Angie's inner labia between them and slowly rubbing the fleshy flaps back and forth for a moment or two. Answering the light bucking of the feline's hips, she lowered her paw a bit and slid one finger back inside Angie's warm, slick tunnel, once more twisting left and right to rub against the clenching walls as she gradually pressed her finger in deeper and deeper until it was hilted inside up to her knuckle.

A gasp mixed with Angie's purrs as the green mousette's finger curled upwards, the fingertip brushing only just against her most sensitive spot at the same time as Minty's thumb pressed down against Angie's hardened clitbud. Pressing her hips upwards, the tigress began to squirm in her seat, lowering her arms from behind her head to along her sides, paws gripping onto the edges of the seat. As subtle as Minty's motions were, they were skillful, rubbing her thumb and pointer finger together both inside and outside of the feline's vulva with Angie's clit and G-spot pressed in between them, giving soft but intense caresses to the two most sensitive spots at the same time. Stretching her middle finger a moment later to also very lightly rub the tip of it against the almost as sensitive spot of skin at the very bottom point of the V where Angie's labia joined together, Minty both intensified the stimuli and quickened the pace of her fingers, giving the tigress hardly any time to gasp before a quite sudden climax broke free which caused Angie to splash the water with a sudden bucking of her hips while a deep mrowl rolled from her muzzle.

Leaving her fingers where they were for the several moments it took Angie to ride the waves of orgasm, Minty chirred deeper and rested her chin and muzzle onto the cleft between Angie's soft breasts with a smile. Only when the tigress sank back down into the seat in relaxation, Minty withdrew her fingers and wrapped her arms around Angie's midriff, lifting her head a bit to touch her nose against Angie's nose. Angie drew in deep, rolling breath, lowering her head a bit to brush her lips against Minty's in a soft kiss while her arms folded themselves around the green mousette's body.
   "Mmmmm... I missed those dainty mousie touches," she purred, holding her nose nuzzled against Minty's pointy nose for a moment. Then, as she began to catch her breath, she nuzzled further upwards along the side of the green mousette's face. "And you know what I also missed..? These lovely big soft round ears... the perfect treat to nom on."
Minty squeaked and chittered softly as Angie gave a few light nibbles along the rim of one of her ears, shivering over her entire body.
   "Eep..! Ooo, hee... not the ears," she giggled softly, twitching her ears.
   "Mmm, but they're so yummy," Angie grinned, nibbling lightly along the entire rim of Minty's left ear, causing the green mouse to shiver even harder and squeak again.
   "Nyeeeee... oh noes, please not the ears, miss big kitty... I need those to hear with," she chittered playfully, clearly loving every second of Angie's teasing.
   "Mmm, too bad, they're all mine now," Angie purred with another grin, nibbling back down along the entire rim of Minty's left ear again.

Minty let out another squeak, shuddering in delight as the path of nibbles was followed by a slow lick along the warm, soft turquoise skin on the inside of her ear. Squeezing her arms around Angie's waist, she pressed herself up close against the tigress, her petite breasts pushing into Angie's fuller bust, tiny perked turquoise nipples nicking larger hard pink nubs. Her thin tail flicked back and forth under the surface, slowed down by the resistance of the water, eyes squeezed shut and both ears flicking and wiggling as Angie kept playfully nibbling and licking along the left one.

Slowly, almost unnoticed, the feline's right paw glided down Minty's back, following the smooth inward curve of the mousette's spine, then the more rounded outward curve of Minty's bum. The green mouse hardly even noticed when Angie's fingers slid between her thighs from behind and curled upwards over her quivering green vulva as her attention was still fully drawn by the tantalizing nibbles and licks to her large, sensitive round ears. The position of the feline's fingers was duly noticed the next moment however, when, along with another slow lick along the warm skin on the inside of Minty's ear, Angie's pointer and middle finger pressed down against the green mousette's swollen clit and started to rub the perked little nub in quick little circles, her other fingers more or less cupping Minty's sex from behind.

Synchronizing the motions and pace of her fingers and her nibbles, Angie used her free arm to hold Minty pressed up close against her front, supporting the shuddering and squeaking green mouse as her fingers and teeth built up the waves of climax inside Minty's form, perhaps not as subtly as the green mouse had done, but certainly as quickly. She was teasing, though, alternating between the quick rubbing, and suddenly ceasing all motions to let the waves of tingles ebb away again, leaving Minty teetering on the brink of release time and again without going over, squealing and shuddering all over.
   "Ahh... ahhh... eee..! Angieeeeeee..!"
The tigress grinned a sly, toothy feline grin.
   "Ooo, mousie wanna cum, hmm?"
   "Yes! Yes! Pleeeeeeeze!" Minty squealed, her back hollowed sharply so her entire tummy and chest were pressing up against Angie's tummy and chest, dainty toes splayed and wiggling and her thin turquoise tail flicking as madly as it could under the water while she squeezed her fingers into the fur on the feline's shoulders.
Angie's grin widened even further.
   "Good girl... then let's do this thing."

She commenced her quick rubbing of Minty's throbbing clit with her pointer and middle finger again, at the same time curling the rest of her fingers a bit more so her ring finger with a wet 'shlup' slipped inside the mousette's twitching green pussy. Minty tossed her head back and let out a piercing, high-pitched squeal as this time, when the waves of tingles built to their apex, Angie did not cease and desist but kept on rubbing. The green mouse froze in her tensed position, fingers digging into Angie's shoulders and her inner walls clamping down on the feline's finger as her release blossomed into the water between their laps like a cloud of tendrils, slowly wavering out in all directions.

Angie grinned again, softly purring against and into one of Minty's ears as the green mousette eventually slumped down against her chest, huffing in high-pitched feeping sounds with her eyes closed tightly and her tongue dangling from the side of her pointy muzzle. It took a while before Minty managed to get her breathing back under control, but when she did, she rolled her head against Angie's breasts and opened her eyes to look up at the tigress with a content smile.
   "Nyeeeee... I missed your teasing too, miss big kitty," she squeaked quietly and happily.
   "I'm glad to hear that, mousie," Angie chuckled, leaning down her head a bit to press a soft little smooch on Minty's pointy nose.

Minty chittered a soft giggle, twitching her short whiskers a bit while she nuzzled her head back against Angie's breasts and cuddled in the feline's lap with her arms wrapped around Angie's waist. The tigress smiled and purred softly, wrapping her own arms around the green mousette's contently trembling form, lounging back in the seat and leaning against the rim of the hot tub behind her. Basking like that for a while in their warm afterglow, they sat quietly, until suddenly, Angie chuckled again and gave her head a light shake. Minty rolled her head again to look up.
   "What's so funny?"
   "Nothing, it's just... kinda ironic, our current position, ain't it?" Angie chuckled. "I mean, we haven't seen each other in, what, three or four years? Then we bump into each other again by chance, and not three hours later, here we are in the hot tub having just had sex."
Minty chittered and poked out her tongue with a wink.
   "That's not ironic, that's because we're awesome friends like that and we had to catch up for those three years."
   "Haha! True I guess!" Angie laughed, giving her head another light shake. "And well, I reckon you deserved it too, for all the awesome help you gave me in finding that house and stuff."
   "That was for a part out of self-interest too," Minty tittered with a small grin. "Because now I'll have you close by again to take advantage of."
Angie grinned as well, beeping Minty's nose with a fingertip.
   "I'll keep that in mind as well, mousie."
   "Mmm, you do that," Minty chirred, giving a playful nip to Angie's fingertip before resting her head back down against the feline's breasts again. "Either way, it's great seeing you again, Angie."
   "Likewise, mousie," Angie purred. "I did miss you a lot."

She leaned her head down again to press her lips against Minty's lips. Leaning in, Minty tilted her head slightly and darted out her tongue to slide along Angie's tongue, the two of them contently losing themselves into a passionate kiss as they lounged in the hot tub.

Mmm, certainly had been one of the best relaxing days off ever...
