The Cat of New York City

**The Cat of New York City** is part one of the eighth episode of Season One, which aired January 28, 2000 preceding *The Gods Must Be ???*.

## Story:

On a rainy night in Nowhere, a small and heavily deformed cat, Hector travels through town looking for shelter, but he's repeatedly rejected by some bigoted residents. Sullen, he finds his way to the Cunningham House. Peering in the window, he sees Ash being harassed by George as usual, this time with a pair of over-sized pop-out eyeballs. Hector requests a room to spend the night in, but George, not surprisingly, rejects him. Ash is then ordered by George to get his raincoat from the basement. Ash hurries through the downpour to the basement. Upon entering, however, he hears ringing, and finds the dejected Hector in the hayloft playing bells. Ash joins in, and the two quickly become friends. Hector then takes Ash for a ride on a trapeze, which initially frightens him but he finds that he enjoyed the ride. It's not long before George storms in from the storm and demands his raincoat from Ash. Hector watches Ash bring his cruel master the garment, and shakes his head in disgust at George's bullying. Hector cheers Ash up by making some intricate shadow puppets with him. The next morning, Samantha welcomes Hector into the house and offers him breakfast. George is horrified to see that Hector has returned. George rudely orders Hector to leave and never come back, but Samantha defends Hector from her husband's attitude. It's not long before George begins to pick on Hector, but Hector is ready this time with some comebacks supplied by Ash (all of which are blunt statements about George's lack of hair.) Samantha, fed up with her husband's behavior, kicks him out of the house to eat his breakfast elsewhere. George remains irritable through the evening, and stomps into the kitchen to demand his supper. Samantha, however, is outside with an umbrella watching Ash and Hector perform their bell duet on the house roof. George notices Hector wearing his raincoat, and hurries up to reclaim it. He takes the opportunity to frighten Ash with his pop-out eyes again, almost knocking the little boy off of the roof. This finally pushes Hector too far as he advances on George, who steps back in surprise and fright. Hector decides to show what 'real' ugliness is and reveals a large mask of George's face, startling the man right over the edge of the roof, where he lands on the ground and gurgles weakly. When the rain finally lets up, Hector says that it's time for him to continue his journey, but not before wishing Ash and Samantha goodbye. Hector turns and walks into the night, chuckling merrily at his new found optimism about kind people.

## Characters:

* Ash Ketchum
* Samantha Cunningham
* Hector

## Trivia:

* George refers to Ash by his real name, as opposed to the usual "stupid boy." It was the first time in the series that this happened, the second was in *Ball of Revenge*, and the third time was the ???.
* George doesn't use his mask to scare Ash in this episode, instead he used a similar method to the Tex Avery cartoons.
* One of the few episodes where the monster is the protagonist.
* Based off *The Hunchback Of Notre Dame*.
* This is the first time George refers to Ash by his name.
* Hector appeared in a Nickelodeon short, Hector the Get-Over Cat.

## Quotes:

* **George**: (to the Hunchback) You know how you spell "ugly"? U... YOU, YOU, YOU YOU YOU YOU! (the Hector looks sad)
* **Hector**: (gets a note from Ash about George and puts glasses on) And... you sir... are extremely... BALD!
* **George**: You erh! Why you erh!
* **Ash**: (laughs underneath the table)
* **George**: Oh YEAH! Well you look like something the cow SPIT UP! (Ash quickly makes another note)
* **Hector**: You sir are extremely... bald.
* **George**: Aya! Ah! Come on ner ner ner! Erh! And the only thing uglier than this... (takes a mirror and a reflection shows the Hector's eye) IS THIS! (takes another mirror out and shows the Hector's nose) Hee hee hee hee hee hee hee!
* **Hector**: Are you bald? Yes.
* **George**: ERRHHHH!
* **Samantha**: George! Have you no sense of hospitality?
* **George**: Nope.
* **Samantha**: Well then, you can take your breakfast and eat it in Central Park.
* **George**: Erm, but, but... He called me *bald*!
* **Samantha**: George, you *are* bald.
* **George**: Well, (stomps foot) keep him outta my sight! (slams door)