The Great Cat Caper (10 page)

Off to her right, two high-pitched boy voices hollered, “Go Vee the B! Grab your kitten first!”

At the sound of the boys’ voices, several things happened at once. Vee jerked and squeezed the kitten. The kitten’s wide pupils zipped into slits, and it dug its way out of the mitts and up Vee’s arm, digging in for stability.

“OW!” she yelled, yanking her arms from the cage.

“He’s out! He’s out!” Esther shrieked, dropping to the floor and lunging in vain for her cat who had streaked out of the cage, hung in midair, and then dropped to the floor. He was immediately lost in the tables, chairs, and many pairs of moving feet.

“He’s over there—no wait, that’s the other one!” someone shouted.

“My cat! My cat is out!” Aneta wailed.

Ginger bellowed at her crew. “Keep filming; get both sides of the room!” In obeying, they got in each other’s way and then somehow crashed down in a tangle of legs with the Twin Terrors who thought this was hilarious.

“Vee, watch out. The flick-tailed kitten!”

Vee, her left hand cupped over the curious kitten who was clawing his way up her bare right arm, gasped. She felt a second furry object dig itself into her waistband. A light weight with a sting of claws progressed up the front of her shirt. She hollered, “Esther! Help! The Flick Cat!” and clapped her right arm—with the clinging curious kitten—toward her chest to stop the upward flight of the now-named Flick.

The pressure on him only caused him to dig deeper for better climbing power. He climbed her shirt like it was a ladder to the stars. She heard the deep, guttural growl, looked down, saw the bugged-out eyes. His lips curled back to show white kitten fangs. He was heading straight toward her face.
Had Frank taken them to get their shots yet? Is rabies like leprosy? Will I have to live on an island all by myself?

In the next ragged breath, Flick was up over her face, a last dig into her scalp before launching off.

“Ouch!” Her voice was lost in the cacophony of cats, camera people, and leaping, lurching bystanders.

“There he goes! Stop him!” the mayor screamed, pushing past one chair and tripping over another one. She landed on the floor. “My ankle!” she began to wail, rocking forward to grab her ankle.

Vee whirled toward the chaos, managing with difficulty to get the curious kitten off her arm and contain it, squirming, once again between the mitts. It began to hiss. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry. It wasn’t supposed to be like this!” She begged him to chill out. “Don’t hiss, don’t hiss. This is the day I hold you.” Everything was going wrong. “You’re messing up my to-do list.
Please.
“

Esther, Frank, the mayor, and Aneta were yelling directions nobody was listening to. The mayor was screaming. Sunny was screaming.

Esther: “Shut the door! Hurry! Shut the
door
, Aneta!”

Frank: “Quit screaming!”

Mayor: “I am
not
screaming!”

Frank: “I’m not talking to you!”

“Don’t you dare lose them!” Ginger bellowed again. Suddenly the cats were out of the room with a line of pursuers. Human voices echoed in the hall.

“They went right!”

“No, left, left! I saw a tail!”

Ginger, the remaining person in the room, was holding Momma Cat and looking a little dazed. Vee looked at her.

“I think we might have caused a bit of a furor,” Ginger said, stroking Momma Cat like she was the only link to sanity.

Fur-or.
Sounded like catness. “I would say yes,” Vee replied, then blinked, looked down at the mitts, and up again. A delighted smile stole across her face. A curious buzz had begun in the mitts.

“What’s that kitten’s name?” Ginger asked, shifting Momma Cat to her other arm.

Name? Buried in the oversized oven mitts, the curious kitten looked like a striped head, black nose smudge with no body. He looked up at Vee and she down at him for a long moment. The mitts continued to buzz with the purring kitten.

“Buzz. His name is Buzz.”

A
fter the
Everything Animal
cameras had captured the drama of the runaway cats and the tears of Esther and Aneta, the families headed home and tables and chairs were righted in the Cat Room. The producer insisted the girls sit in a semicircle where she kept repeating what “great entertainment” the escapade had provided the fans of the
Everything Animal
program. It wasn’t a great time for Esther and Aneta. Vee’s heart hurt for her two friends sitting on either side of her. Esther’s face was streaked with tears, the same sort of tears that trickled down Aneta’s cheeks.

Esther and Aneta’s moms had not been too happy to leave the girls to an interview after their projects had jetted out the door; however, the two girls insisted that they “could deal” and wanted to finish what they started.

Ginger, who seemed to be reluctant to give Momma Cat to Sunny to hold during the interview, settled in her chair. “Esther and Aneta, your projects left the building. What’s the next step?” Ginger asked, crossing one long, skinny leg over the other. The camera people stepped closer to the girls.

The next step, Vee thought, was that she was going to jump up and slug the producer. Poor Esther and Aneta.

Esther sat up straighter. “Now we learn how to make a managed cat colony,” she said crisply.

Yeah, you tell her, Esther!
Esther sounded just like the Cat Woman. Which was a good thing. The Cat Woman knew her stuff.

Before Ginger could ask another
your-heart-is-broken-how-does-it-feel
question, Esther turned to the nearest camera. “We’ll make cat condos for the three cats that escaped and for the one that got away the day we trapped the others.”

That’s a S.A.V.E. Squad girl. Push her and she bounces back!
Vee hitched in her chair, waking up the sleeping Buzz between the mitts. Wait until she told Mom and Bill about
this.

Ginger goggled at Esther a tiny bit before recovering. Turning to Aneta, she asked, “What about you, Aneta? It must have been heartbreaking to watch the cat you’d worked with for, what was it—several weeks?—escape and disappear.”

Burger Mania, the Twin Terrors, orange drink, and french fries. She’d lock Ginger in. For several hours. Maybe turn out the lights. That would serve Ginger right for making Aneta’s face flush and her eyes fill with tears.

Aneta looked Ginger straight in the eye. “Yes,” she said simply, a single tear tracking down her cheek. Then she explained about the S.A.V.E. Squad. “That is what a Squadder does.”

Ginger signaled the camera people to stop filming. She shook her head with a smile that was both sad and pleased. “Aneta, you answered the tough interview question with a heart blaster and shut me down cold.”

“I am sorry,” Aneta said, alarmed. “I did not mean to be rude.”

Waving a dismissive hand, the producer rose and stepped over to scratch Momma Cat under the chin. “You weren’t. You girls were just being yourselves. The world better watch out with the S.A.V.E. Squad on the loose.”

After the camera people cleaned up and they were headed out the door, Ginger stopped and regarded the girls. “I can’t wait to come back. Who knows the spectacular things you’ll come up with for the festival in a week?” Then she and her crew were out the door. Vee heard Frank and Nadine coming down the hall toward the Cat Room to lock it up.

“Who does know?” Aneta said, innocently, turning to Esther.

“Not us, we’re toast,” Esther said.

“Burnt toast,” Sunny added.

“Without butter,” Vee finished gloomily.

The three girls turned toward her. “Without
butter?
“

Vee squirmed onto a kitchen stool and dropped her head onto her hands. She couldn’t believe the past couple of hours at the Cat Room. “Did all that really happen?” she asked Bill.

Bill was taking baked potatoes out of the oven. After all this stuff was over, she was going to have to show Bill how to cook something else, like maybe chicken, zucchini, and rice.

“It sure did.” Bill tossed the hot potatoes up and down making little “ooo, ooo, ooh” sounds as he carried them to the granite counter. “So, what’s up now? Your face is showing.”

“Ha, ha,” Vee replied. “Not only did we have the mess of losing all the cats except Buzz and Momma Cat, but the S.A.V.E. Squad needs an emergency sleepover to get ideas for the Great Cat Caper.”

“Which is bad, why?”

“It’s a prodigiously bad weekend for me.”

“Since
prodigiously
came before
bad
, I am assuming it’s a double bad?”

“Yeah.”

“Be
cause
,” he dragged out the word, “it’s a Dad weekend?” She nodded. Sometimes Bill noticed way more than she thought he did.

He leaned on the counter and waggled his eyebrows. “Then why don’t you ask your dad if you can have the sleepover at his house?”

A-a-a-a-nd then other times he didn’t notice
anything.
“Are you nuts? It’s
prodigiously
complicated to be me. You want me to expose my friends to both families?” She leaned forward, eyes intense. “You
do
know the Twin Terrors live with my dad.”

A broad Bill smile. He stood up to pull objects out of the refrigerator that only he would add to a potato while Vee considered his suggestion. The Squad had a week before Ginger and the
Everything Animal
crew returned with more cameras. Right now they had Buzz’s story as a former Dumpster cat turned pet. She hunched her shoulders. Even though the Cat Woman would tend him and Momma Cat at the Cat Room as she did every weekend, Vee already missed him terribly.

“Bill, how do you feel about cats?”

“So have the sleepover at one of the other girls’ houses.”

“I can’t. Not since I pitched a fit that Dad forgot to show up for my project. If I don’t go to Dad’s on a Dad Weekend …” She swallowed the rest of the phrase.
I can’t say Dad doesn’t spend time with me.
She sighed. “Bill, it’s not fun when you’re right.” She slid off the stool and headed toward the phone.

H
eather would be delighted. So delighted they would spend Friday night
and
Saturday night. Vee was embarrassed at Heather’s reaction when the four girls arrived at Dad’s house. Her stepmother came to meet them with outstretched hands and a broad smile. “I’m so happy to meet Vee’s friends!” she said. She hugged each of the girls, hesitated, and then hugged Vee, who endured it.

“So where are Joshua and Jacob?” Sunny asked, pulling a small bag from her duffel. “My brothers sent them a present, to put up with us.”

Wow. Sunny remembered the Twin Terrors’ names? And brought them a
present
to put up with
them
? As Heather’s smile grew wider, she called the two boys. No need to wonder where they were coming from. Pounding overhead and then thudding down the stairs, the twins launched themselves at Vee.

“Vee the B!” they yelled in unison, throwing their arms around her waist. With their weight against her, she lost her balance and down she went. Sigh.

“Hi, boys. Now get off me and go away.” The girls helped pull the boys off Vee as they had begun wrestling over who would help Vee up.

Heather shook her head. “They love Vee so much.”

For a tackling dummy.

“My brothers are the same with me,” Esther said. “They drive me crazy, but I wouldn’t want any other brothers.”

“Yeah,” Sunny chimed in. “Just about the time I want to tell Mom to give them away—again—they do something like
this.
” She handed the bag to the one Vee thought was Jacob. The part in his hair seemed a little farther over than the one in Joshua’s hair. Joshua snatched it, and a tussle ensued. The bag ripped open, and a fluorescent pile of fruit-smelling gummi worms spilled into the entryway. Vee groaned. It was going to be a long night.

Jacob pointed to Sunny. “She can stay.”

Joshua pointed at Aneta. “She can stay ’Cause she’s pretty.”

They both pointed at Esther. “She has brothers. She’s cool.”

“So glad we have your permission,” Vee said.

Heather sent the boys off to play outside. “I know what you mean,” she said, tucking her blond hair behind her ears. “I grew up as the only girl with six brothers. I adore them, but not every moment.”

Vee’s mouth dropped open. Nobody had told her Heather was a survivor. Heather laughed at her expression. “We need some more bonding time, Vee. I can tell you lots of ways to handle these guys. You know why they call you Vee the B?”

“Because they don’t know many words?”

Heather laughed so hard that she had to lean against the wall. She shooed the girls into the family room that opened out onto the backyard. She indicated where they could stash their sleeping bags, pillows, stuffed animals, backpacks, and drawstring bags. “No, although they do admire that
you
know so many. Jacob wants to bring you to class for show and tell. Joshua came up with ‘Vee the B.’ It stands for Vee the Best.”

“Awww,” Sunny said, nudging her. “The Twin Terrors have a heart.”

The girls settled their bags, got the promise from Heather that the Terrors would not be joining them, and kicked off their shoes.

“When’s Dad coming home?” Vee asked Heather as her stepmother passed through with a load of folded clothes.

“Probably by six thirty, usually,” Heather said, cocking her head to think. “Unless, of course, he doesn’t.”

“Yeah, I know that deal.”

Heather pointed to a pad of paper by the phone. “I’ve already called Pizza Crazy. They know to make whatever you want, and they will deliver. I’ve already taken care of the tip for the driver. Fruit juice in the door of the fridge. Ice cream in the freezer. The family room is yours.” She moved away. Vee placed a hand on her arm.

She really wants us here.
Given them their own spot. The Twin Terrors, in their sticky, bumpy way had made a spot for her. True, it was usually on the floor when they greeted her, but still. “Thanks, Heather.”

Her stepmother blushed. “I’m so glad you’re here.”

“Go ahead,” Vee said, opening her arms. “I know you want to.”

Heather squeezed her in a quick hug and left.

Rejoining the girls, Vee clasped her hands in her lap. “Okay. Pizza now or after some brainstorming?”

“I say pizza now,” Sunny said. “Pizza helps me think.”

In customary fashion, they argued over what pizza to get and finally agreed on two large pizzas, one with half everything (Sunny) and half cheese (Vee) and one with half veggies and no meat (Aneta) and half Canadian bacon and pineapple (Esther).

After Vee handed out paper and pens—watching Esther out of the corner of her eye to see if the girl would roll her eyes—she did—the girls began throwing out ideas.

Hours later they had eaten both pizzas, talked about whether Melissa Dayton-Snipp would ever return to Oakton, relived the chaos at the Cat Room and the utter coolness of Buzz becoming tame—and that Sunny’s uncle was relocating his horse ranch to Oakton and he’d promised Sunny her friends would get to ride horses. They’d argued over whether the Twin Terrors were more obnoxious than Esther and Sunny’s little brothers (no way, Sunny and Esther insisted) and agreed that Aneta’s family was the most crazy-fun. They went over every fun tidbit of their first adventure together, how they met, and laughed till they lay on the floor, sides heaving.

Esther was the first to recall their purpose for the sleepover. “Guys, we have to get to work.”

“So we keep freaking out that we don’t have anything,” Sunny said, shifting onto her side and propping her head up with her right arm. “What if we write down what we do know so far? A wild list.” The girls began to chatter; Vee had to scribble messily to keep up.

The girls read over Vee’s shoulder where she sat cross-legged on the floor. Sunny jumped up and did a little dance. “Nice job, Vee!” she said, collapsing back next to the girls. “We all talked at once, and you got a list.”

“But what good is it?” Vee stared at the list. It was so random. You couldn’t make events from stuff like this.

“I like the Buzz part,” Aneta said thoughtfully. “Do you think your mom and dad would let you adopt Buzz?”

Vee had been trying not to think about that all evening. His little tufty face showed up in her mind.

“There are patterns,” Esther said suddenly. “Connections, as my math teacher says.”

Eww
. Why ruin a fun time with math? Vee wrinkled her nose. “Where?”

The stocky girl moved to her hands and knees and lifted one arm to point at Vee’s list. “See? Take ‘cats eat’ for starters. What do cats eat?”

“Food,” Vee said. “I don’t get it.”

“Keep going.” Esther didn’t appear rattled with Vee’s dismissal.

“Cat food,” Aneta said, her brow furrowed. “And …” Her brow cleared. “Cat treats!”

Throwing up her arms like a referee indicating a touchdown, Esther beamed. “Right! So if we are
saving cats
and
cats eat
,”—she plucked the pen out of Vee’s hand, apologizing as she did so—“what can we sell at the Great Cat Caper that’s special?”

Aneta clapped her hands together. “Cat treats! We can make cat treats!”

Remembering Aneta’s two experiences with cooking, Vee wasn’t so sure, but Esther was. “Yes! There’s our first activity. But, Aneta, remember you need someone to help you ’Cause you’re not so great yet with cooking.”

“The Fam will help me,” Aneta said with confidence, settling back happily. Vee knew they would. The Fam never missed one of Aneta’s activities. Must be nice.
No,
she told herself sternly.
Dad apologized; drop it.

“I’ll go next,” Esther said, moving the pen down until it came across the bit about cats and Esther’s earrings. “If Momma Cat was drawn to my earrings, what if we make cat toys that dangle and maybe some with feathers? We can sell them.”

“And give everyone who adopts a cat a cat toy!” Sunny snapped her fingers. “Esther, you’re brilliant.”

Vee thought she got it. Her eyes scanned the list. Cats eat, use a litter box, like to play with dangling things, and we want to save cats. Pattern: what a cat needs if they are saved. She began tentatively. “If they adopt a cat, we give them a …” Ideas began to jolt around her brain. “Cat Kit or Kitty Kit. It will have a cute litter box—”

“Are there cute litter boxes?” wondered Esther.

“Ours will be!” Sunny said, shushing her.

“And litter to get started—the kind Cat Woman said, nonclumping, whatever that is.” Vee felt a thrill run through her. Patterns! Connections! This was like
math
? She wished she had Esther’s math teacher.

“Oh, I get it!” Sunny was spinning again, this time around the family room. “The Cat Kit will also include a cat toy and a cat treat.”

“And then we can sell the Cat Kit to people who want to give it to people as a present or for themselves!” Esther was with it now, writing down what each of them had said as quickly as she could. “My math teacher will freak when she hears our patterns and connections.” She paused, pen in midair. “I wonder if she’ll give me extra credit?”

“Oh, yayness! They can buy the Cat Kit and donate it to Paws ‘N’ Claws or the city animal shelter!” Sunny said.

The girls fell backward. Vee thought of Buzz.
I’m buying him a Cat Kit. I hope it comes with him to my house to live!

“I need a drink after all that work,” Sunny said.

The girls trooped into the kitchen and put vanilla ice cream into tall glasses of orange juice.

“Yum,” Sunny said.

As they sat around the table, Vee dashed back for the list. “Okay, so we’ve got a few things left.”

“Read what’s left,” Esther ordered, pointing at Vee with a drippy straw.

“Easy, peasy,” Sunny said, after sucking up the very last drop from what she named a Van-orange Float. “A Petting Palace.”

“Palace?” Aneta wasn’t sure of the word.

“A decorated place where a volunteer sits and lets other people pet the cats. Paws ‘N’ Claws Animal buddies will bring over their adoptable cats. We’ll put them on princess pillows.”

“The people?” Aneta still looked confused.

The girls busted out laughing.

“No, the cats will be on princess pillows. They’ll all be washed and brushed. We’ll get them neato-ba-deeto collars.” Sunny was up and pacing.

“Neeto-ba-deeto?” Now Aneta was really lost. She sat back in her chair.

“Where?” Esther was practical.

“In the Cat Room, of course.” Sunny’s gaze searched the ceiling. “It will be magnificent.”

If people were able to sit and love on the cats, they might think about what it would mean to adopt one. Vee already knew! “Wait!” She held up her hand. “Remember how much trouble we got into because we didn’t learn about what it took to tame Dumpster cats?”

The other girls nodded.

“So maybe we should do something so people who come to the Great Cat Caper learn how to take care of cats before they adopt one.”

“Yeah,” Sunny said. “They won’t have the Cat Woman or Frank and Nadine like we did.”

Esther shot her hand in the air. “That’s me! I can do a PowerPoint that’s really cool. As Computer Coordinator, I learned how to do all that stuff. Plus I’ll write a brochure.” She shot a look at Vee. “Unless you want to write it?”

“No way, that would be great,” Vee said.

“I’ll take pictures,” Sunny said, dumping over her empty glass. “The camera Uncle Dave gave me! Oh, yayness and oh, the catness of cats.”

Vee heard a rustling, slithering sound from the family room. A moment later, two raspy voices hissed from the doorway. “You should paint cats!” Then the twins scurried away, snickering and snorting.

“They are so weird,” Vee said by way of apology. She yawned and looked at the kitchen clock. Nearly midnight.

“No, very good.” Aneta shook her head. “We will paint cat faces on people at the Helpful City Festival. That will make people ask them, ‘Why is your face painted?’ And they will say, ‘We want to help save cats.’” She leaned back and skittered her gaze from Sunny to Esther to Vee.

“Yayness,” Sunny agreed, yawning.

“It could happen.” Esther covered a gigantic yawn.

“What you said,” Vee said, leading the way to their sleeping bags.

As she fell asleep listening to Sunny, Aneta, and Esther say their prayers together and ask God to bless just about everyone on the planet, Vee envied them their spot. God seemed to like them. Sunday, as soon as she got home, she’d start in on Bill and Mom about Buzz and his spot. She fell asleep with a smile, seeing striped gray kittens with big eyes, black nose smudges, and tufty ears dancing around wearing oven mitts.