each of us, they had a long night ahead of them. Boring!
Jumping from one roof to the next and the next and the next, I was sure I’d left them behind, and had paused to survey the situation below me when I heard, quite nearby, another scratching. This time, though, in addition to the physician’s greeting, I heard a familiar voice—my mother’s.
Once more I peered down through the roof flap. The old chap Bahiti, his boy, Edfu, and my mother were entering. A gray and white Barque Cat sat up from his nap. “Hello, Skitz,” Mother said, as Bahiti and Edfu consulted with the resident humans. “We just came to check on you. I am staying with this cat Bahiti. Isn’t it amazing? They don’t have vets here! They have cats who take care of other cats when they’re sick or might get sick. Bahiti brought you a treat that will counteract any bad things you might have picked up in that awful lab. It’s delicious too.” She ran her tongue around her teeth for emphasis.
Trust Mother to have a job an hour and a half after she arrived! She was a great one for making herself useful.
I thought about popping in to surprise her, then decided against it. I wasn’t ready yet to give up being the Night Stalker Who Pads on Invisible Paws Through the Darkness.
As I leaped from roof to roof, toward the outskirts of town, I sawthe two other cat physicians, first Heket, then Hathor, doing the same thing as Bes and Bahiti.
Much as I enjoyed exploring, I didn’t want to miss out on a treat, so I turned around and roof-hopped back to the house where my boy slept.
It was noisier on the way back. From the inside of the houses came the strangest cries: moaning yowling, singing. Peeking through one roof flap, I made sure that no cats were being hurt. On the contrary, the resident cat, a spotted fellow, and Ti-Min from the
Ontario
, before he was incarcerated in the lab in Galipolis with the others, were becoming very friendly indeed. Assured that all was well, I popped back into our new house and hopped onto the bed where Jubal lay.
Miss me?
I asked.
Yeah
, Jubal replied sleepily, raising his arm to let me snuggle.
What’s going on out there? Are the cats sick?
No, just making friends. Where did you put my treat?
What treat?
The cat doctors brought us all treats
.
Sorry, Chester, nobody came
.
You should have got up when you heard them scratch at the door. It could have been me, you know
.
I would have! Of course, I would have
. He stroked me.
But nobody came
.
I was left out at treat time? After all my hard work? The management was going to hear about this!
CHAPTER 7
T hree nights after the Barque Cats settled in the city, the first catastrophe happened. It was at night, and fortunately just after the feline physicians began making the rounds they had made both of the previous nights.
On the second night Jubal had been amused, as he watched through the beaded curtain, to see the cats scratching at the doors, as Chester had described it. The phrase “wandering mendicants” came to him from one of his old books. Chester pawed at him.
Why am I being left out? It’s not fair!
Keep your tail on. I’ll ask Edfu. Maybe they just forgot where we are. You said he came with Bahiti last night. Let’s go find them
.
He rushed Chester past the house where Bes and his servant had entered to minister to the cats inside.
Two looped streets later they saw Bahiti, Chessie, and Edfu emerging from one of the houses. When the door had closed behind them, Jubal ran forward, waving. “Hey, Edfu, how’s it going?”
“Going?” the other boy asked. “We are going from door to door, as you see, where Bahiti passes out these packets.”
“Yeah, well, about that? Chester saw the packets being taken to the other cats and wondered why he didn’t get one. I told him our house probably just got overlooked.”
Edfu looked a little shifty, like his old man did, Jubal thought,when he was trying to think of a good excuse for doing a bad thing.
Jumping from one roof to the next and the next and the next, I was sure I’d left them behind, and had paused to survey the situation below me when I heard, quite nearby, another scratching. This time, though, in addition to the physician’s greeting, I heard a familiar voice—my mother’s.
Once more I peered down through the roof flap. The old chap Bahiti, his boy, Edfu, and my mother were entering. A gray and white Barque Cat sat up from his nap. “Hello, Skitz,” Mother said, as Bahiti and Edfu consulted with the resident humans. “We just came to check on you. I am staying with this cat Bahiti. Isn’t it amazing? They don’t have vets here! They have cats who take care of other cats when they’re sick or might get sick. Bahiti brought you a treat that will counteract any bad things you might have picked up in that awful lab. It’s delicious too.” She ran her tongue around her teeth for emphasis.
Trust Mother to have a job an hour and a half after she arrived! She was a great one for making herself useful.
I thought about popping in to surprise her, then decided against it. I wasn’t ready yet to give up being the Night Stalker Who Pads on Invisible Paws Through the Darkness.
As I leaped from roof to roof, toward the outskirts of town, I sawthe two other cat physicians, first Heket, then Hathor, doing the same thing as Bes and Bahiti.
Much as I enjoyed exploring, I didn’t want to miss out on a treat, so I turned around and roof-hopped back to the house where my boy slept.
It was noisier on the way back. From the inside of the houses came the strangest cries: moaning yowling, singing. Peeking through one roof flap, I made sure that no cats were being hurt. On the contrary, the resident cat, a spotted fellow, and Ti-Min from the
Ontario
, before he was incarcerated in the lab in Galipolis with the others, were becoming very friendly indeed. Assured that all was well, I popped back into our new house and hopped onto the bed where Jubal lay.
Miss me?
I asked.
Yeah
, Jubal replied sleepily, raising his arm to let me snuggle.
What’s going on out there? Are the cats sick?
No, just making friends. Where did you put my treat?
What treat?
The cat doctors brought us all treats
.
Sorry, Chester, nobody came
.
You should have got up when you heard them scratch at the door. It could have been me, you know
.
I would have! Of course, I would have
. He stroked me.
But nobody came
.
I was left out at treat time? After all my hard work? The management was going to hear about this!
CHAPTER 7
T hree nights after the Barque Cats settled in the city, the first catastrophe happened. It was at night, and fortunately just after the feline physicians began making the rounds they had made both of the previous nights.
On the second night Jubal had been amused, as he watched through the beaded curtain, to see the cats scratching at the doors, as Chester had described it. The phrase “wandering mendicants” came to him from one of his old books. Chester pawed at him.
Why am I being left out? It’s not fair!
Keep your tail on. I’ll ask Edfu. Maybe they just forgot where we are. You said he came with Bahiti last night. Let’s go find them
.
He rushed Chester past the house where Bes and his servant had entered to minister to the cats inside.
Two looped streets later they saw Bahiti, Chessie, and Edfu emerging from one of the houses. When the door had closed behind them, Jubal ran forward, waving. “Hey, Edfu, how’s it going?”
“Going?” the other boy asked. “We are going from door to door, as you see, where Bahiti passes out these packets.”
“Yeah, well, about that? Chester saw the packets being taken to the other cats and wondered why he didn’t get one. I told him our house probably just got overlooked.”
Edfu looked a little shifty, like his old man did, Jubal thought,when he was trying to think of a good excuse for doing a bad thing.
Similar Books
