Cats Triumphant by Jody Lynn Nye Read Free Book Online Page B

you damned cats,” the person growled in a low voice. Pretty Kitty and Sweetie Baby refused to be quiet. At last they had gotten a reaction out of him. Now they might be able to guide him to do his duty. Still singing their entreaty, Pretty Kitty leaped up onto his shoulders. Sweetie Baby bounded up, trying to snuggle into his arms. Such an appeal always worked on Daddy.
    “Feed me!” they chorused. Damn Cat and How’s My Little Darling from the two territories adjacent to the tabbies’ added their protest to the night. “Feed us, too!”
    The person backed away from the cabinet and dropped the bag with a clang.
    Almost at once the string-and-ringer started its annoying bleebling. Pounding noises came at the door. The cats continued their song, but now they could hear people outside.
    “Miller? Your damned cats are raising the roof!” shouted Damn Cat’s Daddy. “Are you all right in there?”
    “Shut up, curse you,” the person in black hissed, trying to shake the cats off. They held on with determination. They had his attention at last. Now, if only they could guide him toward the can on the counter. The bowls were beside it.
    “Wait a moment. Mr. Miller gave me his spare key,” said Lovecat’s Mommy. “I’ll go get the key. He might need our help.”
    “No, call the police!” a female voice shrilled. It was How’s My Little Darling’s Mommy. “I hear strange noises in there. He might be having a heart attack!”
    The person in black showed signs of alarm. He stopped pushing at the cats and began running toward the bedroom. Sweetie Baby could smell the outside air from an open window and became frightened. Outside was where the vet lurked! She climbed up the person’s front and pawed at his face, careless of whether her claws were sheathed. He couldn’t take her to the vet. They’d just been there!
    The person staggered backwards, shrieking. Alarmed in her turn at his unsteady movements and strange noises, Pretty Kitty clambered up to the top of the stranger’s head and held on with all four paws. The person’s hands batted at her, making her hold on harder in fright. She could feel her fluffed-up tail wrapped around the stranger’s mouth puffed in and out by his breath.
    They stumbled back into the kitchen. Daddy was standing up again, holding onto the counter with one hand. Sweetie Baby planted her back feet in the stranger’s chest and attempted to launch herself toward Daddy, but before she knew it, they were lurching up the hall toward the door. Not the vet again!
    Daddy was ahead of them. Weaving groggily, he threw open the door and tottered out into the hall, where all the Daddies and Mommies in the building were standing. They jumped back in horror as the person in black, with Pretty Kitty and Sweetie Baby still clinging to him, dashed out and ran toward the fire escape door.
    Now Pretty Kitty sensed a trip to the vet, too—and in the middle of the night, no less! The stranger pulled open the big iron door. This was an evil person. He must not be allowed to take them. She clawed at his face as he made for the stairs, and managed to jump clear just as he fell down the stairs. He lay still at the bottom. Serves him right, Pretty Kitty thought, peering down at him, as Daddy appeared and caught her up around the middle. The stranger was going to starve them and take them to the torture chamber.
    What happened next was a blur even to two observant felines. In a flurry of arms, legs and faces, persons and cats came running up to see what all the fuss was about. Sweaty-smelling strangers in rough, blue cloth and shiny shoes filled the hallway. Strangers in white who smelled alarmingly like the vet came in and took the person in black away. One of them wound a cloth around Daddy’s head while he talked to the persons in blue.
    The fuss went on so long that Pretty Kitty and Sweetie Baby were forced to insinuate themselves into the conversation. They wound around Daddy’s legs and stretched up