The Great Cat Caper (9 page)

G
ood day for treasure,” Bill said the next morning as Vee clumped down the stairs, bleary eyed from dreaming of twin boys chasing her with numbers. Bill, predictable as ever. “You gonna talk to the girls today?”

Pouring herself a glass of milk and plopping two slices of rye bread into the toaster, Vee shuffled to the counter and struggled onto a stool. “Yeah.” Even though she was sure the girls would forgive her, Vee didn’t want to deal with the whole thing.

Fishing in his pocket, Bill drew out his wallet and removed a bill. “Super Bill, although he does not have his gear on this morning, would suggest you talk on neutral ground. Say, The Sweet Stuff?” He slid the bill toward Vee.

She slid it into her pocket, tears welling up. How had she ever thought Bill was just okay? He was the best. Stopping by the computer, she shot an e-mail to the girls about meeting at The Sweet Stuff.
Important stuff to tell you
, she typed.

In the sweet-smelling sanctuary of The Sweet Stuff, Vee made her apologies and told the girls about
Everything Animal
‘s Friday visit. Their forgiveness came quickly and their reaction to the news that they would be on national TV more than satisfying. It was the only bright spot in the week, Vee thought, walking home with the girls.

Friday,
Everything Animal
day, arrived quickly. Sunny, Aneta, and Esther were standing outside the Cat Room’s open door when Vee arrived out of breath after school. Their faces told her there was a story.

“What?” she asked.

“We should have told them not to come.” Esther shook her head.

“Who thought they
would
come?” Sunny performed a slow twirl and sagged against the wall.

“The Fam
always
comes,” Aneta said simply.

“What?” Then Vee heard the buzz of many voices in the room. She peered around the corner and stepped back with a gasp.

“Yep. My parents and my brothers,” Sunny said.

“My mom and my brothers,” Esther said.

“My mom, my gram and grand, Uncle Luke,” Aneta counted on her fingers. “They left Wink home. My cousins are away at college.”

“Oh.” Esther waved her hand in front of Vee’s nose. “And your mom, Bill, Heather, and the Twin Terrors.”

The Twin Terrors? Rushing panic swallowed up the excitement of meeting a real-life TV producer. Would Momma Cat’s trap fit two seven-year-old boys?

“What if the cats make those horrible noises?” Aneta asked.

“They have been quiet this week. Maybe today they’ll surprise us all,” Esther said.

“We might as well go in,” Sunny said, motioning them in as though directing a jet plane. “The producer has already met our families. She might as well meet us.”

Just to be sure, Vee sniffed quickly as she entered. The room looked and smelled normal. Good.

The moment they were through the door, the applause began. Baffled, the girls looked at each other.

“What did we do?” Aneta wanted to know.

The mayor, raspy voice even more pronounced since she was nearly shouting, laughed and said, “You’re our Junior Event Planners with another terrific community project!”

Sunny spoke to Vee from the side of her mouth. “For pizza sake. Have you got a plan for more than the cats? I don’t.”

A nudge from Esther on the other side. “What if she asks us what the other ideas are?”

Vee didn’t respond since she had seen Heather and the Twin Terrors and was waving. The seven-year-olds pointed to her, whooped, and barreled through the tables and chairs, knocking over a few.

She shushed them and used both hands to gesture
slow it down.
“Slow down, Turbo,” she said to the one she was pretty sure was Joshua. He had reached her first and was pretending to box with her, darting in and out. She raised her head to Heather, imploring. Her stepmother was on her way, always calm and serene.

There was Frank, looking like he needed another sheet. Nadine stood next to him, shaking her head at the noise. The Cat Woman appeared at Vee’s elbow. Leaning close to Vee, she whispered, “I wasn’t too happy at first with you girls. Thought you were lightweights.” She patted Vee’s arm, and her wrinkled face glowed. “Isn’t it great to see Hermann helping? Can’t wait to see the other fun stuff you girls hatch up for the Great Cat Caper.” Hermann sat in the corner, and when the two turned his way, he pretended to be very interested in his socks.

Neither can we
, Vee thought. “It will be unbelievable.” Vee didn’t have to remind herself why
she’d
forgotten. It was spelled m-a-t-h. Shooting a look at the tall, skinny woman who had to be the producer because she was the only person not carrying a camera that Vee hadn’t seen before, Vee saw her nod to the girls. They approached the woman.

The producer was easily as tall as Bill and skinny as the new tree in the front yard at home. A woman about the same age and a guy a little older carried big cameras on their shoulders and were moving around the room, up to the cat cages, around to the crowd, and now, to Vee’s discomfort, right in her face. She blanched.

“Hello,” she said, extending her hand to the producer. “I’m Vee Nguyen.”

The tall woman smiled broadly and reached for her hand. “Oh, you’re the one who e-mailed me about your great idea. I’m Ginger Padlow, one of the producers for
Everything Animal.
We’re excited to be here.”

“Uh, great.”

After Vee had introduced Sunny, Aneta, and Esther, the producer called the camera people over. “We’ll need an establishing shot of the room. That’s a community touch for sure. Then”—she motioned to the girls—“what are you going to do with the cats?”

“We’re socializing them,” Esther said.

For once, Vee was glad that Esther was the first to speak. Everything was kind of spinning together: noise, Twin Terrors, cats, wondering if the curious kitten would let her pick him up.

“Great. Tell me what you girls did first.”

Made a mess of things.
Vee was sure
Everything Animal
didn’t want to hear that.

“Okay, so we caught the cats—,” she began.

Esther interrupted. “Trapped. The Cat—
Gladys
says since they are wild, we had to trap them.”

Vee sighed. “Yes, Esther. We
trapped
the cats.”

“Wrapped them in sheets to they can begin to de-stress,” Sunny provided.

“The cats? Like burritos? What do you mean?” Ginger’s carefully made-up face looked perplexed.

The girls took turns explaining. Every few moments, Vee would turn and look at the curious kitten. Each time, the kitten was either washing his face or sitting with his tail around him, yet he was always watching Vee. Vee smiled. She caught Mom’s eye, and Mom looked over at the kitten and nudged Bill.

“We talked to them through the sheet and told them we love them. Then we took the sheets off and read stories and sang to them.” Aneta’s voice was low and sweet.

An
awwwww
rippled through the room.

Esther picked up the explanation. “Paws ‘N’ Claws Animal Buddies has a TNR program, which stands for Trap, Neuter, Return. The cats will be neutered, and the tip of one ear clipped while they are under anesthesia so people know they won’t be reproducing. They also get shots.”

“Great. Now let’s see you work with the cats. Will I be able to hold one?” Nadine handed her Momma Cat. Ginger spied the oven mitts. “What are these for?”

“Safety measures,” Esther said. The girls donned the mitts and held them up like surgeons ready to operate.

“Adorable,” the producer raved.

The crowd chuckled.

Score one for Squad cuteness.

“This cat was wild?” Ginger asked, stroking Momma Cat, who obliged by purring. The producers heavy eyebrows shot upward. The camera people stepped closer. “She’s a cuddle bug.”

Vee sent a “hear that?” look toward the curious kitten.
See how nice it is to have people hold you and say you’re wonderful?
He blinked. Vee noted the whiskers, which flattened back when the kitten was panicked, had sprung forward. That meant interested. Good.

Score two for Momma Cat. So far so good.

“One of the ladies of the senior center remembers a family who had a cat that looked a lot like her. They moved about a year ago.” Cat Woman slid between Vee and Ginger. “They abandoned her or couldn’t find her the day they moved. Happens all the time.”

“Wow,” Ginger said, lifting Momma Cat to her face and nuzzling her head. “She’s such a cutie.” Then, while she still held Momma Cat, she gestured to Esther and Aneta. “Okay, girls.” Turning to the camera people, she added, “Get in as close as you can. I want to see the cats’ expressions. How ’bout you each open the cage at the same time? It would look so cute to have all those oven mitts going into the cages at once.”

Frank, Nadine, and Sunny moved into place to be the door openers. “I got a ba-ad feeling about this,” Frank muttered to his wife. Vee did, too. They had never done this before. What if the flicking-tail brother upset the curious kitten?

“Okay, as soon as you get them out of the cages, turn and face the camera and smile, okay? We’ll just keep rolling. Then I’ll interview you girls, see what else is in store for the Great Cat Caper. Sound like a plan?”

No, it sounds like major crunching-beetle-drama.
Vee wanted to shout, “We have no plan past the cats!” This time the Squad had gotten themselves in waaaay over their heads.

Ginger didn’t wait for Vee to answer. She shooed the girls toward the cages.

“Yikes,” Sunny murmured, taking her position as door lifter by Esther’s cat.

“You might want to start praying,” Frank said in a low voice to Aneta, acting as her door lifter.

“Nothing like a little pressure.” Nadine smiled at Vee.

“Oven mitts ready?” Esther held up her mitts.

“Oven mitts ready!” Aneta answered with a smile.

Dear Lord, it’s Vee again. Do You have time to help me?
Vee nodded to Nadine who looked at Frank and Sunny. Simultaneously, they lifted up the doors.

Another murmur in the crowd, this time of amusement.

Oven mitts at the ready, each girl placed her hands inside the crate. Esther’s cat, already at the back of the cage, widened its eyes and lashed its tail. In the next cage over, Aneta’s cat emitted a piercing shriek, wiping away the buzz of conversation. Vee looked over at it, her mitted hands moving toward the curious kitten, the brother in the litter box in the back thrashing the dust.

Vee focused on the curious kitten. He sat motionless, eyes wide in the tufty-eared little face as its gaze flicked between the incoming mitts and Vee’s face.

1. Take out curious kitten.

2. Hold him, turn to the cameras.

3. Smile.

4. Name him (what??).

She stopped.

“What’s wrong?” Esther asked, next to her, valiantly trying to clutch the all-over gray cat with the three black feet who kept moving around the cage. “Keep going. The cameras are rolling.”

Vee shook off the idea of actually bringing the kitten home. “Okay, curious kitten. Let’s check this off our list for taming you.” Vee placed the mitts on either side of the kitten and began to ever sooooo slooowwly draw him out.