Catboy - Eric Walters [35]
“Not to mention Bugs Bunny or Mickey Mouse,” Simon added.
“Or Franklin the Turtle, or the Berenstain Bears,” I said. “They were my favorites—you know, when I was a kid.”
Mr. Spence laughed. “As opposed to the senior citizen you’ve become!”
“You know what I mean.”
“I do. Besides, you got inside the character of the cat. You saw the world the way a cat who lives in a junkyard, wakes up in a cage in an apartment and is finally being released back into—”
“Excuse me,” said a voice over the pa. It was the school secretary.
“Yes,” Mr. Spence replied.
“I’m sorry to disturb you,” said the secretary. “I have a gentleman in the office who wants to speak to a student in your class. He says it’s very important. His name is Mr. Singh.”
I smiled when I heard the name Singh.
“Who would he like to speak with?” asked Mr. Spence.
“Taylor,” said the secretary.
My stomach did a flip as every eye in the class turned to me. It was my Mr. Singh! I had no idea why he would come to school and ask to see me, but it couldn’t be good.
Mr. Spence looked at me. “Is he a family member?” he asked.
“He’s my friend,” I said.
Then the recess bell rang, and Mr. Spence dismissed the class.
“It’s okay,” Simon said as he passed by. “Whatever it is, it’s okay.”
I didn’t know what to say. Mr. Singh could only be here for one reason—Hunter. He must have taken a turn for the worse, or maybe he’d been hurt by King, or those dogs had come back, or he’d been run over by a car or…There were so many things that could happen to a wild cat. If only I’d kept him in my apartment, he’d be alive and safe and—
“Come, I’ll walk you down to the office now,” Mr. Spence said.
“Sure, yeah. I’m just a little…a little…”
“Nervous?” said Mr. Spence.
I nodded my head.
“I can understand that, but I am going to come down there with you.”
Whatever the problem was, I knew Mr. Spence would help me figure it out. I just hoped I wouldn’t cry in front of him if Mr. Singh had bad news for me.
“I don’t know why he’d be here to see me,” I said. “It has to be important.”
We walked into the office, and Mr. Singh stood up and introduced himself to Mr. Spence.
“Taylor, I am most sorry to disturb you at school,” Mr. Singh said, “but I wanted to tell you immediately that—”
“Has something happened to Hunter?” I interrupted.
“Hunter is fine,” he said. “I saw him this morning. But really, he is not fine. None of the cats are fine.”
I gasped. “What do you mean?”
“The junkyard…it has been sold.”
“Sold?”
“Yes. They are going to turn it into condominiums.” He paused. “And they started this morning.”
Twenty
We skidded to a stop outside the fence. “Whoa, somebody stole our hole,” Simon said.
Where there should have been a hole in the fence there was none. In fact the whole fence was gone. It had been replaced. Instead of the rusty chain-link fence, a high solid wooden fence had been erected. At regular intervals along the fence, big color posters of the condominium tower that was going to be built were displayed. The condo on the poster was tall and sleek with tinted windows and enclosed balconies.
It had been only a week since Mr. Singh first told me what was happening. Already things had changed, and changed quickly. The only thing that hadn’t changed was me not coming up with an idea to save the cats. I’d spent time in class and when I couldn’t get to sleep at night trying to come up with a plan. It wasn’t like a grade-six kid could successfully stop a condo development.
“It’s going to be a pretty fancy-looking place,” Simon said.
“A pretty expensive-looking place.”
“It looks a lot nicer than where we live. I wouldn’t mind moving there myself,” he said.
I shot him an evil look.
“You know, if it didn’t mean taking away the cats’ home, no offence,” Simon said.
“Sorry,” I apologized. “It isn’t your fault. If I didn’t hate it, I would think it would be a nice place to live too.”
“So what do we do now that