Catboy - Eric Walters [39]
“Are you all right?” he asked.
“I’m just working on my math questions,” I said.
He reached down and spun the paper around to look at my answers, or lack of answers.
“I’m having a little trouble,” I said.
“Nothing you can’t overcome, you know that,” he said. “We can work on it later. I can explain it again, help you. Are you sure you’re okay?”
“I guess I was just concentrating,” I said. That wasn’t a lie. I was concentrating, just not on the questions.
“Concentrating on the math?” he asked.
I could have lied, but I didn’t want to lie to him. “No, sir, I was thinking about a problem with the cats.”
“What sort of problem?” he asked.
“The junkyard is being redeveloped into condos,” I explained.
“But where will the cats live?” he asked.
“I don’t know, and that’s the problem.”
“And you’re worried about what’s going to become of them,” he said.
“Really worried. I don’t know what to do.”
“You keep thinking. Maybe something will happen to make it better,” he said.
“I wish it would.”
“But for right now, why don’t you go out, take a break and enjoy recess.”
“Thanks, sir.” I got up, pushed my chair in and started for the door.
“Taylor,” Mr. Spence called out, and I stopped. “I’ll think about your problem too,” he said. “Just remember, the more people who think about it, the better the chance of somebody coming up with an answer.”
I nodded.
I hurried outside and looked for my friends. They were standing together outside the door.
“Hey, guys,” I said.
“We’ve been thinking,” Simon said.
“About the cats,” Devon added.
“We’ve all been trying to think of a way to save them,” Jaime continued.
“And?” I asked hopefully.
“And we haven’t been able to come up with an answer,” Rupinder replied.
“But we are still trying to think of something,” Alexander added. He put a hand on my shoulder. “Nobody is giving up yet. Maybe we’ll come up with something in a day or two.”
“If we don’t come up with something soon, it’s all over,” I said. “I wish it was as simple as moving them someplace else.”
“Well, why don’t we do that?” Simon asked.
“Why don’t we do what?” I asked.
“Move them someplace else,” he said.
“Yeah, right, like I could move fifty cats,” I scoffed.
“Not you,” Simon said. “Us.”
“All of us,” Devon said, and Jaime, Rupinder, Mohammad and Alexander nodded in agreement.
“We would be like the United Nations,” Jaime added.
I was thinking more like Catboy, the Korean Kid and assorted other superheroes.
“Even if we work together, how do we trap them or move them, and where would we move them to?” I questioned. “Seven kids are better than one, but we’re still only seven kids.”
“How about Dr. Reynolds?” Simon said. “He’d help, wouldn’t he?”
Yeah, he would help, I thought.
“You told me he has traps, and what about those wild cat people? Wouldn’t they help too?” Simon asked.
“I hadn’t thought about that,” I said. “But even once we trapped them, where would we move them to?”
“There are other colonies around the city, right?” Simon asked.
“That’s what Dr. Reynolds and Doris told me,” I agreed. “They said there are hundreds.”
“Well, maybe it isn’t just you who can move from one home to another, but the cats can too,” Simon said.
“We’ve all moved,” Alexander said. “Some of us from one country to another.”
“One continent to another,” Rupinder added.
“So tell me, why can’t the cats be moved to a new colony?” Jaime questioned. “Moving worked for all of us.”
“I guess they could,” I agreed.
“Well, then maybe we have a plan,” Simon said.
“Maybe we do.” I paused. “Thanks, guys.”
“Are you feeling better now?” Jaime asked.
“Yeah, I am, a little.” Now all I had to do was convince Dr. Reynolds to help us. Without him, we had a plan that had no chance of working.
Twenty-Three
I sat in the waiting room, doing the only thing I could— wait. Everybody else had a dog or cat or even a guinea pig with them. I just had me—me and an idea, and not even an appointment to discuss that idea. Suddenly I started