Catboy - Eric Walters [45]
“That would be good. I’d like it if the snow melted,” Simon said.
“No, the snow is good,” I said.
“How do you figure that?” Simon asked.
“The cats will have left tracks, so we can see where they’ve gone.”
“That just means we’ll be able to see what we can’t catch,” Simon said.
“We’ll catch them,” I said.
“We’ll catch some of them,” he replied.
“We’ll catch all of them, if we have to be here all day and all night,” I said.
“Count me in for the day part,” Simon replied.
“I’m sure that’s all the time we’ll need,” my mother added. “I’m sure we’ll catch them all by then.”
The van came bumping slowly down the alley. Dr. Reynolds was at the wheel, and Doris was in the passenger seat. Before they even came to a stop, I could hear the other “passengers.” The cats didn’t sound any happier than they had the previous night. Doris and Dr. Reynolds climbed out.
“Good morning!” Dr. Reynolds said. “How is everybody doing?”
“We’re good,” I said. “How did the examinations go? Are the cats healthy?”
“Healthy and noisy,” said Dr. Reynolds. “Let’s go in.”
We stepped over the remains of the fence and entered the yard. I checked the ground, looking for tracks, but there were no prints in the snow. If there had been any, they had already been covered by the snow.
“Do you think there’ll be any in the traps?” I asked. We’d left the remaining nine traps baited when we went home the night before.
“We can only hope,” he said.
We didn’t have long to wait. Two more cats were in traps. One of them was Alexander’s Russian Blue, Kot! I wished Alexander were here to see it. He’d be so thrilled to release him later that day.
I’d given my friends a call after I got home the previous evening. Devon’s dad was going to drive them to the place where the cats were going to be released.
“I’m sorry Hunter isn’t one of the cats we caught,” my mother said.
“But still, we have two more cats,” I said.
“Do you think Hunter’s even in the junkyard?” Simon asked.
“I don’t know, but I didn’t see any tracks leading out of here this morning.” I was trying to reassure myself more than I was trying to convince him.
“That could mean he didn’t come back here last night. If I was him, or any of these cats, I’d be trying to find someplace else to live, and fast,” Simon said.
“Not likely,” Dr. Reynolds said. He picked up the cage with Kot in it. Kot hissed angrily at him. “Most animals retreat farther into their dens when they’re threatened. So rather than running away, they retreat and wait it out.”
“So you think he’s still here?” I asked.
“I guess we’ll soon find out. Can you two bring the cats back to the van?” he asked.
“Of course,” I said.
“No problem,” Simon offered.
“You can leave them in their traps rather than transfer them to cages,” he added. “We’ll have enough traps to finish up what we need to do.”
The cats got frightened when we picked them up, and Kot hurled himself against the side of the cage, almost causing me to drop it.
“I wish we could tell them it’s going to be all right,” I said. “That we’re doing this for their own good.”
“If we could do that, we wouldn’t have needed to do any of this,” Simon offered. “The cats could have left on their own.”
“I guess you’re right,” I said.
We opened the back door of the van, triggering an avalanche of howls and cries from the cats inside. Most of them had calmed down overnight, but the drive had some of them upset again.
“Just bringing a couple of your friends,” I said as we placed the two traps in the van and closed the door.
“Look who’s over there!” Simon shouted.
I spun around excitedly, expecting Hunter, but it was Rocky. The big raccoon was waddling down the alley toward us. He looked up and saw us, but he didn’t slow down or change directions.
“Maybe we should get out of the way,” Simon suggested. “I wouldn’t want to, you know, frighten him.”
I laughed. “I’m sure he’s terrified of you!”
Rocky reached the place where the fence had been knocked over. He sat down and picked up a piece of the shattered fence with his front paws. He held it up as if he was examining it. His gaze shot back