Read Online The Cat's Job by Steve Miller, Sharon Lee and Steve Miller - Free Book Online

the co-pilots chair in Steve's sudden new office,
and Nick became king of the roost. This state of affairs lasted for
some years, with the sudden and unexpected addition of young Max
Hamish, later known mostly as Max!, who came to the Cat Farm
because he had defended himself from a young girl who insisted he
was a doll and treated him as a lifeless lump. He'd been huddled in
an high level cage at the local shelter, with a note that said
"does not like to be handled" … but when Sharon, using some of her
friend-of-the-cat-shelter-fu opened the door he immediately draped
himself round her neck on her shoulders, an act he later also
displayed to a visiting Tom Easton. So much for cat shelter
Max!
    White with black ears and a
magnificent tail when he arrived, Max! aged gracefully into a
cafe-au-lait wonder, despite his odd hearing. Max! and Kodi hit it
off quite well – attraction of the opposites – and that helped
later on when Kodi's "textbook" macular degeneration took her
sight. The house adjusted to Kodi's state by leaving most things
where they were and by creating designated box zones – places Kodi
avoided because things changed and she might run into them
there.
    Eventually, Nicky slowed and slowed
more and more, until he'd about recall that he was eating and
sometimes fell asleep at the task. He crossed the bridge, as did
Patia and Kodi.
    Along the way, though, had come our
first Maine Coon cat, Mozart. Mozart's old position – he'd been
first cat at a house on the southern coast – had been eliminated
when his mistress brought in something called a "husband." He came
to the Cat Farm via air-taxi to New Hampshire, and then a ride to
Maine in the Blazer. Patia ruled the roost... but for some reason,
as defensive as she'd been about her food with all the other cats,
Mozart could tuck in beside her and eat from her plate while she
was eating. Mozart's first days in the Cat Farm were noticeable
because he disappeared into the basement's drop ceiling, coming out
only at night, and for the absolute fear he showed of Steve's feet
when Steve had boots on.
    As time went on and local stores went
in and out of business, The Animal House opened in town, and began
to feature visiting catstaff from the local shelter. Artie at
Animal House tended to an open cage policy, and young Scrabble, a
streetwise veteran at an estimated age of 14 months, came to be a
counter-top regular, comfortably sleeping next to the cash
register... and taking note of Steve each time he came in, daintily
stretching and bowing. Artie swore that it was only Steve she did
this for, and a visit by Sharon seemed to confirm this, so
eventually Scrabble came to the Cat Farm to takeover a vacancy in
Steve's co-piloting chair.
    And that is the kind of place Hexapuma
came to, a house where window seats were put in for the cats, where
accommodations were made for Kodi's blindness and for the declining
jumping ability of Patia and Nick, where cat sitters meet and greet
before they take on the responsibility, where it took clear
clinical evidence that, for whatever reason, young Dulsey was not
thriving here before we decided to return her to the disposition of
the home cattery...where she apparently found a place more suitable
to her constitution.
    Hexapuma's move to East Winslow came
together at the end of an AlbaCon. Driving a few miles west of the
consite on a Monday, to the Neptune Diner in Oneonta, NY, where the
Blueblazemobile arrived at breakfast time, the Cat Farm contingent
met and admired him for the first time. At that point his right eye
still tended to be over-dry and his ears needed daily drops and
frequent cleaning as a result of his surgery. Once the change of
cat carriers was made, Hex sat alertly behind the pilot and
co-pilot in the Forester, and after awhile allowed the miles of
interstate driving to lull him to sleep. On arrival at the Cat Farm
he was shown the facilities … and settled right in, despite the
early dismay of Scrabble and Mozart,