Read Online The Great Cat Caper by Lauraine Snelling - Free Book Online Page B

told her about the door.
    “You’re imagining things,” Esther said, going to her cat’s cage and checking the door. “Mine’s okay. Why would yours be special?”
    Because the curious kitten was special?
    After the other girls came, they sang silly songs to the cats. Puzzling over another strange occurrence, Vee trotted home and endured another session with Math Man.
    On Thursday, she checked her e-mail before breakfast. Nothing from
Everything Animal
, and the days were melting away to the retest. At the senior center, Frank said they could take the sheets off, and they did. Momma Cat blinked. The two adult cats hissed and stayed in the farthest corner of their traps. Curious kitten and his brother sat side by side, twitching their tails in unison. The girls called it a great start. Vee wasn’t so sure. Aneta’s Gram and The Fam arrived on the brightly colored scooters they drove, placed a girl behind each driver, and headed to The Sweet Stuff. That night, Vee dreamed of the curious kitten swatting numbers as she held him.

    Friday finally came. Operation Catness would escalate—picking up the cats and removing them from their cages.
    Sunny bounded in. “I did some research online. Since Momma Cat used to be someone’s cat, if she had a good experience with people, she might be faster turning back into a pet. Yayness!” She looked at the girls. Aneta’s eyebrows shot up, and she clapped her hands.
    “How do you know she was a pet?” Esther was skeptical.
    “One of the ladies at the senior center thinks she remembers a family that moved from her street owning a cat like Momma Cat. We figure they left her behind. Ugh.”
    Nadine and Frank entered the room, arm in arm. Vee hoped the curious kitten would leap into her arms and start to purr. She grinned. She could hope, couldn’t she?
    Cocking her head, Nadine glanced over at Sunny, who was pulling something over her hands. She began to laugh. “Sunny, you nut. You’re prepared. But, slowly, Sunny. Very slowly.”
    Vee frowned. What was Sunny doing? Those things on her hands looked like … oven mitts?
    Sunny spun around, holding up her pumpkin-decorated oven mitts. “Yes! My mom got a pair for each of us at the dollar store.”
    On the table were three more pairs of oven mitts. Each girl took a set. Aneta slipped them on, holding them up like mittens. “Maybe I will try my cat today, too!”
    Sunny began to dance around the chairs then, with a quick glance at the traps, made a
yikes
face and settled in the nearest chair.
    “I want to go first,” Vee said. “The curious kitten has been looking at me since we took the sheets off. Okay?”
    “Sure,” everyone chorused.
    “Here goes.” Vee approached her curious kitten and brother’s cage. Very slowly and quietly. So far so good. No hissing. Sunny slid up the door, and Vee slid her mitted hands in. The brother skittered to the back, but the curious kitten remained on the blanket in the middle of the trap. He blinked at Vee. Vee blinked at him.
    “Okay, kitten,” she said. “I’m going to put these mitts on you and take you out.”
    Sunny giggled. Vee twitched.
    Making a “sorry” face, Sunny whispered, “It just sounded funny to say ‘put my mitts on you.’”
    Now the mitts were on either side of the kitten. The brother kitten growled. The curious kitten’s tail puffed up, and he darted backward, out of the mitts. Frank told Vee to back out. Crushed, she did as she was told. Sunny slid the door shut.
    “Tomorrow,” Frank said. “You can try again tomorrow. Esther, go ahead.”
    Esther approached her trap cage with her oven mitts in place. Sunny slid up the door. A growl that sounded more like a monster than a cat leaped out of the trap. Esther’s face fell, and she jumped backward. The gray-striped cat inside opened his mouth as wide as it would go and displayed every tooth in his head. The gurgling grunt increased in volume. The cat’s eyes were wide with the pupils narrowed to slits,