Chapter 10
Surla was clipping the points off of her fake nails in Cathy’s bedroom. She decided they were getting in her way. It just wasn’t the same having them as a human. Cathy was reading a paperback book on her bed. Her front paws held the pages down. She was on the most suspenseful part of the story.
The sound of the doorknob turning startled them. Cathy’s mom caught just a glimpse of the book before Cathy shoved it off the bed. She shook her head, like she imagined it, then said, “Cathy, I’m going to walk to the grocery store. Would you like to come?”
Surla turned to Cathy to see no response. “Um, actually, I think I should clean up my room.”
Cat food cans and soda cans were sprawled around the small bedroom. “Okay, I think that’s a good idea.”
“Okay, bye.”
“Bye, honey.” The door shut and Cathy dropped to the floor to finish the last page to the chapter she was reading.
This is the perfect place to watch people, Pussface thought as he sat on a bench to the bus stop outside of Revere Park. He was still searching for any suspicious actions which would lead to finding Surla.
Pretty soon a man with an obvious toupee, carrying a briefcase, sat down next to the cat. He was one of the first people Idis had handed the missing cat fliers to. His eyes glanced to Pussface, then turned once more, staring with interest.
“Hey there,” the man spoke. “Are you lost? What are you doing here? Hoping to get home this way? First you need some money, little guy. I don’t think pets are allowed on board.”
Pussface pondered a moment on how funny it would be if he actually decided to respond. Yeah, maybe if you hide me in your jacket the bus driver won’t notice… or I’m just waiting here to pick up some girls, ones with long sexy whiskers and a fluffy tail that will have me running in circles around her all day… or maybe even if I just said ‘hi’ to the guy he would go crazy; then maybe that carcass, he thinks is hair, will come back to life and will run away. But Pussface decided to be a nice kitty and not behave that way.
A long blue and white bus came and took the man away to his home, but before he left he stated, “If I had the time, I would take you home right now, but I have a job to go to.”
Pussface continued to watch passersby. One with ragged clothes and scraggly hair stopped in front of him. The guy was obviously drunk by his behavior. “H-hey, I know you.”
Whatever you say. Pussface didn’t take the man seriously.
“Yeah, I-I know you. You’re all over the park. Go on home. Be glad you have a home.” With those words, the man hopped the stone wall into the park, which in a way was the strange man’s home.
More people passing by looked at Pussface with curiosity. Haven’t they ever seen a black cat before?
Soon a lady holding a grocery bag spotted Pussface also, but she walked over to him, and with a sudden grasp, he was held in her free arm.
Oh no, not again. I don’t have time to play another tea party. I’m busy trying to find Surla, the cat muttered in his head.
“Surla? Is that your name?” she said. One of Pussface’s ears turned, alert. He wondered how this woman knew that name.
“I guess you are Surla, by the way you responded.” She started walking again. “Your owner has been looking for you. The park is packed with your picture.”
Pussface looked around, seeing the fliers posted on trees and poles. If only I was taller, I would have noticed.
“How about I take you to your home?” She smiled brightly. “But first I’ll feed and clean you.”
A bath! He imagined himself in the sudsy bubbles. I hate baths!
Surla and Cathy heard the front door open and a ruffling of a bag being set down in the kitchen. “Cathy, you’ll never guess what I found!” her mother called.
“Probably not,” Surla said while coming down the hall to meet her.
“Have you seen those fliers about a missing cat?”
“Yeah.” Fear swelled up in her body.
What she found was not what she expected, but was as equally horrifying. Surla silently gasped. What is he doing here? Idis must have something to do with this!
Pussface was cradled in Julie’s arms. “I just saw fliers everywhere on my way to the grocery store. I bet its owner will be happy that I found her cat. It looks like the streets were brutal to the poor fella.”
He always looks that bad, Surla wanted to say.
“What’s wrong, Cathy?”
“I think you should take it back home to its owner right now,” Surla said almost rudely.
“That’s not what you said about Licorice.”
“Well, this cat looks like it could have fleas. You don’t want Licorice to catch them, do you?” Her eyebrows went up in exclamation.
Pussface looked down at his unhealthy fur. Surla was afraid that her homely cousin would see Cathy if he stayed long. That would definitely reveal her identity for Idis.
“That’s why I’m going to give him a flea bath first, then feed him.”
“Well you should do it fast before fleas start getting all over the house.”
“I agree.” She started walking down the hallway toward the bathroom.
Surla ran ahead, entered her room and shut the door before the enemy cat could catch a glimpse of her cat body. Cathy was sitting on the windowsill.
“Cathy,” Surla whispered.
She turned around and saw the seriousness in her blue eyes. “What’s the matter?” Cathy whispered back.
“Idis is very close to finding us. My cousin is with your mom in the bathroom getting a flea bath.” Surla talked faster. “If he sees me, or ‘you’ I should say, then I don’t know what will happen, but it will be bad.”
“What should we do? Should I hide somewhere?” Cathy’s fur stood up on her back.
“Yeah, that’s a good idea. They’ll be leaving to take Pussface back home to Idis soon, because she thinks he is me. For now you can hide in…” She looked over the almost bare, neat room.
“How about the closet?” Cathy said.
“All right.” Surla slid open a door and Cathy walked in positioning herself behind a stack of shoe boxes. “Don’t make any noise.”
Pussface had a feeling he was on the right track. He was in the home of a girl named Cathy, whose name he remembered being said the other day by a girl talking on the phone. That girl had mentioned how much Cathy had changed. Also, Cathy was acting very strange when he just saw her.
Cathy’s mom was stretching some yellow gloves over her hands. She poured in the flea bath and ran warm water. This was the moment Pussface would have to endure. He liked his fleas. They were a part of him. In a way, he enjoyed scratching and feeling dirty. In a moment, that freedom would be gone. In fact, he hadn’t had a bath in such a long time, he forgot how it felt.
“Okay, Surla. Come on.” He was lifted off the toilet. Pussface wriggled around, fighting the hold, but stopped suddenly, knowing from experience, it was not worth the fight. Humans are much stronger than cats. He would just have to face his fear: cleanliness.
“Gosh, with the name Surla, you would think you were a girl, wouldn’t you?” She scrubbed his fur around his neck. Muck, dirt, and dandruff was turning the water brown. It felt as if he had lost some weight. I am actually feeling better, he thought.
“You are really dirty.” She refilled the sink. “You aren’t anything like the cat we found a while ago, except for the black fur.” She had just let the cat out of the bag, figuratively speaking. Now Pussface was almost positive Surla was living in the house.
She probably was in that girl Cathy’s body. His fur was the shiniest he had ever seen it. The nice lady began to dry him off with a towel. If only there was a way I could stay here longer so I could see the cat this lady told me about. Then I would know without a doubt.
“Where are my keys?” Cathy’s mom frantically looked all over the kitchen. What she didn’t know was that Pussface had dragged them onto the floor into the living room, to hav
e more time to finish thinking over his strategy of staying longer.
He sat on the coffee table near the keys. His orange eyes stared at the flier of Surla in thought. Aha! He came to a solution. Grabbing the pen that sat next to it with both paws, he attempted to get the cap off. Finally after chewing it to bits, it came loose. Slowly, he changed the address on the paper from 713 Shadyside Street to 718.