Cassie Cat Chat: Cat Detective Installment #3: Taking Paws for Reflections

 Cassie Cat Chat: Paws for Reflection

Written by Debbie Ross, Blogger

Cassie taking a "paws" for reflection

It was 12 o'clock on a Friday and I had just completed my rounds of the hood.  Everything appeared to be calm although, on my beat, one can never be 100% certain.  The hall, stairway and foyer seemed secure enough so I made a quick stop at the Cat Cantina for a bite of lunch before making my way to the bedroom for a well deserved catnap on the window perch. As I jumped on the dresser and traversed my way across the top to the window I saw that my partner, Garden, was already napping on the bed. Hoping for a few minutes peace, before starting afternoon rounds, I closed my eyes resting my head on my paws. 

That's when I heard Garden hissing at me in low tones, "It's happened again!"

Keeping my eyes closed tightly I replied, "What's happened, again?"

Garden whispered back, "THEM, that's what. I've got them cornered again. But, I may need backup." 

Sighing inwardly, I lifted my head and opened my eyes to look at Garden. She was hunkered down on the bed, eyes gleaming, staring at the nightstand next to Love and Softie's bed. 

"What are you talking about?" I said wearily. Garden had improved, in recent months, with working on Cat Detective skills but had started to go a bit overboard the past few days with tails of her heroic efforts to catch everything coming and going in the house. 

"The perps I caught last night that got away!" Hissed Garden. "I've got them cornered in the nightstand drawer. I'm on a stakeout."

I couldn't help smirking as I looked toward Garden. This was truly getting ridiculous and I said as much to her. "If you're talking about the three facemasks you left lined up outside the bedroom door this morning, I saw Love put them in the drawer a couple hours ago. And for the last time those things aren't "perps" they're facemasks!"

Garden sighed and settled down on the bed in her relaxed position once more. "Love doesn't know what she's doing you know. Those things are dangerous! I've seen them wrapped around Love and Softie's faces more than once you know. Good thing I'm keeping my eagle eye out for them. If Love and Softie get in trouble with them I'll be there and those perps are going down!!"

"Yeah, like the flameless candle you took down in the hallway last week," I mumbled under my breath but Garden hadn't heard me and was sound asleep, her tail curled around her body. 

Sleep seemed to elude me so I decided to do a little thinking about a problem we were having on the Cat Detective Force. We had recently lost one of our best stoolies and I wasn't sure how we were going to get the info we relied on. And the worse part is that it was all the fault of Love and Softie. You know I love my humans but, sometimes, being a Cat Detective in this house can be a real trial. I try not to get my fur in a tangle over these things but, well, sometimes I can't help it. 

It was a few weeks ago right before Love went on her trip. Melvin the Mouse, the stoolie I was telling you about, had just come upstairs to report on some findings when Love decided to get out of bed and come down the hallway. Melvin always reported to us at night when the humans were sleeping and he wouldn't be discovered. But, well, that night was different. Anyway, there we were all together in the hallway with Love staring in horror at us. Garden suddenly decided to take matters in her own paws and go all "Rambo Cat Cop" and pretended to attack and catch Melvin between her teeth and then paraded around the living room and kitchen with Love in hot pursuit yelling, "Put it down, put it down!" Then, when Garden did "put it down" poor Melvin, who's nerves are bad on a good day, went racing down the steps and proceeded to hide out under the walking machine. From there things went from bad to worse. Honestly, I shake my head when I think about it, but poor Melvin's troubles had only just begun. I tried to calm Love down by rubbing her ankles and letting her pet me while hissing at Garden to check things out downstairs. Love began to feel better and decided to lay down again and I thought all was well. Garden proceeded to do one of her infamous "stake outs" she's always telling me about and rather than letting Melvin get out of the situation he stayed under the walking machine all. night. long!

Well, the next morning Softie discovered Garden, still on the stake out, and decided to take matters into his own paws, errr hands, and went to get the shop vac. Yep, you guessed it! Softie vacuumed poor Melvin the Stoolie Mouse into the shop vac and then took him outside to let him go. I got to the bedroom window perch just in time to see poor Melvin staggering out of the vacuum drum and down the hillside. 

Later, after Softie took Love to see her litter mates in West Virginia, Melvin made his way to the back door and talked to me from the outside. "I'm done, this is it, no more for me!" I could see Melvin's whiskers trembling as he talked and his beady eyes darted from left to right. "Take it easy Melvin, you just ran into some bad luck, that's all." I tried to speak in a soothing manner to calm him down but it was no use. "Bad luck?! Bad luck you say?! Those humans you live with are crazy I tell ya! And so is your partner. By the way, her teeth are extremely sharp. And as for that guy you call Softie......Softie my foot. That guy sucked me up in a vacuum cleaner. I get no respect. I've got a wife and six kids back at the nest I tell ya. I gotta be around for them. This is it for me!" I could see that Melvin meant what he said and so the only thing I could do was wish him well and thank him for the info he had fed us over the months. What else could I do? Plus, I have to admit it kind of raised my fur him saying that my humans were crazy and all. After all, they are MY humans and I love them. Even if they do act crazy sometimes. But, here we were, without an informant and sometimes we needed an extra set of eyes and ears downstairs. 

I sighed and put my head back on my paws. Such is the life of a Cat Detective. I have a partner who stakes out nightstands and walking machines and humans who suck up mice in shop vacs and visit litter mates far, far away. Gotta love my job I purred and, finally, gave myself over to a well deserved cat nap. 

The End

Garden on a stakeout

*Story and photos property of Debbie Styles Life