Free Patricia Fry - Klepto Cat 05 - The Colony Cat Caper by Patricia Fry Page B

straining to see out the backseat window. “Where are they?”
    “What?” Michael asked.
    “The homeless cats.”
    “Inside the fence, under that big building.”
    The trio walked through the open gate and toward the crawl space.
    “There’s a cat,” Adam said. He stopped and looked up at Michael. “Hey, where’ s he going?”
    “Into his den to be with his friends,” Michael said.
    “There are more cats under there?” he asked, leaning down to look into the crawl space.
    “There are about a dozen,” Savannah said.
    Adam was quiet for a minute and then he said, “That’s twelve.”
    “Yup.”
    “Wow. That’s a lot. Did you bring enough food?”
    “Hope so,” Michael said, unfolding three chairs and setting them up a distance from the building.
    Adam knelt down and peered into the crawl space again. “I see some cats. I see their eyes.”
    Michael walked over, squatted next to him, and said, “Son, these cats are what you call feral.”
    “Oh, like some of those at Aunt Maggie’s and Uncle Max’s.”
    “That’s right, and they’re afraid of people. Some of them are more frightened than others.” He loo ked Adam in the eye and said, “I sorta thought maybe you could make friends with one or two of them today. People your size have a way with animals that sometimes big people don’t.”
    “You mean kids?” Adam said.
    “Yeah, kids. Even frightened animals will sometimes relate to kids. Now, I don’t want you to try picking any of them up, but you might entice one of the younger ones to play.” Michael pulled something out of his back pocket. “I brought this roll of yellow cord for you to drag around. If you walk and wiggle it behind you, some of the cats might come out and play. Want to try it?”
    “Okay.” He looked around. “Then can we go exploring?”
    Michael glanced over at Savannah, who was sitting in one of the chairs watching him and his son. He winked at her and then said to Adam, “Yeah, we can go exploring. Sounds like fun.” He squeezed the boy’s shoulder. “But first work—okay?”
    Adam took on a serious look. “Okay, work.”
    “Do you want to drag that hose over here and fill these water bowls?”
    “Yeah. I can do that !” Adam said as he ran toward the spigot. After a few moments he called out, “I can’t turn it on. It’s too hard.”
    “Dang, been meaning to fix that,” Michael said. “Where are those pliers, Savannah?”
    “In Auntie’s car, I’m afraid. But there might be some in my car. Go look in the trunk.”
    Michael stood and thought for a moment, ran his hand through his hair and then said, “Heck, maybe I can turn it.” He took his usual long strides over to where Adam stood at the spigot, got a good grip on the handle, and str ained to turn it. Finally it loosened just enough to release a slow steady stream of water.
    “What are those cages under the building for?” Adam asked as he held the hose and allowed water to trickle into the cats’ water bowls.
    “They’re traps.” When Michael saw Adam’s scowl, he added, “Not harmful traps—just cage traps. We want to catch the cats and examine them to make sure they’re not sick.”
    Adam leaned over as far as he could and peered under the building again. “I don’t think you caught anything, Dad. ”
    “Well, let’s see,” he said. Kneeling, he reached in with Margaret’s cane and pulled one of the humane traps out. “You’re right. Nothing in this one.” He grabbed the other one and pulled it out. “This one’s empty, too.” He leaned back on his heels and sc ratched his head. He then examined the traps more closely. “Savannah,” he said, “these traps were sprung.”
    “Well, yeah, I can see that—and still no cats inside.”
    He furrowed his brow. “So did someone spring the traps before the cats got inside, or did they let the cats out?”
    “Why would someone let them out?” she asked.
    “Oh, people do all kinds of odd things, Savannah. Who knows?”