Free Claws! by R. L. Stine

carrier.
    Taking her back to Cat Heaven was hard enough.
    I knew that Lou and the other store clerks were really angry. I expected them to give me a hard time.
    I was ready to face them. I had broken the law. I stole the cat. I deserved to be in trouble.
    I just hoped they wouldn’t call the police.
    The bus ride took forever. I sat in the backseat with the cat carrier on my lap. Bella didn’t raise her head. The carrier seemed to grow heavier and heavier.
    The bus driver got into a yelling fight with the driver of a red SUV. He stopped the bus and jumped out to scream at her.
    I just wanted to get this afternoon over with. Horns honked. People shouted. Finally, the driver climbed back into his seat, and the bus started up again.
    By the time I reached Cat Heaven, the sun had almost set. My heart started to pound as I crossed the parking lot.
    A man in denim work overalls came out of the store dragging an enormous red bag of kitty litter. He heaved it onto the back of his pickup truck.
    He turned to me. “What’ve you got in there, son? A cat?”
    I raised the carrier. “Yeah. I’m returning it,” I said.
    He climbed into the front of his truck. I was glad he didn’t want to see the cat or ask me any more questions.
    I stepped up to the entrance. A sign by the door read: 2 FOR 1 SALE . Did that mean two cats for the price of one?
    The glass doors slid open. I took a deep breath and stepped into the store.
    The lemony smell of air freshener and cat litter greeted me.
    I heard a cat yowl. Then a few more cats joined in.
    Standing at the entrance, it took me a little while to realize what was happening.
    Then I gasped as the cats started to go
nuts.
    The whole store came alive at once. Hundreds and hundreds of cats began to scream and yowl and cry. The sound rose up in front of me, a wall of wails and angry screeches.
    I stared at the cages in the first row. Screaming cats threw themselves at their cage bars. They clawed the sides and tops of their cages. They climbed the cage walls. They flung themselves at the doors, trying to break out.
    I staggered back against the wall.
    I had to set the cat carrier down and cover my ears against the deafening wails and cries.
    Did I cause this?
I asked myself.
    Is this cat riot my fault?
    I didn’t have time to think about it.
    Lou and the two gray-uniformed store clerks came running down the aisle. Their faces were red. They were pointing at me angrily.
    Cats yowled and howled and flung themselves at their cages, wild-eyed, drooling.
    I froze in fear and total confusion.
    Lou grabbed me by the shoulder. “I’ve got you!” he screamed over the racket.
    He shoved the cat carrier into my hands—and dragged me out the front door.

30
    The glass doors slid shut behind us. I could still hear the cats carrying on in the store.
    Lou and the two other men formed a tight circle around me. Their faces were grim and angry. Lou had his eyes on the cat carrier in my hands.
    I raised it to him. “I—I brought her back,” I stammered in a tiny, frightened voice. “I—I’m so sorry I stole her.”
    I tried to push the carrier into his hands.
    But to my surprise he shoved it back at me.
    “That’s why we’ve been chasing after you,” he said. “That’s why we’ve been trying to catch you. I had to tell you—
you can’t bring the cat back.”
    “Huh?” A gasp escaped my throat. I still had the cat carrier held high in front of me. “What did you just say?”
    “You can’t bring her back,” Lou said. “Get away from here. And take that cat with you.”
    “You can’t bring that dead cat back here,” one of the other clerks said.
    Dead cat?
    “Don’t come anywhere near here with her,” Lou said. “Go away. Now. I’m warning you.”
    “But—but —” I sputtered.
    The three men held tense fists at their sides and glared at me.
    “Go,” Lou muttered through gritted teeth.
    My head was spinning. The clerk’s words kept swimming through my mind.
    “You can’t bring