“Good thing Max was there to save him,” said Grandma. “If not for him, he might have died.”
“Thanks for saving my life, Max,” said Dooley, smiling weakly.
“Any time, buddy,” I said. “Just don’t swallow so many pills again, will you? You almost gave me heart failure.”
Vena left to attend to some of her other patients, and Odelia addressed Dooley directly. Since Chase wasn’t here, and it was just family, she could talk freely. “Never do that to me again, all right, little guy? I thought I lost you. You scared the hell out of me.”
“I just thought… if you and Chase have those babies—”
“What babies?”
“The babies you and Chase are having. The reason Gran has moved in with us.”
The humans all stared at one another. This was obviously news to them.
Dooley gave them a sad look. “There won’t be a place for us at your home once those babies arrive, and you’ll be forced to take us to the pound. And we all know what life at the pound is like. Not a place for sissy cats like me and Max. A cat needs to be tough to survive life at the pound. Clarice would thrive, but Max and I? Not so much.” He coughed. “We have to toughen up, Max. And we don’t have a lot of time. Those babies will be arriving any day now, so I figured if I took some vitamin pills now and again by the time they drop us off at the pound I’ll be all butch like Brutus or Clarice.” He frowned. “I guess I took too many at once. Should have started with one, then ten, then take it from there. Plus, I thought they’d boost my love life, like I told you. If we’re going to be on our own from now on I want a girlfriend.”
“Oh, Dooley,” said Odelia, stroking the small cat’s fur. “I would never take you to the pound. And where did you get this idea about the babies?”
“But you and Chase…”
“Chase and I are simply boyfriend and girlfriend.”
“But boyfriends and girlfriends have babies. Everybody knows that.”
“Damn Discovery Channel,” Grandma grunted.
“I promise you there are no babies on the horizon just yet,” said Odelia gently. “And even if there were, nothing will change for you and Max. Your home will always be with me.”
Dooley gave her a look of such hopefulness it almost brought tears to my eyes. “Do you promise?”
“Yes, I promise,” said Odelia. “Babies or no babies, you’ll always be my baby, too.”
“Aww,” said Marge softly, and even Tex’s eyes suddenly grew moist.
“You’re an idiot, you know that?” I told Dooley.
He sighed contentedly. “Yeah, but I’m Odelia’s idiot.”
Just then, Vena walked back in. “And how is our patient?” She checked Dooley and nodded with satisfaction. “His vital signs are fine. He’ll be up and about in no time. I would like to keep him here overnight, though. Just to make sure he makes a complete recovery.”
“I’ll stay, too,” I said quickly. No way was I going to let my friend stay in a creepy place like this. Clinics, whether for humans or for animals, always give me the heebie-jeebies.
“That’s fine, Vena,” said Odelia. “I know he’s in good hands with you.” She patted my head. “And if you don’t mind, we’ll leave Max here, too. He and Dooley are inseparable.”
“Yeah, they’re not your typical cats,” Vena commented. “Most cats are solitary creatures. Not given to fraternizing with their fellow cats. Max and Dooley are different.”
Odelia smiled. “They sure are.”
This was the point when Vena told the Pooles that visiting hours were over and that it was time to let the patient get some healing shut-eye. She didn’t put it in those exact terms, though, but still managed to shoo everyone out, which was a nice change of scene for us. Usually humans shoo cats out, and to see a human shoo other humans out was a lot of fun.
And then it was just me and Dooley.
“You didn’t have to do this, Max,” he said.
“Of course I did. You think I’m going to let you languish at this horror clinic alone?”
He gave me a startled look. “Horror clinic?”
“Sure. Aren’t all clinics horror clinics?”
He conceded my point. “Do you think Vena does all kinds of weird experiments?”
“Wouldn’t surprise me one bit.”
A sudden sense of foreboding stole over me. I was at an animal clinic. A clinic for animals. Who knew what went on here when visiting hours were over? My flesh crept and flashes of a horror movie I’d once seen with Odelia returned to me. It was about a man who liked to experiment on the dead. Re-Animator, the movie was called, and scenes from the movie still creeped me out to this day. Particularly one disturbing scene where the doctor in charge of the proceedings reanimates a dead cat by injecting it with reanimator reagent.
Just then, Vena entered the room, and carefully closed the door behind her until it clicked into its lock. She was holding a huge syringe in her hand, and a strange and oddly disturbing expression on her face. Then she held up the syringe and pushed on the plunger, squirting some clear liquid from the needle. As she approached, she grinned ominously, syringe poised over her head, and then she grabbed for me. “Who’s a good kitty-kitty?”
Both Dooley and I screamed, memories of Re-Animator returning in full force.
Barbara Crampton might be the scream queen, but we are definitely scream cats!
Chapter 30
Odelia arrived at the police station just in time to see her uncle walk out with Tracy Sting on his arm. For a moment she thought she was seeing things. But then her uncle escorted Miss Sting to his pickup and gallantly opened the door for her and helped her in.
“Uncle? What’s going on?”
Alec looked up, and so did Miss Sting. “Oh, hey, Odelia. May I introduce you to Tracy. Tracy, this is my niece Odelia.”
“Hi, Odelia,” said Tracy, getting out of the car again. “I’ve heard so much about you.”
Odelia had trouble keeping her jaw reeled in. “But I thought—weren’t you—didn’t they—”
Alec smiled. “Oh, that was just a misunderstanding. All cleared up now I’m happy to say.”
Odelia automatically shook Miss Sting—Tracy’s—hand. “But… Burt Goldsmith…”
“Another little misunderstanding,” Tracy said. “I explained all that to Alec.”
“And once I explained it to Chase, he understood,” said Uncle Alec.
“Understood what?”
“That I would never harm a hair on Burt’s head,” said Tracy. “After all those years on the road, staying in hotel rooms and traveling the country, Burt and I had become thick as thieves.”
“Thick as thieves,” Alec stressed.
“So you see, Miss Poole—”
“Odelia,” Alec offered.
“Odelia, I would never hurt Burt. And I do hope you catch whoever is responsible.”
“Oh, we’ll catch the bastard,” Alec assured her. “Just you wait and see.”
Tracy placed a hand on his ruddy cheek. “I know you will, you handsome chief.”
Odelia had heard her uncle be called many names but never this. And seeing him all loved up like this frankly astounded her. Furthermore, she wasn’t as confident as he seemed to be that Tracy Sting wasn’t the person they were looking for. She certainly was one tough baby, as far as she could determine. “Do you… have plans?” she asked, gesturing at the car.
Alec smiled at Tracy. “We’re going out. Dinner and a movie. Isn’t that right?”
“Something romantic,” said Tracy. “The Rock has a new movie. Some Die Hard clone.”
“I love Die Hard,” said Alec. “One of my all-time favorite movies.”
“Me too!” Tracy cried. “Another thing we have in common.”
“Very romantic,” Odelia agreed. She’d never seen her uncle look like a lovesick puppy before, and she decided that was just what he looked like right now. Well, maybe not a puppy. More a lovesick bulldog. “Just be careful, will you?” she said, not hiding her worry.