Spy Cat Read Online Free

and tell Mom and Dad about the box. They could call the police and let them come and get the box.
    He stopped as a new idea occurred to him. Maybe the box was filled with illegal drugs. The people in the truck are drug dealers and this is how they distribute the drugs. Probably another car would drive up soon and take the box away. If so, Benjie needed to stay in his spy place and watch so he could give the police a description of the car and the people who picked up the box.
    He crawled back in the huckleberry bushes and waited. He opened his backpack and removed the notebook and pencil. Although Benjie knew how to read, he didn’t write very well yet, so he couldn’t write down a description of the truck; he would have to remember what it looked like.
    He knew his numbers, though, and he knew the alphabet. If a car stopped near the box, Benjie would get the license number and print it in his notebook.
    Even without the number he could give the police a good description of the truck. While he waited for another car to come he practiced what he would say.
    He focused the binoculars on the box again.
    The top of the box moved! Benjie leaned forward.
    The box moved again. One of the top flaps, which was tucked inside the other flap, kept going up and down as if something alive was inside the box trying to get out.
    Benjie crept out of the bushes. He looked in all directions and saw no vehicles. He ran to the box and crouched beside it.
    “Mrow.”
    The sound was so soft that it took a second for Benjie to realize what he had heard.
    “Mrow.” A tiny paw poked up in the space where the edges of the flaps were folded together.
    Benjie opened the box and looked inside.
    A small black-and-tan-striped kitten clambered up the side of the box and toppled into the street. Benjie scooped the kitten up and held it close. “It’s okay, kitty,” he whispered. “You’re safe now.”
    Outrage flooded through Benjie. Those people had deliberately shut the kitten in a box and left the box in the street. What if a car had come along and run over the box? What if Benjie hadn’t seen the box? A big dog might have smelled it and gotten the box open and killed the kitten. Ifno one had seen the box, the kitten could have starved to death!
    He held the kitten close and ran for home, carrying the empty box in his other hand.
    *   *   *
    As soon as Alex finished Pete’s outing, he called Rocky. “Did the sheriff learn anything?” he asked. “Did the new neighbors see who was at your house?”
    “No. The new people weren’t home when it happened. The sheriff thinks the burglar drove up our driveway, loaded our stuff out, and was gone in less than ten minutes.”
    In his mind, Alex saw Rocky’s driveway, which curved around to the back side of the house. A car or truck parked at the end next to the kitchen door wouldn’t be visible from the street.
    All of the houses in Valley View Estates were on large lots, most of them wooded. People here liked their privacy, but the secluded homes made things easier for burglars.
    “We heard on the news that another house in Hilltop got burglarized in the night and the thief knocked out the man who lived there.”
    “I know,” Rocky said. “The sheriff told us about it.”
    “Do you want to sleep over at my house tonight?” Alex asked. “Mom and Dad said you can come anytime and eat dinner with us.”
    “Hold on a minute. I’ll ask.” A few seconds later, Rockysaid, “I’ll be there in a little while, but I have to come home early in the morning. We’re going skiing in the mountains tomorrow.”
    “Bring your sleeping bag; it’s my turn to have the bed.”
    Rocky and Alex often spent the night together, and since both boys had only a single bed, they took turns sleeping on the floor.
    Half an hour later, they were shooting baskets in Alex’s driveway when Benjie dashed toward the house.
    “I found a kitten,” he yelled. “A truck came and I spied on it and the people put a