The Cat Who Came in Off the Roof Read Online Free Page A

immediately and together they screeched at the top of their voices. They kept going until someone opened a nearby attic window and hurled a large empty bottle at them. It hit the roof between them and smashed to pieces, driving them apart.
    “All in the game!” the Tatter Cat cried cheerfully. “You know what? It’s only temporary! You’ll get over it. Someone who sings as well as you do,
stays
cat. Feel your upper lip. You sure you don’t have any whiskers?”
    Minou felt her lip. “No,” she said.
    “And your tail? How’s that?”
    “Gone completely.”
    “Do you feel sometimes to see if it’s growing back?”
    “Of course. But there’s no sign of it. Not even a tiny little bump.”
    “Have you got a house?” the Tatter Cat asked.
    “I thought I did for a while… but I think it’s off.”
    “With the young guy from the paper?”
    “Yes,” said Minou. “I’m still kind of hoping he’ll call me. I left my case over there behind a chimney, in the gutter.”
    “You’re much better off on the streets,” the Tatter Cat said. “The life of a stray. Come with me. I’ll introduce you to tons of my kids. Most of ’em have really made something of themselves. One of my sons is the canteen cat in the factory. And one of my daughters is the Council Cat. She lives in the Town Hall. And then there’s…”
    “Shhh… be quiet for a sec,” Minou said.
    They stopped talking. From across the roofs they heard a voice, “Puss, puss, puss… Mi-nou, Mi-nou, Mi-nou-nou-nou-nou.”
    “There you have it,” Minou said. “He’s calling me.”
    “Stay here,” the Tatter Cat hissed. “Don’t go to him. Don’t give up your freedom. Next thing he’ll be taking you to the vet in a basket… for a jab!”
    Minou hesitated. “I think I’ll go anyway,” she said.
    “You’re mad,” the Tatter Cat said. “Come with me. I know an old caravan at the back of a yard… that’ll be a roof over your head. You can take things easy while you turn back into a cat.”
    “Puss, puss, puss… Mi-nou!”
    “I’m going,” Minou said.
    “No, stay here! Use your brain. If you have a litter, they’ll drown your kittens.”
    “Puss, puss… Miss Minou!” the voice called.
    “I’ll come and visit,” Minou said. “Here on the roof. Bye.”
    She jumped down to a lower level, nimbly climbed a sloping, tiled roof and lowered herself down on the other side. Then she crawled along the gutter on all fours, grabbed her case, stood up and stepped over in front of the kitchen window.
    “Here I am,” she said.
    “Come in,” said Tibble.

4
The Cat Press Agency
    “S it down, Tibble,” the Editor said.
    Tibble sat down. It had been exactly one week since he had last sat on this chair, blinking in the light. It had been a very unpleasant conversation, but things were different now.
    “I don’t know what’s got into you, Tibble,” his boss said. “But you’ve changed a lot. Last week I almost kicked you out, you know that? I was going to fire you, I’d made up my mind. I guess it was pretty clear. Then I said I’d give you one last chance. And lo and behold! In this one week you’ve come up with all kinds of interesting news. You were the first to know about Mr Smith and his anniversary. And you were the first to know about the new swimming pool. That was
secret
. But you
still
found out about it… I can’t help but wonder, how did you find out about that?”
    “Well…” Tibble said. “I talked to some people here and there.”
    “Some people here and there” was just Minou. And Minou had heard it from the Council Cat, who always sat in on the closed council meetings at the Town Hall.
    “And that article about the hoard they found next to the church,” his boss said. “A pot full of old coins buried in the churchyard! You didn’t waste any time with that one either. You were the first on the scene yet again.”
    Tibble smiled modestly. One of the Tatter Cat’s daughters had provided that bit of news.