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Without stopping to think myself, or giving him time to, I pick him up.

Susan arches up and spits.

I can feel the muscles in his body tense up as he gets ready to spring out of my lap.

Then he changes his mind and decides to take advantage of the lap.

He narrows his eyes and gives Susan a bored look and turns his head to take me in.

After he's sized me up, he pretends he only turned around to lick his back.

"Cat," I say to him, "how about coming home with me?"

"Hah!" Kate laughs.

"Your pop will throw him out faster than you can say 'good old Jeff.'"

"Yeah-h?" I say it slowly and do some thinking.

Taking Cat home had been just a passing thought, but right now I decide I'll really go to the mat with Pop about this.

He can have his memories of good old Jeff and rabbit hunts, but I'm going to have me a tiger.

Aunt Kate gives me a can of cat food and a box of litter, so Cat can stay in my room, because I remember Mom probably gets asthma from animals, too. Cat and I go home.

Pop does a lot of shouting and sputtering when we get home, but I just put Cat down in my room, and I try not to argue with him, so I won't lose my temper.

I promise I'll keep him in my room and sweep up the cat hairs so Mom won't have to.

As a final blast Pop says, "I suppose you'll get your exercise mouse hunting now. What are you going to name the noble animal?"

"Look, Pop," I explain, "I know he's a cat, he knows he's a cat, and his name is Cat. And even if you call him Honorable John Fitzgerald Kennedy, he won't come when you call, and he won't lick your hand, see?"

"He'd better not! And it's not my hand that's going to get licked around here in a minute," Pop snaps.

"All right, all right."

Actually, my pop sometimes jaws so long it'd be a relief if he did haul off and hit me, but he never does.

We call it a draw for that day, and I have Cat.

Cat makes himself at home in my room pretty easily.

Mostly he likes to be up on top of something, so I put an old sweater on the bureau beside my bed, and he sleeps up there.

Ch2. Cat and the Underworld

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