Max's Story by W. Bruce Cameron

Author:W. Bruce Cameron
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tom Doherty Associates

10

The next morning Jillian and CJ both left again. I immediately went to the kitchen and pawed at the food cupboard, but this time there was a new plastic contraption on the handle and the door didn’t open no matter what I did.

Sneakers didn’t come to help, either. She had settled in along the back of the couch for a snooze, so I couldn’t even curl up next to her and feel her warmth.

Restlessly, I wandered around the apartment. There was a closet near the front door, where Jillian kept her shoes and a few umbrellas. She’d opened it that morning long enough to grab her purse, and it hadn’t shut all the way before she left.

I nosed it open. There was stuff inside that I hadn’t smelled before, and this seemed as good a time as any.

I investigated Jillian’s boots and shoes thoroughly. Then I looked up.

Jillian’s coat was hanging from a hook. I stood on my back legs to smell it properly. It smelled like the street—of car exhaust and dirt and grime and food and people, lots and lots of people, all in a hurry, all with somewhere to go. I loved that smell. I wished I were out in the street right now, with CJ, instead of stuck in here with a cat who just wanted to sleep the day away.

I took the hem of the coat in my mouth. I gave it an experimental tug.

It must not have been on the hook very securely, because it came down on my head with a flop that startled me. I remembered how to get out from under something like that, however, and backed away until I was free.

The coat had a wonderful collar made of soft gray fur. It smelled interesting—better than interesting. Fascinating. It was an animal type of smell, an animal that I hadn’t ever met. But something deep inside me recognized it. It was something that I needed to chase and catch.

I gripped the fur as tightly as I could with my teeth. I shook my head a little, wrestling with it. It felt good. I braced my feet and began to drag the coat with me across the floor.

The door banged open.

“Max, no!” CJ wailed. I dropped the coat and ran to her, wagging. She was back! She’d hardly been gone any time at all, and now she was back!

Sneakers perked up and leaped off the couch, making a beeline for the door, but CJ kicked it shut before the cat could get there and dropped to her knees to snatch the coat away from me.

I thought that was unfair. I wasn’t done playing with it! Still, I didn’t intend to complain, not now that my girl was here. She stuffed the coat back in the closet, shut the door securely, grabbed both me and my leash, and hustled me out the door, pushing Sneakers back inside with her foot as we made it out into the hallway.

That should let Sneakers know who was the more important pet, I thought in triumph.

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