It was a solid argument for why no actual cat could be involved. Though I have to say my interest was piqued. Mostly because this cat burglar was giving cats a bad name, and if this kept up, pretty soon everyone would start to look at us the way this manager was looking at us: with accusation written all over his features.
“Let’s catch this cat burglar,” I therefore suggested. “Before we get kicked out of this hotel and Odelia and Chase are forced to look for a different place to stay.”
“If this cat burglar crawls all over the roof at night, we’ll also have to crawl all over the roof at night to catch him,” my friend said in an excellent bit of logic.
“So be it,” I said, though I have to admit I’ve never been one of those cats who like to crawl all over roofs, or walls, or ledges, or any of those scary places that are way up high. Then again, sometimes a cat has to do what a cat has to do. And clearly our reputation as a species was on theline here.
“Don’t you worry about at thing, Mr…” Odelia said.
“Sheffield,” said the manager. “Barnabas Sheffield.”
“We’ll catch this cat burglar for you.”
The little man’s face lit up like a Christmas tree. “Oh, you will? But that is just wonderful! That ismagnifique!”
“And we don’t even need that reward,” Odelia added magnanimously.
“Though if you insist, we’ll take it,” Chase countered, with a keen eye on his wife. An eye that said: that nursery wasn’t cheap, babe. Nor is having a baby.
He was right. I once read that raising a kid costs as much as buying a house. And considering the prices houses go for these days, that’s saying something!
Just then, I thought I saw another cat—an actual cat, not a cat burglar.
She was a smallish specimen, very black and very lithe as she slipped from behind the counter, took one look at the both of us, then disappeared as quickly as she had popped out.
“Did you see that, Dooley?” I said.
“See what?” asked my friend.
“I think I just saw a cat.”
“You found him already! The cat burglar!”
“No, this was an actual cat.”
“Did she have a diamond diadem on her head?”
“No diamond diadem.”
“Any other jewelry? Rings, necklaces, bracelets…”
“No, nothing of the kind.”
“Then maybe it was an actual cat,” he allowed. “Which isn’t as unusual as it sounds, Max. I’ll bet they have cats in Paris, too.”
“I know they have cats in Paris, Dooley. It probably was Marion.”
“Mar-who?”
“Marion. The hotel manager’s cat. He mentioned her just now.”
“Too bad. I thought you’d already caught that burglar.”
“Don’t you worry, Dooley. We’re going to catch him. And then that ten thousand Euros is ours. Odelia and Chase obviously need that money, and the hotel needs to get rid of this pest.”
“Odelia and Chase need money?” asked Dooley, a note of surprise in his voice. “You mean they’re poor?”
“Not poor, exactly, but they just had a baby, and babies cost an arm and a leg.”
“An arm and a leg!”
“Figuratively speaking, of course.”
CHAPTER 3
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All administrative stuff dispensed with, we took the elevator to the eighth floor, where our room was presumably located, and Odelia and Chase discussed the mysterious presence of the cat burglar at the hotel.
“Maybe we should close the window at night and not leave it open for the cats, babe,” Chase was saying.
“For the cat burglar, you mean?” When Chase nodded ominously, she smiled. “You heard the guy—that burglar is only interested in diamonds and gold. He’s not going to be interested in us since we’ve got nothing that’s worth stealing.”
Chase scratched his scalp.“No, I guess you’re probably right.”
“Unless he wants to steal us, Odelia!” Dooley practically shouted.
“Cat burglars don’t steal cats, Dooley,” Odelia assured him.
“Are you sure?”
“Yes, pretty sure,” she said with a smile.
But then the elevator gently shuddered to a stop and we all got out. That is to say: Odelia and Chase got out, while Dooley and I remained where we were: ensconced in our temporary plastic homes!
Lucky for us, the moment we arrived in the room, Odelia released the catch on the metal grilles and we soon emerged, glad to finally be free again.
Traveling is all nice and dandy, except for the part where you’re cooped up inside a small space for hours on end. Then again, the same goes for humans, of course, being stuck inside a metal tube while it’s hurtling across the Atlantic.
But we were there now, and all discomfort was soon forgotten when Chase opened the window and the four of us stepped out onto the balcony to take in our first view of Paris from up high.
“Oh, glorious,” said Odelia.
Lucky for us the balcony consisted of a steel-and-glass framework through which we could have the same view as our much taller humans.
“Where is the Eiffel Tower, Odelia?” asked Dooley.
“Right… there,” said Odelia, pointing in the distance.
We gazed at the marvel of architecture, which was looming large in the middle distance, and I asked,“Are we going to climb it one of these days, Odelia?”
“I’m not sure,” she said, exchanging a glance with Chase. “They want to climb the Eiffel Tower,” she explained.