THE CAT WHO SAW STARS_

“If you want me to stay, you’ll have to turn off the boob tube. I brought a copy of the new menu at Owen’s Place.”

“I’m dying to know what they offer,” said Mildred.

“Okay. How’s this for an appetizer? Grilled petite tenderloins of venison with smoked bacon, braised cabbage strudel, and a sun-dried Bing cherry demiglaze?”

“Ridiculous!” Arch said. “Give me the traditional dishes that Millie cooks.”

“Traditional, with a dollop of love thrown in,” she corrected.

“Speaking of food, I’ve had a live-in cook for a few days,” Qwilleran said, pausing long enough to enjoy Arch’s astonishment. Then he told them about Wetherby’s cousin and her crow proposal.

“Don’t take on any fringe projects,” Arch objected petulantly. “If you haven’t enough to do, we’ll run the ‘Qwill Pen’ three times a week. The subscribers are howling for it.”

“Let them howl!”

Qwilleran had never seen Arch so argumentative, but then he had never seen a rain storm so annoying.

The gumbo was filled with the good things that Mildred kept in her larder: chicken, shrimp, sausage - plus rice, vegetables, and spices.

During the dessert, Arch said, “If you want to hear something absurd, Junior has received some leaked information about a library of UFO literature opening in Mooseville! Can you believe that?”

“Sure. It’s a popular subject on the shore, with everyone but you and me,” said Qwilleran. “Even Lyle Compton watches for flying saucers with a telescope.”

“Lyle’s a fool!” Mildred said firmly, “He’s an intelligent, educated, sophisticated individual.” Turning to Arch, she said, “That makes me a fool, too.”

“I didn’t say that!” her husband snapped.

“You implied it!”

“I’m going to bed! I haven’t slept a wink all day!” Arch stomped out of the room.

Mildred said softly, “He’s hardheaded, isn’t he? I don’t dare mention the rune stones you gave me, Qwill. They’re similar to tarot cards, in that the reader has to bring certain instincts to the interpretation.”

“Hmmm,” Qwilleran murmured. Foretelling the future by any method was outside his frame of belief.

Looking deeply concerned, she said, “The stones say we’re headed for disaster. One has to assume it’s connected with the unnatural volume of water that’s being dumped on us all at once. I really believe we should move back to Indian Village, but how do I convince Arch? He loves it here - when it isn’t raining. You and the cats should move back to Pickax also, Qwill.”

“We intend to. Now that Polly’s home and going back to work Wednesday, she’ll need help with grocery shopping. She’s been gone a month. Her cupboard must be bare.”

“Qwill, I don’t know why you and Polly don’t get married. You have strong feelings for her, and I know she adores you!”

“It wouldn’t work,” he explained. “She’s a tea-drinker, and I’m a coffee-drinker, and there are certain basics that must be considered.”

While driving back to the cabin through the persistent rain, Qwilleran thought about Mildred’s eccentric interest in the occult and compared it with his own belief in Koko’s prescient talents. The cat knew when the phone was about to ring and when a storm was brewing. Now Mildred had predicted a disaster for the area. Whimsically, Qwilleran imagined Koko pulling the luggage out of the closet and searching the bookshelves for Stevenson’s Travels with a Donkey. That would be no more far-fetched than the cat’s sudden interest in A Horse’s Tale when Owen Bowen disappeared. And how about the backpacker? Not only did Koko sense that the body was buried in the sandhill, but he managed to lead Qwilleran to the site. And how to explain the cat’s obsession with the postcards? Qwilleran reviewed what he knew about the two men pictured. Shaw was a playwright, music critic, socialist, Nobel prize winner, and antivivisectionist; Wilde was a novelist, poet, playwright, and aesthete.

“Wait a minute!” he shouted at the steering wheel. “What’s wrong with me?” He took a chance on driving faster and dashed into the cabin without bothering to cover his head. The two cards were on the floor as usual. Why had he not thought to turn them over? He had not read Polly’s messages since they arrived two weeks before!

“We have tickets for Major Barbara tonight - not my favorite Shaw play, but it will be beautifully done.”

“A male actor plays Lady Bracknell in The Importance of Being Earnest. Always a delightful comedy.”

Qwilleran felt a crawling sensation on his upper lip as the scrawled message brought to mind Barb Ogilvie and Ernestine Bowen. It was pure coincidence, and yet… He looked at Koko.

“Yow!” said the cat, squeezing his eyes.

Qwilleran asked himself, Did the two women know each other in Florida? Did Barb work in the Bowens’ restaurant? Was Owen the “older man” who entered Barb’s life when she was feeling low? She claimed to have moved back north to avoid trouble.