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Though to be absolutely honest I was starting to feel as if things looked very bleak indeed. Dogs may be man’s best friend, but if history has proven anything it’s that they’re not exactly a cat’s best friend. And as Windex opened one eye and turned it on me, a shiver ran down my spine. For in that eye I suddenly thought I saw evil personified.

Could it be that Chase was nursing a viper in his bosom?

Chapter 12

Later that night, just as we were getting ready to head out to cat choir, Odelia took me aside.“I want you to take Windex along with you tonight, Max,” she said.

I stared at her.“What do you mean?”

“To cat choir. I get the impression she’s feeling a little lonely, so I want you to take her under your wing and show her the sights. You know, introduce her to your friends.”

“But… Windex is a dog,” I said. “And my friends are all cats.”

“So? I don’t see the problem.”

“Cats and dogs, Odelia. They don’t mix.”

“But I thought you got along so well with Rufus and Fifi from next door?”

“Yes, I do. But—”

“Yes?” She fixed me with a sort of baleful eye. Lately Odelia has been very short on patience. Must be the physical discomfort of having to drag all that excess weight around, I guess. One look at her told me I’d thwart her wishes at my peril. So finally I nodded.

“Okay, all right. We’ll take Windex along to cat choir.”

“Good. I knew I could count on you to do the right thing.” And she patted me sort of absentmindedly on the head, which I didn’t appreciate in the slightest but decided not to mention. I was starting to see that maybe Dooley had been right all along. That this baby business meant that Odelia had less time to spend showering her affections on us.

And of course if you think about it, it makes perfect sense: if a human is a vat full of affection, and hitherto that affection only had the single outlet: namely their pets, now with the addition of a baby we’d have to share that same limited resource with the tyke.

Worse, since babies are humans, and cats aren’t, chances are that the baby would get the larger portion of that limited supply, with us cats being starved of the precious stuff.

It didn’t inspire me with a lot of confidence in a bright future, let me tell you.

Cat choir is a fun affair, and even as we set out on our journey, the four of us can always feel our moods brighten, our senses heighten and the anticipation making us giddy. Tonight there was none of that. With Windex in tow, I felt a distinct sense of dread.

“So where is this cat choir?” asked Windex, who’d had some very nice chow, courtesy of Marge, some very sweet cuddles, courtesy of Chase, and even a quick medical, courtesy of Tex who, even though he isn’t a vet in the strictest sense of the word, had given the tiny doggie a quick once-overand had declared her fit for purpose.

The effect of all this attention was that Windex, a shy and timid creature when we first met, had been injected with a dose of self-confidence which showed in her garrulousness.

“At the park,” said Harriet curtly.

“And what do you do?” asked Windex.

“We sing,” Harriet snapped.

“Ooh, I like that,” said Windex. “Me and my human used to sing all the time.”

“Do you miss your human, Windex?” asked Dooley. “Cause I think I would.”

Windex considered her response, then said,“You know? At first I thought I’d never get over the fact that I’m never going to see her again? But now that I’ve found this new home with Chase and Odelia, I’m starting to see that maybe everything will be all right after all.”

At this, Harriet grumbled something I couldn’t quite catch, though I thought I recognized the word ‘parasite.’ It certainly didn’t sound very complimentary.

“And now with the baby underway,” Windex continued, “well, I think it was all meant to be, you know.”

“What was meant to be?” I asked.

“Everyone knows that dogs like babies and vice versa. It’s the old bond between man and man’s best friend. Unlike cats, who can be very catty when a newborn arrives in the home, dogs simply adore babies. They feel protective, you see, and guard them with their lives if need be.” She shrugged. “I don’t know. It just feels right. For me to be here, I mean.”

The four of us shared a look of concern. What was this dog going on about? Did she mean that with the baby arriving Odelia and Chase would chuck us out and install Windex in their home instead? That it was out with the old and in with the new for some reason?

But we didn’t have time to consider this extremely disturbing prospect, for we’d arrived at the park, and were immediately accosted by our friends, as is usually the case. Harriet went off to talk to her buddies, Brutus scooted off to shoot the breeze with his, and Dooley and I found ourselves saddled with the task of having to take Windex under our wing, as Odelia had instructed, and introduce her to our fellow cat choir members.