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“Well, I never noticed a thing,” said Windex with a smile. “You were never anything less than nice to me, and I feel like I’ve made four friends for life these past couple of days. And hey, this is not goodbye. I’ll be seeing you around.”

“Absolutely,” I said warmly.

Several hugs later, we waved goodbye to Windex, and kept on waving until the car turned left at the end of the street and she was gone.

“I miss her already,” said Dooley, wiping away a tear.

“We behaved abominably, you guys,” said Harriet.

“Yeah, we should have been much nicer,” Brutus agreed.

“It’s fine,” I said. “We learned a valuable lesson.”

“That, we did,” said Harriet.

“What’s the lesson?” asked Dooley, curious.

“That dogs that look like bats aren’t necessarily evil,” I said. “And that babies that look like wrinkled raisins aren’t necessarily Satan’s spawn.”

“In other words,” said Brutus, “first impressions can be deceiving.” And as we returned to the house, he said conversationally, “Wanna know what I thought when we first met, Max?”

“Not necessarily.”

“I thought you were arrogant.”

“Is that a fact?”

“Yep. The most arrogant cat I’d ever met.”

“Huh. Odd, that.”

“Why?”

“Because that’s exactly what I thought of you.”

“Ha! You’re funny, Max.”

“I like to think so.”

“So very funny,” he said, and clapped me on the back so hard I almost buckled.

Sometimes first impressions can be deceiving. Other times? Not so much.

Chapter 25

I wouldn’t have minded spending a prolonged time at the hospital, keeping our human company, but hospitals don’t seem to be equipped to deal with the presence of pets on the premises. For one thing they don’t have a big stock of litter tucked away in the basement, or even bags of kibble for this particular occasion. So it was decided by the powers that be that we’d simply stay home instead. And so that first night it was just us and Chase, and frankly it wasn’t too bad. He more or less completely ignored us, and also he forgot to clean out our litter boxes. Plus he forgot to fill up our bowls, but luckily there was still Marge, who took care of all of that and more: she gave us those all-important cuddles.

“So when is Odelia coming home?” I asked the next morning. “Will she have to stay at the hospital long?”

“No, just a couple of days,” said Marge as she offered me a bowl filled with yummy wet food that tasted moreish. “If the baby is fine and so is she, she’ll be home soon.”

“I hope so,” I said, then realized how my words might be interpreted, and quickly added, “I mean, Chase is a wonderful pet parent, of course, but we’re so used to Odelia—”

“He forgot to feed you again, didn’t he?”

Both Dooley and I nodded sheepishly.

“I’ll tell him,” said Marge, and gave us both an extra-large helping of the good stuff, just to make up for her son-in-law’s failings in that department.

“I wonder how he’s going to manage with the baby,” said Dooley. “Is he going to forget to feed her, too? Or change her diaper?”

Marge grimaced.“Lucky for the little one there’s always Odelia, and also there’s us.”

“Is it true that babies drink milk that comes out of the mother?” asked Dooley. “Like pandas?”

Marge smiled.“Yes, Dooley. Human babies drink milk from their mothers, just like pandas. And in fact all mammals secrete milk for their young ones. It’s a common trait.”

“Oh,” said Dooley, wondering about this strange conceit. “So what role does Chase have to play?”

“I’d say the baby daddy has plenty of important tasks to fulfill in the young one’s life,” said Marge vaguely, though I had the impression her faith in Chase had taken a hit.

“At the very least he’ll make sure that Odelia and the baby are taken care of,” I said, coming to Chase’s defense. He might not be the perfect pet parent, but he was a good person.

Harriet and Brutus came wandering in through the pet flap and eyed our rather generous helping of food with an eager eye.“Don’t tell me, you two haven’t been fed either?” asked Marge.

They both shook their heads.

“Oh, dear,” said Marge, and took out two more bowls and one more can of food.

I think it was actually Gran’s week to provide us with sustenance, but the old lady had been so busy trying to engage her billionaire in a romantic interlude she’d totally forgotten about us, just like Chase had.

Just then, the man of the hour wandered into the kitchen, gave us all a scrutinizing look and said,“So Odelia told me to take the cats along with me today.” It was clear he wasn’t entirely sure how to go about this. Then again, cops don’t usually take their wives’ cats along on their investigations, so I guess he could be excused for his lack of excitement.

“Who wants to tag along with Chase today, you guys?” asked Marge.

“Not me,” said Brutus, who had his mouth full of food. “I’m busy.”

“I’m also busy,” said Harriet, giving her boyfriend a cheeky wink.

I would have asked what they were busy with but had a feeling I probably shouldn’t.

“I’ll go,” I said.

“Me too!” said Dooley.

“So you’ve got two brave volunteers to ride with you today, Chase,” said Marge.