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“Duffers!” he said as he started up the car. “The Duffer Store ran out of Duffers and they’re not happy. I managed to get in and talk to Colin Duffer and he told me that if this keeps up he will have to close down the store. He asked me to get rid of these protestors. Arrest them if I have to.”

“Oh, my God!” said Odelia. “No way.”

“Yeah, I told him to talk to the Mayor. Though the best thing he can do is close up for now and get cracking on a fresh batch of Duffers. That’s the only thing that’s going to make those people go away. But he says that if he closes now he might never reopen.”

“He’s got a point,” said Odelia. “People may be clamoring for Duffers now, but next month there will be some new thing, and Duffers will be the last thing people want.”

“I don’t think so,” said Chase. “These sausages are pretty popular.”

“Tell me about it,” said Gran, who’d taken her half-eaten Duffer out of her purse again and now took a big bite.

Suddenly, there was a shout outside, and Odelia saw how a woman stood looking in through the car window at Gran’s Duffer.

“SHE’S GOT A DUFFER!” the woman screamed. Immediately the rest of the mob crossed the street, and they all converged on the car, pounding the windows to get in.

“Christ, I feel like I’m in a zombie movie,” said Gran.

“Better get us out of here, Chase,” said Odelia.

“Yeah, before they grab me and my Duffer!”

Chase put the car in gear, and before people could break down the windows and drag Gran bodily out of the car, he was moving away from the curb, careful not to run over anyone’s toes, and then they were finally mobile again.

“Phew!” said Gran. “Did you see that? What’s gotten into people?!”

“I don’t know,” said Odelia, looking back at the mob scene. “But it’s not good.”

At least she had another angle for her next article. Duffer Mania!

Chapter 25

We’d been walking for what felt like miles, when finally we found ourselves on familiar terrain. We’d passed the park where cat choir holds its nightly rehearsals, and it struck me how devoid of feline life it was. Usually the park is teeming with cats, even during the daytime, but especially at night, of course. Now there wasn’t a single cat in sight. In fact I didn’t think we’d met a fellow feline all along the road into town.

“All cats are at the monster house,” said Dooley.

“Yeah, looks like,” I agreed.

“Too bad cats don’t use smartphones, huh, Max?” he said. “We could have called Odelia by now, and told her what’s going on, and she could have come to our rescue.”

“Yeah, too bad,” I said. Then again, where would we put it? It’s not as if cats have pockets, or carry backpacks. We’re unencumbered by the trappings of modern life, and that’s just fine with me. So what if we don’t have smartphones? Who needs a smartphone anyway? Just to be bothered every second of every day by those weird beeps and buzzes. I think I’d go nuts if I had to carry one of those annoying little devices.

“If I had a smartphone I’d make Odelia my screensaver,” said Dooley, still dreaming.

“We should have seen her by now,” I said. “Odelia and I are very much attuned. Usually when we’re in trouble she senses it, and manages to find us all on her own.”

“Maybe she’s distracted,” said Dooley.

“Yeah, could be.” I myself was distracted by the pain in my jaw. That operation had done more damage than I’d anticipated, and now with being catnapped and all, I hadn’t been able to take my medication, and the pain in my gums was frankly killing me.

“You don’t look so good, Max,” said Dooley, who’d noticed I wasn’t at my best.

“It’s my teeth. They hurt.”

“But I thought Vena pulled your teeth?”

“She did.”

“So if they’re not there anymore, how can they hurt?”

“I don’t know, Dooley. All I know is that they hurt.”

“Phantom pain,” said Dooley knowingly. “I saw it on the Discovery Channel. It’s when a body part that was removed still hurts. You are still attached to your teeth, Max. Time to let go.”

Easier said than done. I liked my teeth, and hadn’t been ready to have them removed.

“We’re almost there,” I said. “And then this ordeal will finally be over.”

And we’d just reached Harrington Street and turned the corner, when suddenly there was a screech of brakes, and before we had the chance to react a net was thrown over the both of us, and we were scooped up and deposited back into that same horrible van!

“Oh, no!” cried Dooley. “I can’t believe they caught us again!”

The man slammed the door, and there we were, once again: surrounded by a sea of cats. Talk about d?j?-vu!

“We have to escape, you guys,” said Dooley, addressing the other cats. “They’re taking us to a dungeon, and once we’re in there there will be no escape!”

“And how would you know?” asked a familiar-looking cat. I quickly recognized him as Milo, who’d once been a guest at our house, and belonged to one of Odelia’s neighbors.

“Because we’ve been there, Milo,” I said. “Literally.”