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“Tonight,” said Jerry as he closed his eyes. “Tonight’s the night, Johnny. So keep your eyes peeled, will you?”

And as Johnny did as he was told, Jerry’s chin dropped to his chest and soon he was snoring like a chainsaw.

From behind Johnny a little dog came snuffling, then climbed onto Johnny’s lap. It was Spot, one of the dogs Johnny had dog-watched for Chazz. As a parting gift, and proving that he had his heart in the right place, in spite of being betrayed by his two associates, Chazz had gifted Johnny the dog he loved so much.

“Hey, little buddy,” said Johnny. “So do you like cats, too?”

Spot barked a curt bark of agreement.

“Oh, I thought you would. You love those funny-looking creatures, do you? Do you, buddy? Huh?”

Spot barked happily. He did, he did!

“Will you shut that dog up already,” Jerry growled without opening his eyes.

“Shush, Spot,” said Johnny, placing a sausage-sized index finger to Spot’s lips. “Daddy is napping, so we must be very quiet now, you hear?”

Spot seemed to smile, but didn’t bark, showing what a clever little doggie he was.

And then Johnny gave himself up to silent surveillance, something he was very good at. So good, in fact, that five minutes later he was fast asleep, his deep and regular snores competing with Jerry’s for volume and pitch.

Chapter 5

“Come out of there, mouse,” said Harriet. “And if you don’t come out I will…” She hesitated. Brutus gave her a questioning look. What would she do if the mouse refused to leave its hiding place in the walls of Odelia’s basement? She couldn’t very well crawl in there and bodily drag it out. She was too big for that, and the mouse entirely too small.

“We’ll smoke you out,” said Brutus, having a bright idea.

She rolled her eyes.“How are we going to smoke it out?”

“Well, with smoke,” he suggested.

“And how do we do that? Do you have something to create smoke?”

“No, but Odelia has, and she’ll only be too happy to give us credit for the idea.”

“Humans don’t like it when you set their house on fire, Brutus,” she said, with a little less than her usual warmth and affection, “on account of the fact that when their house burns down they don’t have a place to stay. Which means we don’t have a place to stay.”

“But we get rid of the mouse,” he said with a grin.

She gave him the kind of look that quickly made him lose the grin.

“If you don’t come out right this instance,” she said as inspiration finally struck, “I’m going to lock the door of the basement and you’ll be trapped down here, without food or water until you agree to leave.”

A laugh suddenly sounded from nearby. She immediately leaped to its source and saw that it had come from a tiny little hole in the wall right behind the big furnace.

“Who cranked up the heat like that?” said Brutus as he puffed a little. “That furnace has been blasting away non-stop since we came down those stairs.”

He was right. For some reason the furnace was working overtime, emitting a dry heat that was searing Harriet’s sensitive features.

“You don’t get it, do you, cat?” said a voice from within the wall. “We don’t need doors. We move around this house and never use any of those passageways humans like to use, or cats.”

“He’s right,” said Brutus. “Mice are notoriously clever little creatures. They can probably move through the walls and reach any part of the house without being seen.”

“So how do we fight the annoying critters?!”

“You can’t!” said the mouse from within the safety of the wall. “Just accept it, cat. We’re here to stay. Now beat it. I’m trying to take a nap and you’re bothering me.”

In response, Harriet moved fast as lightning and jammed her paw into the tiny hole.“Come here, you annoying little beast!” she cried. For a moment she thought she could feel something soft and squishy being impaled by her sharp claws. But when she retracted her paw she saw it was just a piece of old styrofoam.

“Beat it, you stupid cat!” said the mouse. “You’ll never catch me. Never, you hear? Never, never, never!”

And with these words, suddenly a piece of cheese was projected from the tiny hole. It wasn’t so much a piece of cheese as a rind, though, neatly nibbled down to the plastic. It hit Harriet right on the nose.

“Oh, you horrible little…” she growled.

“Oh, well,” said Brutus, who didn’t seem overly concerned by the cheek of the cheese-eating little mite. “Live and let live, right? So maybe we should go back upstairs? I’m burning up down here. Place is turning into a sauna.”

“I’ll get you!” Harriet cried, shaking her paw. “If it’s the last thing I do, I’ll get you, you stupid mouse!”

The sound of laughter echoed through the basement, and this time, even though she tried to locate its source so she could jam her paw in and grab the miscreant, it could have come from anywhere. The mouse was right: it moved through the walls like a ghost.

“Let’s go,” said Brutus again, “before we both melt.”

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