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“Ha ha,” I said, though I thought the joke was a little crass. After all, the only reason we were on this flight was because our host and benefactor was suffering from some untold ordeal, and it would be rude of us to treat this as something other than what it was: a rescue mission. In fact it wasn’t too much to say we were Opal’s personal SEAL Team Six. Though CAT Team Four was perhaps the better description.

“I still think it’s unfair that you would vote to end my career as a soloist,” said Harriet suddenly, in fact the first time she’d spoken to me in three days.

“Well, you couldn’t expect me to vote against the majority, Harriet,” I pointed out.

“I could and you should have,” she said, her eyes shooting a mild sheet of flame in my direction. “I’m your friend, Max. If I can’t count on my friends, on who can I count?”

“On whom.”

“Who cares! You should have told Shanille in no uncertain terms what you thought of her dictatorial ideas. And where she could stick them.”

“That wouldn’t have changed anything. She was going ahead with her soloist democratization plans regardless of what I or Dooley or anyone else thought about them. Besides, she got a clear majority, and cat choir is still a democracy last time I looked.”

“No, it’s not. It’s a dictatorship and Shanille is its ruthless ruler.”

There was no arguing with the cat, so I decided not to even try.

“If you want you can have my solo, Harriet,” said Dooley now.

“Dooley,” I said, looking up. “But I thought…”

“I was really looking forward to it, that’s true,” my friend said, “but I can see how much this means to Harriet, and since she’s my friend I think she should have my spot.”

“No, I couldn’t possibly take your spot, Dooley,” said Harriet.

“You know what?” I said. “You can have my spot, too.”

“Max? Are you serious?” she said, her eyes wide.

“Sure. What else are friends for?”

“Oh, you guys,” she said, her eyes brimming with unshed tears of gratitude. “I don’t know what to say.”

“Thank you would be nice,” I said with a smile.

And then she flew down from her seat and hopped up onto Dooley’s seat to give him a hug, repeating the procedure with me and giving me a big wet kiss on my nose to boot.

“Thanks,” she said huskily. “I’ll never forget this.”

“You can have my spot, too,” said Brutus.

“Oh, Brutus,” she said.

“But I thought you quit cat choir?” said Dooley.

“Yeah, I did. But I can join up again, and then Harriet can take my spot.”

Harriet was beaming.“This is the best day of my life!” she said, and then promptly dug into her pat? with renewed fervor.

I frankly hoped we’d make it back to Hampton Cove in one piece, or else Harriet’s star turn as cat choir’s leading lady would never even materialize, in spite of our efforts to guarantee her a prime spot on its soloist roster. Even though the plane was top-notch, and so was the food and the accommodations, it still didn’t make me lose sight of the fact that we were in a narrow steel tube, hurtling through space miles above the earth, and held up by forces I couldn’t even begin to understand. Then again, if we did crash on a deserted island, we wouldn’t be alone. My entire family was there with me, and we could simply start afresh wherever we landed. Gran, for one, seemed ready and willing to repopulate the earth, judging from the way she was intently staring at her boy toy. Or was it toy boy? Whatever he was, she was clearly enjoying the ride.

Four hours later, I was awoken by a gentle stirring of my shoulder, and when I opened my eyes I found myself gazing up into Odelia’s lovely green peepers.

“We’re almost there, you guys. Better get ready.” And to show us what she meant by getting ready, she proceeded to strap us in with the little harnesses that had been provided especially for smallish passengers like ourselves.

“Do you think this is the plane Opal herself takes when she goes somewhere?” asked Harriet, whose mood had gone up a notch or two—or a dozen—since we departed.

“Yeah, this is Opal’s private plane,” said Odelia. “This is the one she takes all the time.”

“So these seats…” said Harriet, patting the nice leather. “They’re the same seats her own cat sits in?” Her voice had taken on a reverent tone.

Opal’s cat is called Prunella, and is famous for accompanying her owner everywhere.

“Prunella must be really old by now,” said Brutus. “I remember seeing that cat on TV when I was still living with Chase’s mom.”

“Yeah, Prunella is an old gal by now,” said Odelia, and finished strapping Brutus in. “So when you meet her, you better be on your best behavior, you hear?”

“We’re always on our best behavior,” I said.

“First impressions are everything, you guys,” said Harriet, “so Odelia is right. When we meet Prunella, be polite and act like gentlecats.”

Next to me, Dooley was gritting his teeth, his claws digging into the armrests of his seat.“I hope we don’t crash,” he said. “This is the tricky part, isn’t it? The landing.”