Catch As Cat Can

                "Mr. Marks, the fact that he is cooperating with the sheriff's department can't hurt him. What can help him is if he goes to AA meetings. If he repents in front of the judge and produces evidence that he is mending his ways, going to AA, I think, will make a favorable impression on the judge. Hear?"

                Mr. Marks nodded vigorously."Yes, ma'am, I hear." With that he put his hand in the small of Din's back, directing him toward the door.

                They were no sooner out the door than Yancy, bright-eyed, strode into the front room."Coop, Coop, will you look at this?"

                She grabbed the fax he handed her."Jesus, Mary, and Joseph, his changes things."

                The fax from the manager of Roy and Nadine's read:

                Dear Deputy Cooper,

                I do not recognize Donald Clatterbuck nor does anyone on my staff. However, we recognize the man with him. He comes in about once a month, usually in the company of a local businessman, Bill Boojum. Let me know if I can be of further service to you.

                Yours truly, Tara Fitzgibbon

                38

                Are you sure we should do this?" Harry asked Susan.

                "Someone has to" was the terse reply.

                "Why not BoomBoom? She uses the salvage yard. I mean she has to get sheet-metal scraps."

                Susan considered this."Maybe all three of us should go to Sean."

                "I don't want to go." Harry stubbornly dug her heels in.

                "Mother hates anything that might become emotional." Mrs. Murphy sighed."I don't know why. Humans have highly developed emotions to keep them alive."

                "When they lived in caves." Pewter shook herself, then sat down for serious grooming.

                "What are you talking about?" Mrs. Murphy edged toward the door. If the humans were going to the O'Bannons', she was going with them.

                "All that adrenaline worked when they lived in caves but I can't see how it does them a damn bit of good now. Just gets them in trouble."

                "I'm not talking about violence, I'm talking about the whole range of emotion."

                "Piffle," the cat sniffed.

                "I don't think my emotions are any less developed than a human's," Tucker stoutly said.

                "Did I say they were?" Murphy was irritated that her two cohorts missed her point and she thought they were being deliberately obtuse."What I'm saying is their emotions keep them alive. I am not saying those emotions are in the service of reality at this time in their evolution."

                "They haven't evolved. That's the problem," Pewter sharply said."They're walking around in clothing but they're still the same animals who lived in caves, feared the dark, and smashed one another over the head for beans. Trust me."

                "You have no faith." The dog thought humans were better than that, some of them, anyway.

                "Faith, why should I have faith in human beings? You've got one man hung, one man shot, and we believe Roger was poisoned. That does not bespeak evolution." Pewter stated her case succinctly.

                "I can believe Lottie Pearson would poison Roger. Poison is a woman's weapon. But I can't believe she'd hoist Wesley Partlow over a tree. She wouldn't have the strength. I doubt Lottie could heave a hay bale. Now, Mom could do it." Tucker quickly added, "Never would, of course. Harry wouldn't kill anyone unless in self-defense."

                "Hey, cut the gab. I'm not missing this." Mrs. Murphy charged out the front door of the post office when Harry opened it.

                "Girls, take your time." Miranda waved to Harry and Susan.

                "You could go." Harry tried to wriggle out of this task one more time.

                "I'm minding the store. And Susan asked you. After all, you all are closer in age." Miranda wasn't afraid of emotional outbursts. She truly believed Harry was a more suitable emissary.

                Defeated, Harry opened the door to Susan's Audi station wagon. The three animals hopped in the back where the seat was down, making it pleasant for them. Susan had called BoomBoom so by the time they pulled into the salvage yard, BoomBoom was also there.

                Three small pieces of sheet metal rested in the bed of BoomBoom's brand-new Chevy Silverado truck. Boom, contrary to her appearance, was a motorhead. She loved machines almost as much as Harry did. Driving her BMW provided her with true delight. She felt the same way about her half-ton truck, too, although the road feel was different. She liked sitting high up, she liked the huge V-8 Vortec engine, she liked the stereo system.

                "Does he know we're coming?" BoomBoom asked.

                "I called ahead. He's working. I called Ida first"- Susan mentioned Sean's mother-"she said he'd be at the yard. Work helps him."

                "So many memories of Roger." Harry thought it must be painful, for she knew how it felt after her parents died and she took over the farm. Before that she'd lived in a small apartment in town.

                "Well?" Susan raised her eyebrows.

                The three trudged together to the main building.

                "I'm going to strangle Pope Rat." Tucker scampered off to the garage.

                "She's a quart low." Pewter indicated the dog."Why tangle with a rat? I'm going inside with the humans."

                "I'm going to sit here and think." Mrs. Murphy padded over to the marble section.

                When the three women opened the door, Sean glanced up."Hi."

                "Hi," they said.