e9c12ac8d703d9a536f23183edf8b22c

He’d already learned Malcolm’s secret, but frankly he didn’t feel like practicing that man’s remedy if given a choice. Not that he was squeamish, but still. There were limits to what a man was willing to do—even a man as desperate as he was.

Dick was still grinning, took a cigarette from the pack, stuck it between his lips, then removed it again and returned it to the pack.“Look, Doc, I like you. In fact I like you a lot, so I’m going to tell you my secret, but before I do, I want you to know that this is not for the faint of heart, all right? So you do with it what you will, but I won’t be held responsible for the consequences.”

“Oh, absolutely, Dick,” said Tex, now really curious for what was about to follow. “So what’s the big secret?”

And so Dick leaned into him, and whispered his big secret into his ear. Tex’s eyes went wide, and when Dick leaned back, the man gave him such a shit-eating grin that frankly Tex couldn’t help but wonder if the man wasn’t perhaps having a laugh at his expense. Dick must have sensed his skepticism, for he now nodded and said, “Honest to God, Doc. And if you don’tbelieve me, you can ask Rock. He’ll tell you the exact same thing.”

“So Rock…”

“Applies the same technique.”

Tex thought for a moment, then nodded. “Thanks, Dick. I owe you.”

“Sure. Oh, and you’ll tell me if it works out for you, okay?”

“I will,” said Tex as he got up. He was feeling slightly dazed as he walked out, and when he glanced back, saw that Dick had snatched another willing lady from the flock, and was moving across that dance floor again with an energy Tex knew he’d never be able to conjure up if he lived to be a hundred. Which is why he decided to try Dick’s remedy. Only he had to make sure no one found out, or he’d be the laughingstock of the whole town!

16

When I walked out of the pet flap, after having eaten my fill, and ready to take a nap on the lawn, I found Dooley sniffing that same lawn with a determination I found particularly amusing.“What are you doing?” I asked, even though it was obvious he was sniffing grass!

“I’m conducting an experiment, Max,” said my friend as he lifted his nose from the lawn long enough to answer my question.

“What experiment?”

“Okay, so Fifi and Rufus managed to track Angel all the way to that pond, all right?”

“Uh-huh,” I said, placing myself down on the lawn, and emitting a contented little sigh as I rolled over on my back, my paws dangling in the air. Sheer heaven!

“So why can’t we do the same thing?”

“Because we’re cats, Dooley, not dogs,” I said.

“I know, but our sense of smell is pretty developed, too, right?”

“Of course it is, but not as developed as a dog’s. And also, dogs seem to have cornered the market on that kind of stuff, so why not let them? It’s my belief, Dooley, that we’re all put here on this earth with a specific purpose, and a dog’s purpose seems to be to sniff out stuff and follow their nose wherever it may lead.”

“And our purpose?” asked Dooley, closely following my reasoning.

“Our purpose is to use our brains and our cunning, and the agility of our feline bodies,” I said as my eyes started to drift closed. The sun was really giving of its best, and within a few minutes I’d be compelled to retreat to the shade. But for now I enjoyed that tickle on my belly—those warm rays massaging my abdomen—and decided to stay put and relax.

“I’ll bet you’ve figured out what happened to Angel already, haven’t you, Max?”

“No, Dooley, I haven’t,” I murmured sleepily.

“No, but I bet you have, with that big brain of yours. So where is she, Max? Did she really run away from home, or was she beamed up by aliens?”

“I have no idea, Dooley. Absolutely no clue.” And then I really did drift off into a peaceful slumber.

I have no idea how long I’d been lying there, but it must have been longer than I’d anticipated, for the sun had already shifted further west at this point, and it took me a little while to realize that the sound of shouting voices had woken me up. And as I pricked up my ears and turned them in the direction of the sound, I discovered that the voices were coming from Blake Carrington’s field. And so I reluctantly picked myself up from the lawn, and started off in that direction, to find out what was going on. Dooley, who’d been sleeping in the shade of the rosebush, woke up when I trudged past, and sleepily said, “Have the aliens returned Angel yet?”

“No, I don’t think so, Dooley. But they have brought us something else to investigate.”

And so Dooley, who’s just about as inquisitive a cat as I am, got up and together we snuck through the hedge, and then through the high grass that covers the field, except the part where that car wreck lies, and of course—and how could I forget—that skeleton!