Two people sat in the front seats, but it was too dark to tell if they were men or women. The boys watched the van continue toward the corner, where the headlights finally came on.
“That van came out of Mary’s driveway,” Alex said.
“We need to tell your parents,” Rocky said. “The sheriff said we should report anything that seems unusual.”
The boys went back inside, locking the door behind them.
“Did you see them?” Pete asked. “Do you know what the burglars look like?”
Rocky started up the stairs.
“I’ll be up as soon as I feed Pete,” Alex said. He went to the kitchen and saw that the cat bowl was still half-full.
“You saw something, didn’t you?” Alex whispered, holding Pete close to his chest. “Was it that van? You saw that van and you wanted me to see it, too.”
“I saw Pearly, too. Pearly got away and went into the trees.”
“You’re a smart cat, Pete,” Alex said.
Pete purred softly, butting his head under Alex’s chin. Alex set him down beside his dish.
Pete bit into a cat crunchie. He had done what he could to alert the humans; now he might as well have a little snack.
Alex climbed the stairs and went to the doorway of his parents’ bedroom. “Mom?” he said softly. “Dad?”
“What is it, son?” his dad asked.
“I’m sorry to wake you up, but Rocky and I heard a van in the Sunburgs’ driveway, and then it drove away without any lights on.”
Mrs. Kendrill turned on a lamp.
“We couldn’t tell who was in it. It seemed odd that a car would be there this late and that the driver didn’t turn his headlights on until he got to the corner.”
“Maybe Mrs. Sunburg had a visitor who stayed late,” Mr. Kendrill said.
“I didn’t see any lights on in the house, and Mary told me she and her grandma were tired and planned to go to bed early.”
Alex’s parents got out of bed and put on robes. They hurried to Alex’s window, and everyone looked toward the neighbors’ house. It remained dark.
Pete quit eating and joined them.
“Do you think I should call Mary?” Alex said.
“Yes,” Pete said. “Call her so she’ll get up and discover that Pearly’s gone.”
The humans continued to look out the window. Pete’s whiskers quivered impatiently. Cats don’t waste time thinking things over. They act. Humans can’t seem to learn that.
“I’d hate to jar them out of a sound sleep over nothing,” Mr. Kendrill said. “A car driving away from their house doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a problem.”
“Yes, it does,” Pete said. “Someone took things from their house and put them in the van.”
“Alex,” Mrs. Kendrill said, “will you please feed that cat? I can’t think when he howls like that.”
Alex knew Pete didn’t need food, so he picked the cat up and stroked him to keep him quiet.
“When the sheriff was at my house, he said we should report anything at all that seems odd,” Rocky said.
“If you don’t call,” Mr. Kendrill said, “we’ll all lie in bed worrying that we should have. I’m sure Mrs. Sunburg and Mary won’t mind being awakened when they learn why you called.”
Alex dialed the number. After three rings, Mrs. Sunburg answered.
“This is Alex from next door. Is everything all right? I saw a van pull away from your house with its lights off. Mom and Dad thought I’d better call.” He covered the mouthpiece with his hand and said, “She’s going to look around.”
Seconds later, Mrs. Sunburg came back on the line, sounding breathless. “We’ve been burglarized,” she said. “The sliding-glass patio door was jimmied open and the TV is gone and my antique clock and I don’t know what else. I’ll call you back after I call the police.”
Alex relayed the news.
“Pearly’s gone, too,” Pete said. “Tell her to look for Pearly.”
“I think I should go over there,” Mrs. Kendrill said. “Mrs. Sunburg doesn’t know anyone else in this area yet, and she’ll be upset. Alex and Rocky, get dressed and come with me. Mary will need a friend, too.”
“I’ll stay here in case Benjie wakes up,” Mr. Kendrill said. “Call if you need me.”
The boys pulled on jeans and sweatshirts, then followed Mrs. Kendrill across the grass to the neighbors’ house.
“Don’t touch anything,” Mrs. Kendrill warned. “The police may want to check for fingerprints.”
Mrs. Sunburg let them in. Rufus stood beside her, wagging his tail and acting pleased to have unexpected company.
“Didn’t Rufus bark?” Alex asked.
“Rufus sleeps with me,” Mary said, “and I had the bedroom door closed. He must not have heard the burglar.”
Mary led Alex and Rocky toward the family room to show them the door that had been jimmied opened. “Pearly probably knows what the burglars look like,” she said. “I put her cage facing a window at night because possums are nocturnal, and I thought she’d like to look out after dark. She was right there next to the patio door, watching them pry it open.” She pointed to Pearly’s cage.
“Pearly is a possum,” Alex told Rocky.
Mary flicked on the yard light and peered into the yard.
“Too bad Pearly can’t talk,” Alex said as he lifted the blanket that was draped over the back of the cage. He froze. “Mary,” he said, “is the cage door supposed to be open?”
Mary gasped, then dropped to her knees. She flung the blanket aside and peered into the cage.
“Gramma!” she called, her eyes puddling with tears. “Pearly’s gone! They stole Pearly!”
“Oh, no,” Alex said. He and Rocky knelt on the floor beside Mary and looked into the empty possum cage.
Mrs. Sunburg rushed into the room, followed by Mrs. Kendrill.
“Are you sure?” Mrs. Sunburg said. “She isn’t hiding in her hollow log?”
“Her cage door is open,” Mary said, “and she’s gone.”
“Why would a thief steal a possum?” Mrs. Kendrill asked. “Surely there isn’t much value.”
“Only sentimental value,” Mrs. Sunburg said sadly.
“Probably the burglar thought Pearly was a rare exotic animal,” Rocky said, “like an ocelot or something he could sell for a lot of money.”
“I’m surprised Pearly didn’t bite whoever it was,” Mary said. “Possums have a lot of teeth, and we’ve been careful not to socialize Pearly so that she can be released.”
“Maybe she did bite him,” Alex said. “Maybe the thief picked her up and she bit him, and the thief dropped her, and Pearly’s hiding somewhere.”
Rocky looked carefully at the floor near the cage. “I don’t see any blood,” he said.
Alex said, “The burglar might have opened the cage, and then when he saw that Pearly was only a possum—” He stopped when he saw the look on Mary’s face. “I mean, when he saw that it might be hard to find a buyer for Pearly, he didn’t bother to latch the cage again.”
“Or maybe the thief opened the cage just to be mean,” Mrs. Sunburg said. “I hate to say it, but there are people who don’t care about animals.” She reached down to pat Rufus, who was now sniffing all around Pearly’s cage. “Rufus is proof of that.”
Alex’s stomach twisted into a knot. He didn’t like to think about people who would shoot at a dog or purposely let an injured animal out of its cage, but he knew such people existed.
Mary peered under the couch. “Not here,” she said.
“I’ll help you look,” Alex said.
“So will I,” Rocky said.
While the adults discussed the burglary and waited for the sheriff to arrive, Alex, Mary, and Rocky looked under the beds, examined the inside of every closet, and checked beneath all the furniture. There were still stacks of unopened cardboard cartons piled everywhere, so it took a while to look everyplace that a possum might hide.
“She must be outside,??
? Mary said. “The burglar left the door open. Pearly probably smelled the fresh air and went toward it. She would want to be outdoors, especially after dark. I hope there aren’t any coyotes around here or. . .” Mary couldn’t finish the sentence. Tears choked the words away.
“Do you have flashlights?” Rocky asked.
“We haven’t unpacked them yet. I don’t even know which box they’re in.”
“I’ll go get flashlights from my house,” Alex said. “I’ll be right back.”
Alex dashed home. His dad was in the kitchen, making hot chocolate.
“The burglar let Mary’s possum out,” Alex said as he got a flashlight from the kitchen cupboard. “Rocky and I are going to help her look for it.” He found two more flashlights in the closet next to the front door.
“She really has a possum?” Mr. Kendrill said. “I thought that was one of Benjie’s stories.”
“She has one temporarily,” Alex said. “At least she does if we can find it. It’s recovering from an injury and isn’t ready to survive on its own.”
“I’ll come with you,” Pete said. He walked to the back door. “I can see in the dark, and I know what Pearly smells like because I smelled her on Mary’s hand.”
“Don’t go beyond our yard and Mary’s,” Mr. Kendrill said. “I don’t want you boys wandering around the whole neighborhood at this time of night.”
“We won’t,” Alex said. “One of Pearly’s paws was injured, so she doesn’t move real fast. We think she headed for the trees.”
“I know which way she went,” Pete said. “I’ll show you.” He stuck his nose in the crack of the door, waiting for Alex to open it.
“Get back, Pete,” Alex said, putting his hand against Pete’s chest and giving him a gentle nudge.
Pete’s ears flattened as Alex pushed him away from the door.
Alex turned the doorknob.
Pete crouched.
When the door opened and Alex stepped out, Pete leaped over Alex’s foot and hit the porch running.
“Pete!” Alex yelled. “Come back here!”
Pete ran straight toward where he had seen Pearly. “This way!” he said. “Follow me!”
Alex, still holding the door open, turned back to his dad. “Pete ran out,” he said. “I tried to keep him in, but he jumped past me.”
“We should have named that cat Houdini,” Mr. Kendrill said. “He vanishes every chance he gets.”
“I’ll try to catch him,” Alex said.
“I’ll call him, too,” Mr. Kendrill said. “Not that it will do any good. We know from long experience that Pete comes home when Pete is good and ready, and not before.”
Alex shined his light across the yard, but Pete had already disappeared.
6
Mary and Rocky met Alex outside Mary’s house. Mary held a pet carrier by the handle. Alex gave his friends each a flashlight.
“If we see Pearly, we’ll try to get her in the carrier,” Mary said. “She’ll be scared, so be careful.”
“Could she survive if we don’t catch her?” Rocky asked.
“Her foot is nearly healed, but a housing development isn’t the place to release her. She needs to go in the woods.”
“Pete’s out, too,” Alex told her. “He leaped right over my foot when I opened the door.”
“I’m sorry,” Mary said. “You’re trying to help me, and your pet gets loose.”
“Pete’s escaped before,” Alex said, “though not at night. We used to let him go outside during the daytime, before we knew how dangerous that can be. Now he’s an indoor cat. I still take him for walks on his leash, so he knows the neighborhood and can find his way home.”
Alex tried to sound as if he wasn’t worried about Pete, but it made him anxious to have Pete out by himself, especially tonight. So many bad things had happened lately.
As they talked, the kids walked slowly around Mary’s house, shining their flashlights back and forth on the grass.
“Pearly might have headed for the trees,” Mary said. “Possums have a prehensile tail, you know.”
“A what tail?” said Rocky.
“Prehensile. That means they can grasp with it and can use it to help themselves climb trees. They can even hang by their tails.”
“No kidding,” Alex said. “Have you ever seen Pearly do that?”
“She’s never been up a tree since she’s been with us. We’ve only been taking care of her for a week.”
Alex wished he had grabbed his jacket. December nights are cold, and the wind was starting to blow.
They walked slowly, shining the lights into clumps of tall grass and bushes.
As they approached the wooded area that connected their backyards, Alex heard a familiar sound from deep in the trees.
“Over here,” Pete said. “I can smell her! Pearly came this way.”
“Is that Pete?” Rocky asked.
“Yes,” Alex said.
“Go ahead and catch him and take him home,” Mary said. “Rocky and I can keep looking for Pearly.”
Alex hesitated, debating whether to say what he was thinking. Lately he had begun to suspect that Pete was not an ordinary cat. He wondered if Pete understood what people said and even tried to communicate with them.
Alex had not mentioned this suspicion to anyone. He was afraid his parents would react the way they did when Benjie told his fanciful stories about flying animals.
Tonight Rocky had witnessed Pete’s behavior. He knew that the reason the boys had seen the van was that Pete woke Alex up, as if the cat had wanted him to look out the window.
Alex decided to take a chance. “I hope you won’t think this is a really far-out thing to say,” he began, “but Pete sometimes seems to know things. He acts like he understands what’s going on as if he were human. The reason we saw that van tonight was because Pete jumped on me while I was asleep, and meowed until I got up to feed him, and then he ran to the window, and when we looked out, we saw the van leaving. It was as if he knew it was there and was trying to show us.”
“That’s true,” Rocky said. “Pete acted strange.”
“Cats are very intelligent,” Mary said.
“Hurry up!” Pete called. “Pearly’s smell is strong right at the base of this maple tree.”
“I’m wondering if he might be calling us to come now,” Alex said. “Maybe he knows where Pearly is. Let’s skip this part of the yard and go over where Pete is.”
“Don’t stand there talking. Get a move on!”
Alex started into the wooded area at the rear of the Kendrills’ property. Mary and Rocky followed. Besides shining their lights back and forth on the ground, they also aimed the lights up into the branches of each tree that they passed. They couldn’t see Pete yet, but they could certainly hear him.
“I smell her! I smell her! Come this way!”
“If he’s found Pearly, he’s probably scaring her half to death with all that screeching,” Mary said. “I don’t imagine Pearly has ever seen a cat—certainly not one as big as Pete.”
Alex’s flashlight picked up two gleaming eyes. “There he is,” he said. He kept the light aimed at Pete. The cat stood beside the brush pile where Alex and his dad had heaped branches that had come down in a recent windstorm.
“Birds and small animals need brush piles for cover,” Mr. Kendrill had told Alex. “Eventually the branches will rot and enrich the soil, so why cart them off to the dump?”
Mary swept her light across the tangled tree limbs.
“I tracked her this far,” Pete said. “The smell goes into these branches, but it doesn’t come out the other side. She’s hiding in the branches.”
“Can you make him be quiet?” Mary asked. “Pearly’s scared of every little unexpected sound, and I imagine an animal noise is the most frightening of all. If she is hiding in there, she’ll never come out while Pete’s meowing.”
“I’m only trying to help,” Pete said.
“Be quiet, Pete,” Alex said. He inched c
loser to the cat.
Rocky walked to the far side of the brush pile and moved his flashlight across the branches. “I don’t see Pearly,” he whispered.
“She’s in there, all right,” Pete said.
“Shh,” Alex said.
Mary crouched on the ground, beside Pete. Both of them peered into the brush pile as Alex moved closer. Mary slid her hand over to Pete. “I have hold of his collar,” she said.
“Traitor!” Pete said. “I thought you wanted to pet me.”
Alex picked up Pete. “I’m going to put Pete in the house,” Alex said. “I’ll be right back.”
“Is this the thanks I get for helping?” Pete said. “Put me down!”
As Alex carried a struggling Pete out of the trees and across the grass, he heard voices. The police had arrived at Mary’s house. He hoped they would catch the burglars soon.
Alex had planned to open the door, dump Pete inside, and return to Mary and Rocky, but when he opened the door, he saw Benjie sitting at the kitchen table, sobbing. The knot in Alex’s stomach tightened.
“He woke up,” Mr. Kendrill said. “I told him what happened.”
“If the bad guys stole Pearly, they might come and steal Lizzy, too,” Benjie said, “or Pete. Or one of us.”
“Pete’s right here,” Alex said. “He’s fine. I brought him home.”
“Nobody’s going to steal Lizzy or Pete,” Mr. Kendrill said. “Burglars steal things they can sell. There are ‘free kitten’ ads in the paper all the time.”
“The police are at Mary’s house,” Alex said, hoping that would make Benjie feel safer.
Benjie didn’t answer. He wiped his nose on his pajama sleeve and cried harder.
“I need to go back and help Mary and Rocky,” Alex said. “We think Pearly is hiding in our brush pile.”
“She is,” Pete said. “I could smell her.”
“Be careful,” Mr. Kendrill said. “That possum is a wild animal, and it’s probably scared.”
“Mary has a pet carrier like Pete’s to put Pearly in when we find her.”
Pete ran to the door and got ready to bolt, but this time Mr. Kendrill held Pete while Alex went out.