The Case of the Cat Show Princess

by Cindy Vincent

  He patted me on the head.

  I still had a feather hanging from my mouth when I looked back at the crowd. Gracie cheered while the whole group clapped.

  The judge picked me up and stretched me out like he’d done with all the other cats. The people in the crowd kept clapping the whole time.

  To tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure if I should be happy or embarrassed. It seemed like an hour went by before that judge put me back in my cage.

  He shut the door and I scooted as far back as I could go. Right about then, I was really hoping I might blend in with the wall.

  Amelia reached over and touched me on the shoulder. “Way to go, Buckley! You did great. Everybody loved you!”

  “I did? They do?” My voice came out in kind of a squeak.

  I watched while the judge pulled a new feather wand from beneath the podium. Then he threw what was left of the old one away.

  One by one, he presented the rest of the cats in the row. Strangely enough, nobody else attacked and destroyed the feather wand like I did.

  When the judge had put the final cat back in his cage, he went off to the side to tally the scores. A few minutes later, he returned to the podium. He had a bunch of award ribbons with him — blue, red, purple, yellow, white and green.

  He turned to face the audience. “Thank-you, Ladies and Gentlemen, for bringing your wonderful animals to the cat show today. I’ve enjoyed judging each and every one of them. And while they were all wonderful, only the top two will advance to the next round.”

  Amelia looked at me. “I hope you win, Buckley.”

  “Thanks,” I told her. “But after I got carried away with that feather thing, I don’t think I stand a chance.”

  She shook her head. “Don’t be so sure.”

  We both turned to watch as the judge passed out ribbons. He started with sixth place and worked his way up to third. By then, he’d passed out all but the First and Second Place ribbons.

  Just as he was about to award the Second Place ribbon, a voice boomed over the loud speakers. “Your attention, please. The first round of judging for the Purebred and Pedigreed cats will start in ten minutes. Please bring your cats to Stage Two.”

  Amelia and I looked at each other.

  “Purebred and Pedigreed?” she gasped. “Wow, those cats must really be special.”

  I shrugged. “I guess so.”

  Before I could say more, I heard the judge say, “And the Second Place ribbon goes to . . . Amelia!”

  Amelia squealed and I gasped and we looked right at each other! I was so happy my new friend had won Second Place that I was speechless. The judge put the red ribbon on the top of her cage and we both stared, frozen in place.

  I finally found my voice, and I was about to congratulate her, when the judge turned to the crowd. He hollered, “And the First Place ribbon goes to . . . Buckley!”

  The whole audience started cheer. And all I could do was fall over on my side. Had I heard that correctly? Did I really win this round, even though I attacked the judge’s feather wand?

  It was almost more than I could take. Amelia and I watched while the judge put the blue ribbon on my cage. Seconds later, Gracie was up on the stage and had opened the door of the cage. She pulled me into her arms and hugged me tight.

  She started to dance and spin me around and around. Holy Mackerel! As always, I hung on for dear life. I sure wished she’d grow out of this dancing and spinning stage she seemed to be going through.

  I barely had time to meow good-bye to Amelia.

  “See you next round,” she meowed back as her own Mom picked her up, too.

  After that, my Mom carried me toward our cat show cage where Bogey was waiting. Gracie walked proudly beside us, holding the blue ribbon in front of her so everyone could see it.

  I could hardly wait to tell Bogey all about it.

  But in a matter of seconds, I practically forgot I’d even won a blue ribbon. In fact, I wasn’t even sure I could remember my name anymore.

  That’s because I saw her. And let me tell you, I think time stood still the second I laid eyes on her.

  She was carried on a pink satin pillow and her fur was the purest white I’ve ever seen. It shined and sparkled in the overhead lights. Right at that moment, I would have told you that she practically gave off a light of her own. And I was sure she was the brightest thing in the whole St. Gertrude Events Center.

  The breeze from an overhead fan gently tousled her fur and her green eyes flashed like jewels. She had a perfect pink nose and a tiny little mouth.

  And . . . a diamond collar.

  I wasn’t sure if she was a cat or an angel.

  As she was carried toward Stage Two, I noticed a sign dangling from her satin pillow. It read, “Princess Alexandra.”

  P.A.

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 5

  Holy Mackerel! I’d finally found P.A.! And not only had I found her, but for some reason, I couldn’t stop staring at her. I don’t think I’d ever seen a cat who was so beautiful!

  Besides that, I could hardly believe she was a real, live princess! When I read the initials P.A. on that first email she’d sent, well, I had no idea she was royalty!

  I took one last look at her and then glanced at the man who carried her on her pink pillow. He had black hair and eyes so brown they almost looked black. To tell you the truth, his eyes looked sort of angry. And mean.

  Cats can sense if a human is a good person or not. And let me tell you, with this guy, I didn’t like what I was sensing at all.

  Beside him walked a woman with long, platinum blonde hair. She had on a diamond necklace, a diamond bracelet, diamond earrings and a big diamond ring. She was absolutely dripping with those big, sparkly gems! Her eyes were ice blue and she looked just as mean as the guy who carried the Princess.

  Another man passed them and said, “Well, Count and Countess Von De Meenasnitzel, do you think the Princess will win again?”

  Then the man, who I now knew was a Count, answered with, “She’d better.” He had a very strong accent that I’d never heard before.

  And the woman beside him, who I now knew was a Countess, said, “Or else.”

  Holy Catnip! Those words sent chills racing up and down my spine. Were this man and woman threatening that beautiful little Princess Alexandra? Right at that moment, I would have bet my next can of tuna that these people were the reason the Princess had emailed us. This Count and Countess were probably the ones putting the Princess in danger.

  The thought of those people harming her made me growl.

  Gracie looked up at me. “What’s wrong, Buckley?”

  My Mom rubbed my neck as she carried me back toward the cage I shared with Bogey. “It’s okay, Buckley,” she whispered. “It’s okay.”

  I only wished that were true. Because things sure didn’t seem okay to me! I could hardly wait to tell Bogey everything I’d learned. And I could hardly wait to come up with a plan to save the Princess.

  After taking the long way around — so Gracie could show off my blue ribbon — we finally got back to our original cat show cage.

  Bogey was there waiting anxiously. He waved to me as Gracie put me in the cage and zipped up the zippers. Then she immediately hung my blue ribbon on the side.

  Bogey’s eyes went wide. “Way to go, kid. I told you people would think you’re cute!”

  I rolled my eyes. “Believe me, I wasn’t all that cute up there. I sort of got carried away and . . .”

  Bogey raised his eyebrows. “And?

  I covered my eyes with one of my huge paws. “And I kind of destroyed the judge’s feather toy.”

  With those words, Bogey rolled onto his side and cracked up.

  “But there’s more,” I said and pulled my paw away. “I found out who P.A. is!”

  That’s when Bogey sat up and got serious. Very serious. So I quickly told him everything that I’d seen. When Bogey heard what her owners had said, well, Bogey got mad, too.

&
nbsp; He grabbed a cat treat from the bag and tossed one to me. “So it sounds like she really is in danger.”

  “Uh-huh.” I munched on the treat. “Now what do we do?”

  Bogey held up his paw. “Well, we’re off to a good start. We’ve figured out who P.A. is. And we’ve also figured out who she’s afraid of.”

  Suddenly I shivered. “I’d be scared of that guy and that lady, too. If I was her.”

  Bogey nodded. “Now we need to find out all we can about the Princess. And the Count and Countess.”

  I looked at my friend. “But how?”

  He pointed to the St. Gertrude Cat Show program just outside our cage. “The volunteers for the cat show have been passing those out. If this Princess is as famous as we think she is, I’ll bet there’s an article in there about her.”

  “Wow,” I said. “Maybe one of us can grab it the next time we go out.”

  Bogey shook his head. “That’ll take too long, kid. Let’s try to get it now. Especially since our Mom and Gracie are busy talking to people about your blue ribbon.”

  Before I could say another word, Bogey stuck his paw next to the tiny opening where one zipper met the other at the bottom of our cage. Then he started wiggling and wiggling, until one of the zippers unzipped just a teensy, little bit. He kept on wiggling, and the opening got bigger and bigger. Finally, he opened it wide enough to stick one claw through. After that, he kept wiggling and pushing, until he’d opened the zippers wide enough for two claws to go through.

  While I watched, Bogey kept up this process until he had an even wider opening. At long last, he was able to stretch his entire paw through the open space.

  Then he turned to me. “Okay, kid, why don’t you give this a try. After all, you’re bigger and stronger than any cat around.”

  I saluted him and nearly scratched the top of my ear.

  A split-second later, I was down on my belly. I used every ounce of strength I had to push one of my big front paws through that opening. Then I moved my paw from side to side, and kept jiggling those zippers until I forced them to open up even more. Finally, the opening was wide enough for me to put both my front paws through.

  “That’s great, kid!” Bogey said before he motioned me out of the way.

  Now Bogey laid on his side and stuck one of his long, skinny arms through the opening.

  He stretched his arm out until he just barely touched the St. Gertrude Cat Show program on the table in front of us. Then he uncurled his claws and hooked the program. After that, he reeled the whole thing in, just like a fisherman reeling in a fish. Once he’d pulled the corner of the program into the cage, I latched onto it and tugged.

  It took a lot of struggling, but eventually we got that program into our cage.

  “Let’s scoot this to the back,” he told me. “So nobody sees us reading it.”

  I helped him do just that. Then I helped him turn the pages. We glanced over all the different articles and schedules just as fast as we could.

  Finally, on page eight, we found exactly what we were looking for.

  Right there in front of us was an article with the title: “Royalty to attend the St. Gertrude Cat Show.”

  Just below the title was a picture of the Princess. She looked just as beautiful as she did when I saw her.

  I pointed my big paw at the photo. “That’s her!”

  Bogey let out a long, slow whistle. “She’s some dame.”

  I nodded. “Oh, yeah, she’s pretty, all right.”

  Then I slid my paw to the article below the picture and started to read aloud. “This weekend’s cat show, held at the St. Gertrude Events Center, will be attended by some very famous cats. Chief among them will be Her Royal Highness, the Princess Alexandra. The Princess is a Turkish Angora cat, who has won so many ribbons and trophies that her owners, the Count and Countess Von De Meenasnitzel of Austria, claim they had to build an award room right in their very own castle.”

  I looked up at Bogey. “A whole room for her awards?”

  He shook his head slowly back and forth. “A castle?”

  Holy Mackerel! I think I was in shock. Somehow I doubted my Mom and Dad would build a whole room for my one blue ribbon. Though a little display case would sure be nice.

  I turned back to the article and kept reading out loud. “Needless to say, St. Gertrude’s is honored to have the Princess and the Count and Countess visit our small town. According to Felicia Fairweather, having a cat like the Princess at the show will truly put the St. Gertrude Cat Show on the map. No doubt she will take home a number of ribbons from our cat show, too. And of course, not only will she be a contender to win in her category — the Purebred and Pedigreed category — but it’s very likely the Princess will be a contender for Best in Show as well.”

  I looked up at my friend. “Best in Show?”

  He nodded. “Yup. That’s when they gather all the cats who have won in every category. And they choose one cat who is the best of all. That cat wins a trophy.”

  Holy Mackerel. I couldn’t even imagine winning something like Best in Show. And I couldn’t even imagine what it would be like to win a trophy. Then again, up until a few minutes ago, I didn’t even know what it was like to win a blue ribbon.

  And now I did.

  I glanced at my ribbon hanging from our cage. Funny, but seeing that award there really made me smile.

  I turned back to Bogey. “So what do we do about the Princess’ case?”

  Bogey stood up and stretched. “Next we need to locate her cage so we can talk to her.”

  I tried to salute him but I only ended up poking myself in the nose. “Aye, aye. But how do we do that?”

  Bogey had just opened his mouth to answer me when another announcement boomed over the loud speaker.

  “Your attention, please,” came the voice of Felicia Fairweather. “The first round of judging for the Agility Competition will start in ten minutes. Please bring all cats with names starting with A through D to the enclosed Agility area.”

  Bogey looked at me and grinned. “Looks like I’m up. And I need you to come with me, kid. I want you to try to sneak out of the Agility area and see if you can find the Princess’ cage.”

  Suddenly I started to shake in my paws. “You do? Couldn’t I just stay here and read some more articles in the cat show program?”

  He shook his head. “No can do, kid. It’s time for us to get serious about saving this Princess.”

  I glanced at the big, wide world outside our cage. “But I thought I was just supposed be cute and distract everyone, while you snuck out.”

  Bogey flexed his claws. “Yup, kid, that was our first plan. But sometimes being a cat detective means you have to shift gears right in the middle of everything. There will be times when you have to think on your paws.”

  Okay, sure, I knew my friend was right. I knew cat detectives had to make some quick decisions on the job. And I don’t have to tell you that I wanted to be the best cat detective I could be. Someday I even wanted to be as good as Bogey.

  Still, right now I was only a rookie. And as a rookie, I didn’t exactly like making sudden changes. It sort of scared me.

  I swallowed hard and forced myself to think of that little Princess. She was probably even more scared than me right now.

  I stood up as straight and tall as I could. “Um, okay,” I said to Bogey. “I’ll try to sneak out and find the cage.”

  He touched me on the shoulder. “You can do this, kid. Trust me. Now, when our Mom comes to pick me up, I want you to grab onto Gracie. Hang on as tight as you can. Don’t let go. Then she’ll have to take you with us.”

  I nodded. “Okay. Got it.”

  A split-second later, I heard my Mom unzipping the door to our cage. “Come on, Bogey. Let’s show them your stuff.”

  Beside her, Gracie practically bounced up and down. “Bogey you’re the best! I know you’ll get a ribbon, just like Buckley did!”

  My Mom picked up Bogey and cuddled him in her arms. Grac
ie petted him and then reached over to zip up the cage.

  That’s when I made my move. Before she could close that zipper, I leapt right into her arms! She had no choice but to grab on to me. And as she did, I wrapped my big, strong arms around her neck. Then I did exactly what Bogey told me to do. I hung on for dear life.

  Gracie laughed and kissed me on the head. “It’s not your turn, Buckley. You’ll have to wait here.”

  She tried to pull me off, but I just kept hanging on.

  She giggled again. “Mom, can we take Buckley, too?” she asked. “I don’t think he wants to stay here by himself.”

  My Mom smiled. “Sure, let’s bring him. Bogey will love having a cheering section.”

  And with that, we were off to the Agility Competition.

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 6

  Holy Catnip! There we were, being carried to the Agility Competition area by Gracie and my Mom. Bogey hung over our Mom’s shoulder so he could look back at me. Gracie walked behind our Mom and I turned forward so I could see Bogey.

  Of course, Bogey and I kept up a constant conversation in our own language. To my Mom and Gracie, I’m sure it just sounded like we were meowing a lot.

  And I do mean a lot!

  “Keep your eyes peeled for the Princess,” Bogey told me.

  “Aye, aye,” I hollered in return. I was going to salute him, but I figured it wasn’t a good idea right at that moment. Especially since I was getting jiggled around a bunch by Gracie as she carried me.

  By now there were lots of announcements coming over the loud speaker. That meant there were also lots of humans carrying their cats to a whole bunch of different events for judging. I wondered if I might see any of my old cat friends from the shelter.

  But so far, I hadn’t seen anyone I knew. Including the Princess!

  Soon we entered a main walkway that led to lots of different stages and events. Along the way I saw more and more cats in cages, all waiting for their own competitions.

  I glanced at Bogey. “If I ever get to talk to this Princess, what I am supposed to say?”