The Case of the Cat Show Princess

by Cindy Vincent

  Now I tried not to stand directly on that role of papers that was just below my bottom blanket.

  But I didn’t have to worry about that for long. Because we’d barely gotten to the show when we heard an announcement over the loud speaker. Bogey and I were already being called to our first round of competition. I guess the people running the cat show were trying to make up for lost time. Probably since the show had closed down a little early the night before.

  So the next thing I knew, I was waving good-bye to Bogey. Our Mom was carrying him off to the Agility Competition area. And Gracie carried me off to the Cutest Family Pet Competition Stage. We didn’t even get a chance to say “Good Morning” to our friend Ranger.

  Minutes later, I was back in a cage on the same stage where I’d been yesterday. But this time, I watched carefully as Gracie opened and closed the little latch on the wire cage door. That’s because I was supposed to figure out those latches, as part of our plan. And let me tell you, those latches were not hard to figure out. It was just one little metal bar that was pushed open and closed.

  So when Gracie headed for her seat in the audience, I quietly practiced opening and closing the latch. It was as easy as pie.

  At least one part of our plan was going to be simple!

  I turned my head and spotted Amelia being carried my way. She was frantically swimming with her arms again, trying to steer her Mom in my direction.

  “Don’t worry,” Amelia’s Mom laughed. “I’ll put you next to Buckley. You two are really getting to be good friends.”

  As promised, Amelia’s Mom put her in the cage beside mine. But we only had time for a quick paw bump before the competition started. We both turned to watch Seymour Katts start the judging already.

  Holy Catnip!

  I blinked my eyes and tried to focus. After all, I’d been up half the night so I was a little tired. Plus, I’d barely had enough cat kibble to start the day. Clearly this was going to be one of those days when I needed extra cat treats to keep me going.

  So how would I ever pull off my “cute routine” when I was this tired?

  I only wished I had as much energy as Amelia, because she was raring to go. The judge pulled her out and let me tell you, she put on quite a show! She tilted her head, licked a paw, meowed for the audience, and purred for the judge. Obviously, she was going all out on this competition. I smiled and cheered for my friend. It made me happy to see her doing so well. Especially after what had happened to her yesterday.

  Then came my turn. I kept remembering what Bogey and Lil had told me — that I had to win all my rounds. Our plan depended on us being in the Best in Show Competition.

  So I put on a show like I’ve never put on before. I sat with a paw raised, tilted my head and meowed a nice, long good morning to everyone.

  Just as soon as the audience went “aaaahhh,” I knew I had them in the palm of my paw. I purred and chirped and then stood on my hind legs to grab the feather wand. It took all my strength, but I even managed to stay standing up for almost ten seconds! That’s when everyone started clapping.

  Finally, I knew I needed a move that would seal the deal. So I reached up and gave the judge a kiss on the nose. That brought big applause from the audience!

  I hoped I’d done enough when the judge put me back in my cage. But I didn’t have long to wait, because he started passing out ribbons right away.

  When he got to the Second Place ribbon, he stopped right in front of Amelia’s cage. He put the red ribbon on the side.

  “Yay, Amelia!” I cheered. “You did so great! You’re really getting the hang of this cat show stuff.”

  “Thanks,” she meowed, seconds before the judge stopped right in front of my cage.

  He shook his head and smiled. “Buckley, I don’t believe the St. Gertrude Cat Show has ever seen a cat quite like you. You’ve won again!”

  Then he hung a blue ribbon on the side of my cage. Even though I’d already won two of them, I still wasn’t used to seeing those blue ribbons. I flopped over on my side and blinked a couple of times. Just to make sure it was real.

  Everyone clapped like crazy! In the background, I could hear Gracie screaming with joy. Seconds later, she was opening my cage. Amelia and I barely had time for a paw bump before Gracie grabbed me. She hugged me just as tight as she could and then she started spinning. Around and around we went.

  “Oh, Buckley, I’m so proud of you,” she kept saying as we turned and turned and turned. “I’m so happy!”

  I guess I was pretty happy, too. But mostly at that moment, I was just dizzy. Really dizzy. And all I could do was hold on for dear life.

  Holy Mackerel! I was sure looking forward to the day when Gracie outgrew her spinning phase!

  She kissed me on the top of my head. Then she went skipping back to our cat show cage with me. I just wrapped my arms around her neck and tried to focus my eyes again.

  We were almost to our cage when I saw my Mom turn the corner with Bogey. She carried him in one arm and a big blue ribbon in another.

  I’m sure my eyes went wide right about then. “You won!” I said to my friend.

  He grinned. “I smoked ‘em, kid. One down and one to go.”

  “Good job!” I meowed.

  He saluted me. “Back at ya, kid! Looks like you won your round, too!”

  Funny, but I noticed that Bogey never had a problem with saluting. If only I could be just like that one day.

  Gracie and our Mom put us into our cage. As usual, Bogey sneaked a cat toy between the zipper openings before my Mom zipped it up. Then Gracie immediately went to work hanging our new blue ribbons on our cage. Of course, she’d absolutely insisted on bringing all the ribbons from yesterday, too. Once she had all six hanging in the front, we could barely see out.

  But that also meant that nobody could see in, either. Not that anyone was paying attention to us anyway. Right at that moment it seemed like everyone wanted to talk to our Mom and Gracie. Lots of cat Moms wanted to talk about our ribbons and the missing jewelry and all kinds of things. A few minutes later, the whole group had wandered down the row and out of sight.

  That’s when we saw Lil’s black and white head peek out from under our table.

  “Excellent work, Detectives,” she quietly meowed up to us.

  Bogey pulled the cat toy out from the zippers and dropped a cat treat down to Lil.

  “Much obliged,” she said with a nod. “Are you ready to put our plan into place? We don’t have much time. We’ve got to hurry.”

  Bogey started to work the zippers open. “You got it, Lil.”

  I helped him and the job went a lot faster. “I’m ready,” I said. Though to tell you the truth, I wasn’t sure exactly how ready I really was.

  Seconds later, Bogey jumped to the floor and I followed him. We met Lil under the table.

  “Okay,” Bogey said. “Just so we’re clear, Lil and I are heading for the back room to find the fuse box. We’ve got to make sure it’s open and that Lil can reach it when the time comes.”

  I nodded. “And I’m heading over to talk to the Princess.”

  Bogey passed out the cat treats. “You got it, kid. Then get back here just as quick as you can.”

  Lil glanced out into the row. “Good luck, Detectives. Let’s make this work.”

  And with those words, we were off. Bogey and Lil ran along under the tables and I headed for the Princess’ cage. For once, I found her when she was all alone.

  I jumped up to her table and hid behind her curtain. But this time I pulled my tail in with me.

  “Buckley!” she practically cried out. “I’m so glad to see you again.”

  And then she looked at me with those big, green eyes. For a few seconds, I couldn’t say a word. My heart started to pound and I couldn’t think about anything but those beautiful eyes.

  But then I remembered what Mokie had told me the night before. How sometimes the fear of failing can make us do an even better job. And today I was going to save the Prince
ss. No way was I going to fail again.

  So I shook my head and I concentrated.

  “I’m so happy to see you, too, Princess. But I can only stay a few minutes. I just wanted to let you know that we have a wonderful plan. And I need you to do a couple of things so we can pull it off.”

  She blinked her long lashes. “Anything, Buckley.”

  I took a deep breath and tried hard to concentrate. “I need you to win your next rounds in the competition. It’s important that you’re in Best in Show.”

  She nodded. “I can do that. I know how to win my rounds.”

  Now I tried to make my voice sound kind of firm, just like Bogey did sometimes. “And then, during the Best in Show Competition, I’m going to ask you to jump. This time I need you to jump when I tell you to jump. Okay?”

  She hung her tiny head just a little bit. “I will, Buckley. This time I’ll jump. I’m so sorry I didn’t jump in time yesterday.”

  I smiled at her. “It’s okay. We all get scared sometimes.”

  “I know,” she said. “But I’m not scared any more. That’s why I’m going to tell you something.”

  I tilted my head. “Huh? What do you want to tell me?”

  Tears formed in her eyes. “I’m so ashamed, Buckley. But I have to show you this.”

  She pulled over her pink satin pillow. The one she always rode on. I hadn’t noticed before, but there was a little zipper on the side. The Princess hooked one of her claws in the zipper pull and slowly opened the zipper.

  All of a sudden, a whole bunch of shiny things fell out. And before I knew it, stars danced in front of my eyes. I saw sparkles and light flashes like I’ve never seen before.

  The more I looked, the more I realized what the sparkly things were. The missing jewelry!

  I felt my heart go “thunk-thunk-thunk,” and it seemed like I couldn’t breathe for a few seconds.

  Finally, I forced myself to take a deep breath.

  “How . . .” was all I could manage to say.

  The Princess nibbled on her claw. “He takes them. The Count does. And sometimes he makes me take jewelry, too. I never wanted to do any of it. I know stealing is wrong. Really wrong. But if I didn’t do what he said . . .”

  I raised my paw to let her know she didn’t have to say any more. After all, I’d heard all I needed to know.

  “I understand,” I told her. “Once we get you away from him, you’ll never be forced to steal again.”

  She sighed. “That sounds so wonderful.”

  It sounded wonderful to me, too. But first I had to figure out what to do with all that jewelry. And fast!

  Holy Catnip!

  I didn’t know whether I should take it with me, so all the Mom’s could have their jewelry back. Or, whether I should just leave it. Because if the Count found it missing, he might know we were on to him.

  And that’s when I made a decision. I even came up with a plan of my own. One that would fit into the plan we already had into place. Only, my part of the plan could make our first plan even better.

  As long as it went off okay.

  I pointed to the pillow. “I’d like you to stuff all the jewelry back inside again. Then can you make sure the pillow comes with you to Best in Show?”

  She nodded. “I will, Buckley. He takes me everywhere on my pillow. So it won’t be a problem.”

  “Great.” I smiled at the Princess, just to give her some hope. “I’ve got to run now, but I’ll see you later. Okay?”

  She batted her lashes again and then stared at me with her green eyes. “Okay, Buckley. I trust you.”

  I gulped. She did? I only hoped that I proved to be trustworthy. And I sure hoped that my part of the plan was going to work. In fact, that was all I thought about as I zoomed back to my own cage. Just to be on the safe side, I figured I should run it past Bogey as well.

  But Bogey wasn’t back yet when I jumped into our cage again. Funny, but the cage sure did seem empty without him. Especially since I was dying to talk to him.

  I took a deep breath and helped myself to a cat treat. Then I tried to calm down. After all, cat detectives were supposed to be calm and brave. And I was supposed be thinking about the next round of the Cutest Family Pet Competition.

  I gulped. Because one thing was for sure — I had to win that final round. Our plan depended on it.

  Holy Mackerel!

  CHAPTER 15

  Holy Catnip! It felt like a half an hour had gone by, and Bogey still wasn’t back. By now I was starting to get a little frantic. So I grabbed another cat treat and decided to say hello to Ranger while I waited.

  “Good to see you again,” Ranger said when he pulled up his back curtain. “How goes the case?”

  I passed him a cat treat. “We’ve got a great plan. But in order to pull it off, Bogey and I need to be in Best in Show.”

  Ranger’s eyes went wide. “You do? Wow!” Then he pointed to the three red ribbons that hung on his cage. “I’m pretty close to Best in Show myself.”

  “Good job!” I said.

  That’s when I remembered that Ranger was in the same category as the Princess. She must have been winning the blue ribbons while he kept winning the reds.

  Ranger lolled over onto his side. “I’ll try to win another red ribbon on my last round. So I’ll be at Best in Show, too. And I can help you guys out if you need me.”

  I passed him another treat. “Thanks. It never hurts to have some extra help.”

  Then I told him all about our plan. I was just about to tell him about the part that I’d come up with by myself. But before I could say a word, Bogey suddenly showed up.

  Of course, when I say that Bogey showed up, well, let me tell you — that was a major understatement! Instead, I should say that Bogey practically flew up into our cage in a big, black streak!

  He barely said hello to me and Ranger before he turned and hooked a claw into one of the zipper pulls. He pulled that zipper tight. Then he hooked a claw into the other zipper pull and pulled it tight, too.

  “Did everything go okay?” I asked him.

  Bogey shook his head. “It was a tough one, kid. But I think we got it figured out. Lil and I had to push a bunch of boxes around. So she’d have something to climb on to reach the fuse box. But it wasn’t easy to get things in place. Too bad we needed you to go talk to the Princess. Because we sure could’ve used a big guy like you with us.”

  I looked at him with wide eyes. “Wow,” was all I could say. Who knew my size might actually come in handy sometimes?

  I smiled to myself and glanced outside our cage. That’s when I saw our Mom and Gracie heading our way.

  I gulped. If I was going to tell Bogey what I’d added onto our plan, it had to be right now.

  I bounced onto my feet. “Bogey, there’s something I’ve got to tell you.”

  But I’d barely gotten the words out when our Mom unzipped our cage.

  Bogey shook his head. “Sorry, kid, no time. It’ll have to wait until we’re done.”

  Our Mom picked up Bogey, and Gracie grabbed me. Bogey and I meowed a quick “Good Luck!” before we were carried off to our last rounds.

  I don’t think I’d ever been so nervous in my life. I wrapped my arms around Gracie’s neck and cuddled in close. I knew full well that if I didn’t win this round, our plan would never work. That meant I had to be cuter and more adorable than ever before.

  Gracie held me nice and tight. “It’s okay, Buckley. You’ll do great. You really are the cutest cat. On the inside as well as the outside. And it’s more important to be cute on the inside. I’m so proud of you.”

  I purred into her neck. It was always nice to hear things like that.

  But it didn’t stop me from being nervous. And if I thought I was nervous before, well . . . that didn’t even compare to how nervous I felt after Gracie put me into my cage on the stage. That’s when another cat Mom brought in one of the cutest cats I’ve ever seen in my life. Things went from bad to worse when I heard her call
him by his name — Cutie Pie!

  Holy Catnip!

  He was a fuzzy apricot color, with medium length hair. He had blue eyes and kind of a pouty face. Every time he moved his head, he just looked cute, cute, cute.

  I covered my face with my paws. How in the world could I ever compete with a cat named Cutie Pie? The judge would probably give him the blue ribbon just for his name alone!

  I sighed and felt my heart practically sink down to my feet. Then I heard Amelia’s voice coming from the cage next to mine.

  I looked up and gave Amelia a paw bump, but my heart wasn’t really in it.

  Amelia gasped. “Buckley! What’s wrong? I’ve never seen you so upset.”

  I shook my head. “Take a look at the last cage.”

  “Cutie pie?” Amelia took a deep breath. “Whoa, that cat is cute.”

  That’s when I told Amelia the whole story. I told her all about our plan. And I told her how I needed to go to Best in Show.

  Amelia smiled at me. “Don’t worry, Buckley. I don’t mind if I don’t get a ribbon. I’ll try not to win this time. As long as you get Second Place, you’ll still be in Best in Show.”

  My mouth fell open and I think my chin almost hit the bottom of my cage. “No way! You can’t hold back on winning just to help us. But thanks anyway for offering.”

  She flexed her front paw. “What are friends for?”

  I smiled at Amelia. She really had become a good friend over the last couple of days. And it sure was nice of her to make an offer like she did. But I didn’t want her to lose out just so I could do my job. No, instead I knew I’d have to win by putting on the best show of my life. And now I wondered if what Gracie had said was true. Was it really more important to be cute on the inside?

  I looked over at Cutie Pie. Apparently he hadn’t gotten that message. Because, all of a sudden, he wasn’t acting so cute. Instead, he was staring at me with squinted eyes. A few seconds later, he started to snarl.

  I could hardly believe it. I shook my head and blinked my eyes to make sure I’d seen him right. But when he kept on snarling, I knew there was nothing wrong with my eyesight. Especially when Cutie Pie meowed over to me.