The Coffee Shop Downtown

Felice was waiting for us when we arrived. "So you missed your first bus."She winked and arched her back against the corner of the building; its old bricks had strands of cat fur trapped in them in that spot.

"That must be one of your favorite scratching areas," I replied, "judging from the amount of fur you've left behind."

"I like it," Felice confirmed. "I come around here often. When they close at night, they dump all the deli scraps in that dumpster; there's a gap in inthe top where I can slip in and feast on all kinds of tasty things. Then afterward, I enjoy the flavors again as I groom myself." Felice licked her whiskers. "Kind of a nice deal."

"So you're the one who told Kaggla about this place?" I asked.

"And Kaggla told me about your little misadventure getting on the bus out in the County." Felice looked down. "She was worried about you."

"Comet almost got us run over," I admitted.

"That kid on the skateboard had no business being there!" Comet looked indignant.

"You are not the king of the sidewalk, oh mighty hunter," I scolded Comet."This is not your clump of woods behind the field at the house."

"I don't know why I bother coming to these things with you," Comet retorted. "There're too many things to keep track of in this crowded place."

"Because you're bored at home." I smiled at Comet. "Penna knows you comeon these jaunts with me."

Comet twitched his tail in irritation, and stared out at the street. "She just lets both of us do what we want because she's so preoccupied with that baby human of hers."

"He's part Nenmaran too," I reminded Comet.

"Is he black like Kaggla then?" Felice asked.

"No, Kaggla's not Nenmaran; she's Gattonian."

Felice appeared thoughtful. "I think I knew that already."

"I'm sure you did, and just fogot."

Comet's tail jerked back and forth. "Okay, why are we here, anyway? Ididn't mean to start a whole discussion about hominid anthropology."

"Sometimes I just want to rip that collar off of you and let you go backto being a mindless cat!"

"Be nice, Penelope," Felice interjected. "I'm feline too, and I can appreciate how Comet feels; although I don't feel that way myself."

"Then why are we here?" Comet persisted. "Are we just going to talk untilmidnight and then jump in the dumpster?"

"No, we're going to listen to humans talking until midnight," Felice replied. "But first we're going to have a little to eat before we settle into our listening post."

"That's the first good idea I've heard so far." Comet held up his head inself pride. "Where are the goodies?"

"Just follow me." Felice led us through a door in the back of an adjacent restaurant.

I crouched behind a box on the floor. "Aren't you two a bit exposed out there?"

"She has a point." Comet slinked behind a box near him, and peered out at Felice. "Well?"

"Not to worry," Felice assured us. "I've never seen anyone in this room this time of day."

"But I hear voices close by in the next room," Comet protested.

"They're the managers," Felice explained. "The cooks don't get here until much later; closer to the time the restaurant opens."

Comet sighed. "All right. Shall we just take what strikes our fancy?"

"Absolutely not!"

"Why not?" Comet glared at Felice.

"Because … " Felice turned sad and looked at the floor. " …Because another restaurant that I and some of the other feral cats frequented, just like this one, didn't like us around. This food isn't for us, Comet—they don't want us to bother it. A couple of the other cats died very painful deaths from eating something the humans at that other restaurant left out for us."

"So you've brought us here to kill us, like the rats old man Rosser used to put out those small boxes for?" Comet shook his head. "Fine hostess you are!"

"I'm telling you this to protect you!"

"How come you're not dead like those other cats, then?"

"Because the rest of us who are alive figured out how not to leave a trace of our presence."

"Why are you still alive after that—alive to do your figuring out?

"I was sleeping off a large rat I had caught and eaten that morning."

Comet looked over at me and sneered. "Oh you mean like that large rat?"

"You are a mental case." Felice shook her head.

"No, I was just trying to be funny." Comet looked at me with contrition." I know I'm difficult sometimes, but we're really family."

"Speak first, think later," Felice snickered. "You fit right in."

"Even though I'm a mental case?"

"Sure." Felice smiled. "Even though you're a mental case."

"How can you tell which packages are safe?" I asked.

"The ones that are not opened," Felice explained. "I know this even better after I got my collar from Kaggla. You see, humans assume that we will go for the most easily available food—to them, that is something that is opened. For example … " Felice looked around the room and nodded toward a torn package on the floor next to a table leg. " … overthere. See it? Don't touch it! However, if we take one of the unopened packages without disturbing the others, they're likely never to notice."

"How are you so sure about them not noticing?" Comet asked.

Felice looked back over at the stacks of packages on a low shelf under oneof the tables. "Because there are so many different humans who take packages from this room as they're needed during the day. If a stack is down, the humans will just assume that one of the other humans took it."

"Any chance they'd suspect an animal?" I asked.

"No, because animals usually just grab things and let the rest of the pile fall all over the floor. It's a dead giveaway. We know better now."

"What do you do with the package after you take it down from the table?"

"We take it immediately outside and eat it under cover and out of their reach." Felice crept up to a package she had been eyeing and pulled it downfrom the stack.

"I see how you do that!" Comet exclaimed. "You lift it up off the other packages so it won't drag the others down when you take it off the stack."

"You seem like you have a new respect for Felice," I observed.

Comet looked at me and nodded. "Yes I do. Now let's get out of here and enjoy that whatever it is that you took down, Felice."

Felice exited past us at a brisk trot, holding the package in her teeth high off the ground.

Comet and I followed her to an area behind one of the buildings with some tall grass and a lot of cast off human things.

Once under the cover of the area absent of humans, Felice tore open the package with her teeth and claws—and we feasted on its contents.

"Excellent death food." Comet sat back as if waiting for us to compliment him on his wit.

"No, you silly feline," Felice retorted, "excellent dining. Admit it, Comet; it was delicious."

It was obvious to me that Comet resented being bested, but he managed a courageous display of grace with a nod toward Felice.

"It was indeed." Comet's head drifted to the side as he turned away from us with a blank gaze at the nearby grass.

"You look a little sleepy, Comet." Felice's voice was sympathetic and supportive. "Why don't we nap here for a while until it's closer to time for the restaurant to open."

"Yes," Comet replied in a distant voice, "I think that would be a good idea."

I wanted to nuzzle Comet to comfort him, but knew better of it; he would only snarl at me and possibly scratch me, considering the mood he was in. Instead, I snouted a place to lie down and settled in against the side of the human cast off object next to me.

…

"Wake up you two." Felice shook me awake with her paw. "It's time to go in now." Light from a nearby streetlight assaulted my Nenmaran eyes as she nodded toward Comet. "I'd best let you wake him. At least you're more familiar with his moods."

"I have to agree," I replied.

I flicked a pebble toward Comet with my snout. "Wake up, Comet. It's time to go inside."

Comet stirred and began a feline stretch as if it were not I who had awakened him.

Felice started out toward the restaurant, as Comet and I followed her. She stopped underneath the steps to the back door of the restaurant and sniffed a hole in the masonry.

"There are some mice that live under here." Felice looked at Comet as one making a point. "But we won't hunt them now because we have already eaten our fill."
"Suits me fine," Comet replied.

"Good." Felice slipped through the hole and waited for Comet and me to join her. "Okay, now that we're all inside, we now go up through that hole above us that our rodent friends have so considerately gnawed open for us."

"Ah yes," Comet retorted, "but that doesn't preclude us from gnawing on them in the future." He smiled with pride at his wit.

Felice gave Comet a look that was the equivalent of a human rolling his eyes. She turned and leaped up through the hole.

"Come on, Comet, get over it." I turned and followed Felice to the floor above. Once there I watched Comet come through after me, to ensure that he did not stay below and pout.

"There really is a lot more room in here than I thought from your description," Comet observed.

"It's a wide divider," Felice explained. "They have potted plants and other knick knacks on the shelf above us. It draws a particularly talkative group of humans that are fascinating to listen to."

"Can you sometimes tell who they are?" I asked.

"Usually." Felice motioned toward a small space between the shelf and the side walls. "It's too dark in here for them to see us but there's plenty of light out there for us to see them. A very nice arrangement for the most nosey of creatures."

"Like us!" I beamed.

"I like this, Felice," Comet agreed. "You've done well."

"Then settle in and enjoy it. There should be some interesting conversations coming along any time now." Felice gave Comet a look of benign tolerance.

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