An excerpt from In a Dog’s World. If you’d prefer, you can start with Chapter 1, return to the previous chapter, or skip ahead to the next chapter.
Katasha awoke the next morning to the smell of bacon and the sound of Howell talking to Papa downstairs. She could make out their voices but not their words.
“Makes you wonder what they’re talking about, doesn’t it?” Corina said, blinking owlishly from her bed, where she was still mostly under the covers. “I always feel weird when Papa talks to Erik, anyway.”
Katasha nodded. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to rush down and interrupt them or if she wanted to hide upstairs trying to listen in. Not that she could hear all that well. But, if Dominic or Dmitri were downstairs, or at least Mama, she might convince one of them to tell her about the conversation later.
On the other paw, the longer she hid upstairs in her warm, cozy bed, the less she’d get to see of Howell before he had to leave. Also, the more likely that her brothers would eat up all the bacon.
Katasha fretted for a minute over whether she should wear one of her favorite black tunics and be comfortable or whether she should try to be a little more colorful. Maybe wear a dark purple? Then she heard the front door open and swing shut with its characteristic slam. She froze, listening closely. She couldn’t hear Howell’s voice anymore, so she threw on the closest tunic — one of the black ones — and rushed for the stairs.
The front room was empty downstairs, so Katasha headed for the kitchen. She stepped quickly enough her claws scrabbled on the wooden floors.
“Good morning,” Papa said from the kitchen table. Dominic stood at the stove, heating a skillet of eggs. There were a few pieces of bacon left, but Howell was gone. He must have been the one that she’d heard leaving by the front door.
“Oh no,” she said, wondering if she could still catch Howell before he got in his car. Or maybe he’d merely gone out to get something? With a sinking sensation, Katasha heard the revving of an engine outside. She heard his car pull away. Her heart began to sink, though, she had to admit to herself that she hadn’t wanted to stumble awkwardly through talking to Howell in front of Papa. She wanted to go back in time to last night. Or forward in time three months.
“Katasha,” Papa said, looking serious and drawing her back to the actual minute she existed in right now. “That was a very nice young man.”
There was very little Papa could say that would vex Katasha more than missing out on seeing Howell off had. Even so, she wasn’t sure how she felt about her papa liking Howell. If it would get her out of her summer’s worth of penance, it was good. Otherwise, she was skeptical. He didn’t usually like dogs.
“Yes,” Katasha said, carefully. “I thought so. I didn’t expect him to leave so early. Did he say why he had to go?”
“He’s a college man,” Papa said, staring steadily at Katasha with his slightly crossed blue eyes. Papa was about as purebred Siamese as they came. “You don’t expect him to play with kittens all day, do you?”
The fur at the nape of Katasha’s neck bristled. She’d be a “college woman” herself in just a few months, and her papa still treated her like a kitten with her eyes closed. “He spent yesterday playing with kittens,” she said, angrily. Then, deflating, she added softly, “I can’t believe I have to wait all summer before I can go to Isleywood.”
Now all those questions Corina had pestered her with were starting to make sense. Would Howell be her boyfriend when she got to Isleywood? She didn’t know. They hadn’t talked about it. There hadn’t been time between the loud music, the chattering siblings, and all the dancing. But his arms around her last night… that must have meant ‘yes’?
Katasha helped herself to the remaining bacon and asked Dominic if she could have some of his omelet. He threw in a few more eggs.
Katasha joined Papa at the table with her plate of scavenged bacon.
“Howell said there’s a program for cats to start their first academic year at Isleywood a month early,” Papa said.
“Early?” Domnic asked, bringing two plates of omelet to the table. He slid one plate over to Katasha and sat down to devour the other himself. “Before summer’s over?”
“Right, it gives the cats a chance to know one and other before all the dogs get there,” Papa said. “Get their groundings. Get a head start. From what Howell was saying, it sounds like a good program.”
Katasha glowered. She liked the idea of leaving home and getting to Isleywood early, but she was a lot less crazy about the idea of being isolated there with only the other cats. “It’s just cats?” Katasha asked. She especially hated the implication that cats needed a head start to keep up at Isleywood.
“I assume there are some professors and upperclassmen as well,” Papa said, “to help orient the new students.”
Katasha brightened. “Is Howell one of the upperclassmen?”
Dominic shot Katasha a glance. He knew what his sister was getting at. Fortunately, Papa missed it.
“Actually, Howell said that he’d be leading a backpacking trip for new Isleywood students the week before school starts. So, no, I don’t think so.” Papa smiled. “Like I said, a fine young man. You do seem to have picked a good school, Katasha. It has lots of enrichment programs and bright, civic minded students if Howell is any example. Although, given how hard they’re working on increasing feline enrollment and retention rates, I have to wonder whether they’re really pursuing the right philosophy.”
“What do you mean?” Dominic asked around a mouthful of omelet. He reached surreptitiously towards Katasha’s plate where the last piece of bacon resided, but Katasha swatted his paw away.
“Well, sometimes,” Papa said, sounding terribly philosophical and pretentious, “when you have to work too hard at something, it means you’re working on the wrong thing.”
“Yeah, I get that idea,” Dominic said, staring Papa down. “But what’s the alternative? Let dogs dominate all the top positions in every field? Relegate cats to being second class citizens because they’re not as good at shouldering their way through canine social hierarchies as dogs are?”
Papa looked angry and then secretive. He mastered his feelings before speaking again. “Your Mama and I have been working inside the canine social hierarchy of society for all our lives. Eventually, you can’t conclude anything other than the structure itself is broken.”
Dominic blinked. “Okay… So… What? Revolution?”
“Mama loves her job,” Katasha said. Mama was a social worker who helped connect underprivileged felines with governmental and independent programs that could help them. “She always says that the two of you are making a real difference for cats.”
“Water through a sieve,” Papa said.
“Well, then, keep on bailing out water,” Dominic said, “If you can keep us afloat, Papa, then Katasha and I will go build you a better boat!”
“Or car and spaceship, respectively,” Katasha said. “As the case may be.”
Papa smiled, but grudgingly. His ears weren’t completely erect. “I suppose so,” he said. “In the meanwhile! I believe Mama’s told you,” he turned to face Katasha, “that I’ll be needing you to work in my office this summer.”
Inwardly Katasha groaned. Outwardly, she played the part of the dutiful daughter, accepting the role her papa assigned her. It would be a long summer.
Continue on to Chapter 9…