Following Meowth's Footprints

by Alex Polan

  “But cats don’t live in trees. They live in houses! So why didn’t we ever look around Mrs. Applegate’s house?”

  He left Devin with that question as he turned around and hurried toward the house. As he reached the wraparound porch, he slowed down.

  “If I were a cat, where would I be?” he said under his breath.

  First, he looked up. But Mrs. Applegate didn’t have any trees around her property. Good thing, thought Ethan. I’m not much of a climber.

  Then he thought of that stray cat at the cemetery, the one he’d found hiding under the cement bench—the very bench Ethan had been sitting on. So he started looking under things.

  He looked under the hose that was rolled up on a rack near the house.

  He looked under the overturned rain barrel.

  He looked under a tarp that covered a small stack of wood.

  By now, Devin and Brayden had joined him in Mrs. Applegate’s yard.

  “How about under the porch?” asked Devin. “Remember when we had a chipmunk living under ours?”

  Ethan nodded. He took a step toward the porch, and then he heard the tiniest little mew.

  Devin raised her eyebrows. She’d heard it, too. She pointed quietly to a large gap under the porch.

  It was dark, full of cobwebs, and not very inviting. And Devin showed no signs of wanting to look inside.

  So Ethan laid flat on his stomach, hoping the ground wasn’t wet. Then he gazed into the darkness.

  It took a moment for his eyes to adjust. Then he began to make out the cracks of light and uneven textures of dirt and rocks. As he squinted to see farther beneath the porch, he suddenly realized that something was staring back at him.

  Two eyes slowly blinked.

  And then that something released another pitiful mew.

  “He’s here!” Ethan whispered. “Max is here.”

  “Can you reach him?” asked Devin.

  “No way. Not even close,” said Ethan.

  Finding Max was one thing. Getting him out was going to be another.

  Then he remembered the night at the cemetery, when Gianna had lured the stray cat toward the cage with a can of tuna.

  “We need Gianna and her tuna,” he said. “I’ll bet Max is starving.”

  “And Carlo with his cage,” added Devin. “Should I go try to find them?”

  “Good idea,” said Ethan. “Hurry!”

  Devin raced toward her bike, which left Brayden standing in the yard, looking left out and helpless.

  “What can I do?” he asked.

  Ethan almost told him to stay out of it—that everything was under control.

  But lying here on his stomach on the ground, he saw things from a whole new angle. Everything wasn’t under control. Max could fly out from under the porch at any moment. Devin could come back and say that Gianna and Carlo were nowhere to be found.

  So Ethan could keep flinging Poké Balls at Brayden, trying to make him go away, or he could offer him a Razz Berry—and take him up on his offer to help.

  “Could you go get Mrs. Applegate?” he said. “Your scooter is faster than my bike. Do you think you can ride it right now—I mean, with your injuries?”

  Brayden puffed his chest out a little. “I’m on it.” He wasn’t limping at all anymore as he ran across the grass toward his scooter.

  And then Ethan was alone. Alone in Mrs. Applegate’s yard with a very scared, hungry cat.

  CHAPTER 14

  Devin got back first. She dropped her bike and jogged quietly across the grass.

  As she lowered herself onto her stomach beside Ethan, he raised his finger to his lips. “Careful,” he whispered. “Don’t scare Max away.”

  The cat was still staring at him with large, unblinking eyes. He hadn’t moved at all.

  “Oh, I hope he’s okay,” said Devin.

  “Me, too,” said Ethan. “When are Gianna and Carlo going to get here?”

  “Gianna’s right behind me,” said Devin. “But Carlo is working. So Gianna is bringing the tuna—and the cage.”

  Sure enough, Gianna rode up a few seconds later on her brother’s bike, the cage strapped to the back.

  “Carlo isn’t coming?” asked Ethan, fighting a mini panic attack. “Who’s going to set up the cage?”

  Devin shrugged. “We’ll figure it out. We got this far, right?”

  Gianna tiptoed over, holding the cage steady so that it didn’t creak or jangle. She set it down on the grass and then slid off her backpack, reaching into the front pocket for the can of tuna.

  “Should I open it now?” she asked.

  Ethan nodded, keeping his eyes trained on Max. When Gianna pulled back the tab on the can, he saw the cat’s eyes flick toward the sound. Those eyes grew wide—wide and hungry.

  “It’s working!” Ethan whispered. “Put it in the cage.”

  “Here,” said Devin. “I’ll move over.”

  As she rolled to the side, Gianna set the cage down beside Ethan. “I think you should move back a little, too,” she said. “Max doesn’t know you.”

  “Right.” But as Ethan slowly slid backward, he saw Max flinch. Is he going to run? thought Ethan, bracing himself.

  The cat didn’t run. He kept his eyes fixed on Ethan and his nose on that can of tuna.

  “Oh, I wish Mrs. Applegate would come!” said Gianna. “Do you think Brayden is getting her?”

  “I hope so,” said Ethan. But he didn’t take his eyes off Max. The cat was slowly creeping forward, sniffing the air. Paw by paw, he inched toward the cage.

  As Max took his first step into the cage, Ethan could barely breathe. After two more steps, Max reached the tuna. Then, with one last wary glance at Ethan, he sat down and started to eat.

  As he gobbled up that delicious meal, Ethan oh so slowly reached for the door on the front of the cage and slid it closed. Click!

  “We did it!” Devin and Gianna started jumping up and down. Ethan would have celebrated, too, but he didn’t want to scare Max, who wasn’t all that happy about suddenly being locked in.

  That’s when they heard the buzz of the scooter. Devin ran to the street to greet Brayden and Mrs. Applegate, who was flying after him on her bike. She was riding so fast that her hair had come loose from its bun, but her eyes were bright.

  “Max?” she called.

  “We found him!” said Devin. “He’s safe. Max is home, safe and sound.”

  As Mrs. Applegate raced toward her precious kitty, Brayden hobbled toward Ethan. A trickle of blood was drying on his leg from his scooter wipeout, but he had a grin on his face.

  “You did it?” he asked. “You caught him?”

  “We caught him,” said Ethan. “You’re the one who gave me the idea to look here at the house.” Then he did something he thought he’d never do in a million years.

  He gave Brayden a high-five.

  That night at dinner, Ethan could hardly wait for Mom to ask the question.

  She said grace. She asked Dad how work went at the bank today. And she seemed excited to hear that Max had been found. Then she told Devin to please drink her milk and asked Ethan to at least try the spinach.

  Finally, Ethan couldn’t take it anymore. “Mom!” he said in exasperation. “Ask me what I learned from Pokémon GO today. Go ahead, ask me.”

  Mom laughed. “Okay, dear son, tell me what you learned from Pokémon GO today.”

  He cleared his throat, like Dad usually did before saying something important. “I learned that sometimes you have to come at things from a new angle.”

  “You mean like when you’re lying on your stomach under a porch?” asked Devin.

  “Yeah, something like that,” said Ethan, laughing. “But when you’re dealing with annoying pests, too. Like Zubat.”

  “And Brayden?” asked Devin.

  “Right. I mean, he’s always going to be annoying. But sometimes, you just have to toss him a Razz Berry.”

  “Huh?”

  Even Devin looked confused by that one,
so Ethan tried again. “Sometimes you just have to include him in things.”

  “Ah, right,” said Dad. “Good one.”

  Mom seemed impressed by that answer, too, so Ethan figured he was pretty much good on the “What did you learn from Pokémon GO?” question for the next few nights now.

  “How about you, Devin?” asked Mom. “What did you learn from Pokémon GO today?”

  Devin scrunched up her nose. She was in the hot seat now. “I learned that … um … cats live in houses?”

  Mom cocked her head. “Hmm … maybe you’ll have something better tomorrow.”

  CHAPTER 15

  On the way to Dottie’s Doughnuts in the morning, Ethan heard his phone buzz.

  “Devin, pull over for a sec,” he hollered to his sister. After Brayden’s major scooter wipeout, Ethan had been especially careful never to check his phone while he was on something with wheels.

  He pulled to the curb and slid his phone out of his pocket.

  There, on the screen, was a Pokémon egg. “Oh?” said Ethan, reading the word above the egg. “It’s hatching!”

  He loved the part where the egg started to crack and something completely unexpected popped out.

  Devin did, too. She wheeled her bike over to watch.

  But they were both blown away by what came out of that egg.

  “Meowth!” shouted Ethan. “Yes, yes, yes! I can’t believe it! We’ve been looking for him for days now. And then the cool cat just cracks out of an egg when he’s good and ready.”

  “That’s the thing about cats,” said Devin, shaking her head. “Sometimes you have to wait and let them come to you. Hey, speaking of hard-to-find cats, can we stop at the library and say hi to Max?”

  “Sure,” said Ethan. “Do you think he’ll remember us from yesterday?”

  Devin shrugged. “Maybe we should have brought another can of tuna.”

  When they reached the library, Ethan glanced across the street at Dottie’s Doughnuts. “Can we grab a doughnut first?” he asked Devin. “I’m seriously craving a Mankey and a big glass of milk.”

  “No,” she said right away. “Let’s go to the library first.”

  “But, wait, I think I see Gianna’s and Carlo’s bikes in Dottie’s rack. Let’s go get them.”

  “Ethan, just come on!” said Devin, waving him toward the library door.

  “Okay, okay. Why are you being so weird?”

  Ethan parked his bike and followed his sister into the dark, cool building.

  Mrs. Applegate was at the front desk, looking very well rested. And there was Max, curled up on a pile of books as if he’d never been gone.

  “Kids!” said the librarian, jumping up. “I’ve been waiting for you.”

  “You have?” asked Ethan.

  “Yes. Follow me.”

  He turned toward Devin, who didn’t seem at all surprised by Mrs. Applegate’s mysterious behavior. “What’s going on?” he asked Devin.

  She laughed and pretended to zip her lips. She had a secret, and she wasn’t telling.

  Mrs. Applegate led them down the hall toward the activity room. The hallway seemed a lot brighter than Ethan remembered it being. Had Mrs. Applegate painted? Or was it just her good mood reflecting off the walls?

  When she reached the door at the end of the hall, she stopped. “This,” she announced, “is the new Poké GO Room.”

  “You mean Pokémon GO,” Devin corrected her.

  “Oh, yes,” said Mrs. Applegate with a smile. “I’m still learning.”

  She opened the door and let Ethan step in first.

  When he did, the room erupted with noise. “Surprise!”

  Carlo and Gianna were already there, jumping up from a circular table that had been painted half red, half white—like a Poké Ball!

  Ethan spun in a circle to take it all in. He saw framed pictures of Pokémon on the wall. They were Devin’s photos! There was a Jigglypuff by a coffee cup, a Beedrill sitting on a bike seat, and a fox-crossing poster made from her picture of Vulpix.

  When Devin saw Ethan looking at the photos, she blushed.

  “So, wait,” said Ethan. “Was this the mysterious project you were helping Mrs. Applegate with yesterday?”

  Devin nodded, smiling from ear to ear.

  “And you guys were in on this?” he asked Gianna and Carlo.

  Carlo shrugged. “I helped make the table with some paint from the hardware store.”

  “I was pretty much just moral support,” said Gianna. “We figured you could use a pick-me-up after getting locked in the cemetery with your buddy Brayden.”

  “And that whole going-crazy-on-a-helpless-Zubat incident at the doughnut shop,” Carlo added with a grin.

  “Wow.” Ethan sat at the Poké Ball table and ran his hand over the smooth paint. “So we can really play here?” he asked Mrs. Applegate.

  She nodded. “You kids put so much time into looking for Max. I wanted to do something for you in return.”

  As if on cue, Max sauntered into the room, flicking his tail and checking out the new digs.

  “There is one rule, though,” said Mrs. Applegate, holding up a finger.

  Uh-oh, thought Ethan. Here we go.

  “The rule is that every time you come to play, you have to check out at least one book,” said Mrs. Applegate with a smile.

  Ethan relaxed his shoulders. “That’s not so bad,” he said. “My mom will be thrilled with that rule.”

  Devin nodded. “For sure.”

  “Can we start right away?” asked Ethan. He pulled out his phone and looked at Mrs. Applegate expectantly.

  She still looked a bit stern, but her eyes were smiling. “Certainly. I’ll leave you kids to it.” She left the room, with Max trailing close behind.

  Ethan cracked his knuckles and stretched his fingers. “Okay, Spearow, old buddy, old pal. Let’s see how you’ve been doing.” He tapped on the gym, happy to see that it was still blue—ruled by Team Mystic.

  “Are we still the only Defenders?” asked Carlo, plunking down beside him.

  Ethan nodded. He swiped through his own avatar page, with DogBoy918 standing next to Spearow. Then he swiped to the right to see Carlo’s: Carlozard14 standing next to Fearow.

  “Do you want to play, Gia?” asked Devin, offering her friend her phone.

  “Thanks!” said Gianna, finding a spot at the table. Then she said to her brother, “You’re the only two Defenders for now. But as soon as I level up this gym, Giadude99 is going to have her own page, too, with a Beedrill by her side.”

  “I believe you,” said Ethan, laughing. Gianna was already a tough fighter, especially for a player without her own phone. “But when other teams see this Pokémon GO room, the whole gym might be up for grabs. We’d better get busy earning some prestige points for Team Mystic.”

  He knew exactly which Pokémon he wanted to train first. “C’mere, Meowth,” he said. “Let’s see what you’ve got.”

  On the way out of the library, Ethan almost forgot to grab a book. But Devin reminded him.

  “Should we look at the mysteries?” she asked.

  Ethan groaned. “I’ve had enough mystery for a few days. Let’s look for something else.”

  Devin poked through the nonfiction shelf. When she reached the P’s, she slid out a book. “This one is perfect!” she said, showing him the cover. Photography Tips and Tricks.

  “I don’t know, Devin,” he said. “I think you could pretty much write that book already.

  She flashed a proud smile.

  Ethan wandered down toward the other end of the aisle. “How about this one for me?” he asked, pulling a shiny book from the shelf. “Bats and Their Habitats.”

  Devin laughed. “I thought you hated bats,” she said. “What happened to the I Hate Zubat fan club? I was going to make us T-shirts!”

  Ethan shrugged. “I don’t hate them anymore,” he said. “I mean, I don’t love them, but I’m learning to like them a little.”

  “Are you going
to use that one at dinner tonight, when Mom asks what you learned from Pokémon GO?”

  “I don’t know,” said Ethan. “It’s pretty early in the day. Let’s go to Dottie’s and see if I can think of something even better.”

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