The Case of the Jewel Covered Cat Statues

by Cindy Vincent

  “Me, too,” Ranger’s Mom agreed. “Or maybe they could simply hire some people who actually care about the Museum. Instead of caring only about themselves.”

  As they talked, Gracie whispered in my ear. “Did you hear that, Buckley? You’re going to be in the newspaper.”

  I gave Gracie a kiss on the nose. To tell you the truth, I didn’t really care about getting my picture in the paper.

  But I had to say, as it turned out, I sure did like the Museum. A lot.

  Holy Catnip!

  We went past displays that showed the history of the town of St. Gertrude. We saw all kinds of old artifacts in glass cases. Things that belonged to the first families of St. Gertrude, over a hundred years ago. Gracie paused along the way and explained everything to me.

  “Do you see that, Buckley?” she said softly as she pointed into one of the cabinets. “Those are some really old books. And that’s an old violin. Back in the old days, they didn’t have TVs or computers. Instead they sang songs and played music and read books at night.”

  That sounded like a lot of fun to me.

  We moved past more and more displays. All the Moms carried their cats and Gracie carried me. As we went, she kept on explaining things to me and telling me things she’d learned in school. I was so proud of her. She knew lots and lots of stuff, and I really liked listening to her. I gave her a kiss on the nose, just to tell her thank you.

  She giggled and hugged me tight.

  Along the way, people sort of stared and gasped when they saw us. They would glance at our Moms, then at us, and finally they’d walk by with funny looks on their faces.

  One lady even asked, “Why do you have cats with you? I didn’t know animals were allowed in the Museum.”

  But Gracie piped right up and said, “It’s ‘Take Your Cat to the Museum Day.’”

  Another woman said, “I didn’t know about this. Or I would have brought my little Georgie Pie.”

  “Maybe next year,” our Mom told her with a smile.

  Once we’d finished looking at the History section, our little group moved on to some Science exhibits. That’s where we learned lots of things about rocks and minerals. We saw pretty stones in all kinds of crystal formations. Those rocks were in every color you could imagine. Red, green, gold, yellow, blue, pink and purple. I couldn’t stop staring at them, since they were so beautiful.

  Next we moved on to a display about the moon and stars and planets. I really enjoyed this section since I always like looking at the stars at night. It was nice to learn more about stuff that was in outer space.

  Amelia leaned over in her Mom’s arms and touched Bogey on the paw. “Isn’t that a pretty moon?” she asked him.

  But instead of answering, Bogey’s mouth just kind of fell open and he sort of gurgled.

  It was a good thing I’d saved a cat treat. I reached over Gracie’s shoulder and handed it to him.

  “Here,” I told him. “This’ll get you going.”

  He took the treat from me and munched away. “Thanks, kid. I needed that.”

  Of course, Hector talked as loud as he could the whole way. He talked and talked and talked. He talked about the neighbors and something he found out about somebody. Pretty soon I couldn’t keep track of who he was talking about.

  But his Mom didn’t seem to mind all the noise coming from him. She hugged him in her arms and cooed to him like he was a little baby.

  Hector was so noisy that I could barely hear Bogey when he meowed over to me.

  “Okay, kid,” he said. “Are you ready? We’re about to go into the Dinosaur Room.”

  The Dinosaur Room? All of a sudden, I froze. And to think, up until now, I’d been enjoying the Museum so much. Now all of a sudden, it didn’t seem like such a great place.

  I swallowed hard. “Um . . . okay. I guess I’m ready.”

  Bogey glanced at the entryway in front of us. “This is gonna go quick when we walk in, kid. When I tell you to ‘go,’ slide out of Gracie’s arms. I’ll slide out of our Mom’s arms, too. We’ll hit the ground running.”

  I’m sure my eyes went really wide right about then. “Won’t they notice? Won’t they come after us?”

  Bogey grinned. “Not when they see my distraction, kid.”

  “Your distraction?” I squeaked out.

  “Yup, kid,” Bogey said. “You’re gonna love it.”

  He waved to Ranger. “Are you ready?”

  Ranger gave us a little salute. “You bet I am, you guys. This’ll be fun. First time I ever wrangled a dinosaur.”

  “I’m ready, too,” Amelia joined in. “I’ve never played with a dinosaur before either.”

  Now my heart started to pound really, really hard. Wrangle a dinosaur? Play with a dinosaur? What was going on? Were our friends about to do something dangerous? Was this a good idea? I sure didn’t want them to get hurt! Just so we could investigate!

  “Okay, everyone,” Bogey nodded. “Be ready when I give the signal.”

  “But-but-but . . .” I started to say.

  Then I noticed Hector looking over at us. “What are you cats up to? Are you going to do something fun? If you’re going to do something fun, then I want to do something fun, too.”

  And he went on and on and on like that. He got louder and louder. Let me tell you, no matter how hard I tried, I couldn’t get a word in edgewise.

  I turned and cuddled in close to Gracie again. I knew I was supposed to be a big, brave cat detective. But the truth was, I was scared! For me and my friends and my family.

  Gracie held me nice and snug. “Get ready, Buckley. We’re going into the Grand Hall. The Dinosaur Hall. Wait till you see this.”

  But I didn’t want to see anything. I really just wanted to go home. I started to shake like I’ve never shook before.

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 7

  _____________________________

  Holy Mackerel! I could hardly believe it. There we were, about to go into the Dinosaur Hall. Let me tell you, I’ve done some pretty scary things as a cat detective. But none of them were even half as scary as running around with some dinosaurs. I sure hoped this wouldn’t be the end for us. Because I really didn’t want to get eaten by a dinosaur.

  I turned to see a sign on the door that said “Paleontology Exhibit, Grand Hall,” just as our whole group moved into the next room. To tell you the truth, I had no idea what “Paleontology” was. And I didn’t really want to know. Instead, I closed my eyes as tight as I could.

  But then I realized I’d probably better keep them wide open. So I’d be ready in case a dinosaur came after us.

  Funny, but the first thing I noticed once we entered the Grand Hall was the ceiling. It was kind of rounded at the top and it went up about three stories. It was painted with pictures and decorated with gold. I had to say, it was really, really pretty.

  The second thing I noticed was that Hector’s voice sounded ten times louder than normal. With the tall rounded ceiling, his meows echoed all over the place. It was so loud in there I could hardly even think straight.

  But even with all that, there was one thing I noticed more than anything else. Because, right there in front of me, was a gigantic dinosaur. Or rather, the skeleton of a dinosaur. It was so huge that it reached almost all the way up to the ceiling. The whole thing was held up with wires and poles and screws.

  Holy Catnip!

  So this was what Bogey had been talking about? This dinosaur wasn’t alive at all! And it sure wasn’t going to come and get me. Or my friends. Or any of the Moms and Gracie!

  It turned out I’d been scared for nothing!

  Still, until right now, I had no idea how big dinosaurs really were! Not until I saw that skeleton. And let me tell you, they were big! Sure, I always thought I was a big guy, but I was nothing compared to this dinosaur.

  I looked around the room and that’s when I noticed some other, smaller dinosaurs. But these were made out of rubber and wood and stuff. So I figured I was safe from them
, too.

  That was, until Bogey meowed over to me. “Time for our distraction, kid. Ready?”

  I gulped. “Um . . . ready.”

  Now Bogey looked at Ranger. “Ready, Ranger?”

  Ranger put his paw to his forehead, like he was tipping a hat. “At your service. I’ll stay until I see you guys come back.”

  “Go any time you like, Ranger,” Bogey said. “And then wait for my order, kid,” he said to me.

  “Aye, aye,” I told him.

  By now I was dying to find out what distraction Bogey had planned. In the meantime, Hector’s meows just kept echoing and echoing all over the place.

  I watched while Ranger’s Mom walked closer to the gigantic dinosaur skeleton.

  And that’s when Ranger made his move.

  He pushed out of his Mom’s arms and made a flying leap right onto one of the rib bones of that enormous skeleton. Then he dug his sharp claws in and climbed straight up to the backbone. Next he started making his way up the backbones, called vertebrae, like a mountain climber scaling a mountain. He went up one vertebra at a time, clear to the top of that skeleton’s head.

  All around us, people screamed. Ranger’s Mom shrieked and started to jump up and down. Hector got excited and turned up the volume on his meowing. Everything echoed off the ceiling and the room grew louder and louder.

  There was so much commotion going on in that Grand Hall that my head started to spin. People gasped and yelled and shouted. Little kids giggled and squealed. Everyone was looking up at Ranger, who was sitting way, way up on the top of that gigantic dinosaur skeleton!

  All the while, Ranger’s Mom danced around at the bottom of the skeleton and waved her arms. She hollered and hollered for Ranger to come down.

  But he just kind of smiled and ignored everyone as he sat on that dinosaur skull. He yawned, stretched out and licked his paw. I had to say, he sure looked right at home up there! You would have thought he climbed enormous dinosaur skeletons every day of his life.

  Now more people came running into the Grand Hall, probably to see what all the fuss was about. The new people saw everyone else looking up, so they looked up, too. Pretty soon, Ranger had a huge crowd all staring up at him. Some of these people even seemed pretty upset. To tell you the truth, I thought they were making an awfully big fuss about a bunch of old bones.

  Finally, the newspaper people showed up, too, with their cameras. They started taking pictures, and the bright flash of those cameras bounced all around the room. Now, not only was it hard to hear, but it was hard to see, too.

  Gracie kept pointing at Ranger, and she kind of jumped from one foot to the other. But I latched my claws into her sweater and held on for all I was worth. That was, until I saw a black paw waving in front of my eyes.

  It was my brother.

  Bogey nodded to me. “Ready, kid?”

  I nodded back at him.

  Then I caught another movement out of the corner of my eye. Amelia had leaped out of her Mom’s arms and started to climb up one of the smaller dinosaurs. This one was about twenty feet high. Amelia kept climbing until she reached the back, and then sat up nice and tall and pretty. She sort of looked like she was riding a horse. Only this horse was more like a gigantic lizard. One made out of rubber.

  Cameras flashed all around, taking her picture.

  Amelia’s Mom put her hands to her cheeks and gasped. Then she waved her arms and tried to get Amelia to come down.

  Bogey nodded toward a hallway. “Let’s get a move on, kid.”

  I guess that was my cue to go!

  Bogey slid out of our Mom’s arms and I quietly slid out of Gracie’s arms, too. Neither one of them even noticed. They were so busy with all the noise and hubbub, they didn’t even realize we had slipped away.

  But once we touched the floor, we didn’t waste any time at all. Bogey made a beeline to the back of the crowd, right at everyone’s feet. I followed him. He pointed to a sign that read “Daunton Exhibit.”

  And that was exactly where we headed.

  Just as we left the Grand Hall, I glanced back at Ranger sitting high atop that dinosaur skull. He gave us both a “paws up” and a huge grin. All the while, cameras flashed and Hector talked and everyone else made noise, too.

  Bogey ran on and I was about to chase after him. But suddenly Hector jumped onto the same skeleton that Ranger had just climbed. I could barely hear him meowing, “If you guys are going to have fun, then I am, too!”

  The last I saw of Hector, he had made it onto the back of that huge dinosaur. The funny thing was, his voice sounded even louder up there.

  Holy Catnip! This was the biggest distraction I’d ever seen!

  But I didn’t have time to watch any more. Instead, I turned and raced after my brother. Or at least, I tried to race after my brother. Unfortunately, the floor was covered in black and white marble tiles in a checkerboard pattern. The black marble tiles also went up a few feet on the bottom of the walls. And even though marble tiles are really pretty, they’re also very slippery.

  So when I tried to zoom after Bogey, it seemed like I was just running and running and getting nowhere. I couldn’t dig my claws in and get any traction on the floor no matter how hard I struggled! It kind of reminded me of cars that got stuck on our street in the snow. Their wheels would spin, but they wouldn’t go anywhere!

  That’s when I realized I was going to have to do something different. After all, Bogey wasn’t having any trouble running. He was so far ahead of me that he was almost out of sight. So I tried jumping from one paw to the other, landing on the pads of my feet only. That worked pretty well, so I tried it going forward. I started out slowly at first and then I picked up speed. Pretty soon I got used to it and I finally started to zoom pretty fast.

  Thankfully, the hallway was empty and I didn’t come across any people as I raced along. I figured they must have all gone into the Grand Hall when the commotion had started.

  By the time I caught up to my brother, he had reached a “Y” in the hallway. He paused and waited for me to join him. But I was so happy I had figured out how to run on that floor, that I forgot all about stopping. So I came flying in at full speed. And then I put on the brakes — my claws.

  But instead of coming to a stop, I went sliding, sliding, sliding. I skidded clear across that floor, until I ran smack dab into the wall!

  Then I stopped completely.

  Holy Mackerel!

  At least I didn’t get hurt.

  Even so, it wasn’t exactly the kind of thing a guy wants to do when he’s trying to be a really good cat detective!

  Bogey grinned at me. “Like a skating rink out here, isn’t it, kid?”

  I wobbled on over to him. “You can say that again.”

  Though to tell you the truth, I hadn’t actually been on a skating rink before. And well, I wasn’t completely sure what Bogey was talking about. But I guessed he just meant it was slippery.

  Bogey pointed up to another Daunton Exhibit sign on the left. “Looks like it’s this way, kid.”

  And we took off running once more. A few seconds later, we saw the entrance to the exhibit. The only problem was, there was a security guard sitting directly in front of it! He had the back of his chair against the wall, and his feet stuck out into the hallway. All the while, he sat staring at the floor in front of him.

  How would we ever get past him without being spotted?

  Bogey swerved over to the side wall and scrunched down low. I followed him, but this time I slowed way down before I wanted to stop. I slid in right beside him and then sat just as low as I could go.

  I’m sure my eyes were pretty big when I turned to Bogey. “Now what do we do?” I asked very, very quietly. “That guard won’t let us in. And Evaline said we weren’t supposed to go in here.”

  Bogey grinned at me. “Follow my lead, kid. Stay glued to the side,” he said in a whisper. “We’ll blend in with the black tile and sneak in at the back of his chair. Right behind his feet. He won’t
even know we’re there.”

  “Aye, aye,” I whispered back.

  And we did just that. We hugged the side wall, and tiptoed silently toward his chair. When we were just inches away, Bogey zoomed in behind the chair and flew into the exhibit.

  I was just about to do the exact same thing. That was, until the security guard shifted in his seat and moved his feet under the chair. Now his feet were directly in front of me!

  I almost skidded right into them. But thankfully, I was able to stop just a whisker or two away. I stared at the back of his heels, and at his big, black boots. With rubber soles. Funny, but I hadn’t realized how huge his feet were until I came face to foot with them.

  Now how was I going to get in? There wasn’t much room between his boots and the wall. And there wasn’t much room in front of his feet either. And in case you haven’t figured it out — a big cat, big boots, and small spaces don’t exactly go together!

  Holy Catnip!

  Bogey peeked out from behind a cabinet in the exhibit room and shrugged. I looked at him and shook my head. I knew he couldn’t talk to me and give me any advice. If he did, he’d get the attention of the guard and he’d get kicked out. So until I could figure out what to do, I had to stay scrunched next to the wall and wait until I could get through.

  That’s when I heard more footsteps coming from inside the Daunton Exhibit. Bogey jumped behind a display case and I pushed right up against the wall.

  Seconds later, another pair of shoes appeared in front of the security guard’s shoes. This pair of shoes looked nice and shiny. A lot like the kind of shoes my Dad wears when he goes to work.

  A deep voice echoed above me. “There isn’t anyone in the exhibit right now, André! What’s going on?”

  “Sorry, Mr. Bygones, but I guess there’s some kind of incident in the Grand Hall,” the security guard said.

  Mr. Bygones? Byron Bygones? Wasn’t that the name of the Museum Curator? The person who ran the whole place?

  “An incident?” Mr. Bygones repeated. “Ah, yes, I shouldn’t be surprised,” he said, with a smile in his voice. “After all, I am expecting some people to show up. And they would most likely create a distraction. So they would have access to the exhibit. Alone.”