The Case of the Jewel Covered Cat Statues

by Cindy Vincent

  “Did you get a good look at them?” I asked my brother. “From the back window?”

  He nodded. “I did, kid. There was only one of ‘em, and I couldn’t see their face. They were wearing a mask, and a big black sweatshirt and pants. And gloves. It could have been anyone.”

  I let out a long sigh. The burglar that Bogey had seen sure knew what they were doing when it came to breaking in. They’d been all ready to do the job. And if we hadn’t been ready like we were, they might’ve even gotten into our house. I knew I probably should’ve been upset about it all. But for the moment, I was just happy our family was safe.

  Even if our Mom and Dad were kind of grumbling by the time they came back upstairs. Luckily, they were too tired to say anything to us. Instead they just went straight back to bed.

  But we kept up our surveillance rounds the rest of the night. And the next day, too, while our family was out of the house. By then, it was Friday afternoon and I was so tired I just wanted to sleep.

  When Gracie and our Mom got home, I figured we were probably safe for a few hours. So I padded right over to my cat bed and flopped down. After all, a growing boy like me needed lots of sleep. And with someone out there wanting to break into our house, I wasn’t exactly getting a lot of sleep.

  I was about to drift off when I heard Gracie bring three pet carriers into the kitchen.

  “Are you ready, Buckley?” she asked.

  Ready? Ready for what? If she meant sleep, I was more than ready. I was almost there.

  She picked me up and gave me a kiss on my head. “We’re going to the Blessing of the Animals this afternoon. At church.”

  We were? I’d forgotten all about that.

  Gracie put me in my pet carrier and shut the door. And our Mom put the Princess and Bogey in their pet carriers, too. I tried to catch Bogey’s eye. But it looked like he’d settled down for a snooze in his carrier already. Then the next thing I knew, we were all being loaded up in our car. If nothing else, I figured I’d get a little nap in along the way.

  That was, until our Mom pulled up in front of Hector’s house. His Mom was waiting for us with Hector in her arms. They got into the car, too, and Hector started to talk right away.

  So much for my plans to take a nap.

  As usual, Hector talked and talked and talked. He talked the whole way to the church. I tried to cover my ears, but it didn’t work. I could still hear him.

  “Do you know about the Blessing of the Animals, Buckley?” he asked.

  But Hector didn’t even give me a chance to answer. Instead he just kept going on and on and on.

  “Oh yeah, I know all about the Blessing of the Animals,” he bragged. “It’s in honor of a guy named St. Francis of Assisi. He loved animals a lot and he really took care of them. All kinds of animals. He saw animals as his brothers and sisters because they were God’s creatures, too. Did you know that, Buckley? Did you?”

  I was about to tell Hector that I didn’t know that. But he didn’t even wait for me to speak.

  “I read what St. Francis said about animals,” Hector said without taking a breath. “I memorized it exactly. He said, ‘Not to hurt our humble brethren is our first duty to them, but to stop there is not enough. We have a higher mission — to be of service to them wherever they require it.’ Bet you didn’t know that, did you, Buckley?”

  By now, I noticed the Princess and Bogey were sound asleep. I sure wished I was sound asleep, too. Then again, I really liked learning about this St. Francis guy. He sounded like a nice guy.

  Thankfully, the church wasn’t very far away. In fact, it was only a few blocks from our house. The building was made from really old stone blocks and had big spires on the front. It had pretty stained glass windows in arch shapes. It was the first church ever built in St. Gertrude, and one of the oldest buildings in town.

  Our Mom parked the car, and Gracie carried me in my pet carrier, while Hector’s Mom carried him. Our Mom carried Bogey and the Princess in their pet carriers.

  A lady held the huge wooden front door open for us. Then we went into a room with lots of old wooden pews. In fact, I saw lots of old woodwork all over the place. There were wooden ceiling beams and carved pillars. There was a little wooden balcony near the front. And the whole place was filled with shiny silver and gold candleholders and crosses. Plus I spotted a big, tall golden goblet right up at the front.

  I noticed all the metal pieces were also decorated with some gems arranged in different designs. Kind of like the statues in the Daunton Exhibit.

  Everything inside that church looked like it was very, very old. Probably because the church was so old. And to tell you the truth, I thought it was pretty in there. I liked being inside that old stone building.

  “We’re in church now, Buckley,” Gracie whispered down to me. “You’re supposed to be really good and quiet in church. Especially when we’re sitting in the pews.”

  I meowed up to her. To let her know that I’d be really good.

  I sure wished Hector would have gotten that message. Because he just wouldn’t be quiet at all.

  “Did you know, Buckley? They use Holy Water for the Blessing of the Animals,” Hector went on.

  Holy Water?

  Holy Catnip!

  That got my attention.

  “Oh yeah,” Hector went on. “They do something called total immersion.”

  “Total immersion?” I managed to squeak.

  “Yeah, that’s right,” Hector said. “I read all about it. That’s where they dunk you in the Holy Water.”

  And that’s when I tried to scramble right on out of my pet carrier. In fact, Gracie almost dropped it when I tried to get out the back.

  Nobody said anything about getting dunked in any water! And I really didn’t like that idea one bit. I didn’t even like getting a bath at home. And our Mom sure didn’t dunk me all the way under when she gave me a bath!

  “Buckley!” Gracie said in a loud whisper. “You’re supposed to behave!”

  She scooted into a pew with me in my carrier. And our Mom came in beside her with Bogey and the Princess in their carriers. Hector’s Mom scooted in next to them.

  I was all for behaving. Most of the time. But not when water or dunking was involved.

  Bogey stretched and started to wake up.

  “Bogey,” I meowed. “Bogey! Do you know what’s going to happen? Quick! We need to escape. You get the Princess and I’ll figure a way out of here!”

  Bogey just tilted his head and looked at me cock-eyed. “What’s got you so shook up, kid? Maybe you’ve been working too hard.”

  Gracie turned to our Mom. “I don’t know why Buckley’s so upset. He was fine until a few minutes ago.”

  Our Mom crinkled her brow. “That is odd for Buckley. He’s usually so good. Maybe if you just take him out and hold him. Give him a nice hug. Maybe he’ll be okay then.”

  Let me tell you, that was all the chance I needed. Gracie had barely opened the door when I practically flew out of that pet carrier. I jumped onto the stone floor and tried to take off. I started sliding all over the place, until I remembered how I learned to run on the marble floor at the Museum.

  Then I took off and ran for all I was worth. I ran out of that room and down a long stone hallway. I could hear people running after me and Gracie yelling for me to come back.

  But I kept on going. I ran through an open door and down another stone hallway. And another stone hallway.

  Until I saw something that made me stop dead in my tracks. That’s when I skidded to a halt. I’d been running so fast that I almost didn’t notice them.

  For there, carved into the very bottom of the stone wall that lined the hallway, were little symbols. Tiny little symbols. Symbols I’d seen before. One was a pointy sun peeking out from a cloud. There was also a flower, a pine tree, and a moon peeking out from a mountain.

  And last but not least, I saw the little outline of a cat.

  They were the same symbols we had seen on the Daunton
statues!

  Holy Catnip!

  CHAPTER 20

  _____________________________

  Holy Catnip! I blinked my eyes a few times, just to make sure I’d seen them right. But no matter how many times I opened my eyes, those little symbols were right there. In exactly the same spot in that long hallway.

  I sniffed at them and felt some cold air ruffle my whiskers. Almost like a little breeze was blowing through there.

  I wanted to look more, but I didn’t get the chance. Hands circled my ribs and grabbed me tight. I looked up to see Gracie.

  And well, she looked a little mad.

  Okay, she looked really mad.

  “I can’t believe it, Buckley,” she said. “I just finished telling you to be good. Then you took off running.”

  Beside her was the minister. He had a nametag on that read, “Pastor Tom.” He was wearing a long white robe with green trim. But I could see a black shirt with a round white collar poking out at the top of the robe.

  “Hello, Buckley,” he laughed. “You’re not the first cat to take off running when he was about to be blessed.”

  Gracie picked me up and held me tight. “Usually Buckley is a very good cat. I don’t know what got into him.”

  Pastor Tom laughed. “Well, don’t be too hard on Buckley, Gracie. Maybe I just need to use some extra Holy Water on him.”

  Holy Mackerel! They were going to use extra Holy Water? Wasn’t getting dunked enough?

  I tucked my head under Gracie’s chin and wrapped my arms around her neck. Then I just held on for dear life. I started to shake really hard.

  Gracie whispered into my ear. “Buckley, there’s nothing to be scared of. You’ll be fine.”

  I would? This sure didn’t sound fine to me. As far as I was concerned, there was a whole lot to be scared of!

  “Are you ready, Buckley?” the Pastor asked.

  “N-o-o-o-o!” I howled.

  “Yes, he’s ready,” Gracie said.

  I turned my head in time to see Pastor Tom pull out a little flask of water. Then he sprinkled a few drops on my forehead and said, “In the name of the Father, Son, and Holy Spirit, I bless Your beautiful creation, this beloved cat, Buckley.”

  Gracie smiled and kissed me on the head. “See, Buckley! Now you’re done. You’re all blessed.”

  I was? That was it? Right about then, I think my chin practically dropped to Gracie’s shoulder. What happened to the dunking in Holy Water that Hector had told me about? What happened to that “total immersion” thing? It turned out there was no dunking at all. In fact, getting blessed wasn’t so bad. It was really kind of nice.

  And well, now I felt kind of embarrassed that I’d gotten so shook up.

  I gave Gracie a kiss on the nose, just to say I was sorry.

  She giggled. “Okay, Buckley, I forgive you.”

  And then, just for good measure, I reached over and climbed up to Pastor Tom. He laughed and took me in his arms. I gave him a kiss on the nose, too.

  “You’re some kind of cat, Buckley,” he said.

  He handed me back to Gracie. “I think the Holy Water did the trick,” he told her with a big smile.

  “I sure hope so,” Gracie said. “Otherwise we might have to bring him back.”

  After that, Gracie carried me back into the main part of the church. Where all the other animals were with their humans. I saw a few big dogs and some little dogs. I saw some hamsters and guinea pigs and ferrets. Plus there were lots of cats. All waiting to get blessed. Just like I got blessed.

  We were almost to our pew when I heard someone meowing out to me. “Buckley, over here!”

  I turned to see our friend Amelia. She was there with her Mom. Boy, Bogey was sure going to be happy when he found that out. Especially when I told him she was only a few pews away.

  “Hello, Amelia!” I meowed back. “Are you getting blessed, too?”

  “I am, Buckley,” she said sweetly. “Even though my Mom says I’m already a blessing.”

  “Don’t worry,” I told her. “You won’t get dunked under the water. It isn’t bad at all.”

  She kind of crinkled her nose at me. “Huh?”

  But I didn’t get a chance to say any more. By then Gracie had already taken me to sit back in our pew.

  Our Mom smiled at Gracie and petted me on the head. “I wonder what got into Buckley.”

  “I don’t know,” Gracie said. “But Pastor Tom blessed him in the hallway. After that he’s been fine.”

  And just to prove that she was right, I gave her another kiss on the nose.

  Bogey stretched and sat up in his pet carrier. “What happened to you, kid?”

  “I didn’t want to get dunked in the Holy Water,” I told him. “And I sort of freaked out and ran off.”

  Bogey yawned. “Dunked in the water, kid? Where’d you get an idea like that?”

  “From Hector,” I told him.

  Bogey shook his head. “That explains it. Don’t believe everything you hear, kid. Especially stuff that Hector says.”

  Boy, he could say that again.

  I leaned closer to Bogey’s pet carrier. “But it turned out to be a good thing that I ran off. Because you’ll never believe what I found!”

  “What was it, kid?” Bogey asked just before our Mom opened his pet carrier.

  But I didn’t get a chance to tell him. Not before our Mom took him out of his carrier and then scooted out of the pew with him. That’s when I noticed lots of people taking their animals out of the pews, too. One by one, they went up to the front of the church. And Pastor Tom sprinkled Holy Water over them, too, and blessed them. Just like he had blessed me.

  Now I watched Hector’s Mom take him up and, of course, Hector talked the whole way. A few minutes later, our Mom brought Bogey back and put him in his pet carrier. Then she took the Princess up. I saw Amelia’s Mom take her up to be blessed, too. The Princess and Amelia smiled at each other on the way back.

  Then Bogey spotted Amelia and he kind of went all goo-goo eyed. I figured now might not be a good time to tell him about the little symbols I had seen carved into the stone wall.

  Once all the animals had been blessed, we were taken into another room for a reception. The dogs had to stay on one side and the cats on another. The rest of the animals were kind of kept in one corner.

  The people had punch and cookies, while the animals got treats. The cat treats were fish-flavored, and I had to say, they were excellent.

  Gracie sat with us, while our Mom and Hector’s Mom chatted with the other cat Moms.

  I had just finished my second treat when another black cat approached Bogey and me. He was wearing a white collar.

  “Good afternoon, fellow felines,” the cat said. “I’m Luke, the church cat. I trust you’re having a grand time at our little party.”

  The Princess perked up her ears and leaned forward. “Why, thank you, Luke. It’s lovely to meet you. And yes, we’ve had a most wonderful time. Thank you for your hospitality.”

  Then she introduced us all. She spoke very smoothly and with such grace. We could always count on the Princess when it came to good manners.

  It just made my heart start to pound like a big drum. Especially when she turned her big, green eyes on me. But I helped myself to another cat treat and I felt a little bit better. Then I noticed Bogey was having a hard time concentrating with Amelia around. I decided I’d better help him get his mind back on things.

  So I turned to Luke. “Everything sure looked nice inside the church. I really liked the candlestick holders and the crosses and the big goblet.”

  Luke smiled. “Thanks, that’s very nice of you to say. We call the goblet a chalice. And all those things were made for our church by one of the people who founded it. A long, long time ago.”

  Suddenly the Princess glanced behind me. I looked to see what had gotten her attention. That’s when I saw a couple of cats huddled together not too far away. They didn’t seem to be mixing with the rest of the cats at a
ll. One was a fuzzy, tan-colored kitten who had her eyes shut. The other was a pure white cat who looked like a Turkish Angora, just like the Princess. Only he had blue eyes.

  They seemed sort of lost in their own world.

  “Do you know those cats over there?” I asked Luke.

  “They’re our special needs cats. Annie and Henry,” he told us. “The people at the church are trying to find homes for them. But it’s quite difficult to find homes for special needs animals.”

  I tilted my head. “What exactly is ‘special’ about them?”

  “Well, Annie is blind and Henry is deaf,” Luke told us.

  Amelia stood up nice and tall and kind of frowned. “They look like perfectly wonderful cats to me.”

  The next thing I knew, she walked right over to Annie and introduced herself. Annie started to purr right away. She lifted her nose to Amelia’s nose and Amelia wrapped an arm around her. Then she and Annie started chatting away. If you asked me, it looked like they were practically best friends already.

  Kind of like me and Bogey!

  Then Bogey grabbed a couple of cat treats and he and I walked over to Henry. Henry didn’t notice us at first. And when he did, he kind of jumped.

  But Bogey grinned and Henry grinned back. I waved at Henry. Henry waved back.

  I put my paw to my mouth and then pointed to a treat. Henry nodded at me and I gave him a treat.

  “There you go, kid,” Bogey said. “The international language of cat treats.”

  “The what?” I asked him.

  Bogey handed Henry another treat. “Nothing, kid. I’ll just let the treats do the talking. I think they kind of speak for themselves.”

  “Oh, okay,” I said.

  Henry made kind of a motion with his paw.

  Luke came over and joined us. “Henry knows some sign language,” he said. “He just said ‘thank you’ with his paw.”

  He did? Holy Mackerel!

  Luke showed us what Henry had said and then he showed us some sign language, too. Before long, we were using our paws to talk to Henry. That was, until Hector came over and joined us.

  Let me tell you, Hector sure didn’t understand the meaning of sign language. Instead he just talked and talked and talked. His mouth kept moving nonstop. Henry helped himself to a few treats and Hector did, too. And for some reason, Henry kept on looking at Hector and smiling. He even started to purr.