The Girl with the Cat Tattoo

Chapter 21

Sunday morning and all was well in Max’s world. Joe and Melody were slowly waking up, and Max was lying on top of Joe’s clothes, which were in a pile on the floor, right in the sun. That perfect patch of sunlight that felt so good. In a few more minutes Max would begin to get annoyed. He might have to start walking across the bed and pawing at some faces, but right now… Right now was perfect.

Thirty minutes later, Melody and Joe were in the kitchen. Melody wore her pink cat pajama bottoms and a tank top that exposed the shoulder tattoo of Max. It was a wonderful tattoo.

Joe wore a gray T-shirt and plaid pajama bottoms. Coffee was percolating, eggs were sizzling in the pan on the stove, and Max had just finished off a can of cat food. He was ready to watch the activity on the street, but the door to the screened-in porch was closed. He scratched and meowed.

Melody unlocked the door, and Max slipped through the opening. “Oh, wow. Come see this, Joe.”

Joe appeared at her elbow, and pretty soon both humans were looking at something beyond the front door.

“That cat looks exactly like Max,” Joe said.

“I know.” Melody took a quiet step closer to the screen door. “If Max wasn’t right here next to me, I’d swear it was him. Same black mustache and all.”

Max jumped up on the windowsill so he could see what they were talking about. And there she was. Max’s sister. The Ellen gig had paid off. Life was good.