Operation Cat Tale: The Childhood Legends Series

Jefferson City is a sleepy town and a well-kept secret until oil is discovered on the outskirts. Now it seems to attract everyone—and not all are people I want where I live.

My nickname is Genius and together with my friends, the Are you One Toos (R*U*1*2s), we’ve taken it upon ourselves to rid our town of a daring and brazen burglar dubbed The Cat.

You never know what can happen in Jefferson City. I have a feeling Operation Cat Tale is only just the beginning of our adventures.

OPERATION CAT TALE

Copyright © 2016, 2017 Judith Blevins & Carroll Multz

All rights reserved. Except as permitted under the U.S. Copyright Act of 1976, no part of this publication may be reproduced, distributed, or transmitted in any form or by any means, or stored in a database or retrieval system, without prior written permission of the publisher.

This book is a work of fiction. The characters, incidents, and dialogue are drawn from the author’s imagination and are not to be construed as real. Any resemblance to actual events or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

Published by Barking Frog 

an imprint of BHC Press

Library of Congress Control Number: 

2017946917 

Print edition ISBN numbers:

ISBN-13: 978-1-946848-60-4

ISBN-10: 1-946848-60-3

Visit the authors at:

www.bhcpress.com

Chapter One

D Double Dirty Dog Dare Ya

Chapter Two

The Cat Emerges

Chapter Three

Setting The Trap

Chapter Four

The Cat Is Caged

Chapter Five

The Scheme Unravels

Chapter Six

End Of The Line

Your authors hope this novel and the others achieve their intended purpose: to inspire, enlighten and entertain.

If it weren’t for the roles in which we were cast and the environment in which we were placed, including those who influenced us along the way and are still our beacon, we would not have been inclined to write the Childhood Legends Series®. Special thanks to them and to Margie Vollmer Rabdau for their prodding, advice and technical assistance.

And, last but not least, to our publisher, BHC Press, our continuing gratitude.

Cole, Emily, Joey, Kate, Kirsten, Logan, Taran,

Trenton, Bridget, Hannah, Irina and Caroline.

Our newly formed club, the Are You One Toos (R*U*1*2s for short), has close to two dozen members (twenty-two to be exact) ranging in age from five to twelve years old. All the members live in and around our neighborhood and each was instrumental in converting an old apple shed into a fitting club house.

Homer Pearson, Rhymin’ Sally’s father, gave us permission to use the shed as a clubhouse after Sally, a precocious five-year old, was threatened by a band of thugs. It is exactly ten months to the day that Sally was rescued from the lawless group, who as it turned out, had been cruising our neighborhood looking for something to steal or destroy. They descended on the apple stand on the edge of the apple orchard manned by Sally and her mother like a swarm of bees. Apparently, the thugs had staked out the stand as a target and, when Sally was left alone while her mother sought to replenish the apple supply, they struck.

The thugs would have made off with the cash drawer had it not been for a group of neighborhood youngsters returning from a school function and who just happened to be passing by the stand. Seeing what was happening, they immediately sprung to Sally’s aid. I am proud to say I was part of that group. We struggled with the intruders before the thugs were frightened away by Sally’s mother who, after seeing what was taking place, used her cell phone to summon Sally’s father. When Sally’s father arrived and was told about the heroic actions, he praised us and a bond was forged between the Pearsons and our neighborhood group.

What can we do to repay you? Homer Pearson had asked.

Aww, it was nothing. We don’t need to be repaid, I replied.

However, when Sally’s father was persistent and insisted he be given the opportunity to repay us, I pointed to an abandoned apple storage shed that had stood vacant for a number of years in the middle of the Pearsons’ apple orchard and said, We are in the process of forming a club to occupy us for the summer and could use your apple shed as a clubhouse.

It’s yours, Sally’s father replied without hesitation. I’ll meet you at the apple shed tomorrow at noon. We, that is the Pearson three, will have lunch waiting for you and your friends and we’ll explore what needs to be done to fashion that dilapidated old shed into a suitable clubhouse.

Yippee! we all shouted.

The next day, with some of our fellow classmates, neighbors and friends, we descended upon the orchard. There were at least twenty-two in number. And, as promised, the Pearsons had lunch waiting. After everyone had settled in, Sally asked each of us, one-by-one, if we were one of the heroes who had rescued her the day before.

Are you one too? I remember her asking. And so, it came to pass that the name of our newly formed club was conceived. From that point forward, we would be known as the Are You One Toos (R*U*1*2s). All those present, including Sally, became the coveted charter members.

With the help of Homer Pearson, we furnish the clubhouse with empty packing crates and other odds and ends we gather from our families. Our mothers take turns providing sandwiches, drinks and snacks. It’s cool inside the converted apple storage shed because the apple trees outside provide shade and a persistent breeze wafts through the open door and windows as if on cue.

The clubhouse is soon jammed with an assortment of games and books. During these summer months, Shacoo and I take turns reading to our fellow R*U*1*2s. Our seventh grade teacher to be, had challenged us to do something over the summer to promote education in our respective neighborhoods. At first, we did this to satisfy the homework assignment but it was not long before we discovered it was not only educational but fun as well.

Everyone looks forward to our reading sessions. The reading sessions have not only became a hobby, but an obsession, and needless to say, our parents are delighted that we are not whittling away our time or getting into mischief.

OH, BY THE WAY, my name is Robert Bailey. Robert Princeton Bailey to be exact. Both of my parents are M.D.s and I suspect I inherited some of their intelligence. Because I was at the top of my class, the R*U*1*2s refer to me as Genius. I enjoy sharing my knowledge with the R*U*1*2s when we gather at the clubhouse for lessons or just to read. We cover a myriad of topics: history, travel, geography, and classic tales such as Tom Sawyer, Huckleberry Finn, Old Yeller and Where the Red Fern Grows. One of my closest friends and fellow classmates, Shacoo Bandaris, is also a good student and helps me with the lessons and the readings.

Shacoo and I attended all six grades of school together. When we first met, I asked her about her name because it was so unusual. She related to me the story told to her by her mother. When her mother was still in high school, she had gone on a senior trip with her classmates to an isolated island in the Pacific. The word shacoo in the island’s dialect meant I love you. Her mother was so captivated by the natives and culture that she decided if she ever had a daughter she would name her Shacoo. Sure enough, she had a daughter and now you know how Shacoo got her name.

Shacoo tells me that she especially loves listening to me read. She says that my renditions, which are usually accompanied by beguiling animation, are entertaining as well as enlightening. She says it is like having Mr. Rogers right there with us except that the R*U*1*2s have the option of interrupting to ask for clarification when they don’t understand what is being said. Shacoo’s mind is like a sponge and, she not only absorbs everything but remarkably, retains it. Between the two of us, we have all the bases covered. What one doesn’t know, the other does. We delight in sharing our knowledge with the other members who sit transfixed for about an hour or so but then grow restless, clamoring to go outside and play.

When school begins again in the fall, all of those who live on Melrose Lane and the surrounding area eagerly return to school. At day’s end, all of us just as eagerly return to the clubhouse to help one another with our homework, play games and hold educational sessions aimed at making us better students. Some of the things we consider a drudgery at school we consider a delight at the clubhouse. It’s like wanting to sleep in on school days and wakeup at daybreak on weekends and days we could sleep in.

When we arrive at the clubhouse, there are usually treats waiting to be sampled. I suspect the Pearsons not only provided us with a clubhouse but the freshly baked pastries that find their way to the clubhouse.

Among the most popular topics covered in our sessions are revelations about the Solar System. I explain that everything in the Solar System orbits around the sun. In addition to the planets, the Solar System, I explain, also consists of moons, comets, asteroids, minor planets, dust and gas. "Although there are only eight planets, the Solar System is made up of many worlds that are every bit as fascinating as ours, some of which are actually larger than our own planet.

"Asteroids, on the other hand, are made up of thousands of particles. Some asteroids are too small to be planets while others still can be 50 to 100 miles across. Comets are mostly frozen gas and dust. Sometimes they are called ‘dirty snowballs.’ Occasionally, a comet can be thrown off its helter-skelter orbit and drawn into the Solar System. These slowly melt into a magnificent show of light and, if we’re lucky and in the right place at the right time, we may be able to see one zipping through the night sky. You may have heard your parents or your teachers talk about Halley’s Comet or a more recent one called ‘Hale-Bopp.’ The Comet Hale-Bopp passed close enough to Earth to be seen in the spring of 1997.

In case you’re wondering how comets get their funny names, that’s because they are named after the individuals who discover them. Hale-Bopp was named for two discovers: Mr. Hale and Mr. Bopp.