The Invasion (15 page)

Suddenly Tobias leaped through the air. He pounced precisely on an autographed baseball that was lying in the corner. Maybe a four-foot jump.

That is so excellent! Hey, pull a string for me to chase.

“Pull a string? Why?”

Because it’s so fun!

I dug in my desk drawer and found a length of string left over from a birthday gift. I’m not exactly big on keeping my room clean. The string was from a birthday two years ago.

“How’s this?” I drew the string slowly across the floor, a foot or more from Tobias’s nose. He settled back on his haunches and began wiggling his hindquarters. He pounced! He landed on the string, grabbed it in his sharp teeth, rolled over, and began ripping at the string like it was the only thing on Earth that mattered.

I tried pulling the string away, but he pounced again.

Yes! Got it!

“Tobias, what are you doing?”

Pull it faster! I see it! I got it!>

“Tobias, what are you doing?” I shouted. “You’re playing with a string!”

Suddenly he stopped. His tail twitched. He looked up at me with those cold cat eyes, but I’m sure I saw a look of confusion there.

I … I don’t know,
he admitted.
It’s like … like I’m
me,
but I’m also Dude. I want to chase strings, and, oh man, if only there was a real, live mouse around! I’d really love to track it. To follow it so quietly. To listen to its heartbeat. To hear its scratchy little feet. I’d wait till just the right moment, and then a perfect pounce through the air, claws stretched out …
He extended his claws to demonstrate.

“Tobias, I think we’re learning something here,” I said. Amazing, how quickly I was becoming used to the idea of talking to a cat.

What? What are we learning?