Petectives: Under Fire

Chapter 8

   I ran to my backyard so that I could run across the back of the house and go back up front on the opposite side. Hopefully Rocky wouldn't be expecting me to emerge on that side. When I got to the front of the house I peeked out from behind the corner. I could see Rocky's butt showing from behind the tree near the street. I stayed put and kept my eyes on his backside.

   It was a waiting game. I was assuming that he was waiting for me to leave so that he could follow me. If he didn't see me, he'd either figure that I was staying inside or that he had missed me leaving. Either way he would himself leave at some point and then I would tail him.

   Characteristic of his species, he was persistent. It was nearly an hour before he gave up and trotted away. After a few seconds I went after him.

   In case I haven't been clear up to this point, it was hot! Despite the sidewalks being scorching hot, Rocky trotted on them as if he owned them. I followed at a safe distance but I kept to walking on lawns. Before too long it was obvious that we were headed to Percy's neighborhood. As soon as we got in the vicinity, Rocky went towards Sunshine's house. When he got there he walked across her front yard and dived under a hedge. This caught me off guard so I had to turn around and go back a couple of houses until I found a tree to duck behind. When I peered out from behind the tree I could no longer see Rocky in the hedge.

   Of course it came as no surprise when a couple of minutes later, Rocky came up from behind me and asked, "Why are you following me?"

    "You fascinate me." I said without bothering to turn around and face him. "I want to know more about you. What's your favorite food? How do you get your flea treatment applied? What kind of bones do you like to chew?"

    "Mostly cat bones."

   I had to turn to face him in order to make sure he was kidding. "Whatever. What are you doing over here?"

    "You wouldn't come out and play so I thought I'd come over here and see if Nails was around. Come on, it's cooler in the bushes."

   I followed him back to the hedges in front of Sunshine's house. It was a good vantage point as it was directly across the street from Percy's house. It would be hard for anyone to see us and most importantly it was shady.

   The first hour or so was uneventful. Percy's house was quiet. His people were probably out. Rocky and I didn't seem to have much to say to each other until he broke the silence. "I don't get the whole cat detectives thing."

    "What's not to get?"

    "Most cats that I know aren't cut out for this kind of work. They're kind of lazy and full of themselves."

   "Really? Well if you're going to get insulting, I'd say that most of the dogs that I've met are way too dumb for this kind of work."

   "But dogs do all kinds of policework. There's bloodhounds, there's policedogs, there's dogs in the Army and lots of guard dogs. How many cats do any of that kind of stuff?"

   "Probably none," I admitted. "Cats don't let people order them around. Nobody's telling me what to do unless I –"

   I stopped in mid-sentence. I noticed Percy trotting down the sidewalk towards his house. He was moving slow and he was panting with his tongue hanging out of his mouth. When he got to his driveway he turned to approach his house. He got eight pawsteps up his driveway and then stopped in his tracks. Nails the pit bull appeared at the other end of his driveway and was approaching Percy.

   Rocky tensed up as soon as he saw Nails.

    "Hold on." I told him, "I want to hear this."