THE CATNAPPING

CHAPTER ONE Sammy gives his sister Jazzy the paws sign to let her know he’ll be right back. It’s Saturday morning and a freezing cold day in January, so she’ll stay in the Catillac while he goes into the Flea Market to get them some fresh mouse livers. Jazzy is soon asleep and dreaming of chasing mice. Jazzy is in a deep peaceful slumber, when……CRASH! The sound of broken glass coming through the window of the Catillac. Glass shatters all around Jazzy as she leaps under the backseat. What is going on? No, this isn’t Sammy bounding through the window. This is a big scary burglar. What is he doing in their Catillac? The burglar slinks down into Sammy’s seat behind the wheel and starts the engine. Hiding under the backseat, Jazzy hears the Catillac backing away from its parking spot. With a shopping cart full of mouse livers, Sammy exits the Flea Market and locks his gaze onto a burglar sitting in the drivers’ seat of their Catillac. As he drops his mouse livers, he runs after the car yelling, “Stop that car! Stop that car! You’ve got Jazzy!! You’ve got my sister!” From under the backset of the Catillac, the sounds of Sammy fade quickly. Jazzy can hear the wheels of the car screech as the burglar steps on the gas and speeds the Catiilac out of the parking lot. Jazzy is sure this is the last time she will see her brother. Sammy’s shouts are useless on this cold rainy day. He runs as far as he can in the freezing rain as their Catillac speeds quickly away. “He’s got Jazzy. Help me… Help her. Is there someone who can help?” He runs back to the Flea Market to find the Flea Market manager. Together they call the police, “We’re reporting a stolen Catillac, a cat-napping…a dire emergency. Please come quick.” Minutes go by before the police arrive. Jazzy can see wires hanging down where Sammy’s Catillac keys used to be. As they screech and careen along, she hears the burglar calling someone. “I’m comin’ in with a Catillac. Nabbed it at the Flea Market.” She hears the voice on the other end, “Get your butt over here to the chop shop. You know the cops will be lookin’ for that Catillac by now. “ Jazzy trembles. She wants to escape from the car, but by this time they are far away from the Flea Market, and she surely would never find her way back. “What was a chop shop, anyway?” she worries. It sounds like a slaughterhouse …a scary place with bad people doing bad things. “I just hope that they don’t chop me up at the chop shop.” After calling the police for help, Sammy fears the worst, “Does Jazzy know how much danger she’s in? How will she protect herself? What will the burglar do when he finds Jazzy in the Catillac? Will he throw her out in the cold? Will he hurt her?” Jazzy stays quiet under the seat as the car makes a turn into the parking lot of a huge old building-- a giant building on a hillside beside a river. Jazzy sees the burglar move his eyes nervously around. “I just gotta get in and out of the chop shop. They get this Catillac unloaded and ready to chop up. Then my partner gives me a ride home and mission accomplished.” “Okay, just open the door and let me in before anyone sees me,” the burglar says as they pull up to a big garage door. “Whew,” Jazzy exhales, “at least they’re not going to chop me up at the chop shop.” As the garage door opens, Jazzy hears sounds of people with drills and saws and sparks flying inside. A door beside the garage opens, and one of the choppers leans out. “Bad news, Bud, there’s no room for your Catillac in the chop shop right now, we’re full up with cars to chop,” he yells. “Well, what do you expect me to do,” Bud yelled. The chopper inside yells back, “Just unload the stuff inside, and bring the car back tomorrow.” Bud, the burglar, jumps out and with some of the choppers starts pulling stuff out of the back of the Catillac- mostly litter bags and Catty Shack souvenirs. Jazzy feels a blast of cold air. Then, all of a sudden, a big dirty hand grabs her by her trembling tail. A gruff voice blares, “ What’s this? Your little pet, Bud? Oh, how sweet,” “Let’s throw him in the river; we have enough to worry about,” another said. “Naw, I’ll take him into the warehouse, and let him out somewhere inside,” Bud says. With that, Bud drops Jazzy in a box beside the door. Slam! went the cover of the box. Now she was inside a dark box inside a chop shop, with the sound of choppers sawing up cars. “Bud, get that cat outta here,” one of the choppers says. Jazzy feels herself being carried up some stairs and hears Bud say, “This tin roof over the shop is a good place to leave her.” She feels warm metal under her box. From cracks in the side of the box, she sees that this is a small tin roof overlooking the chop shop. The noise is deafening- screeching, buzzing and crunching- sawing metal and sparks flying. There are cars, mostly Catillacs just like theirs. She sees the choppers saw through the metal roof of a car, just cutting the top right in half, and worries, “The shop is chopping up cars, and our Catillac is coming back tomorrow to be chopped up like all the others. “ Then she hears Bud the Burglar say, “This car’s clean. I’ll bring it back tomorrow,” He backs their Catillac away from the chop shop. It would not be the last time Jazzy would hear Bud the Burglar’s voice. When Officer Fuzz arrives at the Flea Market, Sammy gives him a description of his Catillac, and tells the officer about his sister Jazzy in the car when it was stolen. But Officer Fuzz offers little hope, “Chances are the car is headed straight for a chop shop. Those burglars chop those cars up and sell the parts as quick as they can.’ He went on, “We’ll put out an all points bulletin, and get looking right away.” And we’ll call you a cab so you can get home. “Big Cat Taxi” arrives at the store to pick up Sammy and his cart of mouse livers. Sammy tells Big Cat the story of his stolen Catillac and the catnapping of Jazzy. “Dude, that’s some bad luck, some really bad luck.” Big Cat is outraged, “You’ve gotta get on this right away. Get the word out. Call the TV stations; they’d love this story. Call the radio stations, too. Gotta get moving on this before it’s too late!” Big Cat’s ideas started Sammy thinking. It would be a long shot, but he had to do something. He would get the word out right away to anyone who might find his sister on a freezing January day.