MOLLY

The Carlson house was nice without seeming too well-to-do, with a large front yard, small fence and paving stones to the doorway. Edwin & Nicolle pressed the annunciator plate and placed his carefully-worn-looking identification card onto the extended scanner. Then they waited while they were inspected via a well-hidden functional camera while they pretended to look at the visible, decoy camera. Apparently, they passed initial scrutiny. The scanner returned his card and in a few moments, a man opened the door.

"Good day, Sir! May we have a few moments of your time to conduct a brief Humane Society survey? We would like to interview you and your present catgirl. I presume you still have her?" Edwin tried to suppress the sound of hopefulness in that last question. He wasn’t sure if Nicolle, or even he, could handle a second horror so soon.

"We don't make a practice of participating in surveys, Sir, and..."

"I assure you, this is of the utmost importance to the health and well-being of your catgirl, Sir. I would not presume to waste your time on anything less important."

The man alternated his gaze between Edwin and Nicolle. She gave him her sweetness-and-light look and smile and the man's suspicions softened. "Very well, come in, but please keep this brief, we are about to have lunch." He led them into a small living room area, indicated a sofa and took a seat across a coffee table from them. A woman, Edwin assumed it was the man's wife, came and stood in an inner doorway to the room. Further behind her, a closed door quietly opened slightly.

"Mr. Carlson, I will come directly to the point. It has come to our attention that you have an... unusual... catgirl."

Carlson began angrily, “I think your business is already finished, Sir, and..."

"Mr. Carlson," Edwin interrupted, "we are here to save her, if at all possible. I admit, I've fraudulently obtained entry to your home, but if it allays your fears, I’m going to hand you enough rope to hang me and my own... unusual catgirl here. I presume yours, like mine, is almost surely an unlawful mutation. She is rather too intelligent, is she not?

Nicolle interrupted, on cue. "Has she learned to read, yet?"

The woman's hand flew involuntarily to her mouth. The man's face seemed to pale. He stared at Nicolle as if he'd not seen her before. That's when his eyes dropped to what he had presumed was a small purse clutched in her paws, but now was obviously a copy of Mark Twain's "Huckleberry Finn."

"Yes, Sir, I read, too" Nicolle said quietly.

"Please, may we see your catgirl? Mine and yours are in some considerable danger. I feel sure that by now you've familiarized yourself with the laws on this matter."

The door in the back opened fully and disgorged a catgirl and a slightly shorter, frightened looking human boy. The two came up behind Mrs. Carlson. "What's he talking about danger to Molly, Dad? Is she in trouble?"

Their catgirl stepped into the room, focused intently on Nicolle. She, in turn, stepped toward Molly. As the rest watched, the two came closer together. They sniffed at the air and then were face-to-face, noses touching, eyes closed, inhaling each other's scent. Suddenly Molly turned to her people, "This is my littermate. My sister! We're together again!"

The lady asked, "You trust her?"

There was some more sniffing as Molly's eyes wandered all around Nicolle's face. "Yes. Yes, I do."

The man turned to Edwin. "How did you find her...us?"

"We've seen their creator. He's being sought for arrest for the crime of allowing his beloved catgirl children to live. We hope to collect and hide them all until we can do something about changing the present laws. We have reason to believe three more are alive. We have contact information. If you love her, will you help us?"

Carlson looked at Edwin intently for a moment, made up his mind and said, "What can we do?"

"Ideally, I wish you could all go into hiding but to simply all disappear suddenly would raise attention we'd rather not. Would you allow your catgirl to come with us, alone? I imagine she has never been away on her own...."

"And she won't be! I'm going with her! Mom, Dad you can't make her go alone!"

Mrs. Carlson eyes flew wide. "No, David, that's out of the question...."

"It's vacation time, you can say I went camping. No one will think anything's weird. And he can't keep two kits following him around all the time, never mind more of them, he'll need help. Molly needs our help! She hasn't been anywhere since we learned how smart she is!"

Molly stepped over to David, placed a paw on his shoulder, and then hugged him tightly. Mrs. Carlson regarded her son seriously and with sudden pride for his courage. "I'll go with them, Eric. If anyone asks, I'm visiting my cousins. I'll square it with them. Can you hold down the fort and fend for yourself for a while, dear?" They laughed at their private joke; Monsieur Carlson was Sous Chef in one of the best restaurants in the city.

Next: Part 10 / 25, “Katsandra”