MARIE PETROVOVÁ

RADKA HAVLENOVÁ

THE CAT IN THE NET

Illustrated by MARIE SAUDKOVÁ

MARIE PETROVOVÁ

RADKA HAVLENOVÁ

THE CAT IN THE NET

The Cat in the Net book was funded

from a crowdfunding campaign

at hithit.com

© Marie Petrovová, Radka Havlenová, 2016

Illustrations and cover © Marie Saudková, 2016

Typesetting © Barbora Trachtová, 2016

Published by David Laňka No Limits

Na Pankráci 14, 140 00 Prague 4

info@nolimitsart.cz

ISBN 978-80-87973-23-3

Chapter 1
Clarissa’s birthday

Clarissa opens her eyes. There is still dark outside. Behind the window, snowflakes are dancing in the light of a streetlamp, but nobody has to persuade her to get up. Not today. In fact, she could hardly wait for the morning to come. Yesterday night, when she was already lying in her bed, she could smell chocolate dough from the kitchen in her dreams. A mere memory makes her mouth water. Today is her birthday and if her nose is not deceiving her, which is extremely improbable, her Mum baked a chocolate cake. Clarissa’s most favourite cake – the one with chocolate cream and chocolate icing, decorated with Smarties.

Clarissa enjoys lying in her warm bed. “I wonder what my parents give me. They have been so mysterious... What could it be? What if I really get an animal?” Clarissa hopes quietly, but she dismisses the idea immediately. “No, no, it won’t be an animal. They always say that there is nobody to take care of it. I am always out with Linda, Mum is often on duty at the hospital. And Dad? He’s always busy,” she sighs. “No animal, then.” She wriggles under her blanket. In fact, she does not want to give up the idea. It would be so great to have a live animal at home. “Teddy bears are good, but they are rather boring...” she mumbles with discontent, hugging Misha, her teddy bear that is patiently sitting on her pillow. He has been Clarissa’s companion since time immemorial, or rather since her birth.

“But I would deserve an animal, I’ll have full marks in all subjects this year. It is a free day tomorrow and then it is the weekend, I could be home with my new pet all day,” Clarissa gets lost in her thoughts. She has her birthday on the day when schoolchildren receive their mid-term school report certificates.

The winter morning is chilly and dark. The long hand reaches number twelve and the alarm clock on the bedside table starts ringing. Click. Mum turns on the lamp. “Good morning, birthday girl!” Mum says with a smile.

“Where is my cake, Mum?” Clarissa gets up from her warm bed rapidly and runs barefoot to the kitchen. There is a wonderful chocolate cake with Smarties and ten candles on the table, exactly as she imagined.

“Take the slippers and go to the bathroom, quickly,” Mum pretends to be angry.

While eating breakfast, Clarissa tries to make Mum tell her what she gets for her birthday. But Mum neither tells her anything, nor drops any hint. She merely smiles at her enigmatically.

“Is it a big surprise?” Clarissa asks.

“I think so,” Mum replies with a poker face.

“Tell me, Mum! I wanna know.”

“Wait and see.”

“Will Daddy be home?”

“I hope so. He wants to take the afternoon off so that we can celebrate your birthday together. But you know how complicated it is with him,” she shrugs.

“Let’s hope that criminals take the afternoon off today as well,” Clarissa says with hope.

The bell rings.

“Is it so late already?” She darts out of the kitchen. She is putting on her shoes by one hand and her knitted cap by the other.

“Wait a minute, take the sweets for your classmates,” Mum stops her in the doorway.

“Oh, I almost forgot! Bye.” She puts the sweets into her schoolbag and shoots out of the apartment.

Clarissa’s best friend Linda is waiting for her in front of the apartment building. They have been friends since their kindergarten days. They might have been friends even longer, because their fathers have known each other since time immemorial. Moreover, when Linda’s father is out of town because of his work, Linda usually sleeps over at Clarissa’s place. This is because Linda only lives with him. Her mother died when Linda was a baby. Linda has a dachshund crossbreed Tony, frizzy ginger hair and lots of crazy ideas. But from time to time, she feels blue. At such moments her green – and usually cheerful – eyes are full of tears. Linda sits down on a park bench near the pond and watches the water in silence. Not even Tony can cheer her up then. He is a clever dog and he can recognise when his mistress is sad. He sits down on the bench next to Linda and puts his head in her lap.

Linda’s sadness does not take long, but Clarissa never knows what to do in such situations. She usually joins Linda and Tony on the park bench and watches the pond and the ducks with swans pushing their way to the bank, waiting for some delicious food. The pond is rather small, yet Clarissa always feels as a shipwreck survivor on a desert island. Water, silence, strange feeling of loneliness and stomach cramps.

Tony usually cannot stand it long and runs to the ducks, barking like a mad dog. The dark spell has been dispersed again, but not forever. Clarissa knows, that sooner or later, Linda’s sadness will return and she will not know how to help her friend once again. Clarissa even asked her Mum about that, but she just stroked her hair: “I’m afraid there is nothing you can do,” she sighed. Clarissa knows that her Mum was on duty on that sad day. She does not remember how she found it out. She might have overheard some discussion, or her Mum might have told her...

Nevertheless, Linda is in a good humour this morning.

“Will you come over in the afternoon? I have a cake!”

“Sure. I would never miss that. Your Mum bakes the best cakes in the world. Are you throwing a party?”

“Not until next week. Everyone is going to the mountains for the holidays.”

“Yeah, it was a stupid idea to be born on school holidays, you goose.” The girls cannot stop laughing. Two senior citizens walking their dogs turn around, look at them and say something to one another.

“Goose, goose,” Linda is shouting loudly, laughing so hard that she cannot catch her breath.

Clarissa pretends to be angry. “Very funny.”

“I am happy because my Dad and I are going to the mountains tomorrow.”

“Lucky you. No chance for me. Mum is on duty and Dad will stay at home only if lawbreakers take a day off as well.

“So, your Granny’s coming, right?” Linda asks.

“Exactly,” Clarissa nods.

“And what will you get, do you know?” Linda asks.

“No idea. Mum didn’t breathe a word. Neither a Nintendo nor a dog, though. The first one is a time-guzzler and nobody has time to take care of the other. Can you believe it?”

“No.”

Linda’s answer gets lost in the noise surrounding the school entrance.

Clarissa is trying to survive the endless talks of their class teacher who is giving them their school report certificates. She usually likes their class teacher, but she is all chatty today.

“Give us the certificates so we can go,” Clarissa says in her thoughts. She can hardly wait to get the birthday present from her parents.

“Linda, this time it’s a mere warning, but it could be a bad behaviour report at the end of the term. So promise me that you’ll think about your behaviour and attitude.” The class teacher wears a serious expression. Linda looks like a true repentant and promises the impossible. Half a term without any broken window, greenhouse or any other mischief? That would be Linda’s first time.

When the bell rings, the girls run out of the school building and go directly to Clarissa’s place. The cake is as delicious as it is beautiful and, believe it or not, Dad is at home.

“No crimes today?” Clarissa asks in surprise.

“There are probably some, but without me. Today’s your day, I would never miss that.” Clarissa is still waiting for the present. But nothing happens. Linda make a curious face on her, but Clarissa just shrugs.

The girls have been praised for their school report certificates, they have even cleared the dishes from the table, but nothing happens. There are no gifts. Mum is doing something in the bedroom. Clarissa can hardly sit still.

“Linda, can you join us for a trip?” Dad asks. Clarissa pops out her eyes. “A trip?” she wonders. “What is going on here? Are we going to a shopping centre so I can choose the present myself? What does this mean?” One idea after another is running through Clarissa’s head, but they make no sense to her.

“I can, but I have to walk Tony first. I’ll be free in about half an hour.” Linda is slightly surprised as well. She was looking forward to Clarissa’s present. And to be honest, she was also looking forward to her present, because she always gets a small ribbon package as well. But there are no presents today.

“OK. We meet you in front of the house in half an hour, then. Don’t bring Tony with you today, please. Dogs aren’t allowed there.” Dad is standing in the kitchen, making a cup of coffee. “Hurry up, girls, so that we can really hit the road in half an hour. I won’t wait an hour for three women to get ready for the journey.” He takes a sip of his coffee. “Damn it!” he swears because he has burnt his tongue.

“Don’t make it so hot,” Mum smiles at him. She has just come out of the bedroom. She wears jeans and an old sweater, her usual summer night barbeque outfit when they are at her Granny’s place. She looks nice but judging by her clothes, it does not seem that they are going to a shopping centre. Linda hurries outside to walk Tony. Clarissa gives her father a searching look. Nothing can be deduced from his outfit because he always wears the same, at least Clarissa thinks so. Jeans or cords, a shirt and a pullover. Nothing interesting. Sometimes he puts on a suit, but he always groans as if putting on an armour.

“Can you tell me, where are we going?”

“No,” they answer in unison.

“And change your clothes, put on some outdoor clothes,” they say to her, although there is actually no need to do so, because it is obvious at first glance that they are not going to any fancy restaurant.

Clarissa is brushing her hair in front of the bathroom mirror. She has straight, long, jet-black hair. Dad says she has black hair like a crow, but he should rather refrain from any comments in this respect since he is almost bald. He does his “haircut” himself, by an electric shaver. He is more excited when he is mowing the grass in her Granny’s garden.

Clarissa watching herself in the mirror, wondering whose features she has. Dad used to have long hair. She saw a few old photos of him. Well, not to the waist, but certainly long enough to reach under the collar of his shirt. “What hair colour does Mum actually have?” Clarissa wonders. All the old photos are black-and-white. One can only see that she had long and dark hair. Now she has her hair short and mahogany. This is definitely not her natural colour.

Dad has a short nose, Mum has an elongated one. Dad is tall, Mum is rather short. Dad has broad shoulders and Mum is, well, just right. It seems to Clarissa that she does not resemble any of them. When she was a little girl, like really little, when she attended kindergarten, she once told them that she was sure that she had been adopted. She has no idea how this occurred to her. They might have read something about it in the kindergarten, or she might have overheard somebody speaking about adoption on a bus. She did not even know what that actually meant. Mum explained everything to her back then and showed Clarissa her baby photos from the hospital. But she does not resemble her parents at all.

“What are you doing there for so long?” Dad asks from the kitchen. Linda will be waiting at the parking lot soon. “Dad, whose features do I have?” she asks once she leaves the bathroom.

“Well, your face has the features of your own, but your bottom resembles all relatives we have.”

“Daaad,” Clarissa whimpers. “Stow it and tell me whose feature I have.

“My grandmother used to say so, but she had a sharper tongue than me.”

“I know, she didn’t say bottom, she preferred ass,” Clarissa snaps.

“Clarissa!” Dad raises a finger in a warning gesture, but his eyes are smiling. “Look at me.” He takes her chin and looks into her face. “You know what? I think you actually look like my grandmother.”

“Stop with your family tree talks and let’s hit the road.” Mum puts on her outdoor jacket which she only wears when they go for a walk in the woods.

“Oh my God. I would really like to know where we are going,” Clarissa shakes her head in puzzlement and runs down the stairs. Linda is already waiting for them at the parking lot.

Chapter 2
Cranberry

The journey did not take more than half an hour. Dad stops the car in front of an ordinary white house surrounded by a garden. “Here we’re, let’s get out of the car,” he says.

Everyone gets out of the car and Dad presses the doorbell. A lady opens the door and welcomes them cheerfully. She has a slight accent. “This is Tania. And this is Clarissa and her friend Linda,” Dad introduces them and Tania shakes her hand ceremoniously with each of them. It is obvious that she already knows Clarissa’s parents. Tania leads the way into her house. “Careful here. We have a rather special regime here.” Girls are waiting at the porch, they have absolutely no idea what is going on there. Tania first closes the entrance door and then she opens the door to the hall. They enter the living room.

“Do you want a cup of coffee? And a cup of tea or hot chocolate for the girls?” Linda and Clarissa ask for a cup of hot chocolate. They do not know what to think about it.

Tania brings two cups of hot chocolate and three cups of coffee and places them on the coffee table. Then she opens the door to the next room. A beautiful cat walks into the living room: she is tabby white and has magnificent fur and a long, shaggy tail.

“This is our Benu,” Tania introduces the fourleg visitor. Clarissa wants to ask whether she can stroke Benu, but a shaggy ball, followed by two other balls, suddenly roll into the living room. Wow! How many of them are there? Four? No, five. “There are six of them,” Tania smiles and empties a box full of cat toys. Benu is licking her paws but, at the same time, she keeps watching her kittens.

The girls are looking at the cats as if under a spell. Kittens are rolling on the floor, playing with stuffed mice and catching their own tails. For a while, they turn into one big furry ball. Tania nods. “Of course, you can play with them,” she says before the girls can even ask. It is obvious that Clarissa and Linda want to play with the kittens.

“This is Caspar, this is Cid, this young lady over here is Carmen, this is Claire, this is Caramel and this is Cranberry.” How is one supposed to remember who is who? It is impossible. Kittens are running around the carpet, pulling each other’s ears and colliding with one another. Actually, there is no need to remember who is who. All of them take after their mother. They have white paws, breasts, tabby snouts and backs. But Cranberry is different. She has silver tabby fur, only her face is white.

Clarissa slowly realises what is going on. “Mummy? Daddy?” She cannot believe it. What if she was wrong? What if they came here just to look around and play? She does not want to be disappointed. But her parents keep smiling. “This is the surprise,” Mum confirms Clarissa’s hopes. Clarissa hugs and kisses both of them. Linda and Tania have their arms full of kittens.

“Which one do you like?” Dad asks.

“Cranberry,” Clarissa says without thinking because she likes Cranberry most of all the kittens.

“A cat?” Dad looks uncertainly at Mum. “But that would mean several batches of kittens.” He does not seem to like the idea at all. Mum gives Clarissa a questioning look, but Clarissa pays no attention to them. She has her face buried in Cranberry’s fur.

“Don’t worry. I’ll be glad to help you, if necessary,” Tania assures Dad. He does not seem convinced, but it is too late. Clarissa and Cranberry – it was love at first sight.

Mum warns Dad: “We have already discussed this with Tania.” Dad looks offended but does not argue.

Benu climbs into the upper basket of a tall scratcher. Clarissa did not notice it until now. Three kittens fearlessly follow their mother that is slowly moving her tail. Cid tries to catch the tail but he is still a bit clumsy and boom, he is back on the floor. But he does not give up and immediately starts climbing again. They watch the kittens’ play as if watching telly.

“Better than a crime film, isn’t it?” Tania laughs.

“We don’t watch crime films very much. Just when Dad is not at home. He says he doesn’t want to take work home,” Clarissa says. Suddenly, she is worried about Cranberry: “Will she miss her mother? And will Benu miss her?” Clarissa gives a furtive look to Linda. She does not want her friend to overhear the discussion, it seems strange. People are not cats, but still... But she cannot get out of her head that Cranberry would have to fall asleep without her mother.

“Don’t worry. Cats are different than us. Kittens have to leave their homes before they grow up. Their mother would repel them anyway because she prepares for her next kittens. Nature made it this way. She might meow and look for her mother tonight, but it won’t take long if she feels safe with you,” Tania explains.

“And how many times a year can a cat have kittens?” Dad asks. He seems to be scared once again.

“Two or three times a year if she lives outside and if she has not been castrated. But don’t worry, that would not be your case.” Tania gives a folder full of papers to Dad. “Here you are, you can find there everything about breeding. We don’t let our cats get pregnant more than three times per two years. You know, people often want to make lots of money and let them give birth to more and more kittens, but that’s wrong. Cats are very exhausted then. We love our cats and want them to be happy. Therefore, we check out each prospective buyer. We don’t sell kittens just to anyone.” Tania stresses almost each word with a brisk nod and excited hand gestures. People causing harm to cats obviously stick in her throat.

Dad laughs for the first time: “You could join the police.”

Tania gives him a serious look: “I used to work at the Criminal Investigation Department in Petersburg.” Dad gives a surprised whistle.

The girls stare at her as if they saw a ghost. “Wow, a Russian detective!” Linda gasps as if Tania was an alien.

“Don’t worry, Mr. Long. “You’ll be fine,” Tania says with a smile. She says his name as if it was “Longe”. Clarissa has to smile.

“Russians cannot pronounce certain sounds, I’ll never learn it properly. It sounds a bit funny to you, doesn’t it?” Tania says in embarrassment. “I’ll pack all Cranberry’s things now and explain everything to you properly.” She goes upstairs and brings a carrier box, cat litter tray with a cover, cat litter and a big box of kitten food. Mum and Dad agreed and prepared everything with her in advance, Clarissa had no idea. “Give her this little bag with meat and gravy tonight. Give that to the first bowl. Fill the second bowl with dry cat food, this bowl must always be full. And of course, she’ll also need another bowl with water. That’s very important.” Tania’s face is deadly serious and everyone listens to her carefully. “Cats cannot survive without water for more than one day. If they are dehydrated, their kidneys can fail soon and they can die. Water is very important.”

“And what about milk?” Linda asks.

“You know it from pictures, don’t you?” Tania nods but warns them: “No milk. She can get a yoghurt, that’s good for her, but milk could result in diarrhoea.”

“So, all the pictures in books for children are wrong?” the new breeders are taken aback. “Not absolutely wrong. The pictures are from the times when cats lived on farms to catch mice and farmers gave them fresh milk as an extra. That’s something absolutely different than today’s cats living in flats.”

“And what about Cranberry’s father? Where is he?” Clarissa asks out of the blue.

“He lives in the other part of the house, in the laundry room. The living room wouldn’t smell very nice if he lived there,” Tania says, laughing. “Do you want to see him?”

“Sure!” they say in unison. Clarissa does not want to leave Cranberry behind, but decides to join the others. After all, she will live with Cranberry in one room from now on, so she can survive a few minutes without her.

There is usually no need to have a laundry room today because almost everyone has an automatic washing machine, but in the past, laundry rooms used to be very important parts of houses. They used to be full of steam coming from furnaces with permanent fire which provided households with enough hot water. Tania’s laundry room is a spacey room with two large windows. The furnace, old washing machine and spin-drier are not there anymore. A modern washing machine and drier stand in one corner.

This is where Cranberry’s father lives. This is his kingdom. He can enter the living room only if the kittens and their mother are well locked in the sunroom.

“Wow! He’s gorgeous!” This time it is Dad who seems to have fallen in love. There is a big tomcat lying in the basket. He has white fur with slightly tabby back as if someone dusted him with stardust over a special template. His green eyes sparkle like emeralds.

“Say hi to Elbrus.” Tania takes the tomcat out of his basket to show him to the curious visitors. Dad strokes his shaggy fur. Elbrus is looking around curiously, but he is absolutely calm.

“He’s so calm,” Dad says in surprise. “I thought tomcats are aggressive and to be honest, I would be really scarred if this one swooped on me.”

“Elbrus has good character. He has won probably all cat shows. His calm character helped him a lot and that’s why his kittens are so great. Believe me, if a Siberian cat is aggressive and ill-brought-up, he or she can pluck up courage to swoop on a dachshund. And when it is stressed out, it can be aggressive even to you. I saw a few judges scratched by nervous tomcats at shows. Elbrus is a calm and cuddly tomcat. This is quite typical of Siberian cats. That’s why I like them so much.” Tania is speaking and the others admire the father. That means Cranberry’s father, although Clarissa’s father also deserves admiration – he is quite calm, he gets on well with dachshunds, but he cannot purr. But now when he knows Elbrus, he might be willing to learn it. However, people can never master the art of purring.

Tania puts Elbrus on the floor. He decides to show up and walks around like a world champion. He goes towards his scratcher, carefully and with elegance, and then stretches his entire body. “Wow, he’s really long,” Clarissa says in surprise.

Elbrus yawns and one big jump later he stands on the washing machine. He sits down and poses for them. No licking of paws or tail. He just sits there and let them admire him. A born champion.

“Where is he from?” Mum asks.

“He’s from Denmark. I already wanted to buy him when I lived in Russia. I wanted to start a small breeding station and needed a tomcat. Elbrus was perfect.” Tania strokes the tomcat. Everyone says bye to him. Clarissa realises that she slightly bowed to the cat king. “Oh gosh, I don’t even have my own cat at home and I already bow to them.” She feels stupid. But Elbrus is charming, there is no doubt about that.

In the meantime, Cranberry fell asleep in the living room. The other kittens are also very tired and, therefore, they relax in the sunroom, which is full of colourful cushions. “I’ve brought those cushions from Russia. They are too colourful for you here, aren’t they? Perhaps a bit kitschy. However, Petersburg is far north and winters are long, endless and dark there. The lack of light brings the need to surround yourself with bright colours. In order not to lose your mind due to the darkness,” Tania says, stroking the kittens lying on the cushions.

Dad takes all the things to the car. Now they all understand Tania’s special regime when entering the house: the cats may not get outside. Tania carefully puts Cranberry into the carrier box. “I want to hold her in my arms, she’s asleep,” Clarissa says sadly.

“She’ll definitely wake up during the journey and she could get scared. Or what if Dad has to break abruptly, you never know… It seems to be close, but that doesn’t mean anything.” Mum strokes the girls’ hair. Then they say goodbye to the cat family and to Tania. “Hold on!” Tania hurries back to the house. She returns with a colourful cushion and hands it to Clarissa: “Take it, this is her most favourite one. Even Benu likes it.” None of them knows how much their fates have just interweaved and how long it will take to put everything in order again. Clarissa thanks, gets in the car and fastens her seatbelt. Cranberry is moving to Clarissa’s place. A new life is thus beginning for all of them.

The girls were looking forward to spend the entire evening playing with Cranberry. But once Cranberry left her carrier box, she hid under Clarissa’s bed. They tried everything to lure her out, but the kitten hid in the furthest corner and curled into a ball there.

“Leave her alone, she has to get used to her new home. We will prepare a litter tray and food for her and leave her alone,” Mum says to Clarissa and Linda.

“And water, Mum. Remember what Tania said.”

“Of course. Here you are, take the bowl and fill it with water in the kitchen.”

Cranberry has in Clarissa’s room everything what a little cat needs, but most of all, she needs a rest now.

“Tania’s cats are not allowed to go outside at all, why? Does it mean Cranberry cannot go out as well?”

“They are purebred cats intended for breeding and shows. You have to keep an eye on them so that they don’t catch any infection outdoors and so on.”

“Or have kittens with some good-looking tabby tomcat,” Dad says, laughing.

“That’s another reason,” Mum nods.

“If we had a house surrounded by garden, we would buy an ordinary cat that could go outside, but we tried to find Clarissa a cat suitable for living in the apartment.”

“And when can we attend our first cat show?” the brand new breeder asks.

“Well, we don’t have to wait long. She’s fourteen days old, we can already attend cat shows. Tania gave me some documents so you can read them through during the days off. We need to find out whether or not she has good character for cat shows. She should be a showman.”

“Or rather a showcatwoman,” Dad says, laughing.

They can hear some digging in the cat litter tray from Clarissa’s room. Cranberry seems to become acquainted with her new home. It is obvious that her mother Benu already taught her many things.

Linda yawns. Mum looks at her watches.

“Oh my God, it’s almost ten. Peter, will you escort Linda home? And Clarissa, off to the bathroom!” Mum tries to bring some order to the household disordered by the big change.

As soon as Clarissa opens the door to her room, Cranberry hides under the bed again. Clarissa has to swallow another bitter pill of her impatience and climbs into her bed.

“Don’t worry, she’ll definitely get out before morning comes,” Mum tries to comfort her. “Do you know how to take her into your arms?”

“Of course, I do,” Clarissa says to her Mum confidently. “Tania showed me. I have to place one hand under her body, under her front legs, and to support her by the other from behind so that she can feel safe. It’s a piece of cake. But I’m not sure I’ll be able to fall asleep tonight.” Clarissa grasps her Mum’s hand. “Let’s talk for a while. I don’t have to get up early tomorrow,” she says.

Mum sits on her bed.

“Hey, Mum. You had it all prepared in advance, right?” Clarissa says in a conspiratory whisper.

“Of course, we had,” Mum says with a smile.

“But Dad doesn’t like the thing with kittens and cat shows very much. He would prefer a tomcat, wouldn’t he?”

“Yes, he would.” Mum nods. “But I think it’ll be good that you can learn everything – attend the shows with Cranberry, take care of her kittens... I didn’t want just a pet. I wanted a proper hobby for you. Something that’ll keep you busy and make you learn new things,” Mum says rather convincingly.

“So we have bought a cat under the pretext of my education in order to show up at cat shows. And Dad accepted. Mum, you’re really good. You should join the police too, as a negotiator,” Clarissa laughs under her blanket.

Mum laughs out loud: “What a naughty girl. You caught me red-handed. But you should sleep now. Both of you!”

While Clarissa and her Mum were talking quietly, Cranberry poked her head from under the bed and began examining the room. Mum stands up, lifts the cat from the carpet and hands her to Clarissa. The cat does not object and let her new mistress stroke her and cuddle with her. Clarissa sinks her nose into her soft fur. Cranberry closes her eyes and starts purring.

“Night, girls,” Mum says.

“Night,” Clarissa says quietly in order not to distract her new friend. Cranberry nestles down on Clarissa’s pillow and, therefore, Clarissa uses her teddy bear as a pillow. “Sorry, Misha,” she whispers apologetically, strokes Cranberry and falls asleep immediately. It was a long day.

Chapter 3
Tania is scared

Tania has just filled up the last bowl. The cats get down to boiled chicken meat so eagerly as if they have not eaten anything for a week. Tania watches them with a smile. The peaceful cat dinner is suddenly interrupted by the doorbell. Someone vehemently presses the doorbell and seems to be ready to keep doing so until she opens the door.

Tania sighs. It must be her sister Zina, nobody else is so impatient when using the doorbell. “It’s Sunday evening, what the hell does she need,” Tania mumbles in her mother tongue. She does not want to leave the cats alone now. She always has to watch for the greediest kittens so that they do not push away their diffident and slower siblings from the bowls. Nevertheless, the bowls are almost empty and the cat family has just started with their evening cleaning ritual. All of them are carefully licking their fur. Some of them are still a bit clumsy and unable to keep balance, but they definitely do not skimp on their hygiene.

Tania stands up and goes to open the entrance door, which requires a number of interim steps as Clarissa could see during her visit. Zina keeps pressing the doorbell.

“I’m coming! Can’t you stop?!” Tania is really angry. “Where’s the fire?” she snaps on her sister who is standing behind the door as expected.

“You’re not far from truth,” Tania’s twin sister Zina says with excitement. Both women used to be absolutely identical. Today, each of them has different hair colour and different haircut, but their faces are still the same. But unlike her sister, Zina wears heavy make-up and smart clothes. Black trousers and a jacket, colourful scarf around her neck, black high-heeled pumps and long blonde hair twisted into a bun. In her jeans and old, but very comfortable sweater, Tania feels a bit inappropriately next to her sister.

“Take the dressing gown in the bathroom, or you’ll have cat hairs everywhere!” Tania says resolutely and goes to make a pot of tea because she knows that Zina does not like coffee.

Zina returns from the bathroom in Tania’s T-shirt and wrapped up in her warm terry dressing gown. “I need to tell you something,” she says eagerly.

“Well, I didn’t expect you’re here to keep social silence,” Tania says and pours tea from samovar to fragile porcelain cups. It is a real art to ensure that the tea is not too weak or too strong and bitter. Tania knows exactly how to do that.

The kittens have clumsily reached the living room, followed by their elegant, proud mother.

“So, how many of them have already been sold?” Zina asks.

“They took Cranberry today. Two other prospective buyers are coming tomorrow.”

“Oh, Benu, your family is getting smaller, isn’t it?” Zina says sympathetically.

“We’ll keep one kitten so that Benu is not home alone. “But you aren’t here to ask me about my cats, are you?” Tania nestles down in the armchair and asks her sister to tell her why she is here.

Cid jumps on Zina’s lap, curls into a ball and falls asleep happily.

“I met Eduard,” Zina snaps.

“What? Where? God, what is the cat hater doing here?!”

Startled, Cid looks around uneasily. The tone of their voices has changed. Zina is rather excited to tell the news to her sister, but Tania’s voice sounds rather angry. It seems that Eduard’s visit of Prague put her out of countenance.

“I’ve no idea what he is doing here, but I saw him at the shopping centre today. He was sitting upstairs, at the Pancake Corner. He was there with some woman, I couldn’t see her face, so I don’t know who she was. I didn’t hear what they were talking about.”

“Are you sure it was him?”

“My dear, you lived with him for ten years. I recognise my brother-in-law a mile off.”

“What is he doing here?” Tania slams her hand on the table angrily. “Sorry,” she excuses herself to the cats’ surprised eyes. The noise woke up all the kittens, Benu gives Tania a reproachful look and curls into a ball in her basket again. However, the peace is gone. The kittens realise that they do not mind the noise and begin climbing to their mother’s basket placed at the top of the scratcher. But Cid keeps nodding, lulled by Zina’s stroking.

Tania is rubbing her chin nervously. Eduard, her ex-husband, used to be a well-known breeder of Siberian cats. In fact, he was the one who taught Tania everything about cat breeding and, after all, he had certain influence even on Zina who became a cat show judge. But then money turned his head. He started exploiting his cats, let them have kittens several times a year in order to sell as many kittens as possible and, in the end, he even got involved in criminal activities. It went even so far that Tania was shot. She and Eduard had been arguing long before that, especially about their cats, but this was the last straw. Tania packed a few things, took the carrier box with Benu that, luckily, had no kittens at the moment, the colourful cushions, gave her notice at work and went to Prague.

She had some friends in Prague and wanted to start with a clean slate. Half a year later, her sister followed her. That was fine. But now it seems that Prague also has attracted the bad guy – Eduard. “There must be something behind that. He definitely didn’t come to Prague as a tourist,” Tania thinks. Although there is quite hot in the living room, the mere thought gives her shiver. She wraps in the sweater and takes a sip of hot tea. But she can feel the unease in her stomach.

“Why do you think he’s here?” Zina asks aloud.

“I don’t know, I don’t wanna know and I don’t wanna meet him,” Tania snaps.

Zina gives her a questioning look: “Are you scared?” It is both a question and a statement of bare facts.

Tania nods: “I’m scared.”

Cranberry is getting used to her new home and family very quickly. Although she has her own scratcher, she prefers curtains to scratch her claws. But she usually gets entangled into them and cannot find her way out.

Mum is angry with her and tries to get her out of the curtains. Of course, she is not really angry because Cranberry is so cute that nobody can be actually angry with her.

“I’ll give you a hiding!” Mum says loudly to the cat. Cranberry watches her innocently with her bewitching Siberian eyes. “Don’t look at me like a bacillus at the pharmacy, you Siberian monkey,” Mum makes a threatening gesture, but Cranberry sits down on a chair, licks her paws and pretends that nothing as embarrassing as getting entangled in curtains can happen to her. Never.

“Mum, you know you have to repeat loudly ‘Stop it!’” Clarissa says what she learned from her book on cats.

“I know. Go to prepare the brushes, we’ll brush her fur,” Mum says resolutely.

Clarissa’s phone beeps. A new text message.

– Hi, how’s Berry?

Linda is smiling from Clarissa’s phone. She went to the mountains with her father this morning.

– She climbs the curtains. We wanna brush her fur, hope she won’t end on the ceiling.

– Tony pissed on a Porsche, daddy cleaned it with a handkerchief...

Clarissa opens the attached photo. Linda’s father is cleaning headlights of a luxurious car, Tony watches him, most probably wagging his tail.

– What a pig.

– Who – daddy or Tony?

– Both :-)

“Do they enjoy the mountains?” Mum turns to Clarissa and looks at the display over her shoulder. “What is Charles doing there?”

“Cleaning a Porsche with his handkerchief because Tony pissed on it.”

“Mind your language,” Mum says to Clarissa, but she is smiling.

“Let’s go, we need to brush Cranberry’s fur and I have to go to work soon.”

– I have to go brushing. Skype 2NITE.

Clarissa puts her phone on the table and goes to the hall for brushes.

Cranberry watches them, she tries to hide under Clarissa’s bed but Mum is quicker and catches her. “Let’s make you more beautiful.”

“Well, she has more brushes than both of us together.” Clarissa puts special brushes on the floor: wide brush, wide-tooth comb, small-tooth comb, tail brush.

“And if you had more of them, would you start using them?” Mum knows very well that Clarissa hates combing her hair.

“So, come on.”

At first, Cranberry likes the brushing. When Clarissa uses the wide-tooth comb, she seems to enjoy herself and even exposes her fur and purrs. But as soon as Clarissa takes the small-tooth comb, the cat feels uncomfortable. Cranberry refuses to obey. She hisses and then starts using her claws.

“Perfect, there are two of you who hate combing now. I think I’ll cut your hair, girls.” Mum grasps Cranberry more firmly. “And now the tail. By the special brush.”

Well, Cranberry does not like that at all. First, she tries to wriggle out of Mum’s arms, then she starts scratching. Clarissa brushes Cranberry’s fur and tries to calm the kitten down: “Beauty must suffer.”

“You’ll definitely calm her down this way.”

“You tell me that when you cut my hair.”

“I think she is beautiful more than enough now.”

Mum places Cranberry on the floor and the cat runs away immediately to hide under Clarissa’s bed.

The doorbell rings in the hall.

“Granny!” Clarissa runs to the door and throws her arms around her grandmother’s neck.

“Where’s the beauty?”

“She’s just been deeply offended because we brushed her tail, so you have to wait when the queen is ready to get out again.”

“OK, I’ll wait. And in the meantime, we can have a bit to eat, what do you think?”

Granny goes to the kitchen to unwrap chocolate whipped cream cake – Clarissa’s favourite. She feels sorry that Linda cannot taste it this time. She takes a picture and sends it to Linda via Messenger.

Mum grabs her purse, says a quick bye to both of them and leaves – merely the clapping of her heels can be heard from the stairs.

Tania carefully distributes dry cat food and water to the bowls. The kittens are getting under her feet, pulling her shoelaces and pushing their muzzles into the bowls. Cid falls to his water bowl and spills it. Tania sighs, goes to get a rag and refills the water bowl. Cats usually nibble something all day. They must always have something to eat and, most importantly, water in their bowls all the time.

Tania checks everything carefully one more time and closes the sunroom door. Benu is lying on the armchair, watching her kittens. When Tania is not at home, all her cats are in the sunroom. The floor is full of toys so that the kittens do not get bored. In fact, they do not need any toys, they play with one another. They try to catch each other’s ears, paws and tails, hissing, yelping or meowing occasionally. But there is no need for Benu to intervene in their games.

After a while they all get tired and fall asleep on cushions distributed around the sunroom.

The house falls silent.

Tania checks one more time that all the doors are closed.

She locks the security lock and puts the keys in her purse. Before getting in her car, she looks back one more time. Everything is alright. Or at least it seems so. But ever since she learned that Eduard is in Prague, she can feel a tight iron ring around her stomach. She can feel something bad nearby. And she is worried about herself and about her cats. She would have preferred to stay at home, but she has an important appointment which she cannot cancel. She starts the car and leaves. But the bad feeling of imminent danger has taken the passenger seat and refuses to leave Tania alone.

Cranberry is sleeping. Clarissa and her grandmother are reading cat books so that Clarissa can prepare Cranberry properly for her very first cat show. They are in luck. After a month at Clarissa’s care, a cat show is to be held in Prague. The timing is perfect – by the time the cat show is held, the little cat will already have been used to her new home and, most importantly, to her new mistress.

“Bath her? They want to have the cat bathed before the first show? Oh, gosh! To get a cat in water? Good luck with that.

If I wanted to bath our Pussy, I would have to wear a pair of blacksmith’s gloves.”

“We can handle it somehow, Grandma, I guess she won’t need a bath full of water,” Clarissa calms down her grandmother.

The morning passed quickly and grandmother stands up to cook lunch.

A key clicks in the lock.

Clarissa gives a questioning look to her grandmother.

“Hi, Clarissa, hi Granny. I’ll take a piece of bread and I’m off again.”

Dad stands in the doorway and wears a very serious expression.

“Wait a minute, I’ll do it.” Grandmother opens the fridge and takes out butter and ham.

“What’s going on?” she asks while preparing the sandwich.

“Somebody broke into Tania’s house. That’s the former owner of Cranberry. She had to go to town in the morning and, while she was away, somebody broke into her house.”

“What?!” Clarissa stands up. “And what about Benu and the kittens, are they OK? Did he close the door?”

“Luckily, he did. Benu and the kittens are fine. Actually, nothing got lost. But somebody was looking for something very vigorously there. Don’t say a word to anyone, OK?” Dad makes a warning gesture.

“Of course, Daddy,” Clarissa promises. Dad thanks for the sandwich and leaves the apartment again.

“Tania used to work at the Criminal Department,” Clarissa says to her grandmother.

“Oh. Why do you whisper?” grandmother asks in surprise.

Clarissa taps her forehead and laughs: “I don’t know.”

“But it’s all a bit strange.” Granny frowns a little. “Nobody breaks into a house because of cats.”

“Well, they attend cat shows, they are quite expensive.”

“But no cat got lost.”

“Well, I’d also like to know what he was looking for there.”

“We’ll leave it up to your Dad, what do you think?” grandmother suggests.

“Sure. But I have to write about it to Linda.”

“Didn’t your Dad warn you not to tell anyone?”

Clarissa wriggles. “Tell, not write. OK, you’re right. I won’t write anything to her for the time being. It might have been Linda who broke into Tania’s house and now she is the main suspect.” Clarissa laughs out loud.

Grandmother shakes her head and places a pot with soup on the table.

The smell of the meal lures Cranberry into the kitchen. She jumps on a chair and stares at the table, looking for something delicious to eat.

Tania is sitting in her living room with Clarissa’s Dad, describing how she left the house, locked all the doors and checked everything. No, she has no idea what anyone could look for at her place. The cats have all the papers and so does she.

“There’s nothing to steal. I don’t understand that.” She keeps re-running her departure in her mind.

“I had a strange feeling when I was leaving, as if somebody was watching me. But that’s rubbish.” She is nervously tapping her fingers on the table.

“Maybe not. Somebody had to wait for the right moment when you were not at home. You don’t have regular working time. He had to know that you did not went just shopping. He had to know about your appointment in town and be aware of the fact that you would not return soon.”

Tania thinks hard: “I really don’t know what anyone could look for here. I don’t have much money and all the money I have is deposited in a bank account. I have nothing antique or valuable. Just a few gold rings, but they remained untouched in the jewellery box. The samovar over there is probably the most valuable thing here,” Tania nods to the kitchen where she has her beautiful silver-inlaid samovar with tea hot. Suddenly, she pauses.

Dad, or rather chief inspector Long notices her hesitation.

“Yes?” he gives a questioning look to Tania.

“There is something odd,” Tania pauses in thought, but then she drives the idea off as if it was an annoying, buzzing fly.

“You know that you may not underestimate anything, not even seemingly unimportant trifles.

“You’re right,” Tania sighs with resignation. “You know, when I was leaving, the kittens were asleep on those cushions. I can’t help myself, the cushions seem to be mixed up. But I’m not sure. If somebody was looking for something in the sunroom, the cats would be nervous and they would hide somewhere. But Benu was absolutely calm. But I can’t get rid of the idea that someone moved the cushions. But why? That makes no sense.” Tania is rubbing her temples, she has a headache.

“I’ll take some painkiller. Do you want another cup of tea?”

Dad nods in silence. “I’ll look in the sunroom.”

Police technicians already collected all the clues. Or rather checked everything and found nothing at all – no fingerprints, no dirt from shoes. Dad bites his lower lip. Benu keeps playing with her kittens without paying him any attention. Dad squats and strokes her shaggy fur. Benu rubs against his palm and purrs loudly. “You know who was here, don’t you?” Benu is looking at Dad with her beautiful green eyes. Cranberry has the same eyes. “But you cannot tell me.” He strokes Benu’s shaggy fur.

“If somebody was here, she had to know him. And he had to know that the cats may not leave the house. He could have caused harm to you and your cats by deliberately letting them go to the garden.”

Tania stands in the doorway with two caps of strong Russian tea.

“Benu knows well just my sister Zina, but she has her own keys and I can’t imagine what she would be looking for here. Why would she throw everything out of the drawers? All underwear and documents? She knows everything about me. She knows where I keep all my stuff. Moreover, she would not have had to enter the house through a window and climb over the roof. Maybe nobody entered the sunroom after all. I tidy up every day, I might mix up those colourful cushions myself. I feel like a fool. Someone breaks into my house. He ransacks everything. But he takes nothing. I don’t know what to think about that. This is absolutely crazy. I don’t owe anything to anyone. Nobody owes anything to me. I live with a cat and work as a teacher of Russian and French in various companies. I teach self-defence courses. I’m harmless and boring. I dropped out my adventurous life once and for all.

“No shadows from the past?”

Tania runs her fingers through her fringe and Dad catches a glimpse of a deep scar. Tania notices his glance and explains it: “No, nothing. I dealt with ordinary criminal offences, robberies and so on. No mafia or anything like that. And this one, this had nothing to do with my work. My ex-husband got involved in something, but that’s over.”

“And where is your ex-husband now?” Dad casts a sharp, detective-like glance at Tania.

“I don’t know. Zina said she had seen him in Prague. But I think he has no idea where I live and he has nothing to look for here, I didn’t take anything from him.”

“But we have to consider even this option” Dad is slightly angry with his “former colleague”. “What’s his name? We can easily find out whether or not he came to the Czech Republic.”

“Eduard Yuryevich Kotyonochkin. But I really think that he has nothing to do with that.”

“Are you joking?”

“Why?” Tania is slightly surprised.

“Firstly, you know very well that we have to check it and, secondly, that name. Kotyonochkin?”

Tania smiles for the first time. “And what?”

“That’s from the animated series about the hare and the wolf. How was it called?”

“Nu, pogodi! Well, Just You Wait!”

“Sure. Director: Kotyonochkin.”

“Do you know that?”

“Of course, I do, we used to go to the cinema to watch it.” Dad laughs when he recalls the naughty wolf that always tried to catch the good guy – the clever hare.

“You’re right, the director was called Kotyonochkin, but they are not relatives. Russia is a large country.”

Dad writes down the name and goes to the next room to make a call.

Tania stays in the sunroom and thoughtfully watches the huddle of kittens playing round their bowls.

“You’ve been in the Czech Republic for three years, how did you learn to speak so well?” Dad asks, putting his phone into his pocket.

“I was always good at languages. My father worked as a professor of Germanic languages at university. It runs in the family. I speak English, French, German and Hungarian.”

“Hungarian?” Dad smiles. “The Czech language had to be a piece of cake for you, then.”

“Not at all. You think that it is easy, but it is very difficult.”

“Because of the spelling?”

“Not just the spelling, the spelling has its rules. But all the prefixes changing the meaning of words... That’s a nightmare.”

Dad smiles. He recalls his endless effort to master English prepositional phrases and past tenses. “I’m not very good at languages,” he says. “That’s why I really admire that you’re so good at them. Actually, I’m a bit jealous. But that’s not important. If you remember anything, call me, please.” He closes his police notebook, says goodbye to Tania and her kittens and goes out to a cold, winter night.

Chapter 4
Anthony and Jane

“Are you sitting at the computer again?” Mum asks slightly angrily from the hall, taking off her shoes. But then she notices that Clarissa is skyping with Linda. She goes to say hello to both of them.

Linda is restless and can hardly be seen in the monitor because Tony wants to sniff at Clarissa and tries to get to the other side of the camera. Linda pushes him away and thus Clarissa and her Mum cannot see properly any of them.

“Where’s your father?”

“In the bathroom. We’re going out to dinner with Jane and Anthony in a few minutes. Jane’s his mother. He’s incredible, a geek on skis, you wouldn’t believe your eyes.”

Clarissa shakes her head in discontent. “What are you talking about? I don’t understand you at all. Tony’s mother is called Fiffy.”

“Not Tony, Anthony. A boy. And Jane’s his mother. She brought him to the mountains so that he did something else than sitting home at his computer. I tell you, he’s a geek. He’s at our age. He’s a bit chubby, wears glasses and he obviously spends all his free time at the computer. He can ski like our Tony. He has two left feet. His skiing course starts tomorrow, I’m sorry both for Anthony and for his instructor. Anthony keeps asking analytical question about anything, you see. I can’t wait to see whether Anthony breaks his leg himself, or whether the instructor helps him.”

“Where are they from?”

“Prague, of course. They live in the Kobylisy city district. So we’re almost neighbours. Next year, Anthony goes to the secondary grammar school for super intelligent children, that’s somewhere in the Smíchov city district.”

“Hello, girls!” Linda’s father waves to the camera. They can almost smell his Cologne. He has just come from the bathroom and has wet hair.

“I have to go now. Oh, I nearly forgot to tell you the most important thing! Anthony has a tomcat. And guess what species?”

“How can I know what tomcat Anthony has? Probably a virtual one, when he’s spending so much time on-line,” Clarissa shrugs.

“A Siberian cat. His name is Steve. It’s no mystery after whom he named him. He’s two years old and he’s already won some awards. He has green eyes and blue fur. He’s gorgeous. I’ve seen a photo. Cranberry’ll like him.”

“Why is she supposed to like him?” Clarissa asks, puzzled.

“Well, you’ll need some bridegroom for her, won’t you? And this one is top-class. First league. And he’s from Norway. So he can’t be Cranberry’s relative.”

Linda’s father taps on his daughter’s shoulder, Tony is already waiting at the door, ready to go out.

“I have to go. Byyyee!” Linda waves and logs off.

“Oh, God,” Clarissa says to the dark monitor and goes to wash her hands before dinner. Jane, Anthony and Steve. Too much news for one day. Nothing special happened to her today. She played with Cranberry. She read what one should do before a cat show.

Clarissa nearly bumps into her Dad in the hall who, quite surprisingly, arrived on time to have dinner with them today.

“Hi, Daddy, did you catch him?”

“We didn’t and God knows whether or not we’ll catch him at all. He didn’t take anything, there are no clues. It’s not good.” Dad kisses Mum and says hello to grandmother. “It smells great,” Clarissa and her father say in unison as Mum takes the golden roasted chicken out of the oven. Dad’s phone rings. He frowns and takes it out from his pocket.

He listens for a while, nodding, then he says “thank you” and hangs up.

“Sorry, I have something to do, but it won’t take long. Don’t wait for me.” He goes to the living room to call someone.

“Good evening, Tania.”

Clarissa pricks up her ears.

“Your ex-husband was in Prague. But he already left, he was on the yesterday’s last flight to Moscow at 11:15 p.m. What do you think he did here?”

Clarissa does what she can, but she cannot hear Tania’s answer. Dad puts his phone into his pocket and finally joins them.

Tania puts her phone on a TV stand in the living room. Benu jumps on the table and begins massaging her mistress with her soft paws. The kittens are running from the living room to the sunroom and back again, chasing ping pong balls, hunting stuffed mice, climbing up the climbing pole and practicing their hunter skills, although – in view of their aristocratic origins – they will hardly ever have the opportunity to catch a real mouse in the field.

Some of them are qualified to become champions of the respective category, others will be just ordinary pets. Not every pure-blood cat can win a cat show. Some of them have too round heads, others have their eyes too close together or a short tail... Proper show cats must comply with many standards, judges are very strict and the competition is fierce.

Benu is in the top class, a champion. She meets all standards requested for Siberian cats and, therefore, her kittens are well on the way to win some awards too. Tania is proud of her cats. She strokes Benu that is lying in her lap, having a rest from her naughty kittens.

She brought Benu from Russia, where the cat won several well-known awards. Naturally, Eduard was very angry that she took the champion away. Benu and her kittens could have brought him good fortune. However, he gave her Benu when Benu was a little kitten and when he still loved both Tania and cats, in other words – before he fell in love with money.

“Had he wanted Benu, he would have come long ago. I’ve been in Prague more than a year now and he could have taken her away. All her papers are kept in a folder in the desk. Had he really wanted Benu, she would have already been in Moscow. The kittens have been weaned, if he felt sorry for them by any chance,” Tania thinks and shakes her head in discontent, mumbles something and reaches for the remote control to watch her favourite movie in order to take her mind off things. She wants to press “play” when the doorbell rings in the hall.

Tania looks through the peephole carefully. Zina hovers behind the door.

“Come in,” Tania opens the door and says goodbye to a calm evening spent on her couch in front of the telly.

Zina hugs her. This time, her sister wears old jeans and a loose T-shirt, the best possible outfit for a visit of the cat kingdom.

“What’s going on?” Zina asks, sitting down on the couch. Tania pours tea from her samovar.

“I don’t know, I don’t understand it at all.”

“What about the police?”

“I don’t know, but I’m quite sceptical. Nothing got lost, they have no clues. There’s nothing. They’ll be forced to file it away. They only found out that Eduard actually had been to the Czech Republic, but he left last night. So he’s not among the suspects.”

“Well, he has nothing to look for here. He already bled you dry in the divorce.” Zina takes a sip of hot tea.

“I tried to say so to the policeman. Well, at least he checked it and I can leave the matter rest when I know that Eduard is back in Russia. I’d love to see him somewhere far away, somewhere in Siberia. Vladivostok is too close. But I don’t understand the cushion thing.”

“What cushion thing?”

Tania describes her bad feelings, since they are nothing but mere feelings.

“That’s crazy, I’m not so paranoid to take a picture of the cat cushions every day before I go to work. That’s really foolish,” she says angrily.

“But somebody was here, right? One photo a day won’t kill you and it’ll bring you peace. And if nothing happens, you can turn it into a Facebook series. People give likes to anything today,” Zina laughs and jerks her blonde hair. Then she takes one of the fluffy balls into her arms: “Who are you, dear?” She looks in the kitten’s eyes and buries her nose in her soft fur. She cannot resist a bit of cuddling.

Linda stuffs herself with a medium steak. Anthony is nibbling at his salad. He is clearly bored because he had to leave his iPad in his room. Tony fell asleep under the table after everyone gave him something to eat. Linda’s father Charles laughs at Jane’s comment and refills her glass.

Linda seems to be fully immersed in her food, but she carefully watches and listens everything. She watches, discreetly but closely, every word Jane says, every move she takes and every smile she does. They have always lived alone. She is not stupid. She knows that, from time to time, some women appear in her father’s life, but he has never introduced any of them to his daughter, he has never asked any of them to take up the empty seat in their household. The seat left by Linda’s mother.

Jane is beautiful. Linda has to admit it. She is really beautiful. Tall and very thin. One could notice that even when she wore the ski suit, although nobody looks thin in that. Now it is even more obvious since she wears slim jeans, white T-shirt and navy blazer. “She looks like Julia Roberts,” Linda thinks. She has a big mouth and a mane of ginger curly hair. Just as Linda. And just as Linda’s mother. Suddenly, Linda gets it. She gives a furtive look to Jane and then to her father. It seems that Jane is really funny or that her father has drunken too much wine. He laughs out loud. Linda frowns. Jane is definitely pretty and probably clever. She has some sexy job and earns lots of money. That’s quite obvious judging from her outfit alone. But is she kind? She was nice to Linda all the afternoon and evening and she did not seem to pretend anything. “But you cannot say that for sure when you see someone for the first time. I’ll have to watch out for you and keep an eye on you,” Linda thinks. She looks at Anthony. “And what about this silent geek, do I want him as my step brother?” The though makes her sneer.

“What’s the matter, don’t you like the dinner?” Dad asks with worries.

“It’s OK,” Linda takes a large bite of her meat.

“Anthony, stop picking at your food. It’s not poisoned, it’s just vegetable,” Jane says to her son who has his own opinion on vegetable. Not a good one.

“Can I go to our room, please?” Anthony asks.

“Why do you want to go to the room? To sit at the computer again?” his mother frowns.

“I’m exhausted, I want to go sleep,” Anthony yawns.

“OK. But go to the bed and don’t forget to brush your teeth. And if you think that you can find any cookies or chocolate in my bag, dismiss it. I didn’t take anything so that you avoid any temptation.” Jane hands the keys to Anthony.

“Wait a minute, I’ll go too.” Linda eats up the last few chips and tries to yawn as well, although she is not tired at all. But she does not want to stay there with their parents alone. They seem to have fun even without her. Her father seems to be surprised, but he takes the keys out of his pocket. “So, good night, kids, and don’t forget to brush your teeth, Linda,” her father smiles at her.

Linda, Anthony and Tony take the elevator to the fifth floor. They are silent all the way up. By pure chance they happened to have their rooms on the very same floor. Anthony mumbles something and disappears in his room.

Linda takes a shower, thinking. “By chance? Was it really pure chance that they have their rooms on the same floor?” She tries to remember how they met Jane and Anthony. She and her father had just decided to take a rest. They went to the stand at the downhill to get some tea. Jane had just arrived and got out of her car – a ginger beauty dressed in a pink-white overall. Anthony, panting, tried to unfasten his seatbelt Jane reached out to open the ski roof box. It was a difficult task for her, although she is quite tall. Linda’s father hurried up to help her. Then she and Anthony joined them for tea. They spent the entire afternoon at the slope together. Linda, her father and Jane were skiing and Anthony was trying to survive. It was absolutely clear that he was not interested in skiing at all. When he met Tony, he cheered up a little. He immediately suggested to walk him. When he took off his skis, he felt relieved, that was obvious. Tony loosened his tongue, he even showed Linda photos of his tomcat Steve. “Mum bought him to me in order not to spend hours at the computer. But cats aren’t dogs. You don’t have to walk them. So we both sit at the computer now,” Anthony laughed and took off his annoyed mask for a while. Steve is really gorgeous. That is for sure. Linda showed a photo of Cranberry to Anthony and his experienced eye liked her very much. Actually, it was his idea to bring Cranberry and Steve together. He is quite an experienced breeder. The cat wedding idea made Linda blush. What an embarrassing topic. Especially with a boy. A bespectacled geek.

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