Catwalk by Sheila Webster Boneham

and I heard “Wow! That was amazing” and other comments, and then Alberta asking people to hold down the volume because it might make the cats nervous. Leo didn’t seem bothered by the racket, and I carried him back to the kennel and squeezed out a jackpot stretch of fish paste for him.
    â€œYou guys totally rocked it!” said Jared, his grin even bigger than the one he’d flashed in support of clicker training. “You gotta compete with him!”
    â€œHe’s entered next week,” I said, grinning, and then I kneeled to put Leo in his carrier with another smear of fishy nomness.
    â€œNicely done, Janet,” said Dave.
    â€œOutstanding!” came a familiar voice, and I turned to see Tom grinning like a Cheshire cat. “I had no idea he would run like that!”
    â€œThat was so exciting!” said Norm. “I wish Bill were here.”
    I couldn’t stop smiling.
    Sue didn’t say a word, but she was busy getting Dessie ready for her turn. She picked up the lithe little cat in one hand, a feather teaser in the other, and went to the course enclosure. Dessie started out fine, but when she exited the first tunnel, she leapt into the air and spun around as if something had startled her, then streaked to the far side of the course and straight up the netting to the top of the panel. She hung there, eyes wide and tail flicking, until Marietta brought a ladder into the enclosure and Dave climbed it and brought her down. Sue’s face was crimson when she came back to the staging area.
    I scanned the audience while the O’Briens put one cat away and got the other out. Alberta had her back to me and seemed to be hugging someone. When she let her loose and turned around, I saw that it was Louise Rasmussen. She had sunglasses on, which seemed odd until I remembered that Alberta thought the woman’s husband had given her the makings of a black eye. As I watched, Louise appeared to introduce a man to Alberta. Her father, I guessed. He was turned sideways to me and I couldn’t get a proper view of his face. Marconi? I’d soon know.
    Dave and Jimma had a nice run. Jimma did all the obstacles and got a few extra leaps in as he tried to catch the odd creature dangling from Dave’s teaser wand. I got a look at it when they finished, and confirmed that it was indeed a feathered mouse. I decided that an afternoon stroll through the vendor stalls would be in order. Leo would enjoy a mouse with feathers.
    As soon as Dave had Jimma back in his carrier, Jared brought Moose out. He was big even for a Maine Coon, and I was sure he must outweigh Leo, Dessie, and Jimma together. Stretched full length he was probably as tall as Jared. He was a brown tabby with yellow-green eyes, and he wore the fur around his head and neck like a king’s mantle. Long tufts of fur stood out beyond the tips of his ears, giving him a wild look that belied his gentle demeanor. Jared lugged him into the course enclosure and set him down. The big cat flicked his left front paw, then the right, for all the world like a sprinter loosening up at the starting blocks. Moose held his long tail high in the air and fluffed out wide as my forearm. He was not a cat you’d want to cross. Jared said, “Moose, go!” and they were off. The boy and his cat were a team, and my eyes went wet as I watched them run.
    â€œStunning,” said a low voice behind me. Tom smiled when I turned my head, and the lump in my throat got bigger when I saw that his eyes were moist, too. Was it Saint-Exupery who said, “Love does not consist in gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction”? I thought so. And there was no denying that we saw animals, and good bonds between animals and people, in the same light.
    Beyond Tom I saw that Alberta was still talking to Louise Rasmussen. The man with Louise was now in full view, and I saw that we’d already met. It was indeed