Hunter crept into the clearing, the tiny kitten in his mouth.
“I’ll get the snare,” Dr. Reynolds whispered.
“No, don’t, please.”
“But this might be our only chance to catch him,” he said.
“We can’t catch him,” I said. “Without him, the kittens won’t survive. Miss Mittens won’t survive.”
“But what is he doing?” my mother asked.
“He’s moving the cats someplace safe,” Dr. Reynolds said. “Cats will do that when they’re threatened. Somehow he’s figured out they have to leave.”
Hunter had heard and understood me. He knew what had happened. He walked around the edge of the clearing, staying close to the wrecks and as far away from us as possible. It was important we stayed still and tried not to scare him.
Hunter stopped in front of one of the traps. He obviously remembered being in the trap before. I hoped that experience hadn’t spooked him so much he wouldn’t do what he needed to do.
“It won’t hurt you,” I whispered. “Just go around it.”
“Oh, my goodness,” my mother said.
“I can’t believe what he’s doing,” Dr. Reynolds gasped.
Hunter stepped partway into the trap. Not far enough to trigger the door, but far enough to drop the kitten in. He retreated, leaving the kitten, a little ball of black fur, in the trap! It stumbled around, meowing, too small to try to climb out of the trap.
“You don’t think that Hunter is, is…He can’t be,” Dr. Reynolds said.
“Yes,” I said, answering his unfinished question. “He is.”
Hunter disappeared. Was he going for a second kitten? He had to be. This wasn’t an accident or a mistake.
“This is unbelievable,” my mother said. “If he’s actually doing what we think he’s doing, it’s just, just… amazing!”
The words were barely out of her mouth when Hunter appeared with another kitten in his mouth. He walked directly over to the trap, dropped the second kitten into the cage and quickly turned around. The two little kittens huddled together and Hunter disappeared once again.
“I feel like I’m in a Disney movie,” Simon said.
“Have you ever heard of anything like this happening before?” my mother asked Dr. Reynolds.
“I’ve read about wild animals moving their babies out of danger, like away from a forest fire,” Dr. Reynolds said. “But this, putting them into a cage…well, I’m seeing it and I hardly believe it.” He shook his head. “I’m going to make a point of not telling anyone what I’m seeing today.”
“You can tell anybody in the Feral Cat Association,” Doris added. “We all would believe it.”
“Maybe I should go and examine the kittens,” he suggested.
“No, not yet,” I said. “You don’t want to spook Hunter. Wait until he’s brought them all out.”
“Do you think he’s going to bring all of them?” Simon asked.
“I’m counting on it,” I said.
Hunter arrived with another kitten in his mouth, and right behind him was Miss Mittens. She was carrying the fourth kitten. She hesitated at the edge of the clearing, but Hunter didn’t. He moved straight toward the trap. He dropped the kitten in with the other two. The three of them curled together, crying loudly.
Hunter doubled back to where Miss Mittens was waiting. They touched noses and she followed him back toward the cage.
The kittens’ cries became even louder. They sounded desperate. Miss Mittens picked up her pace and trotted straight to the trap. Hunter pressed up against her and sort of nudged her toward the opening.
“Do you see what he’s doing?” I whispered.
“I see it, but that doesn’t mean I believe it,” Dr. Reynolds said.
Miss Mittens stopped beside the cage. I had an image of Hunter giving her a shove. But the kittens had become even louder. She jumped into the cage and the door slammed shut!
“We got her!” my mother exclaimed. “We got the mother and the kittens!”
“Now if we can just get Hunter to…,” I said.
A blur of fur shot out of the wrecks—it was King! He charged across the clearing toward Hunter. Hunter leaped to the side as King, all fangs and fury, slammed into the cage holding Miss Mittens and the kittens, knocking it backward.
Hunter pounced on King. King screamed and jumped forward, trying to fight back, but Hunter had hit and run, leaping out of striking distance.
King scrambled forward, trying to get at Hunter.
“We have to do something!” I screamed. “We can’t let him hurt Hunter or chase him away or—”
Hunter dashed around King and ran straight into one of the remaining traps. The door slammed shut, sealing him inside and King outside.
Dr. Reynolds jumped to his feet. In his hands was the snare pole. He ran toward King. As soon as King realized what was happening, he ran. Dr. Reynolds tried to grab him with the pole, but King was too far away and too fast. He vanished underneath one of the wrecks and was gone.
I should have been disappointed he’d gotten away. I wasn’t. I was almost glad. Who needed him at the new colony? He was nothing but trouble, a bully, a…I felt guilty. Even King deserved to live. We still had time to catch him. Today, tomorrow or in a few days.
But I was too happy to feel bad or guilty about King. I was so grateful Hunter and Miss Mittens and all her kittens had been caught. Almost the whole colony had been caught.
I walked toward Hunter’s cage, and then I saw somebody else—Rocky. The raccoon waddled across the clearing until he was beside Hunter’s cage. He pressed his nose against it. Hunter did the same. The two animals touched noses through the bars of the cage.
“I wish I had a camera,” my mother said.
“I wish I had another vet as a witness,” Dr. Reynolds said.
“You don’t need either. It’s real. It’s happening,” I added. “Let’s just watch.”
“It looks like they’re talking,” Doris said.
They are talking, I thought. And I knew what they were talking about. They were saying goodbye.
I didn’t need a witness to know this was real and that, when I told the story in a month, a year or fifty years from now to my grandchildren, it had happened. But still, I was glad to have four other people with me to watch it. Something special should be shared.
The two animals stood nose to nose, on opposite sides of the bars, one inside, the other out. It was real, but it wasn’t. Maybe it was good I had some witnesses after all.
“Quickly! Quickly!” a voice yelled out. Mr. Singh came running into the clearing and the spell was broken. “You must leave!” he screamed. “You must leave! The police are coming!”