Ula went back to Mr Sabatini’s house without getting lost, which was one good thing, and without any scary animals chasing her, which was another good thing. She told Catvinkle that her cousin, Lobbus the brave dog Lobbus, would help them to help the children get their ball back, but only if Catvinkle would meet with him.

But Catvinkle said she would be unable to go and meet Lobbus.

‘Why?’ asked Ula.

‘Well, first, he’s a dog and, no offence, I can’t be seen talking to dogs because it might get back to the other cats at Kittens Anonymous, and then they would tease me and not talk to me. Second, I need to spend all my spare time practising my baby-shoe dancing.’

‘But,’ said Ula, ‘if Lobbus was seen by other dogs talking to you, they might tease him and not talk to him or play with him.’

‘Really?’ said Catvinkle. ‘I had no idea dogs could be so catty!’

‘So you see, Lobbus would be taking a risk too,’ pleaded Ula.

‘Yes,’ said Catvinkle, ‘but he’s brave. The word “brave” is even part of his name, Lobbus the brave dg Lobbus.’

Just then Catvinkle and Ula heard a voice joining their conversation. The voice had a Russian accent and it said, ‘Yes, but it’s a family name passed down from Lobbus to Lobbus. It’s a mistake to take too much from a name. If, for example, my name were “Rose” I would still smell like a Russian wolfhound, which, of course, is good, especially for a Russian wolfhound.’

It was Lobbus himself, who had come all the way to Mr Sabatini’s house and sneaked in through the back door to join the conversation.

‘Allow me to introduce myself,’ he said. ‘I am Lobbus the brave dog Lobbus. You must be Catvinkle.’ And with old-world charm he gave a very little sniff in the direction of Catvinkle’s tail before briefly offering Catvinkle his tail to sniff.

‘I am Catvinkle,’ she said.

Catvinkle loved her new friend Ula and her musk, but now there were two dogs in her room, which was two more than there had been the day before. What if other cats saw her hanging around with these two dogs? What if there were to be more dogs coming? She was currently outnumbered by dogs in her own room. This had never happened before and Catvinkle had been brought up to be frightened by something like this. Was this part of some doggy trick to trap an innocent cat?

‘Ulee, why is he here with us?’ Catvinkle asked, trying not to sound nervous.

‘Lobbus, what made you come here? I thought I was going to ask Catvinkle to come and meet you,’ asked Ula of her cousin, Lobbus.

‘Why am I here?’ asked Lobbus the brave dog Lobbus, without expecting either of the other two to answer. ‘I’ll tell you why I’m here. I knew from the top of my tail to the claws in my paws that Catvinkle wouldn’t be brave enough to come out and just talk with me about the plan to get the magic ball for the children. And it’s all because I am a dog. You say I am brave. Well, yes, I’m brave. That’s why I came here.’ He turned to Catvinkle. ‘But what of your friend, my cousin, Ula? She is not famous for being brave.’

‘No, I’m famous for always having the smell of a wet dog, even when I’m completely dry,’ said Ula.

‘My cousin Ula here has a musky smell that you love. All right, you can love it. But what can you do to help her and make her happy in the way that a good friend does? You send her off in the direction of Grayston, a big and scary dog in anyone’s language.’

‘But I didn’t know dogs were scared of other dogs when I came up with my plan,’ explained Catvinkle.

‘All right, so you didn’t know. But now you know,’ said Lobbus, ‘and nothing changes. Still your plan has Ula going to get the ball from Grayston all by herself. I’m sorry, Ula,’ said Lobbus to Ula, ‘this is unfortunately the way of the cat. I was pretty sure this is what your new friend, Catvinkle, would say and that’s why I came here without waiting for you to report back.’

‘But Ulee,’ said Catvinkle, ‘you know I have to practise my you-know-what for the you-know-what competition and I did my part already by thinking hard and coming up with the plan to make the children happy.’

‘Forgive me, Catvinkle, but your plan is a terrible plan for Ula. She does most of the work and takes all of the risk,’ said Lobbus.

‘But Ulee, you must admit, you like helping people even more than I do,’ implored Catvinkle.

This last remark made Lobbus a bit angry and he raised his voice because he thought his cousin was being tricked.

‘You think you can use her niceness against her? Listen, Catvinkle, I once rode on a flatbed truck for eleven days with an ant-eating echidna all the way to the freezing wastelands of Yakutsk. When we got there the ground was frozen so hard that the echidna had no way of digging into the ground and reaching the ants he needed, and he cried all the way back. For eleven days I sat and listened to that echidna! I had to put my front paw on its back to try to comfort it while it cried for lack of ants. Do you know how prickly is the back of an echidna? Do you know how it feels to have your front paw bouncing up and down on the spiky back of an echidna as the truck goes over bump after bump on the road for eleven days?!’

Catvinkle turned to Ula and lifted her front paws up in the air in a shrug. ‘I have no idea what your cousin Lobbus is talking about,’ said Catvinkle.

‘I think he means that he’s seen a lot in his life as a well-travelled Russian wolfhound and that he isn’t easily tricked. Not that I’m saying you’re trying to trick me. But … are you trying to trick me, Catvinkle?’

Before she could answer, Lobbus the brave dog Lobbus jumped back into the conversation.

‘Catvinkle, don’t try to pull the fur over my eyes,’ said Lobbus, enjoying the freedom from good manners that comes with interrupting.

‘I’m not trying to pull the fur over your eyes, Lobbus. I think it just falls that way naturally, especially when you get cross. And I’m not trying to trick you, Ulee. But Lobbus is right, I am a cat and so I do what cats naturally do. I can’t help it. Even the best of us might not be quite as helpful as a wonderful dog like you. You see, the help I could give you if I were to come to scary Grayston’s house is very small. But if I stay here and practise my you-know-what for the you-know-what competition I’ll be giving myself a lot of help – a lot, a lot!’ said Catvinkle.