HELLO THERE, ARTHUR,” SAID DR. TESS. We were in the kitchen at the inn—me, Mom, Harmony, and Bro. Plus our golden-eyed guest, now lying on a blanket near the table. I knew Dr. Tess, of course, but only from visits to her office. Now here she was visiting us. Had I stepped on a thorn again and didn’t even know it? I checked my paws, not by licking them or anything like that, but sort of just with my mind. Wow! Just with my mind! I was getting better every day.

But what was the point? Where was I going with this?

Um.

Um.

Oh, right. My paws felt just fine. So what was Dr. Tess doing at my place?

“Hmm,” said Dr. Tess, looking at me more closely. I looked at her more closely, but couldn’t keep it up. “Didn’t we put you on a diet last visit? Have you been sticking to it?”

“That’s on me,” Mom said. “I promise to be more vigilant.”

“But Mom,” said Bro. “So what if he’s a little on the husky side? He won the Frisbee contest, didn’t he?”

“What?” said Dr. Tess.

Bro told Dr. Tess the whole story of the Frisbee contest. He missed a few details, such as the bacon grease part, but just the same it was thrilling to hear.

“Wow!” said Dr. Tess, giving me a quick head scratch, an absolutely expert head scratch. “Amazing,” she said.

“Yes indeed,” said Mom.

Dr. Tess shot her a quick glance. Why? I had no idea. Mom gazed into the distance.

“How about this, Bro?” Dr. Tess said. “Let’s try to stick to the diet and maybe he’ll perform even better.”

Bro thought about it. “Okay,” he said.

Dr. Tess smiled. “And now let’s see the patient.”

She walked over to the blanket, which was when I knew for sure I wasn’t the patient. Were things going my way these days? This was how to live.

Dr. Tess eyed the patient. “Hmm,” she said. “Hmm. And what’s Queenie been up to?”

“She had a big day yesterday as well,” Mom said.

“Oh?” said Dr. Tess. “Let me guess. She won the cat beauty contest.”

“Hey!” said Bro. “How did you guess that?”

Dr. Tess smiled at him. “Like all guesswork, I suppose. I stood on the facts I had and made a mental leap.”

Mom and Harmony laughed, so something funny must have happened. Bro and I seemed to have missed it. We’re real good buddies, me and Bro. The best.

“But since the fair,” Mom said, “she’s been out of sorts.”

“How?” said Dr. Tess.

“Listless,” said Mom.

“And purring a lot,” Harmony said. “She’s not a purrer, so what does it mean?”

“Is she eating?”

“She tasted the kibble and didn’t seem to like it.”

“Drinking?”

“Maybe a little. The level in her water bowl went down but I didn’t actually see her drinking.”

“So it could have been Arthur?”

What was this? All eyes were suddenly on me? What had I done?

“I’ve never seen him drink from Queenie’s bowl,” said Bro.

Me? Drinking from Queenie’s bowl? Never! Well, once. I didn’t even want to think about that incident. Over in a flash, but afterward! My nose! She’d come out of nowhere, possibly flying down from the top of the fridge, and caught me a good one. The sting lasted for days and days. In short, it had been a long time since I’d gone anywhere near Queenie’s bowl. I was innocent! I looked up at everyone with the most innocent eyes I could muster.

“Looks guilty to me,” Harmony said.

“I’m afraid so,” said Dr. Tess. “Maybe Queenie picked up some bug at the fair. Let’s start by taking her temperature. Anything from one hundred point four to one-oh-two point five is good, but Queenie is always one-oh-one on the nose.”

She opened her bag, took out some sort of gizmo. “This goes—very gently, of course—in her ear until it beeps. Queenie tolerates it very well, as I recall. Mind holding her for me, Harmony? Firmly but not roughly is the way to go. Careful she doesn’t scratch you.”

Harmony bent down and lifted our guest into her arms, where she curled up and purred some more.

“Well well,” said Dr. Tess. “She’s making it easy today.” Dr. Tess stroked the patient under her neck, at the same time slowly sticking one end of the gizmo in the patient’s ear. “Now we wait for the beep.”

While we waited, Dr. Tess gave the patient a careful look, from the tips of her ears to the tip of her tail.

“That gold tip is just incredible,” she said. “The icing on the cake.”

“That’s exactly what I thought the first time I saw her,” said Mom.

“The color is so … so vibrant,” Dr. Tess said. “I’ve never—”

Beep beep beep.

Dr. Tess slid the gizmo out of the patient’s ear and checked its little screen. “One-oh-two point four. A normal reading, although on the high side for Queenie.” She turned to the patient. “Anything bothering you under that glorious coat?” Dr. Tess stroked the patient’s back, down to her tail, her fingers sort of exploring all the way—back, legs, tail, the golden tip.

“It feels a little …” Dr. Tess went silent. With her fingernails she sort of picked a bit at the tail, the way Bro sometimes picks at me when he’s checking for ticks. “So odd,” she said, and then she raised her hand. Between her finger and her thumb, she held a tiny gold flake.

“What’s that?” said Harmony.

Dr. Tess looked at Harmony, a look maybe not of the friendliest kind. “Gold paint,” she said.

“Paint?” said Harmony, Bro, and Mom, all at the same time.

“Spray paint, most likely,” Dr. Tess said. “Some people think it’s amusing or cool to spray paint a cat. Or … or maybe to enhance some feature that’s already there. Perhaps the temptation of a beauty contest was a bit more than—”

Harmony interrupted. For a moment she looked just like Mom—in fact, even more so, if that makes any sense. “What are you saying?”

“I think I know what Dr. Tess is saying.” Mom looked Dr. Tess in the eye. “No one here would ever do such a thing.”

Dr. Tess met Mom’s gaze, at least for a bit. “I’m not suggesting that.”

“Huh?” said Bro. “I think you—”

Mom held up her hand.

Dr. Tess held up both of hers. “If I did, I’m sorry.”

Mom nodded, a nod that means we’re moving on.

“But whoever did it,” Dr. Tess said, “is no friend to cats. Is there any vegetable oil? And a bowl of warm, soapy water?”

Soon Dr. Tess went to work on the patient’s tail with vegetable oil and warm, soapy water. After not very long at all the famous golden tip was gone, leaving the tail snowy white from beginning to end. What was going on? I had no idea.

“She’s an imposter!” Harmony said.

“What does that mean?” said Bro.

“This isn’t Queenie,” Harmony said.

They looked at each other. Sometimes I get the feeling that Harmony and Bro can speak to each other silently—which happens all the time among me and my kind, by the way.

“It’s Princess?” said Bro.

Harmony nodded.

Ah.