Chapter 14

Bobby and the Cat

Tramp was at the lake a few weeks later, early in the morning, with the carp. No one was out. He had his own private beach with only a few lone runners who would only look about five feet in front to keep from stepping into goose doo. He ran alongside the channel between Carp Beach and a small mound of dirt that seemed to float like a tree-studded leaf, twenty yards from Carp Beach. The kids called it Deserted Island. It had lots of pine trees and a small hill that Emmett said was the spot where the pirates buried their treasure.

“Never go out there. Very dangerous. Leave it for the geese,” he told the kids and Tramp.

The sun shone over Tramp’s shoulder making the water shimmer as he pushed a dead carp back and forth. A scent of rotten eggs reached his nose. He knew that scent. Bobby Sigley. Why would he be at the lake so early? Tramp looked across the lake and saw Bobby with a squirming brown bag out in front of his chest. He dropped the bag into a canoe and paddled towards Deserted Island. Bobby pulled the canoe onto the island and lifted the bag over his shoulder. The bag rocked from shoulder to shoulder and emitted a low female meow.

Tramp’s water dog instinct kicked in, he ignored Emmett’s instructions. The channel wasn’t wide, not for a water dog. He swam across the channel and crawled slowly up the hill shrouded in shadows from pine trees entwined in each other’s arms. Bobby was standing there shaking a brown scratchy looking bag.

The meow from inside said, “Help me.” “It’s almost over. You’ll make it,” Bobby

said. “You have to come out. It’s the only way. Dad said to get rid of you. I can’t do that. But I have to make him think I did. Please don’t come back. If you do, he’ll know I didn’t do what he said. Good bye, Calico. I’ll miss you,” Bobby said and ran back to his canoe.

The bag didn’t move. Tramp crawled very slowly, not making a noise, until he could shove his nose into the open end of the bag. He was greeted with a hot hissss.

“Leave me alone,” the voice said from the back of the bag.

“I’ve come to help you,” Tramp said. Silence.

“It’s you, isn’t it? They gave you a name when they bought you, but I don’t remember it,” the cat said, and Tramp knew that much just from the scent.

“I have no way out,” said the cat.

With a little shiver, Tramp realize he knew that voice. He had heard it before.

“Is that you?” Tramp struggled to ask. “Calico, is that you?”