The next morning there was a constant stream of cats up on the rooftops.
They’d all been informed. The cats had passed the word on from one to the other that very night.
“This is the best news since Dunkirk,” said the School Cat.
They were sitting on the roof of the Social Security Building. Minou had never been in the middle of such a large group of cats before, and definitely not in broad daylight. She’d brought a bag of meat with her and was sharing it out on all sides. Ecumenica was so wild with joy that she burst out in a fit of harsh screeching — quite unseemly for a Church Cat. “We’re going to celebrate!” she screamed.
“Yeah, let’s celebrate,” the Tatter Cat said. She was proud that she could climb up to the highest rooftop again despite her leg.
“There’s nothing to celebrate,” Minou said. “My human is still fired and in a few days he’ll have to move out of his flat.”
“Wait and see,” said Cross-eyed Simon, “anything could happen today. The mood’s changed. People don’t like Ellmore any more. My human’s furious with him.”
“Mine too,” said the Councillor’s cat.
“The whole town’s talking about it,” said the Metropole Cat. “And this time, I mean the people.”
Meanwhile Tibble was stuck in the attic with the six little kittens. His big cats were out on the roof, including Minou.
He’d hardly seen her since the reading and there were all kinds of things he was dying to ask her.
He wandered around the flat and didn’t really know what to do with himself. Then the doorbell rang.
It was Mr Van Dam, his downstairs neighbour. When he finally made it to the top of the stairs, he seemed a little bashful and didn’t want to sit down.
“This won’t take long,” he said. “I’ve heard that my wife has given you notice to leave. That she wants you out of our attic. She did that without telling me. And she shouldn’t have. I don’t agree with it.”
Tibble said, “Please, have a seat.”
Mr Van Dam sat down on the edge of a chair.
“Sometimes she overdoes things,” he said. “She was angry because there were so many cats on the roof. But I told her right away, ‘Tibble can’t help that. That’s just what this neighbourhood’s like. There happen to be a lot of cats around here.’
Tibble nodded.
“And you having cats yourself,” Mr Van Dam continued, “that’s not a problem for us at all. She says it is… but I disagree.”
“Thank you,” said Tibble.
“And otherwise she was very angry about that article of yours in the paper,” Mr Van Dam said. “But now we all know that you were absolutely right. It was true. I just heard that it was Ellmore who ran into the fish stall. And the police have finally found a couple of witnesses.”
“Oh,” said Tibble. “Great. I can’t offer you a cigarette because I don’t smoke, but would you like a peppermint?”
“I’d love one,” said Mr Van Dam. “You also had a… um… a secretary… somewhere.” He looked around vaguely.
“Yes,” said Tibble, “but she’s not here right now. She’s out on the roof.”
“Cute little kittens,” said Mr Van Dam. “I’d love to have one.”
“Oh,” said Tibble, “you can. When they’re a little bigger.”
“No, I can’t. My wife doesn’t like cats, you see. There’s no way round that. But there’s one thing I want to tell you, Tibble: this is your home and you can rent it from us as long as you like. That’s all there is to it.”
“That’s fantastic…” Tibble sighed.
He would have loved to tell Minou straight away, but she wasn’t there. And right after Mr Van Dam went downstairs again, the phone rang.
It was Tibble’s boss.
Asking if he could drop by shortly.
Half an hour later he was back in that old familiar spot, sitting in front of his boss’s desk. And the Editorial Cat was there too and winked at him.
“By the looks of things you were right, Tibble,” the Editor said. “That article you wrote was true.”
“Of course it was true,” Tibble said. “Otherwise I wouldn’t have written it.”
“Not so fast…” his boss said. “That doesn’t alter the fact that you didn’t have the slightest bit of evidence. And you mustn’t ever write something without evidence to back it up. What you did was wrong. Let’s hope you never do it again.”
Tibble looked up. “Again?” he asked.
“Yes. Because I hope you’re willing to carry on here with us at the paper. You are, aren’t you?”
“Oh, yes,” said Tibble. “I’d love to!”
“Good, that’s agreed then. And… oh, yeah, Tibble… one last thing before you go: it’s been a long time since you wrote anything about cats. It’s all right if you want to write about them again sometimes. As long as it’s not too often.”
“Great,” said Tibble.
As soon as the conversation was over, the Editorial Cat slipped out of the window and hurried up to the roof to tell Minou the news.
“Your human’s back with the newspaper!”
Minou sighed with relief.
“So now you can go away again,” the cat said.
“Go away? Where?”
“Well,” said the Editorial Cat. “Your sister wants you back, doesn’t she? You’re allowed to go back to your old house now, aren’t you?”
“I don’t know…” Minou said, very flustered all of a sudden. “Where did you hear that?”
“On the way here… from a couple of different cats. Haven’t you spoken to her yet?”
“No,” said Minou.
“You’ll see her soon then. She’s coming to get you.”
“But I don’t want to move,” Minou said. “I’ve already got a human. And he still needs me. How else is he going to get news?”
“He doesn’t need you any more,” the Editorial Cat said. “He’s changed so much! He’s not shy any more, not at all. He’s not scared of anything. Haven’t you noticed?”
“Yes,” Minou said. “It’s true. He’s brave enough to go up to anyone and ask anything now. He was so angry at Ellmore, he stopped being scared. He Learnt to Dare.”
On their way back to the attic, Minou talked a little with the Tatter Cat, who immediately brought up the subject of her sister.
“Your sister wants you to drop by,” the Tatter Cat said. “I haven’t spoken to her myself, but that’s the message going round. I’d get over there if I were you.”
“Yes…” Minou hesitated.
“I hear she’s found some remedy that will cure you. That would be a real blessing,” the Tatter Cat said. “The bliss of being a cat again… don’t you think?” She peered at Minou with her yellow eyes.
“I… um… I don’t know any more…” Minou said.
She found Tibble in the living room, over the moon about all the things that had been happening.
“I’ve got my job back and my flat!” he shouted. “We’re going to celebrate with fish, fried fish, and lots of it.” But because he was so happy, he didn’t notice how quiet Minou was. Quiet and thoughtful and not happy at all.