10

Max Becomes a Cat Daddy

Min walked up to her cousin, hands clasped, pleading. “Javi, please, they’ll ruin everything!”

Max jumped in front of Min. “Come on, Javi, they need us!”

“Peace, my twin tornados!” Cousin Javi cut them off. “Enough fighting. I can’t handle you both fighting and then that grouchy House interface too.”

Javi stepped back and looked at Max, Min, and the kittens with an expression that had turned serious. Almost judicious. “Let’s see. Wow, okay. Seems like I stepped into some . . . drama . . . here. But also an opportunity! To practice conflict resolution!”

Max and Min sat down, patiently waiting for Judge Javi to reason things out.

Javi took a deep breath. “First things first. Okay, well, from a moral perspective . . . we probably shouldn’t exterminate them, right?”

House’s screen flickered, a digital throat clear, but it said nothing.

“I guess,” Min said. “We’re not monsters.”

“Good to know.” Javi scratched a head of floppy curls, staring at the kittens in front of them. “However, your parents did have the Pets option set to None, and I understand why they would worry about wild animals running around in there with all the sensitive equipment.”

Min shot Max a triumphant look. “Exactly!”

Max’s shoulders slumped.

Cousin Javi sighed. “It’s a dilemma, all right. In fact, this may require what I like to call a compromise.”

“You mean when nobody gets their way.” Min sounded crabby.

“No, I mean when everyone gets a little of their way,” Javi answered cheerily.

Javi squinted up to the sky, considering all possible options. “Okay, here’s what we’re gonna do. The cats stay . . .”

“Woohoo!” Max leaped up. Min glared.

“. . . but only temporarily . . .” Javi continued.

“Aww,” Max groaned, and sat back down. Min smirked.

“Temporarily, just like User Javi’s Administrative Privileges are temporary,” House piped up, screen flashing quickly off again. Max looked at the blank monitor. Why does it seem like House is taking this personally? Does House really hate cats?

“Temporarily. That’s right,” Javi agreed. “To give us time to find a shelter or a home for them, or at least to check with your folks. Until then, we’ll put them downstairs in the basement where they can’t wreck the lab or Min’s stuff.”

Max pumped his fist. “Yes!”

Min rolled her eyes. “Whatever. Compromises are dumb.” She opened the door and turned to glare at Max. “And Max, I swear, if those things do ANYTHING to my project, I’m throwing all three of you back into the river.” She marched inside the house and slammed the door shut behind her.

Javi sat down next to Max, arm around his shoulder. “She’s right about that. This is on you, got it? Until your folks get home, those kittens are your responsibility. And try not to get too attached, because when the two Master Users get back, all bets are off.”

Max hopped up and grabbed an empty box from near the recycling bin at the edge of the porch. “Temporary or not, I’ll take it.” A second later, he had scooped up both squirming kittens and plopped them inside, slapping the lid down before they could escape.

“Hey, Javi, is it okay if I go introduce the kittens to our neighbor? Just for a second?” Max adjusted the box in his arms; he could feel the weight of the kittens shifting as they scrabbled and clawed for balance inside.

Javi nodded. “Ten minutes—just be really careful not to let them jump out of that thing and get away. You don’t know what scared animals will do. Got that, cat daddy-o?”

“I can handle it,” Max said, starting down the stairs.

Javi grinned. “I’m sure you can.” Javi flashed Max a thumbs-up and followed Min inside.

As Max carried the shifting box through the yard toward their neighbor’s house, he noticed that same feeling—the one he’d experienced back at the River—bubbling up in his chest all over again.

It was a strange sensation, maybe even two different feelings in one.

One part was a kind of light warmth in his heart as he held the shifting bundle of the kittens in his arms. Max knew he already loved them, the little warm lumps wiggling around inside the dirty old box in his hands. He loved their little furry kitten heads and frantic little kitten tails and fuzzy kitten paws. He loved them totally and unquestioningly and uncomplicatedly, the same way he loved summer vacation and buttered popcorn and a new Zelda game.

The other feeling was different . . . and not as good. That one was more like a new weight in his stomach, and he had no choice but to carry it around with him.

Because Max was already worried that something bad might happen to the kittens. He could feel his small circle of family expanding, and it was a little scary. It made him nervous.

Max was worrying about the two tiny balls of warm fur the same way he worried about Min, even when she was a pain, like right now. The same way Max worried about Javi, who had spent most of middle school getting in trouble or being teased for things like not participating when they split teams into boys versus girls.

The same way Max worried about his parents, who had suddenly disappeared halfway around the world for their latest project, some kind of robo-brain-chip thing, the kind that sometimes included Min but almost never had anything to do with Max himself . . .

Every one of those worries felt like a rock in his gut, and Max had to carry them. He didn’t know what to do about that.

Max’s rock thoughts were interrupted by a tiny mew from the box. He smiled to himself and peeked inside.

Stu and Scout were curled into one corner of the box, twisted together—two kittens in one shared, soft kitteny blob.

Max thought about the pictures of Max and Min napping like that on a beach blanket when they were little. There was one framed on the hallway wall, even now.

Spotty fur and gray fuzz nestled together. Safe and warm. Because he’d rescued them . . . and I’m going to keep rescuing them.

Max took a deep breath.

Don’t freak out. You’ve got this.

Max smiled down into the box, leaning his face in close. “You’re gonna like it with us, I promise,” he whispered to the kittens.

He was rewarded with the tiniest, rough pink licks on his nose.

Blep.

Some licks were worth the rocks.