(Continued from Buddy's Story: part 7 . . .) "Here is the plan. We will wait until the human has gone downstairs. You go down and sit on her lap. When you get settled on her lap then let me know and I will open the door and go get the raisins. If the human gets up to come up the stairs then you can call to me and I will hurry back to the cage." "Hmm," thought Cleo, "it should work." "But what about the other cats?" Jeffery had not thought about them. "Well, we will just have to deal with them when the time comes," replied Jeffery. Thus having discussed the plan they decided that they would put it into action that very evening. The rest of the day Jeffery kept going over the plan in his mind. He decided that it had to work. The only loose end was the other cats. He knew that he could take care of himself but what if they shut the door on him and trapped him in the closet. He pondered that for a little while, but finally he decided that cats aren't smart enough to think of something like that. Feeling much better Jeffery laid back down on the blanket and took a nap. Finally evening came and it was time to put their plan into action. Just like clockwork the lady went downstairs to watch the box with the moving pictures on it. Cleo smiled at Jeffery and then went down the hall and followed the lady down the stairs. After what seemed like hours, Cleo finally told Jeffery that she was on the lady's lap. But Cleo said that she could only see her sister and one brother. That meant that one cat was unaccounted for. O well, thought Jeffery, it's now or never. He went to the door of the cage and quietly opened it. He ran over to the doorway that went into the kitchen and peeked around the corner. Hmm, where is the other cat? Well, he could not see him so he went into the kitchen and walked over to the closet. The door was open just a crack. He pushed his nose in the crack and pushed the door open. Once the door was open, he looked into the closet. Wow, he thought, there are lots of shelves. How was he ever going to find the raisins? He looked around and did not see anything that looked like raisins or the package that they were supposed to be in. He saw a bucket that was about half as tall as the first shelf so he went over and climbed up on it. Once on the bucket he stood up and grabbed onto the bottom shelf and easily pulled himself onto it. He started searching around the shelf. There were lots of things on the shelf. Jeffery found a few things that smelled good but nothing that looked like raisins. He decided that he would climb up to the next shelf. He found a box that hung out past the edge of the shelf a little way, so he climbed up onto that box and then reached for the next shelf. He grabbed the edge of it and climbed up onto the shelf. This shelf had even more stuff on it then the first one. He started looking through the items on that shelf when he accidently bumped a can. As soon as he bumped it, he knew he should have been more careful but it was too late. The can slipped off the shelf and hit the floor with a "thud." Jeffery froze. He was quiet for a minute but nothing happened. "Whew," he thought to himself, "That was close." He vowed to be more careful. He looked all over that shelf and found a few things that tasted kind of good but he didn't find any raisins. It was then that a very strange feeling came over him. It was like the raisins were calling to him. He could "feel" their presence on the next shelf. He was excited. He knew that they were there. Now he just had to figure out a way to get to them. The edges of the shelves were even. He saw a big can and figured that if he pushed it to the edge of the shelf he could then stand on it and reach the next shelf. He pushed the can over to the edge. He carefully climbed up onto the can and stood up so he could reach the next shelf. As he was standing and reaching for the shelf, he saw something move out of the corner of his eye. It startled him and he lost his balance. He lunged toward the shelf and was able to grab it with only his left front paw. When the can fell it landed on top of a glass jar on the floor and shattered the jar with a loud crashing sound. As he dangled there, he looked down at the floor. There on the floor starting up at him was the missing cat! (To be continued . . . ) Jason, Sammy, Doris, and Buddy ICQ # 7528859 (Sammy's Dad) ICQ - www.icq.com E-mail: [log in to unmask] [Posted in FML issue 2395]