Mal came over, and excitement seemed to hang around her like perfume.“We’ve got twelve applications, Raven.In just over two hours.”
“Make that fourteen,” said Raven, handing her Simon and Sarah’s applications.“Did you get any for the twins?”
“No.But I got one for Charlotte and a few for the older cats.And did you see how many of the books are moving?I had to go to the back and open another box.”
“That’s great news.”
“Yes, this partnership is off to a great start.”Mal’s eyes were shining.“I was a bit skeptical at first, but I’ve got to hand it to you, Raven.You have some great ideas.”
“Thank you.Now why don’t you or Daisy take a break and get some lunch?I’ll watch the front while you’re away.”
She watched Mal bob in between people to escape for a few minutes, then turned back to the table where people had gathered so she could answer questions.
Two hours later she looked up and surveyed the room.Children of all sizes were sporting cat paws on their cheeks or whiskers on their flushed, happy faces.Daisy and Mal had begun to disassemble the displays and move the cats to the back room to give them time out of the spotlight.Lance was at the cash register, ringing up sales, and Pinky had been pleased to give out dozens of brochures about the store’s weekly children’s book reading.
The day could not have gone much better.
“Are you ready for dinner?”asked Lance, after he’d locked the door and turned the sign to closed half an hour later.
“Yes,” said Raven.“Give me a hand with this last table, please.”It was folded up and ready to be slid into the back of the van.
“Let’s just leave it in the hall.We’ll get it later when we load the cats.We’re all famished, and Betty has agreed to meet us at the restaurant.”
She looked over at the group ready to leave through the rear exit.
“Yes, let’s go.”They carried the table as far as the back hallway then followed Mal, Daisy, Zoey, Ahmed, and Pinky outside and down the street.
The Whisk had already closed, so they met at the Indian restaurant—Lance’s personal favorite—and settled into an oversized booth by the window overlooking the bay.
After ordering several dishes, Lance went outside to meet his Aunt Betty, who was coming in by care transit, and help her inside.Her wheelchair, though a little narrower than the ordinary, was still hard to navigate in several of the places in Sunshine Bay.The old buildings hadn’t all been converted yet.
“Well, tell me how it went,” demanded Betty, once her chair was pushed up to the head of the table.“Did you get a lot of interest?”she asked Raven.“And sales?”she asked Lance.
Raven exchanged a glance with Lance, who smiled widely.Though Betty had sold the bookstore to Lance a few months earlier, she had been the owner when Raven had approached her with the idea of having cats displayed there.And now, as the president of the Cat’s Meow board, she still liked to take charge.
Raven turned to Mal.“How many applications did we end up getting?”
“Twenty,” said Mal.“And that doesn’t include the nine we got from your school talks in the past couple of weeks.”
“We’ll be sans cats soon,” said Daisy.
“Unfortunately, there are always more where they came from,” said Raven, thinking of the emaciated cats she’d seen at Rosalyn’s vet practice.“But even if half of these work out, we’ll be way ahead of where we were this time last year.”
“And you?”asked Betty, turning her sharp eyes to her nephew.
Lance swallowed and looked a little like a young boy being called out for trouble rather than a man with grown children and several successful businesses in his past.“Well, we haven’t taken final stock yet, obviously, but the takings today were far more than I’ve seen since I’ve been here.Double what you took in last year on this weekend,” he added ,with a little note of triumph.
“The mugs are almost all gone,” piped in Zoey.“I had to restock that shelf twice today, and we’re on the last box, and…” She cast her gaze above her as though trying to remember something.“Oh, yeah.The cat care books are nearly gone—two left, I think—and we sold a lot of bookmarks with cats, and cat-themed cozy mysteries, and cat-themed kid’s books.”
“It sounds like you chose the stock well,” Lance said to Pinky, who nodded sagely, pleased he had noticed.
“And the coupons for the cookies went quickly,” added Ahmed.“As well as most of our copies of that sci-fi book you brought in about the planet run by cats.”
“You’re kidding,” said Lance.“I haven’t read it yet.Now, maybe I should.”
“It is pedestrian,” said Ahmed.“I read the first in the series.But some will find it amusing.”
“I’ll put it at the bottom of my TBR pile, then,” said Lance.“Thanks.”
