The Magnificent Cat by Nadia Ramadan (early reader chapter books .TXT) 📕

I knew! I don’t know who you are anymore!"

"Wade we have a meeting in few hours I recommend you clean up nicely and get ready, damn it" Armand said as he walked to his desk

"I am not attending this meeting" Wade said as he walked to the door.

"Wade, don’t go" Armand begged as he walked out.

"I am leaving! I might not even come back!" Wade shouted as he closed the second iron door.

"This is just great" Armand said as he sighs 

"I know!" Ray interrupted "I have the feeling that this meeting was not going to go smoothly, and I knew it has to be somewhat caused by James".

 

Chapter 21 - A friendly visit to Mr. Picklock

The day turned from noon to afternoon and finally into night. It was a showery night; the rain was barely seen or felt. It was a very light rain that poured the entire night. 

 

Patricia looked out of the kitchen window and can somehow see her father coming straight to the house.

"Hello Patricia" Ray said as he walked into the house.

"How's your day?" Patricia asked as she followed him to the living room

"Horrible" Ray replied "but at least the meeting went well"

"Which meeting…?"  Patricia asked "the fake one?"

"Yes" Ray replied "Mr. Herbert played it well and we gave Armand the $7,000,000"

"That’s a lot of money" Patricia said seriously "we have to get it back!"

"Sure we will" Ray replied "don’t worry"

"So where is the Magnificent Cat now?" Patricia asked as she smiled 

"It's with Mr. Herbert" Ray replied "I have to take it back from him in 4 hours time"

"Why don’t we just steal it right now?" Patricia said excitingly "let's drive off with Mr. Herbert to Sly City tonight!"

"Are you mad?" Ray replied "don’t you know that the Magnificent cat can be detected by Armand anywhere it goes! And once the Magnificent Cat leaves Bevin it will send Armand a signal"

"Really…?" Patricia asked curiously

"Yes, and do you know what he will do next when he finds out that the Magnificent Cat is out of Bevin"

"What can he possibly do?" 

"Well he will explode us before we even know it!"

"Waw" Patricia said as she laughed "but wouldn’t that destroy the Magnificent Cat as well!" 

"Of course not" Ray replied "the Magnificent Cat is more protective than you think; we will be shattered into Pieces while the Magnificent Cat stays clean"  

"This is very interesting" 

"Yes" Ray said smilingly "There are only two ways in which the Magnificent Cat can be destroyed, the first way is if Armand decide to destroy it himself, which can never happen clearly, and the other way is if something happens to Wade, that’s all"

"I see" Patricia said curiously "I have been doing some thinking about this"

"About what…?" Ray asked 

"About Wade" Patricia replied "I don’t think he is the Magnificent Cat"

"How can you be so sure, you have no idea what really goes on in that house"

"I think James is the Magnificent Cat" Patricia said sharply

"James?" Ray repeated as he laughed "of all people…James?"

"I don’t really know why, but I just see it in him"

"Patricia, you haven’t even met Wade" Ray continued "in addition to that you should have seen the way Armand treated James in comparison with Wade"

"I don’t understand" Patricia said as she looked at Ray seriously.

"Armand doesn’t care about James!" Ray continued "I don’t think Armand can risk something like that"

"Maybe it’s a cover up" Patricia added "it can be a cover up, pretending that Wade is the Magnificent Cat while James is the real one!"

"That’s impossible" Ray said as he thinks about everything that happened "I am not sure but I don’t think its James"

"You better be sure about information like that!" Patricia shouted "we are going to get the Magnificent Cat sooner or later, we better be ready for it"

"you are right" Ray said "but I can swear on your life that its Wade, I mean people like us, me, you, Ruddick, Armand, James, we don’t own the Magnificent Cat and that’s why we want it so badly! But Wade, I mean if you look at Wade and really study him, you can tell that he is not much into it, and that’s what is ownership, once you own it, you barely notice its yours"

"Not convincing" Patricia said as she looked around "I still think that if something is really yours but owned by someone else, you will be aggravated and annoyed all the time, and that’s James"

"Your point of view is interesting, Patricia" Ray said as he looked at her "but Ruddick is acting the same way, he is definitely not the Magnificent Cat nor does he own it"

"I see" Patricia said as she looked away

"You are spending way too much time with James than I thought" Ray said seriously "I don’t like it anymore, and I think you are over studying him"

"It doesn’t matter" Patricia interrupted "I am just doing my job, after all I will get married to Ruddick in the end, but only if he owns the Magnificent Cat."

"We will own it; it's just a matter of time"

"Speaking of time" Patricia interrupted "I know when and where the concert will be held"

"You do?" 

"Yes" Patricia replied "it’s the day after tomorrow

"Waw, that’s soon" Ray said surprisingly "let me call Ruddick now"

Ray dialed the number as fast as he could

"Any news…?" Ruddick asked just as he heard the first ring

"As a matter of fact, yes" Ray replied "the concert is after tomorrow, do you think the plan is possible?"

"Everything is possible" Ruddick replied "to tell you the truth; I am actually tired of waiting"

"Then you don’t have to" Ray continued "by the way the meeting was great, Mr. Herbert did a great job"

"I don’t need to know about the meeting" Ruddick interrupted "just get me my money back"

"Sure" Ray replied as he shuts down the phone

"I think our job is almost done here in Bevin" Patricia said as she walked to her room and continued packing 

 

Ruddick shuts down the phone and called Alden to the main room immediately 

"Alden!" he shouted 

"What is it?" Alden asked as he walked in the room

"I think I have a date for our possession" Ruddick said with a smile.

 

The next morning in Bevin was a nice fresh weather. 

The pastry bar was somewhat occupied with customers, it was more active than most days in the past weeks.

"Where is Lisa?" Collin asked when he saw Jessica working alone

"She is doing her rehearsals" Jessica replied "the concert is tomorrow"

"Oh I almost forgot" Collin said 

"And that’s why the place is full today" Jessica added "they are here for the concert"

"Thanks to Lisa" Collin said as he laughed 

"No, thanks to you" Jessica interrupted "you are the one who gave her the opportunity of singing in your bar, no one would have noticed her"

"Trust me" Collin continued "the pleasure is all mine"

 

Wade woke up early and was heading downstairs out of the building.

"Wade" Armand called out as he walked out of the elevator.

Wade wanted to ignore but instead he just turned around to see what Armand has to say.

"Wade, listen to me" Armand said as he approached "where are you going?"

"Is that what you want to ask me?" Wade said as he takes a step closer to the door.

"No, no, no" Armand continued "I just want to talk to you, that’s all, like usual"

"I have to go somewhere now" Wade replied 

"Wade, we are $7,000,000 richer last night" Armand continued "don’t you want to celebrate it with me"

"I can see you are happy" Wade said as he looked at Armand "but these things don’t make me happy anymore"

"Wade?" Armand said surprisingly "you are not quitting on this are you?" 

"I don’t know, Armand" Wade replied "I need to do some thinking"

"Wade, why are you doing this?"

"I have to go" Wade said suddenly "I will talk to you later"

 

Wade walked out of the building and saw Armand still standing in front of the main door, fading slowly as he continued to walk further. Wade hated the sight of this, for he always liked Armand and never let him down in any way.

 

James woke up from his bed surprisingly, he thought it was morning but it was noon already. He felt pain all over his body, he can't tell if it was from the beating or the electric taser Lewis gave him.

"Oh my God" James said as he woke up from his bed "what happened?"

He got up and looked in the mirror; he can see the bruises and scars on his face, but none as visible as the scar on his left eye, which looked like a giant cat scratch. 

"What did I do?" James said quietly "what is wrong with me?"

He didn’t feel like going back to work, nor seeing anyone faces, he just felt like leaving, but the fact that the Magnificent Cat belongs to him is somehow keeping his thoughts messed up.

James walked out of his room and slowly out of the building. He found himself standing in the middle of the street with nothing on his mind; he looked straight at the Greenwood's house, but changed his mind about going there, and instead took another street, the street that heads out.

James thought that this can be the perfect time to visit someone he really missed and technically depended on for his entire life.

"I have to see Mr. Picklock" James said to himself "I hope he didn’t leave town yet"

 

James walked on and on until he reached a small cottage in which Picklock is living in for the mean time, as James walked nearer and nearer to the cottage, he can somehow hear voices, voices that came out of the cottage. At that time he knew Mr. Picklock was not alone, but talking to someone else.

James walked closer to the main door until he heard a familiar voice saying "ok, I have to leave now, Mr. Picklock, I will talk to you later"

Suddenly the main door opened and Wade walked out, only to find James standing in front of him.

They both looked at each other awkwardly without saying a word to each other.

James thought that the bruises and scars on his own face this morning was awful but it was just as bad as those on Wade's face. 

Wade turned away sharply and walked straight to his lavish car.

James looked at him as he drove off and turned back to the main door to ring the bell.

 

Wade drove off as fast as he could, he wasn’t in the mood to go back to the building or to see anyone's face, and he just drove further to the old Rail Way. 

Wade parked his car right underneath a bushy tree and walked off to the bushes of old trees, he walked deeper and deeper into the bushes which was once a pavement leading to the train station. He sat there quietly hoping all his problems can disappear, he just sat on the grass and gazed onto the sky.

He looked up in the sky and then started to sing solely.

 

  "       You are more than a love, an amazing treasure with an angel smile, take me by surprise but I mean nothing when you’re around…you think that