The Mysteries of Max: Books 31-33 by Nic Saint (interesting novels in english txt) 📕

have signed up. So it looks like very soon now there will be three cat choirs: the one run by me and Dooley, the one run by you, which will have only one single member, and the one run by Harriet which also will have but a single member.”

“Too bad, but that’s just the way it is,” said Dooley.

“But that’s not fair!” said Shanille. “I want to have a cat choir where cats get together to have a good time, and sing and have fun together!”

“Well, I guess you had your chance and you blew it,” said Max with a shrug.

“But Max, please—you can’t do this!”

“I’m afraid we just did,” said Dooley.

“But… can’t I join your cat choir, Max? Please?”

Max looked at Dooley, and Dooley looked at Max, then Max said, “I’m afraid we can’t do that, Shanille. Because if we let you in, we also have to let Harriet in, and you know what that means.”

“There will be fighting,” said Dooley. “That’s what Max means.”

“I won’t fight, I promise. It’s Harriet who’s the trouble. She’s the one who’s always fighting. Undermining my authority and picking fights.”

“See?” said Max to Dooley. “This is why I told you not to allow Shanille in.”

“You told me this would happen,” said Dooley, nodding sagely.

“Exactly. So no, Shanille, we won’t let you in. I’m very sorry.”

“But…” She thought hard. “But what if I make up with Harriet? What if I talk to Harriet and the two of us make up and promise to be friends? Would that work?”

“I’m not sure,” said Max dubiously.

“I’m not sure either,” said Dooley. “Would it?”

“You’d have to make up with Harriet first,” said Max. “And you’d have to convince us that you mean it.”

“I will—I promise you I will!”

“Do you believe her, Dooley?” asked Max.

“I want to believe her,” said Dooley.

“Look, talk things over with Harriet, all right? And better sit out cat choir tonight. And when you feel like you’re ready, you and Harriet better convince us that you mean business. Or else it’s bye-bye with cat choir for you. Is that understood?”

She nodded fifty times in quick succession. “Absolutely.”

“I think she understood, Max,” said Dooley.

Max smiled. “I think so too, Dooley.”

Shanille walked off, and thought hard about what Max and Dooley had told her. She didn’t want to leave cat choir. Cat choir was her life. If they kicked her out… And so she went in search of Harriet. She needed to patch things up with her—pronto!

Harriet had been planning and plotting, plotting and planning, with Brutus in her wake. Her mate wasn’t as excited about the prospect of her running cat choir as she was, but that couldn’t be helped. Part of joining the ranks of upper management was that one was supposed to be able to motivate the lower echelon, and so she’d been working on motivating Brutus, but so far her pep talks hadn’t had a lot of effect on the black cat.

“When I’m in charge of cat choir I’ll basically run this town,” said Harriet as they walked along the sidewalk in the direction of the General Store to convince Kingman to join her side. “And you know what that means, Brutus.”

“No, I don’t know what that means,” said her life partner.

“It means all the perks are ours!”

“What perks?”

“The perks—you know.”

“No, frankly I don’t know. And frankly I think antagonizing Shanille also means antagonizing half this town’s cat population.”

“Only if I don’t succeed in convincing the majority to vote for me,” she said.

“What if fifty-one percent does vote for you? Then forty-nine percent will still be against you. There will be two cat choirs. One run by you and one run by Shanille. And it’s going to make life in this town a living hell for us, can’t you see that?”

No, she didn’t see that. What she did see was that she had to beat Shanille. The choir conductor had annoyed her one time too many and she had to go. No matter the consequences.

Suddenly, out of the blue, Max and Dooley materialized in front of them, blocking their passage.

“Hey, guys,” she said. “I was just looking for you. You are going to vote for me tonight, aren’t you? You know how important this is.”

“I’m afraid we have some bad news for you, Harriet,” said Max.

“Bad news for you, good news for us,” said Dooley.

“What bad news?” asked Harriet, looking from Max to Dooley.

“We’re starting our own cat choir,” said Max.

“And you’re not invited,” said Dooley.

“What?!” she laughed. “What are you talking about?”

“We’ve decided that we’ve had enough of all the bickering, and we’re starting our own bicker-free cat choir,” said Max. “And you’re not in it, and neither is Shanille.”

“But…” She blinked and glanced to Brutus for support. He just stood there, a slight smile on his lips, the traitor! “You can’t do this!”

“Funny. That’s exactly what Shanille said,” said Max.

“Yeah, she said just the same thing,” Dooley added.

“You talked to Shanille already?”

“She wasn’t happy,” said Dooley.

“You know that she actually said she’d talk to you and try to reconcile?” asked Max.

“Shanille wants to talk to me and reconcile?”

“She begged us to be included in our new cat choir,” Max explained, “and we told her the only way that was ever going to happen was if she promised that you and she would get along from now on.”

“Shanille and me getting along?”

“Yeah, crazy, right? We all know you and Shanille will never get along. And so one hundred percent of the cats we’ve talked to so far—”

“Which represent ninety percent of the Hampton Cove cat population,” said Dooley.

“—have agreed to join our new cat choir, on the condition that you and Shanille are not allowed in as members. So there you have it. From now on there will be three cat choirs in town: ours, yours, and Shanille’s.”

“But you guys!”

Brutus now started laughing for real. “I love it,” he grunted.

“Brutus, shut up!”

“Sugar plum, you know I love you, but I’m sick and tired of all the bickering, too. If you