Tale #28 -- Bandit's Excellent Plan

"Bandit! Oreo! What have you been doing?" David McDougall yelled. The carpet and couch were covered with sawdust.

The cats ignored him and pretended to go on sleeping.

David McDougall dragged the vacuum cleaner into the living room and plugged it in. Bandit and Oreo leaped off the couch and streaked down the stairs. They hated the sound of the vacuum cleaner.

"At least he's not staring at the TV," Bandit said.

"That's true," Oreo said. "Do you really have a plan to help him?"

"Yes, I do," Bandit said. "Watch and learn."

After supper, David McDougall settled down in his favourite chair. Bandit walked to the front door and meowed. Then he walked back to David McDougall and stared at him.

"You're not fooling me," David McDougall grunted. "I know you won't go out into the snow."

Bandit kept walking back and forth, meowing and staring. Finally, David McDougall heaved himself onto his feet. "This had better be a false alarm!" he said as he opened the door. Bandit sat down and stared until David McDougall got a broom and swept the snow from the porch. Then Bandit walked onto the porch, holding his fluffy tail proudly in the air.

"See you later," David McDougall said.

An hour later, David McDougall opened the door again. Bandit was gone.

"I guess he's gone visiting," David McDougall said to Oreo. She came over and sat on his footstool, purring. He started brushing her.

David McDougall kept going to the door all evening, but Bandit did not come back. When he was ready to go to bed, he turned on the porch light and called Bandit's name. There was no answer.

In the morning, David McDougall looked outside again. Still no Bandit.

"I have to go to work," David McDougall told Oreo. "If he shows up now, he'll just have to sit on the porch until I come home. He'll be cold, but that's his problem."

Oreo meowed.

"Do you miss him?" David McDougall said. "Poor girl."

Oreo jumped onto the couch and went to sleep. She wasn't worried. She knew that Bandit was carrying out his plan.

When David McDougall came home, Bandit was nowhere to be seen. But there was a message from Ben on the telephone answering machine.

"Mr. McDougall," Ben's voice said, "Your cat Bandit is at our house. Please come and get him. We live at 1431 Prince Street."

David McDougall got Bandit's pet taxi and went out to his truck. Half an hour later, he came back with Bandit.

"Did your plan work?" Oreo asked.

"Oh yes," Bandit said. "He invited Ben to come over after school tomorrow."