The Big Kitty Read Online Free PDF

Sunny let Shadow out into the backyard the next morning to do his business, the cat didn’t come back.
    At breakfast, Sunny’s father breathed a loud sigh of relief. “I guess we can burn that,” he said, gesturing toward the living room and the improvised bed.
    “I’d like to keep it around,” she said. “He might turn up for another visit.”
    But over the next few days, Sunny didn’t get a return appearance of her gray-furred hitchhiker, although she caught occasional glimpses of a feline figure from her office window and in the neighborhood.
    “Cats on the brain,” she told herself sternly.
    But if she had struck out with Shadow, Sunny hit a home run when it came to publicity for Ada Spruance and herlottery ticket—far more than she’d expected. Ken Howell had led with the story when the
Harbor Crier
made its weekly appearance on Thursday, available for free all over town.
    And the story had appeared at the end of a slow news week. The Portsmouth paper had picked it up on Friday, along with all the local network affiliates. Ada’s ticket couldn’t have become more famous.
    But Ada herself hadn’t called with any good news.
    So when Saturday morning came, Sunny found herself staring at a bleary-eyed image of herself in the mirror. Once upon a time, that look would have been the result of hearty partying. These days, though, it came more from insomnia, checking the bedside clock at least once an hour from two a.m. onward.
    But other than puffy eyelids and the beginnings of dark circles, Sunny had to admit she was looking pretty good these days. Sharing her dad’s low-sodium, low-fat, and low-sugar diet had honed away a bit of pudge and enhanced her cheekbones. While she didn’t have Mike’s piercing gaze, her eyes were wide and blue. Her brown hair had a generous helping of her dad’s curls and a hint of her mom’s auburn coloring. As she pulled her hair back and into a scrunchie, though, Sunny grimaced. She really had to get this mane cut—but she’d yet to find a local stylist who could deal with her wild hair.
    Well, no sense worrying about that right now,
she thought, tucking her unruly curls under a battered baseball cap. Sunny gave a rueful smile at the rest of her ensemble—a stained long-sleeved T-shirt, a pair of rubber boots she’d dug up from the basement, and her oldest jeans.A pair of heavy-gauge rubber gloves dangled from her back pocket.
    All set to go Dumpster diving,
she decided and quietly headed downstairs, leaving her dad to sleep undisturbed. She went out the front door and walked along the street. Ada’s house was only around the corner and a few blocks away. Wild Goose Drive was quiet at almost half-past eight. The real early risers were long up and headed off to whatever Saturday activities they intended to do. The rest of the neighborhood seemed to be still in bed.
    She passed only a single pedestrian—Mrs. Parker, one of the local widows, out power walking. Sunny gave the older woman a friendly nod, even as she inwardly cringed at the look Mrs. Parker gave her cleaning getup. Then she got a little annoyed.
If she’d gotten her husband to power walk, maybe he’d still be around and she wouldn’t be chasing after my dad.
    Reaching the corner, Sunny took a quick right, walked two more blocks, and then crossed the street. Almost there. The Spruance place, a large Colonial Revival, had been the finest on the block in its day. Now it had a curiously mottled appearance, with patches of silvery wood revealing where paint had flaked off the siding and darker stains suggesting the beginnings of mold. Knee-high grass fought an infestation of weeds in the unkempt yard.
    As Sunny came up the cracked walkway, she saw the undergrowth shaking in something’s wake.
    Please let that be a cat,
she prayed.
It’s still too early to deal with wildlife.
    The mover and shaker popped out ahead of her—Shadow!
    “Where did you get to?” She bent to pet the cat, only to see him glide back