kind of
parents _they_ had, with one of them growing up loving only cats and the
other only money.

Kate is staring out the window and stroking the old stray tomcat between
the ears, and it hits me: there isn't a person in the world she loves or
even hates. I like cats fine, too, but if I didn't have people that
mattered, it wouldn't be so good. I say "So long" quietly and go out.

16

[Illustration: Reporters and photographers crowding in on Kate.]

FORTUNE

"I always wondered if the poor soul had any relatives." That's what Mom
says when I tell her about Kate's telegram. "And now she's lost her only
brother. That's sad."

"I think it's sad she never talked to him for twenty years. All these
years I've wished I had a brother," I say.

"If it's her only brother, she's going to have to do something about his
estate," says Pop. That legal mind, it never rests. I guess he's got a
point about this, though. How is Kate going to deal with lawyers, or
undertakers, or anyone? She can't hardly stand to _talk_ to people like
that.

"What'll she have to do?"

"Maybe I better go see her tomorrow," says Pop. "There can be lots of
things--see if he left a will, if he owes any taxes, if he has property
that has to be taken care of or sold. You can't tell."

"Kate said he was a miser. Maybe he left her a million. Say, that'd be
great!"

"Don't be a dope!" Pop snaps, and he really sounds angry, so I pipe down.

The next morning Pop tells me to go over and see how Kate is. "The way she
feels about people, I don't like to just barge in. I'll come by in ten
minutes, like I was picking you up to go to a movie or something."

I saunter round the corner onto Third Avenue and stop short. There are two
newspaper cars pulled up in front of Kate's building, one red and one
black, and a sizable knot of people gathered on the sidewalk. I move in
among them.

"That crazy cat lady ... he musta been a nut too ... left her about a
million ... a lotta rich cats, how d'ya like that...."

So I guess he did leave her money, and all of a sudden I see it isn't
"great." It's going to be trouble. I push through the people and go
upstairs without anyone stopping me. When I open Kate's door, old stray
tomcat shoots out. He's leaving, and I can see why.

Kate's room is tiny, and it