s pushing into their
house."

She's right, of course. I put the kittens down at home, and Cat hisses at
them and then runs them under the radiator in the kitchen. Then he sits
down in the doorway and glowers at them, on guard.

Things simmer down gradually. Mom and I and sometimes Tom, who's right at
the flower shop on the corner, take turns checking on Kate and doing
shopping for her, or going with her so she doesn't get badgered by people.
But pretty soon everyone in the neighborhood forgets all about her and her
inheritance. They see her buying just the same old cat food and cottage
cheese and fruit, and they probably figure the whole thing was a phony.

It wasn't though. Pop finds out her brother did leave a will. He lined up
his funeral, left something to his housekeeper, something to a little
restaurant owner way downtown--apparently that was his one big luxury, a
decent meal twice a year when he went down to buy more stocks--and the rest
to Kate.

Pop says it may take months or years to clear up the estate, but he says
Kate can get her share all put in trust for her with some bank, and
they'll take care of all the legalities and taxes and just pay her as much
or little as she wants out of the income. And she can leave the whole kit
and caboodle to a cat home in her will if she wants to, which will
probably make her tightwad brother spin in his grave. I asked her once,
and she said maybe she'd leave some to the Children's Aid, because there
are a lot of stray children in New York City that need looking after, as
well as cats. She's getting to think about people some.

17

[Illustration: Mary calling from phone booth at Macy's.]

TELEPHONE NUMBERS

There are some disadvantages to not getting a girl's phone number. This
sort of date I had with Mary for golf on Election Day fell through. In the
first place, I was sick in bed with the flu, and Mom wouldn't have let me
out for anything, and secondly, it was pouring rain. Without the phone
number, there wasn't any way I could let her know, and I didn't even know
a street address to write to later.

By the time I got finished with the flu, we were into Thanksgiving and
then all the trouble with Kate. Time passed and I felt rottener about
standing her up without a word, and I couldn't get up my nerve to go out