Miss Grosing was like Minnie in a number of ways – she was rich, plump and had a good deal of hair. The only difference between them was that Miss Grosing was always significantly more amiable then her feline companion, choosing to use the "It would really mean a lot to me if you would -" approach to getting what she wanted instead of Minnie's more blunt "Get me it now or I'll claw your eyes out."

This morning she was even more jovial then usual; humming cheerfully to herself as she dished some of the moist cat food (or, as Minnie called it, "Rancid glop") into the plastic 'din-din dish' on the table in front of her. A hint of suspicion flickered in Minnie's eyes – a human looking that happy was bound to be up to no good,

"Today's the day!" Miss Grosing trilled, beaming at her as she set the din-din dish on the floor,

Day? What day? It was Tuesday…what was special about Tuesday? Had she missed something important? She sniffed the glop in front of her, wrinkling her nose and wondering if Miss Grosing had put poison in it,

"Eat up; we've got to get ready,"

Minnie narrowed her eyes at the human – something was definitely up. And if something was up, Minnie wasn't going to stick around to wait for it. With a flick of her bushy tail she waddled out of the kitchen at top-speed, Miss Grosing waddling right after her. She took refuge under the sofa, though instantly regretted it as copious amounts of dust were brushed into her already ruffled fur. But thoughts of grooming were pushed out of her mind as the doorbell rang, ending Miss Grosing's attempts to shoo Minnie out from under the sofa with a broomstick,

"Oh, drat, he's here already! He wasn't supposed to come for another hour!" Miss Grosing said, looking worriedly at the watch on her pudgy wrist, then rushing away to answer the door as the bell chimed again impatiently.

It took all of Minnie's strength to stay under the sofa – her fur was a mess, her favorite blue ribbon collar was ruined and she had dust in her nose; but she forced herself to stay put, perking her lynx-tipped ears to catch the voices of Miss Grosing and her guest in the next room,

"Please excuse the mess, I think Minnie ate something that didn't agree with her last night – she's been jumpy all morning,"

Minnie caught a muffled, "No problem," before both voices were drowned out by a loud "Mrrrrooow?" that made her blood run cold. Another cat? What was another cat doing in her house? She swished her tail crossly, sending twin clouds of dust swirling about her. She heard the footsteps of Miss Grosing and her guests approaching and retreated further under the sofa. She could just see a pair of dark suede boots beside Miss Grosing's much-too-small high heeled ones,

"She was somewhere around here… Minnie? – Ah, well, you can let George out of his crate. Let them get acquainted," came Miss Grosing's voice.

"If you say so," the unfamiliar man's voice said curtly, and a few seconds later a small 'click' was heard and a soft thump as the other cat leapt out of its crate.