The Class Menagerie

year older than the rest of you because I was held back that year I had mono and missed so much school!“
    “Poor thing. Sick and stupid,“ Kathy muttered into the refrigerator.
    Fortunately Pooky didn’t hear this. She asked Edgar, “May I go outside? I just want some fresh air.“
    “Sure,“ Edgar replied, laying out his cards smugly. “I won’t lock up for another hour yet.“
    “I only want to go out for a few minutes. I always take a walk before going to bed. It helps me sleep,“ Pooky said, making a hair-tossing gesture which failed because her stiff, thin hair had no “toss“ left in it.

    * * *

    Max interrupted Jane’s thoughts by walking across her seeking a warm corner to curl into. It took her a second to realize it wasn’t her own Max, it was Hector. She sat up and gave him a chin chuck. He settled into the crook of her knees. Jane adjusted to make room for him. If only she could fall asleep like he could. Maybe it had to do with being able to purr...’.
    Her last thoughts were of the school yearbook Mimi brought out. Mimi’s senior photo was hysterical. She actually had a platinum blond flip hairdo and raccoon makeup designed to disguise her Oriental eyes. Which it didn’t. “Pooky did my hair. It took so much bleach her ringers peeled for a week,“ Mimi said, giggling. “I don’t know why my mother didn’t just drown me and spare herself the misery of having me around.“
    Jane fell asleep smiling.

    At first she dreamed she heard the light tapping, then gradually awoke to realize it was somebody at her door. She stumbled over and opened it. Beth Vaughn was standing in the hallway wearing a sensible tailored robe. “Jane, I’m awfully sorry to wake you up,“ she whispered. “But I have a problem. Can you hear it?“
    Jane stepped into the hallway. A faint ding-ding-ding was sounding someplace. “What’s that?“ she asked stupidly.
    “I don’t know. I think it’s a smoke alarm, but there’s no smoke and it’s not loud enough. I can’t find it.“
    As they padded toward Beth’s room, Avalon’s door opened. Her red hair was in wild disarray. “What’s that bell?“ she asked.
    “We don’t know,“ Jane replied. “We’re trying to find it“
    By the time they located the source of the sound, half the Ewe Lambs were up and roaming the hallway. It turned out to be a cheap alarm clock stuck into the glass bowl of the overhead light fixture in Beth’s bedroom. Beth, a little taller than the rest, climbed a chair and retrieved it. “Who in the world would have put it there and set it to go off?“ she asked.
    “Pretty damned inconsiderate trick if you ask me,“ Kathy groused. “I’m going back to bed.“
    Nobody was in much of a mood to discuss the alarm clock. “Let’s all go back to bed,“ Jane said, taking the alarm clock from Beth.
    Jane found it hard to get back to sleep. She had nearly dropped off when someone sat down on her bed.
    She bolted upright, barely containing a scream.’
    But it was only Hector. “Geez, Hector, you scared the stuffing out of me,“ she said, petting him. Then she realized that the last time she’d seen him he was in the hallway getting underfoot. She was sure she’d shut him out of her room when she went back to bed, but here he was. Maybe he’d pushed the door open. But no, she could see in the dim, reflected glow i of the moon that her door was tightly closed. How did he get in here ?
    It was a mild night and the window was open, but she was on the second floor. Curious, she got up and looked out. Yes, there were sturdy vines outside. Hector could have climbed them. But that presupposed he was starting from outdoors and she knew he had been indoors. Still, he might have some other means of leaving the house. It was a big, old place and might well have some other cat-sized escape routes. Still,1 it was strange and a little alarming.
    And in that frame of mind, she settled back into bed and could hear a thousand suspicious sounds. The creaking in the hallway sounded like a furtive tread on the old stairs, the clattering of leaves outside the window being stirred by a breeze sounded like little creatures scrabbling around. Little red-eyed creatures, she thought and shuddered. She had just managed to clear this scary thought from her mind when she heard another ding-ding-ding. By the time she got to her door this time, Mimi was standing outside it, hand raised to knock. Mimi still looked cool and serene and her hair