Carly moved nimbly along her unusual trail of memories, naming and giving details about each person as they passed, softly like she was greeting old friends.

  Little ground squirrels and rabbits scurried underfoot, scrambling into the safety of the surrounding desert weeds and dusty rubbish as they went.

  “And that one… they were madly in love,” said Carly.

  “That entire dresser is full of nothing but love notes and declarations. Years and years’ worth.”

  “And that mound there, the one with all the bees, I figured out he was a rich doctor who collected old books. Too bad his family doesn’t. I’ve tried to save them, but there’s just too many books and not enough time.”

  “And over here, she was a talented singer who wore only the most glamorous clothes and jewelry. She had no family, so everything she owned was dumped out here in one big pile. The jewelry never appeared… but I found a beautiful sequined dress she wore.”

  “I stashed it in that old refrigerator.”

  “What!” Marbles interrupted, slipping into her own girl voice.

  She marched over to the refrigerator and yanked open the door.

  The food racks had all been removed, replaced by a gorgeous black sequined dress hanging in a clear plastic dry cleaner’s bag.

  “Shouldn’t this be donated to charity?” Marbles was flabbergasted.

  “You don’t throw out a dress like this!”

  “The queen bee won’t allow it,” Carly said, referring to Mrs. Neel.

  “She doesn’t want any of what she calls ‘parasites’ on the property, at least not until she’s gone through all the valuables herself.”

  Suddenly, Carly stopped in her tracks and blurted, “Rayzors! Children, quick! Run back to the cypress!”

  The kids from the Kitten Brigade retreated and dug themselves deep into the tall row of Italian cypress trees to hide.

  Two Rayzors were unloading items from a golf cart and gleefully throwing them into a dumpster. One of them even laughed.

  Lemon watched through the binoculars. “I can see them! They’re throwing away statues!”

  “Oh dear,” Carly sighed. “Kids, I’m going to need a favor,” she implored. “I need you to fish those figures out of there.”

  The Rayzors finished quickly and sped away.

  “Hurry now!” said Carly. “They won’t see us through here.”

  She led them between tall mountains of dried, thorny rose clippings from Mrs. Neel’s barbaric garden club.

  “And watch your eyes!” she warned.

  The warm wind was picking up fast, and they all had to be careful not to get their eyes scratched out by fluttering rose twigs.

  Marco lifted the lid of the dumpster. Peering inside, he saw two hand-painted pink bunny rabbits and a single large pink deer lying on top of the stinky trash.

  “Well, that just makes no sense. Who would throw those away?” Old Lady Marbles asked.

  She stood on top of the cat trap and pulled out the tall deer figure. Then she leaned over the edge of the dumpster, reaching in as far as she could for the rabbits.

  She came up empty-handed, telling Carly, “Those rascals are just out of my reach!”

  Marco traded places with her to see what he could do, but the bunnies were still impossible to grab.

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  Lemon ecstatically volunteered, “Put me in there. I can get them!”

  “Gladly,” Marco said, picking Lemon up and setting her inside the dumpster on top of some old trash bags.

  “Ahh! There’s somebody’s dirty underpants in here!” she screamed.

  “Don’t touch them!” Old Lady Marbles exclaimed. Then she mockingly scolded Marco, “Young man, you shouldn’t throw away a perfectly good little girl!”

  “Ahh! Ick!” Lemon moaned. “There’s a roach! An underpants roach!” she screamed.

  Marco corrected her, “An underpants Periplaneta americana.”

  She whined, “Hurry! Just take it!” and held up one of the ceramic rabbits.

  Old Lady Marbles took it by the ears and pulled it up. Then Lemon held up the second one.

  Carly interrupted them. “Shush, kids! Someone’s coming!”

  “Kitty! Here, kitty!” a man’s voice called out in the distance.

  “Oh no,” Carly whispered. “It’s Nurr.”

  She anxiously exclaimed, “We need to hide! Quick! Everyone into the dumpster!”

  “No! It’s gross! There’s no room!” Lemon pleaded.

  “Come on!” yelled Marco, and he quickly climbed in.

  Carly stepped up onto the metal cat trap, and the three children pushed and pulled the old woman into the garbage dumpster.

  Marbles handed back the rabbit and deer figures, tossed in her vanity case with Mrs. Patterson’s wig, then hurled herself in last.

  Together, they closed the lid. Just in time.

  A short distance away, Marco could hear the chief of the Rayzors calling out for the cat.

  “Kitty! Kitty! Psp, psp, psp, psp. Here, Prince!” called Nurr.

  Marbles and Lemon giggled. They’d discovered their Kitten Brigade hats and pom-poms glowed in the dark.

  “Oh no!” cried Old Lady Marbles. She whispered, “The cat trap! It’s still out there!”

  Marco pushed the dumpster lid open just a tiny bit to watch.

  A huge, very fat orange cat crawled out of the rubbish piles. He let out a loud meow and waddled up to Nurr.

  Marbles gasped and whispered, “We’re going to need a bigger trap!”

  “There’s a good kitty!” said Nurr.

  He picked Prince up and cuddled him.

  The cat seemed unafraid of the big security guard and his oversized, cyborg-like sunglasses.

  “You’re getting so big! I have a surprise for you!” he told Prince.

  The obese cat drooled with anticipation.

  Nurr set Prince back on the ground, pulled a can of cat food from a basket, opened it, and gave it to him.

  Then he opened three more and laid them down in a row.

  Excited, the incredibly fat cat went from can to can, gobbling up the wet cat food and licking up every last meaty morsel.

  Marbles recognized the seagull and sunset design and became incensed. “Hey… he has my Kitten Brigade basket! He’s giving Prince my kitten food!” she whispered.

  When the cat finished, Nurr kicked the cans aside and flippantly tossed Marbles’ empty wicker basket toward one of the rubbish piles.

  A strong gust caught it and sent it bouncing straight toward the dumpster where Carly and the children were hiding.

  “Huh? What’s this?” Nurr asked Prince.

  He watched the basket bounce toward the big cat trap and walked over to investigate.

  Prince followed closely, weaving between his feet.

  Panicked, Marco whispered, “Oh no! He’s coming our way!”

  Then the unimaginable happened: a loud emergency alarm went off simultaneously on all their cell phones.

  “What’s that?” Carly whispered loudly, startled and in disbelief.

  Marco looked at his phone.

  There was a text from the National Weather Service: Severe Weather Alert, accompanied by a blaring electronic warning tone.

  He quickly turned the volume down.

  “Well, our goose is cooked,” Carly declared.

  Old Lady Marbles clicked off her phone and then helped Lemon with hers.

  At the same time, Nurr’s phone also erupted with the loud warning alarm, distracting him.

  Marco and the others watched as Nurr stared at the screen, then looked up at the sky.

  He said to Prince, “Kitty, you’re on your own.”

  They witnessed a miracle. Nurr turned around and walked away.

  After a minute or so, Marco whispered, “Now’s our chance! Come on!”

  He pushed open the dumpster lid and lifted Lemon out. Then he climbed out next.

  Prince sat a few feet away, licking cat food off his whiskers.

  “Good kitty. Stay right there…” Marco called to him softly.

  Carly started handing up the rabbit figures. “I’m not coming out unless we take these too!”

  “Sure,” said Marco. “Let’s just get out of here.”

  Prince watched as Carly and the others climbed out of the dumpster with the bright pink animal figures.

  He flicked his tail back and forth and let out a displeased meow.

  Marco’s heart was pounding. They just might catch this cat after all.

  “Hey kitty, don’t be afraid. Just stay right… there,” he said, walking slowly toward the fat orange cat.

  A huge black storm cloud lit up the sky with a white flash of lightning.

  A deep rumble of thunder quickly followed.

  The monsoon was close.

  Gusty winds whipped flocks of garbage debris in all directions.

  Then came another thunderclap. Loud and sudden.

  Prince hissed at Marco and quickly waddled back into the safety of the rotting trash piles.

  “No! Come back here! Prince! Kitty, kitty! Psp, psp, psp… psp, psp, psp… psp, psp, psp…”

  Marco made a desperate, futile attempt to call the cat back. But he knew Prince was gone.

  He wondered if things could get any worse.

  Lemon deadpanned, “I see raindrops in the dirt.”