Three hundred thousand dollars, I 
thought, and almost didn't tell her,   
almost. If this was an illusion that I 
was creating for myself, wouldn't I    
know that Halloween was this Friday,   
and not three weeks away?              
     “I already agreed to help you, so 
don’t worry about that. When I say I’m 
going to do something, you can almost  
put that in the bank. As far as the    
money, let's just keep it at one hun-  
dred thousand,” I told her, and then   
added, “I forgot to tell you that Hal- 
loween was this Friday. Forgive me, but
I was in a kind of shock last Friday,  
if you know what I mean? You don't meet
a talking Cat every day.”              
     “True, I guess, but I'll still pay
you the three hundred thousand anyway, 
just because that was an honest thing  
* to do, and honesty should always be      
rewarded,” the Cat said, like she was  
announcing a decree or something.      
     “First you have to tell me, why   
Halloween, and why not sooner? For     
three hundred thousand dollars, I think
I deserve to know at least that much,  
if not a lot more.”                    
     So, I told her all about how Fri- 
day would give us the weekend before   
anyone found out, and also about how   
the week before Halloween was probably 
one of the most dangerous times for    
animals, “Especially for black cats    
like yourself.                         
     “Beth and I drive a patrol on     
those nights. We've already been on    
three patrols already, and you might   
think that’d be a waste of time, but   
there were a couple...”                



CHAPTER 8: MONDAY, OCTOBER 27th
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