Story 83: Reza Shadey and the Catnapper Catastrophe
Okay, snuggle down tight, little ones. Let me tell you a tale about a very grand cat who decided he was the most wanted feline in town.
In Mrs Higgins's cosy kitchen, which usually smelled of toast and tuna, something very strange happened. Mrs Higgins was making her tea, humming a happy tune, when suddenly — CRACKLE! — the radio stopped playing music and a very serious voice came on.
"Breaking news!" the voice boomed. "Cats are going missing all over town! A sneaky catnapper is on the loose! Five cats have vanished already!"
Mrs Higgins gasped so loudly, her teacup wobbled. She looked at her cat, Reza. He was sitting on the table, licking his paw like the king of the world.
"Oh, Reza!" she cried. "What if the catnapper tries to take you? You're so special! So shiny! So... so fluffy!"
Reza froze mid-lick.
Wait a minute. Special? Fluffy? A target?!
He looked down at himself: magnificent brown-and-black fur, sparkling green eyes, perfect whiskers.
"Of course I am a premium target", he thought proudly. "It would be deeply insulting if they did NOT try to acquire me."
He could already see the newspaper headline:
"MAGNIFICENT PERSIAN THWARTS FOOLISH FIEND"
He practised a heroic pose in the reflection of the toaster.
This was serious.
This was personal.
This was a job for Reza Shadey, Director of Security (AKA Catnapper Catcher Extraordinaire).
Reza leapt into action. He zipped out of the cat flap and called a top-secret meeting. His elite team was soon assembled.
Penelope: the fluffy white puss who never moved unless the sun did.
Ginger Tom: so relaxed he looked like a melted popsicle on a warm patio.
Tiger: a tiny fuzzy rocket who could not sit still for anything.
"Team!"Reza announced from atop the garden wall. "A dangerous villain is hunting cats of my calibre! We must protect the neighbourhood — and most importantly, me!"
Penelope yawned.
Ginger Tom rolled over and nearly fell asleep again.
Tiger buzzed like a shaken lemonade bottle.
Still, Reza pressed on.
"Penelope — you are our silent ninja. Nothing gets past you, especially when you're not napping."
She blinked verrrry slowly, which in cat language meant, "Fine, I suppose."
"Ginger Tom — you are so good at lying around unnoticed, you shall be my personal bodyguard."
He snored.
"And Tiger — you're the fastest, loudest, most boingy cat I know. You are in charge of chasing baddies."
Tigersqueaked, flipped upside down, and tried to wrestle a dandelion.
"Excellent!"Reza said, puffing up with pride. "Now we build traps — very sophisticated traps!"
He imagined laser beams, secret alarms, and steel gates.
Reza supervised very closely, weaving everything together into what he believed was a masterpiece of engineering. What they actually built looked like a very messy pile of grass, ribbons, and shoelaces near the cat flap.
That evening, the cats got to work.
Well... some of them.
Tiger zoomed around, patrolling the perimeter.
Penelope supervised from a warm flowerpot.
Ginger Tom supervised from a nap.
And Reza supervised everyone.
Then night fell, and all was still.
Except Tiger, who was still running tiny zig-zag patrols.
Reza sat by the cat flap.
Watching.
Waiting.
Right beside him, his carefully constructed trap lay waiting.
His tail swished like a tick-tocking clock.
Then — RUSTLE!
A figure crept into the garden.
A human... with a net.
"The Catnapper!"Reza hissed.
He pounced!
Well... more accurately, he yowled very bravely and performed a rapid tactical descent straight onto his own trap.
THUD!
The shoelaces snapped tight around him, tangling his legs and tail.
"Meee-OWWW!"
Tiger launched himself like a furry missile, bonked into a gnome, knocked over a flowerpot, and spun in circles like a tiny tornado.
CRASH! BANG! SQUEAK!
The commotion startled the catnapper, who stumbled backwards in surprise.
Just then Penelope, abandoning all diplomacy, dropped from the shed roof with a soft THUMP! right onto the catnapper's shoulders.
Ginger Tom, woken by the noise, charged out from behind the compost heap like a furry orange cannonball.
"MEEE-YOWWWWL!"
Together they produced such a dreadful chorus of caterwauling that the catnapper yelped in terror.
He tripped over the fallen gnome.
His mask flew off.
At that exact moment, Mrs Higgins's new security light flashed on, and her camera caught a perfect picture of his shocked face.
The catnapper scrambled away into the night, empty-handed.
The next morning, Mrs Higgins watched the footage with wide eyes.
"Oh my word", she whispered. "That catnapper was real! And... Reza, you and your friends saved the day!"
Without wasting a moment, she sent the video to the local police station. The picture was so clear that by teatime the mischievous catnapper had been found and safely taken away.
The neighbourhood was peaceful once more.
Reza, of course, insisted it had all gone exactly to plan.
He sat proudly on the windowsill, licked one paw, then polished his whiskers.
"I told you so", he thought smugly. "Obviously he was after me and not some ordinary cat. My security operation was flawless."
A very important message from Mrs Higgins: It is exciting to imagine catching villains, but if you ever see a stranger acting suspiciously, never try to trap them yourself. Stay safely inside and tell a grown-up straight away.
Night night. Sleep tight.