“Don’t let Desmond hear you say that,” warned Harriet. “For a man like him that car is nothing more or less than the love of his life.”
“I thought Kirsten was the love of his life?”
“I think when it comes to choosing between his car and a woman, Desmond’s car takes prevalence,” said Brutus. “And that might be said about a lot of men.”
“Unfortunately,” Harriet added with a touch of pique.
“Look, there’s Kirsten now,” said Dooley.
We watched as the young nursing assistant now came walking up, fresh from some errand. Desmond had also spotted her, for he yelled,“Wanna go for a ride, babe?”
“I’m not your babe,” Kirsten replied, “and I most certainly do not want to go for a ride with you, Desmond.”
“Oh, don’t be like that,” said Desmond with a grin. He was leaning against the hood of his car, trying to look like a big macho man. “You know you want to.”
“No, I definitely don’t want to. In fact the further I can get away from you, the better.”
“I heard you complained to the big boss about me? How did that work out for you?”
But instead of replying, Kirsten simply tossed her blond hair over her shoulder and kept on walking.
“You should reconsider, you know,” he yelled after her. “Think about your future.”
“You have no future, Desmond,” she said.
“That’s what you think. I’m going to come into a great deal of money soon, and I’ll be able to give you everything you need, babe.”
“Yeah, right,” she said, and walked into the building.
She sailed right past us, and I could see that this confrontation with Desmond, even though she pretended not to be touched by the meeting, had greatly upset her.
“That man really needs to stop harassing her,” said Harriet. “Isn’t there something we can do? Like use our claws on him or something?” She had unsheathed a very sharp claw and was extending and retracting it, a dangerous gleam in her eyes.
“Or we could take our claws to Desmond’s car,” Dooley suggested. “I’ll bet he won’t like that.”
“Hey, don’t touch the car!” said Brutus, appalled that Dooley would even dare to suggest such a horrendous course of action. “Whatever Desmond did, let’s not take it out on that poor car.”
“Looks like Brutus also likes cars,” Dooley whispered to me.
“I heard that,” said Brutus. “And so what if I like cars? They’re wonderful machines. And if I were in charge, I’d urge our family to upgrade their car park. Every time I get into that old jalopy Odelia drives, I feel embarrassed to be seen with her.”
“It’s a great car,” said Dooley defensively. “And it’s cheap.”
“Odelia is cheap for not trading it in for a fancier model,” Brutus countered. Clearly he was no big fan of our human’s dinged-up old pickup.
“Let’s talk about Desmond, and forget about Odelia’s car for a moment, shall we?” Harriet suggested. “We came here to protect Kirsten from Henry, but instead now it looks as if we need to protect her from Desmond instead. So maybe we should propose a change of plan to Gran, and spy on Desmond.”
“I don’t know if Desmond is much of an actual threat to Kirsten,” I said. “He’s a bully and an idiot, but I don’t think he’s dangerous. Whereas Henry seems to have a definite plan in mind for Kirsten, and as long as we don’t know what that plan entails, we need to stay vigilant.”
“Agreed,” Brutus said curtly. He couldn’t drag his eyes away from Desmond’s vehicle, though. The nursing aide now entered the building, and as he passed, he made as if to give us a kick, then laughed as we flinched, and walked on.
“He’s a terrible person,” said Harriet.
“Did you see his watch?” Brutus said. “That thing must be worth over a hundred grand.”
“One hundred thousand for a watch?” said Dooley. “How is that even possible?”
“How can he afford such an expensive watch and such an expensive car is what we should be asking ourselves,” said Harriet.
She was right. There was definitely something fishy about Desmond. So maybe we should expand our brief, and keep an eye on him as well. Not because of the threat he posed to Kirsten, which I thought was probably non-existent, but to find out what the guy was up to.
“Happy Home is not such a happy home after all,” said Dooley, summing things up. “It’s full of crooks and cheaters and dangerous people who are up to all kinds of no good!”
23
As we stood there, next to the entrance to the building, suddenly there was a sort of commotion behind us. And when we turned, we saw that Kate Doyle was coming our way, a pep in her step and a determined look on her face.
“I’m late!” she declared to all who would listen, which was only the four of us, actually. “I’m late for school! And if I don’t get there in time, Principal Martens will be furious, and my darlings will be sad!”
“Poor woman,” said Dooley. “Always late for school.”
“I think Mrs. Doyle isn’t right in the head,” said Brutus, putting it a little crudely, I thought. “She probably used to be a teacher, and now she thinks she still is, even though she retired years ago.”