Kat checked on Coco’s face, which had cracked a small smile, then looked back at her sister. “You look so silly.” Kat laughed, and Martha flung peanut butter back at her until both of them were licking away.

  “Um, puppies?” Snowpea’s voice shook as she tried to smooth things over. “Food is for eating, not playing.…”

  They licked and licked and licked, their tongues seeming to be stuck in the “on” position, and the more they licked, the more they started to laugh. Eloise giggled quietly, and Haroun let out a tiny chuckle. Coco’s face bore a soft grin, and again she said, “Cherish these moments!”

  “But this isn’t funny,” Snowpea said as more peanut butter went flying, and the cats’ laughs got louder. “This isn’t how we behave! Knock it off!”

  But it was too late—the puppies were having a giggle fit, and she had lost all control of them. Soon a food fight had broken out between Martha and Kat, who were tossing bits of biscuit into the air and flying upward to catch them, slam-dunking their desserts into their gaping mouths with all the enthusiasm of professional athletes. And worst of all, the cats were laughing heartily at the wild little puppies!

  “Ain’t no party like a puppy party.…” Eloise guffawed, and her feline friends agreed.

  “We’ve seen many a messy foster puppy, but these two really take the cake!” Haroun cracked himself up.

  The more the cats laughed, the more wound-up the puppies became. They jumped onto the table, stepping into unfinished dishes and leaving a trail of wet paw prints behind them. Martha held a stuffed pumpkin between her teeth and growled, tempting Kat to tug at the other side. Soon, the pumpkin was destroyed, and the entire table was covered in fluffy white stuffing.

  “Lovely, it’s snowing,” Coco joked. She was well used to the destructiveness of puppies and could laugh it off—but Snowpea didn’t think it was funny whatsoever. She was mortified.

  “Cut it out! You’re being bananas!” Snowpea cried, and quickly realized she had said a word she should never have uttered.

  “BANANA!” Kat screamed, and they leapt over the table, knocking over the sardini martinis to retrieve the stuffed banana from the toy bin. Squeak, squeak, squeak! The toy cheeped as they tugged it back and forth, growling and bumping into Snowpea’s cherished décor.

  “Sit!” Snowpea screamed, but her commands couldn’t be heard over the squeaking of the banana. “Bow!” she cried, but her orders were useless—the puppies were too engrossed in their shenanigans to pay any attention to her.

  Squeak, squeak, squeak!

  She held her head in her paws and began to weep.

  There was no going back. They’d broken into a full-on puppy-nado, zooming in circles, and the three cats seemed to take that as their cue to leave. They thanked Snowpea for an entertaining night, and just like that, they were gone.

  Standing in the eye of a puppy hurricane, dishes scattered throughout the room and pâté smeared against the walls, Snowpea opened her mouth and let out a cry: “YOU RUINED MY PARTY!”

  CHAPTER 10 Drawing a Line

  Huffing and puffing, Snowpea could feel a rage spilling over her like a sardini martini on a floral tablecloth. She slammed the door shut and said:

  “Look at you! Look at what you’ve done! You ruined everything! Are you descended from wolves?!”

  Kat held her tail between her legs, ashamed. Martha scratched her head, pondering the question.

  “I trusted you! I thought you had learned how to be neat and polite. But it turns out the only thing you know how to clean… is your plates!” The puppies licked their chops; she wasn’t wrong. Snowpea broke down in tears. “I haven’t cried like this since I lost my sparkle-mouse.” She wiped her face with her paws, but the tears kept falling.

  “Please don’t cry, Snowpea,” Kat said earnestly.

  “Coco said not to take things so seriously, and, well…” Martha looked at the plates scattered on the floor. “We just got carried away.”

  “Self-discipline is a virtue, you know!” Snowpea wailed.

  “But so is self-expression, right?” Martha tilted her head.

  Snowpea grumbled. The pup had a point, but it wasn’t a point she wanted to take.

  “You know what? Fine! Express yourselves all you want… on your side of the room. This is where I draw the line. This land is hereby divided into two!”

  She began hanging blankets from the strings she’d hung, making a border down the center of the foster room. One blanket at a time, she banished the puppies from her side of Fosterland. She pushed all of the mess to their side of the line, quickly scrubbed her side clean, tossed over their bed, and screamed, “Stay out of my room!” before hanging one final blanket on the line and shutting herself in.

  * * *

  The puppies felt terrible. Now that they were left to clean up their own mess, they realized they may have taken their shenanigans a little too far. They stood surrounded by fluff and food and scattered dishes and toys, unsure of where to start with cleaning up. But worst of all, they’d disappointed Snowpea and lost their friend.

  “What should we do?” asked Kat. She started to place the toys in the basket and tried to remember how Snowpea had taught her to scrub the floor.

  Martha stacked the dishes and wiped the walls. “All we can do is clean up our mess… and hope Snowpea can forgive us.”

  “The thing is, I never quite understood the point of having a squeak toy if you can’t squeak it whenever you want…,” Kat admitted.

  “… Or a mud puddle if you can’t run through it! I know, I really get it,” Martha agreed. “But maybe there’s room for compromise. Maybe there’s a time and a place to be a party pup.”

  “At a party, I thought,” Kat said, scrubbing the floor. “Although, we probably didn’t need to dance on the table and knock over everyone’s food, now that I think about it.…”

  They stayed up cleaning until the room was spotless, and just before hopping into bed, they looked at the newly erected blanket wall that now divided them from their feline friend. “How can we show her we’re sorry? She loves gifts. Should we leave her a gift?” Martha asked.

  Kat walked over to the basket and picked up their favorite banana toy. It was their most beloved item… but it had caused them such trouble. “Let’s give her the banana. Hopefully when she sees our peace offering, she’ll accept our apology.” The two puppies slipped the banana halfway under the blanket and hopped into bed, hopeful for what the next day would bring.

  CHAPTER 11 Learning the Hard Way

  The next morning, Snowpea awoke in her castle all alone. She hadn’t heard what the puppies had been up to on the other side of the curtain barrier the night before, but she figured they’d probably been rolling in the garbage… or pooping on the floor! It had been the worst night of her life, and she couldn’t believe she ever thought the puppies could really be her friends.

  Now Fosterland was silent, and her blanket was blocking her view of the messy pup-side of the room. She stretched, rubbed her puffy eyes, and looked out the window. With no puppies around, the room felt cold and empty.

  Maybe solitude is the best thing for me, she thought. Maybe I was always meant to be my own best friend—to be a ruler of one. As she gazed out the window, she saw that the puppies were prancing out to play and quickly looked away. If they wanted to run in the mud or drag dirt around their side of the room, well then, that was their problem to mop up. “All I can do is keep my side of the room clean.…”

  She looked at the partition and noticed that half of the banana toy was sticking into her section. “… Which is more than those puppies can say! Seems like they can’t even manage to keep the mess on their side of the line,” she moaned, and kicked the toy back underneath. “I bet it’s a disaster on their side!”

  Suddenly, she heard a distant hum, which was slowly getting louder.

  Vrrrrr.

  “Oh no!” she said, looking side to side and quickly scurrying back to the top of the castle.

  The small robotic machine clanged and clamored as it made its way into the room, terrorizing her with every whirr of its wheels. “I have nothing for you!” she screamed, looking around her side of the room, which was spotless. But as the robot slid around the puppies’ half of the room, she realized that they were in for a rude awakening—anything they’d left lying around would soon vanish into the unforgiving mouth of the monster.

  For a moment, she felt guilty knowing that the puppies were blissfully bounding in the grass and would soon come in to find that their belongings had been carried away. But she furrowed her brow and grumbled to herself: “I warned them to keep their room clean, didn’t I? Well, then! Sometimes we all have to learn the hard way! Hmmph!”

  The robot monster crashed around their side of the room, and soon she heard the squeak of the banana toy as it was consumed by the beast. Squeak… squeak… squeaaaaaaak. She closed her eyes and covered her ears as the robot trundled off into the distance. And although deep down she felt the sting of guilt, she let her anger get the best of her and said to herself: “No more squeaky banana. That’ll teach them.”

  The next sound she heard was the tippy-tapping of puppy paws coming in from their playtime. Snowpea tiptoed over to the curtains and held her ear to the blanket, curious to hear their reaction.

  “Look!” Martha said in a cheery tone. “The banana is gone!”

  Snowpea scratched her head. Why did she seem happy to have lost the toy? Shouldn’t she be upset?

  Kat squealed. “Snowpea accepted our peace offering!”

  Snowpea’s heart sank into her gut. Peace offering?

  “She took our gift! Maybe she still wants to be our friend!” Martha replied.

  Snowpea couldn’t believe what she was hearing. She lifted the curtain and poked her head through. “… Wait a minute. The banana was a gift… for me? But that’s your favorite toy.”

  The puppies ran to meet her. “Snowpea! We wanted you to have it. You mean more to us than any toy ever could! We are so sorry we ruined your party. Can you forgive us?”

  Snowpea began to cry. “Yes… but I’m not sure I can forgive myself.”

  CHAPTER 12 The Tale of the Toy Thief

  Snowpea felt horrible. By trying to teach the dogs a lesson, she’d caused the same thing to happen to them that had happened to her as a baby. Only this time it was worse, because she’d known exactly what would happen.

  She lowered her head. “It’s time for me to tell you about the toy thief,” she confessed. The puppies sat with their heads tilted in curiosity.

  “Do you remember how I told you about my first toy? When I was just a tiny kitten, I had a sparkle-mouse that glittered in the light, with green ears and a satin tail that dangled behind it. This toy was the first gift I was ever given.… It meant everything to me. I would chase it all over the room, and it brought me pure happiness.”

  The puppies listened carefully.

  “But then one day, I heard a sound. A high-pitched buzz that grew louder and louder until it was all I could hear! And then… I saw it. THE EVIL ROBOT MONSTER!”

  Gasp! The puppies’ ears shot up. “Evil robot monster?” Kat shrieked.

  “Glowing eyes and a thick exterior shell, the monster zoomed straight toward my toy, and—VROOM! Just like that, my toy vanished into the unforgiving teeth of the beast. That was the last time I ever saw my precious sparkle-mouse,” she said tearfully. “And now… it’s taken your banana, and it’s all my fault.”

  Martha wrapped her arm around Snowpea. “That sounds terrible.”

  Snowpea nodded, still ashamed. “I think… I think that’s why I’m so particular about cleaning and manners. I thought if I kept everything just right, bad things wouldn’t happen anymore… and I wouldn’t lose anything else that mattered to me.” She felt a lump in her throat as she realized that the puppies were her most treasured gift of all… and she’d pushed them away. If Snowpea hadn’t been so set on teaching them her way to do things, they could have been best friends by now.

  “It’s okay,” said Kat. “Of course you would become a neat freak. Err—not a freak. A neat cat. What I mean is… of course you would value cleaning. I’m sorry we didn’t fully understand that before.”

  Snowpea sniffled. “You guys are too kind. I can’t believe that I’ve let the monster run off with your favorite banana. I’ve got to make it right! How can I make this up to you?”

  Kat and Martha sat and pondered. “Well, we could try to go get the banana back,” Martha said.

  “An adventure!” Kat squealed. “Three friends against the evil robot monster—it doesn’t stand a chance!”

  “I don’t know. That could be really dangerous, and even messy,” Snowpea worried. “Besides, who even knows where the monster’s lair is? All I know is that it’s somewhere beyond our border, in the Three-Cat Kingdom.”

  “So, let’s go! We’ll search for it and we’ll make it pay!” Martha said, and Kat’s legs began to run in place, eager for the chase.

  Snowpea sat up. She was through with living a clean, quiet, solitary life because of some monster who tried to scare her as a baby. It was time for her to stand up for herself and her friends! She stood tall and hollered at the top of her lungs: “Let’s go get your banana!”

  CHAPTER 13 Vac Attack

  Snowpea, Martha, and Kat peered through the doorway of the foster room out into the Three-Cat Kingdom. Haroun was napping high up in a cat tree, while Coco and Eloise were perched in windows, fast asleep. “The coast is clear,” Snowpea whispered. “Let’s go find our monster.”

  They crept down the hallway, pausing to look in each room. The scent of dinner in the kitchen was enticing, and for a moment, the puppies seemed to float on air in its direction, but they quickly returned to Snowpea’s side.

  Way down at the other end of the house, a shadowy figure sat quietly in the corner. They tiptoed closer to investigate until Snowpea let out a small shriek: “Eep!”

  It was the monster!

  Kat placed a paw over Snowpea’s mouth and quietly whispered: “It’s okay. You’ll be okay. We’re all here together.”

  “It looks like he’s asleep,” Martha noted. “He isn’t moving at all.”

  She was right. The monster looked completely unaware of their presence, seemingly deep in slumber. The three of them sniffed around his edges, smelling the musty scent of old dust that he’d sucked into his chambers over time.

  “Maybe one of these buttons will release the banana,” Martha suggested. But just as Snowpea reached out to stop her, Martha pushed a button atop his head, and suddenly…

  VRRRRR!

  The trio shot back, barking and hissing. The monster was awake!

  With glowing red eyes and hungry spinning teeth for feet, the monster moved in their direction as they ran down the hallway, screaming at the top of their lungs.

  “Grab the leash!” Martha yelled. “We can try to capture him!”

  Snowpea frantically grabbed a leash off the wall and swung it over her head like a lasso, missing the robot entirely as it passed them by and nearly smacking Eloise in the butt.

  “I’m sorry! It’s just… well… no time for explanations!” Snowpea hollered, galloping by as she and her puppy pack chased the speedy robot down the hall. Coco, Eloise, Haroun, and even the fairy godmother, who had rushed out of the kitchen to see what was happening, shook their heads at the chaos. But Snowpea didn’t have time to worry about appearances. Right now, all that mattered was stopping the monster’s destruction once and for all and getting back the banana toy for her friends!

  “Hop on my back!” Kat yelled, and Snowpea mounted her like a cowgirl on a horse. They ran together at lightning speed, their fur blowing backward and their mouths agape, until they were close enough for Snowpea to swing the leash overhead and toss it at the robot with all her might. “Now—pull!” Kat screeched as it wrapped around the monster… but the monster quickly zipped away, crashing into a wall and escaping into a side room.

  Snowpea hopped off the pup, and the three of them peeked at the robot as it ate paperclips and rubber bands that had fallen from a desk. “It’s eating everything in sight,” she grumbled. “We have to jump on it and get it to stop!”

  As the robot slid toward the door, the whirring sound was booming. Snowpea trembled, but she knew she had to pounce. “Rawr!” she screamed as she leapt on top of the robot, all four paws balancing on top of the gliding machine. The puppies howled and barked, chasing behind her as the robot took off underneath her feet, carrying her back down the hallway.

  “Whoa-oa-oh!” Snowpea shrieked as the robot zoomed in a tight circle, spinning her like a ballerina. As the room whirled around her, she started to grin. This is kind of fun, she realized, and let out a loud “Woo-hoo!” until she flew off the robot’s back.

  The puppies huddled around the dizzy kitten as the monster slid into the foster room. “Are you okay?!” they asked.

  “I’m good… I’m great. Okay, now—think, Snowpea, think!” she said as she steadied herself. She needed to focus. How could they retrieve the banana and stop the robot monster from eating all their toys?

  “Maybe,” Martha said. “Maybe we need to feed it so much that it can’t stomach another bite. If puppies know anything about food, it’s that we won’t ever stop eating it until we’ve had so much that it’s physically impossible to continue.”

  “We do have impressive appetites,” Kat agreed.

  “That’s brilliant!” Snowpea shouted, her imagination sparked. She hopped into the litter box and said, “Get in, girls! We’ve got sand to kick!” The three friends stood inside the litter box, kicking and digging as bits of litter flew all over the floor.

 

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