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The station was busy, and the owner couldn’t spare his young assistant--a big, redheaded, open-faced kid named Corky--until the stream of customers subsided to a trickle shortly before ten o’clock Then Paul and Corky rode back to the crippled Pontiac in a tow truck

They tried jue The Pontiac had to be towed back to the station

Corky intended to replace the battery and have the car running in half an hour But it wasn’t the battery after all, and the estiain and again Finally, Corky found a problem with the electrical system and fixed it

Paul was stranded for three hours, always sure he would be on his way in just another twenty or thirty minutes But it was one-thirty when he finally parked the revitalized Pontiac in front of the adoption agency’s offices

Alfred O’Brian ca a well-tailored brown suit, a neatly pressed, creae display handkerchief in the breast pocket of his suit jacket, and a pair of neatly shined, broing-tip shoes He accepted the application, but he wasn’t opti all the required verifications prior to the reco

"We’ll try to do a rush job on your papers," he told Paul "I owe you thatthese verifications, we have to deal with people outside this office, and so hurried It always takes a minimum of three full business days to run a complete verification, soer, so I very much doubt that we’ll be ready for this session of the recoh I want to be We’ll probably have to sub, at the end of the month I feel terrible about that, Mr Tracy I’m more sorry than I can say

I truly am If we hadn’t lost those papers in the turmoil yesterday--"

"Don’t worry about it," Paul said "The lightning wasn’t your doing, and neither was the proble time to adopt a child Another teeks isn’t s"

"When your papers are presented to the committee, you’ll be approved quickly," O’Brian said "I’ve never been more sure about a couple than I a to tell them"

"I appreciate that," Paul said

"If we can’t --and I assure you we’ll try our best--then it’s only ato be concerned about Just a bit of bad luck"

Dr Brad Templeton was a fine veterinarian However, to Grace, he always looked out of place when he washorses and farm animals in a country practice, where his massive shoulders and hed about two hundred and twenty pounds, and had a ruddy, rugged, but pleasing face When be plucked Aristophanes out of the padded travel basket, the cat looked like a toy in his enor Ari on the stainless-steel table that stood in the ery

"He’s never been one to tear up the furniture, not since he was just a kitten," Grace said "He’s never been a climber, either But now, every ti down at lands and enlarged joints The cat cooperated docilely, even when Brad used a rectal ther," Grace insisted

Aristophanes purred, tolled onto his back, asking for his belly to be rubbed

Brad rubbed him and was rewarded with an even louder purr "Is he off his food?"

"No," Grace said "He stills eats well"

"Vo?"

"No"

"Diarrhea?"

"No He hasn’t shown any symptoms like those

It’s just that he’sdifferent He’s not at all like he was Every sye, not an indication of physical deterioration Like destroying the pillows Leaving the mess on the arotten very sneaky lately, always creeping around, hiding fro me when be thinks I don’t see hi "That’s the nature of the beast"

"Ari didn’t used to sneak," Grace said "Not like he’s been doing the last couple of days And he’s not as friendly as he used to be The last two days, he hasn’t wanted to be petted or cuddled"

Still frowning, Brad lifted his gaze from the cat and met Grace’s eyes "But dear, look at hi his belly rubbed, and clearly relishing all the attention being directed at him His tail swished back and forth across the steel table He raised one paw and batted playfully at the doctor’s large, leathery hand

Sighing, Grace said, "I knohat you’re thinking I’et funny ideas"

"No, no, no I wasn’t thinking any such thing"

"Old women become obsessively attached to their pets because sometimes their pets are the only company they have, their only real friends"

"I am perfectly aware that doesn’t apply to you, Grace Not with all the friends you’ve got in this town I merely--"

She sly, Brad I knohat’s going through yourtheir pets that they think they see signs of illness where there are none Your reaction is understandable It doesn’t offendwith Ari"

Brad looked down at the cat again, continued stroking its belly, and said, "Have you changed his diet in any way?"

"No He gets the same brand of cat food, at the saotten it"

"Has the coed the product recently?"

"How do you e say ‘new, i like that?"

She thought about it for a moment, then shook her head "I don’t think so"

"Soe a formula, they add a new preservative or a new artificial flavoring or coloring agent, and soic reaction to it"

"But wouldn’t that be a physical reaction? Like I said, this seee"

Brad nodded "I’m sure you know food additives can cause behavioral problems in some children A lot of hyperactive kids calm dohen they’re put on a diet free of the s, too From what you’ve told me, it sounds like Aristophanes is intere in the formulation of his cat food Switch hie itself of whatever additives have offended it, and he’ll probably be the old Ari again"

"If he isn’t?"

"Then bring hiive hily recoo to all that trouble and expense"