First of all, let me introduce myself: Thomas. Yes, yes, that's right, in a simple way. I was named after the detective Tommy from the Agatha Christie novels. My master Valera and his parents love them. At first they wanted to call me Poirot. But, first of all, it is not a first name, but a surname, and secondly, you must agree, Thomas is a more suitable name for a cat. Yes, that's right, I am a cat. No one knows exactly what breed I am, but some of my owners' acquaintances think I'm a Maine Coon. Because I'm just as big and smart. I couldn't agree more.
Oh, by the way, I said, "just Thomas." And I said that because I have a uh...um...housemate, we'll call her that. It's my landlord's little sister's dog, Nadia, or as she calls herself, Nadine. And this dog's name is Aria Madeleine. That's exactly what it is, and no other name. But I still call her Maddie. Nadine is obsessed with being famous, and she thinks Maddie will help her get it. So as soon as Maddie arrived at our house, Nadia immediately started an online channel for her, where she regularly posts her pictures and videos. In my opinion, it would be better if Nadia had taken a dog from a shelter for this purpose. At least she wasn't so proud. And I'm still very much not finished, because if the size of Aria Madeleine would be the same as her self-esteem, she simply would not fit in our house. But recently there was an incident, thanks to which Maddie and her owner will change their attitude towards us, and I will have my own channel. But first things first...
The day started out very strangely: Nadia left home. What's so strange about that? She went to an event for owners who channel their pets on the Internet. Not only that, but it was mandatory to come to this event with your pet. It was supposed to be a kind of experience exchange. Nadia was very proud that she was called to this meeting, because she expected that a well-known blogger in our city would come to it. I forgot her name, but she has a cat, whose channel she runs. However, I don't remember anyone asking Nadia who the organizer of this meeting was. Apparently, no one did. Well, they should have.
The event was expected to take about three hours. But Nadia was back in less than an hour. And she wasn't wearing a face. Because she came back alone. Maddie had been stolen.
With great difficulty, Nadia was able to tell us what had happened. When she and Maddy arrived at the place - a large park in the center of the city - it turned out that there were no people with dogs in the park or nearby. Nadia was not alarmed, thinking that she and Maddy had just arrived first.
Suddenly another car stopped near the park, and Nadia thought that someone else had arrived at the bloggers' convention. And then she made another mistake: she let Maddie off the leash. Then she heard someone barking in the car and said:
- Be patient, Madeleine, the dog will be here in a minute, you'll run together!
But friendly Maddy didn't want to wait, and ran to the car. Nadia, trying to stop her, rushed after her. When she got to the car, Nadia could see that there was no dog and that there were two people in the car. As soon as Maddy ran to the car, the driver opened the door, got a leash from somewhere, quickly caught Maddy, slammed the door and drove away.
Nadia dialed her father and with great difficulty explained where she was and what had happened. At home, her parents finally asked:
- Who called you to this convention in the first place?
- Him.
And Nadia showed me a page that looked very strange. There was no photo, and instead of a name, it was written in Latin letters mixed with some incomprehensible symbols: "Amateur Congress".
And that was it. Now he was not online, but he left Nadia a message: "Either you find a million, or we'll find your dog another owner".
After reading it, Dad said:
- They're crazy. Don't they realize that Nadia is a schoolgirl and she can't have that kind of money?
Mom sighed.
- They probably think since Nadia and Madeleine have a lot of subscribers, they do.
And I-- I knew I had to find Maddie. Because whatever she is, we're family. I realize this is not the time for self-promotion, but I have one ability that has earned me my childhood nickname... Catnip. That ability is a phenomenal sense of smell, which I have even better than some dogs. It allows me to find anything and anyone. And another thing... Remember when I said they wanted to call me Poirot? Well, apart from our detective skills, we have one thing in common: whiskers. And they're much bigger than other cats. They make me look like a house cat, and I'm very proud of it. And I really hope I can find Maddie.
I took a look around. So, what do we have of her things here? And I saw a toy bow that she never lets go of. I grabbed the bow and ran.
I found Maddie not that far away, even closer than the park was. I've been taken by car sometimes, so I know. So, I saw a house similar to ours, only older. There were two men in the house and... barking Maddie. It was definitely her, I couldn't be wrong! Right, let's see if they have a window open here... Yes, there's an open window on the first floor. Right, I'm off.
***
- Don't worry, Sanek, now this fool will give us money, and the next day we'll be in Canada!
- What if she can't?
- Then we'll put that dog somewhere else! All right, leave me alone!
- Ah...ah...who are you?
- Why are you whining again?
- Rae-ooh!
- Domovoi, forgive us, we won't do it again!
***
Moving on to other news. On Stroiteley Street, a cat held two men hostage all night, guilty of kidnapping a dog. As it turned out later, the cat's name is Thomas, and the kidnapped dog lives with him in the same house ...
***
Yeah, yeah, you got that right. The story above was about Maddie and me. We're good now, and we're back home. Maddie treats me with more respect, and I'm... I'm seriously considering a career as a detective. Back home, I've been offered to be a star like Maddie, but the law is much more important to me. So I'll probably be a case manager. I'll see you around.
The end