Java’s sister Grace was waiting outside the kitchen door. She ran over as soon as she saw the two of us dragging our tired paws across the yard.

“What on Earth kept you? I’ve been worried to death!” Grace gave me a hard look. “You’d better get a grip before you go in. You two look like you’ve seen space aliens or something.”

She turned toward the mountain with a curious look. “Actually, somebody did. We saw cell phone video on the news tonight. Watson said he saw something fly over the woods.”

I nudged the screen door open so we could slip into the kitchen. Stretching up, I grabbed the brass knob with both paws and pulled while I turned. That’s the secret with this door, you can’t push until it clicks.

Grace looked at me in horror like I was some sort of demon from cat hell. Admittedly, this took a bit more skill than most cats from Northumberland County usually have, but I don’t think I’m so different. However, Grace wouldn’t cross the threshold until I stepped aside.

Inside the kitchen, Grace’s Bengal brother Java — the leader of the pack who’d run me off — was telling a wild story about how he’d single-handedly fought off a savage bunch of rats down in the basement.

“There were three of them scurrying in the dark, hissing—”

Java stopped talking mid-sentence, with a look of utter amazement on his face, when he saw me step into the room.

“Then what happened?” a large white cat they called Big Eddy, urged impatiently.

The group leaned forward eager to hear Java’s tale.

“Hissing, and ah . . . baring their teeth,” Nonplussed, Java tried to gather up his thoughts. “One bit my foot, another was moving along the wall, and the other one sneaked around behind me. The rat by the wall hissed so I sprang at it. I grabbed another with my claws before it could run, but the thing twisted around and bit my face. I grabbed another and it bit my cheek, another bit my right leg, another bit my left leg. Rats were all around me!” Java was getting carried away.

“Two more attacked. One from the right bit my foot. Another on the left jumped on my back and sunk his teeth in my shoulder.”

“I thought you said there were only three,” Grace inquired skeptically.

Java narrowed his eyes at his sister. “It’s true! Look at my fur.” He lowered his shoulder so they could see a small patch of missing fur. The cats gasped in sympathy.

Encouraged by the attention, Java laid it on. “I rolled over and over until the creature finally let go. The others rushed me again and again. Two more hissed, nipping at my feet —”

“How many now?” Grace sniped, “I’ve lost count.”

Her girlfriend Mira, the beautiful silver-gray tabby, started giggling so hard, she had to step out into the hall.

Java glared at his sister as he tried to regroup. “The rats,” . . . he caught Grace’s eye . . . “were taking turns rushing me. They even bit my tail.” He turned around trying to show off his long tail, but it got away from him, so he had to chase it a few turns.

“Above me were those high shelves with Susan’s empty jars. The rats all ran for my feet, so I jumped onto that barrel by the wall, but they jumped up after me, so I leapt up to the top shelf. It was lined with jars, but there was nowhere else to go. I could smell their nasty scent along the shelf, leading to a hole they’d chewed through the outside wall.”

As the cats listened with wide eyes, powerful Chocolate, the dark Siamese, bared his teeth with a savage smile. Tiger, the thin brown tabby, flexed her claws.

“As I waited,” . . . Java narrowed his eyes grimly . . . “a sinister shadow ran across the light.”

The excited audience leaned forward like iron filings to a magnet.

“It crept along the shelf, so I waited as quiet as a—”

“Mouse?” Grace suggested.

Java lashed his tail, trying not to lose his temper. “When it was almost in my claws, I jumped.” He raised his paw dramatically and the cats drew back.

“The rat thrashed viciously, but I held on. One of Susan’s canning jars fell with a horrible crash. Glass flew everywhere across the concrete floor. The thing kept clawing my face but I never let go. Three more jars fell from the shelf making a terrible noise.”

The cats cast furtive glances down the hall, where Susan and Bill were watching TV in the den. Everyone knew about Susan’s dire warnings to stay off the shelf with her canning jars.

Java continued confidently, “I slipped and fell hard on the floor with that rat between my teeth. Shards of broken glass cut through my skin like knives.”

Timing it carefully, Java looked up at the ceiling with his paw outstretched. “Suddenly the lights came on and Bill was running down the stairs yelling his angry head off.”

Java flashed a knowing smile at his friends. “Until he saw the rat.”

Making a face, he told them, “I figured it would be peas and rice cat food for the rest of my life when Susan saw her jars. But she just stepped around the glass and picked me up so tenderly.”

“She even kissed the scratches on my face. And it took like a long time to wash those kisses off, I can tell you.” Java grinned. “Susan carried me upstairs, saying all kinds of silly things about how much she loves me — and I got this!”

Java proudly waved his right front foot that had once been wrapped in white gauze, which by now was mostly unraveled across the floor.

Mira and Watson jumped at the end as it moved.

Unfortunately for Java, Susan walked into the kitchen at that moment and grabbed him up before he could run away. “Come on Java,” she told him sternly. “This time I’m putting it on with crazy glue,”

Java looked down at his sister in horror as Susan carried him up the back stairs.

“I told you she’d glue it on next time!” Grace called out after her brother.