The Adventures of Hayden and Shelby, 'Welfare Cats

As the red taillights disappeared around the bend in the road, Shelby's thoughts went back to the days when he had been at the shelter. He remembered Mom had just begun volunteering there. In his mind, he could still hear her voice and the words she would say as she went around each cage trying to comfort the cats and reassure them that they were safe and, though it may not seem like it now, everything would turn out all right fro them. One by one, she would gently lift out those cats who wanted to come and hold them close in her arms and stroke them and talk to them. Sometimes she would brush them or play with them a little and let them walk about and stretch their legs and get some exercise. She brightened his days and he looked forward to when she would come. Seeing her helped him through the dreariness and made it easier to bear living in a cage day after day, month after month. . . . When social time was over and Mom put them back, she would give them a bunch of treats to cheer them up, and then some more for all of them before she left. Shelby used to think how nice she was, and how much he wished she would take him home with her as her own. He used to imagine what it would be like... to have a home again and family. His eyes started to get a little watery. He didn't want to cry, so he made a conscious effort to end his reminiscing. Shelby's attention came back to the present. For some reason he felt extremely worried about Mom. Why did she have to go to the shelter on Halloween? He didn't want her to go, he thought anxiously. He was afraid something bad would happen to her. What if he never saw her again? What would he do? He couldn't stand it? There had been some very spooky things going on at the shelter lately. He had overheard Mom and Dad talking...