get on the roof? Besides, I thought cats never got hurt
falling. Isn't there something about landing on your feet like a cat?
Maybe that's just a legend, like the nonsense about nine lives.

Well, what do I do, she thought. I can't sit here and drink coffee with
_that_ under the window. And God knows I can't take it away myself. She
shuddered at the thought. Call the manager.

She got up and went to the telephone in the foyer. She found the number
scribbled on the back of the phone book. Her hand was shaking when she
dialed.

"This is Ellen Tighe in 402. Mrs. Anderson, there's a dead cat on the
fire escape outside my window. You'll have to do something about it."

Mrs. Anderson sounded half-asleep. "What do you mean, a dead cat? Are
you sure it's dead? Maybe it's sleeping."

"Of course I'm sure it's dead! Can't you send Pete up to take it away?
It's a horrible thing to have under my window."

"All right, I'll tell Pete to go up. He's washing down the lobby now. As
soon as he's finished, I'll send him up."

Ellen set the phone back on its stand. She felt a little silly. What a
fuss to make over a dead cat. But really, outside one's window--and
before breakfast--who could blame me?

She went back into the kitchenette, carefully not looking toward the
window, even though the shade was drawn, and poured herself a cup of
coffee. Then she sat at the table in the little nook, drinking coffee,
smoking a cigarette and leafing through the paper.

The front page was all about a flying saucer scare in Marin County. She
read the headline, then thumbed on through the paper, stopping to read
the movie reviews and the comic page.

* * * * *

At the back section, she was attracted by a headline that read: "Liquor
Strong These Days--Customer Turns Green, Says Bartender." It was a brief
item, consciously cute. "John Martin, 38, a bartender of 152 Mason
Street, was arrested early this morning, charged with drunkenness and
disturbing the peace, after firing several shots from a .38 revolver on
the sidewalk in front of his address. No one was injured. Martin's
defense, according to police records, was that he was attempting to
apprehend a 'pale-green, claw-handed' customer who fled after eating a
live mouse and threatening Martin.

"Upon questioning, Martin admitted that the unidentified customer had
been in the bar for several hours and appeared perfectly normal. But he
insisted, 'When I refused