Milo didn't really like old ladies. He decided that for sure as old Mrs. Trimble carried him - his cat self, that is - up the street and across the park. She was cuddling him and murmuring sweet nothings, such as "precious baby" and "darling kitsy-witsums" into his ears. Boy, I hope the guys at school never find out about this, he thought.

When they reached Mrs. Trimble's little white house, she carried him inside. Immediately they were surrounded by what seemed like a hundred cats, meowing and purring and rubbing around Mrs. Trimble's legs. Milo counted and realized there were actually only thirteen. But even so, Mrs. Trimble could hardly walk among all the furry, purring bodies.

"Hello, my sweethearts! Look, Mama's found you a new brother. Now be nice to him and make him welcome!" She set Milo down on the floor and, after watching to make sure the other cats would accept him, she disappeared into the kitchen. Milo found himself surrounded by curious fuzzy faces, and thirteen pairs of unwinking green and gold eyes.

"Hello guys," he said. "Don't worry, I'm just a temporary visitor."

The green and gold eyes widened at the sound of his voice. The cats were suspicious and a little confused at the sound of a human voice coming from one of their own kind. Several of the males approached him and headed for his backside to identify him the way cats usually do - by smell.

"Oh, no you don't," said Milo hastily, realizing what they were about to do and backing away. "Nobody gets to smell my behind, thanks very much. You can just take my word for it - I'm different than you are. You just mind your own business and I'll mind mine." He turned his back and stalked away from them, hoping they wouldn't follow. They didn't - for the simple reason that Mrs. Trimble called them all into the kitchen to feed them. They tumbled over each other to get to their food bowls. Milo followed, feeling very hungry - until he got a whiff of the smelly cat food.

"What's the matter, precious, are you too confused to eat?" crooned Mrs. Trimble. She picked him up and carried him to the table, where her own TV dinner was waiting. She broke off a piece of chicken and fed it to him. Milo gobbled it hungrily. Meat at last! No more vegetarian food! Right then, Milo decided he liked old ladies after all.

Mrs. Trimble fed him most of her chicken, and then put him on the floor. While she watched TV in the kitchen, he began to explore the house.

"Let's see, where could she have put that knitting bag?" Mrs. Trimble's house was the most cluttered house he'd ever seen. The living room was crowded with furniture-chairs, tables, sofas, bookshelves, even footstools. Every surface was covered with doilies and books and vases and statues and other items. "This is going to be hard," he muttered.

Left alone, Milo resumed his detective work, checking in the closets. He found dozens of pairs of old shoes and several purses and bags, but not the big bag Mrs. Trimble had described to Mia. He checked under the big four poster bed and found nothing but a lot of dust that made him sneeze. Then he checked under the dresser. There was something lying there, back in the shadows-but just then, Milo's sharp cat eyes detected movement. Something was crawling toward him from under the bed. He froze. What ever it was hadn't seen him, for it kept coming closer. Milo crouched down, and without realizing it, wiggled his behind in a cat's hunting position. The animal kept coming. It crept into the afternoon sunlight from the window, and Milo saw that it was only a mouse. He drew in a big breath and relaxed.

Wiggling on his belly, he crawled under the dresser and patted the big lump with his paw. It felt like a soft pile of material. He hooked a claw into it and pulled it forward. It was a big bag! In the darkness under the dresser, he couldn't tell the color. Slowly he pulled it all the way out. It was pink! He clawed at the opening, pulling it open. Inside were knitting needles, and more yarn! He pulled them out and tumbled the bag about as best he could with his paws. Some coins spilled out with a clatter. Milo looked at them eagerly, but they were all regular silver coins, nickels and dimes and quarters. He shook more coins out of the bag. Still the wrong kind!

Milo shook the bag again, but no more coins fell out. He pushed his head into the bag, but could see nothing in the darkness inside. He shoved his head in further, and something cold touched his nose! He bit whatever it was with his sharp teeth. It was flat and felt like metal. Another coin! He took it carefully between his teeth and tried to climb out of the bag, but he was tangled up in the soft material.

"Help! Get me out of here!" He clawed frantically, but his head was stuck! "Hey! I can't breathe in here!" he yowled. He rolled around in the bag, struggling to free himself. Then he heard the door open.

Mrs. Trimble entered and saw her pink knitting bag tumbling around on the floor, with a gray fluffy tail sticking out. "Bad kitty!" she scolded, picking it up and freeing Milo. Milo's teeth lost their grip on the coin. It fell to the floor and rolled under the bed, but not before Milo saw the glint of gold! It was the golden coin! He was sure of it!

"Why look," said Mrs. Trimble in surprise. "It's my pink knitting bag. Where did you find this?" She looked at Milo, who was curled up in her lap, purring because he was so happy. Mrs. Trimble looked in the bag, and at the silver coins spilled on the floor. "Oh, dear," she said regretfully. "No sign of poor Mia's gold coin. She must have lost it somewhere else."

That's what you think, said Milo to himself. The moment Mrs. Trimble left the room, he scrambled under the bed and pounced on the coin. He pushed it out from under the bed and into the square of light from the window. Now he could see it clearly, and it was gold! And there was a picture of a parrot on it! Mia's coin! The golden talisman! Taking it again carefully between his teeth, he jumped up on the bed and hid it under the pillow. Nothing to do now but wait until Mia or Uncle Fred came to get him, as they has planned. Milo curled up on the bedspread and went to sleep.

Meanwhile, Mia and Uncle Fred had been having another busy day at the shop. It was dark when they finally closed up. "I'd better call Mrs. Trimble right away," said Mia. "Milo's probably climbing the walls. I'll just say I decided to keep him for myself, and then I'll go right over."

Unfortunately for Mia and Milo, Mrs. Trimble had other ideas. She had made plans to meet a friend for dinner and a movie that night. She left the house at half-past six, locking her door securely behind her. She had no idea that the cat on her bed was really an impostor who needed to escape.

Milo awoke to the sound of the phone ringing and ringing. He jumped down from the bed and went out into the living room. All of the other cats were sitting or reclining on the furniture, but there was no sign of Mrs. Trimble, and the phone kept on ringing. No one came to answer it.

"She must have gone out," said Milo out loud. "Now what do I do?"

The other cats stared at him, twitching their tails. One of them, a big orange tomcat, looked hostile. "Well, I can't help it," Milo said to it. "I don't want to stay here. But I'm stuck. That was probably Mia on the phone, but she can't come get me, unless she wants to break in." The tomcat's fur stood on end, and it made a low growling noise, trying to threaten Milo.

"You'd better be nice to me," said Milo. "In a few more hours I'll be a dog, you know. How would you like that?"

The cat growled again, letting Milo know he wasn't going to wait.

Great, thought Milo. Just what I wanted to do- get in a catfight. But just then he noticed something. Mrs. Trimble had left the kitchen window open a few inches. And just like Milo's kitchen window at home, there was a small hole in the screen. Milo turned his back on the big tomcat and bounded back into the bedroom and on to the bed. He pawed the gold coin out from under the pillow, and took it back up into his teeth, then bounded into the kitchen and up to the windowsill.

Setting the coin on the sill, he used his claws and teeth to rip and tear the hole until it was big enough for a skinny cat to wiggle through. He turned around and saw that the cats in the living room were watching him with interest. Uh-oh, he thought. I don't want Mrs. T. to lose all her pets. Jumping down, he threw his weight against the kitchen door until it swung shut. Now the other cats would be safe, unable to get in. They wouldn't be able to get to their food until Mrs. Trimble got home, but he didn't think that would do them any harm. Most of them were fat anyway.

He leaped back onto the window sill, picked up the coin in his teeth again, and shoved and wriggled his way through the hole until he dropped down on the grass below. He darted across the lawn until he reached the sidewalk, then stopped for a moment to rest. He looked up and saw the moon shining down on the park across the street. All he had to do was cross the park and go down the street a couple of blocks, and he was home free!