Burglar

Flash Fiction

Burglar

“Frank!” Stella whispered, shaking him out of his sleep.

Stella never woke him without a reason, like that he was supposed to be up. “What?” he said, it was still dark.

“I heard a noise downstairs.”

Yarning, he said, “What kind of noise?”

Stella quickly put her hand over his mouth, “Shhhh!” she whispered, “I think someone’s down there…”

Frank immediately finished waking up! “What did you hear?” he whispered.

“Noise, in the kitchen. Did you lock the back door?”

“I don’t know… Oh! I just heard something too!”

“What should we do? Call the police?”

“Probably, there’s obviously someone down there… I’ll call from the bathroom…”.

Once back he told Stella the police were coming, they needed to stay where they were until someone called them. It was a long fifteen minutes…

Finally, they got a call. “You can come down now,” a voice said, calmly. “We’re in your kitchen.”

They went down, and found two police officers. “Not a break in!” one said, “though your door was unlocked…

“Did you find out what was making the noise?” Frank asked, a little embarrassed at the ‘unlocked’ comment.

“We did!” the policeman said, pointing to the table by the window. “The window was open too; you got a visitor!”

In the corner, trying to hide, was a furry lump. “A cat?” Frank asked, shocked.

“I assume it’s not your cat?” the cop asked.

“Oh, the poor baby!” Stella said, “it’s eating crumbs!”

“We can take it,” the other policeman said, “we’ll bring it to the vets when they open…”

But Stella had already picked it up, and it immediately cuddled to her chest.

“Never mind,” Frank said, “I think we’ll be taking care of it ourselves…”

The kitten stayed for the next sixteen years. They named him “Burglar.”