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Sherlock the Remarkable Cat Series, Book # 1:

Sherlock, the Cat Who Couldn't Meow

Written by Vickianne Caswell

Cover Art by Anastasia Drogaitseva

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1 A Day in the Life 1

2 Sherlock's Family 12

3 Friends, Foes and Angels 21

4 Angel Cake? 30

5 Classes Begin 35

6 The Foxtrot Diner 39

7 The Knapsack 44

8 A Magical Rescue 50

9 The Knapsack is Missing 61

10 A Treasure Within 70

Behind the Story 74

Quotes from Sherlock Cat 74

Glossary 75

Fun Facts 76

C.J's Bun Song 77

Before You Buy a Pet 78

Reasons to Adopt 78

Copyright © 2014 Vickianne Caswell

All rights reserved.

Printed by Createspace, an Amazon.com company

First Edition

IBN: 1494882914

ISBN-13: 978-1494882914

This book continues on from Freckles the Bunny Series, Book # 2: Freckles and the Less Fortunate. To see the inside of the bakery, read Freckles the Bunny Series, Book # 5: Freckles and the Cost of Popularity.

No copy of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, or otherwise, without written permission.

Attention:

Permission C/O Vickianne Caswell P.O. Box 444 Humboldt, Saskatchewan,
Canada S0K 2A0

DEDICATION

The book was written about my second “child” Sherlock. He is great company when my daughter is at school and it is very much like having a toddler in the house. I am less lonely with him when everyone is away. The second dedication is to my daughter. It has been through her and the animals that I have been able to write these stories. She did not get a character in Freckles the Bunny Series books because Freckles was also partly based off of her. For this book, she and I created a character especially for her and every book is dedicated to her. She is a great pride and joy that I treasure daily.

VISIT SHERLOCK ONLINE

http://www.Sherlock-the-Remarkable-Cat-Series.ca

Sherlock, Kato and Charlie are real animals. The Caswell family adopted them from the Humboldt and District SPCA. Vickianne chooses to support this organization because it is no-kill shelter and is not government funded. All books bought through her Createspace links has $1/book donated to this shelter. Each have found a special place in their hearts. You can learn more about this organization by going to the link below.

http://www.humboldtspca.com/

Most of the Caswell's pets have been adopted, strays or somehow in need of a home. Vickianne uses the animals' real names unless they are created characters. The real animals' personalities are displayed in the books as well.

Here are the names of the real animals in this story:

* Kitty (Mr. Cat, the dad)

* Sweet Pea

* Freckles

* Rags

* Potato

* Boots

* Charlie

* Kato

A Day in the Life

Sherlock looked at himself in the mirror as he brushed his brown and grey fur with the black stripes. He finished brushing everywhere and then went on to brushing his teeth. He had to hurry or he would be late for work. He grinned a toothy grin in the mirror, his green eyes sparkling as headed out the door.

No one was up yet in the house. This was probably a good thing because he'd slept in today and the house of four only had one bathroom. It was not a large house and this made mornings very busy when they were all up and in a hurry to leave. He quickly grabbed his lunch that he'd made the night before. He couldn't wait to sink his teeth into his salmon sandwich.

Sherlock drove down the quiet street in his slightly older car that he'd saved his money to buy. Sherlock believed in working hard for everything. His car was no exception. It wasn't new, but he'd earned the money for it and liked it. He waited for the light to change and he smiled
as he looked at his cupcake scented air freshener. He began to knead as his paws sat on the steering wheel. This was something Sherlock had done since he was a baby. If he was happy, he kneaded.

The light changed and Sherlock continued on down the road to work, driving his aqua-coloured, two-door car. Bunnycakes Bakery soon came into view and he pulled into his parking space, behind the building. He got out, unlocked the back door of the place and entered. The lights were out, telling him that he had arrived before C.J, his boss, who was also the owner. He flicked on the switch so that he could see.

The building was bigger then most bakeries because it was so busy. C.J had bought the building next to her and expanded, this enabled a larger work space in the back and tables to eat at inside and out. The front windows had some berries hanging down inside, cakes on display and was beautifully decorated.

The front part, inside the building was very nice. There was a fancy table and display counter that curved around the cash register. There were two fridges, one for the orders that day and one for drinks, coffee creamer and other things. The tables were different inside then out. C.J had quite the eye for design.

Next he began his usual routine. The ovens took a while to warm up, so he turned them on. He then proceeded to the front of the bakery and turned the lights on in there. He took the already made baking orders for that day and carried them to the front. He opened the see-through
fridge that was strictly for pick up orders like cakes and other things that needed to be kept cool. He placed them in and shut the door. He then went outside and set up the tables for later that
day.

As he headed to the back once again, C.J entered the bakery. She had brown fur all over her back and white on her chest and parts of her face. Her hazel eyes seems to smile as she said, “Good morning.” She was an English Lop which was why she had very long ears. Her ears would touch the ground and they usually caused her a great deal of trouble because she was always tripping on them.

“Good morning,” he said back as he smiled at her and began working on some buns while she started making a few cakes. Her long brown ears, gently swayed as she sang quietly to herself as she often did.

“I sing a song of baking a bun, la la la la la la.

I sing this song because it's somuch fun, la la la la la la.

I make a bun and they call me a bun, la la la la la la.

I sing this song until I am done, la la la la la la.”

Sherlock smiled. C.J was always the happiest when she was baking and singing
at the same time.

The morning wore on and more and more stuff was put into the display counter for sale. By the time the place was to open, they had a bunch of stuff up front. C.J set the sign to open and unlocked the door. A few people came in for breakfast and time wore on. C.J had the place
set up so that people could enjoy the baking at home or at the store.

Eventually it was eleven and C.J took her lunch break at this time. Sherlock didn't mind because he preferred a later lunch. C.J had once offered him that time but he told her that a late lunch was better because sometimes he didn't get to go home for supper. C.J was happy to give him the later time and if he wanted earlier, he always got it.

Sherlock checked the soups that they had put on earlier, to make sure that they would be ready for the lunch crowd. Even though it was a bakery, they also served soup and sandwiches. He then checked to make sure that there would be enough supplies for any sandwiches and then went to the back to make sure the last of the bagels were brought up front. As he finished this, some customers came in and ordered some sandwiches and he happily served them.

Sherlock liked working for C.J. She was nice, patient, a great teacher, creative and hard working. Sherlock was like this also. Patience was something he needed to work on though. He was great at teaching children stuff he knew, but when it came time for him to learn or do something, he was sometimes in too big of a hurry. These were just some of the reasons why he admired his boss so much.

“Hi!” a soft, shy voice said behind him as he finished stirring the soup.
He turned around to see a little brown fawn at the counter with her mom. Her brown eye lashes blinked shyly as she smiled.

“Norma! Did you come for some lunch?”

She was a friend of Boots' at school.

Norma nodded shyly again and her mom ordered them some strawberry sandwiches, Timothy tea and oatmeal cookies for dessert.

When he was finished serving customers at the front, he went to the back and continued on making the cookies he'd began earlier. They were short-bread cookies, cut out into cat faces. They had just finished cooling and he was now going to decorate them. He had used two
jellybeans for eyes while the cookies were still warm, so that they would settle into them. He drew on a nose and mouth with some icing. As he worked his way down to the mouth, a noise up front caused him to lose his concentration and the lip curled upwards.

Sherlock knew that he couldn't sell these but he also knew how much his family would love them because they were different, so he decided to make a dozen cookies this way and then buy them after work. For now he left the cookies and went up front to see what made the noise.

As soon as he got up to the front, he knew what had happened. C.J had returned and had tripped over her ears again. This time, she had knocked over a vase and it broke.

"Oh dear!” C.J. Sighed. “I have to stop tripping like this.”

Sherlock grabbed the broom and dust pan, helping her to sweep the mess up. C.J smiled because Sherlock was always helping her. She was glad that she had hired him. He was not only a great baker, but a great friend and a wonderful person. C.J got up, off of the floor and went to clear some tables.

“You are such a dear,” she said before she left. This made Sherlock blush.

Sherlock finished cleaning the broken glass and went back to his cookies while C.J stayed up front, helping customers. It got busier with the lunch hour and Sherlock went up front to help her. After the lunch hour, things died down and it was now his turn to have his lunch.

Sherlock liked walking to the nearby park on nice days and eat his lunch there. He always picked a spot near some trees because the birds would come by for crumbs. He liked watching birds, especially the little ones. Sometimes this got him in trouble. He would get so busy watching and following them, that he would lose track of time. He had no intentions of being late for work though, so he tried to pay less attention and his tail twitched as he ate.

After lunch, he went back to work until it was time to leave. He made sure that he paid for his cookies first.

Sherlock's Family

Sherlock entered the door of his family home carrying the cookies he had made earlier.

“Eek! Don't step on me!” screamed a little voice.

Sherlock looked down even though he knew who it was. Little Potato was near the paw he was about to step down on. Her paws were covering her eyes while her tiny body shook. He flinched, knowing how close he had come to stepping on her.

“Sorry about that,” Sherlock told the little caramel brown and white hamster.

He still wasn't used to having her here. Potato was the adopted daughter of his dad's girlfriend who's name was Purrsia Purthington. They were both at the Cat family home on a regular basis. Purrsia met his dad at the grocery store around a year ago, while buying fish. A few more
meetings at the store and they decided to have coffee. When they found out how much they had in common, they began to date.

Sherlock's mom died four years ago, when Boots was two. Sherlock was fourteen then and began helping his dad out more. Their family grew closer with each passing day and while Purrsia wasn't their mom, he was happy for his dad and liked having her around.

Purrsia and her husband had adopted Potato two years before he died. Purrsia now raised Potato alone which was not always an easy job being a single mom and trying to work too. Potato was small and often teased because of her size along with the fact that she was a hamster with a cat for a mom. She was not too fond of having boys around that behaved differently then a girl would. It was a very different home but a unique family that Sherlock had grown to love.

“What did you bring home?” she asked Sherlock, her eyes glistening with excitement.

“Cookies,” he said.

This made Potato's whiskers twitch with glee. Sherlock always brought home delicious baking that he had made. She loved coming to the Cat family's house for meals because it always meant dessert when Sherlock was home.

He stepped around Potato and took the cookies over to the counter for later. He stopped and said hello to Purrsia, who was cooking some tuna casserole for dinner. Sherlock loved tuna and licked his lips at the thought of the upcoming meal.

“Hello Sherlock,” Purrsia smiled at him.

He noticed that Purrsia's fluffy white fur had a fish bone stuck in it and he grinned while taking it out. It was unlike Purrsia to not have something in her fur. He didn't understand how they got in there, just that they did.

“Oh, thank you!” Purrsia said. “I wondered where that went at lunch.”

Sherlock grinned again as he left the kitchen. He entered the living room to see his dad watching the news. Boots came flying out of the bedroom that he and Rags shared, letting out a loud meow. He jumped onto Sherlock's back and they both toppled to the floor.

Boots was a Gray tabby cat with brown and black stripes on him. His paws were white as were his chest and his back legs. His green eyes sparkled as he pinned Sherlock to the ground.

“Bree-oooh,” Sherlock cried as they played.

Rags soon joined them, his Gray fur shining as he pounced on Sherlock too.

“Hey! No fair!” Sherlock cried as Potato tried climbing on too.

Potato was too small though to climb on like the others. She reached into the knapsack she always carried and pulled out her “rope” which was a piece of yarn. She used it like a lasso and roped Sherlock's nose. She pulled herself up until she was on his head and did what only a small creature could do to play with such a big cat. She tickled the fur by his ears and he was soon laughing hard.

“Potato, Boots and Rags,” Purrsia asked when it was near time to eat, “would you all please set the table.”

Sherlock sat beside his dad and they watched the news together until the table was set and supper was ready.

Everyone sat at the table and each shared their day. Rags had a math test and got pretty good marks. He also learned a new dance move from one of his friends. Boots took a nap in science and had to miss a recess to catch up. He also had a note from the teacher for his dad to sign.

Potato went on a field trip to the zoo with Purrsia who helped supervise. Everyone laughed as Potato told them of how Purrsia came home with a vine in her fur. Mr. Cat had a good day and his business meeting went as he'd hoped. Sherlock told them of his day and the birds in the
park.

After they ate their meal and Potato had finished munching on a salad, they had dessert. She usually ate salad as she was a hamster and hamsters don't eat meat of course. Once supper was finished, she was sure to remind Sherlock of the cookies he'd brought home. Everyone
complimented the faces on the cookies and how delicious they tasted.

Mr. Cat cleared the table while Sherlock washed dishes and then went to finish gathering his school supplies for that coming week. Purrsia was busy helping Potato with her homework. Boots and Rags had already finished theirs and were watching a cartoon on the television.

Once Potato's homework was finished, they asked Sherlock to join them in a game of charades. Sherlock put away the last of his stuff so that he could spend time with his family. They each took turns guessing what job the other had and had a great time playing. Time passed and soon
Purrsia and Potato were saying goodnight as they headed home to their apartment. Sherlock went to his room and finished gathering his school supplies while quietly listening to the music group, Birds of a Feather. He then read his favourite magazine called, Fat Cat, which was about putting peppermint in pudding. After that he went to bed.

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