Ronald Frobnitz's Quote-of-the-Week ArchiveSecond Note: The distribution of chosen quotations between books is a bit...odd right now and does not reflect my personal preferences for one book over another. (The fact that I have more quotations up now from Saw Stars than Could Read Backwards does not indicate that I prefer the former over the latter.) The Cat Who Could Read Backwards: "Jim Qwilleran, whose name had confounded typesetters and proofreaders for two decades, arrived fifteen minutes early for his appointment with the managing editor of the Daily Fluxion." "'That shrubbery's getting out of hand. Aren't you afraid of brush fires?'" - Odd Bunsen about Qwilleran's moustache "'The lack of an antenna in the human anatomy impresses me as a vast oversight, a cosmic blunder. With a simple arrangement of feelers or whiskers, imagine what man might have achieved in communication and prognostication. What we call extrasensory perception is normal experience for a cat. He knows what you are thinking, what you are going to do, and where you have been. I would gladly trade one ear and one eye for a full set of cat's whiskers in working condition.'" - Mountclemens "Kao K'o-Kung was no ordinary cat, and Qwilleran hardly knew how to address him. Sahib? Your Highness? On impulse he decided to treat the cat as an equal, so he merely said, 'Won't you come in?' and stood aside, unaware that he was making a slight bow." (suggested by Ben Hartley (and Smokey) - thanks!) Qwilleran ran the glass under his nose and considered the bouquet thoughtfully. 'An unpretentious vintage,' he said. 'Nothing memorable, but it has a naïve charm. Unfortunately the bouquet is masked by the smoke coming from Mr. Bunsen's cigar. I would guess the tomatoes came from -' (he took a sip and rolled it on his tongue) 'from Northern Illinois. Obviously a tomato patch near an irrigation ditch, getting the morning sun from the east and the afternoon sun from the west.' He took another swallow. 'My palate tells me the tomatoes were picked early in the day - on a Tuesday or a Wednesday - by a farmhand wearing a Band-Aid. The Mercurochrome comes through in the aftertaste.'" - Qwilleran evaluating his tomato juice at the Press Club bar
"'Did you come alone? To a Lovers' Ball?' "'Have you ever been unfortunate enough to attend a Happening?'" - Mountclemens "When Zoe had gone from Qwilleran's apartment--leaving him with a can of coffee, a pound of sugar, a half-pint of cream, a pack of cigarettes and two pounds of chocolate-chip cookies..." The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern: "Judge Qwits Bench After Graft Qwiz" - Fluxion headline "The Daily Fluxion was known as a tight ship. Percy preached teamwork, team spirit, team discipline. Shoulder to shoulder, play the game, one for all. Ours not to question why. A long pull, a strong pull, a pull all together. We happy few!" - Qwilleran musing
"Qwilleran went back to his office muttering into his moustache: 'Play it safe! Don't offend! Support the Advertising Department! Make money!'
"'I can drive,' said Bunsen. 'Perfectly sober.' "'Anything a cat can do, Odd Bunsen can do better!'" - the eponymous Mr. Bunsen "Her economies registered favorably with Qwilleran. There was something about the room that looked sad and brave to a resident of the Villa Verandah. It touched him in a vulnerable spot, and for one brief moment he had a delirious urge to support this girl for life, but it passed quickly. He pressed a handkerchief to his brow and remarked about the music coming from a portable record player." - Qwilleran looking around Cokey's apartment, The Cat Who Ate Danish Modern - thanks to Leslie for suggesting this! The Cat Who Turned On and Off: "Qwilleran resented juveniles who substituted nerve for ability." "'A newsman covers the story without weighing the psychic rewards.'" - Qwilleran "'Qwill, let's not turn this quaint, nostalgic Christmas series into a criminal investigation,' the editor said. 'The boss wants us to advertise peace-on-earth and goodwill towards advertisers until the Christmas shopping season is over.'" - Arch Riker "You see, no one thinks of Junktown as a community of living people - merely a column of statistics. If they would ring doorbells, they would respectable foreign families, old couples with no desire to move to the suburbs, small businessmen like Mr. Lombardo - all nationalities, all races, all ages, all types - including a certain trashy element that does no harm. That's the way a city should be - one big hearty stew. But politicians have an à la carte mentality. They refuse to mix the onions and carrots with the tenderloin tips.'" - Mary Duckworth "'I'm afraid I do not approve of today's sordid fiction. And yet that is what sells, they say.'" - Mrs. McGuffey [or Lilian Jackson Braun?] "Murmuring little noises of satisfaction, Koko made himself a nest on the bed and curled up for sleep." "'The city is going to rope off four blocks,' she said, 'and decorate the utility poles with plastic angels. They've run out of Christmas angels, but they have some nice lavender ones left over from last Easter. Carol singers will be provided by the Sanitation Department Glee Club.'" - Sylvia Katzenhide on Junktown's Christmas block party The Cat Who Saw Red:
"'Qwill,' said Riker in a serious voice, 'watch your step, will you? About Joy, I mean.' "After 'just one drink', who would slip out of Hixie's apartment and where would he go? Why, he asked himself, am I such a nosy bas--" - ahem! Qwilleran thinking "Maus abhorred tea bags, pressure cookers, canned fruit cocktail, bottled mayonnaise, instant coffee, iceberg lettuce, monosodium glutamate, eggs poached in geometric shapes, New England boiled dinners, and anything resembling a smorgasbord, salad bar, or an all-you-can-eat buffet." "You unhappy about something?...I can tell by the way you eat your grapefruit. You're going around it counterclockwise. Did you ever watch people eat grapefruit? The happy ones eat clockwise." - Max Sorrel "'The ways of the young are incomprehensible. I have ceased all attempts to understand their behavior.'" - Robert Maus "'...we can't run what you wrote about the Petrified Bagel. 'Embalmed shrimp! Delicious toothpicks!' Are you out of your mind?'" - Arch Riker to Qwilleran "In the center of the room a few railroad ties had been arranged on the floor to form a large square, and Dan Graham was down on hands and knees filling the square with pebbles. Alone in the vast hall, pushing the pebbles this way and that as if their placement mattered profoundly, he made a sad picture of insignificance, Qwilleran thought."
"'I would testify even if their gangster friends threatened to - threatened to -' The Cat Who Played Brahms: "At twelve noon Qwilleran bounded up the steps of the grimy limestone fortress that had once been the county jail but now dispensed food and drink to the working press. As he approached the nail-studded portal, he sensed that something was wrong. He smelled fresh varnish! His sharp ear detected that the massive door no longer creaked on its hinges! He stepped into the lobby and gasped. The murky, smoky ambience that he loved so well was now all freshness and sparkle." "It was explained with the utmost compunction that the property heretofore known as Maus Haus had been purveyed, after due deliberation, to a syndicate of out-of-town investors who would be pursuing extensive plans requiring, it was regretted, the eviction of present tenants at a date no later than September 1." - eviction notice from Robert Maus "One boy was seventeen, Qwilleran guessed, and the other was somewhat younger. Neither had an alertness that would inspire confidence." "'...the texture of the lake and the lambency of the wind are rather ominous.'" - Qwilleran making small talk about the weather "Why, he asked himself, can a single cigarette butt start a fire when I can't set fire to a newspaper with eleven matches?" - Qwilleran's inner thoughts "'Your newspaper is a farce. The radio station should be put off the air. The restaurants massacre the food. And the whole county is insular and probably inbred. I won't even mention what I think about the mosquitoes.'" - Qwilleran to Roger MacGillivray The Cat Who Played Post Office: "'The tree is waving to you, Jamesy. Wave your hand like a polite little boy.'" - Qwilleran's mother in his flashback-delirium "'I ain't aimin' to be a live-in housekeeper 'cause 'twouldn't be right, you bein' a single man and me a widow, but seein' as how they said you ain't a drinkin' man, I'd be willin' to clean and iron three days a week, which I worked here when the Old Lady was alive and I had to do the work of two seein' as how the reg'lar girl wouldn't lift a finger if I didn't snitch on her to the Old Lady, which the young ones today drink and smoke and dance and all that, and I'm glad I was born when folks had some self-respect, so I always work six days a week and go to church three times on Sunday.'" - Mrs. Fulgrove's introduction to Qwilleran "'Junior, this county has the world's worst drivers. They straddle the centerline; they make turns from the wrong lane; they don't even know what turn signals are for.'" - Qwilleran to Junior Goodwinter
"'How was Paris?'
"'Nightcap?' Qwilleran suggested to his guest.
"A young man immediately appeared. 'My name is Matthew. I am your waitperson, and I am at your service.' The Cat Who Knew Shakespeare: "At seven o'clock every light in the mansion was turned on. Eighty tall narrow windows glowing with light created a spectacle that Pickax had never seen, and traffic cruised around the Park Circle to gawk." "'The divil himself couldn't find the likes o' that on the map, I'm thinkin', for its a ghost town fifty year since, but yourself can find it, for I'm after tellin' you how to get there. Go east, now, past the Buckshot Mine, where the wind be whistlin' in the mine shaft on a day without wind, and there'll be moanin' from the lower depths. When you come to the old plank bridge, let you be wary, for the boards rattle like the divil's own teeth. Keep watch for a lonely tree on a high hill - the hangin' tree, they're callin' it - for then you're comin' to the church where me and my colleen got ourselves married by the good Father Ryan forty-five year since, God rest her soul. And when you come to a deal o' rubble, that's all that's left of North Middle Hummock.'" - Pat O'Dell giving directions to North Middle Hummock "'Computers and video recorders do not a civilization make.'" - Qwilleran
"'Have you heard any rumors?' The Cat Who Sniffed Glue:
"Yes, there really is a place called Moose County, 400 miles north of everywhere. The county seat is Pickax City, population three thousand. "I'm not sure I'd like fun." - Eddington Smith "'She said she'd never been to a funeral. She said all her family were buried in the backyard without any fuss.'" - Hixie Rice about a local shopkeeper she'd met "Why, Qwilleran wondered, were all the clever ones in advertising while all the hardworking serious thinkers were in journalism, making less money?" "People with no education wanted to improve themselves, and my father was like a missionary, telling them to read and live better lives. He never made much money, but he was honest and respected." - Eddington Smith talking about his father The Cat Who Went Underground:
"'You're a nice man,' Russell said suddenly. "PIONEER CEMETERY. NO PICNICS." - sign Qwilleran encounters during bike ride The Cat Who Talked to Ghosts: "'Do you know where that hill rises just north of the mine? It was only a slag heap then, and when I reached it I saw some shadows moving across the top of the heap. I stopped and stared into the darkness and realized that they were men - plodding along with pickaxes and lunch buckets and with never a sound. Then they disappeared over the hill. I counted; there were thirty-two of them, and every one had a light on the front of his head. In my mind I can still see those bobbing lights as the column of men trudged along. There was no wind that night, but after they passed by, the leaves of the trees rustled and I felt a chill.'" - Homer Tibbitt on the supposed ghosts of the Goodwinter Mine The Cat Who Lived High: "'Oh, no!' Qwilleran said aloud. 'It looks like a refrigerator!'" - Qwilleran about the Casablanca "Qwilleran walked slowly toward the rear of the building, observing and sniffing. Someone on the main floor was cooking, and he knew Portuguese garlic soup when he smelled it." "Leaving 14-A, he spotted a namecard tacked on the door of 14-B, and he sauntered close enough to read it. His neighbor's name was indeed Keestra Hedrog, as Mrs. Tuttle had said. It looked like something spelled backward and he considered tacking a namecard to his own door: Mij Narelliwq." "'A place for everything and everything in its place, you know. If he repeated that remark once more, I swore I'd shoot him, and I didn't want to go to prison, so I filed for divorce. I hope he marries a computer.'" - Amberina Kowbel on her ex-husband "'All cats are psychic to a degree. If you pick up a can opener, they know whether you're going to open a can of catfood or a can of green beans. They can be sound asleep at the other end of the house, but all you have to do is think about salmon, and they're right there!'" - Qwilleran "Who would have the temerity to perpetrate such a reprehensible act?" - Winnie Wingfoot, upon being informed of the slashed tires on Qwilleran's car If Qwilleran entertained any thoughts of revenge against the reprehensible perpetrator, they were mollified by thoughts of Winnie Wingfoot." - Qwilleran after the above quotation - thanks to Lara for suggesting the above two! "'Qwilleran thought, What if...? What if someone on the roof had witnessed the murder of Di Bessinger and knew the true identity of the murderer? Why wouldn't he come forward with the information? Because he would fear for his own life, or because he would recognize an opportunity for blackmail? But that was the way it happened in mystery novels, not in real life."
"'At first I suspected Dianne's ex-husband.' The Cat Who Knew a Cardinal: "'Who thinks up these absurd names? Black-bellied plover! Loggerhead shrike! Pied-billed grebe! Don't you think they're absurd?'" - Qwilleran to Koko while leafing through Audubon's Birds of America The Cat Who Moved a Mountain: "'More families are dining out these days. I was surrounded by broods of four to six children who screamed, spilled drinks, ran up and down the aisles, spilled food, and otherwise made themselves at home. A spoonful of mashed potato and gravy narrowly missed my left ear, and I determined then and there to boycott wholesome family restaurants and patronize murky dives where the waitresses wear mini-skirts and fishnet tights, where sleazy characters hang around the bar, and where all the potatoes are french fried.'" - excerpt from Qwilleran's oral travel diary "The two men had been friends since boyhood, and their dialogue never needed to be polite or even sequential." - about Qwilleran and Arch Riker "'Baseball was my game until I injured my knee. I was too short for basketball, too cowardly for football, too poor to play polo, and too sane to play soccer.'" - Qwilleran "'A cove is smaller than a valley but larger than a hollow.'" - Chrysalis Beechum offering some friendly geographical advice "'All work and no play makes...money.'" - Qwilleran "The sun was dropping behind the West Potatoes, and the dragon clouds were waging a riotous battle - violent pink and purple against a turquoise sky." The Cat Who Wasn't There: The Cat Who Went into the Closet: "...the whine of leaf blowers paralyzed the eardrums like a hundred-piece symphony orchestra playing only one chord."
"'The hobgoblins will be out tomorrow night, which is official Beggars' Night in Pickax. A resolution passed by the city council limits trick-or-treating to one-and-a-half hours, between six o'clock anbd seven-thirty. Children should stay in their own neighborhoods unless accompanied by an adult. In all cases, two or more children should go together. The police department makes the following recommendations in the interest of safety:' "'Why does the old geezer have to look seventy-five pounds overweight? Even as a kid I doubted that he could come down a chimney. Now I question why the heart specialists don't get after him. Why aren't the health clubs coming forward?'" - Qwilleran griping about Santa Claus "Peering out the window, he witnessed a rare sight: the entire sky was the vivid color of polished copper." "'Blow, blow, blow the leaves/ Gently in the street./ Merrily, merrily, merrily, merrily/ Fall is such a treat!'" - Wetherby Goode
"'Four-letter words aren't allowed in the hospital. We don't feel pain; we don't hurt; we only experience discomfort. Fortunately I have a high discomfort threshold.'" "'I...am the...scrofulous skeleton...of Skaneateles!'" - Qwilleran (in costume on Halloween) The Cat Who Came to Breakfast: "Qwilleran thought, This is the forest primeval, and the pines and the hemlocks are murmuring, 'Ye gods! Wha' happened?'" - Qwilleran on the development on Pear Island "'Did you know that a human body can sink in a bog and be perfectly preserved forever?'" - Edith Moseley The Cat Who Blew the Whistle: "'Attendance is not attention.'" - Qwilleran The Cat Who Said Cheese: "'There are disadvantaged cats out there who don't know where their next mouse is coming from!'" - Qwilleran to Koko and Yum Yum "'I'm reading your column on Nobodies in today's paper. The trouble is, all the Nobodies in Pickax think they're Somebodies and exempt from paying traffic fines...'" - Police Chief Andrew Brodie to Qwilleran "'Sniping is the spice of life.'" - Qwilleran The Cat Who Tailed a Thief: "The weatherman at the local radio station predicted a winter of zero temperature, daily snow, minus-sixty windchill, and paralyzing blizzards - in other words, normal." "The writing table was indeed large, and it had character. One could imagine that families had been fed on its ample surface, bread had been kneaded, tomatoes had been canned, babies had been bathed, sheets had been ironed, and letters had been written to loved ones during the Spanish American War." - passage concerning Qwilleran's "new" furniture for his unit at Indian Village
"'I didn't hear your New Year's resolution.' "They were being so coyly sentimental that Qwilleran shuddered inwardly. Coy sentimentality was beyond his frame of reference." - Qwilleran's thoughts while uncomfortably watching the newly-engaged Carter Lee James and Lynette Duncan "'Wife run off with a hoe-down fiddler.'" - George Breze to Celia Robinson on why he's single The Cat Who Sang for the Birds: "'I'm an undeserving wretch, and you're a good soul with a kind heart and a sweet disposition.'" - Qwilleran to Lois Inchpot "'A plague on 'em! They be writin' letters to the paper 'bout mud! It be good honest farm dirt, an' we be trackin' it in for seventy year! Let 'em take their fancy stuff and go somewhere else. They come in here with all them cars, pollutin' the air and botherin' my hens! Artists, they say they be! Likely drawin' pitchers of folks 'thout clothes on!'" - Maude Coggin on artists
"'You probably have great-grandchildren.'
"How many of the guests did he know socially - and how many had he met in the line of business? "'Man on ladder, directed by woman below - not good.'" - Qwilleran's "original Chinese proverb" inspired by frenetic manager Beverly Forfar bedeviling a bemused yet harried Thornton Haggis at the Art Center "'Some of us are grown-up at age twelve; some of us never mature. It's not a question of whether you're old enough to make your own decision; are you old enough to take responsibility for the outcome if it turns out to be a bad decision?'" - Qwilleran The Cat Who Saw Stars: "He had written a thousand words about the Fourth of July from the viewpoint of Benjamin Franklin. (How would Poor Richard react to backyard barbecues and high school majorettes in silver tights?)" - on Qwilleran's "Straight from the Qwill Pen" column "'Our school system will go private! The whole county will secede from the state: the Principality of Moose, 400 miles north of everywhere, with our own government, our own tax laws, our own education system!'" - Lyle Compton griping about attempts by the state government to dictate Moose County school curricula "'Some day, it will be thirty feet high, and our cottages will have crumbled to dust, leaving only the stone chimneys. Tour groups from other planets will gawk at these monuments as tour guides explain that they had religious significance, being used to ensure fertility and ward off famine.'" - Lyle Compton talking about the small sand dunes beginning to form near his beach cottage in Mooseville "'I say it's a lot of hokum, like the two-headed raccoon a coupla years back.'" - Cecil Huggins on the mysterious disappearance of a backpacker "...he was not fond of schoolchildren en masse. Individually, he found them amusing..." - Qwilleran's take on kids Qwilleran listened with his usual skepticism, though he tried not to show it. He thought, Here I am in the middle of the lake with a crazy guy! Watch it!" "Keep Your Eye Upon the Doughnut and Not Upon the Hole. Growing up in a single-parent household, he had heard that advice a thousand times. Instead of turning him into an optimist, however, it had made him a doughnut addict." - a short anecdote about Qwilleran's childhood "'To sanity, if there's any left!'" - Qwilleran's toast The Cat Who Robbed a Bank: "After a long career as a newspaperman he was seldom excited and certainly never thrilled." - on Qwilleran
"It was twilight when they drove into the barnyard. A faint, dusky blue light seemed to bathe the world. It was the breathless moment after sunset and before the stars appeared, when all is silent . . . waiting. "'Are you doing something creative in tombstones?'" - Qwilleran to Thornton Haggis "'To a man with a shotgun, everything looks like a squirrel.'" - Qwilleran "'Always figuring out ways to get the subscribers to do your work for you.'" - Arch Riker to Qwilleran, reacting to Qwill's plans for a reader September poetry contest for the "Qwill Pen"
"'Andy, I saw the pibroch for the first time today, and I want to tell you it was a transcendental experience!'
"'Have some carrot sticks.'
"The accountant placed his dime on Kiltie's hand and pressed the lever. The eyes blinked, and the coin disappeared. 'Do I get my dime back?' "Qwilleran attended and ate his soup and sandwich but refrained from volunteering for anything." - Qwilleran at a Pickax Boosters Club meeting "'Don't forget to wash behind your ears. Drink plenty of water; it's good for you. Be nice to each other.'" - Qwilleran to Koko and Yum Yum before leaving for the day "The autumn color in Moose County was at its peak. Gold, red, bronze, coral, maroon - all accenting the groves of dark, dense evergreens." "'I've been working in hotels since I was sixteen, and I know a bimbo when I see one.'" - Lenny Inchpot "I'm Joe Buzzard, ex-cop." - Qwilleran (don't ask about the circumstances) The Cat Who Smelled a Rat: "It was late October, and Moose County, 400 miles north of everywhere, was in danger of being wiped off the map." "But it was, they told themselves, a good address." - mantra of Indian Village residents invoked to steel themselves against the trials of living with their condos' "thin walls, leaking roofs, rattling windows, and bouncing floors" "He built them a house of quarry stone with a front of feldspar that sparkled like diamonds on a sunny day. It was much admired by the other settlers, who liked novelty." - description of John and Emma Smith's pioneer-days home
"'I think it's repulsive! That worm! It's like a snake!' "'How'd you like to write an advice column for the Something? You could call it Q Tips.'" - Arch to Qwill "He knew his past and present and preferred not to know his future." - about Qwilleran The Cat Who Went Up the Creek: "'And by the way, when you send me postcards, bear in mind that the picture on the front is less important than the message on the back! More news! More news!'" - Qwilleran to Polly "He nodded. 'I've heard that!' He avoided saying whether he believed it." - Qwilleran reacting to Lori's remark that people absorb the energies of old structures "Silent and motionless and disapproving, they sat in a shaft of sunlight slanting through a high barn window. It made the pale fur bodies glisten, and their dark brown masks and ears stand out in sharp and defiant contrast. (Brown legs and tails were tucked out of sight.)" - about the Siamese
"Notify post office. "'Welcome to the Nutcracker Suite!'" - Qwilleran's inevitable introduction line to the Siamese upon entering his room at the Nutcracker Inn "'Teachers die, get kidnapped, skip the country.'" - Qwilleran (for God's sake, Qwill! Short and Tall Tales: "To Kao K'o Kung and Yum Yum, who sat tirelessly on my desk, supervising. Koko, as he is known, was ever-willing to stare at my forehead when I was slow in thinking of the right word. Yum Yum, my official Muse, inspired with her mere presence and never once caught her whiskers in the typewriter platen." - from Qwilleran's introduction Quotations from Elsewhere and Other Folks: "'If the 'stache were cut off, would he lose his powers like Samson?'" - Michele Hermansen speculating on the correlation between Qwilleran's facial hair and investigative talents on the Cat Who... mailing list "On the twelfth day of Christmas, my true love gave to me twelve Goodwinters drinking, eleven Brodies piping, ten photogs leaping [balcony to balcony, that is], nine Noose Sons marching, eight hogheads whittling, seven FOO signs flashing, six pasties baking, five German schranks!, four Mintie Mice, three plaid ties, two feline sleuths, and a newsman with a trick knee." - Rebecca Capowski (that's me) being annoying on the Cat Who mailing list "I like Koko with Yum Yum marshmallows!" - Sharon Feaster's proposed tagline for a Cat Who... fan club cocoa mug on the mailing list "...[B]e like an elephant, and don't forget to further investigate something you alluded to in a previous issue...namely, the soon-to-be ex-councilmen going on an all taxpayers' expense paid trip to Philadelphia. My question is WHY? Weren't they about to leave public office? What possible benefit could that trip be for the city of Reidsville? Why did we pay for it? How much did WE PAY??? Please check this out...curiosity may kill me...could be a case for Lillian [sic] Jackson Braun. We could call it, 'The Cat Who Wondered Why.'" - letter to the editor from "Purring in Neely" in the 12/21/97 issue of The Neely (N.C.) Chronicle "We never read about Qwill buying coffee for this magic machine. We never read that he puts water into it. All he does is press a button and voila! Coffee! I wish I had one of those. I wonder if the brand is Braun??????" - Daniel Pafundi in a post entitled "The Magic Coffeemaker" on the Cat Who... mailing list The Cat Who's Gonna Get Killed if She Doesn't Keep Off My *#@%&ߧ Keyboard - Kitty DE's proposed title for a new Cat Who... book on the Cat Who... Delphi message boards "Once upon a time there was A CAT WHO COULD READ BACKWARDS. He also ATE DANISH MODERN and TURNED (mechanical things) ON AND OFF. One day he SAW RED when Joy was killed, but he PLAYED BRAHMS to soothe his nerves. He also PLAYED POST OFFICE, where he picked up a book and showed that he KNEW SHAKESPEARE. After he SNIFFED GLUE in the book binding, he WENT UNDERGROUND and TALKED TO GHOSTS. Then he went in a different direction and LIVED HIGH Down Below. After returning to Moose County, he KNEW A CARDINAL in the garden, then took his first vacation where he MOVED A MOUNTAIN. He WASN'T THERE in Scotland, but WENT INTO THE CLOSET to dress up before he CAME TO BREAKFAST at the Domino Inn. He BLEW THE WHISTLE on a train, then stopped for a snack and a photography session when he SAID CHEESE. He TAILED A THIEF before giving a concert in which he SANG FOR THE BIRDS. He so entranced himself with the music that he SAW STARS. And before his head had time to clear, he ROBBED A BANK." -Sharon Feaster on the Cat Who... mailing list "'I can’t, we’re having a board of directors’ meeting at the library tomorrow night. The board is trying to decide what kind of mouse pads to get for the library computers,' Polly sighed. 'I wish they could just let me handle some of these trivial things.'" - Polly in Mia Hoover's portion of the fanfic "The Cat Who... Wrote His Own Story" "Above that, a large custom Lucite habitat had showcased the famous pair for their public. Inside were cat beds shaped like easy chairs. Chintz draped the 'windows' on all four sides; carpet-padded ladders climbed to an upper reach of painted library shelves equipped with such apparent feline classics as The Brothers Katamazov, Ben-Purr, A Tale of Two Kitties, Androclaws and the Lion, The Feline Comedy and, of course, a complete set of Lilian Jackson Braun's The Cat Who mysteries." - the digs of feline literary-imprint mascots Baker and Taylor, Carole Nelson Douglas's Catnap
"Qwill: And so this young woman is either now a shredded corpse down there, or dying, alone, scared, and in total horrifyingly silent darkness.
"Siamese cats gliding across the floor,
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| I wanna go home. And you can quote me on that. |