‘So, you’re telling me that you have no idea how that chisel came to be stuck so far into the side of the tool shed wall that it can’t even be pulled out?’

‘Yes, Mama… I must have fallen over, and it flew out of my hand, I guess.’

‘You guess?’

‘Yes, Mama.’

‘And what were you doing with it in the first place?’

‘Trying to fix my backpack.’

‘Your backpack? With a chisel?’

‘Yes, well, I thought…’

‘Just you wait until Sasha hears about this. And what do you think your grandfather is going to say when he learns what you’ve done to his chisel, not to mention his tool shed. Again!’

‘I don’t know,’ said Arthur hanging his head, catching sight of the cat, who he was sure was grinning at him.

‘I don’t know, either! Now, get out of my sight while I decide what to do with you.’

And without needing to be told twice, Arthur grabbed his things and hurried back to the house.

‘So maybe you were right, Cat. Maybe it really can’t be opened,’ whispered Arthur, having crept up to the attic to avoid being seen.

‘A box that can’t be opened. It doesn’t sound very likely, or very useful, does it?’

‘What? You’ve gone and changed your tune.’

‘I never said it couldn’t be opened. I said that maybe we shouldn’t be trying to open it. Also, the more I think about the inscription on it, the more I think it sounds like a riddle.’

‘A riddle?’

‘Yep. And as you know, there’s nothing us cats love more than a good riddle. Especially when it’s raining and a small group of us have gotten together to pass the time.’

Arthur glanced at him in amazement.

‘What? Don’t tell me that you didn’t know that.’

‘Um, well I…’

‘See—just goes to show how much you don’t know about cats.’

‘Actually, I always thought that cats didn’t like each other much,’ said Arthur, recalling all the times he’d watched his cat seeing off the neighbours’ cat.

‘Ah well now, there’s an interesting theme for a discussion. I’m guessing that it also never occurred to you that we’ve had to come up with ways to amuse ourselves over the years? No offence intended of course, but you humans aren’t exactly the most interesting creatures to be around most of the time. I bet, for instance, you never knew that cats just adore theatre; re-enactments of legendary battles between cats and dragons, or the exploits of the great Catiators of Roman times. And yes, thats right, it was us cats who invented the whole gladiators idea and all that stuff. You just copied us as usual.’

Arthur stared at him, more than a bit confused.

‘Catiators? …So what about that big ginger next door, then?’

‘Fluffy? What about him?’

‘Fluffy? He’s not called Fluffy. He’s called Brutus.’

‘You call him Brutus, yes, but his name is actually Fluffy. Fine fellow, actually.’

‘Fluffy!’ repeated Arthur, trying not to laugh.

‘Sure, what else would it be?’

‘What, and he’s really your friend?’

‘Of course he is, and a very fine riddler, too.’

‘Woah! Hang on a second. If the cat next door is called Fluffy by other cats, what do they call you?’

‘That my dear fellow, I will never tell!’

‘Oh, come on! It can’t be that bad.’

‘No, it’s not at all bad, but it’s my business, and my name is private to me.’

‘Oh, come on, Cat. You can’t be serious. You’re really not going to tell me?’

‘Nope—not for all the roast chicken in China!’

‘Fine, suit yourself, then,’ Arthur said, not even trying to disguise how offended he felt at that moment. ‘I’m sure it’s very silly, anyway. I bet they call you Biffy, or Mini Mouse or something.’

‘Ha! Nice try, but no.’

‘Whatever, not that interested anyway.’

‘Yeah, sure you’re not.’

‘So, anyway, if you’re so good at riddles, what do you think this one means? “To open what is both known yet unknown, speak this word times three.”’