Asprin, Robert Lynn – Catwoman – Tiger Hunt (With Lynn Abbey)

Bonnie said something Selina didn’t catch on her way to the kitchen counter.

“What?”

“I look the way you always look,” she repeated.

“That’s no excuse.”

Selina was uncomfortable at first. She expected Bonnie to do or say something that would reveal her contempt for the East End way of life. But Selina had never gone to college and lived off campus. Selina rarely drank, either. All her life she’d been surrounded by the ravages of alcoholism. There had been times when her only source of pride was the knowledge that she wasn’t a drunk. Bonnie wasn’t afraid of a glass of wine, and with Bonnie sprawled on the floor, playing with the gray tiger kitten and talking her usual blue streak, Selina dared tiny sips from a jelly glass.

The evening was the most pure, simple fun Selina had had with another person since—well, at least since she arrived in Gotham City. She told Bonnie the kitten was hers, if she wanted to take him home and give him a name. She did. The visit ended early, while Bonnie, carrying the kitten in a cardboard box, still had a prayer of hailing a taxicab on the avenues. Selina waved good-bye and returned home, still feeling warm and mellow.

“Maybe I shouldn’t go out,” she said to the cats. “Maybe I should just stay home and get some sleep.”

The cats ignored her, and she dug Catwoman’s costume out from under the bed. She had no fixed destination in mind, but wasn’t surprised when she found herself looking at the Keystone’s wedding-cake facade. The excitement was long over and just about forgotten. Somebody had given the police an anonymous tip about the Broad Street explosion, and the Federal Prosecutors had to start looking for another sleazeball to squeeze.