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

Selina braced for the clout she remembered much too well. In the silent safety of her home she flinched, then stiffened and smoldered.

“It isn’t worth it,” she murmured to the cats. “No meal’s worth this much remembering. I should’ve slammed that door right in that nun’s face.”

But Selina had given her word. She donned whatever lay at the top of the heaps: shapeless pants and a slouchy sweater, a tattered photographer’s vest, and military surplus boots.

“You may not look like a lady,” she informed her reflection. “But you sure don’t look like a whore.”

Mother Joseph was waiting at the mission door. “Come in, Selina. I’d begun to think you wouldn’t keep your word. Rose just got here.” She reached for the box, from which scratching and mewing could be heard. “And you brought the kitten.”

Selina eluded the nun’s hands as she might dodge a knife in a dark alley. Trust a penguin to greet you with guilt, she thought to herself while curiosity about the other guest swelled in the wordless part of her mind.

“Aggie-Pat didn’t mention anyone else,” she blurted out. All the nuns had street names. Sister Theresa Carmel had been TeeCee longer than anyone remembered. Sister Agnes Patricia was Aggie-Pat; her real-life sister, Sister Magdalene Catherine was, naturally, Maggie-Cat. And Mother Joseph was known throughout the East End as Old MoJo. But not inside the mission. Selina didn’t know why she’d used a street name; she guessed it had something to do with feeling like a kid and feeling angry at the same time.