"Uh-huh." He nodded, his eyes moving past me. Angel had her coat on, and she looked flushed, but that would have been the case if we’d been out in the cold-right?

"Hi, Mr. Nelson," she said in a soft voice, waving from the doorway.

"Hi, Angel." My dad tugged off his boots.

"Okay, well." I cleared my throat. "We'll just be going."

"Sure," my dad agreed, moving away from the door.

I thought we were home free. Angel crowded behind me as we moved together toward the exit.

That's when my father said, "Oh, Angel, I think you forgot something…"

She turned to him, and I felt her startle. It was like she was trying to say something, but all the breath had left her body. I turned to look.

"Those are yours, aren't they?" My father pointed toward the couch.

My heart sank when I saw my brother's kitten tangled up in Angel's new underwear, the black elastic dangling from one of its fluffy orange ears.

"No," Angel lied, pushing past me, wide-eyed, and rushing out of the house.

I locked eyes with my dad and then we both grinned.

"I probably don't have to say anything, do I?" my dad asked.

I shook my head with a sigh, struggling the thong out of the cat's claws and shoving it into my jeans pocket. "I don't think I'll ever get her back into my room again."

"That's what I figured," my dad said with a satisfied nod.

As it turned out, I was right.

* * * *

My dad still tells that story, sometimes, when I bring new girls around. He tells it

with a funny kind of gleam in his eye. And me, I still have the thong, broken elastic and

all, stuffed into one of my drawers.

Oh, and the damned cat? Moved out with my brother-just a few months too late.

The Emperor’s New Suit