Doc gave Ox and Ollie the signal to watch his flank while he moved through the gate and into the Thompson's yard. This would be a perilous adventure. The last time Doc came to this trash, the girls almost killed him with a shovel.

Doc curled his lips as he prepared Ollie and Ox. "We control this environment and every turn of the paw. We should not be scared of anyone, we are cats!"

Ollie and Ox were not cats at all but the conviction of Doc in his delivery of those words gave them every confidence, so they headed toward the trash. Ollie climbed the garden hose up to the spigot where he could perch for a better view. Ox squeezed behind a clay planter next to the entry gate; but being rather large and clumsy, he knocked a broken shard of clay from the pot and it fell to the pavers below with a sharp, tinkling sound. Everyone froze. Doc shot a disapproving look to the raccoon. "Be careful!" hissed Ollie.

Doc snaked his way between the patio furniture and flower pots, past the recycle bins, toward the waste containers. He moved around the trash can, looking for a way to lay it down. Sam rubbed against the side of the can with his hip, and then gave it a shove. The can teetered on its edge and tipped into the shrubbery, sliding down and landing cleanly between the gardener's work boots and the ugly garden gnome Mr. Thompson had 'rescued' in Germany. In the entire movement, not a single sound was made. "Cat perfect," he whispered.