One night, after Mr. Trembles had locked up and gone up to his third-floor flat to sleep, Kitten Kaboodle climbed through the vent on the third floor out onto the roof. He looked at the moon, and thought that it must be a wheel of cream cheese, because over the weeks, it looked like someone was taking bites out of it, finishing it, and then replacing it. Tonight, the moon was full. Of cream cheese. Kitten Kaboodle wondered how he could get at that cream cheese. And then he wondered where he could get a bagel upon which to spread that cream cheese. Kitten Kaboodle grew hungry.

After a while, during a lull in the background noise of the city, Kitten Kaboodle could hear singing. It was very faint, but he could hear it. It sounded much like the records Mr. Trembles liked to play in the bookshop. Then, as the breeze changed direction, Kitten Kaboodle smelled something delicious in the air. Something involving cheese. The smell seemed to be coming from the same direction as the music. Kitten Kaboodle decided to investigate.

It was an awfully long walk for such a small cat as Kitten Kaboodle; almost three blocks! First, he skipped across several rooftops. Then, he clambered down to the street. Keeping to the shadows, Kitten Kaboodle skittered along until he saw a brightly lit window through which he saw what looked like a dog listening intently to an old phonograph machine. Next to the window was a black door with a small diamond-shaped window near the top. Occasionally it would open, to let someone out or in. Whenever the door opened, the music got louder, and the smells grew stronger. Kitten Kaboodle dashed across the street and pressed up against the side of the buildings in the shadow and crept silently toward the door. He waited for it to open so he could sneak in.

Soon, the door opened, and out stepped a big man dressed in a dark suit. Kitten Kaboodle tried to dash in, but he wasn’t fast enough to make it to the door. He bumped into the big man’s leg. The big man looked down.

“Well, what have we here?” the big man said in a big deep voice.

“Meow!” said Kitten Kaboodle.

The big man bent down and picked Kitten Kaboodle up in his big hands.

“And what are you doing out so late all by yourself?” he said.

“Meow!” said kitten Kaboodle.

“Did you come here to listen to the music?” the big man asked.

“Meow!” said Kitten Kaboodle.

“Well,” the big man said, “You must come in, then!”

He looked this way and that, then said sotto voce to Kitten Kaboodle, “It’s almost closing time; I suppose no one will notice such a small kitten in the restaurant.”

And then, without further ado, the big man carried Kitten Kaboodle through the black door with the small diamond-shaped window.

There were many tables on the main floor of the café, but there were not so many people left at this hour. The walls were covered with old photographs and paintings. The sounds of old recorded vocal music filled the air. Toward the back, there was a raised area, another room, only a few steps up. There. The walls were covered with shelves full of old records, records even older than the ones in the bookshop.

The big man sat at a small table at the top of the steps and turned to an old record player with a green felt turntable. He took a record out of the shelves and placed it on the machine and dropped the needle in. He put Kitten Kaboodle on the table.

“Are you hungry, Little Kitten?” he asked.

Kitten Kaboodle sniffed around and saw plates of food left unfinished on the tables around the room. He hopped from plate to plate nibbling at various delicacies while the waiters began cleaning up, and the last of the customers left. Oh, that food was delicious!

Kitten Kaboodle ate five fish eggs from one plate; a whole shrimp from another; at still another, half a meatball; and finally, he nibbled on a lasagna made with four different kinds of cheese in it! By the time he finished, he could hardly move. The big man laughed.

“You certainly were hungry, weren’t you, Little One?”

He picked Kitten Kaboodle up again.

“But now, we must close for the night,” he said, “And you can’t stay here.”

The big man carried Kitten Kaboodle outside again, and gently put him down on the pavement.

“Meow!” said Kitten Kaboodle.

“Come see us again!” the big man said.

As he made his way back to his bookshop, struggled to scale the building (for his belly was very full), and make his way back to his little box where he curled up to sleep, Kitten Kaboodle decided that he would certainly visit that place again. They were definitely Friendly to Cats.