23-AH, IT'S A LONG STORY

AH, IT'S A LONG STORY... Right then, the door flew open. We all turned around in surprise. An enormouse creature stood in the doorway. I gulped. No, it wasn't just any old creature. It was a CAT! A CAT who was twenty feet long and weighed five hundred pounds! The head was huge, with pointed ears. The whiskers shook. The gold-speckled eyes looked cruel. In fact, they seemed to look right through us. My heart hammered away under my FUR. My paws shook. I was about to faint in front of a monster-sized CAT! I tried giving myself a quick pep talk.

Don't worry, Geronimo. It's not that bad, I told myself. Maybe he's a vegetarian. Maybe he just wants to borrow a cup of sugar. Maybe he's lonely. But I knew I was kidding myself. I mean, I'm not blind. I could tell this CAT meant business. Still, there was something different about him. What was it? Maybe it was his eyes. They seemed so fixed and glassy. Or maybe it was his fur. It looked so fake. Just then, we heard a weird whirring sound. The cat marched toward us with stiff ROBOTLIKE movements. Suddenly, he stood up on his hind paws. Then he grabbed his own hairy head and pulled it off!

My mouth dropped open in shock. But I was even more shocked at what happened next. A mouse slid out of the CAT's body and calmly headed toward us. Then he wrapped me in a giant hug. "Geronimo Stilton, my old friend," he gushed. "It's so good to see you again." I could hardly believe my eyes. It was my dear friend Professor Paws von Volt! Professor von Volt was a brilliant scientist and inventor. We had met on one of my many adventures. I introduced my sister, my cousin, and Pinky Pick to the professor. They shook paws.

"It's so nice to meet all of you," said the professor. "I feel like I already know you. You see, Geronimo is my favorite writer. I

love reading his tales of adventure. They're so funny, I laugh my tail off!" I grinned. Professor von Volt is one of my biggest fans. I like to send him my latest books when they come out. But sometimes finding the professor is like trying to find a whisker in a haystack. That's because the professor is never in one place for too long. He is always moving his LABORATORY from one spot to the next. That way, no one can steal his secret discoveries. "I didn't know you had moved your laboratory," I told the professor. I am usually the only one to know each new address. The professor rubbed his head. "Oh, dear, I'm sorry, Geronimo," he apologized. "I've been so busy with my inventions, I completely forgot to call you."

"No problem," I said, smiling. I wasn't surprised. The professor can be totally absentminded, Once he tried to build a house underwater. It was sort of like a square submarine with a chimney. The professor was so busy working on the outside of the house that he didn't notice a shark had moved inside! Talk about a SCARY house guest! The professor showed us some of his latest inventions. There was a super- powered automatic cheese grater, a paw massager, and a