It was midday, and I sat on the pot,
Releasing feces and flat’lation
And reading a book I had recently bought,
For I strove to improve my ed’cation.
Gerard
“It’s a horse!”
“No, it’s not!”
“Yes, it is!”
“What would a horse be doing wandering through the woods!”
“How should I know! Maybe it was lost!”
“Lost! Pta! That’s a likely story!”
Ever since I had found Gerard wandering through the woods that one night in June, my brother Stewart had been hesitant to welcome him into the family. He thought of poor Gerard as a danger to us all- a threat to be wary of. Several times he tried to get us to send Gerard away. Sometimes he would claim that Gerard wasn’t a horse at all but an antelope who had never needed my “rescuing” and must be returned to the wild. But we persisted in protecting Gerard.
True, the horse had some peculiar habits. Occasionally he would shuffle into the kitchen and begin sorting through the knives one by one. We’d ask him what he was doing and he’d just look at us. And once in a while, when Stewart’s parrot was having a screeching fit, he would stand in front of it, his hands behind his back, staring blankly, and if you listened carefully you would hear a faint gurgle rising in his throat. Perhaps a few times he had sat in front of Stewart’s bedroom door, clicking his front hooves together over and over until you asked him to stop. But my brother took these peculiar habits as suspicious ones.
One hazy morning, so early that every one was still in bed, we were all harshly awoken by an ear-splitting scream, followed by a gasp and a thump. We ran out of our rooms and toward the sound- all except Stewart, that is. For when we arrived in the kitchen, Stewart was already there, lying on the ground with a kitchen knife sticking out of his back. It was then we noticed that Gerard was not with us.
We called his name. We ran through the house. We searched in his room, on top of the closet, under Stewart’s bed where he would occasionally go to be alone. But he was not there. I ran into the backyard and through the grass, shouting. It was then I saw him.
He stood at the edge of the woods some distance off. When I saw him I stopped, and we stood there looking at each other. Then he walked off into the trees and disappeared from our lives.
We often wondered what had gotten into Gerard- why he had decided to leave so soon after Stewart’s untimely death. Perhaps the shock was too much for him. We will never know.
Illustration by Ryan Berkley
Eddy Anteater Has a Party
Eddy Anteater casually sipped his coffee and leaned back in his recliner. He had a pen in his paw and a book in his lap. He was working on his collection of “wise sayings,” which, of course, were all by him. Right now he was writing down this saying: “If you have a party, be sure to have lots of guests.” After writing this down, he stuck the end of his pen in his mouth thoughtfully. Maybe sometime soon he should have a party.
He immediately started making preparations. “I’ll have pie!” he said. “And I will set confetti on the wings of the fan so that when I start it it’ll fly everywhere! And, of course, I’ll have lots of guests.” But then Eddy Anteater had a sudden dreadful thought. He had just moved to this town. He didn’t have any friends here to invite! He stood up suddenly in fright, dumping the book off his lap. Gradually he calmed down. “Well,” he said. “The only cure is to make some friends right away!” So he grabbed his coat and his cane and set out to do just that.
The first person he came upon was a cow. The cow was wearing a nice suit and looked friendly enough, so Eddy walked up. “Hello!’ said Eddy, stepping forward and flicking his cane in the air to make a good impression.
“Hello,” said the cow. “Fine weather we’re having today, don’t you think?”
“What intelligent conversation!” thought Eddy. “This cow must come to my party!” So Eddy replied, “Yes, indeed. Hey, it just happens I’m going to have a party soon. Would you care to come?”
“Oh!” said the cow. “I like parties. I think I will! Thank you! By the way, I’m Arnold Tobacco.”
“I’m Edward Anteater,” said Eddy. “I’m holding the party tomorrow at 1:00. Don’t bother to bring anything. I must get along now. Goodbye!”
“Bye!” said the cow, and left.
When the cow was gone Eddy jumped with joy. He had just met his first guest-to-be! “Congratulations, Eddy, old boy!” he said, giving himself a congratulatory slap on the rump. So then Eddy Anteater hopped off to talk to an aardvark wearing a blue turtleneck sweater. He had as much luck as he had had with the cow, so then he went along and successfully invited the following: a dog named Richard, a turtle named Boris, a cat named Petunia, a goat named Penny, a sloth named Morris, a chimpanzee, a ground hog, a penguin, and a porcupine.
“Wow!” he said to himself. “I made ten friends in one day! That must be a world record!” But he didn’t have time to find out, for he had a party to plan! As soon as he got home he whipped up some punch and baked a peach cream pie. He bought streamers and banners, confetti and balloons, ice cream and little gifts for the visitors. He hung a polka-dotted bow from every door handle and made a mix tape of the best party songs in his opinion, but not mine. And then Eddy stitched bits of multi-colored ribbon onto the borders of all his pillows and hung an “ENJOY THE PARTY” sign over the coat hooks. And then he got exorbitant amounts of party hats and bought fifty pounds of Jell-O. So that evening he plopped down in bed as tired as a sea lion that had just run a marathon.
The next morning he jumped out of bed, not feeling the least bit lazy, for today was the day of his party! He sang as he pulled on his special party suit and then leaped out of his room into the kitchen to eat a quick breakfast of Atmospheric Ant breakfast cereal. After that he hopped nervously from one foot to the other until there was a knock at the door. He sprinted to it and opened it cheerfully.
“Welcome!!!!” he bellowed.
“Hello!” said the guest. It was Arnold, the cow.
“Welcome, welcome, welcome!” said Eddy. “Please step inside.”
As the cow entered the room and looked around, he remarked, “Wow! This place is certainly set up for a party, and a good one at that!” Eddy beamed with pride.
As soon as the cow had removed his coat, there was another knock, and there were three more visitors. As soon as they had come into the house there were a few more knocks and there were the other six. “Perfect timing!” said Eddy. “Welcome!”
As soon as the guests were all in the house and standing there in a group, Eddy said, “Well, lets eat pie and Jell-O!” But the guests had other ideas. They all ran over to the basement door, ignoring the “OFF LIMITS!” sign.
“We must see if there is a game room or a bar!” roared the porcupine. “I need to play some games and have some drinks!”
“Hear, hear!” cheered the others.
“Whew!” thought Eddy. “Party guests are even harder to manage than I thought!”
“Hey!” he said. “Off limits! I have drinks and games up here!”
But the goat said, “Bah, humbug! We don’t have to listen to you! You’re the host. We’re the guests! We’re the life of the party!”
Eddy’s jaw dropped in amazement at this abhorrent behavior. “Oh,” he said to himself. “Well, let them do what they want. I just hope they don’t harm my pool table or wine cabinet!” Just then there was a loud sccrrrrrape! “Oh, dear!” said Eddy.
He galloped over and rushed downstairs. The sight he saw almost made him puke! The cow had turned dreadful music on the radio at full blast. The chimp and the dog were helping themselves to Eddy’s prized forty-year-old wine while the others were playing pool. Or, rather, playing with the pool set. The penguin had made a long, white scratch across the pool table with his stick and the goat and the cat were playing catch with a pool ball. Several others lay shattered on the ground at their feet. When the groundhog made another extremely deep scratch in the pool table and seemed a slight bit worried that the host would be upset, the turtle, noticing her nervousness, said, “Don’t worry! Whatever’s the host’s stuff is our stuff, too. See! It’s okay!” And he himself scraped the table with his stick a couple times to make his point clear.
Then Eddy realized that the sloth wasn’t in the group. He ran upstairs and was startled to find the sloth rummaging through the refrigerator, paying no heed to the snacks on the table. Eddy sat down, too startled to do anything. The sloth passed him and went into the basement to join the others, her arms full of edibles.
“Something’s got to be done!” said Eddy firmly. He stomped downstairs, rushed up to the radio, and promptly turned the music off. Everyone turned their heads and stared at him. “What are you thinking?!” screamed Eddy. “The host makes the party fun for the guests, but the guests treat the host with respect! Respect that the host deserves for his efforts!”
“Really?” said the ground hog. “I think it’s the other way around! You should be doing more for us!”
“What?” asked Eddy exasperatedly.
“You’re not making the party as fun as it possibly could be! You’re yelling! You’re turning off our music!”
“Yeah!” shrieked the crowd.
They jumped on Eddy, forced him to the ground, took out his wallet, and divided all the money in it between them. Then they stormed out of the house, leaving Eddy flat on the floor. It was late. Eddy went upstairs and plopped himself onto the bed, so tired and angry that he felt the very cartilage between his bones would crack.
The next day Eddy had an idea. He ate breakfast and then he headed off and, by asking passersby, was able to learn where each one of his party guests lived. First he stopped by the ground hog’s. As soon as she had opened the door, Eddy stormed past her into her bathroom. He grabbed the towels and threw them into the toilet. Then he rubbed mayo all over the kitchen table. “You destroy my home, I’ll destroy yours!” he said. Then he stomped over to the turtle’s house. There he poured cooking oil on the bed. At the cow’s he put fragile porcelain teacups in the laundry machine and started it. He continued with his retaliation till he had messed the houses of every one of his dreadful guests.
That evening Eddy Anteater leaned back in his recliner. He sipped his coffee and looked down at his book of sayings in his lap. “It was actually kind of fun to ruin those houses,” he chuckled. Then he lifted his pen to write. He had thought of a new “wise saying.” This is what he wrote: “It’s not okay to destroy people’s houses unless you’re Eddy Anteater.”
Melvin Monkey Gets a Tail
Once there lived a monkey named Melvin who sadly had no tail. He always wished he had one so that he could swing around by it like the other little monkeys did.
One day he decided to go out and search for a nice, big tail that was perfect for swinging and wouldn’t fall off when he was hanging by it.
It was said that in a distant land there was a tail store. “The perfect place to get a tail!” thought Melvin. So he set out to find this tail store.
Soon Melvin came upon a big river going right through the path. There appeared to be no way to cross it, and Melvin didn’t know how to swim.
Nearby there was someone selling soda water. Melvin thought he might as well refresh himself.
He bought sixty bottles of soda water! And drank all of them there on the spot!
Then he let out the most humongous burp a living thing has ever let out! It was so loud that it caused the Earth to shiver and the two pieces of land on either side of the river to smash together, so that Melvin was able to walk on.
Later, Melvin came upon a row of soldiers in the path who would not let him go by.
“Look! A flying giraffe!” Melvin shouted, and he pointed to the west. The soldiers turned and looked and Melvin slipped by, unnoticed.
Then Melvin came upon the tail store! He went in and a little old lady who owned the shop helped him pick out a good tail. It was a long brown one, which she said would never break when he was hanging by it. So Melvin bought it and fastened it on.
The old lady offered to drive Melvin home in her limousine. He said that he would indeed like to ride in the limousine, for he was quite interested in fancy cars.
When they arrived back at Melvin’s house in the jungle, Melvin thanked the old lady and got out of the car. As soon as he was out the old lady drove away surprisingly fast.
Well, Melvin decided to test his tail on a nearby tree. He climbed up the tree and then started hanging by his tail. He had only hanged by it a second before SNAP! It broke off!
The old lady had tricked him into buying an expensive but dreadful tail! Then Melvin thought a while. Maybe he didn’t need a tail.
So Melvin lived happily ever after, never knowing he was a gorilla.
Henry Hummingbird
Henry Hummingbird lived in a fine willow in a nice park. He was very happy there and had many friends such as Edgar Egret and Sally Squirrel. Everyone loved Henry’s cooking. He was a very good chef and some of the things he was best known for making were Pollen Puff Pastries and glasses of Pineapple Sugar Water.
The Pollen Puff Pastries might not sound very good to you since you are not a bird, bee, butterfly, or bat, but if you were one of those, your mouth would water whenever someone said, “Pollen Puff Pastries” and if you knew Henry, your mouth would start flooding if somebody said, “Henry’s Pollen Puff Pastries.”
One morning Henry got a telephone call.
“Hello?” said Henry.
“Hello, Henry. It’s Wilfred Kingfisher. I was wondering if you would make a batch of Pollen Puff Pastries for me. I need 20 for a dinner party.”
“Certainly,” said Henry. “What time should I drop them off?”
“Anytime before 6:00 PM tomorrow,” answered Wilfred. “Thank you, Henry!”
“You’re welcome,” said Henry.
When Henry set down the phone, he decided to start making the pastries right away.
By afternoon he was done with the pastries and had put them in Ziploc bags and set the bags in the refrigerator.
The next day he took the pastries out of the bags, got a basket, put a paper napkin at the bottom of it, took out the Pollen Puff Pastries, and set them in the basket, being careful not to crumble them. This was very hard, because Pollen Puff Pastries are as crumbly as corn bread, but Henry was so careful that only one crumb the size of a period fell out. Still Henry made a big deal out of it, because he had planed not to make even one crumb fall and he didn’t like it when things didn’t turn out exactly as he had hoped.
Then he set off to Wilfred Kingfisher’s after his breakfast of Sap Sandwiches.
“Thank you!” said Wilfred happily, when Henry handed him the basket. “Henry, one of my guests got sick and couldn’t come. I have set everything up for 20 people instead of 19. Would you like to come in his place?”
“I will, thank you!” said Henry. “Now I need to get home and check the mail! Goodbye!”
At 6:00 that evening, Henry headed off to Wilfred’s house. When he arrived, Wilfred opened the door and said, “Hello, Henry! Come in!”
Henry came in and looked around. There were many different animals bustling about, holding drinks and appetizers they had got from the table in the middle of the room.
After Wilfred had introduced Henry to Jerry Junco and Suzy Stork, it was time for dinner. There was catfish for Suzy, sunflower seeds for Jerry, herring for Wilfred, Sugar Soup for Henry (which was really sugar water and carrot juice, and Henry loved it), and other things for the other guests.
After dinner, Sam brought out the Pollen Puff Pastries. Everybody loved them, and when Fredrick Flycatcher asked who the chef was, everyone shouted, “Yes, yes! Who?”
“Henry,” said Wilfred.
Everyone ran towards Henry, asking for recipes and some even asking for his autograph. He didn’t like all the attention.
When Henry went home after the party he was very exhausted, not even bothering to brush his beak or get into his pajamas.
The next morning Henry realized he was all out syrup. He wanted to make Syrup Snacks that day, so he decided to go to the grocery store and get the syrup.
He went out on his bicycle, enjoying the dahlias that were planted by the sidewalk. Then he realized that everyone around was staring at him.
Then a little rodent ran up to him so fast that he couldn’t see what kind of rodent it was. When it had reached him, he saw it was a little field mouse holding a pen and notepad.
“Are you Henry Hummingbird? I am Melvin Mouse,” it said, very quickly.
“I am Henry Hummingbird. Hello. Why do you ask?” said Henry.
The mouse got very excited and said, “May I have your autograph?”
The mouse was so excited and the pen and notepad were so eagerly held out, that Henry said, “All right,” and signed his name.
“Thank you, thank you, thank you!” Melvin said happily. Then he yelled to all the people around, “It IS Henry Hummingbird!”
Then a whole crowd of people bearing pens and notepads ran towards Henry, all shouting questions at once. More notebooks were signed and more recipes shared, and Henry got to the store at 2:00 PM when it was only 10 minutes from his house to the store and he had left at 12:30 PM.
When he arrived at the store, more people started looking at him, but he moved so quickly that they didn’t have any time to ask questions.
When he got home, he made the Syrup Snacks and after eating a few of them, he decided to call Wilfred. What was Wilfred’s phone number? Oh, yes: 3942…wait, I shouldn’t tell you. Wilfred’s phone number is his own private information that he probably doesn’t want shared.
“Hello?” said Wilfred’s voice.
“It’s Henry,” said Henry.
“Oh, hello, Henry!” said Wilfred. “Why did you call?”
“Wilfred,” said Henry. “The people I saw today asked if I was Henry Hummingbird, and if I said ‘yes’ then they would ask for my autograph. The people from the party are sharing my recipes. I don’t like all the attention and autograph signing. Do you have any idea of how to get them to stop?”
“Hmm…” said Wilfred.
Then there was a pause while they thought.
“I have an idea!” said Wilfred suddenly. “Invite some people to a dinner party. Add some ipecac to the food you’re giving out. It’ll taste good, but everyone will throw up, and that’s what they’ll remember!”
“Good idea!” said Henry. “It might work!”
So Henry handed out posters that said:
Dinner party at Henry Hummingbird’s!
Go to:
…Wait! I shouldn’t say his address, because that is private information and I try my best to not say anything that people wouldn’t want me to say.
Well, the date he wanted them to come was Saturday that week and the time he wanted them to come was 6:00 PM.
His posters attracted 123 people to his dinner party. First they ate dinner: Caramelized Sugar Water Kabobs. These had ipecac in them, as well as the dessert Pollen Puff Pastries and Vanilla Nectar Ice Cream.
After the meals, everyone said goodbye and went home…and threw up.
When Henry went outside the next day, nobody asked him for his autograph and nobody looked at him. At the grocery store, Henry saw Cuthbert Crow, who had come to the dinner party the day before.
“Cuthbert!” said Henry. “Did you enjoy dinner last night?”
“Oh, hello, Henry,” replied Cuthbert. “Uh, yeah, I did, uh…enjoy dinner last night.”
“Would you like to come for Nectar Ice Cream at tea time?” asked Henry.
“Uh…no thank you,” said Cuthbert. “I have an appointment then. I need to go, now. Bye.”
Now nobody wanted to have dinner at Henry’s! Not even his friends, because they had heard that his food made people throw up. So Henry called his friends and told them what his plan had been and they said they wouldn’t tell anyone, and they didn’t.
So Henry’s friends still come to lunch, and nobody asks for his autograph.
Image by Flickr user tdlucas5000
Lyle and Kyle
Lyle the crocodile,
Visited the crocodile, Kyle,
And they drank some tea,
But then they got terribly angry,
Because they had a little fight,
About what was wrong and what was right,
And Kyle ate Lyle,
And Lyle ate Kyle,
And soon there was no crocodile!
The Fat Cat
There was a fat cat,
Who sat on a mat,
And a very fat cat was he.
He had ears on his head,
And jam on his bread,
And always took sugar with tea.
Image by Flickr user stereotyp-0815
Sammy’s Bad Breath
Once upon a time there lived a little cat named Sammy. One day, Sammy had gone on a fishing trip with Papa Cat. They caught three nice salmon and ate them for dinner. Ever since then Sammy loved fish. He would bring tuna sandwiches to eat at cat school for lunch. He would ask if Mama Cat would get a tin of smoked salmon every time they went to the grocery store.
The more fish Sammy ate, the worse his breath got. When Sammy went to school one day he set an apple down on his teacher’s desk. She said, “Thank you, Sammy.” But when he politely said, “You’re welcome,” his breath smelled so badly of fish that she had to plug her nose. When he was talking to his classmates in the cafeteria they shouted, “Your breath stinks, Sammy!”
Sammy didn’t want to bother people with his fishy-smelling breath, but he couldn’t stop eating fish! It was like someone telling the Hamburgler that he couldn’t eat hamburgers anymore! When Sammy bought his lunch at the cafeteria at school, it always had something to do with fish.
There was no way anyone could stop him from eating more and more fish! One day, when Sammy and Mama Cat went to the store, Sammy saw something. Breath mints! Mama Cat said that he should get some for his fishy breath. As soon as they had got home and Sammy had tried a breath mint, he realized that he had brought fish flavored breath mints! Who would have thought they would be fish flavored! Fish flavored breath mints! What would they think of next? So the breath mints didn’t work.
Sammy tried many more times to freshen his breath but nothing worked. Then one day, Sammy was eating a salmon sandwich when he realized he wasn’t as satisfied with the taste as he had been. He ate it anyway but with not as much enthusiasm.
The next day Sammy ate some smoked trout. It didn’t taste that good to him! He only ate a little of it. Then the next day, Sammy had tuna salad. It was dreadful! Sammy had grown sick of fish! He didn’t eat it again and nobody had to suffer from his bad breath anymore.
THE END
By Little Meow, Age 9 – December 2014
Image by Flickr user Ottavia H
Four Cats and an Accordion Christmas
A CHRISTMAS STORY BY LITTLE MEOW
Chapter 1: Bob
Once on a farm there lived four little kittens. There names were Matilda, Max, Martha, and Melvin. Their mother was Mrs. Frisker-whisker and their father was Mr. Frisker-whisker. It was winter and the snow was falling and icicles were hanging from the roofs of the barn, shed, and farm house. Most of the squirrels were hibernating, apart from the Nutcorn family, who said they were going to be up for Christmas. They had been partying quite ferociously all the time and unfortunately they quite frequently drank too much.
Theodore the little rabbit didn’t hibernate, either. He was a pet of the farmer’s wife’s and he was kept warm in the winter by the nice big fire. But all the birds were migrating and most of the mice were hibernating, so outside there wasn’t a single bird or rodent apart from the Nutcorns, who were smashing a squirrel-sized pinata that was hanging from a small tree.
On that particular morning, Mr. Ames, the farmer, was over in the barn milking the cow, Mrs. Ames was inside cooking some potatoes and turkey, Mr. and Mrs. Frisker-whisker were sitting in front of the fire, and Matilda, Max, Martha, and Melivin were all rubbing against Mrs. Ames’s legs, asking for spare turkey.
Soon they had had enough turkey so they went outside to see what the Nutcorns were doing. Snow was covering the window of the Nutcorns cottage so that they couldn’t see inside, but the kittens could very well guess that they were partying as ever. They would never rest till winter was over.
Then the kittens went to the shed to see how the mice were doing. The mice were the kittens’s friends. The kittens had been taught by Mr. and Mrs. Frisker-whisker not to hurt and eat mice unless they were starving. So the mice were quite safe as long as Mrs. Ames provided the cats with enough food. The kittens had just eaten all that spare turkey, so they had no inclination to harm the mice.
Mr. Mousey was sitting on the porch of his mousehole smoking a tiny pipe and observing things with his small beady eyes. He had on a brand new bowler hat and suit jacket. A tiny purple umbrella was leaning on his green folding chair and there was a tiny yellow broom on the other side of his porch. Pleasant smells were coming from his hole, so the kittens knew that Mrs. Mousey must be baking one of her famous cheese pies.
The Mouseys never hiberntated since they didn’t live outside. They lived in a pleasant little shed and their pleasant little house had a big fire lest they should get a little cold.
When Mr. Mousey saw the kittens coming, he stood up, set his pipe down on his chair, and greeted them with a tip of his hat. “You aren’t hungry, I hope?” he said nervously, wringing a plaid handkerchief in his paws.
“No, no,” said the kittens. “We’re not hungry.” So Mr. Mousey set down his hankerchief by his pipe and walked across the porch to a chair closer to the kittens so that they could have a nice conversation.
“How are you doing?” asked Martha.
“I am doing well.” said Mr. Mousey. “Our nice little fire is keeping everybody warm.”
“Good,” said Max. Just then Mrs. Mousey called out that a fresh cheese pie was ready and waiting. The noise of all the Mousey children begging for cheese pie reminded Mr. Mousey that he had better get some cheese pie before the little ones ate it all, as he quickly told the kittens before running into his mouse hole.
So the little kittens decided that they would go take a walk and see if the lake was all frozen. They walked along, looking happily at the trees from which snow clung, until Melvin and Matilda saw something. They didn’t know what it was, so they pointed it out to Max and Martha, who didn’t know either.
It had brown sides with a green springy thing in between it. It seemed to have yellow buttons on its brown sides. It also had black straps. The kittens started to run away, but looking back they noticed that the thing had not moved. They started tiptoeing closer and closer. Finally, they were only a few inches away. Martha batted at it with her paw. “It doesn’t seem to be alive,” she announced. Then Matilda, who was very curious about it, slid her paw under the strap and pulled. It stretched the green thing and made a loud, echoing sound. They all jumped back in surprise.
The thing still didn’t move, so they edged closer and Matilda pulled at the strap again. It made the same loud noise, but it still didn’t move. “Hey!” said Max. “This is an accordian! A musical instrument! Remember when we saw one a peddler was trying to sell?”
Matilda, Melvin, and Martha were amazed at Max’s memory. But as he described it they, too, started to remember the peddler and his accordian. Then Matilda started playing it as best she could and the kittens excitedly hopped around.
When some time had passed, the kittens decided they had to go back. So they all grabbed part of the strap and pulled the accordian behind them. As they walked, they planned on hiding the accordian where Mr. or Mrs. Ames wouldn’t find it and take it, not knowing that it was the kittens.
They also decided to name it Bob for some reason.
Chapter 2: Christmas Coming
The kittens were realizing that it was getting colder! So cold that they did not go outside very much apart from checking on the Nutcorns and the Mouseys. The kittens couldn’t wait for Santa Cat to bring presents to all the good little kittens in his magic sleigh pulled by flying reindeer.
Mr. and Mrs. Frisker-whisker were excited about Santa Cat coming too. When Mr. Ames wasn’t looking, Mr. Frisker-whisker dipped his paw in a bucket of paint and wrote: “Welcome Santa Cat” in cat language on the lawn, but this didn’t mean anything to Mr. Ames who didn’t understand cat language. Mrs. Frisker-whisker had stolen some cookie dough and made her own cookies, which she slipped into the oven with Mrs. Ames’s. When they were done, she took out her cookies without Mrs. Ames’s noticing. Then she, the kittens, and Mr. Frisker-whisker ate them happily.
Whenever the kittens went outside they played with Bob the accordion until they had to go home. The kittens told Mr. and Mrs. Frisker-whisker about the accordion and they were very much amazed at the kittens’ finding.
Chapter 3: The Idea
One day, Max, Martha, Matilda, and Melvin were all sitting around Bob and thinking. Suddenly, Melvin said, “I have an idea! We probably should let Mr. and Mrs. Ames know about Bob sometime. But we need them to let us keep him. Why don’t we learn to play this accordion and sing carols in human language so that on Christmas we can play the accordion for Mr. and Mrs. Ames! If we do really well, we will probably be able to keep the accordion so we can play it each Christmas!”
“Yes, yes!” agreed the other kittens!
So the kittens started listening to the children who came to sing carols and they started learning the songs. They learned to play the accordion. They didn’t tell anyone about what they were doing. They wanted it to be a surprise on Christmas. They might even be able to play it for Santa Cat if they were able to catch him before he left.
So the kittens were learning and learning until they were really quite good at it. And they got better and better.
Chapter 4: Christmas with Santa Cat
It was nighttime on Christmas Eve! The kittens didn’t go to bed. They were mostly nocturnal anyway. The squirrels were outside looking for Santa. The kittens were outside by the squirrels, holding their accordion. Mr. and Mrs. Ames were looking out the window. The Mousey family was sitting by the squirrels and cats, too.
Suddenly, there was a jingling sound. Everybody looked up, including Mr. and Mrs. Ames. There was Santa Cat with his magic reindeer, flying down to give presents. He landed with a thump in the snow, got out, and lay down on his back for a while looking up at everybody and shouting, “Ho, ho, ho!”
Then he was silent and the kittens started playing Bob and singing carols! Mr. and Mrs. Ames were amazed! When the kittens had finished singing and playing, Santa Cat started clapping his approval. He gave Max a toy truck, he gave Martha a bag of catnip treats, he gave Melvin a box of cat grass, and he gave Matilda a little silver bell. Then he handed the numerous Mousey children different things, such as tiny balloons, cheese chunks, and bits of chocolate. Then he gave the excited squirrels some acorns, mistletoe, and craft books. Then he walked up to the window of the farm house and handed Mrs. Ames a new tea cozy and Mr. Ames some tobacco for his pipe. Then he gave everyone some Santa Cat hats.
He patted the kittens on their heads with his fluffy paws, asked them to play their fabulous accordion next time he came, and with that, he climbed back into his sleigh. Then he let everybody including Mr. and Mrs. Ames come up and pet his reindeer, which, he reassured, were friendly. He waved his paw cheerfully and told everyone he had to go.
And as he flew out of sight,
He cried “Meowy Christmas to all,
And to all a good night!”
THE END
By Little Meow, Age 9
Finished on November 29, 2014, Saturday
Welcome to Little Meow’s Blog
This is Little Meow’s Blog. I will be sharing stories about cats and other animals. I hope you will enjoy them.
Little Meow's Blog 