Got Me a Cat

  DARCY PATTISON

  Contents

  1. Got Me a Cat

  2. Trick or Treat

  3. Cat Fight

  4. Erika

  5. The Club

  6. Got Me a Cat

  7. More Signs

  About the Author

  Chapter 1

  Got Me a Cat

  She arrived on Halloween Eve, in the Year of Acorns. Wind rustled through the oak tree. A downpour of acorns sounded like popcorn popping. That’s when she suddenly appeared. She leaped into the dogwood tree, stretched, and scratched the bark. She jumped down and batted at leaves dancing in the wind. Then she calmly walked toward me.

  “Mom, come look at the cat!”

  “No, Benjy,” Mom said. “We don’t need a pet.”

  “I know.” We didn’t need a pet. But I wanted one.

  I told the cat we didn’t need a pet, but she didn’t understand. She stayed to play all that Saturday. We played Tag and Chase. We played Get Buried in the Leaves and Jump Out Like a Dolphin. We played Catch a Dropping Acorn. We played Watch the Sunset.

  “She has a home,” said Mom. “Tell her to go home.”

  “Go home,” I told the cat.

  “Now, come in and get washed up for supper.”

  The cat tried to sneak in through a rip in the screen, but Mom caught her and put her out.

  She tried to sneak in when Dad came home, but Mom caught her and put her out.

  I tried to sneak her in, but Mom caught me and put me to bed.

  The next morning, Halloween morning, she was gone.

  Bobcat, from next door, squatted at the foot of the oak tree. Suddenly, a shower of acorns pelted Bobcat. She was sitting on a branch about ten feet up. She shook acorns onto Bobcat to make him go away. But Bobcat stayed put.

  I put on my kerchief, long boots, and pirate hat. “Ahoy, there, me matie, Bobcat. You leave her alone.”

  Bobcat twitched his stumpy tail and leaped over the fence into the Gordon’s yard.

  “You can come down now.”

  She meowed and then sat on her haunches to wash her face.

  “I won’t hurt you. I’m not actually a pirate. It’s just Halloween. I’m really nice.”

  She washed her front feet.

  “It’s just a hat.”

  She washed her back feet.

  “Mom, she’s stuck in the tree.”

  Mom pulled the ladder out from under the house and leaned it against the tree. Mom climbed the ladder and carried her down.

  “You rescued her!”

  Mom sat on the back steps with the cat in her lap. She purred and purred while Mom scratched behind her ears.

  “She’s soft and she purrs a lot,” I said.

  “No,” said Mom. But Mom stroked her soft neck and felt her purrs.

  “She smells like perfume.”

  “No,” said Mom. But Mom cuddled her and smelled her. She rubbed her face against Mom’s face.

  “She likes you!”

  Mom held her up and looked in her golden eyes. “And I like her, too. But she probably belongs to someone. She’s too well fed. She smells too good.”

  “Please.”

  Mom sighed. “Only until we find her home.”

  “Hurrah!” I shouted.

  “She’d better not scratch the furniture, or go to the bathroom in the house, or leave cat hairs on my couch.” Mom handed her to me with a sigh. “What will you call her?”

  “That’s easy. Tricks, for Trick or Treat. Because she came on Halloween Eve.”

  Wind gusted through the old oak and the acorns clattered around us like laughter.

  Chapter 2

  Trick or Treat

  At dusk, I put on my pirate costume.

  “Mom, may I take Tricks with me? I want to show her to my friends.”

  “OK,” Mom said.

  We went outside. A small ghost floated toward a big house, followed by a bearded father. A superhero charged across a lawn while a mother called, “Slow down.”

  Up and down the street, jack-o-lanterns glowed.

  First, I stopped at the Gordon’s house. “Trick or treat!”

  Jeff, a 7th grade boy, answered the door. Sometimes Jeff let Benjy play catch.

  “Oh, no!” Jeff said. “It’s Captain Hook! I’m scared!”

  I grinned like an evil pirate.

  Jeff dropped candy into my sack.

  “Look, I finally got me a cat.”

  Tricks meowed. Bobcat slunk out from under the couch. He twitched his stumpy tail and hissed. Tricks climbed up my arm.

  “Uh, thanks for the candy.” I ran back to the sidewalk where Mom was waiting. “Bobcat doesn’t like Tricks,” I told her.

  “Cats do fight sometimes,” Mom said.

  The next house belonged to old Mrs. Currie. I rang the doorbell.

  A girl opened the door. She wore a kerchief, long boots, and a pirate hat. Curly black hair stuck out of the kerchief.

  “Hey, that’s my costume,” I said.

  “Hey, that’s my cat,” she said.

  She grabbed Tricks.

  I grabbed Tricks back.

  “Grandma!” she yelled. She tried to take Tricks away again. I dropped Tricks into my candy sack and backed away.

  Mrs. Currie came to the door. “What’s wrong?”

  She said, “He has my cat, and he won’t give her back.” She sounded like she was talking through her nose. And somehow the words sounded different. Then, her hands danced around. .

  Mrs. Currie watched, and then her hands danced around, too.

  They were signing to each other!

  “Benjy, this is my grand-daughter, Erika. She is going to live with me this year. She will go to the Deaf School.”

  “She can’t hear?”

  Erika said, “I’m not deaf. I just need a hearing aid.”

  Mrs. Currie said, “She wears a hearing aid. Some things she hears well. Some things she doesn’t.”

  I tilted my head to look at the side of her head. A tiny tan thing was stuck in her ear.

  “Give me my cat,” Erika said.

  Mom was walking up the sidewalk frowning.

  “Uh, thanks for the candy,” I turned and ran to Mom. “Let’s go.”

  Mrs. Currie called to Mom. “Does Benjy have a cat?”

  Mom stepped onto the porch.

  I groaned.

  Mom said, “Yes, we found a cat yesterday.”

  “I think it belongs to my grand-daughter, Erika.”

  Mom grinned like an evil pirate. “I thought she smelled too good to be a stray. Benjy, give her back.”

  “No.”

  Erika used two fingers of her right hand to snatch something off her left elbow.

  “What did she say?” I asked.

  Mrs. Currie said, “That’s the sign for stealing.”

  “I’m a pirate, not a thief. And Tricks is my cat.”

  Mom took my candy sack away. She handed Tricks to Erika. She scratched behind Trick’s ears. Tricks closed her eyes and purred.

  I snatched something off my left elbow and pointed to Erika. Wind roared through the oak in Mrs. Currie’s yard. Acorns beat rat-a-tat-tat on the sidewalk around us like a witch’s cackle.

  Chapter 3

  Cat Fight

  Af

  ter school on Monday, I ran home. In the kitchen, Mom was chopping carrots for a stew.

  “Mrs. Filmore said the class hamster is having babies. Can I have one?”

  “Hmm. We don’t need a pet.”

  “But hamsters are soft like Tricks.”

  “No,” Mom said.

  “I could make it smell good with perfume.”

  “No,” Mom said.

  “Hamsters don’t scratch furniture, or go to the bathroom on the floor, or leave hairs on the couch.”

  “Benjy, no pets,” Mom said.

  I walked outside and sat in a pile of leaves. Mom just didn’t understand. I needed a pet.

  The gate rattled. Erika’s curly head appeared over the top.

  “Where’s my cat?” she called.

  I looked the other way and pretended I didn’t hear her.

  She opened the gate and came into the yard. She made the stealing sign and pointed at me.

  I shook my head. “No,” I shouted, so she could hear me.

  Erika made a face and twisted something on her hearing aid. “Don’t yell. I can hear.”

  “Shhh!” I put my finger to my mouth.

  “What?” Erika looked all around.

  I stood up and brushed leaves off my jeans. “I thought you weren’t deaf. Can’t you hear that cat?”

  “Where is Fluffy?”

  “You call my cat, Fluffy?” I rolled my eyes. “Her name is Tricks, and she is my cat. Go away.”

  I wasn’t going to tell Erika anything. But she wouldn’t go away.

  Meow! Ffftz! It sounded like a cat fight. “Bobcat!” I yelled.

  I rushed out the gate and into the Gordon’s yard. Jeff was watching something in a deep box. The box was rocking back and forth. “What are you doing?”

  “Just trying to get these cats to be friends,” he said. “I saw a video. I know what I’m doing.”

  Erika and I ran to the box. Tricks was backed into a corner. Her fur was raised, and her back was arched. “Ssss!” She batted a small paw at Bobcat. He was crouched, ready to pounce.

  I leaned over the box for Tricks. It fell over sideways and knocked Erika over.

  Jeff yelled, “Stop!”

  Tricks streaked to the fence. She leaped high and caught the fence with her claws. She climbed over into my yard. Bobcat followed.

  I kicked the box away. I ran out of the Gordon’s yard and into my yard. Jeff and Erika followed.

  Bobcat squatted at the foot of an old oak. Suddenly, a shower of acorns pelted him.

  I grabbed Bobcat and shoved him into Jeff’s hand. “Keep Bobcat away from Tricks. They are not friends!”

  “Hey, I’m sorry,” Jeff said. “In the video, it worked.” He walked back toward his yard.

  Erika stretched her arms around the trunk of the oak and tried to climb it.

  “Wait,” I said.

  She fell off the tree into a pile of leaves.

  “Let me get the ladder.”

  Erika said nothing. Tricks meowed and sat on her haunches to wash her face.

  I touched Erika’s shoulder. She jumped. She twisted something on her hearing aid again. “Now, what?” she said.

  “I’ll get the ladder.”

  Erika smiled and nodded.

  I climbed the ladder and Erika climbed up behind me. I handed Tricks to her.

  Erika scrambled down with Tricks and ran to the gate. She opened it, then turned. “Thank you,” she yelled. Then she took Fluffy home.

  I sat in the tree shaking branches and watching acorns fall—plop, plop, plop—into the empty, empty yard.

  Chapter 4

  Erika

  At

  breakfast on Wednesday, Mom said, “Mrs. Currie will pick you up after school today. I have a dentist appointment.”

  “I can stay alone. I’m eight now.”

  “Not until you are ten.”

  Sometimes, moms don’t understand anything.

  In science class, we saw the hamster’s four new babies. There was a black one. Maybe I could talk Mom into letting me have it. I could call it Tricks.

  After school, Mrs. Currie and Erika were waiting for me.

  In the car, I asked Mrs. Currie, “Can we turn on the radio?”

  She turned it on, but the station played slow, sleepy music. So I stared out the window.

  They signed back and forth while we drove home. In the back seat, I felt all alone.

  Mrs. Currie made us sit at the kitchen table. “Eat your sugar cookie and drink your milk. Do all your homework. Then you can go out and play.”

  “I do my homework after supper,” I said.

  “Not today, dear. Homework first, then play.”

  Poor Erika. Mrs. Currie’s house was boring. No TV. No video games. No comic books. No toys.

  We ate our cookies.

  We drank our milk.

  We did our homework.

  We stared at each other.

  Meow! Tricks tiptoed into the room. I glanced at Erika. She didn’t hear Tricks, yet. I slammed my book shut. Erika jumped.

  “I’m done. I’m going outside,” I said.

  She nodded.

  On the way out, I scooped up Tricks. I ran to the back corner of Mrs. Currie’s yard. Tricks and I hid behind some large bushes.

  I sat cross-legged, and Tricks curled up in my lap. I scratched behind her ears. She started her purr engine. She smelled like Erika’s perfume. If she came home with me, I would put Dad’s after-shave lotion on her.

  The door slammed.

  Erika called, “Benjy. Fluffy.”

  Tricks stretched and yawned. But I held her close. She rubbed her face against mine.

  I whispered to her, “Be quiet or you’ll have to be a Fluffy instead of a Tricks.”

  But she meowed loudly and squirmed away. She ran out to Erika.

  “Fluffy!” Erika bent to pet her.

  She strolled toward the bushes. I sat perfectly still. Erika pushed aside a branch and peered in.

  She grinned. “You found a club house.”

  I looked around the bushes. It was dark and cool. It was big enough for four or five kids to sit. It was a good club house. “What kind of club?” I asked.

  Erika shrugged. She sat beside me and pulled Tricks into her lap. Tricks curled up and started her purr engine.

  Erika curved her forefinger and thumb and put them beside her mouth. Then she moved them away bringing the finger and thumb together. “That means ‘cat’ in sign language,” she said. “It looks like the whiskers of a cat.”

  “Why do you sign? I thought you weren’t deaf.”

  “I’m not. But the Deaf School also for kids who wear hearing aids. Mom and Dad said I have to try the Deaf School for a year. All the teachers and kids there sign, so I’m learning.”

  Sign language sounded like a secret code. “Are you making good grades at the Deaf School?” I asked.

  Erika laughed. “Yes. And I’m making lots of new friends. It’s pretty cool.”

  Slowly, I said, “We could have a Sign Language Club. You could teach me.”

  That afternoon, I learned lots of signs. Cat, dog, stealing, book, Mom, Dad and boring. I like “boring” best. To make that sign, you put your index finger on the side of the nose and twist your wrist forward.

  * * *

  At six o’clock, I walked home. I practiced signing the word, “boring.” I stared at the oak tree that Tricks climbed yesterday. No acorns fell. “Boring,” I signed to the tree.

  Chapter 5

  The Club

  On

  Thursday afternoon, the Sign Language Club met again. This time at my house. I didn’t want milk and cookies if they came with homework again.

  “What signs do you want to learn?” Erika asked.

  That was easy. I had a plan. “Mouse, bird, snake, horse, and yes.”

  It took a long time to learn all those signs for pets. I hoped this would work.

  When Dad came home, I asked him, “Do you want to learn some sign language? You could be in our club.”

  “Sure,” he said.

  “Make a fist, then make it nod up and down.”

  “Like this?”

  “Yes,” Erika said.

  I signed, “Horse.” Then I said, “Do your sign to answer me back.”

  “Yes,” he signed.

  “Snake,” I signed.

  “Yes,” he signed.

  I grinned like an evil pirate. “Bird,” I signed.

  “Yes,” he signed. Then he asked, “What am I signing?”

  Erika said, “That means, ‘yes’.”

  “And what did Benjy sign?”

  Erika said, “Horse, snake, bird.”

  “No,” Dad said.

  Erika bent down the last two fingers of her fist. Then, the first two fingers snapped down to hit her thumb. “No,” she said.

  “No,” I yelled. “Don’t teach him that word.”

  It was too late. Dad knew how to sign “No” to all my pets.

  I stomped outside. Erika followed.

  Tricks squeezed through the gate. I picked her up and she turned on her purr machine.

  “Why are you mad?” Erika asked.

  “Mom and Dad won’t let me have a pet. Except Tricks. And she belongs to you.”

  “You mean, Fluffy.”

  I rolled my eyes.

  Erika frowned. “I go home this weekend to see my Mom and Dad. Mom says Fluffy has to stay with them. She pukes when she goes in the car. Mom says it isn’t fair to make Fluffy car sick every weekend.”

  “You have to go home every weekend?”

  “I get to go home every weekend.”

  “Do you hate coming here?”

  “Mom says that sometimes we have to do things we don’t like.”

  I was quiet for a minute. Tricks still purred under my fingers. “I will never see her again?”

  Erika rubbed her fist in a circle over her heart. “Sorry,” she whispered.

  I pretended I didn’t hear her.

  We sat on the back steps, taking turns petting Tricks. At dusk, Mom called, “Come in and get washed up for supper.”

  Erika said, “Bye.”

  She took Tricks and left.

 

1 2