Lost and Found

                                                         By Valerie L. Egar

“OK, your turn at bat!” Jaden yelled.

    Jaden and Tyler took turns pitching and hitting in a one-on-one baseball game. Tyler pitched ten times, giving Jaden ten chances to hit the ball. Then, it was Tyler’s turn and Jaden pitched. They didn’t run bases or keep score, but both of them knew when a hit looked like a home run.

            Tyler raised the bat. Jaden pitched a good one. Whack! The bat struck the ball and flew high into the air, far from Jaden’s reach. The boys watched it arc and fall behind the run-down picket fence in the overgrown McAllister yard.

        No one lived in the old McAllister house. With its crooked shutters and rickety porch, the house looked like it could star in a scary movie, and all the neighborhood kids avoided it.

            “What are we going to do now?”

            Jaden shook his head. “We need to get the ball.”

            “What about the story your brother told you?” Jaden’s older brother said the house had a ghost that watched from the attic window.

        Jaden shrugged. “I never know when he’s teasing. C’mon, let’s look for the ball.”

            It wasn’t going to be easy. The yard, long abandoned, was overgrown with wild raspberry bushes and thick clumps of high weeds.  It was hard to see where the ball might have landed. Walking among the raspberry bushes to look would be impossible, with thorns tearing at the boys’ skin and clothes.

            “Do you think it came this way?”

            “I don’t know,” said Tyler. Both of them looked at the field where they’d been playing and then the yard, trying to gauge where the ball might have landed. “How about by the porch?”

           Jaden nodded. He’d rather not go closer to the house, but the weeds were fewer there and he thought the ball flew that way. They walked towards the porch, and bent to look under a few scraggly bushes that grew by the railing. Nothing.

        “Careful!”  Broken bottles and other debris were scattered about. Finding the ball seemed hopeless.  The boys sat on the rickety steps leading to the front door. “What do we do now?”

           Jaden shook his head. He didn’t know. He felt sad, but didn’t want to let it show.  How would he play ball with Tyler if the ball were lost?

“Siss, siss, siss!” All of a sudden, they heard faint hissing.

Tyler jumped, and so did Jaden. “What’s that?” The noise stopped.  Curious, the boys peered under the porch. It was dark and hard to see. Neither of them wanted to put his hand under.  What if it was a snake? They heard the hissing noise again. Jaden thought he saw movement.

“I’ll run home and get a flashlight!” said Tyler.

When he came back, he shone the light under the porch. Nestled in a pile of old rags, the boys saw five kittens, eyes still closed.

“Where’s the mother cat?” asked Jaden.

Just then, they saw a white cat scurry under the porch.

“That looks like Mrs. Perkins’ cat, Lily!” said Tyler. Mrs. Perkins had been looking for Lily for a week and had posted signs all over the neighborhood.

“You found her!” Mrs. Perkins exclaimed when she opened the door. Tyler handed Lily to Mrs. Perkins.

Jaden stood behind him, his sweatshirt in a little bundle. “We found these, too.” Wrapped into a warm nest, Mrs. Perkins saw five kittens, eyes still closed.

“Oh my,” said Mrs. Perkins. “I had no idea.”

“Look,” said Jaden. He held his hand close to the kittens. “Siss, siss,” they hissed.

         “That’s how they protect themselves,” she said. “If you were a predator, you might be scared away.” She reached for an envelope.  “You did a wonderful thing finding Lily and rescuing her kittens,” said Mrs. Perkins. “Here’s the reward.”

        “Oh!” said the boys in unison. They’d forgotten about the reward, twenty-five dollars! More than enough to buy a new baseball, and ice cream at Dairy Delight.

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         Copyright 2017 by Valerie L. Egar. May not be copied or reproduced without permission form the author.  Published January 22, 2017, Journal Tribune Sunday (Biddeford, ME).    

                       

The Secret Cat

Shh! I only tell tales about cats when Phoenix is asleep.

                                                                         by  Valerie L. Egar

When Uncle Tasher said he was bringing her a cat he’d found in Egypt, Julie wondered how he managed to bring it home on the airplane. Then, she wondered how he persuaded her parents to allow a cat in the house. She’d asked for a kitten over and over and they always said, “No!”

 Julie couldn’t wait to see it, but when Uncle Tasher arrived, all he carried with him was a small painting of a ruddy colored kitten with large green eyes. Julie thought she might cry. It wasn’t what she was expecting at all. She wanted a real cat, not a picture of one.

“Let me hang the picture for you,” said Uncle Tasher. Julie pointed to a place on the wall in her bedroom. While he hammered the hook into the sheetrock, he explained that he bought the painting from a mysterious man in crowded bazaar. “He assured me it’s magic, “ Uncle Tasher said. “Just wait until tonight.”

Julie rolled her eyes. Uncle Tasher was always making jokes.

            That night, when the moon shone on the picture, the cat’s eyes seemed to glow. Julie thought she saw its head move, but maybe it was a shadow from the tree outside her window. She stared at the painting and watched, fascinated, as the kitten stood and stretched. Then, with a great leap he jumped onto her bed.

               “Oh my!” Julia said. She scratched him under the chin and he purred happily.

            “Do you need something to eat?” she whispered. She wasn’t sure whether magical cats needed food and water. She sneaked into the kitchen and got a tiny cup of water and a piece of cheese, but he didn’t want any.  Instead, he explored the room, rolled a few pencils off her desk and batted at the cord hanging from the blinds. Then he settled on the windowsill, bathing in the moonlight.

            “You need a name,” said Julie. She tried to remember some of the Egyptian names Uncle Tasher mentioned. He’d talked about kings, queens and ancient gods and goddesses, but Julie couldn’t remember any of them. She loved his description of a boat ride on a river called the Nile, and that’s what she decided to call the kitten.

            When Julie woke up, Nile was gone. Julie glanced at the painting. There he was, still and quiet.

            Never had Julie been so anxious to get to bed as she was that night. She didn’t ask for a second bedtime story. She didn’t say she was thirsty.

            When she put the light out, she stared and stared at the picture. At first it seemed like nothing was going to happen. Then, Nile’s tail curled and he yawned.  A great leap and he was on the bed, purring and rubbing his head on Julie’s face.

           Julie wiggled her toes and Niles pounced on them. Julie giggled.  She fell asleep with Niles curled beside her on the pillow. When she woke, Niles was gone, back inside the painting.

Every night Julie and Niles played and enjoyed each other’s company. Every morning, Niles was back inside the picture frame, silent and still.

One day as Mom vacuumed the bedroom carpet as Julie dusted. Mom noticed what seemed to be cat hair on the deep blue rug. She was puzzled. “Can’t be,” she said.

Julie looked at the picture on the wall and the mysterious little cat winked. Julie winked back at her special, secret cat.

Like the story? Share the story with your friends on Facebook and visit my author's page, Valerie L. Egar on Facebook. Copyright 2016 by Valerie L. Egar. May not be copied or reproduced without permission from the author. Published May 8, 2016 in the Sunday Journal Tribune. 

            

Rescue Kitten

Snicker. The blog is named after him.

               by Valerie L. Egar

     Leo saw the kitten right away. He was nestled under a bush by the entrance to the Old Time Village Museum and meowed loudly. Black with golden eyes, the kitten had long fur and a bushy tail. Leo bent and patted his head. The kitten kept mewing.

     "He's hungry," said Leo.

     Mom kneeled on the sidewalk to look. She reached under the bush to pet him. "He looks young, barely old enough to be away from his mother."

     "We need to get him something to eat," said Leo.

     "Let's see the museum first, OK?" said Mom.

     They were on vacation and had flown from Portland, Maine to Denver, Colorado the week before and spent days sightseeing. Driving through Nebraska's rolling hills, they saw a herd of wild buffalo and a colony of prairie dogs. In South Dakota, they viewed presidents' faces carved into Mt. Rushmore. So far, it was a great vacation.

     Today, the plan was to to visit Old Time Village Museum. They looked forward to seeing a log cabin, old print shop and general store. The museum also displayed antique cars, trucks, tractors and fire engines, everything Leo liked to see. Mom paid the admission fee and they started to walk around.

     "Do you think the kitten will be there when we leave?" Leo asked.

     "Yes," said Mom.

     "He needs food," said Leo.

     "We'll get him food before we leave," said Mom.

     "He's hungry now," said Leo.

     Leo wasn't interested in the old fire trucks or the trains displayed in the barn. He was worried about the kitten.

     "Let's get the kitten something to eat and come back in," Mom said. At the museum's cafeteria, they ordered a hamburger.

     "Plain," Leo said. "Kittens don't like ketchup."

     They broke the hamburger into tiny pieces and the kitten gobbled it up. He started to purr and rubbed on Leo's leg. Then, he walked back under the bush for a nap.

     Old Time Village was full of wonderful things to see and do. Leo and Mom enjoyed an ice cream soda at a counter in an old-fashioned drug store. Leo pretended to drive an old fire truck. Before they knew it, it was time to go.

     The tiny kitten was curled up, under the bush, asleep.

     "We have to take him with us," Leo said. "We can't just leave him here."

     "Maybe he belongs to somebody," Mom said. She didn't think so, though. She went back inside and asked.

     The woman at the admissions desk rolled her eyes. "People leave kittens here all the time."

     "That's wrong," said Leo, and Mom agreed. "We have to take him."

     Mom sighed. "We're far from home. We came here on a plane."

     "Cats fly on planes," said Leo.

     "I know, but--" 

     Leo was determined. He looked at Mom. "It would be wrong to leave him here."

     Mom knew Leo was right. Old Time Village was on a highway and if the kitten walked into the road, he'd get hit by a car. Whoever owned him should have never left him to fend for himself.

     "OK," Mom said. "We're headed back to Denver, maybe we can find a shelter that will take him and find him a home."

     "Or, he can come home with us," said Leo. Mom didn't say anything. Before the car was out of the parking lot, Leo started calling the kitten 'Little Critter.'

     That night, Mom found a motel that allowed pets. They stopped at a convenience store and bought cat food. Mom made a make-shift litter box from a cardboard box. Little Critter romped around the room and climbed the drapes. Leo giggled. Worn out, the kitten slept in the bed next to Leo.

     "Little Critter would love to ride on a plane," said Leo as they drove towards Denver the next day.

     Leo said, "He's little, I don't think he'd eat very much, do you?"

     "Little Critter would love Maine," said Leo. "He's never heard a loon."

     Mom laughed. She'd grown to love the little black kitten, too. "You're very persuasive," she said. "I'll call the airline as soon as we get to Denver."

Published in The Sunday Journal Tribune August 9, 2015 and in Making it at Home, September 24, 2015. Copyright 2015 by Valerie L. Egar. May not be copied or reproduced without permission from the author.