Don't Tell Anyone
Page 10
“We think all of these cats will be adoptable,” Mrs. Colby said. “We caught those two without using the humane traps. It probably helped that you’ve been feeding them.”
Megan smiled.
“We caught your mother cat and her litter, too. They were in the drainpipe, just as you said. The kittens are small and hungry, but they don’t appear to be sick.”
“Where are they?” Kylie asked. “I want to see them.”
Mrs. Colby pointed to a green van. “They’re going home with me,” she said. “I’ll care for them until they’re old enough to be adopted.”
Mommacat and her kittens nestled into a soft blanket in a portable dog kennel in the back of Mrs. Colby’s van.
Kylie pressed her nose against the van window and looked at the kittens. “There he is!” she said, pointing to a small striped kitten. “There’s Dinkle!”
“Our mom said we can adopt two of the kittens when they’re ready,” Megan explained to Mrs. Colby. “Kylie has already named hers.”
“Come and visit the kittens as often as you want,” Mrs. Colby said, “so they’ll get used to you.”
Megan gave Mrs. Colby the bag of cat food, for Mommacat. When it was time to take Dinkle and his sibling home, she would buy kitten food.
One of the other volunteers called, “I have another one!”
Megan recognized Twitchy Tail in the woman’s arms.
Kylie began to sing:
“Pet, pet, pet the cat.
Rub him on his fur.
Give him food and keep him warm,
Listen to him purr.”
Megan laughed. Her sister’s song did not annoy her today.
As she watched the volunteers from Feline Friends, her worries floated away, light as a hot-air balloon. The cats were going to be safe and healthy and loved. All of them.
Peg Kehret’s books for young readers are regularly recommended by the American Library Association and the International Reading Association. She has won numerous state awards, as well as the Golden Kite Award from the Society of Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators and the PEN Center Award for Children’s Literature.
Ms. Kehret and her husband live in a log house near Mount Rainier National Park in Washington State. From her home office she watches deer, elk, hummingbirds, and hawks. The couple have two grown children, four grand-children, a dog, and two cats. When she is not writing, Ms. Kehret likes to read, watch baseball, and pump her old player piano.