“Really?” said Owen.
“Yes,” said Eleanor. “Because we live in the same house, and you’re my best friend. Right?”
He nodded.
“We’ll feed her and take care of her together. We’ll train her to be a Jedi cat. She’ll live at both apartments.”
“My mom is allergic to cats,” said Owen. “We can’t have a kitten.”
“Oh,” said Eleanor, who had been imagining how to fit the kitten into the pulley basket or on the trebuchet to launch her from bedroom to bedroom. “Well, okay then. She’ll live here, and you’ll just have to visit all the time.”
Owen grinned. That would work fine. It would be like having a cat but without his mom sneezing.
“She needs a name,” said Eleanor. “I know exactly the right one.”
Owen said, “Scrumpy the Fifth?”
Eleanor shook her head, smiling. “Guess again.”
Owen thought about all the fun things they’d done since they met—reading Narnia, building Lego robots and play dough monsters, rebuilding the trebuchet to make it throw heavy things like tomatoes. He thought about fencing. He thought about Star Wars and all the times he defeated Darth Vader or (if Vader was good that day) fought with Vader to defeat the Dark Side. “Um . . . Good Vader?” he said. “Jedi Queen?”
She shook her head, grinning. “One more guess.”
Owen thought all the way back to the day they met, when Eleanor was standing on the sidewalk holding her fish up to the sunlight and promising to bring him home. He thought about the pulley they rigged later that day out his bedroom window. He thought about riding the bus together and the empty tree and Eleanor crying. He thought about secret codes. And he thought about all the things that a cat might secretly mean: home and family and love and belonging. And then he knew.
“Oh!” said Owen. “The kitten’s name is Goldfish!”
It was the perfect name.
Later, Owen was almost ready to go to bed when he got a message from the Millennium Falcon.
GOLDFISH IS HUNGRY!
(This is not a code.)
And he ran downstairs to help feed his and Eleanor’s kitten.
About the Author
In addition to Owen and Eleanor Move In, H.M. Bouwman writes middle grade historical fantasy, including The Remarkable & Very True Story of Lucy & Snowcap (2008) and A Crack in the Sea (2017). She is also an associate professor of English at the University of St. Thomas, a homeschooling mom, a member of Hamline United Methodist Church, and a martial artist.
About the Illustrator
Charlie Alder has illustrated many books for children, including her first authored and illustrated picture book, Daredevil Duck (2015). She describes herself as “a curly haired coffee drinker and crayon collector.” She lives in Devon, England, with her husband and son.
Coming Fall 2018
Owen is doing the same creative writing project for homeschooling that Eleanor is doing in public school! They have to write an interesting story about their lives. The problem is: their lives aren’t that interesting. So Eleanor decides to fix the problem by doing exciting things--with not-so-great results. When they join a community martial arts class, Owen sees a different way to make an interesting story happen...by making something up that sounds true even though it isn't. When they both end up in trouble—again—they learn that making up fake stories to fool people isn't a good way to live.
ISBN: 978-1-5064-4845-9
Owen and Eleanor Move In Page 5