Bobby the Show-Off Cat

by Ella Moonheart

  Misty the Scared Kitten

  Shadow the Lonely Cat

  Ruby the Runaway Kitten

  Star the Little Farm Cat

  Frost and Snowdrop the Stray Kittens

  Sooty the Birthday Cat

  Scout the School Cat

  Bobby the Show-Off Cat

  For Arlo

  Special thanks to Natalie Doherty

  Chapter 1

  Kitty Kimura stared at the clock, watching the hands tick around. Tick, tick, tick. Move faster, clock! Kitty thought impatiently.

  Next to her, Kitty’s friend Mia fidgeted in her seat. In fact, as Kitty glanced around the classroom, she saw that everyone was having trouble staying still.

  At the front of the room, Kitty’s teacher, Ms. Babbitt, put down the book she was reading to them. “I think we’ll finish this chapter another day,” she said, smiling. “I can tell everyone is too excited to pay attention. Don’t worry, class. Just a few minutes to go!”

  As the clock struck twelve, there was a crackle over the loudspeaker. Then Principal Ridge’s voice echoed around the classroom. “I am pleased to announce that Fall Field Day has officially begun! Students, please make your way out to the school field!”

  Kitty’s class cheered and whooped. “Hooray!” cried Mia, bouncing in her chair. “Come on, Kitty, let’s go!”

  Ms. Babbitt led her students outside to join the other classes of chattering children. Kitty felt a hand grab hers, and turned to see her friends Jenny and Evie. “Hey, we were hoping we’d find you two!” said Jenny, grinning. “This is going to be so much fun! What games do you think we’ll get to play?”

  “Maybe tug-of-war?” suggested Mia. “Or sack racing!”

  “Ooh, I hope there’s the water balloon toss!” said Evie. “That’s my favorite.”

  “Mine too!” agreed Kitty.

  “But when the balloons pop, you get all wet!” pointed out Jenny, wrinkling her nose.

  “Yep!” said Kitty, laughing. “I love that part best! I don’t mind getting wet. Actually, I love it!”

  But only in my human form, she thought to herself, reaching up to stroke the pretty silver necklace around her neck. Because Kitty had a very special secret: she could turn into a cat! All she had to do was speak the magic words written on her pendant, and she would transform. The only other person in the whole world who knew this was Kitty’s grandma, who lived with her and her parents. She had the same amazing gift! Sometimes Kitty wished she could tell Jenny, Evie, and Mia, because just like her, they all loved cats. She knew they’d love her incredible secret too. But Grandma had explained to Kitty that if she ever told anyone, the magic would be broken forever.

  Everything was so much fun in her cat form: racing up tree trunks, chasing after butterflies, and exploring her town in the middle of the night on all four paws. But what she didn’t like was how it felt when she got wet! If she got caught in the rain, or splashed as a car drove through a deep puddle, it always made her shiver and yowl.

  So it was lucky that today she was in human form, because as she reached the school field with her friends, she saw a stack of colorful water balloons, ready for the water balloon toss. “Yesssss!” cried Evie, nudging Kitty.

  Before Kitty could reply, she felt someone thump into her arm. “Oooof!” she said. Rubbing her arm and frowning, she turned to see a boy pushing through the crowd. “Hey, that hurt!” she called, but the boy didn’t seem to hear her.

  “Are you okay, Kitty?” asked Mia. “That was pretty rude!”

  “That’s Brandon,” explained Evie, as Jenny sighed. “He’s in our class. He can be kind of annoying sometimes.”

  But Kitty forgot all about Brandon as soon as she saw the rest of the games lined up for Fall Field Day. The whole field was covered in hula hoops, bean bags and balls for juggling, a long thick rope for the tug-of-war, and a huge rainbow parachute. “Let’s try that first!” she said, pointing at the parachute, and all four girls ran over to it.

  Ms. Babbitt showed them how to spread out around the parachute, along with a few other kids from Kitty’s class, and pick up the edge of the silky material. “We’re going to play a game called Popcorn,” she explained. “I’ll throw these foam balls into the middle of the parachute. You have to keep bouncing them high up in the air, and stop them from falling off! Ready, set . . .”

  Just as the game was about to begin, someone shoved in between Kitty and Mia, grabbing the parachute. It was Brandon! “I’ve played this game hundreds of times. I’m the best at it, wait and see!” Brandon announced loudly.

  “ . . . go!” cried Ms. Babbitt.

  She flung a handful of balls onto the parachute. They immediately started rolling toward the edges.

  “Quick!” shouted Kitty, and together, she and her friends lifted the parachute up, sending the balls high into the air.

  “Great work!” said Ms. Babbitt, clapping.

  “They’re coming back down!” warned Evie. “Ready?”

  “Watch this!” yelled Brandon.

  Before Kitty could do anything, he jerked the parachute high into the air. It was snatched out of Kitty’s hands. “Brandon, I can’t reach it now!” she said, jumping up to try to grab it back.

  On the far side of the parachute, Kitty heard groaning. “All the balls are rolling off!” a girl called. “The parachute isn’t flat!”

  “Brandon,” muttered Evie in frustration.

  Ms. Babbitt asked a girl from Kitty’s class to toss the balls back onto the parachute, and the game started again. “Look how high I can bounce them!” boasted Brandon, flinging the parachute up.

  “There they go again,” sighed Mia as the balls flew off the parachute and onto the grass.

  Ms. Babbitt, frowning slightly, clapped her hands. “Time to rotate to a new game, everyone,” she said.

  “Come on, let’s head over to the water balloon toss,” said Mia.

  “Hopefully Brandon won’t ruin that,” sighed Jenny.

  Kitty and her friends ran over to the water balloon toss and lined up to play. The teacher in charge, Mr. Rolland, split them into pairs. Jenny and Evie played together, Kitty and Mia next to them. The girls had to throw a water balloon to their partner, taking a step back each time. If you dropped your water balloon, or it burst when you caught it, you were out!

  It was easy to start with, but as they stepped farther away from each other, Kitty found that catching the slippery water balloon became very tricky!

  “Come on, Kitty, we can do it!” yelled Mia, flinging the balloon at her.

  “Arghh!” cried Kitty, laughing as the balloon hit her in the chest and popped, splashing her with water.

  “Yay, we won, we won!” shouted Jenny and Evie, jumping up and down.

  “I think you secretly wanted that to happen,” giggled Mia, as Kitty squeezed water out of her hair.

  Kitty grinned. “Maybe,” she replied. “Told you I love getting wet!”

  At the end of the day, Grandma was waiting at the school gates to walk Kitty and her friends home. Kitty jumped up to give her a hug. “What a happy Kitty-cat!” commented Grandma, chuckling. “Did you have fun at Fall Field Day?”

  “So much fun!” replied Kitty. “We did sack racing, tug-of-war, the egg-and-spoon race . . .”

  “Jenny and I won the water balloon toss!” said Evie. “And Mia was brilliant at hula hooping!”

  “I wish we didn’t have to wait till spring for the next one,” said Kitty sadly. “I wish we could have Field Day every week.”

  “You have been busy!” said Grandma. “I’m tired just hearing about everything you’ve been up to, so you must all be exhausted. I think we might both need an early night tonight.”

  “Hi, Mom!” shouted
a voice nearby. Kitty turned to see Brandon racing past her toward a woman with red hair like his. She barely managed to get out of the way in time.

  “My, my, he certainly has a lot of energy,” said Grandma.

  “You have no idea,” said Kitty, exchanging a knowing look with her friends.

  As Brandon and his mother walked down the street, Kitty spotted something. Scratched into a telephone pole, right at the bottom, was a small triangle. She nudged Grandma and nodded at the symbol. Grandma’s eyes grew wide.

  “Someone needs the Cat Council,” she whispered to Kitty.

  The Cat Council was a secret meeting of all the cats in town, which took place in the woods. Any cat could call a meeting if they needed help with a problem. All they had to do was scratch the special symbol into a tree or a fence post. Kitty had a very important job at the Cat Council: she was the Guardian, which meant she used all her human knowledge to try to help cats who were in trouble.

  But who was in trouble this time? As soon as it got dark, Kitty and Grandma would set off for the meeting and find out.

  “It looks like we won’t be getting an early night after all, Grandma!” whispered Kitty.

  Chapter 2

  When Kitty’s parents got home from work that evening, they wanted to hear all about Fall Field Day. Kitty told them about the parachute game and the water balloon toss, but the whole time, her mind was really on something else. Which cat had called the Cat Council meeting? She couldn’t wait to find out, and she hoped she’d be able to help!

  “I think it’s bedtime, Kitty,” said Mom eventually.

  Kitty gave her parents a hug and winked at Grandma before she went upstairs. “See you soon!” Grandma whispered.

  Kitty brushed her teeth and climbed into bed, but she didn’t go to sleep. Instead she watched the sky turn deep inky blue as the moon rose. She heard cats meowing on the street below and knew they were spreading the message about tonight’s meeting to any cat who hadn’t seen the symbol yet.

  Finally, Mom and Dad went to bed too. The moment Kitty heard their door click shut, she threw back the covers and tiptoed downstairs. She had done this so many times now that she knew exactly where the creaky floorboards in her house were and could step right over them. Not even Mom and Dad could know her secret!

  When Kitty stepped into the kitchen, a small black cat with a patch of white by her ear was sitting by the back door, which had been left open. Kitty knew this cat very well: this was Grandma, in her cat form! “You’ve transformed already, Grandma!” whispered Kitty. “I’d better hurry up!”

  She closed her eyes and softly whispered the words on her necklace.

  “Human hands to kitten paws,

  Human fingers, kitten claws.”

  Her nose and ears suddenly filled with a fizzing, whizzing feeling, as if she had gulped down a glass of sparkly cherry soda. The tingling shot through her whole body, spreading into her fingertips and toes. When it faded away, Kitty was nose-to-nose and whisker-to-whisker with the black cat. She was a cat, too!

  “Let’s go!” Kitty meowed and pushed at the back door with her paw. She sprang out into the yard, feeling the cool, springy grass against her paws and hearing a rustle as Grandma followed. Together they jumped onto the fence, swishing their tails through a line of dandelions, which burst into a swirl of white. Insects chirped and hummed, and frogs croaked in the pond in the yard next door. Kitty was always amazed at how many tiny things she could see, smell, and hear when she was a cat—things she would never notice as a girl.

  Kitty and Grandma ran along the fence, darted through yards and alleyways, and squeezed under gates. As she pounced along, Kitty could hear the jingling of the silver collar around her neck. When Kitty transformed, even her necklace changed!

  When Kitty and Grandma reached the clearing, the other cats had already arrived. They sat in a circle, talking in little groups. “Hello, Kitty!” they called. “Hello, Suki!” Suki was Grandma’s name.

  Kitty meowed hello to them all, and one cat ran forward to meet her: Misty, her best cat friend, who was also Jenny’s cat. Kitty and Misty rubbed their foreheads together gently, in a special cat greeting.

  “Do you know what’s going on?” Kitty asked her friend.

  “I’m not sure,” replied Misty, looking worried. “But I think there’s been some kind of disagreement.”

  “What about?” asked Kitty.

  Before Misty could explain, a big furry tomcat named Tiger spoke up. Tiger was the leader of the Cat Council, and it was his job to start the meeting.

  “I think we’re all here! Let’s begin with the Meow Vow, please,” Tiger announced.

  All the cats around the circle chanted the special words together.

  “We promise now,

  This solemn vow,

  To help somehow,

  When you meow.”

  When the vow was finished, Suki looked around the circle. “Who called this meeting?” she asked.

  To Kitty’s surprise, it was Tiger himself who stepped forward.

  “I did!” he declared. “I need the Council’s help in making an important decision.”

  Kitty was very curious. She listened carefully as Tiger went on.

  “This morning,” said Tiger, “I was out for my daily prowl around the neighborhood when I found . . . this.”

  He pointed a paw at a box of cat treats, which Kitty saw had been placed in the middle of the circle. Kitty knew that to cats, these treats were really delicious. She’d tried them herself once or twice, and her mouth began to water as she remembered their yummy, salty taste. Around the circle, she saw plenty of other cat ears prick up with interest.

  “A lucky find!” meowed Suki. “So what is the problem, Tiger?”

  A second cat spoke. It was Coco, a very elegant gray cat. “The problem is that Tiger found the box of treats on the sidewalk right outside my house,” she explained. “I think that means they belong to me.”

  “But my owner always buys these treats for me!” added a third cat, named Emerald. “She knows how much I love them. They’re my favorite! My owner walks along Coco’s street on the way home from the store, too. I think she must have dropped the box by accident!”

  Tiger looked anxiously at Kitty. “See, Kitty? We don’t know how to work out who the treats belong to. Me, Coco, or Emerald!”

  “We don’t want to argue,” added Coco. “But we need to decide what’s fair.”

  “Right,” agreed Emerald, nodding.

  The cats waited quietly as Kitty thought. This is tough! she said to herself. She didn’t want to take sides, because whichever cat she chose, she was sure the others would be upset. And besides, each cat had a good case! It was funny to think that all this had been going on in the cat world today, while she had been busy at Fall Field Day . . .

  That’s it! thought Kitty. That’s how we can settle this!

  “I have an idea!” she meowed. “We’ll have a Field Day, just like the one I had at my school. A Feline Field Day! We’ll pair up in teams of two, and we’ll have lots of competitions.”

  “What’s a competition?” asked one of the kitten twins, whose name was Frost.

  “Ooh, I know! It’s like a game you have to try and win!” said Misty, swishing her tail in excitement.

  Kitty nodded. “The pair who wins the most competitions will get the treats. But everyone else will still get to have lots of fun!”

  The Cat Council was buzzing with chatter now. “What kind of competitions, Kitty?” called a cat named Shadow.

  “How about tree climbing?” suggested Kitty. “We can have a competition to see who can climb the highest tree. And we could have a jumping competition, too, and a meowing competition . . .”

  “Maybe a balancing competition?” added Coco.

  “Yes! And lots of races!” meowed Emerald.

  “Those are great ideas,” Kitty said. “We had races at my school Field Day too! But I know one thing we won’t do. The water balloon toss!”
/>   Around the circle, the cats all shuddered. “No, thank you!” meowed Tiger.

  “Wait a minute,” said Shadow. “What happens if we can’t decide who has won a competition?”

  “I can sit out and be the referee,” offered Suki, stepping forward. “That means I will choose the winner and who gets the treats!”

  It was decided that the cats’ Field Day would take place in a week’s time. Kitty purred happily as the cats began pairing up. This was going to be so much fun. And Tiger, Coco, and Emerald already looked much happier!

  She felt a little nudge and turned to see Misty. “Will you be my partner?” Misty asked hopefully.

  “Of course!” Kitty replied. “We make a good team.”

  Misty and Kitty agreed to meet the next day and start practicing. “Do you think we could win?” Misty whispered.

  “I don’t know!” said Kitty. “But it’s going to be fun trying!”

  Chapter 3

  Kitty thought she wouldn’t be able to get to sleep that night because she was too excited, but she was so tired from Fall Field Day, she fell asleep the minute her head touched the pillow.

  The next day, she transformed into her cat form as soon as her mom and dad had left for work at their shop, which sold special Japanese things. She ran down the street and hid in the bushes outside Jenny’s house. She knew that on Saturday mornings, Jenny went to soccer practice. Sure enough, before long, her friend came outside with her mom, and they drove away.

  The coast is clear! Kitty thought.

  Once the car was out of sight, she padded around the back of Jenny’s house and into the yard. Misty was waiting and gave an eager meow when she saw her friend.

  “What shall we practice first?” asked Kitty, once she and Misty had rubbed heads to say hello.

  “How about tree-climbing?” suggested Misty.

  “Okay. Race you to the top of that tree!” said Kitty, and they both leaped at the nearest trunk. Kitty tried to grab it with her kitten claws and pull herself up, but she didn’t manage to get very far. The bark was smooth and slippery from last night’s rain. Before long, Kitty and Misty both slid back down, landing on their bottoms with a yowl and a thud!