Bobby the Show-Off Cat

by Ella Moonheart

  “Hey!” cried Kitty. “I thought we cats were always supposed to land on our feet!”

  “At least we know we could win one competition at Field Day. Not tree climbing, but tree sliding!” joked Misty.

  “That’s not the right way to climb a tree, you know,” said an unfamiliar voice from behind them.

  Kitty and Misty whirled around. A big gray cat was perched on the yard fence, watching them.

  “Who are you?” asked Kitty.

  “My name is Bobby,” the gray cat said, sitting up importantly. “I was walking past when I heard you talking about climbing that tree, and I heard the bump when you fell down! It’s easy if you know how to do it. Watch me.”

  Bobby jumped down into the yard and marched over to the tree. “I can even do it with just my forepaws,” he boasted.

  Kitty and Misty glanced at one another. “Climbing a tree without using your back paws? That’s impossible!” Misty whispered.

  They watched as Bobby leaped at the trunk, scrabbling to grip it just like they had done. “I thought you weren’t going to use your back paws,” Kitty said doubtfully, as the gray cat dug all four sets of claws into the bark.

  “Oh, I was, um, only kidding about that!” said Bobby quickly. “Hey, look, I’m doing it! Told you, didn’t I? I’m the best at climbing trees!”

  Bobby managed to get only a little way up the trunk before tumbling back to the ground. “See, I said it was easy!” he said, jumping back up.

  “Easy? I think he was even worse than us,” muttered Misty.

  Bobby pretended not to hear her. “I can’t wait to win all the competitions at Feline Field Day. And the treats!” he announced.

  “How do you know about Field Day?” asked Kitty. “You weren’t at the Cat Council meeting last night.”

  “I overheard some cats on my street talking about it,” Bobby told her. “I just need to find a partner, but I’m not worried about that. Everyone will want to pair up with me! Hey, want to see how fast I can race?”

  Before waiting for an answer, he charged across the yard, almost running headfirst into Jenny’s trampoline.

  “What a show-off!” said Misty. “Come on, Kitty, let’s practice our jumping. If we dip our paws in the mud and jump at the wall, we can make pawmarks and measure how high we get!”

  But Bobby, realizing they weren’t watching him anymore, was running back toward them. “Jumping? Oh, I’m the BEST jumper. I bet I can jump twice as high as either of you!”

  Misty’s fur was bristling, but Kitty didn’t want to be unfriendly—even though Bobby was a little annoying! “Okay, why don’t we all dip our paws in the mud and see how high we can jump?” she suggested patiently.

  But without waiting, Bobby pushed past both kittens and leaped into the muddy patch at the edge of the garden, splashing Kitty and Misty’s coats with mud.

  “Urgh!’” cried Misty.

  “Oops!” said Bobby. “Sorry, but if you were as quick as me, maybe you would have been able to move out of the way in time. Anyway, watch this!” He ran toward the wall and jumped as high as he could, leaving muddy prints on the bricks. “Now it’s your turn, but you definitely won’t beat me,” he called.

  Kitty sighed. This was no fun! And she could tell that Misty felt the same. She wished Bobby would go away, but how could she ask him to without seeming mean?

  “Oh, I think I hear something,” she said, pricking up her ears and turning to Misty. “It sounds like your humans are back already. You’d better go inside, Misty. I should head home too.”

  “Really?” said Misty, frowning. Then her eyes widened as she realized what Kitty was doing. “Oh, right! Yes, I can hear them!” she said quickly.

  Bobby paused, trying to listen. “Oh, I heard them ages ago!” he said, although Kitty knew he couldn’t hear anything. “I have amazing hearing. Well, I’d better get back to my family, too. They’ll be waiting for me, probably with a big bag of my favorite snacks, and some new toys! I have the best family in the world. We live in the biggest, nicest house in town. You should come and hang out some time!”

  “Oh, uh—thanks?” said Kitty, as Bobby scampered off.

  “See you at Field Day!” he yelled as he disappeared over the fence.

  “Thank goodness he’s gone!” meowed Misty when the sound of Bobby padding away had faded. “I can’t believe he’s going to be at Field Day. He’s going to ruin it for everyone! I’ve never met such a show-off, have you?”

  Kitty agreed. “Although, well, it’s funny, but he really reminded me of someone!” she said. “But I don’t know any cats who behave like that . . .”

  Chapter 4

  Kitty spent the rest of the weekend puzzling it over. Who did Bobby remind her of? She just couldn’t think of any cats who behaved like he did.

  On Monday morning, she met Jenny, Mia, and Evie, and they walked to school together, Jenny giggling as she told them how she had slipped in the mud at soccer practice on Saturday and somehow scored a goal by accident. As they approached the school gates, something caught Kitty’s eye. Another triangle—this time, carved into a fence post.

  Another Cat Council meeting already? she thought. We just had one a few days ago! I wonder what’s wrong now?

  But before she could give it any more thought, she heard Evie groan. “Brandon,” Evie muttered. “Just ahead of us. And guess what. He’s showing off. Again!”

  Kitty looked up. Brandon was perched on the school gates and holding a shiny toy car. “It’s new! My mom bought it for me this weekend,” he was bragging to any kid who would listen.

  “That’s who Bobby reminded me of!” exclaimed Kitty. It wasn’t a cat she’d been trying to think of—it was a human! “Brandon!”

  “Who’s Bobby?” asked Jenny.

  Oops. Kitty hadn’t meant to speak out loud! “Uh, just someone I saw on TV this weekend,” she said quickly, hoping she wasn’t flushing. Luckily, Bobby was a human name as well as a cat name. If she had said Whiskers or Tabby, her slip-up would have been much harder to explain!

  Kitty and Suki made their way to the clearing for that evening’s Cat Council meeting once Kitty’s parents were in bed. But tonight felt very different from the last meeting. Even before they had arrived, Kitty could hear cats complaining. “We have to do something!” Tiger was saying grumpily, as she and Suki joined the circle.

  “What’s going on?” Kitty whispered to Misty, who was already there.

  “It seems like we’re not the only cats who Bobby annoyed this weekend!” Misty replied.

  “This is about Bobby?” said Kitty, surprised. She looked around the circle and saw that every cat looked upset or angry, and that Bobby was not among them.

  “He spoiled our meowing practice,” explained Frost, as her sister Snowdrop nodded. “We only have tiny little meows because we’re just kittens, so we wanted to get better! We tried meowing as loudly as we could. Then Bobby showed up and told us we’d never be as loud as him. Snowdrop was really sad, and I told Bobby to go away!”

  “Bobby jumped into my yard and told me he was amazing at balancing,” Coco added darkly. “He tried walking along the washing line, but my owner had just pinned out some white sheets to dry. Bobby got muddy paw prints all over them, and my owner thought it was me. She was very angry and took my favorite mouse toy away!”

  “Bobby broke my owner’s favorite flowerpot,” said a little cat named Scout sadly. “He was bragging that he could catch a butterfly, but he wasn’t looking where he was going and he crashed into it. He didn’t even say sorry. He just ran off. My owner was so upset!”

  “I think we’re all agreed that Bobby should not be allowed to come to Feline Field Day,” said Coco, and all the cats meowed in agreement.

  Kitty listened quietly, a little knot of worry forming in her tummy. She agreed that Bobby was annoying and that Field Day probably wouldn’t be as much fun with him there. But she felt bad for Bobby, too. He had seemed so excited about joining the games. If he was the only cat
not allowed to take part, he would feel left out!

  Kitty glanced across at Suki and saw that she was looking anxious too.

  “Grandma,” Kitty whispered, “I think we should let Bobby join in.”

  Suki nodded. “I think you are right, Kitty,” she replied.

  “The Cat Council is supposed to help other cats, not be unkind to them,” Kitty said, her voice shaking slightly. It wasn’t easy to disagree with the rest of Cat Council! “If we leave Bobby out, wouldn’t that be unkind?”

  Kitty waited nervously as the cats all murmured to one another. Then Tiger spoke up. “You’re right, Kitty,” he said. “Thank you for reminding us. The Cat Council should never exclude anyone.”

  “But he won’t find a partner,” said Coco. “Who would want to pair up with him?”

  Kitty paused. “Well, I could be Bobby’s partner,” she said.

  “Wait a minute!” said Misty. “Kitty, we’re partners!”

  “I know! But someone has to pair with Bobby, otherwise he won’t be able to join in,” explained Kitty, feeling miserable.

  “But if you partner with Bobby, that leaves me by myself,” said Misty. “Then I won’t be able to take part!”

  “Bobby should get to join in, but it’s not fair if Misty can’t join in,” piped up Frost. “She hasn’t done anything wrong.”

  “I have an idea. Misty, what if I’m your partner?” suggested Suki.

  “But you’re our referee,” pointed out Emerald. “How will we know who the winner is?”

  “We’ll all be the referees,” explained Suki. “We can take turns judging the different events and decide on the winner together.”

  “Grandma, that’s a great idea. What do you think, Misty?” asked Kitty hopefully.

  Misty sighed. “Well . . . okay,” she agreed. “But I still don’t think it’s a very good idea, Kitty. Bobby is going to ruin it for everyone!”

  The rest of the Cat Council thought so too. Everyone seemed very unsure about letting Bobby take part.

  “I’ll talk to him,” promised Kitty. “I’m sure Bobby can behave himself!”

  But as she and Grandma headed back home that evening, she found herself thinking, What have I done?

  After school the next day, Kitty asked Grandma if she could go to the park. Mom and Dad would be at the shop for another hour or two, and Kitty had important things to do!

  “Be home for dinner!” Grandma said, waving goodbye at the park gates. Kitty didn’t waste any time and found a big, shady sycamore tree at the park’s edge to duck behind. When she was sure no one was looking her way, she quietly spoke the special words on her necklace.

  “Human hands to kitten paws,

  Human fingers, kitten claws.”

  Once she had transformed into her cat form, she made her way to the playground. At the end of last night’s Cat Council meeting, she had asked the other cats to tell Bobby to meet her there if they saw him today. As she turned off the path into the playground, she spotted Bobby and realized her plan had worked.

  Kitty couldn’t help feeling a little sorry for him. Bobby was by himself, she saw. It seemed as though all the other cats in town were keeping their distance. He looked very busy, though, charging around the playground on some kind of obstacle course. First, he ran up the slide. Then he jumped down, leaped through the tire swing, and landed on the monkey bars. Then he trotted along the top, balancing very carefully.

  Kitty was surprised. He was actually pretty good!

  “Hi, Bobby!” she called.

  Bobby turned eagerly. “Oh, hi, Kitty!” he said. “Shadow and Coco told me to meet you here. I’m really excited to be your partner at Field Day!”

  “Oh, well, me too!” said Kitty. This is going well, she thought, feeling pleased. He’s not so bad.

  “You’re really lucky. Now I can teach you all my skills,” continued Bobby. “You’ll definitely win now that you’re on my team.”

  Kitty managed not to let out a sigh. Why did Bobby have to ruin everything by bragging so much? No wonder he was here by himself! More than ever, he reminded her of boastful Brandon.

  “Well, let’s start practicing,” she said, doing her best not to show Bobby she was annoyed. “Maybe we could run along the top of the monkey bars, like you were doing just now? That looks like fun.”

  “I bet you’ve never seen anyone run along the top of the monkey bars like me,” Bobby said proudly, leaping up the metal frame. “Watch!”

  Instead of trotting along it carefully, this time Bobby tried to balance on just one front paw and one hind paw at a time. He was very wobbly, and he almost fell through the bars once or twice. I have to get him to do it normally, Kitty thought, before he hurts himself!

  “Wow, I’ve never seen anyone balance like that,” she said. “But the field day will be all about speed. Don’t you think it would be faster to use all four paws?”

  “Oh, okay!” Bobby trotted along the top of the bars quickly. “Like this?”

  “That’s great!” said Kitty, following behind. She had been right. When Bobby wasn’t trying to show off, he was much faster.

  They moved around the playground, from the monkey bars to the slide to the merry-go-round. Once Kitty had persuaded Bobby not to try jumping from the merry-go-round as it was whizzing around, they both took turns sitting on it, with their tails flying. It was a lot of fun. And, Kitty realized, so was Bobby—that is, when he wasn’t trying his hardest to impress anyone!

  Soon it was time for Kitty to head home. “I have to go. My dinner will be ready soon,” she explained.

  Bobby’s whiskers drooped, but only for a second. “Oh, mine too,” he told her quickly. “In fact, I can hear my owner calling me right now! I live in a big, big house nearby. Well, it’s more of a mansion, really. See you, Kitty!”

  As Bobby ran off, Kitty frowned. A mansion? She had never seen a mansion in her town before! And she was pretty sure she hadn’t heard anyone calling Bobby’s name just now, either.

  I’m going to find out what’s going on, she decided, setting off after the big gray cat.

  Kitty stayed back so that Bobby wouldn’t hear her collar jingling and crouched in the shadows in case he turned around. All the way through town they ran, until Bobby turned down a quiet street. The house he stopped at wasn’t a mansion at all, but a cozy-looking cottage with flowers in the front yard. A bowl of water was waiting on the doorstep.

  Bobby gulped the water down. But then, instead of going inside the cottage, he kept running down the street.

  That’s odd, thought Kitty.

  As she followed Bobby, she saw him stop several more times at different houses, drinking bowls of water and nibbling at snacks that people had left outside. Finally, he headed for the last house on the street.

  Kitty stared at it. Bobby had been telling the truth . . . sort of. It was a very big house, with a porch and a turret, and it looked like it must have been very grand once. But it also looked very spooky! The windows were broken and covered in cobwebs. The huge yard was wild and overgrown. And there was a big sign nailed to the front fence that said: KEEP OUT. DANGER.

  Kitty was sure that no one lived in this house—and that no one had for a very long time.

  But as she watched, Bobby slipped under the crooked fence and through one of the broken windows.

  I can’t believe it, thought Kitty. Bobby doesn’t live in a big house with a family who loves him. Bobby doesn’t have a family at all!

  Chapter 5

  Kitty ran home from the old, abandoned house, thinking all the while about poor Bobby. By the time she arrived at her house and transformed back into her human form, her mom and dad were starting to get worried.

  “There you are!” said Dad, giving her a big hug. “Kitty, it’s almost dark.”

  “I know! I’m sorry,” Kitty said.

  “Where were you, Kitty-cat?” asked Mom.

  “I . . . I found a cat wandering around at the park,” she explained. “A big, gray cat.” S
he glanced at Grandma, and Grandma gave a tiny nod to show she understood that Kitty was describing Bobby. “I followed it home. I was trying to make sure it got back to its family safely.”

  “Such a kind Kitty-cat,” said Grandma, smiling. “And did you?”

  Kitty shook her head. “No!” she said, feeling tears prick her eyes. “I don’t think this cat has a family!”

  Grandma’s eyes widened. Kitty knew that Grandma would be as upset and worried by this news as she was. They both knew that cats needed a safe home and a loving family more than anything.

  Mom was looking concerned too, but for a different reason. “Kitty, it was very sweet of you to try to help, but I’m not sure you should be getting too close to cats. Remember, you’re allergic to them.”

  “I know, Mom,” replied Kitty, nodding. “Don’t worry; I didn’t pet him.”

  Her eyes met Grandma’s again in a knowing look. For most of her life, Kitty had believed she was allergic to cats. Her nose would always itch and twitch when she was around one. But now she knew that those itchy, twitchy feelings were just her magical gift trying to get out! Since she’d found out about her special secret and transformed into a cat for the very first time, her “allergies” had totally disappeared. Of course, she couldn’t tell Mom and Dad that.

  When Kitty’s parents went into the kitchen to finish making dinner, Kitty told Grandma the whole story. “He lives in an abandoned house, Grandma. All the windows are broken, and there’s a sign on the door saying DANGER!” whispered Kitty. “It looks like some of the families on his street leave out water and snacks for him, but he doesn’t have a family of his own.”