Anna, Banana, and the Little Lost Kitten Read online

  My friends were coming over! That gave me a shot of energy. We were planning to practice for String Club, but I bet they’d also help me look for the kitty.

  “Who wants first spin on the chore wheel?” Mom asked, like spinning the wheel to choose a chore was some kind of special treat.

  “She does.” Chuck pointed at me. I didn’t argue. I figured I might as well get it over with.

  I flicked the spinner and it went round and round before landing on FOLD LAUNDRY. “Yes!” I cheered. Folding laundry was an easy chore. I had lucked out.

  Chuck spun the wheel and groaned when it landed on YARD WORK. Banana barked and wiggled like she was trying to tell me something. I realized she was right. “Trade you,” I said to Chuck.

  He narrowed his eyes with suspicion. “Why?” he asked.

  I shrugged. “No reason. I just feel like being outside.” Chuck stuck out his hand and we shook on it.

  He didn’t need to know what Banana and I really had in mind: Outside, we could keep an eye out for the kitten.

  Chapter Six

  Operation Catch the Kitten

  By the time Isabel’s Abuelita dropped Isabel and Sadie off at my house, I had cleaned my room, brushed Banana, and raked all the leaves from our yard into two piles, plus re-raked one of them after Banana and I had jumped in it. More importantly, I had spotted the kitten! Unfortunately, Banana had spotted him too, and as soon as they looked at each other, the kitten had run off.

  I was more convinced than ever that the little white kitten was lost.

  Sadie and Isabel were sure of it too. “There aren’t any missing cat signs around the neighborhood, though,” Isabel said. “If he belonged to someone, they’d be looking for him. He’s probably a stray.”

  I hadn’t even thought of that. “If that’s true, then we really need to find him,” I said. “The kitten needs a home!” Banana wiggled in agreement.

  Sadie looked thoughtful. “Signs are a good idea,” she said. “If we can’t find him, we should make some. Then people will know to be on the lookout.”

  “I think we’ll find him, though. We’re a really good team,” Isabel said.

  “Plus, Banana can help!” Sadie added. “She can smell where the kitten went, and we’ll follow his trail.”

  “Yes!” Isabel clapped her hands together and Banana bounced back and forth between her and Sadie, eager to be involved.

  I shook my head. “I’m sorry, Banana, but you’ll have to stay inside.” Banana sighed and lay down on the floor. She knew it was true. “The kitten is afraid of her,” I explained to my friends. “If he sees her, he’ll run.”

  “That makes sense,” Isabel said. “Mewsic doesn’t really like dogs either. Or other cats, for that matter.” Mewsic was Isabel’s huge orange tabby cat. He was even bigger than Banana.

  “So how are we going to find him?” Sadie asked.

  “The kitten is probably hungry. If we put out some food, maybe he’ll come to us,” Isabel suggested.

  “A saucer of milk!” Sadie said.

  Isabel nodded. “That too.” She turned to me. “I’m guessing you don’t have any cat food here.”

  I shook my head. We only had people food and Banana’s kibble. “We might have some tuna, though. Let’s ask my dad.”

  We ran downstairs with Banana at our heels. Dad was at the grocery store, but Mom helped us find a slice of turkey we could use, and a shallow bowl for the milk. “But if you catch any cats, no bringing them inside. Your father is very allergic,” she said.

  “Okay,” I agreed. That was disappointing, but I knew she was right. Once when Dad picked me up at Isabel’s house, he started sneezing from cat allergies immediately after crossing the doorstep. But we still could play with the kitten outside. We just had to find him first.

  Isabel held open the front door and I walked slowly toward it, trying not to spill the milk. “Stay, Banana,” I said. She went to the window to watch us.

  I set the bowl down in the grass near the sidewalk, and Sadie put the plate of turkey beside it. We looked around. No kitten.

  “So we just wait for him to show up to eat the food and then . . . catch him?” Sadie asked.

  We looked at Isabel. She thought for a second. “Mewsic loves taking naps in cardboard boxes. Do you have any, Anna? We could put a towel inside one to make him a cat bed. I bet he’ll crawl right in.”

  “Good idea,” I said, and ran to get a box from the garage. It was a good thing Isabel knew so much about cats. I was glad to have an expert on my team.

  We set up the box near the turkey and milk, and folded an old beach towel inside. It looked like a nice, soft spot for a kitten. We grinned at each other, feeling pleased with our work. Surely the kitten would love it.

  We sat on the stoop of my house to watch and wait for the kitten to come by.

  And waited.

  And waited.

  And waited.

  Chapter Seven

  Change of Plans

  Sadie sighed, crossed her eyes, and dropped her head onto my shoulder, then squeezed her loop of yarn into a clump. We’d been sitting on the stoop for what felt like hours, but hadn’t seen any sign of the kitten. For a while, I’d kept watch while Isabel taught Sadie a string trick called Open the Gate, but now the gate had been opened a million times and I could tell my friends were getting antsy. In truth, I was getting a little impatient too, but I couldn’t give up on the kitten. “You know,” Sadie said, “maybe we should go look for him instead of sitting here doing nothing.”

  That made me feel bad, like she was calling me boring, but Isabel perked right up. “Yeah! Let’s walk around the block.”

  I bit my lip. “But what if he comes for the food while we’re gone?”

  “Then he’ll be taking a nap in the box when we get back,” Isabel said. “He’s probably more likely to come while we’re not here, actually, now that I think about it. He might know it’s a trap if we’re watching.”

  “So by walking away, we double our chances of finding him,” Sadie said.

  I wasn’t sure about that math, but my friends were already standing, so I got up too. I didn’t want to just sit there by myself. “Okay, let’s go,” I said.

  We set off around the block, in the same direction Chuck and I went to get to school. Sadie ducked to look under bushes. I stood on tiptoes to peek over fences and into yards. Isabel made a psst-psst-psst sound. That was how she called her cat, Mewsic, at home. We all tried to walk softly so our footsteps wouldn’t scare the kitten away.

  This was much more fun than sitting on the stoop, waiting. It felt like we were detectives out on a sneaky cat-finding mission. But the kitten was too good at hiding.

  We turned left, down the street with the Surely Shirley house. “That’s where I first saw him,” I said as we drew closer. “Yesterday morning, when I got the heebie-jeebies.”

  Isabel craned her neck to see, but Sadie drew back. “It does look kind of haunted,” she said.

  I stepped toward the garden, looking for any signs of the kitten. Sadie grabbed my arm. “What was that?” she asked.

  “What?” Isabel said.

  “Shhh,” Sadie warned. “That. Listen.”

  We listened, and this time I heard it: a muffled sound coming from inside the house, like the cry of a kitten, or perhaps even—

  “Is it a ghost?” Sadie whispered.

  Isabel shook her head slightly, but she didn’t seem certain. She looked all tense, like how Banana gets right before someone turns on the vacuum: ready to bolt.

  A dark cloud passed over the sun, casting the house and garden in shadow. “Look,” Sadie said, and I saw it too—a curtain shifted in the second-floor window, and for a second I thought I saw a face looking out at us.

  I blinked and when I looked again, the face—if it had even really been there at all—was gone.

  “Let’s go!” I said, and took off at a run. My friends were right behind me.

  I didn’t slow down until we’d turned
onto the next street. I was nearly out of breath and my heart was pumping hard, but I felt more excitement than fear. “What do you think that was?” I asked. “Could that noise have been the kitten?”

  Isabel tucked back some loose hair that had fallen from her braids. “It sounded more like someone was crying,” she said.

  “Did you see that face in the open window?” Sadie asked.

  I shuddered, but Isabel shrugged. “Well, someone lives there, don’t they? They probably heard us and looked out.”

  Being logical wasn’t as fun as being scared, but I had to admit Isabel’s explanations made sense. And I was glad my neighbors weren’t ghosts.

  Sadie looked relieved too. “Whatever the person’s sad about, I hope she feels better soon.”

  “Me too,” I said, and Isabel agreed. We rounded the corner back onto my street. When we reached my front yard, Sadie stopped short.

  “The kitten!” she said. “He was here!”

  Chapter Eight

  Thinking Outside the Box

  We ran over to the dishes and cat box. Sadie was right: The kitten had definitely been there. He’d eaten all the turkey and lapped up half the milk. The towel in the box had a kitten-size dent in it, and a few white hairs were stuck to the cloth. The kitten must have taken a cat nap after his snack.

  But even though he’d been there, he had already disappeared.

  I dropped to the grass and put my head in my hands. “Oh no. We missed him!” I couldn’t believe it. This was terrible. I’d had a chance to save him and I’d blown it. I should never have walked away from the stoop.

  But Isabel was dancing around with delight. “No, Anna, this is good news!” she said.

  I lifted my head. “It is?”

  “Yes!” she said. Beside her, Sadie nodded, her eyes bright. I didn’t know how they could be so upbeat.

  “First of all, it’s good that he’s eaten. Didn’t you say he was too skinny?” Sadie said.

  “Yeah . . .” I supposed that was true.

  “And now that he knows there’s food here, he’ll be coming back for more!” Isabel sounded triumphant.

  “You think so?” I asked.

  “I’m sure of it,” Isabel said. “And he’s much more likely to trust someone who’s fed him. So now when we do catch him, he’ll be less scared and squirmy.”

  I nodded slowly. That did seem good. “I still wish we’d rescued him, though,” I said.

  “Me too,” Isabel said, and I knew she meant it. “But this is the next best thing.”

  “It will be okay, Anna,” Sadie said. “We’ll find the kitten soon. This was a good first step.”

  “Let’s go inside and ask Banana if she saw him,” Isabel said.

  “Yeah.” Sadie stuck out both hands and pulled me up from the ground. “And then we can make some signs.”

  Chapter Nine

  Hanging Around

  I got out some markers, crayons, and construction paper, and we sat at the kitchen table and got to work. Sadie wrote LOST KITTEN in big letters at the top of ten pieces of paper. Isabel drew a picture of the kitten on each one, and I wrote my first name and phone number plus PLEASE CALL IF YOU SEE HIM at the bottom.

  I faced toward the window the whole time we were working so I would see if the kitten appeared in my backyard. Banana kept looking out the window too, and a few times she even perked up her ears like she might have heard a noise. But when I ran outside to look, there was nothing there.

  Chuck came into the kitchen carrying his baseball glove and wearing a rhinestoned cowboy hat he’d gotten from Nana and Grumps. “What are you guys doing?” he asked, leaning over Sadie’s shoulder to look. I braced myself for him to make a rude comment, but he surprised me by saying, “Cool. Can I help?”

  Isabel put down the white crayon she’d been using. “The posters are done. But you can help us hang them up.”

  Chuck let out a loud burp in response and grinned like he’d done something clever. I rolled my eyes and Banana flattened her ears, but Sadie giggled. Isabel just waited patiently for his real reply. “I’ll get some masking tape,” he said.

  Isabel, Sadie, and I took half of the signs in one direction, while Chuck and Banana took the others. Soon they were taped up all over the areas where we thought the kitten might be.

  I skipped back to the house alongside my friends, feeling hopeful. Everyone in the neighborhood would see the signs, and with that many people keeping an eye out for the kitten, we were sure to find him soon.

  We went up to my room and got out our yarn loops, but there was only time to practice a few string tricks before Sadie’s mom arrived to take her and Isabel home.

  “Call us if there’s any kitten news!” Sadie said as she climbed into the backseat of the car.

  Isabel gave me a quick hug. “I’m sure he’ll be back soon,” she said. She hugged Banana, too, before following after Sadie.

  I sat on the steps and waved to my friends as the car drove out of sight. Banana leaned over and licked my ear, making me laugh.

  I was so lucky to have two best friends and a best Banana. They always made everything better. I hoped soon the little lost kitten would have someone to lean on too.

  Chapter Ten

  Spell It Out

  That night and the next morning, Banana and I were on high alert, waiting for the phone to ring with news of the kitten. But no one called.

  Dad let me put out some tuna at lunchtime and I waited at the window for the kitten to come eat it. I stopped watching for only a minute to Skype with Nana and Grumps, but when I got back, the tuna was gone. It was like Nana sometimes said: “A watched pot never boils.”

  I walked around the block looking for him so many times that Mom finally said, “No more cat-searching until you’ve used each of your spelling and vocabulary words in a sentence.”

  I groaned and went to get a pen. Banana helped me write a story about a kitten who was so pale he looked almost translucent. Everyone thought he’d transformed into a ghost. But a girl translated his meows into words and transcribed them onto a piece of paper, and learned he wasn’t a ghost, he was only hungry. So the girl gave him some food and he gave her a purr, and they were both pleased with that transaction. The girl invited the kitten to transfer his belongings to her house, and the kitten accepted, and they both lived happily ever after.

  “Hmm, I sense this week’s vocabulary words all have something in common,” Mom said after I read the story out loud to her and Dad.

  “I wish Ms. Burland would be more transparent about it,” Dad said. They laughed like it was a hilarious joke.

  “May I go back outside now?” I asked. It made me grumpy that the girl in the story kept the cat, but I wouldn’t be able to keep my kitten if I found him.

  “One more time around the block,” Mom said. “Then please set the table for dinner.”

  “No bringing any kittens inside, though,” Dad reminded me.

  “I know.” I ran to the door with Banana bounding alongside me. She looked up at me with big, hopeful eyes. I felt a pang of guilt about leaving her inside again when I knew how much she wanted to go with me. With all the hours I’d spent looking for the kitten, I hadn’t been spending as much time with Banana as usual. Normally we had all our adventures together.

  I hoped she didn’t feel like she was being replaced by the kitten. No one could replace Banana. But finding the kitten felt like my responsibility—I’d been the first person to see him, and the first person to realize he was lost. If I didn’t find him, who would? “I’m sorry, Banana,” I said. “I wish you could come.”

  Banana sat and thumped her tail as if to say, Pleeeeeeeeease? I hesitated. She thumped harder. I knew she could tell I was giving in.

  “If we see the kitten, you have to promise to stay far away and not scare him,” I said. Banana wiggled her whole backside in agreement. I clipped on her leash.

  We looked left and right, up and down, and ahead and behind us as we circled the block. Banana sni
ffed the grass along the edges of the sidewalk and got excited when she saw a few squirrels, but we didn’t find the kitten.

  As we reached the Surely Shirley house, Banana perked up her ears, but it wasn’t because of the kitten. She had spotted someone out in the garden.

  Mrs. Shirley was sitting on a stone bench near the gazing ball, with a faraway look on her face. Banana and I kept walking until we were almost right in front of her, but Mrs. Shirley didn’t seem to notice us.

  I thought about the crying sounds my friends and I had heard yesterday, and Banana and I slowed to a stop. I had a hunch about why Mrs. Shirley was sad.

  “Excuse me,” I called to her. “Did you lose something?”

  Chapter Eleven

  Neither Here Nor There

  Mrs. Shirley looked up. She seemed startled to see us there. “What? No, not something. Someone,” she said.

  Banana and I glanced at each other. “Was the someone a kitten?” I asked.

  A sudden smile spread from the corners of Mrs. Shirley’s lips all the way up to her eyes. She laughed. “He wasn’t,” she said. “He was my husband.”

  “You lost your husband?” Mrs. Shirley was still smiling, but Banana and I felt a little alarmed. “Do you need us to help you look for him?” I offered.

  She shook her head. “I don’t mean that he wandered off. He died several months ago. I was just sitting here thinking about him, so your question caught me by surprise. That’s all.”

  “Oh,” I said. “I’m sorry for your loss.” I’d heard Mom say that once to a woman at the library whose aunt had passed away. I wasn’t sure what else to say about it.

  “Thank you,” Mrs. Shirley said.

  Banana nudged me with her snout. “Do you miss him?” I asked. I wondered if that was why she’d been crying yesterday. If I ever lost Banana, I knew I would feel super sad.