The Vanishing by Christopher Holt

Author:Christopher Holt
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub
Tags: Juvenile Fiction / Animals - Dogs, Juvenile Fiction / Social Issues - Friendship, Juvenile Fiction / Dystopian, Juvenile Fiction / Action & Adventure - Survival Stories
ISBN: 9780316215879
Publisher: Little, Brown Books for Young Readers
Published: 2012-09-04T07:00:00+00:00

CHAPTER 17

A CAT’S TALE

With Raoul’s blessing to stay on his street, Max, Rocky, and Gizmo left the cat house to search the rest of the neighborhood for food. They’d only just padded onto the next lawn over—with many cat eyes still watching their backs—when the long grass ahead of them parted and the fat black-and-white cat named Panda appeared once more.

“Hello,” she said softly.

The three dogs stopped and looked down at her. “Hello!” Gizmo said back.

For a moment, the cat crouched close to the ground, looking up at the three dogs warily. Rocky began to jump from leg to leg next to Max, growing restless.

“Uh, can we help you?” Max finally asked.

“Yes,” Panda said. “I know where some kibble is. I thought I could show you.”

“You’d do that?” Gizmo yipped, tail wagging. “Thank you!”

The cat jerked back at her excitement, as though ready to flee. Gizmo’s tail slowed its intense wag.

“We’d sure appreciate it,” Max said.

Panda took a deep breath, then turned her head and meowed. Another cat appeared, this one a skinnier version of Panda, only with gray fur in place of the white.

“This is my sister,” Panda said. “Our humans called her Possum.”

“Yes, Sister, enough with the introductions,” Possum said, sauntering past her chubbier sibling with a sigh. “Come, dogs. We figured if we didn’t feed you, you might go feral and try to eat us. Might as well share the kibble instead.”

Possum slunk between Max’s legs and strode to the front door of the house next to the cats’ home. Blinking, Panda ducked her head and waddled to follow her sister.

“Oh, we would never try to eat you,” Gizmo assured the cats as she, Max, and Rocky followed as well. “I like cats, but not like that!” She giggled, but was met with only kitty glares.

The home was a sprawling pink building, built exactly like the others on the street and so brightly colored that it almost hurt to look at it. It seemed in worse repair than any of the other houses in one specific way, however: Much of the siding on the bottom of the house had teeth marks in it, as though whatever animal had once lived here had taken to making the entire house one big chew toy.

Possum softly leaped up each of the concrete steps of the front porch, then nudged the door with her head. It opened, squeaking on its hinges.

Looking back at the dogs as they clambered up onto the porch, Possum rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I guess you three are some of the good ones. Just like that Doberman that came around.”

Panda hissed at her sister and swatted her side. “Shush!”

“Doberman?” Max asked. “Did he live around here?”

“No,” Panda said before Possum could get a word out. “Don’t worry about it. If Raoul trusts you, then we do, too. Please, let’s go eat.”

“Yes,” Rocky barked, his stomach audibly growling. “Please, big guy. I’m wasting away over here!”

Max nosed the door open all the way, then followed Panda and Possum

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.