Chapter Eleven

ME, AND A CAT, AND…WHO’S THAT?

I knocked on Scarlett’s door. No answer. I stepped over to the front window and peered in.

Her living room was dark. WHOOSH! Out of nowhere a face came at me in the window. Spooked, I jumped back and—WHOA!—tripped over a bush. CRASH! I fell right on my rear.

There, perched in the window and hissing at me was Princess Coconut, Scarlett’s cat.

To say that Princess Coconut doesn’t like me is not strong enough. She hates me. I don’t know why.

I picked myself up and brushed off the dirt. Then I went into the backyard to see if Scarlett was in the shed, which Scarlett calls her Craft Cottage. Empty. No car in the driveway, either.

Just my luck. Nobody home.

I couldn’t go home without doing something, so I sat on her patio, pulled a pencil and paper out of my backpack, and wrote her a letter.

Dear Scarlett,

You are my best friend because you’re so sweet and smart and all I think about is how much I want to be like you.

My heart knew that wasn’t true. I tried again.

Hi Scarlett,

You have a ticket. I want a ticket. Let’s work out a trade. If you give me that ticket, I’ll give you whatever of mine that you want. You wouldn’t want my clothes or shoes because yours are way nicer than mine. I don’t have any money. So that’s out. You always say you hate having a little sister, so what about Leo? I couldn’t give him to you forever because we would miss him, but you could have him for a day. For example, on a day when he is being a turtle, which is cute.

Okay. My heart knew that last part was a lie. Leo is cute when he’s being a wolf or an owl or a duck or a puppy or a pig or a bush baby or a wallaby, but he isn’t fun when he’s being a turtle.

As I finished, I could feel eyes on me. I looked up, and there in the window was Princess Coconut again. She was looking at me out the back window as if she wanted to pounce on my head.

Just then a noise came from the side of the house. Someone was coming. Since no car had pulled up, it couldn’t be Scarlett. A scary thought popped into my head. What if it was a robber?

I jumped up and ran behind the Craft Cottage.

It was strange…. It sounded like something was rolling on the ground…. It was probably a robber rolling a huge suitcase along to put stuff in. If I jumped out, maybe I would save the day, and Scarlett’s parents would give me a whole bunch of tickets. Or maybe the bad guy would stuff me in the suitcase!

I was still trying to decide when I heard another sound. I think the robber heard it, too, because the sound of the rolling stopped.

A new set of footsteps were coming from the other side of the house. Another robber! Scarlett’s parents were very rich. Bad guys were probably always watching their house to see when no one was home. I never should have come! I was probably going to get kidnapped, and I’d never see my parents or Leo or Lily or my friends again! They would miss me, and I would miss them. Poor Leo would be so sad, he would probably stay in his turtle shell forever.