“… alley sheltering from a ferocious dog. A snarling dog with sharp teeth and a very mean growl. The dog would be staring at me as though he wanted me for breakfast, and my back would arch up and my hair would stand on end and I would spit and hiss.
The dog wouldn’t be able to come down the alley, because there would be a spiky gate keeping him out. I wouldn’t want to leave the alley, because then I would be the dog’s breakfast.
It wouldn’t be any fun at all. It would be so dark I couldn’t see what was hiding in the corners and that would make me feel nervous.
There wouldn’t be any sardines in the alley either, so I would get hungrier and hungrier, and as I got hungrier and hungrier, I would get weaker and weaker,” said the cat.
“And what about me, Sandy?” asked Miss May. “What would I be doing? Surely I could shout at the dog in my strictest voice and tell the dog to go home. Or I could throw a stick and he would chase after it. I am sure I would think of something to get us out of that pickle.”
“Oh, but you weren’t in the alley. It was just me and I didn’t want to go back to horrible big fat bully cat. Life wasn’t looking very good then,” said the cat in a sad voice.
“Oh I see,” said Miss May. “I know what kind of story this is! This is a true story.”
Miss May gave the cat a long, hard stare and said, “Now that would be FEROCIOUS!”
Miss May was a very thoughtful teacher and knew exactly when to ask the children important questions. She knew this was not the right time to ask the cat whether he had a place to call home, but she felt it would be all right to ask something else.
“So how did you get out of the alley, Sandy?” asked Miss May. “I know you did because you are here in my classroom telling me great stories.”
“It was my lucky break,” said the cat. “Just as I was about to give up all hope, the dog-patrol car pulled up. Two women jumped out. One grabbed the ferocious dog and locked it in the back of the van. The other woman spotted me. She carefully climbed over the spiky gate and I was too weak to run away. The woman very gently picked me up and took me over to show her friend.
Talk about being fussed over … They both thought I was a very skinny but very beautiful kitten. So they took me back to the animal pound and gave me a little bowl of sardines. I was in heaven. Warm. Comfortable. Well fed!”
Just then the lights in the classroom flickered, the sound of thunder clashed overhead and the cat leapt through the air and landed on Miss May’s lap. The lights flickered again and then went out.
For a moment the room was completely dark, but before Miss May could say LEAPING BULLFROGS, lightning filled the room with a brilliant but scary white light.
Just as the light and dark show was starting to get interesting and more and more scary, the classroom lights came back on.
“Oh, what a terrible, stormy, wild, windy, woolly, treacherous, disgusting, ferocious, terrifying night,” moaned Miss May.
“It could be worse,” said the cat in a very polite voice, still shaking slightly from the thunder and lightning. “We could hear something on the other side of that door that would make us jump out of our …”