The Painted Ponies of Partequineus and The Summer of the Kittens by Peter H. Riddle Page B

change - I offered to clean up and put away the leftovers like I always do ever since Maggie came so I can save some food for her without Mom noticing, and when Dad went into his den and Mom started loading the dishwasher, I took the meat I snitched upstairs and fed her.
    While she was eating I had to go to the bathroom, and I shut my bedroom door but I guess the latch didn’t close tight, and when I came back it was standing open and Maggie was gone. I had left the window open and I went over to look out, hoping I’d see her climbing down the tree, only she wasn’t there, and right then I heard Dad holler and I ran to the top of the stairs and found him standing in the middle of the living room. Maggie was halfway down with her ears kind of laid back, and Dad was shouting at her.
    â€œWhat the hell is a cat doing in here!”
    Mom came hurrying out of the kitchen, and I ran halfway down the stairs and picked Maggie up and petted her, but she was all kind of tense from Dad yelling like that, and she dug her claws into my shoulder. It hurt.
    â€œLouise,” Dad hollered, “did you tell this child she could bring a cat into this house?”
    â€œOf course not,” Mom said, and then she said to me, “Where did it come from?”
    â€œSome college kids dropped it off last week,” I said, and I guess I kind of mumbled because Dad said “What did you say?” really loud and kind of mean.
    â€œDon’t yell at her like that,” Mom said. “She said some college students left it here.”
    â€œHere?” He was glaring at me. “In this house?”
    â€œIn the vacant lot across the street,” I said.
    â€œSo what is it doing in my house?”
    â€œ Our house,” Mom said. “Hanna, put the cat outside.”
    â€œI can’t,” I told her.
    â€œWhy not?”
    â€œâ€™Cause she’ll just get right back in.”
    â€œNot if we don’t open the door,” Dad said.
    â€œShe doesn’t come in the door,” I said, really quiet, and Dad said “What?” really loud, and the cat sank her claws into me again and I let her loose and she ran back upstairs.
    â€œThat’s enough!” Dad said, and he pushed past me up the stairs and into my bedroom, only the cat was gone ’cause I’d left the window open. I followed him in, and he stared at the window and then turned around and said, “How long has this been going on?”
    Mom came in, and I could tell she was getting mad ’cause I hadn’t told her about the cat. Well, I was getting mad too.
    â€œ Somebody has to feed her,” I said. “Those college kids just left her, and so I took her some hamburger and some chicken and she followed me home, and I let her in once, and she wanted to go out and she knocked the screen loose and ran down the tree, only she came back again, and I’ve been feeding her ever since, and I want to keep her.”
    â€œIt’s not your responsibility,” Dad said.
    â€œIt has to be somebody’s , or she’ll die,” I said. “Paul Gallico says people are always doing that, they keep a pet as long as it’s not too much trouble, but when it becomes too much work for them, they just kick it out. They abandon it.”
    â€œWho’s Paul Gallico?” Dad interrupted.
    â€œAnd cats that have always lived with people don’t know how to take care of themselves, they can’t catch mice or anything, and unless somebody teaches them, like the way Jennie taught Peter, they starve to death, or get hit by cars, or get beat up by other cats or eaten by wild animals, or… or…” I was sort of running down, and so mad I couldn’t think of what else I wanted to say.
    â€œWhat is this child talking about?” Dad said.
    â€œIt’s in a book she’s been reading,” Mom said. “Hanna, let’s just calm down a minute and think this through. We could