by Katie Clark –
The dogs strutted across the platform, their noses high in the air, their backs straight. It was the Macon City Dog Show, and the theater was packed.
Three cats lounged outside, watching the show through a window. “I could do it much better than that!” said Molly. She licked her delicate paw, grooming herself.
“Those mangy dogs get all the glory,” said Leon. “We should have our own show–a cat show!”
“Who would come?” asked Molly. She curled into a comfy pose on the dumpster. “People only like dogs.”
Pongo poked his head up from sleep. “Dogs? Where?” The fur on his back stood on end.
“Go back to sleep, Pongo,” said Leon. “There aren’t any dogs.”
Pongo lay his furry black head down and began to purr.
Leon paced to the window and watched the dogs for a few minutes. “People like cats, too. They just have to see all that we can do.”
Molly rested her chin on her paws and yawned. “How do we show them that?” She closed her eyes.
Leon shrugged and batted at an abandoned rubber band. Boing, boing.
“I wish someone did like us,” Molly said. “It would be nice to have a home.”
Pongo sighed. “Home,” he said.
Leon boinged the rubber band again. That gave him an idea. “We’ll make music! People love music almost as much as they love dogs!”
Molly said, “How are we supposed to do that? We don‘t have any instruments.”
Leon thought for a minute. “Midnight lives in the alley behind the Orchestra Pit. He can get us some instruments. We’ll have a parade! Who knows, maybe someone will like it so much they’ll take one of us home.”
Molly sat up. “Take one of us home? I guess I could give it a try.”
Leon, Molly, and Pongo trotted around the block letting all the alley cats know about the parade. Midnight assured them that he would have instruments ready.
The sun danced high in the sky the next day at noon. Molly, Leon, and Pongo stood at the front of a sea of cats.
The clock tower boomed 12 o’clock.
Leon strutted down the middle of Main Street, his head held high, his tail waving in the sky. He purred loudly.
Molly meowed a dainty tune, shaking a tambourine, while Pongo banged his paws on a big bass drum.
A line of pristine cats followed behind them. Some tooted horns; some trotted and pranced, and some meowed and purred.
People up and down the street stopped to stare. “Look, Momma!” a girl called out. “I want a kitty!”
Word spread quickly and soon the streets boomed with people watching the cat parade. People clapped. People cheered.
When the cats finished circling their block, they lined up on the sidewalk and made themselves comfortable.
“I want this one!” a boy shouted.
“Can I take the white one?” a little girl asked her father.
A lady with a big purse bent down and scooped Molly up. “I’m going to take you home,” she promised. “You will be the happiest cat around!”
Molly purred loudly.
After that day, people began leaving bowls of cat food and milk on their porches for the cats. When seen on the streets the cats were greeted with a pat and a smile. The Macon City Cat Parade became an annual tradition. It grew bigger each year, until even the dogs were jealous.
the end.
Question Time
1. What was Leon’s idea?
2. Why did the cats decide to make music?
3. What happened when the humans saw all the cats walking down the street, playing music?
