by Rolli -
The cat lay dozing at the top of the REALLY HIGH staircase. He was the roundest, fattest thing you ever saw, and looked like–
“He swallowed a beach ball,” thought Kether, as she tiptoed up the stairs. It was Kether’s job to bring the cat his breakfast every morning–these dry brown things that looked like little doughnuts, and smelled just awful. “Yum! Here’s your doughnuts,” she’d say, trying to hide the disgusted look on her face. “What a lucky puss you are!”
Today, though, halfway up the stairs, something unexpected happened. Turning over in his sleep, the fat cat came a bit too close to the edge of the top step. He wobbled back and forth for a moment, and then, still dozing....
WENT TUMBLING DOWN THE STAIRCASE!
Kether leaped out of the way just in time. Turning around, she saw the cat roll to the bottom of the stairs, zip across the floor, burst right out the front door ... and keep on going! He was like some fuzzy tumbleweed, some purring avalanche, some bowling ball with paws.
The girl dropped the dish of food she was carrying, and ran after him. As she raced along, she sang:
Roly-Poly Fat Cat
pretty please come back, back.
I’ll fill your dish with cream,
if you’ll wake up from your dream.
I'll fill it up with fish,
if you'll only grant my wish.
Just pretty please come back, back,
Roly-Poly Fat Cat!
But he didn’t! Purring in his sleep, he just went right on rolling. He was like some runaway plum, some frisky armadillo. He whizzed past a lamppost, swung around a corner, and SLAMMED - right into the Letter Lady!
"Eeee!" she cried, letters and packages flying. And from every witch direction - popping out of windows, swooping down on broomsticks, nasty old ladies grabbed letters by the handful, ripping them open with their sharp teeth, and long fingernails. One of the rottenest things that witches do is steal other people's mail, so they never get the spy goggles or trading cards they ordered, and waited forever for. It's terrible.
With every last bit of mail snapped up, there was nothing for the Letter Lady to do but to join in the chase, and try to stop anyone else from being knocked over like tenpins. So down the street she went, Kether leading the way. And as they raced along, they sang -
Roly-Poly Fat Cat
pretty please come back, back.
I’ll fill your dish with cream,
if you’ll wake up from your dream.
I'll fill it up with fish,
if you'll only grant my wish.
Just pretty please come back, back,
Roly-Poly Fat Cat!
But he didn't! On he went, like some fluffy cannonball, some whiskery missile. Left and right, women, men and children leaped out of the way, screaming...
