Alice by Ed Lindsey (best summer reads TXT) 📕

and moist and smelled terrible like the cat ate something that it shouldn’t had. The cat, if it moved another inch would be eyeball to eyeball with Pokey and Pokey, closed his eyes and said goodbye to Alice. Alice watched the cat, as the cat lay down in front of Pokey, and opened its mouth up. Alice thought sure the mouse was a goner, and shortly she would be next. She saw something drop from the cats mouth with a tiny thump, and the cat began to purr, Alice peeked around the now statue Pokey to see what it was, but could not comprehend what she was looking at. Pokey finally opened his eyes when he heard the cat purr, and looked down at the floor to see what the cat dropped, and there in perfect shape was Pokey’s tail. The tail should have been gone a long time ago, because the cat got his tail 2 months previous. Pokey picked it up and was holding it when the cat got back up, the fear came back into the little mouse’s eyes as the cat bent over and licked Pokey’s face. The cat then turned and was ready to leave when this giant scream pierced the air, and the cat turned and came face to face with the big woman. Her piercing yells were now penetrating the poor cats ears as the cat cowered on the floor froze there by the sound alone. The big woman picked her cell phone up and called Mr. Jenson who said he would be right over. While the big woman’s back was turned Pokey and Alice escaped, because they could stand this no more. Alice sat on the mouse’s back holding in one hand the thing the cat gave him and hanging on to the furwith the other as tight as she could and the big woman’s screaming drowned away as the mouse slipped out of the open door.

Chapter 8

The last thing Alice remembered as she woke up at her desk was the big woman’s scream, which is now she is starting to realize is just the school bell going off, reminding the children that school is over with for the day. Miss Lawson was at the door greeting the children back to the real world from the children’s naps, and had all their crayon drawings in her hand. She told the children to line up in a single line, and went down the line and put each of their drawings in their little back packs to take home with them. They all went out to the fenced in playground where the watchers were waiting for them, and they could play until their rides arrived to pick them up. Alice was very happy today she had made four new friends and she could hardly wait till her mother arrived to tell her all about them. Anna and Becky, Pokey, and of course the cat, because the cat very well could have had them for his dinner, but the cat was very sorry that he bit Pokey’s tail off and he did give it back and licked the mouse’s face besides. So the cat was a friend also, wanting forgiveness for its actions, and willing to come to the mouse he hurt, laying on the floor and dropping the tail in front of the mouse and purring.


Chapter 9

Alice’s mother arrived just after Anna and Becky’s parents left and most of the boys were still waiting to be picked up. Her mother came in the fenced in playground and bent over to give her a hug, and plant a kiss on her forehead, they were now heading to her mother’s car hand in hand, and Alice had a big grin on her face. They arrived at their house and her mother wanted to know how her daughter’s first ever day at school went. Her mother listened intently as she described her new friends Anna and Becky, but her mother’s face changed when she told her about her other two friends, and the adventure she went on. The phone rang just as Alice finished up her story, and her mother answered it, and she appeared to be whispering and giggling into the phone. After her mother hung the phone up, Alice found out that it was her daddy, and he was bringing a special surprise home for his daughter, for her successful day at school. Her father arrived in about ten minutes, and Alice went to greet him at the door. He was holding a cage with a cloth over it, and a big red bow was on top of that. He put the cage down inside the door, and picked Alice up and was planting kisses on her and tickling her in the rib cage. Her mom waited till they were through and it was her turn to kiss daddy and hug him. Her father took the cage in and sat it on the kitchen floor, explaining to his wife that a child needs a pet, so he stopped by the pet store, and the shop keeper just arrived from picking up a stray cat. Mr. Jenson said it would be perfect for a child of her age and that the cat was gentle as any cat could be. Her dad pulled the cloth off and introduced the cat as Mr. Jinx. The cat was orange with just a tinge of yellow on its fur, and it had great big green eyes. Alice’s dad picked Mr. Jinx out of her cage and the cat went immediately to Alice who was sitting on a kitchen chair, the cat gave one giant leap and gently came down on the girl’s lap, and started to purr and lick Alice’s face. Alice and her cat played together the rest of the afternoon, and after supper the cat and Alice sat together in the living room watching Snow White and the Seven Dwarves. Her father and mother was on the sofa close together watching TV and now and then kissing each other. Shortly Alice’s eyes began to droop and she was fast asleep and her father picked her up and carted her off to bed with Mr. Jinx following. He tucked her in and the cat lay on the bottom of the bed as if it was on guard watching over the girl. Her father gave Alice one quick peck on the cheek, and turned off her bedside light, and he made sure that her night light was on, as he left the door open a crack. He headed to the bathroom, to grab a much needed shower to get the days grime off him. Alice’s mom was in the kitchen when she found Alice’s back pack on a chair and opened it. She saw a piece of paper neatly folded, and opened it up, and it was a good thing she was sitting down, because in that picture was Mr. Jinx she was certain of it, and she got up and went to Alice’s room to compare the picture to the cat. She flicked on the light and looked at the crayon tracings and compared them to the now alert cat. The coloring and shading of the cat was the same right down to the bright green eyes and as she was looking at Mr Jinx the cat, she thought she saw the cat winking at her, and now had a grin on its face as she shut the bedroom door.

Chapter 10

Morning came and Alice’s dad was off to work on the hybrids at a local farm after breakfast. Her mother fixed Alice some cereal and a glass of milk, and now it was just her and her daughter at home. Her mom asked Alice to retell the story that she told her yesterday, and Alice told her all the details. After breakfast was over her mom drove her back to kindergarten, and hugged her, and gave her a kiss on her cheek. Her mom did not stay long today, because she wanted to check on all the things Alice had told her, and she was afraid she might not get through it all in one day. The house was easy finding, Alice described it perfectly ,and now her mother was standing at the front door with a batch of cookies in one hand and ringing the door bell with the other. The big woman opened the door and Alice’s mom greeted her and welcomed her to the town with the batch of cookies. The big woman invited her in for some coffee and to help eat those fresh cookies in the kitchen. Alice’s mom was now in a state of denial because everything was just as Alice described it, the mouse hole, the apple pies, the window, and the big woman, and of course the cat. The only thing missing was the mouse. She just got through talking to Mr. Jenson about the mouse and no he said he did not find the mouse yet, but he said it will because mice have a habit to get into peoples homes, and this one was white with a tiniest spot of black fur under his chin, and of course no tail. Alice’s mom had heard enough ,and she had to hurry to school because class was about to be dismissed for the day. She picked Alice up and drove home silently, and when they arrived in the kitchen, she sat Alice down in the kitchen chair, telling her not to repeat the story about the cat and the mouse to anyone, that it was just their family secret. Alice agreed and her mother hugged and kissed her and Miss Jinx gave her another wink.

Chapter 11

The headlines on the morning’s local paper had a picture of Mr. Jenson holding a white mouse, as Alice’s mom was reading the paper. It turned out that the mouse showed up mysteriously back at the pet shop, and this mouse was one and the same named Pokey Mr Jenson said. But the only thing was Pokey somehow grew his tail back. Mr. Jenson went on to proclaim that the mouse must be magical or something and yes he was sure it was the same mouse. And under this story was another story from a Mrs. Flatt stating that she just moved here and she thinks her house was haunted by a mouse and that she had finally reached the previous owners of her house by phone, and was complaining about their pet they left behind. She described it as a little white mouse with no tail, and yes the owners did have a pet like that, and they would let it out of its cage once in awhile to play in the house. They never knew how it lost its tail but they did know how it lost its life. It seemed the poor creature got under the sink, and drank some bad chemicals, because one morning they woke up to find him in his cage with all four tiny paws straight up in the air. And they went on to tell Mrs. Flatt that they buried their pet in the back yard of her house. Mrs. Flatt went on to announce that she