The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook Read Free

pull out a pencil stub and a little pad from my pocket, handy just for this purpose. I get inspired and draw a really good rebus, if I do say so myself. Rebuses taught me to read and now they’re teaching Fred. My dad, the Great Rebus-Maker himself, was the one who taught me.

    â€œ
Cats
,” reads Fred.
    â€œYou got it. Go on.”
    â€œ
H-h-h-a-a-ve
.”
    â€œGreat!”
    â€œ
Nine. Hives. Cats. Have. Nine. Hives.
They do?”
    I point to the code
RW
above my drawing of the hives. “
Rhymes with
, remember? Make
hives
rhyme with something that starts with
L
.”
    â€œ
L-l-l-ives. Cats have nine lives.
”
    â€œThere.” I scribble
I ♥ Fred
under my rebus.
    I feel like Miss Crackenhower must have felt. Miss Crackenhower was my first-grade teacher, way back. Practically everything she ever said was in caps. Her teeth were very white and it looked like she had more of them than a usual human. She was always smiling. That’s because you get a happy feeling helping someone read. You feel sort of like a wizard. I have to say, to this day, Miss Crackenhower still has the whitest teeth. And she still seems much happier than any other teacher, especially my fourth-grade teacher, Mr. Fry, who has trouble keeping the lid on Room 7.
    â€œHa, ha, that’s silly! Nine lives!” says Fred, and he gives me a little punch on my arm. Of course he doesn’t believe me. And all of a sudden, it’s important, VERY important, that Fred understand and believe. He’ll feel happier right away. And like I said, I’m happy when Fred is happy.
    So I start talking very fast. “Listen to me, Freddy. Cats are born with nine lives inside of them. They have the ability—the POWER—to live nine whole lives! Some of those lives canbe very long, and maybe some are shorter, but this is how it works: Whenever something bad happens, like a cat fight, or a bad fall, or a failing kidney, just like that, PRESTO! That cat’s back in business again!”
    â€œYou mean he dies and comes back again?”
    â€œHe sort of dies, but not really. He starts a whole new life. Nine lives altogether. Cats are amazing that way.”
    The Cats-Have-Nine-Lives Theory is what people call “an old wives’ tale.” It’s a theory that’s been around since olden times. Everyone who knows cats knows how often they do dumb, death-defying stunts that would kill other living things. How many cats have you noticed snoozing peacefully under a car? Ever seen a dog do that? I rest my case.
    I look around and notice an older woman approaching our bench.
    â€œSee her? I’m going to prove it to you,” I say quietly out of the corner of my mouth, because the woman is coming closer. Sometimes older people have hearing problems, but sometimes they don’t. For instance, Gramma Dee claims she can hear a fly’s little hairy legs touching down onto her kitchen countertop.
    Now the woman sits down on the bench with us. Fred and I squiggle to the side to make more room.
    â€œBut, really, how do you know it’s true?” Fred asks, continuing the conversation.
    â€œI just know,” I say. “It’s one of those things you learn when you get older.”
    I can feel the woman beside me listening. She smells like mint tea and just-washed laundry. Of course, she can’t help listening, since we’re all squished together on the bench. But often older people do eavesdrop on kids’ conversations, and even jump right in. That’s because they miss the children they used to have, who have all grown up and left home.
    I smile at her. “Nice day,” I say.
    I try to keep a couple of good conversation starters up my sleeve. And it’s usually a nice day in Oakland, except for a couple of months in the winter when it rains. We even love the rain, especially when there’s a drought. But even when there’s lots of rain, we all still try to