Janice Hackford is eleven years old and lives on Evergreen Lane in Cloverdale. She loves to read, draw and talk on the telephone to her friends. She has two brothers, one sister and a cat name Tiger.
On Thursday last Janice felt the need to play with Tiger. She’d had a bad day at school dealing with end of the year testing and an obnoxious boy named Joey Nickles. Joey made fun of Tina, her slightly overweight friend, while they stood outside the cafeteria waiting in line for lunch. Joey overhead Tina say she was starving. Her comment caused him to burst out laughing. “How can you be hungry?” Joey asked in a voice loud enough to get the class’s attention. “You could go months without eating and still weigh more than any of us.” Tina started to cry. The teacher sent Joey to the back of the line. He spent his lunch in the Head Master’s time out room. Janice spent her lunch helping Tina rebuild her self esteem out near the monkey bars.
Just before the bell rang Janice went from clique to clique urging the rest of the girls in the class to ignore Joey and his friends. The girls agreed. Even though they enjoyed talking to the cute boys, their female herding instinct compelled them to help one of their injured own. By day’s end, Joey understood his mistake and apologized to Tina. Once Tina gave the all clear a somewhat normal relationship between the girls and boys resumed in the fifth grade.
Janice got home from school and searched the house for Tiger. The cat couldn’t be found. She searched the yard and found nothing. She canvassed the neighborhood by bike, stopping and questioning the neighbors. Tiger was gone without a trace. Janice went to bed praying Tiger would be waiting for her in the morning. Friday morning arrived and the house was cat less. Tina went to school in a foul mood, snapping at everyone.
After school Tina and Janice made several posters using their color printer. They walked the neighborhood hanging the posters on telephone poles and phone booths. When finished they went home and waited by the telephone. One hour passed. No calls. Tina stayed for dinner. Mother was happy because there wouldn’t be leftovers. The girls waited all night for a call. AT 8:30 P.M. Tina’s mother called. Tina went home.
Several days have passed. There are no Tiger sightings. Janice won’t give up. Tiger is an awesome cat. Someone will find and return her.
It is only a matter of time.
No comments:
Post a Comment