Mouser's Kittens Ages 13-17

 No prompt. 

    Six-year-old Andrea Carter ran toward the barn and scurried up the ladder.  She was escaping her chores to come and see Mouser's kittens.  They had been born a couple weeks ago, and were just starting to play with her. 

     She hadn't been up there for five minutes when she heard Chad, her older brother, yelling for her.  She poked her head out of the loft and saw him storming toward the barn. 

He climbed the ladder and found her with her face buried in the kittens.  “There you are.  Why haven't you finished your chores?”

 “Because I wanted to see the kittens,” Andi replied. 

“Well they're gonna be there all their lives and you can see them later, now get back to the house and finish your chores.” 

“Yes sir,” Andi replied feeling a bit sheepish.   She trudged back to the house, but she promised herself that as soon as she was done she would go back up to the barn and see them again.

     When she was done with her chores, she raced back up to the barn with the kittens.  She found all four of them cuddled together against their mother.  There were two orange ones, one black, and one calico.  She named the two orange ones Max and Mittens, the black one Tiger Lily, and the calico one Muffin.  She liked them all, but the one she liked best was Muffin.  She stayed up in the loft until her mother called her down to lunch.

     That night at the dinner table, Justin, her oldest brother, brought up the subject of school.  Andi's ears perked up.  He said that he had told the teacher Andi would be joining the class that year.  Andi was about to butt in and say that there was so much to do on the ranch that she must stay home, when she remembered that children were to be seen and not heard. 

     So she just sat there quietly listening to all the conversation about school, until Justin asked her what she thought of the idea.  “I don't want to, and besides there's lots of work to do around here, and,” she paused a minute trying to think of what to say next, “and Mother needs me.”

     Justin gave her a reassuring look and said that Mother would be just fine without her.  But Andi was not to be convinced, she wanted to stay at home and play with her filly Taffy and the kittens, but she didn't say it out loud.  That night as she was getting ready for bed she had a wonderful idea, and she went to bed with a smile on her face. 

     On Monday morning, a week later, Andi was sitting in the loft, in her new school clothes seeing the kittens one last time.  But that wasn't her plan, she was going to sneak one of the kittens into her lunch tin along with a piece of string.  Once she got to school she would let it out and play with it, since Melinda, her older sister, was sick and wouldn't be there to get after her.  She thought it was a great plan. 

     Just then Justin called her and said it was time to go.  She quickly stuffed a kitten in her pail and scrambled down the ladder of the loft.  All the way to town she tried to keep it quiet.  Once she got to school and acquainted with the teacher she went back outside to play with the kitten.  She tied it to the piece of string and let it roam around. 

     When the bell rang she tucked the kitten under her pinafore and trudged inside.  She stuffed the kitten inside her desk and sat down.  During the first hour of school the kitten was curled up in a ball and fast asleep.   Up to that moment school was going pretty good and Andi was liking every minute of it. 

     But when the kitten woke up she started to roam around in the desk looking for food.   She was making a lot of noise.  Miss Hall looked at Andi with a questioning look on her face.  “Andi what do you have in your desk?”

“Nothing Miss Hall.”

Miss Hall came over to Andi's desk.  “May I look in your desk?”

Andi nodded and a tear fell from her face, but she slowly opened her desk. 

Miss Hall gasped as a tiny kitten stuck its head out of her desk. 

“Please Miss Hall don't send me home and never let me come back, and please don't ever tell Justin,” Andi pleaded. 

     Miss Hall's face softened and she knelt beside Andi's desk.  “Oh Andi, I'll let you come back, but I will have to tell Justin and you will get disciplined.” 

Andi stopped crying and her head perked up.  “You mean I can come back whenever I want to?” 

“Of course you can, but next time the kitten stays at home, okay.” 

Andi nodded and went to stand in the corner till lunch time.  At lunch time Andi gave the kitten some of her lunch, so at least they could all work better on their school without a hungry kitty yowling. 

     After school, when Justin came to pick her up, Andi was waiting outside playing with the kitten.  He pulled the wagon to a stop and got down.  He stood in front of Andi and in a stern voice asked, “How did the kitten get here?” 

Andi had no choice but to tell Justin what she had done.  By the time she was done she was sitting in Justin's lap and crying.  Justin was saying soothing words of comfort and Miss Hall was holding her hand. 

     When she was done crying she looked up at Justin and asked “Am I still going to be punished?” 

“Yes, and I think a good punishment would be you don't get to see the kittens for two days,” replied Justin.

“You mean you're not going to take away Taffy?” 

“No, why would I do a thing like that?” asked Justin. 

“Because I did something really bad.”

 “It wasn't that bad, next time though the kitten stays at home.” 

     On the way home, the kitten stayed curled up on Andi's lap the whole way.  When they got home, Andi was told to take the kitten to the barn and then go see Mother.  She went up to the loft and put the kitten down.  It gave a joyful meow and went to join its brothers and sister in eating.  She climbed down the ladder and went to the house.  She trudged up to her room and waited for Mother to come and talk to her. 

     When Mother came up she was all ready to tell her that she was sorry.  When Mother sat down Andi was about to blurt out that she was sorry when Mother started talking, softly but confidently.  “Andi why did you take the kitten to school?”

 “Because I didn't want to go to school and leave the kittens here.” 

“Well the kitten was probably getting pretty hungry...” 

“No it wasn't I gave it some of my lunch,” interrupted Andi.

 “Well it probably wasn't that hungry, but still it was hungry.  Besides kittens are better off with their mothers than at school, don't you think,” asked Mother.

 “I know and I'm sorry.” 

“Well now, why don't you go and do your chores,” said Mother.  

“OK mother.”  With that Andi jumped up and gave Mother a big hug, and went to do her chores.