Katie’s Decision

By Lil

“Today is the day!” That is what Katie thought as she lay lazily on her bed, deciding whether she should hurry to the kitchen immediately or wait for the family to gather first. Today was Katie’s 10th birthday. It was also the day her parents would take her to the Brockland County SPCA where Katie would get to choose her first pet. She could already imagine the cute little puppy with big, sad brown eyes that would wag its tail and yelp for Katie as soon as he saw her. “He”, because of course, it would be a boy! She had been thinking of names for her puppy for the last few weeks.

At 11:00 A.M. the family finally piled in the red Chevy Blazer heading south for the SPCA. Katy’s little brother, Tim, had some definite ideas of the dog he wanted. Actually he wanted Katy to choose a lizard or an iguana for her pet, but Tim knew that a large “working” class dog would be perfect for those summer afternoon romps in the field beyond his house.

At the SPCA, the elderly woman welcomed them and started to lead them to the back door that opened to the kennels. “We have just the puppy I think you might be looking for” beamed Mrs. DeWitt. “His mother had a litter of 5 pups and all of the females have already been adopted.”

Deciding on the name “Skooner”, Katie moved toward the door when she was stopped by a small familiar sound. It was a sound she had heard outside of her window nightly, up until about a week ago. Katie was disgruntled and irritated by the sound. Soft mewing was coming from a small cage just outside of the “cat” room. Of course she had to turn around, giving her meanest look to the small creature huddled in a corner of the cage. “Oh No! Not you again?” she cried as she gazed at the small marmalade kitty. This had to be the same kitty her neighbor had reported as abandoned. For some reason this little monster had chosen Katy’s bedroom window as the perfect spot to cry every night. The young girl had been relieved when she heard that the shelter had come to get the strays reported in the neighborhood. Yes, this was THE pain alright. Katie remembered how awkward it had looked. Each foot seemed to have a different number of toes. Smugly, Katie remembered having heard that inbreeding caused this anomaly. Yet something tugged at Katie as she thought that this little creature would probably never get adopted. She could hear something; some little voice beckoning her.

No, this was not Katie’s imagination it was real. Someone was calling “Katie ___ (something) What was that second word ? “Katie___” Who could it be? The rest of the family turned to stare at Katie. ”Someone is calling me. Something is going on!” Katie scampered around the small room looking, but knowing certainly that little kitten could not be talking! There was no one else around. This time it seemed to come from outside the window. Peeking outside she saw what appeared to be a grasshopper among the long leaves. Yes, it was definitely the grasshopper, but grasshoppers could not talk anymore than kittens could!

Katie’s father stepped beside her, noticing her gaze. “Ahhh, I see you have found a little friend. Your perfect pet I guess” he laughed. “Huh? What pet? MY perfect pet?” Katie’s father went on to explain that the little creature was actually called a Katydid because of the sound the creature made when it moved. The rubbing of its legs together made a noise that sounded very much like someone saying “Katie did”.

Mrs. DeWitt, puzzled, turned back to Kate and her father. “Oh, I see you have changed your mind and decided to adopt the little kitten. How lovely. She is one of our “hard to adopt” kitties because of her toes. And I see she has taken to you, Katie. You have made a very good decision”

“I did?” Looking at the tiny ball of fur, Katie imagined the odd looking little paws trying to climb into her bed at night. Outside she heard the chirping resume. “Katy did! Katy did! Katy did!” It looked as if the decision was made.

Entering the car with the little cardboard carrier Katie decided that Skooner would be a perfect name for the kitten.

“You know you did a good thing Katie.” said her mother.

“Yeah, I guess I didn’t have much choice though did I?” Katie laughed. As they rode away, Katie could hear her little friend agreeing, Katydid, Katydid, Katydid”