Every morning Wiskers would wake up very early and he'd run down the stairs and jump up into the chair by the front door. He'd lie there to wait until Mr. David came by. Mr. David would reach down and pat Wiskers goodbye on the top of his head and then he'd go out the door to work.
Then Mrs. David, Billy and Cati would also come by. They'd stop and pat Wiskers on the head and go out the door too. Wiskers would leap up on the back of the chair and watch as Mrs. David drove away. Then he'd watch as the big yellow school bus came slowly down the street.
It would stop in front of Billy's house and the big door would swing open with a loud swishing sound. Wiskers loved that sound. He watched as Billy and Cati hopped on and the swishing doors swiftly closed behind them. Wiskers watched as the bus drove away with all the happy smiling children. "It isn't fair," thought Wiskers. "I want to go to school too. I know that I'm just as smart as all those children so, why can't I go to school?"
All day, every day, Wiskers lay in the warm sunshine on the top of the chair in the front window. He thought and thought about how he was going to get to go to school. Finally, the idea came to him! "I've got it!" he thought. "Tomorrow when Billy goes to school, I'll jump into the hood of his coat and go with him!"
That night, while the David family slept, there was a whirlwind in their house and that whirlwind was a kitten called Wiskers. Wiskers was extremely busy. He had to get all the things together that he would need for his first day at school. He knew just what he needed because he'd watched Billy preparing for school so many times.
Wiskers ran upstairs and down, gathering his school supplies. He gathered a pencil, a pencil sharpener, a notebook, an eraser, a ruler and a dictionary. He took a black pen and wrote his name on everything and then he stuffed everything into a small brown knapsack. 'There," Wiskers thought, "Now I'm ready!"
Just as he was drifting off to sleep in his nice, snug basket, Wiskers sat up and knew that he had forgotten something. "What will I wear to school?" he asked himself. He jumped out of his basket and ran up the stairs to Billy's room. Billy was sound asleep and he didn't hear a thing as Wiskers opened his closet door. Wiskers looked and looked and then he finally saw what he was after. He pulled out Billy's old Red Sox baseball cap and hurried down the stairs with it.
That night Wiskers slept with one eye open because he didn't want to over sleep on his very first day of school. All that night, his dreams were filled with all the fun he was going to have in school. First, he'd play baseball with all the children. Then, he'd play hop scotch, marbles, basketball, soccer and all the other games that children played in school. Oh, he was going to have so much fun! Just as the sun was coming up, Wiskers crawled out of his basket.
He ran over to eat his breakfast but he didn't feel too hungry because he was ever so excited! He just ate a teeny, tiny bit. Then, he jumped upon the counter and made himself a small tuna fish sandwich for his lunch. He ran up the stairs to the bathroom to wash his face, comb his whiskers and brush his teeth. He smiled at himself in the mirror and his teeth were bright and shiny. He brushed his fur until it shone and then he cleaned his ears too.
Wiskers ran into Billy's room, jumped up on Billy's bed and licked Billy's nose until Billy woke up. Wiskers did not want to take the chance that Billy would over sleep and they might miss the school bus. Once Wiskers was certain that Billy was wide awake, he jumped down off the bed and ran down the stairs to get dressed for his first day of school. Wiskers had planned everything very carefully. He just hoped that no one would notice that he wasn't in his usual place by the front door that morning.
He very carefully pulled on Billy's old Maine Black Bears tee shirt and then he pulled the Red Sox hat down over his ears. It was a little too large for him, but he hoped no one would notice. Wiskers slipped on his knapsack, then climbed up into Billy's hood and settled down to wait.
It wasn't too long before Billy came down stairs to get his coat. As Billy struggled into his jacket, he thought it was a little heavier than usual but he soon forgot about it as he heard his mother call that the bus was coming down the street. Wiskers heart was beating wildly at the very thought of riding on the big, yellow school bus. Billy settled back in his seat and didn't even notice the small lump in his hood.
After a little while, Wiskers gathered the courage to pull himself up and peek out over the edge of Billy's hood. He was just in time to see the bus pull into the school yard. There it was, the sign that read, "Auburn Middle School". Wiskers gave a sigh of relief, he had made it! He was at the school!
Once inside the school, all the children had to hang up their jackets. Wiskers waited until everyone had left the room and then he jumped out of Billy's hood. He ran down the hall and followed Billy into his classroom.
Wiskers waited by the back door until all the children had taken their seats and then he hopped up into an empty seat at the back of the room. Wiskers opened his knapsack and took out his pencil, notebook and ruler. He was ready; it was his first day of school!
First there was Reading, then there was Writing and then there was Spelling. Then came Math and Science. Wiskers waited and waited. "When is the fun going to start?" He asked himself. All they were doing was school work! There was far too much work to suit him! When were they going to play baseball? When were they going to skip rope? When were they going to play his very favorite game, hide and seek? Wiskers kept waiting, but the class kept working.
Wiskers became so tired of waiting that he fell asleep and nobody noticed the tiny kitten fast asleep in the chair in the back of the room. The sound of a bell ringing in his ears woke Wiskers and with a start he sat up and rubbed his eyes. It was then that he realized that he'd slept through both recess and lunch and now it was time to go home!
Once again, Wiskers hid himself in Billy's hood, but it was a different Wiskers than the one who had gotten on the bus that morning. Now, Wiskers knew what Billy did all day when he was at school. It wasn't nearly as much fun as he'd thought. It was a lot of work! "There's too much work in school for me," Wiskers thought. "After all, I am just a kitten and kittens are supposed to play and have fun aren't they?" Wiskers decided then and there that he was better off being a kitten after all. And he never wished to go to school again.
Martha Stevens-David
Martha Stevens-David Column Magic City
Email: lmdmsd@megalink.net
Childrens Stories include:
See also Vengeance is Mine a short mystery novel published at Magic City over 4 days.
All works by Martha Stevens-David published at Magic City Morning Star News are her copyright property and may not be reproduced without her permission.
