Cat Found by Ingrid Lee Read Free Book Online Page B

walk around in his own community. I say we do a cat roundup. Get rid of the dirty strays all at once.”
    He stepped down. Some people applauded. But a girl wearing silver hoop earrings called out, “The strays stay away from people. I’ve watched your Johnny chase after the squirrels. I bet he tried to hurt the cat.”
    “Now, now, Salome,” the mayor said. “We’ll just let everybody have their say. Keep the heckling for another occasion. Ms. Winsome is up next.”
    April Winsome took her time getting to the mike. She had on her best daytime dress and a hat made of real feathers. There was powder on her nose. She said, “There needs to be a ruling so that nobody feeds those wild cats. Why, the owner of the Lebanese restaurant leaves his trash can open at nights to let them at his leftovers. Lots of other people leave out food, too. We’ll have no end to the beasts unless the council takes a stand. This is a nice town. We’ve got to keep it that way.”
    A bag lady in several filthy sweaters and a pair offlip-flops stood up. She started to mumble. The mayor jumped in quickly. “Everyone who speaks has to have a num —”
    “I’ll just say my piece right here,” the lady interrupted. She spoke so quietly that the people in the room shut up and listened. “The way I see it,
Your Honor,”
she went on, “the town needs to take care of its own. That includes the cats. I don’t want to see no cats starving on my patch.”
    The reporter snapped a picture as the homeless lady hobbled out. That didn’t sit well with Ms. Winsome. She wanted the spotlight.
    Joxie, the pet store lady, went to the stage next. “I agree there are too many cats,” she began. “But it’s our fault. The cats are just trying to stay alive. We’ve got to spay and neuter the strays. And people have to fix their pets, too. Half the time it’s a wandering house cat that gets a feral one pregnant. As soon as there are no more babies, the wild colonies will shrink on their own.”
    She turned to the mayor. “We should set an example for our kids. Killing off things that aren’t convenient isn’t the right way to go about that.”
    A man in a heavy shirt almost ran over her, he was in such a hurry to get at the mike. His shirt must have made him hot. His red face looked ready to burst. “Name’sGayle Lacy,” he declared. “The way I see it, we got to do something fast and hard. There’s probably more than one crazy cat lady like that Mary Downs out there. Nothing goes together better than an old lady and a bunch of alley cats. I got a bird feeder in my backyard. If a stray stalks one of the birds, I aim to put a bat right between its pretty eyes.”
    He leaned right over the crowd. “The council ought to put a bounty on their heads,” he said. “So’s I get paid for my trouble.”
    The threat was applauded. “Amen to that!” someone yelled out from the crowd.
    Billy stood by the back door. He looked into the audience to see who did the yelling.
    It was his dad.

THIRTEEN
    B illy and his dad went back to the meadow for some more shooting.
    “Takes a lot of practice to break in a gun,” his dad said. “You bring that rag?”
    Billy pulled it from his pocket.
    “Let’s see if we can’t do more damage this time.” Billy’s dad tied the rag to a sapling and got Billy to load a pellet. “The more you practice, the more you’ll get to know your trigger. All of ’em are different. Some like to take it slow. Others can’t wait.”
    Billy pumped up the gun. His arm was fresh, and he got to five pumps before he felt the familiar quiver of his muscles. He widened his stance and swung the barrel until the red rag lined up in the scope.
    “The pellet has a long way to go before it frees the barrel,” his dad reminded him. “You already knowthe gun’s going to jump when you pull the trigger. Once you learn to ride with the shot, it’ll come out right.”
    Billy hit the rag more times than he missed. He was sweating by the time