The Cat Who Came in Off the Roof Read Online Free

The Cat Who Came in Off the Roof
Book: The Cat Who Came in Off the Roof Read Online Free
Author: Annie M.G. Schmidt
Pages:
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Smith.
     
    It was three in the morning by the time Tibble got back home again. He had a pad full of notes about Mr Smith’s life and work. He tiptoed through the attic and, before sitting down at the typewriter, peeked into the junk room.
    Minou was curled up in the box asleep.
    She saved me, thought Tibble. I’ve got an article. I just have to write it up.
    When he finally went to bed, he told a sleepy Fluff: “I’ll hand it in tomorrow. It’s a good article. And it’s real news.”
    Fluff lay down on his feet and went back to sleep.
    I’ll thank her in the morning… this strange Miss Minou, Tibble thought, and then he fell asleep too.
    But when he got up the next morning she was gone.
    The box was empty. There was fresh newspaper spread out over the bottom and everything had been left neat and tidy. Her clothes were gone as well and so was her case.
    “Did she say anything, Fluff, before she left?”
    “
Mrow
…” said Fluff. But Tibble didn’t understand.
    “Well,” he said. “I’m actually quite relieved. I’ve got my attic to myself again.”
    Then he saw the article lying on his desk. “It’s fantastic,” he cried out loud. “I’m going into the office and I’ve got something for the paper. They won’t fire me. At least… not today.” His happiness disappeared. He’d be trudging around town again tonight searching for another story.
    There was a smell of coffee. He went into the kitchen and saw that she’d made some coffee for him. And done the dishes too. That was nice.
    The window was open. She’d left the way she’d come: through the attic window.
    At least the weather’s better, Tibble thought. She won’t have to wander around in the rain. He wondered if she was out talking to cats again? If she’d stayed here… he thought. If I’d let her stay… maybe she’d have brought some news home for me every day. He felt like shouting out through the window, over the rooftops, “Puss, puss, puss… Mi-nou!”
    But he restrained himself. “Bah, how selfish can you get?” he said to himself. “You only want to let her stay because you think there might be something in it for you. What a nasty character trait! Forget about her and find your own news. Don’t be so shy. Anyway, she’s gone for good. She’s probably miles away by now.”
    But at that moment Minou was very close by. She was sitting on the roof of the Social Security Building, the highest roof in the vicinity. She was talking to the Tatter Cat.
    The Tatter Cat was called that because she was battered and tattered. She was always dirty and she usually had muddy paws. Her tail was thin and wispy, there was a chunk out of her left ear and her coat was drab and patchy.
    “Your kittens are due soon,” Minou said.
    “Oh, put a cork in it,” said the Tatter Cat. “Sometimes I wonder if it’s ever going to stop. My whole life’s one stinking litter after the other.”
    “How many children do you have?” Minou asked.
    The Tatter Cat scratched herself at length. “How would I bleedin’ know?” she said. She had a filthy mouth. But living on the street will do that to a cat. “Anyway, let’s not talk about me,” the Tatter Cat said. “This thing with you is much, much worse. How can something like that even exist? What did it?”
    She stared at Minou with fear in her yellow eyes.
    “I wish I knew. And the worst thing is, I’m not even
all
human. It’s all so half and half.”
    “But you are all human. From head to toe.”
    “I mean
inside
,” Minou said. “I still have almost all my cattish characteristics. I purr, I hiss, I rub up against people. I wash with a flannel, but otherwise… I wonder if I still like mice. I’ll have to try one.”
    “Do you still know the Great Yawl-Yowl Song?” the Tatter Cat asked.
    “I think so.”
    “Sing a few bars then.”
    Minou opened her mouth and a horrific, raucous caterwauling came out of it, a howling, shrieking, wailing sound.
    The Tatter Cat joined in
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