Kleptocats

• Leo McNally, Grade 5
• Short Story
• 2022

Crash! The cat knocked over the lamp. The cat was chasing a mouse. It was a tight race, but the mouse was just able to escape into a mouse hole. The cat’s name was Freddie. He was slow, because he only had 3 legs. He was rescued from a rubbish bin by his owner Zachary. Freddie loved Zachary very much, but he could not show his love because he couldn’t get mice.

One day Freddie was outside thinking about how he could show love to Zachary. He was thinking and then he realized. Freddie could catch inanimate objects and give them to Zachary! He started by grabbing a pair of socks from the neighbor’s yard and putting them on Zachary’s bed.

When Zachary went into his bedroom, he saw a pair of socks. He brushed them off and thought nothing of it. The next day, he saw a pair of shoes. He was confused but ignored it again. The next day, a 3-piece suit. He was VERY confused at this point and had no idea what was going on. The next day, he found a stapler on his bed. He decided that he would put all the stuff in his closet. This was a mistake.

When he opened his closet, 214 staplers fell out. He couldn’t believe his eyes. He knew that Freddie was involved in this somehow. “Freddie, what did you do?” said Zachary sternly. “I just wanted to show my love to you,” said Freddie lovingly. “That’s nice, but we really need to return these staplers!” said Zachary.

Under the cover of night, Zachary and Freddie returned to the office with all the staplers in a bag. They ran away quickly after putting the staplers at the door. “That’s really sweet of you Freddie, but there are other ways to show your love to me, like letting me nap or not knocking over things,” spoke Zachary. Freddie purred.