Written by Becky Geesey

Illustrated by Kate Dean,
Abby Dean,
Henry Dean and
John Dean

When I was a kitten I lived with my mama and four brothers and three sisters in a house near the ocean. We all lived with Mr. And Mrs. Baxter. Mr. Baxter really didn't pay much attention to us - he could never even tell which of us was which! But Mrs. Baxter loved us all and had a name for each of us.

Mrs. Baxter called me Alley. My brothers and sisters teased me and said it meant that I was an alley cat. But I knew my real name was Aloysius, which mean "Famous." Mrs. Baxter always treated me like I was special.

We were happy kittens - we lived where we had fields to play, and birds and butterflies to watch, and each other to play with. And I always thought Mrs. Baxter liked me best.

When winter came, we stayed inside more, and she held me in her lap when she sat down. She sat down a lot that winter, and finally a day came when she just stayed in bed. We were all unhappy. Mr. Baxter might forget to give us fresh water, and he never petted us or talked softly to us.

Pretty soon some men came with an ambulance, and they took Mrs. Baxter away to a hospital. She held each of us before they left, and told us what sweet kitties we were and how happy we made her. When the ambulance drove away, we all cried.

In a few days, Mrs. Baxter put down our dinner dishes in the kitchen, and after we had eaten, he picked us up one by one and put us into three cat carriers. Then he took us to the car, and we rode a little way. We were all frightened, and cried. That made him angry and he drove faster.

Finally, he stopped outside a long, low building with lots of lights and lots of sounds from other cats and dogs. He carried all three carriers inside and plopped us on a counter. Then he told the person standing there that his wife was in the hospital, and he just didn't have the time to take care of cats. Could these people find a new home for us?

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