Tom Watson - Stick Cat: Two Cats and a Baby

TABLE OF CONTENTS

TABLE OF CONTENTS Australia HarperCollins Publishers Australia Pty. Ltd. Level 13, 201 Elizabeth Street Sydney, NSW 2000, Australia www.harpercollins.com.au Canada HarperCollins Publishers Ltd Bay Adelaide Centre, East Tower 22 Adelaide Street West, 41st Floor Toronto, Ontario, Canada M5H 4E3 www.harpercollins.ca India HarperCollins India A 75, Sector 57 Noida Uttar Pradesh 201 301 www.harpercollins.co.in New Zealand HarperCollins Publishers New Zealand Unit D1, 63 Apollo Drive Rosedale 0632 Auckland, New Zealand www.harpercollins.co.nz United Kingdom HarperCollins Publishers Ltd. 1 London Bridge Street London SE1 9GF, UK www.harpercollins.co.uk United States HarperCollins Publishers Inc. 195 Broadway New York, NY 10007 www.harpercollins.com STICK CAT: TWO CATS AND A BABY . Copyright 2018 by Tom Watson.

Illustrations by Ethan Long based on original sketches by Tom Watson. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the nonexclusive, nontransferable right to access and read the text of this e-book on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, downloaded, decompiled, reverse-engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins e-books. www.harpercollinschildrens.com Cover design by Honee Jang

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Library of Congress Control Number: 2018933357 Digital Edition SEPTEMBER 2018 ISBN: 978-0-06-274119-6
Version 04062020 Print ISBN: 978-0-06-274118-9

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18 19 20 21 22 CG/LSCH 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 FIRST EDITION To Jacob(MTAY) You know Mary, right? I wrote the first Stick Cat story for her. And the second.

And the third. Shes in my class. And shes, umm, you know, cute. There I said it. Shes also obsessed with cats. She has two pet cats, but thats not all.

She also has cat sweaters, bags, notebooks, pencil erasers, and loads of other cat stuff too. For real. In English class, I usually write Stick Dog stories. But I got Mary to, you know, like me or whatever, by writing Stick Cat stories and letting her read them. She even asked me to the Sweetheart Dance. And Im pretty sure that she was super-impressed with my dancing skills.

I got rhythm, you know what I mean? And guess who has a birthday next month? Thats right, Mary. And guess what Im going to give her? Right again. Another Stick Cat story. Note to self: tear out this chapter before giving to Mary. It was morning and the sun began to rise above the big city. Edith was half asleep on the windowsill.

Her eyelids drooped down to nearly shut. Stick Cat jumped up softly and quietly next to her. Nobody in their apartmentnot Stick Cat, Edith, Goose, Tiffany, or Mildredhad gotten much sleep the previous night. Who is Mildred? Good question. A lot has happened since the last Stick Cat story when he and Edith captured the dangerous and fearsome burglar named Tuna Todd. Ill try to catch you up real quick-like.

Okay, after the police took Tuna Todd away, Goose (Stick Cats roommate) and Tiffany (Ediths roommate) saw each other for the first time through the hole in the wall between their two apartments. Edith and Stick Cat had scratched and clawed at the wall to make that hole so they could spend their days together when Goose and Tiffany went to work. Well, when Goose and Tiffany saw each other through that hole, two totally important things happened. First, they fell in love at first sight. Second, when it was obvious that love was in the air, Edith said, Gross. Edith doesnt like romance.

What else happened? Let me tell you. After dating a few months and taking a trip to Paris, France, Goose and Tiffany got married back in his hometown, which is a few hours outside of the big city. It was a lovely day. In the evening at Picasso Park, there was a wedding celebration with fireworks. And there was a buffet that included barbecue ribs and mashed potatoes. There was also a huge, tall, elegant, multitiered wedding cake.

Edith, umm, ate a LOT of that cake. And Stick Cat shared an entire layer of that wonderful cake with five hungry stray dogs. There was a poodle, a dachshund, a Dalmatian, and a couple of others. You might have read all about that in my story Stick Dog Crashes a Party. When they arrived back in the big city, Tiffany and Edith moved into Goose and Stick Cats apartment. About ten months later, Mildred was born. Thats who Mildred is.

Shes the baby. Everybody just calls her Millie. Millie is not a very good sleeper. She likes to wake up in the middle of the night. And when she wakes up in the middle of the night, Millie likes to cry. This is fine with almost everybody in the apartment.

Thats because they know that Millie is just a baby. They know that she gets hungry. She wants to know where she is. She might be afraid of the dark. She might be lonely. Everybody is fine with it.

Well, almost everybody. Goose is fine with it. Tiffany is fine with it. Stick Cat is fine with it. Edith, however, is not fine with it. Did you hear that little beast last night? asked Edith when Stick Cat hopped up next to her on the windowsill.

You mean Millie? Of course I mean Millie, Edith huffed. Her frustration showed. I mean, that tiny monster just would not shush up! I think babies often wake up in the night like that, Stick Cat commented. He had heard these complaints from Edith before. And he was more interested, frankly, in watching the sunrise. This was Stick Cats favorite part of the day.

He was just beginning to eyeball the different sections of the city as the sunlight crept across the rooftops. He watched as the windows went from a dull, flat gray to a glistening gold and orange when the sunlight reached them. He didnt watch for long though. Edith demanded his attention. Stick Cat, look at me, she said. Stick Cat looked at her.

I dont think youre taking this problem seriously enough, Edith said. Her eyes were fierce-looking.

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