Cat in the Window and Other Stories: Charlie, Big Jay and Little Bird

by Georgia Candoli

Overview

CAT IN THE WINDOW and other stories: CHARLIE, BIG JAY AND LITTLE BIRD

Love, friendship, courage, respect and kindness are within these fictional stories; they entertain and teach without being moralistic.

CAT IN THE WINDOW –

Kitty cat has a keen interest about the fascinating world of his surrounding neighborhood. While reclining on his comfortable window seat in the sun, he observes every nuance. Various species of wildlife maneuver and create spellbinding antics both day and night captivating his interest, and various surrounding sounds are enthralling. An unexpected gift fulfills kitty cat’s desires.

CHARLIE –

Lazy fish Charlie has no desire to leave the cove he calls home, never venturing out to eat or explore. Charlie decides to develop courage and his life changes.

BIG JAY AND LITTLE BIRD –

A bold bully Jay and a strong little Warbler are very different, but appreciate each other for who they are and what they can do.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781477296257
Publisher:	AuthorHouse
Publication date:	10/31/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	28
File size:	2 MB
Age Range:	9 - 12 Years

About the Author

Georgia resides in San Clemente, a coastal city located in southern California. A friend suggested she place a pen to paper and the words would flow--they are.
When she’s not painting or writing, she takes care of Grayson, her Russian Blue cat, and is an avid birdwatcher. A portion of the proceeds from this book will be donated to an animal/bird sanctuary.

Read an Excerpt

CAT IN THE WINDOW AND OTHER STORIES: CHARLIE, BIG JAY AND LITTLE BIRD

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By Georgia Candoli

AuthorHouse

Copyright © 2012 Georgia Candoli
All right reserved.
ISBN: 978-1-4772-1723-8

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Chapter One

CAT IN THE WINDOW

The sun is rising in the sky when I get out of my soft, warm bed. I hear Sierra, my 9-year old owner, dropping kibble into my food dish and filling my bowl with fresh, clean water. I meow a few times, stretch, and enjoy the gentle rub she gives to help me get fully awake. Sometimes we just sit and look out over the whole neighborhood from my window seat and enjoy the beginning of the new day. I like it best when the neighbors wave to Sierra and smile to me, and say, "Good morning, Kitty Cat."

From my comfortable place on the window seat I can see everything that's happening in my neighborhood. Each day is different and I get so excited and feel so happy, I meow and meow.

When Sierra leaves for school I have the whole day for myself. Some days I imagine what it would be like as my friend Boots. He's the gray cat with white socks on his legs and lives across the street. He's allowed to run around the neighborhood wherever he wants to go. He leaps up and down the tree limbs, crawls inside the neighbor's garage, lays in a wagon or on a front porch bench. Sometimes he's stretching himself out and sunning in flowerbeds, peacefully waiting for his family to come home.

I can see Boots looking into trashcans now. Once he climbed into a trashcan and had to jump and jump to get out. I meowed and meowed to him but he didn't hear me.

I have to admit, I really love to curl up and let the sun warm me. I do it a lot. I feel like floating. I drift off to sleep and maybe even dream a little. Sierra calls my daytime sleeping 'cat naps.'

Oh, there goes Boots! He's peeking down the storm drain. He has his paws stretched out in front of him and his tail is swishing back and forth. Maybe a mouse went down the drain and is hiding?

It was a long time before Boots slowly pushed himself back from the storm drain. He curved his back up and I could hear him give a snarl, hoping the mouse could hear him. He turned and slowly headed for home.

In the quiet of the day I can hear "neigh, neigh." It's the horses from a nearby stable. I've seen them as they run through the eucalyptus trees and circle the white wooden fence surrounding the stables. Some horses are all white, one is a Dapple Gray, there's a really dark brown Arabian horse and a tan Palomino.

Each horse has their own shady fenced area where they can eat and walk around. Most owners come early in the morning and exercise their horse around a big ring. The horses get excited and shake their heads making a snorting sound that I can hear from my window.

I hear the wind blowing now and see the results of it bending the treetops as if bowing to the ground. Hundreds of golden leaves flutter past my window. Maybe a rainstorm is coming. When it rains, it's shiny everywhere.

I can hear our local woodpecker and his "rat-a-tat-tat, rat-a-tat-tat" as he struggles in this wind to hang on to the tree trunk. He's bobbing his head and just pecked out a little round hole. I wonder if he pecked out the hole so he can make a nest?

Today's Saturday, Sierra doesn't have to go to school. She's helping her mother wash the car. Sierra has the water hose and she surprised Boots by spraying water on him. He really hates water! He dashed up the tall pine tree, leaping from branch to branch to the top of the tree. I wonder when he'll come down?

I love the way Suzie, the squirrel, runs over the tree limbs collecting nuts. She looks my way and whirls and twirls her fluffy tail and says, "How do you do?" With a few nuts tucked into her cheeks she scampers to the ground. I can hear the nuts snap and crack as she opens the shell for the food inside. She has a family and they live together in a tree hollow in front of my house.

There are lots of black birds around here that fly from tree to tree eating flying insects. They make such loud squawking sounds they frighten other birds away. The family next door puts seeds and fruit out for them to eat every day. At night the birds are safe in their nest in the big tree at the side of our house.

Otto Owl is a good friend of mine. He flies by early every evening and hoots as he looks in my direction. I meow back to him. It's like saying, "Hi friend."

I remember when my family took me with them on a vacation to Canada. Once I saw an owl from the window of our car but I didn't know what it was. It looked so different than Otto. When our car stopped I got a good look at it. It was all white with big, round, gold eyes. I heard Sierra tell her mother it was a Snowy Owl.

All my neighbors have different kinds of tall trees and they are a perfect place for bats to roost. My neighbor boy, Jack, built a bat house and he's trying to decide where to put it in his yard.

Bats hang under big leaves during the day where they sleep to hide from danger. At sunset they circle the streetlights looking for food and flying insects. It's like magic when day turns to night and all the bats just seem to disappear.

Tonight at my bedtime Sierra gave me a surprise; it's a beautiful purple kitty harness leash, just for me! She will take me around the neighborhood on my new leash and I'll be safe. I will jump in big bushes, smell flowers, walk in soft grass even if it's wet with dew. I'll get a good close-up look at my neighborhood. I'm so excited. I have new adventures to look forward to every day.

I'm a really, really happy kitty. I love my family and the special care they give me. I always give them special little meows to let them know I care. I curve my back and rub against their legs and sing a special meow. I try to be there for them when they sit in a chair. They rub my back and I purr a soft sound that only they can hear and feel when they hold me. They give me so much love. I love them for loving me.

The End

CHARLIE

The winter snow melted and swelled the lake high on its banks. Small shoots of green began to grow near the shore and ducks swam close to eat bugs and nip at the tender grass.

Under the slow moving water swam a newly hatched school of little fish. They happily nibbled on food from the moving water as it curved into their shelter. They grew with each day and slowly began to venture out into the stream where the water ran much faster and carried more food. That is, all but one fish named Charlie.

Charlie was satisfied to stay where the water was calm. He didn't want to exert too much energy to get his food. He barely moved his tail to keep in the same place.

The other fish soon learned to swim against the force of the stream and grew very strong. When they saw small bugs or worms coming toward them they quickly darted out and grabbed it in their mouths. With such a variety of food they could pick and choose from the fat worms or the skinny ones, and from the small grubs and juicy insects that fell from the tree.

(Continues...)

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Excerpted from CAT IN THE WINDOW AND OTHER STORIES: CHARLIE, BIG JAY AND LITTLE BIRD by Georgia Candoli Copyright © 2012 by Georgia Candoli. Excerpted by permission of AuthorHouse. All rights reserved. No part of this excerpt may be reproduced or reprinted without permission in writing from the publisher.
Excerpts are provided by Dial-A-Book Inc. solely for the personal use of visitors to this web site.

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