SUSAN LOESCH

CATS IN THE STACKS

“Ms. Loesch, look at my tooth,” my 2^nd grader said as she came in the door.

“My mom told me not to wiggle it but I do it anyway. Can I show Alex?”  So we went into my office where Alex was in his bed and he dutifully gazed at her loose tooth and was rewarded with a hug.

Then it was story time;  we seem to have a little tradition started here for the 2^nd graders, a class of just two this year. Both girls and Alex fit comfortably on Big Footsie’s blue beanbag so they sit there, Alex between them, and I sit on Footsie’s green frog, with the bare spots on the head from his “making biscuits” over the years.

The day was dark and wet, but we were cozy and comfortable, and the girls really enjoyed the first chapters of Sarah, Plain and Tall. We think Alex enjoyed it too – one of the characters is a gray kitty named Seal!

I know he enjoyed it more than his Sunday afternoon jaunt to a micro-chipping clinic yesterday. Even though the vet was his own Dr. Cole, Alex’s expression said he was not a happy camper. But it only lasted a few seconds and now he is safely chipped, and that’s a good thing for a kitty who is out and about as much as he is!