Kitabı oku: «National Geographic Kids Chapters: Terrier Trouble!»

Atticus destroys…er…reads the morning paper. Credit 1

Atticus paws at a box of cereal. Is he looking for a snack? Credit 2

A red truck pulled up in front of the animal shelter in Fredericksburg, Virginia, U.S.A. Candice and Frank stepped out. They were both excited. For the first time in 25 years, they were getting a kitten. All of their older cats had died, and they felt their house had grown too quiet. They wanted a lively kitten. They headed inside the shelter to find one.

In one of the cat kennels, Candice spotted a black kitten with a fluffy tail. She picked him up. The kitten licked her chin. When Candice set him down, he attacked her shoe. So cute! This kitten certainly seemed lively. Candice and Frank agreed he would be their new pet. Before they even left the shelter, Candice named him Atticus (sounds like AT-ih-cuss). It seemed like a dignified name for a cat.

Candice and Frank filled out paperwork. They could pick up their new kitten the next day. They learned that Atticus and his sister had been found near a Dumpster. They were only four weeks old. Someone brought the kittens to the animal shelter. A foster family raised the kittens until they were old enough to be adopted.

The next day, Candice went back to the shelter. She tucked Atticus in his carrier and put it on the seat beside her. As she drove, she told Atticus he was going to a cozy house. “There are lace curtains on the windows,” she said. “You’ll have lots of places to sleep and interesting things to look at.”

At home, Candice took the cat carrier inside. She unlatched the door. Atticus sprang out and started running on the wood floors. He ran and ran and ran. He ran upstairs and downstairs. He even clawed up Candice’s back to the top of her head! “Ouch!” she said.

Atticus weighed only five pounds (2.3 kg). Yet when he ran, he sounded like a herd of wild horses. When he raced around a corner, his feet flew out from under him.

Did You Know?

If a black cat spends a lot of time in the sun, its fur turns brown.

He skidded into the wall and kept going. Atticus ran so much, Candice wondered if he knew how to walk. He always seemed to be in a hurry. When she gave him some cat food, he gobbled it up. It was gone in two seconds flat.

That evening, Frank and Candice sat down to dinner. Atticus stared at them with round eyes. He smelled green beans and chicken cooked with mushrooms. Suddenly, he jumped straight up and grabbed a mushroom off Candice’s plate. “That cat just ate a mushroom,” Frank said in amazement.

That wasn’t all Atticus ate. He nibbled on lettuce. He stuck his nose in Frank’s coffee mug. He sipped tomato juice. He licked the icing off cupcakes. Candice knew kittens needed a special diet, not people food. But Atticus was hard to stop. He jumped up on the kitchen counter to steal food. Candice and Frank had to store every morsel in chew-proof containers.

That didn’t slow Atticus down. Soon he discovered the garbage can. Instead of tipping it over, he leaped right inside it. Once, Candice started to toss eggshells in the garbage can, and there was Atticus. He was sitting in potato peelings, looking up at her. To solve the problem, Candice bought a new garbage can with a foot-pedal lid.

During the first month, Atticus got into everything. Those pretty lace curtains on the windows? Atticus scaled them like ladders. He shredded them to bits. He pulled the shades down to watch them snap back up again. So, Candice took the curtains and shades down from all the windows.

That didn’t bother Atticus. He simply made up new games. He sat on tables and smacked books or drinking glasses onto the floor. Books made the best noises, but glasses made the biggest messes. Pens, rings, and keys were whacked under furniture. Candice and Frank had hoped a kitten would liven up their quiet house, but maybe Atticus was too lively.

Frank went off to work every day, but Candice worked at home. At least, she tried to. Keeping up with Atticus became her new full-time job. He still ran everywhere. He was on the go 24/7.

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Black cats are thought to be lucky or unlucky, depending on where—and when—you live. In ancient Egypt, people kept them to gain favor with Bastet (sounds like BAS-tet). She was the cat goddess. But during the Middle Ages in Europe, black cats were linked to witches.

You may have heard that it’s unlucky for a black cat to cross your path. In some parts of England, it’s lucky to own a black cat but unlucky to meet one. Also, if a black cat walks toward you, you’ll have good luck. But if it walks away from you, it takes away your good luck!

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Kittens are supposed to get tired easily and take lots of naps. Not Atticus. He never seemed to sleep. He had boundless energy. Sometimes, Atticus disappeared. The first time he vanished, Candice worried he had slipped outside when she got the mail. “Atticus!” she called. No cat. She checked behind chairs and in corners. Then she peeked under the bed. Behind a box of shoes was a furry black shape. The cat was taking a hidden nap! So he did sleep, after all.

Stealing food, ripping curtains, and constantly running was typical kitten behavior. He would settle down as he got older, Candice knew. But Atticus had another issue. And this one was a real problem: He was a biter.

Like all kittens, Atticus loved to play. He played with toys. He played with Frank’s and Candice’s feet, too. Sometimes he scratched Candice on the ankle or bit Frank’s hand. That was understandable. He would learn not to play so rough.

But Atticus bit when he wasn’t playing. He seemed to attack them on purpose. His teeth broke their skin and left bruises. Each day, they added new bandages to their collection of bites.

Atticus’s biting was a serious problem. Candice worried that a child might come visit. What if Atticus tried to attack? And that is just what happened.