The Five Lives of Our Cat Zook Read Online Free PDF

“Try to hold your comments and questions till I’m done so I can concentrate, OK? Anyway, lots of mothers say that.
    â€œEvery living thing was happy on the island of Rebusina. People burst into song for no reason at all, dancing around the farms as they farmed, like in one of those Broadwaymusicals. In their spare time, they played musical instruments and painted pictures. They were all kind to one another. Crops grew tall, trees blossomed, insects buzzed, and all the animals did what they were supposed to do—for instance, give milk, run fast, catch mice, whatever. The mother cat’s six kittens grew big and strong.
    â€œBy and by, something terrible befell the island. There was a drought, a horribly severe one. Rain was badly needed, because everything began withering and drooping in the fields and the groves. The Rebusinians had less to eat and became hungry and grumpy. They stopped having fun. Animals slept more than usual because they were all tired out from looking for food. Butterflies and bees hid.
    â€œThe people asked their queen what to do. The queen asked the advice of her Royal Adviser, the villainous Victor. The villainous Victor had a boa constrictor coiled up like a long braid down his back. Whenever advice was needed, the boa constrictor uncoiled itself and hissed smart things into the villainous Victor’s ear. Victor, of course, took all the credit. The queen also consulted the young Prince Fredericko and Princess Oonella. But this time, no one knew what to do, even the boa constrictor.
    â€œThen one morning Prince Fredericko woke up andshouted, ‘What a dream I had last night! I dreamt I found a message in a pill bottle, which was floating in the Royal Bathtub. It may tell us how to solve our problem!’
    â€œHe wrote down the message on a piece of parchment.”
    I draw a rebus on my pad.

    â€œOK, try this,” I say.
    â€œ
L-o-o-k
,” reads Fred. “
Look
.”
    â€œThat’s it. Go on.”
    â€œ
Look 4 … Look for! Look for the 26…
What’s this supposed to be?”
    â€œA crow.”
    â€œ
Look for the twenty-six crows
?”
    â€œRight.”
    I put my rebus-making stuff in my pocket, and Freddy and I start walking out of the alley while I tell the rest of the story.
    â€œSo the queen ordered the villainous Victor to crisscross the island looking for twenty-six crows.
    â€œâ€˜I deserve a medal for this,’ Victor said on his return. ‘It was hard tracking down twenty-six, but here they are.’
    â€œVictor released the crows from their cages and they swooped around the Great Main Hall of the castle, and also the smaller, minor halls. Those crows made a HUGE mess. After a week of messes in the castle, nothing had changed in Rebusina.
    â€œâ€˜Whence came this dream, anyway?’ cried the villainous Victor, swatting at a big crow that was trying to pluck some hairs from his beard for her nest. Victor’s boa constrictor whispered into his ear.
    â€œâ€˜Off with that dreamer’s head!’ shouted Victor, looking straight at Prince Fredericko.
    â€œâ€˜Ha, ha, don’t be silly!’ exclaimed the little prince.
    â€œâ€˜I know what the problem is,’ said Princess Oonella. ‘Prince Fredericko forgot to write down the code RW, for “rhymes with
crows
”!’
    â€œSo the Royal Family sent out a message to the whole kingdom. Everyone had to rack their brains and think of all sorts of things that rhymed with
crows
—for instance,
bows
and
hoes
and
does
and
piccolos
, which they brought to the castle. It wasthe villainous Victor’s job to organize everything and gather them all together into the Great Main Hall of the castle. Again, nothing changed. The drought continued, with not a drop of rain to be seen anywhere throughout the island.
    â€œâ€˜Woe are us!’ cried the Rebusinians.
    â€œThen one day, along came a poor zucchini farmer, carrying