儿童故事集：Katie and the Cat Swap: Part 2

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In the morning, Mum opened up the hatch back of the car, and turned round to tell Katie to hurry up for school.

 

Unseen, Katie the Cat slipped into the car and hid under a rug on the back seat. Half a minute later Solomon – looking like Katie – opened the front passenger door:

But he did not notice Katie hiding in the back.

 

At quarter to nine, Katie sat on the wall of the school and watched the kids milling around. She saw that Solomon – looking like her – remained aloof³ from the others and prowling up and down on his own. Then Isis arrived, and with a grim and determined⁴ look on her forehead, she marched up to the person she thought was Katie. She produced a card from her bag, and gave it to Solomon.

 

“I wonder what that’s for?” wondered Katie, who knew that the pink invitation to Isis’s party was standing⁵ on her dressing⁶ table at home. She did not guess that Isis was now presenting an un-invitation card. Isis had lain awake at night thinking sadly about her best friend’s peculiar⁷ and selfish behaviour, and decided⁸ to un-invite her to her party. She didn’t want to risk anyone’s nose getting scratched!

 

By now, Katie was starting to get the hang of being a cat. She saw that the classroom window was open a little. She leapt up onto the sill, slinked through the gap, and hid in the stationary⁹ cupboard.

 

After a few minutes, she heard two girls come in. One of them was Samantha, and the other was Pandora. Pandora was saying:

 

“Have you heard the big news? Isis has un-invited Katie to her party.”

“She has?” thought Katie, alarmed. ”Whatever Solomon has done, I’m sure I don’t deserve to be un-invited.”

 

Samantha, whose nose still bore the marks of the previous day’s cat-fight, said:

“It’s too little too late. Her popularity has taken a big hit. She should have unfriended that witch girl years ago.”

 

Katie was peering through a crack. She saw a crafty¹⁰ smile come over Pandora’s face. Then she beckoned¹¹ to Samantha to come closer so that she could whisper into her ear.

 

“You’ll love this. There’s a far bigger drama about to happen in the life of little Isis. It’s a secret, but what’s the use of a secret if you can’t share it with your best friend?”

 

“Too right,” said Samantha, who these days went around at lot of the time with Pandora. She admired her friend’s spiteful tricks, and was eager to hear what she had done now.

 

“Isis’s perfect school record is about to get well and truly besmirched,” continued Pandora.

 

“What do you mean?” Now she was intensely interested. She had been waiting for a besmirching¹³ of Isis’s prissy perfection ever since year one at school.

 

“She copied and pasted her history project off the internet.”

 

“She didn’t!”

 

“Well perhaps she didn’t actually copy it,” admitted Pandora. “But I did! And I wrote her name on it and swapped the papers in her folder¹⁴. She didn’t notice and handed it in!”

 

“Hilarious!” honked¹⁵ Samantha.

 

“It’s the Wikipedia word for word. In just a few days, Miss Perfect Pants will be suspended from school. The shame of it! She’ll never dare show her darling dolly face around these parts again.”

 

“Good riddance!” cheered Samantha.

 

Within the stationary cupboard, Katie was trembling with indignation. She must act immediately to save Isis – but how, with so many people around? She slipped out of the hiding place, and was immediately spotted¹⁶ by Samantha:

 

“Hey look, a spooky cat! ” she exclaimed. And for some reason Pandora commented:

 

“It looks just like Katie!” and they both laughed.

 

First Katie made for the window, but then she turned and shot through the door. She bounded down the corridor to the cloakrooms, and got there just before the first bell of the morning rang. She knew exactly where Isis would be in two minutes time – by her locker¹⁷. She climbed up a coat that had been hanging overnight on a peg¹⁸, and jumped onto the locker. There she hid until Isis came in, chatting to Rani about her plans for her party. Fortunately, Rani’s locker was on the other side of the room. Isis was on her own just long enough for Katie to whisper, in a catty voice:

 

“Isis, don’t be shocked.”


”Who said that?” said Isis, rolling her eyes and looking around her.

 

“Up here!” hissed¹⁹ an unfamiliar²⁰ voice. Isis looked up and saw a cat’s face peering over the top of her locker. She got the shock of her life when the cat said:

 

“It’s me, Katie.”

 

Isis turned white.


“I swapped bodies – and voices – with Solomon. And now he’s refusing to swap back.”

 

“Oh thank goodness, what a relief!” exclaimed Isis.

 

“What do you mean what a relief? It’s a disaster!”

 

“I was so unhappy. I thought you had become cold and catty…. Now I understand. But surely you can turn back again?”

 

“Maybe, said Katie, really hating the sound of her feline²¹ vocal²² chords. “But there’s a more urgent problem.”

 

And she explained about the plot to besmirch¹² Isis’s perfect reputation.

 

When Isis understood the full gravity of the situation, she went weak at the knees. She slumped²³ down on the bench and looked shell shocked.

 

“But, but … they’ll suspend me…” she stuttered.

 

“All’s not lost yet,” said Katie. “You’ve got a copy of what you wrote haven’t you?”

“On the computer at home.”

 

“Well pretend you are ill, and take me back to your house.”

 

Isis did not have much trouble pretending that she was unwell. She truly did feel terrible – with fright. She sat on a chair in the sick bay, a little room by reception, until her mum came to pick her up. Of course, she did not mention that she was carrying a cat inside her school bag. Once home, she staggered in the direction of her room, but soon sneaked²⁴ into the home office and printed out her project again. She rolled the papers into a flute²⁵ shape, and gave them to Katie to hold in her mouth. She never thought that her entire future would depend on a cat – even one that was really her best friend on the inside!

 

Katie slipped out of the window, and over the garden wall. She was just in time to jump onto a number 14 bus that was heading for the school. There were so many commuters crammed²⁶ on board that nobody noticed a cat travelling among their feet.

 

Mr Old, the History teacher, had most likely taken the project up to the staff room. The problem with the staff room was that it was normally chock-a-block full of teachers. Even a cat would have trouble sneaking²⁷ through the cordon²⁸. But for once, Katie was in luck. It was International Day. The whole school was due to gather in the Assembly Hall dressed up in national costumes, waving flags, and setting out stalls about countries all over the world. Most of the teachers would be there too.

Katie pressed her cat’s nose through the door of the staff room. It was almost empty but – oh bother! Mr Old was sitting in a chair.

 

“Just my luck,” she thought – but then she noticed that he was asleep. She could not help thinking:

 

“Really, I wonder if he’s even heard of the Wikipedia, let alone checked to see if any essays are copied from it.”

 

Stacked on the table beside him, was a pile of folders²⁹. In a trice, Katie silently padded across the room and leapt up onto them. She used a claw to pull the folders back, one by one, until about half way down she found the project with Isis’s name on it. She pulled it out with her teeth. Some of the folders fell on the ground, but fortunately did not wake the slumbering³⁰ teacher. She pawed open Isis’s folder and read the project through her green catty eyes. It was totally outrageous³¹! Pandora had left references to the Wikipedia, hyperlinks³², and bits of web clutter³³ all over the pages. Even Mr Old could not fail to notice that something was up. Katie took playful catty pleasure in scratching up the forged papers with her claws and rolling them into the bin³⁴. Returning the real papers back into Isis’ folder was not going to be so easy – cat’s paws are not really meant for working with stationary. After thinking for a moment she had an idea. She pushed Isis’s project onto the pile on the floor. It would look like it had fallen off the table.

“Phew” she thought, and then, “Oh no! I’m done for!”

 

For who else, but Miss Vile³⁵ was walking into the staff room. “For this, I’ll be in detention³⁶ until Kingdom Come…” feared Katie in a panic, before remembering that she looked like a cat. So there were some advantages to being Solomon-shaped, after all. For one, teachers could not punish you. She ran past Miss Vile, who was surprised to see a cat in the staff room, and out into the corridor. Five minutes later she was sitting on a school wall, congratulating herself – but not for long.

“Sometimes,” she thought sadly, “it’s just so much easier to solve other people’s problems than your own.”

 

She jumped down off the wall, and headed for home, not hopeful of being back as herself that evening.

 

But after supper, her interview with Solomon was more positive.

“How was your day?” she asked. And Solomon did not look quite so pleased with himself as he had done the previous evening.

 

“I felt such a fool,” he said. “I didn’t have a costume for International Day. You could have told me.”

 

“I’m sorry, I was too busy lying in front of the radiator,” replied Katie, amused.

“And don’t you know, your Miss Vile can’t spell? She failed me on the test.”

“Oh, that was silly of her,” said Katie. “I’m sure your spelling was right and hers was wrong.”

 

“Too true,” said the cat. “The test was rigged.”

“It always is,” said Katie. “Unless of course I get all the answers right. So Solomon, are you ready to change back into your own skin?”

 

Solomon did not look sure. katie coaxed³⁷:

 

“My mums’ got a whole load of fresh catnip in at the shop. She’s bound to bring some home. I’m looking forward to nibbling³⁸ it instead of you.”

 

“All right,” said Solomon, finally. “Perhaps it is time to turn back. What are those silly words you want me to say?”

 

Katie told him the reverse spell, and I am glad to say, that after a few attempts, it worked, and to this day, Katie has never again done so dangerous and reckless a thing as to swap bodies with a faithless and untrustworthy animal.

 

And that was the second and final part of Katie and the Cat Swap. Phew. We are all relieved that Solomon finally agreed to reverse the swap. That means we can look forward to more stories about Katie the Witch, her mum, and her best friend Isis here on Storynory.com.

 

And if you enjoy our stories, don’t forget you can always leave a comment on our website or our iTunes Podcast page. We look forward to hearing from you soon!

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For now, from me, Natasha…

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