SIXTEEN POUND BABY
By Roxy Mistry
It was a typical summer day in New York City, hot and humid.
I tucked a piece of hair behind my ear as I thought of something to do. Betsy and I were bored stiff; we had done everything from playing on her laptop to staring into space.
“How about we play with your cats?” I asked “No that’s kind of boring, Besides they always run away.” Betsy replied.
“Let’s, okay… (I chewed my lip thinking of something to say) um, never mind.” I said quickly. Betsy must’ve thought something because a weird grin spread across her face and she said in a creepy voice, “I know just what to do!”
“Tell me, tell me please!” I whined. But she just smiled at me
“Humph!” I raised my eyebrows at her. “Don’t sulk.” She told me with a stern look on her face trying to make me laugh. (It worked)
As we stepped into her apartment I removed my shoes and lined them up neatly. “I’ve lived in Japan to long.” I rolled my eyes at myself. Then I turned and looked at Betsy checking to see if she would tell me now.
“Mom, Mom?” She called. “Where’s the stroller?”
“It’s in the closet, Boop!” Robin, Betsy’s mother, shouted from across the room.
Boop was Betsy’s nickname, when I was little I thought it was poop. (She’s probably going to kill because I told you this.)
We opened the closet door and saw a folded up “cat stroller”, I mean it was really meant for a cat
. My heart quickened now that I knew what we were going to do! “OH MY GOD!” I thought, “This is going to be FUN!”
“Fatso, Fatso?” She called. A fat black and white cat stumbled into the hall. Its tummy jiggled as Betsy scooped him up and zipped him in the stroller. She looked like she struggled under the weight of the fat cat.
I pushed the stroller outside as people started staring us. They probably thought we were the weird people pushing a cat in a stroller. (We were) My face turned bright red when that thought popped into my head.
“Make your serious face.” Betsy told me. I giggled.
A man walked up to us, he was walking his poodle. Fatso hissed at the poodle and the poodle barked in defense. “Settle down girl.” He said to the poodle, now baring its teeth at Fatso.
“Is that a cat?” He asked us. “Yup.” Betsy answered; her eyes were dazzling, she was proud of her cat.
“How much does it weigh?” He asked confused. “Sixteen pounds… it’s a sixteen pound baby.” I told him still holding my serious face.
The man walked away, probably thinking we were crazy.
Betsy and I laughed our lungs out. Sixteen pound baby that would be scary!
Fatso meowed loudly; we unzipped his cage and tossed in a treat. We heard a loud crunch and Fatso curled up into a ball and he slowly went to sleep.