Mrs. Jensen lay
in her bed. She left the window open so the night breeze would cool the
room down. She fluffed up her pillow and closed her eyes. A few minutes
later she heard an awful screeching sound. “What was that!” She climbed
out of bed and put her slippers on, heading for the window. “It's a cat!
Go away cat. I want to get some sleep tonight.” A black and white
striped cat sat on her wooden fence, serenading into the darkness.
“Shoo! Go away!” The cat stopped making noise so Mrs. Jensen laid back
down.
She was just
about asleep when she heard the noise again. This time it was louder.
Once again she put on her slippers and went to the window. This time
there were two cats. “Just what I need, another cat chorus.” Both cats
meowed and screeched. “Go away. I don't want to hear this tonight.” They
stopped singing so she lay back down.
She fluffed up
her pillow and curled up under the blankets. The noise came again. This
time she didn't put on her slippers. She marched to the window, angrier
than a hornet. “Three cats? Why don't you cats go and sit on someone
else's fence. I'm too tired to listen to this noise.” The cats didn't
stop, so she picked up one of her slippers and threw it at them. They
jumped off and ran away. “There. Good riddance.”
Mrs. Jensen fell
asleep, but was awakened a while later to a horrid noise. “That better
not be those cats again.” She went to the window. There sat four cats
and two mice and two spiders were dangling from the trees. The cats were
singing a full chorus, accompanied by the squeaky voices of the mice and
soft noises of the spiders.
“I can't stand
this any longer.” Mrs. Jensen closed her bedroom window, locked it up
tight, and pulled her curtains shut. She climbed into bed and pulled the
pillow over the top of her ears. No matter what she did, she could still
here the chorus of cats.
Giving up, she
sat up in bed. “If you can't beat them, you might as well join them.”
She put on her bathrobe and went out into the back garden. The cats
watched her carefully as she approached. She picked up her tossed
slipper and put it on her foot. “All right, boys. Let's sing.” Mrs.
Jensen opened her mouth and high pitched sounds came out. The cats
stopped singing. She sang some more, reaching the highest notes of the
scale that she could. Soon the spiders crawled back up to the tree
branch and the mice scattered into the darkness. The four cats leaped
off the fence and ran away.
Mrs. Jensen
burst out laughing. “Now you know how it feels! I never could sing!” She
chuckled all the way back to her bed. She fluffed up the pillow, lay
down and went to sleep. Never again did the cat chorus come to her
fence. She slept in peace and silence from then on.