Cricket201901

on the second floor. Sasha had to redecorate the dollhouse every day, but
she didn’t mind as long as Chester was happy.
One day Sasha came home from school, and she couldn’t find Chester.
He wasn’t in the dollhouse, or her sock drawer, even though she’d forgot-
ten to close it.
“Mom, Dad!” Sasha wailed. “Chester is gone!”
Sasha’s mom looked in the attic. There were boxes and dust bunnies,
and even a mouse that had escaped Chester’s notice, but no Chester.
Sasha’s dad looked in the kitchen cabinets. There were pots and pans,
cans of soup, and the lemon zester he thought he’d lost, but no Chester.
Suddenly—
“I found him!” Sasha cried.
The big orange tabby was inside her mom’s new glass
vase, and he didn’t look happy at all. Even his whiskers
looked sad. Sasha tipped the vase over gently and tried to
pull him out, but Chester just yowled.
“We’ll have to break the vase to get him out!” Sasha
cried.
Now her mom didn’t look happy. It was a beautiful vase,
clear glass with blue and green swirls.
“No,” said her dad. “If we break it, the glass shards
might hurt Chester. Maybe we can put butter on the inside
of the vase and slide him out, like the time you got that ring
stuck on your finger.”
Sasha’s mom buttered as much of the inside of the vase
as she could reach, and her dad tried to pull the unhappy
cat out. Chester put his paws against the sides of the vase
in protest. Now they had an annoyed, buttery cat stuck in
a vase.
“We could call a glass cutter,” suggested Sasha’s mom.
“We could call the vet,” offered her dad.
Soon they were at the vet’s office with an annoyed,
frightened, buttery cat in a vase. The vet almost laughed out
loud when she saw Chester’s predicament, but she managed
to pretend to clear her throat instead.