News : The Runaway Hamster and Cat

Editor's Note: Mrs. Patterson's 3rd-graders are finalists in the national "Be A Famous Writer" contest with their story, "The Runaway Hamster and Cat," which they share below. (See the contest story HERE.)

The Runaway Hamster and Cat

by Mrs. Patterson’s 3rd Grade Class

Fall 2015

Once there was a hamster named Alfrid and a cat named Alvin. They were frustrated because they knew how to read, but they didn’t have any books and they couldn’t communicate with their owners. Their owners were Henry and Jenn.

While the owners were taking a nap, the pets made a mess because they were ornery. They were tearing up the furniture and breaking dishes. They saw that the window was open a little bit, so they pushed it open the rest of the way and escaped! The neighbor’s dog, Max, spotted them and began to chase them! Max chased them down the block. When they looked back Max was right behind them. “Finally we’re at the library!” squeaked Alfrid. They went into the library and the hamster jumped on the cat’s back so he could lock the doors. “We’re safe,” meowed Alvin.

Suddenly there was pounding and barking. The librarian was very confused, so she called the owners to come get their naughty, strange pets. Henry and Jenn drove to the library. The librarian unlocked the doors, and they shoved the dog aside and stepped in, except they forgot to close the door. The dog went in, and when Alvin and Alfrid saw him, they began running around and caused chaos! The dog got scared and ran back outside because he didn’t want to get in trouble. The owners and the librarian were very, VERY mad! The animals escaped the library by climbing the shelves and running across them. They jumped over the owners’ heads to the next shelf and finally slid out the door. The shelves fell down because they were too heavy, and they made an extremely big mess that looked like something just exploded!

As they left, the dog Max saw them and started chasing them again. They tricked him into following them into the animal shelter, where they trapped him in a two sided cage. Then Alfrid and Alvin let out all the other animals except the dog and everything went very, VERY crazy! They left the animal shelter, but they realized that they were also being chased by the animal shelter manager. He had a broom in his hand and was waving it frantically. Alfrid jumped aside as the broom came down. Then Alvin ducked as the broom flew over his head. The hamster and cat ran while the manager yelled after them. They ran out of town and into the woods.

The woods were filled with tall swaying trees, small puddles of water, and lots of scampering squirrels. Alvin and Alfrid were relieved that manager wouldn’t be able to find them here. They walked around and found a cave. They went in and found a bag of hundred dollar bills and a small pile of diamonds, emeralds, gold, rubies, crystals, and gems. Alvin and Alfrid knew they would be able to use the money to buy books. The cat picked up the bag of cash in his mouth, and the hamster stuffed all of the gemstones in his cheek pockets. They left the cave and noticed a set of train tracks, so they followed them. Eventually they found the train station and were able to ride a train all the way home.

Henry and Jenn were there and they were very, VERY cranky. Alvin and Alfrid knew they were in trouble, but they had an idea! Alvin jump up and knocked over the family dictionary. Henry and Jenn got ready to yell at their pets, but they noticed that Alfrid was turning the pages and when he stopped, he was pointing to the word “sorry.” The pets used the dictionary to communicate with the owners by pointing to all of the words they wanted to say, and said they wanted books to read. Henry and Jenn were extremely excited to discover that their pets could read, and they finally understood why they were being so ornery before. Two hours later they all went out and fixed the library together, and then bought books at the book fair! They got books like Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, The Wizard of Oz, and the Goosebumps series. They paid for the books by using the money they found in the cave. When they went home, they sat on the couch, and read together for a very, VERY long time.

The End