Read Philip and the Angel (9781452416144) for Free Online

stomach and begun to feed
themselves.
    “ How about water?” Emery
said.
    Philip shook himself awake. “Right. We gotta
get water. Let’s take care of the other two, and then I’ll talk to
Angel. She’ll know what to do. Here, take this.” Philip picked up a
spade with a broken handle and handed it to Emery.
    Philip cracked open the door and checked.
“Coast is clear.” He and Emery scrambled back into the bushes.
    “ Over here,” said Philip, finding a
smooth spot of dirt outside the bushes. He dug a hole while Emery
kept watch. Philip took a handkerchief from his pocket and picked
up the two kittens one-by-one and placed them into the hole. Then
he put the handkerchief down on top of them.
    “ This is sad,” said Emery.
    Philip’s throat hurt, and he didn’t think he
could talk so he motioned for Emery to scrape the dirt back into
the hole. They filled the hole and were packing it down when they
heard Mrs. Beebe’s voice.
    “ Oh, the little doggie is back with a
friend. Burying bones are you?” She started cackling with
laughter.
    Philip looked at her. “Woof!” he barked
angrily.
    The old woman jumped. “Bad dog,” she said.
Philip and Emery got to their feet and ran past Angel’s house onto
the sidewalk.
    “ Woof?” Emery asked. “Why did you
‘woof’ at her?”
    “ Never mind. I’m going to get some
water and talk to Angel.”
    “ I have to go home. It’s getting
late.”
    “ All right, but meet me tomorrow
morning, and I’ll tell you what we have to do.”
    “ Come and get me.”
    “ I will.”
    Emery crossed the street to his own house.
Philip checked on Mrs. Beebe, but she was not in sight.
    “ Bad dog,” he grumbled. Next time
he would be a bad dog and bite
her if he could. He put Mrs. Beebe out of his mind and walked up
the pathway to Angel’s door. Philip knew she’d be pleased to hear
his report.
     
     

Chapter Ten
     
    Philip’s report did please Angel. Every day
after school from then on, except for Mondays, Philip found Angel
on her back patio getting some fresh air. Angel would check on her
mother, and when it was safe, she and Philip would slip inside the
shed to visit the cats. Emery joined them when he finished taking
Hansel for his walk.
    One day while the three children watched the
kittens Angel said, “She has a nice family. One boy and one
girl.”
    Philip felt too embarrassed to ask Angel how
she knew which was a boy and which was a girl, but he didn’t want
Angel to think he didn’t know anything so he pointed to the mother
cat and said, “Well, yeah, and she’s a female, you know.”
    Emery and Angel both turned to look at
Philip, who suddenly realized what he’d said. “Oh.” He blushed.
“Well, the mother, yeah. A female. I guess you knew already. Never
mind.”
    The three cats all had names by now, given to
them by Angel.
    “ We’ll call the mother cat Ling Ling.
It’s a cute name, don’t you think? We’ll call the black kitten
Frisky, because he is, and since the gray one’s the cutest, we’ll
call her Angel.” She giggled.
    “ Don’t I get to name one?” Philip
complained.
    “ Sure,” said Angel with a smile. “See
the gray one. You can name it Angel.”
    Philip made a face but found he couldn’t make
himself argue with Angel. He stayed quiet and let her have her own
way.
    The little kittens surprised Philip by how
fast they grew. One day when the children went into the shed, they
were shocked and pleased to see Frisky with one eye open, the first
of the two kittens to see the world. After that things happened
quickly. Eyes opened, legs got stronger and soon the kittens were
frolicking around the shed. Philip used his allowance to buy food
for the mother cat, grateful when Angel pointed out he could get
dry food cheaper than wet food and, besides, the mother cat went
out “food shopping” on her own anyway.
     
     
    When the final day of class ended, Philip and
Emery hurried home. What a great day! No more school