Read Gooney Bird Greene for Free Online Page B

furry and fat, the way cats do when they are frightened.
    "My cat becomes very enlarged when my brother brings his dog to visit," Mrs. Pidgeon said. Then she put her hand to her mouth. "Oh! I'm sorry, Gooney Bird. I interrupted."
    "That's all right," Gooney Bird replied. "Maybe this is a good time for everyone to tell cat-getting-big-suddenly stories."
    Many children did. Barry Tuckerman's grandmother's cat became huge and his tail stood straight out in the air when a groundhog appeared in the yard.
    Chelsea's cat became enormously fluffy and hissed and spat when the veterinarian gave her a shot.
    Tricia told how her cat got very, very fat and then one day had seven kittens inside the laundry basket.
    "Good. So you all understand about cats. Now I'll continue," Gooney Bird announced.
     
     
    The cow, who had some purple blossoms dangling from her mouth, looked very surprised when a person and a cat and a carpet all landed in her meadow. She thought about what to do and decided that moving to a different corner of the meadow would be the best choice. Carefully, moving slowly in a cowlike fashion, she strolled away toward a corner where yellow cosmos and oxeye daisies were in bloom.
    Gooney Bird's attention was on the car, which had now disappeared around a bend in the road. She was a little worried about the disappearance of the car.
    But Catman didn't care about the car. Catman had never liked the car at all. In fact, Catman had hated the car, and he was glad that it had disappeared.
    But he was very interested in the cow. Catman had never seen a cow before. Now he watched with fascination as the cow moved slowly toward the other corner of the meadow.
    He liked the way the cow walked, heavily and with determination.
    He liked the way the cow smelled, of thick, sun-warmed cowhide and meadow flowers.
    And, as he scampered along behind the cow and the cow noticed and mooed, Catman liked the way the cow sounded. It was comforting, the low, throaty sound of a moo, and in the background was the buzzing of flies.
    Catman began to purr. In the distance, he could hear Gooney Bird calling "Catman! Catman!" But he didn't care. He found himself falling in love with the cow.
     
     
    "I like romance," Beanie said.
    "Me too," Keiko said with a tiny sigh.
    Gooney Bird waited a moment, but no one else said anything. She continued the story.
     
     
    In the evening, the farmer, Mr. Henry Schinhofen, came to the meadow and called the cow. It was time to take her into the barn to be milked.
    The cow liked the farmer, who was soft-spoken and kind; and she liked the barn, which was airy and dark and smelled of hay; and she liked being milked, which felt a little like sneezing: something that needs to be done now and then. So she cheerfully followed the farmer when he called her.
    Catman cheerfully followed the cow.
    Mrs. Clara Schinhofen, the farmer's wife, was feeding the chickens when her husband walked past, leading the cow. "My word," she said. "Look! There's a cat with no tail, following the cow!"
    "So there is," said her husband. "Perhaps he is hungry. We should feed him."
    They tried to take Catman into the house to be fed, but he refused to leave the cow. So they brought him a bowl of tuna fish and gave it to him in the barn. When Mr. Schinhofen milked the cow, he squirted some into a dish for Catman.
    That night, Catman, who was by now completely and hopelessly in love, curled up beside the cow and slept. He has slept there ever since. During the day, he goes to the meadow with the cow, and while the cow eats wildflowers, Catman chases field mice and butterflies, listens to the buzzing of flies, and smells the warm and pleasant odor of cowhide.
     
     
    Gooney Bird paused. "Questions?" she said.
    Keiko raised her hand. "I was waiting for the bad part," she said. "I was going to cover my ears."
    "What bad part?" asked Gooney Bird.

    "You know," Keiko whispered. "Where the cow ate Catman."
    Gooney Bird looked surprised. "The cow didn't eat