Read In Your Room for Free Online

girls. He was convinced, however, that once they got a peek at “his” room they would beg to switch, much preferring the opportunity to sleep surrounded by stuffed animals and collages.
    But in the same moment he realized there was no way his moms would agree to the trade. They had been trying to encourage the girls to develop independent friends and interests, and separate beds were a major part of the effort.
    Charlie sighed, turned off the lights, shut the door, and went back to “his” room. Everything seemed so clean, including the white rug that spreadacross the middle of the floor. The duffel bag he’d absentmindedly tossed on top of the cluster of white pillows neatly arranged on the bed suddenly looked dirtier and more ragged than ever. He looked down at his sneakers and noticed the dried mud still caked around them from his ride the night before. He would have preferred sleeping in the cave all summer than here, worrying about what he was going to stain or ruin.
    Once he put the bag on the floor, the bed looked so inviting. He was at least psyched to sleep on such a huge mattress all summer. He kicked off his shoes and threw his clothes on the floor. Since he didn’t know what to do about all the pillows, he just lay down on top of them. He expected it to feel weird and uneven but it was surprisingly comfortable.
    “Meow.”
    He sat up and scanned the room. A cat? Did these people have a cat? No one had mentioned it, at least not that he could recall. He’d been paying so little attention, he didn’t know anything much about the people who lived there.
    “Meow.”
    He walked around, following the plaintive sound, and was led to the open window, where a plump gray cat sat on the other side. The cat greeted Charlie with another meow, this one less mournful, followed by a steady stream of purring when Charlie patted its head.
    “Who are you, little guy?” Charlie asked. “How’d you get up here?” He leaned his head out the window, spotting the trellis of bougainvillea climbing the wall to the second-floor ledge.
    “Want to come inside?” He tried to lure the cat in, but it wouldn’t budge.
    “Are you thirsty? Is that what’s going on?” He took a half-finished Evianbottle from his backpack, emptied some change from a dish on the desk, and poured out water. He placed the dish on the sill but the cat ignored it and continued to squawk, staring right up at Charlie with its ice-blue eyes. “I’m not who you were expecting, am I?”
    “Meow.”
    Charlie went over to the desk and found an old piece of mail to get the name of the girl who lived there. He then took out his laptop, got online, and did a Facebook search to find a way to contact her.
    Since everyone was asleep and knew less about cats than he did, maybe Molly Hill could tell him what to do to please this fat little gray one.
    From: Charlie
    To: Molly
    Date: June 15, 2008 12:05 A.M. PST
    Subject: In your room
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    Dear Molly:
    My name is Charlie and I’m staying in your house for the summer. More precisely, I’m staying in your room.
    Anyway, I’m writing because your cat showed up on the windowsill about ten minutes ago and hasn’t stopped meowing since. He won’t come in or drink or anything, so I figured you might be familiar with this behavior and know what to do. Or maybe he’s just freaking out because you’re gone. If you have any tips on what to do, that’d be great. Thanks. Hope you’re liking our house so far (if you’ve even arrived yet).
    Charlie
    From: Molly
    To: Charlie
    Date: June 15, 2008 9:00 A.M. MST
    Subject: Re: In your room
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    Dear Charlie:
    OMG! I forgot to leave a note about the cat! I hope he didn’t keep you up all night. He’s not even mine—he technically belongs to this old man down the street, but he spends most of his time outdoors, seducing suckers like me for attention, so he comes by a lot. You can just give him a piece of cheese to stop the meowing…. It always calms him down and seems to