Read Otis Spofford for Free Online

chance to slip food into Mutt’s cage. By lunch period he was forced to form another plan. He went into the cloakroom and pretended he could not find his sweater. Then he waited quietly until all the other boys and girls left the room. He heard Mrs. Gitler shut the door. Then he heard something he did not expect. The key turned in the lock. Otis was locked in.
    As long as the door was locked, he did not have to worry about being discovered. That was something. Stooping, so he could not be seen through the windows, Otis hurried to the rats. When he lifted Mutt’s cage and put down a piece of cheese and a vitamin pill, the little rat scurried over to the food and nibbled greedily.
    Good old Mutt. He must have been awfully hungry. The trouble was, Mutt wasn’t the only one who was hungry. Otis was hungry too. He wondered what the others were eating in the cafeteria. Maybe it was hot-dog day. Otis watched Mutt finish the cheese and gnaw the vitamin pill, which slipped away from him until he learned to hold it with his paws. Otis was so hungry that he took the rest of the cheese out of his pocket. It was covered with fuzz, but he didn’t care. He gave Mutt another piece and ate the rest himself. When it was time for the bell to ring again, Otis made sure there were no telltale crumbs in the cage before he hid in the cloakroom once more.
    “Where were you?” Stewy asked, when Mrs. Gitler unlocked the door and the class streamed into the room. “I didn’t see you in the cafeteria.”
    “Oh, around,” said Otis vaguely, as he joined the group watching the monitors feed the rats. So it really had been hot-dog day in the cafeteria! Watching Pinky nibble a piece of hot dog made Otis hungrier than ever.
    “Mutt isn’t eating his bread,” someone said. “Do you suppose he’s sick?”
    “He’s probably just tired of it,” said Ellen. “You’d get tired of it too, if that’s all you had to eat.” Then she added, “Poor little Mutt.”
    The next day Otis brought more cheese and another vitamin pill to Mutt. He also brought a sandwich and a cupcake for himself, so he and the rat ate lunch together. Otis thought Mutt had grown a little already. If only he could keep on feeding him without being caught!
    The third day, Otis decided not to feed the rat at noon. Stewy had asked too many questions about why he wasn’t in the cafeteria.
    “I think Mutt’s growing,” Otis heard someone say.
    “So do I. His stomach sticks out,” Tommy said. “And he’s frisky, too. Look at him.”
    Otis was delighted with the way his private experiment was turning out. Just wait till Mrs. Gitler weighed Mutt. When he asked her if she didn’t think the cafeteria should serve soda pop, she wouldn’t have a thing to say against it.
    As he was leaving the room for recess, Otis made a detour past the cages in the hope that he could slip Mutt’s food to him. Stewy followed close at his heels. “What are you tagging around after me for?” Otis asked.
    “I’m just looking at the rats,” said Stewy. “What would I tag after you for?”
    Otis decided he had better be quiet. He did not want to make Stewy suspicious.
    When Otis had no better luck feeding Mutt at lunch time, he began to be uneasy. What if he couldn’t get any food to Mutt? Maybe the rat would lose weight and he would have to start his experiment all over again.
    Finally, as the class left the room to go to the auditorium for folk dancing, Otis managed to slip Mutt’s food into the cage. Then he worried all during folk dancing. What if Mutt didn’t eat it all up while the class was out of the room? But when they returned, Otis was relieved to find every crumb gone.
    Friday was worst of all. Otis scarcely had time for breakfast, he was so anxious to get to school early. The door of Room Eleven was locked as usual, and there was no opportunity to slip food into the cage during the morning. By lunch time Otis was desperate. Even though he had not brought a sandwich for