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UCG Young Writers’ Camp |
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My cat, Gypsy. |
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Rebekah’s Stories |
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Gypsy’s Injury - I’m Rebekah, and I have a Siamese cat named Gypsy. In cat years he’s twenty-eight, but in human years he’s only four. Well, when he was just a one-year-old cat (seven or eight in cat years), he had a truly incredible thing happen to him. Okay, so now you want me to tell you what happened, I suppose. I guess I could. The black rental truck rolled into the garage and ground to a halt. I burst out of the vehicle, glad to be out of school for the day. It was a Tuesday afternoon, around 3:30 to be specific. Gypsy was sitting on the mat, meowing pitifully in a tone I’d never heard him use before. I thought, “He must have been really lonely. I’ll give him a hug and pet him a little before getting down to doing my homework.” I went over to him and gently picked him up. “Meeeoooowww!” Gypsy screeched. I dropped him in surprise as I saw what was really the matter. He limped, and his colon was half-way out of his rear. But the worst part was his tail– or what was left of it, anyway. It was basically skinned, with red ditches oozing here and there. It was a gruesome scene. You could just see “pain” written all over his bloody features and you could hear it in his poor, frantic meows. “Dad!” I yelled, a little uncertain of what to do. “What?” he asked. “I’ll unlock the door in just one second.” He slammed shut the truck door. “It’s more important than that!” I cried in desperation, trying to get through to him. “Look at Gypsy! He’s badly injured! He must have gotten into a fight with a dog or something!” That was when Dad saw Gypsy’s sorry state. He unlocked the door and ran inside. Calling Gypsy’s vet, he told the doctor Gypsy’s condition. As he talked, I laid Gypsy gingerly in his carrying case. Soon we were off to the vet’s office, and with us was a cat in pain. Gypsy was at the vet’s office for two or three long days, and I was worried sick the whole time. Then it was time to pick Gypsy up from the vet’s office. The vet told dad and me that a car had hit Gypsy, most likely. I’m glad he survived. Gypsy smelled weird, and his tail was only about an inch long. His hip was broken and he had neon stitches in his rear, but despite all this I hugged him, glad he was going to be all right. To this day his tail is bald, and his right ear is nicked, giving him that “alley cat” look. At least he doesn’t limp anymore. Mom says he’s just the sports model. We both agreed that the shorter the tail, the less tail gets caught in the door when we open it for him and he scoots through at the last minute possible. I love my four-year-old cat, Gypsy, because he is the smartest, most loveable cat in the universe– I think.
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My Parents
My mom, Carolyn, is a doctor. She is the boss there, and she owns the building. Her favorite color is blue. Sewing clothes for herself and me is something she does well. She can bake good things to eat like cookies and cakes. She makes most of our meals, and she bakes our family’s bread without a bread maker. I think it’s cool how she bakes Irish pancakes and sews bathing suits. My mom can do anything she wants to when she puts her mind to it, and she’s really tall for a woman. She’s an artist and she can remodel our house (she painted my room, my closet, the living room, my parents’ room, and the hall). We always have lots of fun together. Mom has a big sense of humor. She calls a joke a yoke, and she alters the names of other things, too. She even went so far as to alter my dad’s name– OZ. In retaliation, he now calls her Ca. They like to nickname everything but me. They even nicknamed Gypsy “The Boy” because he annoyed dogs behind invisible fences so much. My dad, Charles, is an engineer at Michelin. He goes by Chuck sometimes, and sometimes by Charles. We play games and eat snacks together, and we have lots of fun together. He reads me stories sometimes and loves to laugh (my whole family laughs a lot). We go places in his pride and joy of a car, his light blue Toyota Prius (a Hybrid). There is a lot to admire in my awesome dad, Charles.
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“The Boy” |
