She Is Trying To Telephone You

Mrs Andrews had a young cat, and it was the cat’s first winter. One evening it was outside when it began to snow heavily. Mrs Andrews looked everywhere and shouted its name, but she did not find it, so she telephone the police and said, ‘I have lost a small black cat. Has anybody found one?’

‘No, madam,’ said the policeman at the other end. ‘But cats are really very strong animals. They sometimes live for days in the snow, and when it melts or somebody find them, they are quite all right.’

Mrs Andrews felt happier when she heard this. ‘And’, she said, ‘our cat is very clever. She almost talks.’

The policeman was getting rather tired. ‘Well then,’ he said, ‘why don’t you put your telephone down? Perhaps she is trying to telephone you now.’

(L.A. Hill, Elementary Stories for Reproduction, Oxford University Press)