Philip and the Angel (9781452416144) (4 page)

“
Bye.” The door closed behind Philip.
He looked across the street and saw Emery, Hansel scurrying here
and there at his side. The dog stopped to smell something and as
Emery watched the dog, Philip watched them. Hansel trotted ahead,
and Emery followed him to his house, opened the door, and they
stepped inside.

Philip walked sadly toward his own house.
Emery would be over for him in a few minutes. Maybe they could do
something at the park that would cheer him up. He hoped so. He
really needed cheering up.

Chapter Seven

Philip saw Angel at her living room window
each day when he returned from school, and since Emery had to walk
his dog first thing after school, Philip took time to talk to her.
Every day she asked him whether he’d managed to raise the topic of
the stray dog to his parents. Philip could only shake his head
sadly and say no. He could still see the dog, a giant piece of meat
in his mouth, tearing around the living room. He could still hear
his mother screaming for him to chase the dog out the open front
door. No. Impossible. Impossible. Impossible.

On the following Monday Angel made her
mysterious trip to the hospital so Philip decided to join Emery on
his dog-walk.

“
How come you keep standing outside
that house when you go home? You did it all last week.” Emery
clicked the leash onto Hansel’s collar. Philip opened the front
door for them, and they went out onto the pathway.

Philip hadn’t yet mentioned Angel to Emery.
He’d told Emery it was his own idea to invite the stray dog
home.

“
Doesn’t that girl live there? The one
who never goes to school?”

“
That’s her. She looks out the window a
lot and always says hello to me.”

“
You always go up to the window,
though. I wouldn’t stop to talk to a girl. I’d wave if I had to and
keep going.”

“
You don’t have to pass her house. I
do. Besides,
she
talks
to
me
.”

“
What does she say?”

Philip looked at Emery. “Are you writing a
book or something? I thought you went home to get Hansel for his
walk. Why are you watching me?”

“
I just see you when I take Hansel out.
You’re there every day. How come you didn’t go see her
today?”

Philip gave a disgruntled sigh. “She’s not
there. Okay?”

“
How do you know she’s not there? You
came right to my house. You didn’t even go by there.”

“
Why are you asking so many questions?
You should get a job on the evening news. You’d be
great.”

“
I just want to know.”

“
She not there on Mondays because she’s
sick, okay?

“
She’s only sick on
Mondays?”

“
No, not only on Mondays,” Philip
snapped. “She’s sick every day, but she goes to the hospital on
Mondays.”

“
Every Monday?”

“
Yes, every Monday.”

“
Why?”

Philip stopped walking and glared at his
friend. “Because they make her.”

“
Okay, okay.” The boys walked a few
steps in silence. “Will she be back tomorrow?”

“
Yes, she’ll probably be back
tomorrow.
Sheesh.
Why don’t
you come with me and say hello?”

Emery shook his head. “Not if I don’t have
to. Nope. No thanks.” They walked a few more steps. “You can tell
her I said hi.”

“
I’m not telling her anything! Oop,
there he goes.”

The dog stopped and did what he had to
do. Emery bent over with his little plastic bag and did what
he
had to do. Philip turned away
until Emery finished.

“
Having a dog isn’t always great,” said
Emery as he folded up the bag and dropped it into a brown paper bag
he took from his pocket. “Maybe you should get a cat. Then you
wouldn’t have to do this. Look. There goes one now.”

Philip turned. A lone black cat pranced
proudly across the street. As the two boys stood and watched, the
cat disappeared into the clutter behind the supermarket. There were
metal trash cans, a big dumpster full of junk, and a fenced-in spot
full of cardboard ready to be picked up for recycling.

“
Where’d it go?” Philip
said.

“
I don’t know. Let’s go
see.”

The two boys crossed the street and poked
around through the clutter.

“
You better pick Hansel up,” Philip
suggested. “He might not like cats.”

Emery complied.

Philip searched among the garbage cans,
thinking the cat might be looking for something to eat.

“
I think it went over here,” said
Emery. “Yeah, here it is.”

Philip pointed to a black tail sticking out
from between some pieces of cardboard. Philip gently pulled the
giant pieces of cardboard apart and looked down.

“
Ugh,” he said. He let the cardboard
fall back together. “I think it killed a mouse or something.
There’s a lot of fur down there.”

“
Let me see. Here.” Emery handed Hansel
to Philip.

Emery eased the cardboard apart. He looked
closely. “Oh, wow!”

“
Oh, wow, what?”

“
It’s not a mouse. She has kittens down
there.”

“
Kittens?”

“
Yeah, look.”

They exchanged Hansel again, and Philip took
a look. The skinny cat lay on its side, two tiny kittens, one
black, one gray, attached to her stomach.

“
She’s feeding two of them,” said
Philip is a hushed voice.

“
Let me see,” said Emery.

“
Hold onto Hansel,” Philip warned, and
he moved the cardboard aside so he and Emery could squat down near
the cat and watch.

“
Only two are feeding,” said Emery. “I
don’t think the other two . . .”

The mother cat noticed the two boys and the
dog and showed all of her teeth through a tiny growl.

“
Shhh,” said Philip, both to the cat
and to Emery. He looked closely. Emery was right. Two of the little
kittens, both striped, lay absolutely still. “She must have gone
out looking for her own dinner.”

“
Why are you whispering?”

“
Shhh. You whisper, too. Don’t make her
growl again.”

“
Then let’s go before she really gets
angry. I have to take Hansel home. He’s starting to wiggle ’cause
of the cats.”

Emery and Philip stood up. Philip put the
cardboard back in place, and the two boys walked away.

“
You know,” said Philip, “if we leave
them there, the people who come to pick up the cardboard aren’t
going to know about them.”

Emery pulled Hansel away from a bush he
wanted to smell.

“
You take Hansel home, and I’ll meet
you later.”

“
Where are you going?”

“
Never mind. I’ll see you later.”
Philip ran down the street. He knew he couldn’t leave those two
tiny kittens to be recycled along with the cardboard. He’d have to
do something, but he didn’t know what. Angel would know what to do,
and if she wasn’t home from the hospital yet, he’d wait for her.
This was an emergency!

Chapter Eight

When Philip saw the car in the driveway, he
knew Angel was home from the hospital so he ran. He reached her
front door, took some breaths, and knocked. Angel’s mother opened
the door.

“
Hi, can I talk to Angel?”

“
Is that Philip, Mom?”

Angel’s mother invited him in, and he walked
into the living room. Angel lay on the sofa in her pajamas with a
thin yellow blanket over her.

“
Don’t talk too long, honey,” her
mother said. “You know Dr. Keating said you should
rest.”

“
I am resting. Look at me.”

“
Just not too long, please.” Angel’s
mother left.

“
Angel, I found a cat family.” Philip
told his story. “What should I do with them? If I leave them there,
they’ll all get crunched when the recycle truck comes.”

Angel had a serious look on her face. She
shifted uncomfortably. “You’re right. We can’t leave them
there.”

Philip waited while Angel pondered. He could
hear her mother buzzing around in the kitchen. He recalled looking
down over the cardboard to see the two little kittens drinking
milk. They were so small. No bigger than his fist. He thought of
the two kittens who weren’t moving. Angel’s voice woke him up.

“
You know the little shed behind my
house?”

“
I know it.”

“
You can bring the family there.
There’s even a hole in the back wall where the mother can get in
and out. You’ll need a box to carry the kittens.”

“
What about the mother? She growled at
us when we got close.”

“
She wants food. Go and buy one can of
cat food. If you look in the shed, you should find the old hamster
cage I never got to use. It’s big enough. Put the food inside the
cage, and when the mother goes in to get the food, close the door.
The kittens you can pick up and put in a cardboard box.”

“
You should see how small they are.
Their eyes aren’t even open.”

“
Helpless,” Angel murmured.

“
Okay. How much is cat food?” Philip
reached into his pocket and took out three quarters.

“
That’s enough,” said Angel. “And get a
paper plate to put the food on.”

Philip started for the door. He stopped and
turned to Angel. “What about the two not-moving ones?”

“
After you take care of the mother and
kittens you can bury those two. They should be buried.”

“
Buried? In the ground?”

“
No, in a chocolate pie, silly. You and
your friend can do it. Come back and let me know how you did. Oh,
wait. Come here.” Philip walked closer. “Don’t let my mom or dad
see you use the shed. Go through the yards from the other block to
get to the shed.”

“
Okay. I’ll let you know.”

Philip ran up the street to Emery’s house and
got his friend.

“
Listen,” Philip said. “You gotta help
me.” He explained what they had to do.

“
Okay, let’s go get the food,” said
Emery. “Wait.” He went back inside his house and returned with a
paper plate. “Two babies, you know. We eat off these a
lot.”

“
Okay, put it in your pocket. Let’s go
get the cage.”

Philip and Emery knelt behind some bushes
staring at the shed in Angel’s backyard.

“
How come that girl is telling you to
do all this?” Emery whispered.

“
She’s sick all the time, she says, and
all she can do is look out the window. This must be fun for her, I
guess. She knows who you are. She’s pretty smart.”

Emery looked at the back of Angel’s house.
“Is she watching us now? This is pretty spooky.”

Philip looked at Angel’s windows.

“
No, I don’t see her. She was lying on
the sofa before. Stop talking and let’s get the cage.”

The two boys crept to the shed, opened the
door, and went inside.

“
A lot of junk,” Emery whispered.
“There. That looks like a cage.”

Philip looked where Emery pointed. “Grab it
and let’s get out of here.” Emery picked up the cage and they
left.

When they were back on the sidewalk heading
toward the supermarket, Emery said, “That was easy. Maybe me and
you should be spies or something.”

Philip gave Emery a look. “Yeah, we’ll be
spies tomorrow. Come on. Let’s run.”

“
Not so fast,” Emery called. “I’m
carrying the cage.”

When they reached the supermarket, they read
the overhead signs and found “Pet Supplies.” Colorful cans of cat
food lines the shelves.

“
What kind shall we get?” Emery
said.

“
How about the blue one?”

Emery picked up the can and read it. “‘Beef’
it says. Beef comes from cows.”

“
So what? Let’s go.”

“
Wait a minute. Cats don’t eat cows.
How could a cat eat a cow? The cow could fall over and squish it.
The cat won’t like this.”

“
Then get the red on. Come
on.”

Emery grabbed the red one. “‘Chicken,’” Emery
read.

“
Chicken’s good. Let’s go.”

“
Wait a minute. Whoever saw a cat eat a
chicken? Chickens are bigger than cats. They can fly, can’t they,
and peck? And where would a cat who lives in a city get a chicken?
I’ll bet the mother cat doesn’t even know what a chicken looks
like. She never heard of chicken. I don’t think she’ll eat
chicken.”

“
Then get the green one. Get
something.”

Emery put the red can back and stood on top
of the cage to reach a green can of cat food. “‘Turkey.’” He looked
at Philip.

“
Don’t tell me,” said Philip. “Cats
don’t eat turkeys.”

“
A turkey is even bigger than a
chicken. A cat could never eat a turkey.”

“
How about on Thanksgiving?” Philip
asked.

“
I never thought of that,” said Emery.
“But it’s only May, not even close to Thanksgiving.”