#3
Mallory and the Ghost Cat
by Ann M. Martin

It looks and sounds like a cat - but is it real?

I turned off the oven and stuck the filled cookie sheets in the fridge. Obviously the cat search was far more interesting than the cookies were, at least for the moment. "Okay," I said. "Let's start on this floor and work our way upstairs." I led the way. The search felt familiar, since I'd been through the same thing last time I was at the Craine's. But the girls knew about the few nooks and crannies I'd missed. Margaret showed me where there was a little cubbyhole beneath the stairs, and Sophie pointed out a broom closet I hadn't noticed the other day.

But we couldn't find that cat.

The mewing continued as we searched. I sounded very, very weak. It sounded like the cat was scared, or hungry, or sick - or all three. I was really kind of worried about that cat.

We climbed to the second floor and looked some more. No cat.

"There's no cat anywhere!" said Margaret. "Maybe it's a ghost that we're hearing. Maybe our house is haunted!"

"Shhh," I said. "You'll scare your sisters. Anyway, that's just plain silly. Whoever heard of a ghost cat? I'm sure if we keep looking we'll find a real live cat." I sounded sure of myself. But you know what? Margaret's idea had given me the shivers.

Mallory and the Ghost Cat
Published by Scholastic Inc. 1996
ISBN: 0590447998