Group+C

This page is for Group C only:
 * 1) **Robertson**
 * 2) **Ryals**
 * 3) **Simpson**
 * 4) **Smith**
 * 5) **Spurlin**
 * 6) **Watson, M.**
 * 7) **Watson, T.**
 * 8) **Weston**

=What was That Thing?=


 * Tom Cat was smiling with a tail hanging out of his mouth. It was a toothy grin, the kind you would see on a possum that just ate a sack of persimmons. The thing was wigglin' and scared me to death when it twisted sideways and peeped through the space between Tom Cat's two front teeth. Its eyes were squinted and red, and when I screamed, Tom Cat's mouth flew open and you should've seen ...**

The huge rat that jumped out of his mouth! When it jumped out of his mouth, it landed right in my hair! I didn't know what to do. Everyone around me was trying to get it off of me by hitting me on the top of my head and throwing things at me, but this disgusting rat just would not leave me alone. Tom Cat decided to try to catch his meal and joined the rat on top of my head. They both ran down the back of my shirt and inside my pants! I fell to the ground, both in disgust and laughter because they were tickling me. All of a sudden I saw my brother heading towards me. "Everyone stand back!" he shouted. " I'm a professional. I know just what to do." He grabbed... (M.Watson)

a bottle of Mike's Hard Lemonade and reared back as if to throw it. In what seemed like an eternity, as everything began moving in slow motion, I watched, and I opened my mouth to scream, "NO!!" It was in that moment that my brother, Zeke, let loose the ice cold lemonade. I know in my mind that his intent was to douse the creatures and scare them both from the scene. However, what happened was far from his intentions. Our dad, seeing all that was going on and caught in mid-strike to my head in efforts to beat Tom Cat and his dinner from their perch, was located in the exact wrong place. The liquid, rather than dousing the creatures, hit my dad and his freshly lit, Cuban cigar which flew from his mouth and landed with a "poof" in Aunt Claudette's... (C. Spurlin)

lap. Aunt Claudette, who was half blind and extremely hard of hearing, was in a dead sleep and did not feel the cigar land in her lap. As everyone scattered to find something to put out the fire, that was beginning to grow in the lap of my still sleeping Aunt, the large rat and Tom Cat came racing through the yard. The rat ran under the chair that aunt Claudette was sitting in, but Tom cat decided to go over my Aunt. My borther, who had now found a bucket of water, was racing to put out the enlarged flames. Just as Zeke threw the bucket of water at the glowing flames in Aunt Claudett's lap, Tom cat leaped to jump over her, but was engulfed by a bucket of cold water. Luckly, enough water landed on the fire and caused it to diminish, but Tom Cat was soaked and very, very unhappy. No longer, was he concerned with the large rat. Tom Cat let out a snarl and ...(T. Watson)

and hissed the loudest hiss I have ever heard from a cat! He reared his back and showed his teeth and ran straight at my brother. But my brother was ready. From some where, he grabbed a sheet or pillowcase and held it open as the cat ran towards him. But TomCat surprised us all and jumped over my brother and ran straight to the front door. Just as he about to escape, my uncle Alex opened the door and Tom Cat... (M.Watson)

crashed right into Uncle Alex's shin. Uncle Alex tried to kick at Tom Cat, but to no avail. The cat was using his sharp talons to scale up my uncle's pant leg. Tom Cat climbed all the way up to Uncle Alex's shoulder and from there, took a flying leap into the living room. He dashed through the house as quickly as he could. Unfortunately for Tom, the only door that was open enough for him to go through was the door to the bathroom. At this point, my dad, Zeke, Uncle Alex, and I were all chasing Tom Cat across the hall and into the bathroom. After several cool, refreshing "lemonades", Zeke's balance wasn't all that great and he tripped over something that wasn't really there. He knocked my dad over as well and into the bathtub the fell. Tom Cat's tail got caught under the falling bodies. He bit Zeke on the ankle, wiggled his way out from under them, and slipped back out through the bathroom door. My poor mom was in the tub reading a book at the time and she began yelling at everyone to GET OUT OF THE BATHROOM!!!! Meanwhile, back in the yard, Aunt Claudette had finally wakened up to see what all the fuss was about and why she had been soaked with a bucket of water. Nobody was left in the yard to tell her what was going on. She felt around under her chair to find the walking stick she had left there earlier, but instead she found the soft, furry, and shaking rat. She thought it must be a kitten so she picked it up to get a closer look. She was holding the rat close to her face trying to focus on it when... (S. Smith)

...the cacophany that had been in the house spilled back out into the yard. Everyone was yelling and slapping at shadows of invisible attacking cats. Now that he'd made such a ruckus, Tom Cat slinked out, unseen by the fuming family members. His escaped meal was somewhere around here. He knew it. He just had to find it. He spied behind the shed--no rat--around the rose bushes--no rat--even under the trampoline--no rat. He sat and glared at the family members who were, by now, surveying each other's "war wounds" caused by the cats. The only one that didn't seem to be at all upset was Aunt Claudette, who was cuddling and petting a small kitten in her lap, cooing at it. Tom's feline eyes did a double-take. //Wait a second, that's not a kitten//! He crouched, wiggling his backside in glorious kitty fashion, readying to pounce and...(S. Weston)

...Dad flew through the back door, arms outstretched like a college running back chasing down an overthrown pass. "No, Claudette!" he screamed, just as the rat bit down hard on Claudette's pinky finger. "Lord a'mercy! Oh, I'm snake bit, help me, help me!" Claudette wailed as the rat leaped from her lap and hightailed it across the yard, Tom Cat in hot pursut. Dad, crouched over Claudette, who was now sweating profusely from either nerves or her imagined venomous snake bite, yelled back to me, "Call 911! I think she's going into shock!" I grabbed the cordless from its cradle on the counter right beside the back door. "Are you sure we need paramedics?" I asked. "Look at her - she's having a stroke!" he retorted, Aunt Claudette slipping from her chair into a heap of floral polyester on the ground. "Call, now!" I quickly dailed the numbers and immediately heard, "911, what is your emergency?" "Ummm... my Aunt Claudette got bit by something, maybe a snake, and is passed out in the backyard. We need the paramedics over here." There was a pause on the other end of the phone, then... (A. Robertson)

... just as the operator was responding, I felt tiny paws and fur quickly progress up my pants leg. "Oh no, not again!" I shrieked in barely intelligible language as I unintentionally hung up the phone. I began pulling off my pants and said a silent prayer that Tom Cat hadn't seen Aunt Claudette's "kitty" run up my leg. No such luck. Pants half-way down, I turned to run as I saw Tom Cat leap, claws first, at me. I tripped over my pants and hit the floor just as Tom Cat made contact with my pants. Tom Cat narrowly missed my bare skin as I slipped out of my pants and he began ripping then to shreds with frightning ferocity and concentration. Now in my underwear, I ran back out into the back yard and let my screams fall in with my aunts. Just as I was beginning to calm down... (J.Simpson)

Zeke came running through the back yard towards the trash can with a big ball of spitting, hissing, shredded pants. He tossed the pants in to the trash can and tried to put the lid on top. Tom Cat was pitching a fit and hitting the lid over and over. Zeke was still dizzy from his lemonade and the smell of garbage was really getting to him now. He dropped to his knees to empty his stomach and Tom Cat found his chance to escape. The phone rang and my dad answered to find the police on the other end. He told them to go on and send the paramedics to pick up Aunt Claudette. The rat had dropped from the pants as Zeke was running through the house and was now creeping as quietly as possible through the kitchen when he came across... (S. Smith)

... several pieces of shredded cheese that had fallen onto the floor as my mom was making her famous mac-n-cheese. Distracted, the rat did not hear Tom Cat as he approached and soon found himself once again in imminent danger. Outside, the scene was one of horror and fascination. Several police cars skidded to a halt in front of the house; followed by an ambulance, a fire truck, and an animal rescue vehicle. Apparently, the call from the police was simply a formality and it's not taken lightly when you shriek and hang up the phone on an emergency operator. I was still in the back yard in my underwear, Aunt Claudette was lying in a heap on the ground, Zeke was continuing to empty the contents of his stomach, and my dad was looking utterly confused. My mom, having missed what seemed to be the bulk of the excitement, emerged from the bathroom freshly bathed and curious. Too bad she didn't take the time to read an extra chapter in her novel, because then she would have avoided... (J. Simpson)

...a burly uniformed police officer, bursting through the door, brandishing his weapon. "Freeze! Police!" Unfortunately, my mother had just used her bath powder and had apparently needed to scratch her nose because she had while powder in the worst of all possible places. The officer wrestled her to the floor, wrenching and cuffing her arms behind her back as she stammered, totally overwhelmed and confused by the situation. "Don't talk Ma'am. You have the right to remain silent..." (S. Weston)

...anything you say can and will be used against you in a court of law." Mom automatically started crying and threw her hands to her face; unfortunately, in so doing she dropped the towel wrapped around her midsection, exposing herself to the entire neighborhood. The officer stared for a moment, then snapped out of it, lowered his gun, and pulled out his handcuffs. "Ma'am, I'm going to have to add public indecency to the charges. I'm going to have to take you in." He leaned around my mom's, um, assets, and handcuffed her wrists behind her back. Mom, in an attempt to salvage her dignity, sat up, raised her head, sniffled, and said, "Well, I sure am glad I shaved my legs." The paramedics had reached Claudette, who writhing in pretend agony. Tom Cat was quietly hiding under the kitchen table, a suspicious grin on his catty face. At that moment Zeke came up from behind the trash can wiping his mouth. He was more than green at the gills and he reeked of alcohol, garbage, and cat. I walked over to him in my underwear and patted him on the back; he smiled in gratitude, then noticed the hubbub going on around him. "Hey!", he stated, obviously confused. "What in the world is going on here?" We all looked at each other for an explanation and... (A.Robertson)

...I told him, "It's a long story about Tom Cat and the rat from hell!" "What about your mother?" he asked. I almost forgot about mom and ran over to her and the police officers. "Please, sir, let me explain. You won't believe the day that we've had." I explained. I started to tell him the story of Tom Cat, but he just looked at me funny. When I had finished, he said, "We still have to take your mother to the station. She's naked as a jaybird on Mardi Gras." Just as I was about to plead for her freedom, I heard a ruckus coming from the backyard. Aunt Cladette had...(M. Watson)