Читать книгу Maggie and the Pink Rat - Märt Saar - Страница 3

Maggie didn’t know when it happened, but it might have been sometime before dinner.

When the little girl returned to her bedroom and went over to her windowsill to look at the shoe pyramid again, her letter was no longer there. It was gone!

Oh, how Maggie wished she could see Erik the Elf. There was no longer any doubt that the little rascal was actually for real!

Before falling asleep, the girl pondered for quite a while what kind of animal Erik might bring, but truthfully, it was very difficult to guess. It could be any animal at all! If it was a dog then it could be very shaggy and big enough to take up half her bed. Or maybe one small enough to fit in her purse that would bark its tiny bark at every little thing? But if it happened to be a cat, there were so many different kinds. Those that only sleep, those that climb all over and prowl around. Some only want to be outside and fight with other cats at every opportunity. How would Erik know which kind would be the best and most suitable for her? Would he even think about all these things, or would he just take whatever animal happened to be closest?

Maggie was even starting to get a little worried, but she comforted herself with the thought that since she liked all cats and dogs, then she was sure to be pleased with whatever Erik would bring.

That evening the girl fell asleep later than usual. The last thing she remembered for that day was looking at the drawing that hung on her wall. She had drawn it several years ago while in kindergarten. It was a pink cat with a slightly pointed nose and short legs, but was a pretty cute.

The next morning, Maggie woke up to something that felt like a fly crawling around on her face. At first, it felt ticklish and fun, but after a while, she tired of it and scratched her face. She wasn’t allergic to flies, but they made her itch anyway. She thought sometimes that there might be some type of substance on a fly’s legs that made her itch, but she hadn’t had time to check it out.

Maggie rushed back over to the windowsill to see if a letter had arrived from the elf.

“There is! Unbelievable!” said the girl. And without further thought she pulled the next brown scroll out of the shoe. She was terribly curious, and her tongue danced from one corner of the mouth to the other.

The letter said:

“Hi Maggie! Deer gurl. I hop you lyk this liddl aminul and that you wont be madd at me. I lookt arawnd your room and saw that you wud lyk him. Santa Yugo sed you cud have wisht for sumthing bedder, but I stuk up for you and sed its what you wantid. Yugo sed ok. Lort willing and the crik don’t rise, I’ll see you next Crissmuss.

Your elf, Erik.”

As soon as she had finished reading the letter, she heard a scratching near her knee. It seemed to be coming from the desk, somewhere in a drawer. She didn’t have time to read the letter more than once and started opening drawers.

The top drawer held her school supplies; nothing else was there.

The second drawer had her crafting things, and nothing else was there either.

That left the third and fourth drawers, but Maggie knew there couldn’t be anything in the fourth. That one was completely filled with bars of soap that she had collected, and it smelled like a delightful summer flower garden. That meant the scratching had to be coming from the third drawer, which held only a puzzle, if she remembered correctly.

Then the drawer opened!

As soon as it cracked open, a nose poked out. It was long and had a sharp tip, and Maggie knew that shape was called a cone. It started sniffing here and there, gathering information about the room, as if wanting to find out what was in store.

The girl’s heart pounded in her chest like a drum solo, but she had to pull the drawer open wider. The cone crept out farther and farther until suddenly, out popped a head. It was pink!

Squarish ears, buttonlike black eyes, and long red whiskers. And that same long, pink nose that never stopped sniffing. The animal seemed somehow strangely familiar to Maggie. She opened the drawer all the way and finally the creature appeared in all its glory. It twitched on the puzzle box, its nails making little scraping noises. It almost looked as if it was ready to jump out, but as soon as it saw the girl, it held itself back. They just stared at each other.

The animal’s body was long, and its legs short like a Dachshund. But at its hind end was a long wriggling tail, which was suspiciously rat-like.

And finally she recognized the animal! It was the same one she had drawn in kindergarten! She had named the picture Pink Cat, but looking at it now it seemed more like a pink rat. Maggie had to admit that the animal did have similarities to her picture.

“Come here, let me hold you.” She gathered her courage again and lifted the animal carefully onto her knees. It yielded and stood there on four legs. Its feet felt warm, and Maggie liked it.

“You’re the Pink Rat!” declared the girl, just like that, and looked at it with admiration. Okay, so it looked a little funny, a bit like a kindergartner’s doodle, but since it was her very own pet, that made it very special!

Maggie realized suddenly she didn’t itch and didn’t sneeze. For her, that was a big deal.