Curious Cats
Reading Comprehension Activity

Three cats sat in the window and looked outside. They watched as the old mailman walked up to the house. He pushed his letters through the mail slot in the front door. A shower of envelopes fell to the floor. What was this? The cats thought this was very exciting! Eddie and Freddie each grabbed an envelope and started shaking them. They opened the mail by chewing on it and ripped up the papers inside. Small pieces of paper went flying around the room. Betty was chasing them like tiny white butterflies.

“What do you think you are doing?” yelled Miss Marshall, the lady who lived in the house with them. She picked up the pieces of ripped mail from the cats and put them on the table. “Silly cats! Why are you so curious?” she asked them, but the cats just looked at her, blinking their big eyes. “I love you, but you are always getting into trouble.”
 
The three cats went to explore in another room. Betty jumped up on the rocking chair where Miss Marshall liked to sit and knit every day after dinner. Oh, what was this? There was a round ball of green yarn on the chair. It was part of a sweater that Miss Marshall was making. Betty knocked it off the chair with her paw. Freddie began to chase it as it rolled past him. Eddie joined in, too. Together, the cats pulled on the yarn until the sweater began to unravel. Poor Miss Marshall! All of her hard work was coming undone. When she found them, she was mad.

“Stop! Give that back to me. Do you know how long this took to knit? First you rip the mail, and then you pull my sweater apart. Could you please stay out of any more trouble today?”

Once the lady had left the room, the cats tried to behave. They did not want to get into trouble again. Miss Marshall had some fish in a nice tank in her bedroom. The cats were not allowed to go in there because it might scare the fish. Today the bedroom door was open. Betty decided she would just go over and take a look. She liked watching the fish. They were going in circles, swimming around and around again. Then she thought she would stick her paw in the fish tank …. just for a minute. She wanted to see what the fish would do.

When Betty stood over the fish tank and put her paw into the water, she lost her balance. Splash! The cat fell right into the fish tank! Water went everywhere!

“Help! Let me out!” she cried. Freddie and Eddie were quick to the rescue. “Thank you!” she said. When she was safe, they laughed at her.

“May I say, you look like a soggy pirate who has fallen off his ship,” laughed Eddie.

“You may not say that,” sniffed Betty. “Has anybody told you that is rude? But you may get me a nice warm towel to dry myself.”