Crazy Cat at the Science Fair

It was the day of the school science fair, and the whole town was there! Mr. and Mrs. Humann sat on the bleachers with the other parents. A couple of men from the local news station showed up to film a story for the evening news. Even Mayor Goodman came to help Ms. Smart and Principal Primm decide the winner!

All the children worked hard on their projects. Susan had built a working model of the solar system. Mikey had trained a mouse to find a piece of cheese hidden in a maze. But Harry had the best project of all! He’d invented a special collar that gave animals the ability to talk like people.

Crazy Cat squirmed as Harry put the collar on him. “What do you think, Crazy Cat?” Harry asked.

“It’s ugly, and it itches,” said Crazy Cat.

Harry laughed. “Sorry, Crazy Cat! You only have to wear it until the judges come.”

Crazy Cat didn’t want to wait. “No, take it off now!”

“If you keep it on, I’ll give you some fish later.” Fish? Harry had said the magic words! Crazy Cat looked at him, tilting his head to one side. He wanted that fish, and he wanted it now!

Crazy Cat sat on the booth in front of Harry, waiting and watching. He watched Susan adjusting the sun on her solar system model. He watched Mikey hiding a piece of cheese in his maze. He watched Ms. Smart. Principal Primm, and Mayor Goodman ooh and ahh over the other children’s projects, but they were nowhere near Harry yet.

Crazy Cat yawned and stretched. He was so bored! Tired of waiting, he decided to explore the fair. His first stop was Susan’s booth. He watched the shiny model planets go around the even shinier sun at the center.

“Wow, look at the pretty balls!” said Crazy Cat. “They’re so much nicer than the ones I have at home. Can I play with them?”

He reached out a paw and swatted at the sun. Bat, bat, bat!

“No, Crazy Cat! Don’t do that!” said Susan.

Crazy Cat ran to Mikey’s booth next. A fat white mouse sat at the start of the maze. It looked a lot like Crazy Cat’s favorite toy back home, except that mouse was full of catnip. Was this mouse stuffed with catnip too? Crazy Cat sniffed the mouse. Sniff, sniff, sniff.

“Hi, Mr. Mouse!” said Crazy Cat. “Want to play?”

The mouse squeaked and ran away, hiding underneath the booth. Crazy Cat took that as a no.

“No, Crazy Cat! Don’t do that!” said Mikey.

As Crazy Cat left, he saw the news crew setting up their camera on the other side of the room. He walked up to them, flicking his tail. “Hey, cameraman! Make sure you get my good side!” said Crazy Cat.

“You got it, Mister!” said the cameraman. He looked around and saw no one there. “Hey, who said that?”

“Down here!” said Crazy Cat. He flopped on his back in front of the cameraman and wiggled back and forth. Wiggle, wiggle, wiggle.

The cameraman tripped over Crazy Cat and fell with a crash. “No, Crazy Cat! Don’t do that!” he said.

Crazy Cat put on his sweetest, cutest face. “I’m sorry,” he said.

“It’s okay -” the cameraman began. Then he did a double take. “Wait, cats can’t talk!”

“I can,” said Crazy Cat. “My kid, Harry, made a special collar so I can talk.”

The cameraman smiled, impressed. He looked around the room at the children and asked, "Which one is Harry?”

“I’ll show you,” said Crazy Cat, leading the way to Harry’s booth. They arrived at the same time as Ms. Smart, Principal Primm, and Mayor Goodman.

“There you are, Crazy Cat! I was getting worried,” said Harry. Crazy Cat nuzzled Harry’s hand as he picked him up and put him on top of the booth.

To the group, Harry said, “For my science fair project, I’ve invented a collar that makes cats talk. Crazy Cat will help me demonstrate.”

Crazy Cat sat up proudly. A hush fell over the crowd as Harry asked the first question, “Crazy Cat, what’s your favorite food?”

“Fish!” said Crazy Cat. The judges oohed and ahhed.

“What’s your favorite color?” Harry asked.

“Fish!” Crazy Cat said again.

Harry laughed. “Fish isn’t a color, Crazy Cat!” he said.

Silly Harry, of course fish wasn’t a color! “No, I want fish,” said Crazy Cat. “You said I could have some fish. Where’s my fish?” He'd waited long enough!

That time, everyone laughed. Ms. Smart, Principal Primm, and Mayor Goodwin broke away from the group. They huddled together, mumbling amongst themselves. Crazy Cat looked at them, then at Harry. “What are they saying?” Crazy Cat asked. “Do they have fish for me?

“I don’t know,” Harry said with a shrug.

Crazy Cat watched and waited. Finally Mayor Goodman clapped his hands, and all eyes turned to him. “Ladies and gentlemen, your attention please! We have our winners!” he said.

Ms. Smart handed Susan a small bronze medal. “In third place, Susan and her stellar solar system!” she said.

Principal Primm gave Mikey a bigger, shinier silver medal. “In second place, Mikey and his marvelous mouse maze!”

There was just one prize left, a giant golden trophy. It was even bigger than Crazy Cat, and it was full of - What was that smell? Were those fishsticks? Crazy Cat wanted that trophy!

“And in first place… Harry and Crazy Cat’s creative collar” Mayor Goodman said. He picked up the trophy and set it in front of Harry’s booth.

“We did it, Crazy Cat!” said Harry.

Crazy Cat said nothing. He was too busy enjoying his fishy prize!