Cross-Country Cat

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CROSS-

COUNTRY CAT by Mary Calhoun illustrated by Erick Ingraham

Here is a picture book with rhythm, the rhythm of a cross-country skier swinging through snowy meadows. In this however, the skier

instance,

is

a sassy

named Henry. He is some smart cat and, among many accomplishments, is good on his hind legs. Siamese

cat

Henrys emergence

as a cross-country

skier occurs abruptly when

he is

left behind at his folks' mountain cabin. There, ready to be used, are the skinny skis and poles that the

inadvertently

an earlier attempt to

Kid had

made

interest

Henry in the sport. Henry had

in

thought the idea crazy then, but now it becomes his only way out. Disgustedly

few faltering steps, perseveres, and soon is skating on his skis, waving his tail to the beat. What happens to Henry on his memo-

he takes

his first

rable trip

home makes a story that

begs to be read aloud. Author and

artist,

cross-country enthusiasts themselves, have turned this amusing conceit into a high-spirited tale that almost con-

vinces

one

it

might have happened.

Morrow Junior Books

ISBN 0-688-22186-6 ISBN 0-688-32186-0

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BLOOM SC::CCLL!3RARY

CROSS-

COUNTRY CAT by Mary Calhoun

William

*

illustrated by Erick

Ingraham

Morrow and Company

New York 1979

Text copyright

©1979 by Mary Calhoun ©1979 by Erick Ingraham

Illustrations copyright All rights reserved.

No pan of this book may be reproduced or utilized in

any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical,

including photocopying, recording or

by any information storage and

retrieval system,

without permission in writing from the Publisher. Inquiries should be addressed to

William

Morrow and Company,

105 Madison Ave.,

Inc.,

New York, N.Y 10016.

Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

Calhoun, Man Cross-country

cat.

Summary: When he becomes

lost in

the mountains,

on two way home on cross-country skis.

a cat with the unusual ability of walking finds his [ 1. I.

Cats-Fiction.

2.

Ingraham, Erick.

Cross-country skiing-Fiction]

II.

PZ^C12~8Cr [E] ISBN 0-688-22186-6 ISBN 0-688-32186-0

^8-1

lib.

legs

Title.

78-3118

bdg.

Printed in the United States of America. First 1

2

Edition

3

4

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Henry was a hind-leg walker.

It

started with chasing

flies,

and he decided he liked

that

way of prancing.

He even danced to the music on the stereo, when his folks weren't watching

1

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TV"

Of course, Henry chased mice on his four feet. But when he

felt full

of the old pizazz,

he stalked around on switching his

tail

"Some smart cat!"

back

legs,

for balance.

said

"Idiotic cat," said the Still,

his

The Kid and The Woman.

Man.

Henry pranced to please

himself.

&

One time they were all up at die mountain cabin for a

weekend of cross-country skiing.

"\bu oughtta try skiing, Henry," said

and he decided to make a

little

The Kid,

pair

of cross-country skis and poles for Henry.

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In the carport that

was

The Kid found an old roof shingle

starting to curl

up

at

the ends.

Out of the shingle he carved two skinny skis.

He waxed the bottoms and tacked leather thongs

to the tops

for the foot bindings.

Small ends of pine boughs,

with their brushes of needles,

made pretty good ski poles.

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Out on the deep snow The Kid stood Henry up and pushed

his

back feet into the

"Okay, Henry, try a "Rowl!"

ski bindings.

slide."

Henrv refused.

He dropped down on his four feet, and the "Snaa!"

front

end of him sank into the snow.

he spat snow off his whiskers.

Those people were crazy to

want to

slide

around on the snow!

"Guess you'll never make a said

The Kid,

skier, cat,"

taking off Henrys

skis.

Next afternoon they packed up to go home.

Henry settled

in the

back of the four-wheel drive

on a stack of dirty long underwear.

He was smoothing out his whiskers for the trip, when suddenly he remembered his mouse.

.

He'd His

left

it

under The Kids bed.

mouse was a fluff of purple yarn,

and Henry never traveled anywhere without

it.

He slid out of the car and dodged into the cabin as

The Kid struggled out the door

with a big garbage sack.

Henrv found

his fluff

and shoved through the just in

cat

door

time to see them drive

off.

"Y)w-meowl!" he yelled, but they didn't hear.

Henrys

tail

bushed out

in fright.

They wouldn't know he wasn't in the until

they got

car

down to town that night.

Henry didn't think thev'd come back for him.

The Man was

driving,

and The Man

didn't like cats, anyway.

I

»-»r

Henry would miss them, though.

He liked to purr up against The Woman's shoulder with his hind feet braced on her arm.

He liked it when The Kid smoothed down his back and pulled

his

tail,

just a tiny

that kept his ears standing

tug

up

straight.

And he liked to sleep in The Mans

chair.

Terrible thing!

He couldn't get back in the cabin, because the

cat

door only opened

so that skunks couldn't

out,

come in.

And there was snow all over the ground.

Snow was coming down thick on the road, snow too deep for

even a smart Siamese

cat to

walk through.

The only way was to ski

out.

On that cold, wet stuff. Henrys whiskers turned down Nevertheless,

he put down

his

in disgust.

mouse

and hunted around the carport until

he found his

tossed in a corner.

little

skis

and poles

Henry was already warmly dressed for the journey.

What else did he need?

Provisions.

Henry cleaned out the carport of mice and tied them up

in a rag.

He put his purple fluff mouse in the rag-sack, too. Then he tied the At last

he pushed

rag-sack to the his

hind

and he was ready to go.

end of his

tail.

feet into the ski bindings,

Henry took a step on the snow, and a

step-step-teeter!

He almost fell, but he lashed his

tail

and caught his balance.

Cross-country skiing was harder than

it

looked.

Plod, plodit

was hard to get any kind of glide and

No

rhvthm.

slide.

J -"^m

Henry remembered a song The Kid used to "This old

sing.

man, he played one,

he played knick -knack on my thumb

Henry tried stepping

his skis in time to the song.

u

He sang, Yow me-yowl,yow

yow me-ow me-ow and his

skis

me-yowl,

me-o^/,"

went step-and-slide,

step-and-slide, over the

snow in perfect rhythm.

By the time he got to "Knick-knack paddy-whack,"

he was

skating

and waving his

on his tail

skis

to the beat.

His pine-bough ski poles

plopped neat brushy tracks

in the snow.

And the rag-sack swung from the tip

of his jaunty

tail.

J

The snow stopped falling, and the sun came Henry narrowed

his

blue eyes

against the sparkle of snow as

he skied cross country toward town.

out.

In a

meadow he came down a hill.

Of course, Henrys knees were built bent.

He crouched for the run, loose and breezy.

When he got to the bottom, he

liked that slide so well

and came down again on fairly sailing,

he tramped back up the his

smoother

hill

trail,

"Whee-ha!"

Now he knew why The Kid liked to slide on the snow!

\^^WW

Down by a stream Henry saw an elk plowing through snow up to It

its

belly.

was heavy going for the poor old elk.

"Yow me-yowl!"

Henry zipped on by on the top of the snow.

Some smart cat!

if

Lipperty,

a

up from behind,

snowshoe

4

rabbit pulled alongside Henry.

"Think you're

fast?" said

the rabbit. "Wanta drag?"

„.

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"\bw me-yowl!" Slide

and glide,

for thirty seconds

Henry raced with the

and then the rabbit disappeared over a while Henry was

still

Smart-aleck rabbit.

rabbit, hill,

plodding up the slope.

The way led through some woods. As Henry skied toward the a black-crested blue jay

trees,

swooped down,

screeching and scolding, "Stay out of my woods!

Jay, jay!"

\

"Snaaa!"

Henry snapped

and rushed

after the bird, thrusting

jay

dipping and

lifting

it

with his poles.

flew just ahead of Henry,

But the blue

until

his teeth

and jeering

soared up to a pine

Smart-aleck jaybird.

tree.

The sun went under a cloud, and the woods seemed lonely after the jay went away "Yow me-e-owl." Henry was getting tired.

He stopped and untied his rag-sack and ate his mice, all

but his purple mouse.

Just as

he was

tying the sack

back to

his

tail,

Henry saw something slinking after him,

way back in the woods. It

was a coyote.

"Y)wl!"

Henry wanted to scramble up a tree,

but his back feet were caught in his

skis.

Henrv dashed between the trees with his

tail

bushed

and he speeded up "\bw-yow, smart

m

cat,

out,

his rhythm.

smart

cat!"

The coyote came loping along behind him. Henrv darted out of the woods

where the snow was deeper for the coyote to

run through.

But Henrys legs were

and

his

"Stupid

tired,

rhythm stumbled,

cat,

stu-pid

cat.'

to a field

M

It

was getting dark and starting to snow again.

The coyote drew nearer as Henrys beat slowed to "Foolish feline, fool-ish fe-line."

His

tail

drooped and dragged on the snow.

He could hear the coyote snapping its teeth, and Henry, plodding one thought

it

was

ski after another,

"End-of-the-line, end-of-the-line"

Just

then Henrys

skis tilted

on a steep downhill slope

The snow was crusted on top, It

was

just

just right for a

soft

cross-country

underneath. cat,

wrong for a heavy coyote.

Henry gave

a

good push with his poles,

and "Me-rowill!" he

sailed

down the mountain.

"Yap-yap-yo-ooo!" the coyote howled,

sinking into the deep

snow far behind.

#-

w

m

Henry skidded out onto a road below. Great glaring eyes! No, the eyes

The

car

were the

lights

had two heads.

of a car coming.

/

\

'

•

->.

The Mans head stuck out one window, trying to see through the falling snow.

The Man looked pretty mad, but he was coming The Kids head stuck out the other window, and he saw Henry. "Look

at that

cross-country

cat!"

yelled

The Kid.

Quickly Henry threw away his

ski poles.

While the car was stopping,

he pulled his

feet loose

and shoved the

skis

from his

skis

under the snow

He thrashed and floundered in the drifts. "Help me-owwwwl!" he cried piteously.

I

J

ter all,

Let

The Man had come back for him.

The Man think he had saved Henrys

Some smart cat!

life.

the

author and her husband

About the Author

Born

in

Keokuk, Iowa, Mary Calhoun

received a B.A degree in journalism

at

the State University of Iowa, and for

some years after graduation worked as a reporter on newspapers in the Midwest and

far West.

She

lives

with her husband,

the Reverend Leon Wilkins, in Steam-

boat Springs, Colorado, a small town

A well-known children's Calhoun has written picture

in the Rockies.

author, Ms.

books, stories for eight- to twelve -yearolds,

and teen-age novels.

About the

Illustrator

A graduate of Kutztown where he majored

State College,

in painting, Erick

Ingraham has illustrated over a dozen botanical and technical books. He also illustrated the popular picture book, Harry and Shellburt. As a cat owner and cross-country skiing enthusiast, Mr. Ingraham comes naturally to the subject of his draw-

ings for this book.

dweller

He is also a country-

who works in his farmhouse

near Fleetwood, Pennsylvania.

Morrow Junior Books

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