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There's a First Time for Everything
"Hullo, Sheryl," said Roy, hoping he wouldn't have to speak to her.
"Ummm... Hi, Sheryl," Mike and John said together.
You see, everyone detested Sheryl Rose Perkins of Station 51. It all started
the first day Sheryl came to Station 51 on a beautiful spring afternoon.
She walked in and said, in a very nice way (even though she was faking it),
"What a, um, nice station."
"Thank you," Captain Stanley said, in a cautious way.
That night, Sheryl wanted to make dinner. Since no one really wanted to make
it, they let her. When she finished, Sheryl served them.
"What's this?" asked Johnny.
"Don't you know? It's ...well...um..." as if she didn't know what she made
herself! (all she really did was look at the ingredients, not looking at
the name). Sheryl continued to stutter and finally said, "It's.... Oh, just
eat it, for crying out loud!
"Sorry for asking," John said to himself.
After that, John would not talk to Sheryl, which leads us back to where we
left off. Roy was just minding his own business when no one but Sheryl Perkins
came running up the hall and out the door.
"Wonder where she's going?" Johnny whispered in Roy's ear.
Sheryl ran out the parking lot, dashed over to her goldenrod Corona and drove
as fast as she could without going over the speed limit.
"I've got to get there!" Sheryl arrived at an old, burnt-up building. A fire
helmet lay on the ground. A newspaper, just like the one she had just seen
lying on the table at the station, lay beside it. She looked at the picture
on the front page. It looked like.... it looked exactly like the fire helmet
that lay next to Sheryl!
"Oh, my gosh! My cousin's house, burned to the ground," she yelped.
"Meow meow meow?" Sheryl heard a muffled meow from under the helmet. Sheryl
carefully elevated the brownish, lukewarm helmet. A small kitten tried to
stand up and succeeded.
"Oh... well, hi, little kitten," said Sheryl. "Should I bring you back to
the station?"
"Meowwww!"
"O.K. then, I will." Sheryl got back into her Corona and drove back to Station
51.
"We were worried sick," Mike and Roy said.
"Well, I was kinda worried too," John admitted.
"Hey what's that?" asked Roy.
"It's a cat," said Sheryl, in an it's-no-big-deal tone of voice.
"Oh yeah? Let's see," said Mike.
"Yeah, c'mon," said Johnny.
" O.K.," said Sheryl, in an annoyed tone of voice this time. There was a
sudden silence. Everyone looked at the kitten, which had white fur with black
spots.
Then Roy yelled, "Let's call him Sparky!"
"Well..." Sheryl hesitated to answer. "All right."
And just when everyone thought Sheryl was going to stay at the station,
she left a week later to travel around the world, because she thought Sparky
could use some fresh air. When Sheryl got to St. Louis, Missouri, she saw
something very interesting on television. A news reporter was talking about
Andrew Perkin's apartment.
"I am pleased to say that Andrew, Minerva, and Jane Perkins are safe," said
the news reporter.
"It was very scary," Andrew's daughter said.
"But we think that our kitten, Spotty, perished in the fire," cried Mrs.
Perkins.
The news reporter said: "If anyone sees a kitten alive with
white fur and black spots please call this number: 555-3247.
"Thank you."
"Oh no, I've got to return you to Andy!" Sheryl said with fear in her
voice.
" Meowwwww! Meowwwww," cried Spotty or Sparky.
"O.K. I'll have to! First thing tomorrow we'll get on that plane and fly
back to L.A.!" So she did, and returned Spotty or Sparky to her cousin, whose
wife was almost jumping out of the roof she was so happy.
"Thank you sooooooo much!" Minerva said.
"Yes, thank you," Jane, their daughter, cried.
"But maybe you could keep Spo...," Andrew started.
"Sparky," Sheryl corrected promptly.
"Sparky."
"Maybe you could keep Sparky," Andrew said.
"R..r..really!?" Sheryl stammered.
"Really," Andrew said.
"Well, sure... I'd love to take him."
So that was the complete end of Sheryl in L.A. She won't be back because
she bought a new home in Wisconsin after her amazing travels with the one
and only....... Sparky.
Click on the helmet to go back to the stories page.
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