Killing Miss Kitty and Other Sins

by Bauer, Marion Dane

• ISBN13: 9780618690008
• ISBN10: 061869000X
• Format: Hardcover
• Copyright: 2007-05-21
• Publisher: Clarion Books

Summary

Life in Claire's typical Midwestern town is quiet; some would even say boring. But this is the 1950s, and things that seem calm on the surface are often churning underneath. When Claire takes a new black friend, dressed as "Liberty," to the Fourth of July parade in the town park, she realizes there can be no liberty for either girl in her all-white town. And as she grows older, she discovers that her world is more complicated than she ever imagined. Being the "new girl" in school isn't the fresh start she was hoping for. Getting a pet involves sacrifices. And falling in love is more confusing than fulfilling-especially when it is not a love that can be spoken of, least of all by Claire. Teenage sexuality, northern segregation, differing religious beliefs, and animal cruelty are just a few of the controversial topics explored in this collection of five interrelated stories, told in a voice that is both refreshingly naive and darkly humourous. With this book, Marion Dane Bauer lives up to her reputation as a writer who is not afraid to delve into difficult material in search of the truth.

Author Biography

Marion Dane Bauer is an award-winning author who also teaches in the Master of Fine Arts in Writing for Children and Young Adults program at Vermont College. Among her Clarion titles are ON MY HONOR, a Newbery Honor Book; A BEAR NAMED TROUBLE; and RUNT: THE STORY OF A WOLF PUP. She lives with her partner, Ann Goddard, in Eden Prairie, Minnesota.

Excerpts

Chapter ThreeMiss KittyThere was nothing appealing about the dark gray kitten. She was scraggly and flea-bitten and skinny. You could count her ribs through her fur. She had comeinto a world where no one wanted her,and been abandoned before she was old enough to care for herself.My brother and I were walking near the baseball field when we found her. The field was a rough one Hugh and hisfriends had carved out in the long grass between the woods and Lexington Avenue,with its double row of cement-millcompany houses. The kitten was teetering on top of the field''s homemade backstop, surrounded by cheering boys.The boys were taking bets on how high they could count before the mite lost her frantic hold on the boards andtumbled to the ground again. Tommy,Fred, Jack-they were all there. Even Bobby, though he was three years youngerthan the rest and wasn''t usually tolerated by them. They were all laughing and slapping each other on theback . . . and counting. Putting the scraggly kitten upthere on top of the backstop had been Bobby''s idea. Maybe that was why the other boys were allowing him to hangaround, because he''d come up with such a good idea. Jack was the one who had the bets going. Hugh and I stood for a few seconds, taking everything in. The excited boys,elbowing one another, egging one another on. The terrified kitten, scrabbling on her perch, needle-like claws extended, tail puffed like a bottle brush, pinkmouth open in silent pleading. It was the last that affected me most, the way she kept opening her mouthwithout making a sound. The mews seemed to have been frightened right out of her. I wanted to protest, but I wasafraid of the boys. There was a roughness about them that had always intimidated me. So though I longed torush in and snatch the kitten away, I looked to my older brother instead, hoping he would come to the rescue.I had never seen the kitten before. She didn''t belong to anyone we knew, and from the looks of her no one cared whathappened to her. Except for me and, I hoped, Hugh. The kitten didn''t look as though she was going to survive muchlonger if someone didn''t interfere with the game she was caught in. "Hey!" Hugh said to the boys. The kitten fell again, her legs splayed, her tiny puff of a tail pokedstraight out behind as if she were trying to turn herself into a parachute. But if that was what she intended, shewasn''t very successful. Not only did she fall fast, she didn''t even land on her feet. She hit the ground on her side with a soft but perceptible thud. It was hard to believe anything so small could make that much of a sound on impact. Harder still to believe she had enough life left in her to claw and bite when Bobby picked her up to return her to the top of the backstop. "Ow!" Bobby yelled, followed by several stronger words. And he flung hishand, sending the kitten sailing once more. This time she managed to get her feet under her before she landed, thoughshe had less time to prepare. "Hey!" I said it this time. "You leave that kitten alone!" The boys turned to gawk at me before they laughed. But Hugh stepped forward. "I''ll take her," he said. "Give the kitten to me."They weren''t keen on stopping their fun, but my brother had a quiet authority over them, and they gave herto Hugh without too much complaint. I wanted to be the one to carry her home, but Hugh just shook his head and kepther cupped against his chest. "She''ll scratch you," he said. "She doesn''t even know how to retract her claws."Maybe, I thought, she knows, but she''s never felt safe enough to put her weapons away. I loved cats. We had one at home named Sooty. We had Sooty despite the fact that our mother had grown up on a farm and didn''t really believe in having animals in the house. They belonged, shesaid, outside or in a barn. But she allowed a cat, partly because I begged for one and partly because it kept downthe population of mice that scurried through the walls of our old frame house. When one cat met with someaccident, a