In Our Words Canadians Reading Together

Mr. Whiskers was not there.

“I’m going to be in trouble for not shutting the door,” said Andrew.

Andrew ran toward the house to tell his grandparents when suddenly he saw Mr. Whiskers.

“Oh No! Stop Mr. Whiskers! Get out of grandmother’s garden.” Mr. Whiskers lifted his head but soon began to eat the vegetables in the garden again.

Finally Andrew got Mr. Whiskers back into the barn.

“How am I going to tell grandmother and grandfather?” Andrew began to cry, “Now I’ll have to go back home and summer just started.”

Just then grandmother came along. “My goodness, Andrew. What’s wrong?”

Andrew replied, “You told me to be careful with the goat and I forgot to shut the barn door. Now Mr. Whiskers is in the barn, but not before he got into your garden and now I’ll have to go home.”

“Slow down, Andrew” said Grandmother. “You are not going home. Anyone can make a mistake. I told you to be careful with the goat so he wouldn’t hurt you, and I told you not to let him in the garden because he would eat the vegetables. I made the same mistake. Now part of your chores will be to make sure that the door is always closed when you are done. I would never send you home because of a mistake.”

Andrew smiled and said, “Really grandmother? I feel much better now and I’ll make sure the door is always closed.”

Andrew’s first day was really bad, but from that day on, Mr. Whiskers never got into the garden again.

Soon it was time for Andrew to go home and he couldn’t wait to tell his friends about the fun he had had with Grandmother and Grandfather Kelly and his adventure with Mr. Whiskers.