In a cozy house with a big garden, lived a boy named Tom and his Grandpa Joe. One rainy afternoon, Tom asked… Can we make a gingerbread cat?
So, Grandpa Joe helped him cut out the perfect cat shape! Tom gave it bright blue candy eyes… a pink sprinkle nose… and Grandpa piped on orange frosting stripes. Into the oven it went… DING!
But wait! The cookie wiggled its ears… twitched its nose… and with a little POP!… it leaped right off the tray! Wow! said Tom.
The gingerbread cat, quick as a flash, scampered across the floor and dashed right out the back door! Stop, little cookie cat! called Tom.
Down the garden path he ran, shouting in a sugary voice… ‘Quick as a whisker, light on my feet! Catching this cookie cat? Can’t be beat!’
Squeaky the squirrel saw him whiz by. ‘A running cookie?!’ he chattered, and bounded right after him! But the gingerbread cat just called back… ‘I ran from Tom and Grandpa, and I can run from you!’
Next, he zipped past Sheldon the tortoise, who was munching on some lettuce. Sheldon blinked… and slowly… began to follow. ‘Must… see… cookie…’ he thought. The gingerbread cat just giggled.
He was so fast! He shouted back at the tortoise… ‘I ran from the boy, the grandpa, and the squirrel, and I can DEFINITELY run from you!’
But then… he saw it. A picnic! And on the blanket… a little pot of bright red, sticky, strawberry jam. Mmmm, that jam smelled so good!
He reached out just one little paw… SQUELCH! Stuck! He wiggled and pulled, but his paw was trapped in the sticky jam! Oh dear!
Just then, Tom arrived. He wasn’t angry… he was gentle. ‘Oh, little cookie cat,’ he said softly. ‘You got stuck!’
The gingerbread cat looked up. Tom wasn’t going to eat him! ‘You’re too special to eat,’ Tom whispered. ‘You can be my friend.’
And so, the gingerbread cat didn’t run away again. Being Tom’s special friend, safe and sound… and only a little bit sticky… was the best adventure of all.