Read the story.

Chasing Charlie

On Monday, as Simone walked down the corridor of her block, Mrs Grisman
peeked out from her door.

‘Could you take care of Charlie for a few days? I’ll be visiting my new
grandbaby!’

‘Oh, yes!’ Simone said. ‘Of course! I have the key.’

She loved playing with Mrs Grisman’s cat. Since Simone’s mother was
allergic, Simone couldn’t have one of her own. Simone was planning to have twelve cats when she grew up. Running downstairs, she already couldn’t
wait for school to be over.

That afternoon, Simone rushed to Mrs Grisman’s flat. She slowed when she
saw Deion, another kid who lived in the building, bringing Brutus in from his
walk. That big dog was scary. Deion seemed nice, but he’d moved in
recently, and Simone didn’t really know him.

‘Charlie, I’m here!’ she called, opening the door. Charlie always greeted
Simone by purring and rubbing his head on her legs. He was an indoor cat,
and Simone thought of fun games for him to play. He loved it when she scrunched up aluminium foil and rolled it on the floor.

Today Charlie came running and she knelt down to pet him. Suddenly, Brutus
entered through the open door, barking at the cat. Charlie shot out the door
and ran down the stairs.
‘Uh-oh!’ said Simone.

At the same time, Deion said, ‘Oh no! I’m sorry!’ He clipped Brutus’s lead
back onto his collar.

‘It’s okay,’ Simone said, which wasn’t true. ‘I should have closed the door,’

‘Ah,’ Deion said. ‘I’ll take Brutus home right now. Let me know if I can help
you.’ He retreated down the hall with Brutus. Poor Charlie! Simone ran outside. Charlie had climbed partway up a tree
next to the block of flats.

‘Come down, Charlie!’ Simone called. But Charlie stayed put. The cat was too
high to reach. She looked further up. The tree’s upper branches were next to
Mrs Grisman’s window. She had an idea.

She hurried upstairs and knocked on Deion’s door. He agreed to help with her plan. She dashed inside Mrs Grisman’s flat again and opened the window
by the tree.
‘Hey, Charlie!’ she called to the cat, now below her. He meowed but didn’t move. Simone grabbed the bag of Charlie’s favourite stinky Tuna Treats. She
leaned out the window to look further below. Deion and Brutus were coming
out of the building.

‘Okay, Deion,’ she yelled.

He shouted, ‘Brutus, it’s a cat!’ Brutus barked and jumped, his big front paws on the tree. Simone held out a handful of Tuna Treats and called, ‘Charlie! Treat!’

The cat looked down at the dog and up at Simone. He scampered up the
tree, out onto the nearest branch. He leaped through the window, onto
Simone’s head. She held onto Charlie, waved at Deion below and then
slammed the window shut.

‘Thanks for helping me meet the neighbours,’ she said, petting the cat.