Rotten Ralph Read online

  Rotten Ralph

  Jack Gantos

  * * *

  ROTTEN RALPH

  Written by JACK GANTOS

  Illustrated by NICOLE RUBEL

  HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY BOSTON

  * * *

  To Carew

  Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data

  Gantos, John B

  Rotten Ralph.

  SUMMARY: Ralph, a very, very, nasty cat, finally sees the error of his ways—or does he!

  [1. Cats—Fiction. 2. Behavior—Fiction] I. Rubel, Leslie. II. Title.

  PZ7.G15334Ro [E] 75-34101

  ISBN 0-395-24276-2

  The character of Rotten Ralph was originally created by

  Jack Gantos and Nicole Rubel.

  Copyright © 1976 by John B. Gantos, Jr.

  Copyright © 1976 by Leslie Rubel

  All rights reserved. For information about permission

  to reproduce selections from this book, write to

  Permissions, Houghton Mifflin Company, 215 Park Avenue

  South, New York, New York 10003.

  ISBN: 0-395-24276-2 REINFORCED EDITION

  ISBN: 0-395-29202-6 SANDPIPER PAPERBOUND EDITION

  MANUFACTURED IN CHINA

  SCP 40 39 38 37 36 35 34

  Ralph is Sarah's rotten cat, but Sarah loves him anyway.

  When Sarah practices ballet Ralph makes fun of her.

  One afternoon when Sarah was swinging, Rotten Ralph sawed off the branch.

  The very next day Ralph ruined Sarah's party. He had taken a bite out of every one of her cookies.

  "Sometimes you are very hard to love, Ralph," said Sarah.

  One day Sarah's father came home early from work. He caught Ralph sitting in his favorite chair. Ralph was wearing Father's slippers and blowing soap bubbles through his best pipe.

  "You are worse than rotten, Ralph," said Father.

  "I wish you wouldn't upset Father," Sarah said.

  The next evening Ralph smashed his bicycle into the dining room table. Father became very angry.

  "You better straighten up, Ralph," he said.

  "You are a very difficult cat, Ralph," said Sarah.

  After dinner Ralph was still hungry.

  He chased Mother's favorite birds. She was very unhappy with Ralph's behavior.

  One evening the whole family went to the circus. Everyone was having a great time but Ralph. A dog was barking in his ear.

  "Be quiet!" said Ralph.

  But the dog didn't stop. He kept barking and stomping his paws on the seat.

  So Rotten Ralph tied some balloons to the dog's collar. The dog floated up over the lion's cage.

  "My dog!" shouted the owner.

  But not even the man on stilts could reach him.

  Then Ralph saw the trapeze.

  He swung and knocked over the tightrope walkers.

  Next he jumped on a showhorse.

  He pushed the rider off and frightened the elephants.

  "Rotten Ralph has gone too far this time!" bellowed Father. "We are leaving him here! A circus is just where he belongs."

  And they left him behind.

  When the circus closed that night the manager made Ralph sweep up all the popcorn.

  Then he had to water the camels.

  After that he had to carry the barbells for the strongman.

  The next day Rotten Ralph did not want to work. He refused to be the target for the knife thrower.

  So the circus tough men threw him in a cage. "Everybody has to work around here, buster!" the tough guys said, and they locked the door.

  The monkeys laughed and threw banana peels at Ralph. The elephants shot peanut shells at him and squirted water on him.

  A week later Ralph had grown very thin. He had only been fed stale popcorn and rotten candied apples.

  That night he decided to escape.

  Nobody heard him as he slipped between the bars.

  Ralph ran from the circus and found a place to sleep in an alley.

  During the night he was awakened by gangs of mean and noisy cats. The rest of the night he hid in a trash heap.

  He didn't dare make a sound even though mice were nibbling on his toes.

  In the morning he was cold and sick.

  He had caught an alley fever from sleeping in the trash heap.

  "I'm lonely," he thought, and he began to cry.

  He was sitting on a trash can when Sarah found him.

  "Oh, Ralph, I still do love you," she said. She was so happy she hugged him and gave him a kiss on his cold nose.

  On the way home she told him she had been looking for him everywhere. She asked him where he had been and what he had been doing.

  Even Sarah's mother and father were happy to see Ralph again.

  "We have missed you, Ralph," they said.

  Ralph kept thinking about his soft bed and warm milk. He also thought about how nice it was to have a good friend like Sarah.

  Ralph decided never to be rotten again...

  except for sometimes when Mother cooked lobster for dinner.

 

 

  Jack Gantos, Rotten Ralph

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