Extra Reading (Cat)

[Arlo Pecatti]

It was another one of those stiflingly hot days outside with the sun beating down on the earth like it was some sort of clay being baked in a kiln. That was just the sort of day that Arlo hated. And in March, too. That was almost unheard of where he came from. Well, maybe not unheard of. It was just rare.

Therefore, it was hardly surprising that Arlo had retreated to the library again to do some extra reading. It wasn't like he could go outside anyway. He'd just pass out most probably if his heat resistance set in again. It wasn't guaranteed to do that of course. He was just somewhat scared of that happening again. He was scared of being there alone when that happened and not being able to communicate well enough to explain that it was the heat making him pass out.

He pushed open the door to the library and glanced around it for a few seconds, almost as if he was looking for someone else to be there. There was nobody there that he could see at first glance though so he headed for the geography textbooks instead, deciding he wanted to read up on America and the geographical details of it. He didn't know much yet after all. He scanned the shelf, trying to decide on the book to take, and then he heard a sound. The sound of another person. He frowned for a few seconds, looking for where they were in the room, wondering if there was any chance it could be someone he recognised to be a student for a change rather than a teacher.

[Catherine Novella]

Cat did not want to really get up since it was really very hot for March. She was sure it was going to be stuffy outside, but it was not the worst thing in the world cat concurred. Silently she dragged herself out of bed and got dressed after doing all that needed t be done. She had stayed up later the night before and was tired sure, but her book was due to the library and she wanted to find the next few books in the series. She made her way there and began to go a bit faster then normal, seeing as how it was just too hot outside. This really was weird weather for March.

As Cat made her way into the library she set down her things at her usual spot. It was nice the library had air conditioning. Cat made her way into the back of the library. She thought no one would be here since it was like that outside and she was not expecting anyone to venture out unless it was in dire need. At least, in her mind they wouldn’t. Cat was expecting only silence and the turning of the pages to be her day. She might even get in a nap!

As Cat made her way back into the depths of the library she began to imagine the scenes of the books she had read passing through her head. She wasn’t one to be the most loud person, in fact most of the time she was quiet, but right at this moment she wanted to be loud. Sighing cat smiled and put away her thoughts when she reached the back. She pulled out a few books and sat down, making a little noise as she sat. She found herself in the geography section and was reading something about Italy. She was going into her reading when she heard a noise an aisle over. This really surprised her since she thought she was alone. Cat got up slowly and poked her head around the corner. There was a really really really small boy standing there looking around with a book about America in his hands. Cat chuckled. She was small yes, but he was smaller, judging from his height, Cat guessed he was around ten, eleven-ish. She smiled. It was not that often she found someone smaller then she. The only person she knew who was smaller was Kara, but the boy was smaller then her even. Cat decided to go up to him. “Are you looking for anything?”

[Arlo Pecatti]

Arlo's eyes darted from one end of the aisle to the other until they finally rested on an older looking student. He had a feeling she was older than he was but not one of the oldest there. That made him a little less apprehensive. He was worse with the older students as he was never quite sure how they might react to him. Sometimes they would look at him like he was far too little to be there, sometimes they would express that opinion and other times they would simply ignore him entirely. She seemed more the sort to be interested, given her question.

Arlo glanced down at the book in his hands and shook his head slightly, then looked back up at her, "I... I look for information about this country. This.. America," he responded quietly, still somewhat uncertain about why she had spoken to him but thinking she seemed friendly enough so deciding he could talk to her. Nobody else was around anyway, as far as he knew. That generally made him feel less intimidated. The less people around, the less he had to listen to and try to translate and keep up with in the conversation.

His eyes briefly returned to the shelf where he had picked up the book from and he smiled a little. She looked like she might like the library so he looked back at her and asked, "You... You like to read?" he asked, glancing back at her for a few seconds, then back down at the book, smiling faintly at the outline of America. It was a lot bigger than he had first imagined, that was for sure. He saw it as being a lot smaller than the America on the map because he had only been to a couple of states. "America... It is big," he commented, smiling at the image before looking back up at her. She looked like she might have been American. She had perhaps travelled a lot there. She looked quite clever anyway.

[Catherine Novella]

Cat saw him looking almost frantically and certainly apprehensive at her entrance. She slightly chucked but put on a smile. The boy reminded her of one of the little kids she used to read to. The she moved to Hammel. Sighing Cat watched the boy as he noticed and acknowledged her presence.

Seeing him smile Cat relaxed a bit. When he answered Cat could tell he was new to speaking English. That was fine with her as long as they could understand each other it was all good. Nodding her head cat pulled out a few books. “Are you looking for the history? As in the war history? Or just plain general facts?” Cat looked at the boy waiting for an answer. When the younger boy asked if she liked to read Cat nodded. “It’s an escape.”

Finding the books she wanted for the boy she pulled them out and gave them to him. She held them out for him to take and explained. “The first few are on the history the next few are on the culture. I think you should be able to find everything you need.” When the boy started talking about how big America was she realized that whatever country he came from must be smaller, or seem smaller. “You know if you come from the smaller countries America can seem big, but in actuality it is small. We just have a lot of people. America is something that you can’t take in all in one breath.” Cat took a breath “You have to take it in small doses and absorb everything together, not apart.” Leading the younger boy to the table Cat spread the books out there. She wanted to be sure that he had everything he needed before she left him alone.

[Arlo Pecatti]

Arlo watched her silently for a few seconds, almost uncertain of whether to talk to her too much. Sure, he had done already but did he really ought to keep talking to her? Arlo frowned a little, wondering why he was suddenly more defensive but then he realised she was actually trying to help and loosened up. It appeared she was one of the good guys. Well, girls, given that she was female.

As he saw her looking over the books, he nodded slightly, "I like war history and facts. Everything," he said with a smile, looking at the books she was taking off the shelves with some interest, wondering just how she knew where they all were. Perhaps she spent a lot of time there then? In that case they would most probably see each other every day, or at least every few days. Arlo liked the library after all.

He gratefully took some of the books, getting distracted by the cover of one of them - a painting of what looked like a war, possibly a civil one given that all the people looked very similar in terms of hair and eye colour and their skin was a similar tone as well. He then realised she was leading him some place and he followed, responding, "America... America has much states and cities. Italy, not much like America has," he said with a small smile. He knew that wasn't proper English. He wanted it to be but he just wasn't good enough. Not yet. But he would learn. He knew that much was certain.

Arlo looked at all the books she had spread out on the table and he grinned. He loved to read. This would certainly give him a lot to do for a few days. "There is a... A..." Arlo frowned, trying to think of the word, "A.. Books with words and what they mean somewhere?" he asked. After all his English was still highly lacking at that time and if anyone would know where it was, it would be her.

[Catherine Novella]

Cat smiled at the boys comment as he was able to talk and walk at the same time. She turned around to reply to him. “Cool these books are about the actual histry. For the culture you want these two.” With each of the words Cat motioned to the each respectful piles of books. She smiled when he got distracted by one of the books. Noticing the look she said, “That’s about the civil war.” Cat made sure he knew that yes, in fact she was listening, and that yes she knew what he was talking about.

“ It is cool that you are from Italy. You must have grown up with a great food palette. At least I would hope so. You say that America has many states and everything, but Italy has awesome spaghetti. And pizza.” Cat was joking with the boy. “America is not that different from Italy if you think about it. We are all people, residing on the earth. Only difference is in how we act and where we are from. In fact we are probably more alike thin different.”

Cat nodded as she saw the boy stumbling with a word. She knew what he was talking about and did not want to have him suffer. “ Yea a dictionary? Do you need one?” Cat had a mini one in her bag. If he really needed one she would give it to him. It was not as if she could not get another one. Cat started fishing it out of her bag, hoping that she could be of more use to the boy. Smiling she handed it over and said, “ Here use mine. In fact you can have it. I hope that the text is not to small.”

[Arlo Pecatti]

Arlo smiled when she confirmed his thoughts about it being a civil war. "The people, they are similar," he said, looking away from the book and back up at her again. She really was tall compared with him. Everyone was tall compared with him though. Even his spider started looking enormous, after all.

Arlo nodded eagerly at the mention of food, "I cook a lot. Well I did. Hammel said not to let me cook," he frowned. Just because he was young that meant they didn't want him anywhere near an oven. He wasn't going to blow the place up. He just liked making things. "America could get good pizza and spaghetti if it used good ingredients," he responded, his eyes looking over a few more of the books. He was fairly sure they just didn't do it right there. After all, that pizza Germaine had in the cafeteria had looked foul. It had been greasy and looked like a baby had made it. He was sure it was more to do with ingredients and time than anything else. "We all are people, yes. America is good for business, Italy is good for food, other places good for other things," he said, smiling a little. He understood what she was trying to say. At least he hoped he did.

Arlo nodded at the word, "Why it has to be a big word?" he asked, laughing a little. When she handed him one from her bag and said he could keep it, he looked a little surprised, "Are- are you sure?" he asked. He didn't want to take it if she might need it later, after all.

[Catherine Novella]

Cat nodded. “Mostly that war was about slavery. No actually it was about land. Everything is about land and money really.” She looked down at him. It seemed he was really small. And Cat meant really small. “ I hope you don’t mind me asking but how old are you?” she did not want to offend him but she was really curious. She thought in her mind he might be about…ten. Or eleven.

When the boy nodded at the prospect of food Cat laughed a bit. “I think it is more a safety issue. It is something that they could get sued if you are hurt. They would be held responsible for that. If you are really interested in cooking try seeing if the school has a food-prep room. That might work.”

Cat laughed a bit at the comment of the boy about pizza and spaghetti. She was sure the first time the boy had gone into the cafeteria he was in for a shock. “ We have the ingredients we probably just don’t know how to use them correctly.” Cat was glad when he got the point she was trying to make. “ People are people. That’s exactly what I was trying to say.” smiling she looked down and offered the chair at the table to him. “Want to sit?”

Cat smiled at the boy realizing she did not even know the boy’s name. she did not want to seem rude or anything but she couldn’t keep referring to him as “the boy”. She figured she should ask his name if she was going to continue to talk to him. “Hey what’s your name? I‘m Cat.” She waited for his response as she pulled out her notebook.

“ It has to be a big long word because it has to amount for all of the words and their definitions in there. It also has to keep all of the words of the English language in it.” Cat looked at the boy that, frankly, looked a bit surprised. “Yea you can keep it,” Cat smiled. “It’s not as if I can not get another one.”

[Arlo Pecatti]

Arlo nodded slowly, "Yes, most things are about money," he had to agree with that. He knew that his father only did things if he got money from it. Arlo couldn't care less if he had money or not but he knew it meant a lot to some people. Arlo had always had money there if he needed it though, he supposed. The next question seemed a little odd to him, given that he couldn't see a link between them, but he decided it was just a random question. "Twelve. I'm twelve," he told her, smiling.

Arlo smiled a little at her as she said it was essentially all about health and safety. "If I get hurt, I learn from it. The school is not to... To... To cause it," he shook his head a little. He wanted a specific word and it avoided his brain. Ah well. What he said seemed to make sense. His eyes lit up somewhat at the idea of a food prep room though, "There might be one?" he asked. He liked the idea of cookery classes or something, much to his father's disgust.

Arlo laughed at the idea of Americans trying to cook with Italian ingredients. He had a feeling it wouldn't work the same. Everywhere was different though. "You actually like the food here?" he asked her curiously. He couldn't understand that idea at all but hey, someone must like it or it wouldn't be served, would it? He looked at the chair and nodded a little, sitting down and feeling even shorter. "You sit too? I feel really short," he admitted and laughed. He didn't care about being short though, he was more than used to it.

Arlo realised he didn't know her name either as she introduced herself. Cat. He could remember that. "I'm Arlo," he said with a small smile. "It's the Italian version of Charlie," he added, given that she might be more familiar with that name than his actual name.

He looked at the dictionary again and nodded. That made sense. "It is a good word," he stated and smiled. "Okay, thanks. If you need it back thats okay though," he told her. He didnt want to take something if she needed it.