Outside In (14 page)

“I'm sorry.”

Blossom did not say, “It's all right” or “No problem.”

A heavy cat jumped into Lynn's lap. She gasped. It had huge paws with … six toes. It began to knead her leg, purring with the sound of a small lawn mower. Blossom continued to stare at Lynn, and something changed behind her eyes. The purring increased in volume, the lawn mower hit a patch of thick damp grass, and Lynn felt sharp claws just about to pierce her jeans.

It didn't quite hurt, not yet.

Blossom gave a small nod and a smaller smile, and there was a slight shimmer as the world righted itself.

The six-toed cat, sensing a shift in the universe, celebrated by digging its claws right through the denim and into Lynn's leg.

“Yow!” Lynn tipped him off her lap and rubbed at the wounds. “Which one was that?”

“Florio.”

“Do they all have names?”

“Just Mister Mister, Flex, Thomas, Peka, Ginger, Ptah, Coco, Smollet, Yoda, Spork, Harriet, Phoebe, Louis, Einstein, Miaow-Man, Moneypenny, Lady Jane Grey, Nimbus, Zoe, Sebastian, Lydia, Bob, Dorian, Ginger, Sasha and Kootenay.”

“How did she get so many?”

“She said that after five or so there's no reason to ever say no to a cat again.”

“Wow. She must seriously like cats.”

“Actually she says that she would much prefer a dog. She's delighted to have Artdog here. When she was working at the lab she just got a cat as a placeholder until she could stay home with a dog.”

“She prefers dogs?”

Blossom nodded.

“She has seventeen or maybe it is twenty-four cats and she prefers dogs?”

Blossom nodded again.

“Blossom?”

“Hm?”

“That is absolutely and totally one hundred percent crazy.”

Blossom's microsmile spread across her face like cartoon fire, running up a fuse toward a stick of
TNT and exploding with a grin, a hiccup and then a full-on, no-holds-barred, nose-running belly laugh.

Lynn was one short step behind.

And then it was one great huge tumble of laughter — at too many cats, at citizen world, at the surprise of a friendship that hit an iceberg but was saved before it sank, laughter at laughter itself.

Fossick and Rainey appeared, balancing cups and plates and a teapot, backing through the screen door. As they made their way precariously down the steps, the basement door opened as well. Larch took one tentative step into the yard, a boy in a baggy blue fleece with a red silk tie neatly knotted around his neck.

“Larch!” said Rainey. “Come join us. We are, it seems, having a party.”

Larch shook his head. “It is not the right outside.”

Fossick gestured grandly from the steps, endangering the teapot. “The climate's delicate, the air most sweet, fertile the isle, the temple much surpassing the common praise it bears. Catmodicum and Artdog have braved the out of doors. Perhaps you will tomorrow.”

“Will the visitor come again?”

Yes or no. Larch always needed yes or no, nothing in between.

Lynn glanced at Blossom. This was her question to answer.

Blossom tilted her head and appeared to consider.

Cats shifted. Everything shifted.

Then she grinned. “Yes, she will.”

About the Author

Sarah Ellis
is the author of sixteen books for young readers, including
The Baby Project
and
Odd Man Out
. She has won the Mr. Christie's Book Award, the Violet Downey Book Award, the Governor General's Award, the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize and the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award. Her books have been translated into French, Spanish, Danish, Chinese and Japanese. She is a masthead reviewer for the
Horn Book Magazine
and was recently writer-in-residence at the Toronto Public Library.

In
2013
Sarah was nominated for the prestigious Astrid Lindgren Memorial Award, children's literature's richest prize. She was also honored with the
2013
Lieutenant Governor's Award for Literary Excellence.

Sarah teaches in the
mfa
program at Vermont College of Fine Arts. She lives in Vancouver.

Other Books by Sarah Ellis

Odd Man Out

• Winner of the TD Canadian Children's Literature Award • Shortlisted for the Canadian Library Association Book of the Year for Children Award • Shortlisted for the Ruth and Sylvia Schwartz Children's Book Award

“… a thoughtful and often funny book of a boy on the verge of adolescence challenged to think … in a different way.” —
School Library Journal

“… beautifully written: clever, funny, and hauntingly sad.” —
Vancouver Sun

“… a determinedly individual and warmly affectionate family story about a boy who finds strength in new understanding of both the present and the past.”
—
Bulletin of the Center for Children's Books

Out of the Blue

• Winner of the Mr. Christie's Book Award • Winner of the IODE Violet Downey Book Award • Shortlisted for the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Text

“Ellis' handling of the family dynamics is quiet and sure, and her characters … are fresh, appealing — and imperfect.” —
Booklist

“Ellis creates well-developed characters, not only believable but wholly likable; her deft use of wit is delightful.” —
Kirkus Reviews

“As in life, nobody is perfect in this searching, thoughtful novel …” —
Publishers Weekly

Pick-up Sticks

• Winner of the Governor General's Literary Award for Children's Text

“[The characters] … are the kind of unique, well-rounded personalities readers expect from this fine Canadian author.” —
Kirkus Reviews

“[Ellis'] insights are perceptive and have an unmistakable ring of honesty.”
—
Horn Book

“… drawn with humor and compassion … what will grab kids is the sharp and affectionate view of the way we live now.” —
Booklist

The Baby Project

• Winner of the Sheila A. Egoff Children's Literature Prize

“… a sometimes fun and funny book, a sometimes sad and moving one. It is smart, lively and unwilling to sidestep the hurtful or awkward or mean in how relatives get along — and don't.” —
San Francisco Chronicle

“… one of the most appealing and moving family stories to come along in ages.” —
Horn Book

“… primarily a book of joy — wise and delightfully funny in equal parts.”
—
Globe and Mail

About the Publisher

 

Groundwood Books, established in 1978, is dedicated to the production of children's books for all ages, including fiction, picture books and non-fiction. We publish in Canada, the United States and Latin America. Our books aim to be of the highest possible quality in both language and illustration. Our primary focus has been on works by Canadians, though we sometimes also buy outstanding books from other countries.

Many of our books tell the stories of people whose voices are not always heard in this age of global publishing by media conglomerates. Books by the First Peoples of this hemisphere have always been a special interest, as have those of others who through circumstance have been marginalized and whose contribution to our society is not always visible. Since 1998 we have been publishing works by people of Latin American origin living in the Americas both in English and in Spanish under our Libros Tigrillo imprint.

We believe that by reflecting intensely individual experiences, our books are of universal interest. The fact that our authors are published around the world attests to this and to their quality. Even more important, our books are read and loved by children all over the globe.