It was a sad afternoon for little Joe Lesieg. He was inside the house while his mother was out in the yard. She told him to come out and soak up the sun since it was a beautiful day. But it wasn't to Joe. To him, everything seemed ugly.
The house was too hot, the sky was to yellow, and in no time at all his mother would make him attend a class with a special teacher named was Mrs. Kizzlekoo.
Mrs. Kizzlekoo didn't sound mean. Joe met her a few times before. She was a perfectly nice lady with really big hair and a very small head. The problem was Mrs. Kizzlekoo taught kids who were stupid. If you attended a class with her, or anyone like her, it meant you were stupid. At least, that's what Joe thought.
He told his mother how he felt but she shook it off. "You're not stupid Joe. Mrs. Kizzlekoo just wants to help you," she said.
She was right, Joe wasn't stupid. He was a "thinker". Thinkers are anything but stupid. In fact, some of them can think up the greatest inventions in the world if they want.
The problem with thinkers is that they need to learn and grow. That way they will be masters at thinking. Joe was not a fast learner and certainly not good at growing. In fact, his thinks more often than not slowed his growing more. If he didn't understand a lesson in class or didn't know what someone else was talking about, his friends would laugh. They liked to call him "Slow Joe".
He hated that nickname. Not just because he didn't think he was slow but because most everyone called him that. It practically became part of his name: Slow Joe Lesieg.
He hated it but among some of his more elaborate thoughts he realized that he didn't so much like the name Joe in the first place. So he came to figure after awhile that Slow Joe, while he didn't prefer it, was stupid to complain about. Why? Because all names are stupid.
Now on a day like this with Mrs. Kizzlekoo in mind and all, what do you think Joe thought when he opened his window to get some fresh air and saw what looked like a man standing in his yard?
"That's strange. I don't remember there being a man on my lawn," is what he and most people should think.
But stranger then that was that wasn't a man. A man isn't furry with black and white hair and doesn't have paws for feet. A man doesn't have whiskers or wear only a hat. Joe realized it wasn't a man. It was a cat!
"Hello!" the Cat in the Hat said coming up to the window. Joe staggered backwards in fear. He never saw a cat like him before. "I say, what's your name young man?"
Joe quivered, "Slow Joe."
"Why are you sad little Joe slow?" asked the Cat straightening his tie. In a situation like this, one would think you'd question why or how a think like him could be. But Joe couldn't find the words to say anything about it. Once the Cat asked again, Joe decided to give him his insight on the situation and how awful everyone treated him. After Joe was done the Cat in the Hat smiled an amused grin.
"May I come in? I think what you need is a little get-me-up. How about it Joe?"
The Cat walked into the house through the bedroom window before Joe could say no. "You're a thinker you are! I can tell just by looking at you. Many of my patients are fine thinks but you? You are as fine as they come! The only problem is you have no thinks on your mind don't you? Well, luckily, I have a few."
"Who?"
He bowed to Joe's level and took the striped hat off his head. There was another cat underneath it. This cat was much smaller and on his smaller hat read the big letter "A", but he looked like the Cat in the Hat in every other way.
"Hello!" he said. Then he took off his red and white hat to reveal another small cat with a B on his hat.
"Hi there!" That cat took off his hat and there was another cat there with a C on his hat "Greetings," he said.
And so each of the tiny cats took off their hats until they became too hard to see.
"These are my Little Cats, A-Z. They are marvelous thinks, isn't that right cats?" the Cat in the Hat said to the army of tiny clones.
"Oh yes!
Indeed!
Completely and utterly!
Wonderfully!" each Little Cat said in his own way.
Joe spent the rest of his day with those cats. They were excellent thinks. The thinker-ma-wizzers and contraptions they knew how to think up! It was a spectacle to behold for a boy Joe's age.
The Little Cats ran into things, drew pictures on the walls, and ate everything they wanted. The afternoon all Joe's troubles were melting away into nothing. This Cat in the Hat was a miracle think! He wished the day would never have to end.
Then it did.
Just as Joe felt like he couldn't be any happier with the chaos he was making, the Cat ordered the Little Cats back into his hat. He pulled in a what-you-might-call-it machine with grabbing-got hands and started cleaning the house.
"I'm afraid we need to get going. Say your goodbyes little Joe."
"What? Where are you going?"
The Little Cats said nothing, they merely assembled back into each other's hats and helped the Cat clean up the mess. They tried to send Joe off with some off-handed goodbyes.
"Goodbye!"
"See ya' later!"
"Charmed!"
"Nice house."
"Thank you."
"Farewell," the Little Cat's said. Joe got angry and walked in front of Little Cat A, knocking him and his hat to the ground. The rest of the Little Cats and their hats spilled out of it becoming a mess of tiny thinks all over the ripped up floor. Joe didn't sympathize with their pain at all.
"You said you'd make me happy! You can't go away! I'll be unhappy again!"
"B-but we need to go!" Little Cat A insisted.
"Me too!" said Little Cat B grabbing his fallen hat.
"But it's not fair. You're the worst cats in the world!"
Before Joe could say anything else one of the Cat's hands picked him up by britches. "Little Joe, I need the Little Cats, they're my helpers. I have others it's true but I need all I can get to do what I do. So with that I'm going to leave. But I like you Joe, and the Little Cats do too. We've never had someone who loved our games this much. I promise, we'll see you again."
Joe sighed and bowed his head in disappointment. "Okay," he said. The Cat picked up the rest of the broken things and furniture and put them back together. The Little Cats all hurried from their pile of cats on the floor and back into one another's hat until finally Little Cat A jumped onto the exiting what-you-might-call-it. "Where do you live?" Joe asked the Cat.
"Here and there. There and here. Anywhere really," the Cat said smugly.
"Everyone has to like you wherever you go. You're a miracle think Mr. Cat."
One of the hands patted Joe's hairy head. "Thank you young Joe."
Then he and the Little Cats were gone.
Joe was as excited as ever that night. When he told his mother about the Cat she smiled a big bright smile. "That sounds like a really fun game sweetheart. I'm real happy you cleaned the house too."
"I hope the Cat comes back again!" Joe said to her as she tucked him in. "He said he would. Then we can play again! And it will be the games I like and-"
"Let's not think too much about cats in top hats tonight. Remember, we see Mrs. Kizzlekingkoo on Monday," said Joe's mother. Then she kissed him goodnight.
Mrs. Kizzlekingkoo and her special class was the last thing on his mind. Joe wished it could stay that way. He hadn't felt so happy in weeks. He needed to meet a good think like the Cat. It reminded him that there was always time after class or at home for a good game.
Finally the small thinker got sleepy and dozed off in his snug bed.
Joe's sleep didn't last long though. He was woken up just as quickly as he went to sleep by an odd sound. It was a tiny sound. One that could only be made from a very tiny person.
"Ooof!"
Ooof? What did that mean? Was it a little think from a country he never heard of? He was told by a cousin of his that plenty of thinks live in your house you might not be aware of.
Joe peered over the side of his bed and saw his jacket. Was his a jacket talking to him? That would be a little too strange even after today.
He picked up the jacket and put his hand in the pocket, where the sound was coming from.
"Aak! Don't squish my hat please!"
Joe looked inside and saw a Little Cat. He was as tall as a marshmallow and as wide as paintbrush. He could barely tell in the dark but the letter "U" was on his hat.
"What are you doing in my jacket?"
"I had nowhere else to go!" the Little Cat said. "There was a big clunk and all of a sudden we fell right out of Little Cat T's hat!
"Whose we?"
"Simple, Little Cats V, W, X, Y and Z! And oh this is bad! How could the Cat miss us? He's never not heard us before!"
"Indeed!" cried an even smaller voice. Little Cat U's hat lifted up to show another little Cat, Little Cat V. "What do we do about Little Cat Z?"
"Little Cat Z?" Joe asked now holding Little Cat U in his hand.
"Little Cat Z!" cried an even tinier voice from an even tinier cat. It was Little Cat W and soon to follow was little Cat X, the size of a pin, Little Cat Y who looked like a dot and under his hat… nothing. The Little Cat under Little Cat Y's hat was so tiny Joe couldn't see him. Before he could assume there was nothing there did a certain something happen.
"I am Little Cat Z!" said a voice. It was a deep and as loud as you could imagine. "Now listen here boy! You're the one that made us fall out of the hat now get us home! Under my hat is the something very powerful."
Joe gathered himself, remembering how he had knocked the Little Cats down and spilling most of them out of Little Cat A's hat. "What's under there?"
"That's not important now. Do as I say and find the Cat in the Hat."
Joe cupped the tower of tiny cats in his hands. "I'd like to get you home now but-"
"Joe?" came the voice of his mother. "Is there someone in there? I hear something."
Joe thought quickly and tucked the cats carefully behind his pillow. His mother came in and asked again who was talking.
"No one!" Joe said with a smile. "You probably just heard something mom. And if that's the case, you need to see a doctor soon! I bet hearing things means your getting old."
"Oh I think I read that somewhere. You smart little boy you! I told you weren't dumb. Anyway, I'm going to bed so you get to sleep too alright?" Then she left Joe alone and he took the cats out from behind the pillow.
"Alright," Little Cat Z said quietly. "I see how it is. But still you got us in this mess to begin with so please get us out of it."
Joe looked at the tiny cats in his hand and thought. If he saved them and got them back home, he'd meet the cat again. He could have more fun then he ever imagined. "Of course I will! You can count on me!" Joe said.
"Alright. Get some rest then," Little Cat Z said as Little Cat Y put the hat back on his head.
"Goodnight,"
"Goodnight,"
"Goodnight,"
"Goodnight," each of them said until Little Cat U crawled out of Joe's hand and curled up next to his pillow.
Joe was even more excited then before. Little Cats were still here. He'd have more fun then before now.