Fish Without A School - Chapter 9

Written by Carolyn Cole Illustrated by Austin Wohlgemuth Inspired by The Students, Staff and Fish of Jack Stuart School



Disclaimer: No cats or fish were harmed in the making of this chapter. :-) Tap, tap, tap. Scratch, scrape. Zeke looked up and almost jumped out of his skin … again. It was one of those treacherous, loathsome, deplorable cats! Again!



“It’s time for a meeting,” announced Zeke at supper. “We need to do something about those cats coming and bothering us. It’s very disagreeable being thought of as lunch!” “I know,” grouched Zaiden. “Hey! Remember the burglar alarm the grade 5s made? Maybe we can do something like that to keep the cats away!”



Grade 5

Everyone enthusiastically agreed and headed to the grade 5 portal. “It looks like the first thing we need to do is decide what we want the burglar alarm to do,” mused Copper. “Drop an anvil on the cats?” quipped Zeke, but only half- jokingly. “Ms. Cole might be upset if we hurt her cats,” cautioned Mrs. Green. “Some people do like those creatures.”



“I can’t imagine why,” complained Zalora. “They are hideous.” The fish eventually agreed that once the cats crossed the doorway to the room, a buzzer should turn on to startle the cats and make them run away. “What materials will we need?” The fish started to make a list.



Wire? Check. Batteries? Check. A buzzer? That was quickly upgraded to a siren. Check! Switch? What kind of switch? The grade 5s learned how to do three. “How about a pressure plate? That way when the cat steps on it, the circuit would be completed and the siren will wail.” Zizi suggested. Tinfoil and cardboard? Check! And tape. Lots and lots of tape. Double check!!

“I hope we haven’t forgotten anything,” Pud whispered. He was truly scared of those cats. “We need to make sure our circuit works,” Mr. Green said, “so let’s construct a simple circuit with a lightbulb.” The fish connected the wires to the batteries and pressure plate. They piled some rocks on the cardboard to keep the switch closed. The light turned on!

“Now let’s test the siren.” They added the siren to the circuit, closed the switch, and the most obnoxious noise filled the room. “It’s working! It’s working!” Jules laughed gleefully. The fish worked all night to complete the burglar alarm.

The next morning after breakfast the fish swam around and kept a close watch on the doorway. Sure enough, there was a cat skulking around. The cat sniffed around. She knew something was different but it didn’t seem dangerous so she continued into the room.



She stepped onto the pressure plate! WEE-ooo-WEE-ooo-WEE-ooo! The cat jumped three feet into the air and landed with her claws extended and fur standing straight up! With a yowl she raced away and crawled under the couch.



“Ya-hoo!!” The fish swam around for joy. “We did it!!” Mr. Green turned on the YouTube and they danced the day away.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3GwjfUFyY6M