A silly little brown cockroach once shared a house with a family and their cat. The silly little brown cockroach, like his whole cockroach family, loved eating. Cockroaches don’t have to eat every day, but in this house the yummiest bits and scraps were set out for the cat – bits and scraps the silly little brown cockroach could not overlook! His pair of long feelers were constantly twitching as they picked up the most delicious smells that drifted from the kitchen where the cat also ate. “Do not go to the kitchen every night. You’ll be seen and killed!” warned the silly little brown cockroach’s family. But he was leading a very happy life and did not listen to their warnings. He enjoyed having plenty of lip-smacking food from the cat’s bowl. The cat liked to leave a midnight snack for herself every night, but surprisingly, when she got to her bowl, she would find it empty. “This is very strange,” thought the cat. “It can only be a mouse that is eating my midnight snack each night.” So she searched all over the house for a mouse.

As the cat searched for the thieving mouse each night, the silly little brown cockroach shook with laughter. “The cat thinks she is so clever,” the silly little brown cockroach giggled as he waited for the cat to give up on the search. One night, the silly little brown cockroach noticed that the cat had once again left some of her food and milk for later, and his tummy started to growl. His feelers flicked this way and that, while he waited for the cat to go to sleep. He watched as the moon slowly crawled past the window. “Oh, hurry up and go to sleep! I am so hungry,” complained the silly little brown cockroach until the cat finally fell asleep. In the meantime, the cat grew very sad because she could not find the thieving mouse. In fact, she could not even smell the mouse. “What if the family finds out about the mouse? They will think that I have become too old to chase or even smell a mouse! They might start thinking of getting a new and younger cat,” she thought sadly.

Late one night, the silly little brown cockroach snuck into the kitchen once more. “Cats are really not very clever,” he thought as he nibbled on some of the leftover food in the cat’s bowl. But suddenly the kitchen light flicked on, followed by the most frightful, long, piercing scream! The scream was so loud and so piercing that it confused the silly little brown cockroach so much that he didn’t know which way to run. The scream came from the woman who lived in the house. She kept screaming as she ran all over the kitchen with a hop, skip and a jump, just missing the scurrying silly little brown cockroach every time. All this frightful noise brought the cat running around the corner to join the chase. This gave the woman the chance to grab a red spray can. The silly little brown cockroach darted away from the cat, glad the woman seemed to have given up, but not realising the danger he was in. The woman aimed and sprayed, the cat sneezed, and the silly little brown cockroach started to feel woozy and dizzy.

Late one night, the silly little brown cockroach snuck into the kitchen once more. “Cats are really not very clever,” he thought as he nibbled on some of the leftover food in the cat’s bowl. But suddenly the kitchen light flicked on, followed by the most frightful, long, piercing scream! The scream was so loud and so piercing that it confused the silly little brown cockroach so much that he didn’t know which way to run. The scream came from the woman who lived in the house. She kept screaming as she ran all over the kitchen with a hop, skip and a jump, just missing the scurrying silly little brown cockroach every time. All this frightful noise brought the cat running around the corner to join the chase. This gave the woman the chance to grab a red spray can. The silly little brown cockroach darted away from the cat, glad the woman seemed to have given up, but not realising the danger he was in. The woman aimed and sprayed, the cat sneezed, and the silly little brown cockroach started to feel woozy and dizzy.

Get story active!

•  How would you feel if you saw a cockroach in your house? Draw a picture of yourself when you see a cockroach.
• Imagine that the cockroach wants to apologise to the cat for stealing her food. Write the letter the cockroach sends to the cat.
•  Pretend that you are the lady of the house. Show how she hopped and skipped when she saw the cockroach.
•  Use some clay or playdough to make models of the cat and the cockroach.