The Day it Rained Cats and Dogs

Grown-ups say really strange things sometimes, Gavi thought as he walked home in the pouring rain. Right before he left his grandparents’ house, his Granmom had tutted at the clouds and said, “It’s going to rain cats and dogs out there. We better bundle you up.” And with that, she handed him an umbrella, made Pop-Pop dig out an old raincoat that hung to Gavi’s knees, and pushed his feet into a pair of giant fishing boots, stuffed with newspaper so he wouldn’t slip right out of them. He didn’t mind the fuss and extra clothes, even though the rain was warm. It rarely rained cold in the small town of Literal Acres. It was going to rain fast and heavy. Even though these sorts of storms only lasted a few minutes, he’d be soaked to the bone if he walked home without extra layers.

As he walked, he made sure to jump through every puddle he could find, marveling that his socks were staying completely dry inside of the huge rubber boots. He thought about the words his Granmom had used: “rain cats and dogs.” What did that even mean?

Suddenly, he heard a high-pitched yowling. He looked up to see a striped, gray cat fall slowly from the sky, land on its feet — of course it did — and scurry off into the alley between two houses.

Well. That was strange.

Gavi looked around. He was standing at the intersection of Idiom Lane and Axiom Avenue. It was where the two main roads in his little town met, so there were houses and trees all around him. He guessed the cat had leapt from a nearby tree or roof. Maybe from a wooden fence, although it didn’t seem high enough for how far the cat fell.

Out of the corner of his eye, he saw a blur of fur. He turned just in time to see a big, apricot-colored dog with curly hair land in the middle of the street. The dog seemed as surprised as Gavi felt. It looked down at itself, jumped over to the sidewalk, and shook itself off. Trying to dry itself off was completely useless in the rain, and it made Gavi laugh. The dog looked over at Gavi. It seemed to smile at him, its tail wagging, spraying more water everywhere. He trotted over to Gavi, who knelt to say hello. The dog licked Gavi’s face, which had remained dry until that moment thanks to the umbrella and raincoat hood. Gavi laughed again and tousled the wet dog’s fur. He was about to stand back up when he heard a soft bump against his umbrella.

A tiny white ball of fur had bounced off the umbrella and landed in a puddle. It was a kitten with big, blue eyes. It looked at Gavi holding the big umbrella, then at the large curly-haired dog staring back with its tongue sticking out. The kitten then glanced behind it, where the puddle was deeper and darker. It couldn’t seem to decide which choice was the worst. The dog took a few steps towards the kitten. The kitten backed up and tried curling itself into a little ball. The dog gently nuzzled the kitten and picked it up by the scruff of its neck, the way momma cats do. Then, of all things, the dog carried the kitten out of the puddle and began licking it! The kitten seemed more shocked than Gavi did.

Gavi watched the two of them for a few minutes. Then he remembered that these two animals had just shown up out of nowhere. They really fell from the sky!

When he stood back up, he realized the rain had stopped. As expected, the rainstorm had finished just as quickly as it began. Gavi shut the umbrella and lowered the giant hood of his raincoat. He noticed there were a dozen more cats, dogs, kittens, and puppies wandering around. They looked dazed and confused. All of them whining or mewling.

There was a big hound dog and next to it was a sleek Siamese cat on one side of the street. Two matching puppies were play-fighting in the wet grass. A big, orange tom cat was scratching at a tree trunk. Everywhere Gavi looked, he saw a cat or dog. He had no idea what had happened, why it had happened, or what to do. His tiny town didn’t have an animal shelter. He couldn’t just leave them here, but where could all these animals go?

Gavi sat on the curb to think. The apricot dog had decided the kitten was cleaned up enough. It sat down by Gavi, thumped its tail on the street, and licked Gavi’s nose. The feeling made Gavi giggle and want to sneeze at the same time.

Suddenly, Gavi had an idea! He ran back to his Granmom’s house. He grabbed the big, red wagon that she kept on her porch. He pulled the wagon back to the corner where all the animals were. He picked up the hound dog and put it in the wagon. He took the hound over to Old Man Jones, who lived all alone in a house a block away. He put the hound dog on the porch rocker, knocked on the door, and then ran back down the sidewalk.

This time, Gavi picked up the two puppies. They stopped tousling with each other long enough to nip at his fingers. He put them in the wagon. He walked a block in the opposite direction of Old Man Jones to the Wileys’ house. Mrs. Wiley had two ten-year-old twins and always looked tired. She had told Gavi’s mom that the twins were like “non-stop, full throttle, energy machines.” She couldn’t keep up with them! Gavi thought if they each had their own puppy to play with, run after, and train, Mrs. Wiley might get a chance to rest.

After delivering the puppies to the back door of the Wileys’ house with a knock, Gavi ran back to the intersection. It was a bit of a struggle to put the orange tom cat in the wagon, but after a few tries, he did it. He pulled the cat over to the general market. The doorbell jingled as he opened the door and gently placed the cat inside. Joe was the owner of the general store. Gavi had heard Joe complaining about mice getting into the storeroom. He thought the tom cat might be helpful.

He dropped the Siamese cat off at the home of the school librarian. He left a small dog with a pouf of black fur at the mayor’s house. He left a beagle with the baker and a tabby with the town tailor. He ran from one side of town to the other, picking the perfect pets for his friends and neighbors in his community.

The sun had come out, and Gavi was hot from running around. He felt happy that he had managed to find homes for almost all the animals. Only the apricot dog and the fluffy white kitten remained.

Gavi stared at them thoughtfully. They’d been drying off in the sun, sleeping in the grass. The dog had wrapped itself protectively around the kitten. Clearly, they were now friends, so he didn’t like the idea of splitting them up. He had an idea. He gently lifted the white kitten up and placed it carefully in the wagon. The kitten stayed asleep. All of the excitement of falling from the sky had tuckered it out. However, the apricot dog woke up and looked worriedly at Gavi.

“Don’t worry, friend,” Gavi comforted the dog. “You’ll stay in touch.”

Gavi very slowly pulled the wagon up the road to his grandparents’ house. He parked the wagon back on their porch and wrapped the big raincoat around the sleeping kitten. He gave the kitten one last pet.

“We’ll come visit all of the time,” he whispered. The kitten scrunched its tiny nose. It stretched out its paws and yawned before immediately falling back asleep.

Gavin knocked his special knock — the one he used so his grandparents knew it was him at the door — and then ran off. The dog followed.

When Gavi finally got home, he called out to his parents. “Mama? Pops? I have a new friend. Can we keep it?” He looked at the dog. It sat down and wagged its tongue. Gavi put a hand on his chin and thought for a moment before announcing, “I named it Rain.”