One afternoon Mrs. Hamilton was making dinner.
Suddenly an uninvited guest scurried into her kitchen.
"Eek! There's a mouse!
There's a mouse!" screamed Mrs. Hamilton.
"Are you all right, dear?" asked Mr. Hamilton.
"No, I am not all right.
There is a mouse in my house!" Mrs. Hamilton said angrily.
"What should we do?" asked Jason.
"I've got it!" Mr. Hamilton said suddenly. "We'll get a cat!"
The next day Mr. Hamilton went to buy a cat.
"Did you get the cat?"
asked Jason when Mr. Hamilton got home.
A little head appeared from Mr. Hamilton's arms.
"Meow," it said in a tiny voice.
"Hello, cat!" said Jason.
"You need a name since you will be part of the family."
Jason and Mr. Hamilton tried to think of a name for a long time.
Finally Mr. Hamilton said, "I know.
We will call you Snatch, since you will snatch up the mice in our house."
Later that day Jason began to train the cat to catch mice.
He showed Snatch a little toy mouse.
"This is a mouse," he said.
"When you see a mouse, pounce on it."
Snatch was a very active cat.
She loved to chase butterflies and birds.
"Look how fast she is!" Mr. Hamilton said proudly.
Mrs. Hamilton held a treat in her hand.
Then Snatch jumped up to eat it.
"Look how high she can jump!" Mrs. Hamilton said proudly.
Snatch learned quickly.
Jason liked to test her when she didn't know he was there.
"Snatch! It's a mouse!"
Jason threw the toy mouse for Snatch to catch.
"Look how smart she is!" cried Jason proudly.
"She is so fast," said Mr. Hamilton.
"She is so strong," said Mrs. Hamilton.
"She is so smart," said Jason.
Mrs. Hamilton went to the kitchen to get some ice cream.
"Yeek! It's a mouse! It's a mouse!" she screamed.
Everyone ran into the kitchen.
"Go, Snatch! Get the mouse!" they cried.
Snatch chased the mouse into a corner.
The mouse was trapped!
"Good work, Snatch!" shouted the family.
Snatch got closer to the mouse.
Suddenly the little mouse bit Snatch on the nose.
Snatch meowed and ran out of the room.
The Hamiltons were disappointed.
The Hamiltons held a family meeting.
"What do we do now?" asked Mrs. Hamilton.
Everyone wanted to get rid of the mouse, but now Snatch was afraid of mice.
So the next day, Mr. Hamilton put out a mousetrap.
"I thought all cats caught mice," said Jason.
"I guess not," said Mr. Hamilton.
Snatch was not good at catching real mice, but everyone loved her anyway.