Bramble Checks for Glue

Every afternoon, Bramble, the librarian's cat, inspected the library sunroom. A sign above its door had the heading "Reading in the Sunroom." Beneath a photograph, a caption said, "A reader turns a page." Bramble preferred readers who stopped turning pages long enough to scratch his ears.

Today, Della sat beside a lemon tree with a book open on her knees. Bramble rubbed against her shoe. She did not notice. He gave his most polite meow. Still nothing.

"Della is glued to that book," Ms. Vega, the librarian, whispered. Bramble grew wary. He had seen Ms. Vega use glue to fasten a paper label onto a box. Was Della stuck just like that label?

He peered beneath the book, looking closely for sticky spots. Della lifted one hand and turned a page. Perhaps the other hand was trapped! Bramble circled her chair and inspected that one, too. Then he gently nudged her wrist with his nose.

Della looked down and swallowed a laugh. Her shoulders bounced, but she kept quiet so she would not disturb the other readers. "Are you checking on me?" she whispered. She set the book on the table and raised both hands.

"No glue here," said Ms. Vega, scratching Bramble's ears. "Glued to a book means so interested that you hardly notice anything else. Della is absorbed in her reading. Her attention is on the story, not on your meows."

Bramble settled against Della's knee with relief. Nobody needed to be unstuck. Della began reading aloud softly. In her story, a girl followed a trail of silver feathers. Bramble's ears tilted forward.

The words had opened a door to an adventure, although the sunroom's real door remained shut. Soon Bramble forgot about ear scratches. He wanted to hear where that feather trail led.