Where Is Pickle? Fixing Misread Words with Context

Where Is Pickle?

1Hollis woke up on Saturday to a strange silence. Usually, his ferret, Pickle, rattled the door of her cage the moment the sun came up. This morning, the cage door hung open, and the little hammock inside was empty.

2"Beatriz!" Hollis called to his sister. "Pickle got out!" Beatriz came running down the hall in her socks, holding a half-eaten slice of toast.

3Ferrets are curious animals that love to squeeze into small spaces, so the two of them knew Pickle could be almost anywhere. They checked under the couch and behind the bookshelf. They peeked inside the closet and lifted every cushion. Hollis even shook out his sneakers, just in case.

4"Look," Beatriz whispered, pointing at the kitchen floor. A trail of tiny paw prints led through a dusting of spilled flour toward the pantry. The pantry door was open just a crack.

5Hollis pulled the door open slowly. A bag of rice had tipped over, and a box of crackers lay on its side. Hollis checked behind the cereal boxes and inside an empty basket on the bottom shelf. But there was no ferret.

6Then they heard it: a soft rustling sound from the pile of coats by the front door. Hollis tiptoed closer. Under a wool scarf, curled into a tight ball, Pickle was sound asleep. Beside her lay a small pile of treasures: a sock, a bottle cap, a pencil and one of Dad's car keys.

7Beatriz laughed so hard she nearly dropped her toast. "She's been collecting things all night," she said. Ferrets often hide objects they find, and Pickle was clearly an expert.

8Hollis gently lifted Pickle and carried her back to her cage. This time, he checked the latch twice. Then he returned the car key to the hook by the door, where Dad would be glad to find it. Pickle yawned, stretched and went right back to sleep in her hammock.