“Catch Me If You Can!”

By Carol H. Behrman

Sally Ann’s new home was lovely. She had a big yard to play in and a pretty room with red and white butterflies on the curtains.

But she didn’t have any new friends to play with yet. Her only playmate was her dog, Casper. She would call out, “Catch me if you can,” and run around the big yard. Casper would run after her. When he reached her, he would bark as if to say, “I caught you. Now let’s play another game.”

One day Sally Ann didn’t stay in the big yard when she called to Casper, “Catch me if you can.” Instead, she ran down the sidewalk past a red-haired boy who was bouncing a big blue ball. The boy thought that Sally Ann was calling to him, so he ran after her and Casper, shouting, “I can catch you!”

They passed two girls with long yellow pigtails who were jumping rope. When the two girls heard Sally Ann call out “Catch me if you can,” they stopped jumping rope and started running after Sally Ann and Casper and the red-haired boy.

The next time that Sally Ann called out “Catch me if you can,” she was passing a house where a dark-eyed boy was reading on the front steps. He put down his book and ran after Sally Ann and Casper and the red-haired boy and the two girls with long yellow pigtails. They all shouted to Sally Ann, “I can catch you!”

And they all did. But by that time, Sally Ann was back in her own yard. She said, “You all caught me. I’m Sally Ann, and this is my dog, Casper. Would you like to play another game?”

The red-haired boy and the two girls with long yellow pigtails and the dark-eyed boy all shouted, “Yes!” Casper barked his yes, too, and they played lots of games all afternoon.

Sally Ann loved her new home with the big yard and her room with the red and white butterflies on the curtains. And now, besides Casper, she had new friends to play with.

Illustrated by Shauna Mooney