Bumpy and the Icebird by Kenny, age 9


Bumpy, Cutie and Bubble were at the Power House. The Power House had thunder, water, grass, fire and ice candy.

When they came in, Cutie said, “The man that gave thunder candy to Bumpy has to be here.” Then the man came.

“I am sorry to keep you waiting,” said the man. “I am looking for the Icebird. She will come out later. Right now she is resting up.”

When Bumpy, Bubble and Cutie came out of the Powerhouse, the man gave thunder candy to Bumpy and Bumpy ate it. The thunder went into Bumpy’s tail. The tail was gold and it was beautiful. The three friends went home. Bubble said, “Bumpy, your body is gold too.”

Suddenly there was a crash.

Cutie said, “Look the Icebird is freezing the whole town.’’

“What makes you say that, Cutie?” asked Bubble.

“Look,” shouted Cutie.

“Oh no,” Bubble said. “The Icebird froze us but not Bumpy.”

Bumpy ran so fast. Bumpy ran away from the house. The Icebird was mad at Bumpy so she tried to crush him but his gold body crushed the Icebird back because the candy gave him powers.

The Icebird said, “I will crush you with my ice power and you will die.”

Then Bumpy and the Icebird ran into each other. Bumpy tried to rest but he couldn’t because if he did, he would die and he didn’t want to die, so he kept going. Bumpy used his thunder power to push back the Icebird and she fell down in a hole dull of fire and lava and she died. The frozen house melted because the lava from the hole splashed on the street and made it so hot.

Bubble hugged Cutie and Bumpy. The man that gave Bumpy the thunder candy said, “Thank you.”

About the Author

Hi! My name is Kenny. I am nine years old. I like Pokemon and my favorite subjects are Writers’ Workshop and drawing. My biggest fear is getting bugs in my house. I am also the author of Bumpy’s Day.

MUNI Moments: An Occasional Series

During one of our class discussions about where to look for writing ideas, the topic of MUNI came up. MUNI is the bus system here in San Francisco. We rely on it for class field trips. Sometimes MUNI gets you where you want to go pretty fast, sometimes it doesn’t. But either way, it’s ripe with writing possibilities. Below is another “MUNI Moments” story by Stanley, age 9.

The Number Nine Bus
By Stanley

One time in San Francisco I saw a man eating a pie on the number nine bus. He had a purple backpack. The man had ripped pants and band-aids all over his eyes and he can see through the little holes in the band-aids. His backpack was a mess. It was covered in band-aids too. The man’s backpack was moving. Maybe a hamster was playing with paper inside of it. Here are ten things I think the man had in his backpack:

1. band-aids, because he might get hurt
2. a gun, so he can be safe
3. tape, to tape on the band-aids that fall off
4. glue
5. a notebook, to write about his hamster in
6. a pen, to write with
7. a pencil, to write with too
8. 2 water bottles with black water in them
9. a crinkling sound
10. a silver-black sharp thing

The man took a knife out of his backpack to cut the pie. When he finished, he got up to leave and put the knife on the seat then he got out of the bus. Everyone saw the knife, but no one sat on it or picked it up.

About the Author

My name is Stanley. I am eight years old. I live with my grandma, dad, mom and brother. I like to play legos. I am good at math. Someday I want to be good at sitting still. When I grow up I want to be a policeman because I love fighting. This year I want to learn to write better. It scares me when my teacher Robyn talks about diseases. I wonder if wild animals go on trips.

Swirling Pink Tornado by Bernice, age 10


“What are you going to be for Halloween?” asked Loretta.

“What do you mean?” whispered Tina. “I never wear a costume. I don’t even celebrate it except for the part where you go trick-or-treating.”

Loretta looked puzzled. “What? You don’t celebrate it? Why? I always celebrate it and it’s so fun.”

Ring ring. “Time to go to class,” said Tina.

“Hey, wait for me.”

But Tina was already in the classroom.

“Darn, that brainless Tina left me behind, and now I have to run. Great, my clothes are sweaty,” Loretta said to herself, digging in her backpack for perfume.

I’m a Barbie girl in a super world. Loretta’s cell phone was ringing. Loretta stopped looking in her backpack and answered her call.

“Hello, who is it?” Loretta said.

“Hi, it’s mom. Remember to eat healthier.”

“Whatever.”

“Loretta absent, again!” Mr. Husha yelled, combing his fingers through his beard.

Loretta was still in the hall.

“Ahhh! I’m late,” shrieked Loretta, running across the hall. “Finally I’m here.”

As Loretta reached for the pink glittered door, Mr. Husha swung it open.

“Hey you almost hurt my pretty little fingers,” Loretta said.

“If you ever come late you’re going to kiss the floor a hundred times!” Mr. Husha screamed, showing his silver and gold teeth.

Loretta was shocked and really embarrassed so she ran to her seat.

“Yippie! It’s Halloween and you know what I do every Halloween.” The class was silent and wondered what Mr. Husha would do.

“I bet that he’s going to give us a packet of homework,” said a boy in a green striped sweater.

“Well you’re wrong, Greeny,” said Mr. Husha. “You are going to go trick-or-treating and share all the candy with me except the mints.”

“Great, now I need a costume. Mr. Husha is now more than crazy,” Tina whispered to Loretta.

“To tell you the truth, you don’t need a costume. You’re already ugly so you can be the ugly step-sister in Cinderella and I can be Cinderella. All you need to do is to wear any old dress and paint a beauty mark on your face, ” Loretta whispered back.

“Uh, you think I’m ugly, you’re just not a real friend I am so not your friend,” Tina wrote on a paper she passed to Loretta.

Loretta said nothing and kept on thinking about what Tina had written. After class Tina started to hang out with Mura Lamba, the girl who had once stolen Loretta’s shiny pens.

Loretta was still angry about what Tina said to her and started to think of revenge.

During lunchtime Loretta secretly went to the janitor’s closet where the janitor lied around drunk and smelly. When Loretta got to him she wondered why the principal didn’t fire him.

“Hey Mr. Janitor can you give me a bucket of super dirty smelly and nasty black water,” Loretta said, pinching her nose because of the awful smell.

“So what will you give me?” the janitor answered.

“I’ll give you my chocolate cookie and one dollar and fifty cents so you can take the bus home,” Loretta said.

“I don’t live in a home, I live in my beautiful janitor’s closet,” moaned the janitor.

Hiedi stared at the closet and was curious about why he liked it. There were spider webs that hung like leaves and bottles of chemicals piled up like football players.

“You call your closet beautiful but it’s smelly and dirty, I mean look at that dust and cobwebs. Don’t you ever go outside?” asked Loretta.

“Yeah yeah, this is my home, and I know you’re jealous of my pretty little home. So about the deal — add a new pair of Superman underwear and you got a deal,” said the janitor.

“How about two more cookies?” asked Loretta.

“Ok, but I want an oatmeal and toilet paper topping,” the janitor sang, waving his beer bottle.

Then Loretta secretly went to Rite-Aid to buy some cookies. As she walked, a swirling pink tornado sucked her up.

“Ahhhh,” Loretta screamed. Wait a minute, if I don’t scream I won’t sound like a baby Loretta thought. So she said nothing and closed her eyes. This is so cool maybe if aliens are watching me they might think that I’m cool too,. When Loretta opened her eyes she was in a van decorated with lots of funky colors. There were about a thousand glow-in-the-dark peace signs stuck on the wall.

“Where am I and why does this van look so funky?” Loretta said to herself.

The air smelled like it just rained.

Just then a woman with a peace necklace, rainbow headband and brown hair as long as a small intestine (which is, I think is 20 feet) came into the van.

“Who are you and how did I get here?” Loretta asked the lady in front of her.

“I am you and I summoned you to come. I’m your future you.”

“Are you really, really the future me?” Loretta asked.

“Yes child, please don’t be alarmed about how I look. It doesn’t matter.

“So why am I even here and how did you get me to come?”

“Well I just happen to have some powers. Your question about why you’re here is about your plan for revenge.” future Loretta said.

“What about it? Is it going to ruin my life?”

“Well, when it happened I (or you) got in serious trouble, when Tina got wet her parents yelled at me then soon I was kicked out of the school. I couldn’t go to any school because they wouldn’t accept me.”

“So did your parents kick you out? How did you even get your education?” Loretta asked, staring at her future.

“Well, my parents kicked me out for the week so I went downtown to get a job. I played music with my guitar in the streets and people tried to take me to Child Protective Services.”

“Did anyone adopt you?”

“I don’t want to talk about that.”

Grrrr ring.

“Time is up child, remember what might happen.”

Just then the pink tornado reappeared and took Loretta back to school.

Think about it, Loretta told herself, landing in the empty hall. Hmm I better not do it. I don’t want to be kicked out of school. She thought and thought. “Ahh, I made up my mind I’m not going to spill anything.” Loretta looked at her reflection on the shiny lockers.

Ring… ring…. ring.

Everyone was dashing out of doors, trying to get home as fast as they could but not Loretta or Tina.

“Hey I’m sorry. I will never make any rude comments and never do any tricks and will always tell you the truth,” Loretta said.

“Sure,” Tina said, laughing like heck.

“Okay I was going to spill dirty water on you,” Loretta said.

Just then Mura Lamba and the janitor came carrying a bucket of dirty water.

“Where’s my cookie?” they both asked.

Loretta stared at Tina.

“You were planning on that too?” Loretta asked.

“No, I just hired Mara to spill it on the stinky janitor so one day he’ll take a bath,” Tina said.

“I think that’s a pretty good plan,” Loretta said.

“You just pretended to be my friend so you could spill dirty water on the janitor?” Mara said, gritting her teeth.

“You call me stinky? Well I have a surprise for you,” the janitor yelled.

Then the janitor and Mara spilled dirty water on Loretta and Tina’s backpacks.

“Iiiilllllll,” Loretta and Tina yelled, dumping their backpacks in the lost and found box.

“If Mr.Husha asks, where our homework is, just say that your baby cousin threw up on it,” Tina said, pointing at their smelly backpacks.

“Good plan,” Loretta said, as they both walked to the door.

“Bye bye,” Loretta said, running to the bus.

The 9x arrived full of old ladies with long canes and hair as white as coconut meat. Tina climbed up the steps and Loretta ran to the 9ax bus, both waving their hands goodbye.

About the Author

Hi my name is Bernice. I’m ten years old and I live in San Francisco with my mom, dad, brother, and sister. I am good at origami and making clay sculptures. Someday I want to be good at math and science. When I grow up I want to be a doctor, cook, or a sculptor.

Sorry by Madeline, age 10


Chicken

This is how my mom kills chickens. She holds up the chicken and cuts its neck with a knife. The neck looks like a broken rubber band. She takes a dish and she grabs the chicken and all the blood comes out. She cooks the blood and it turns into a solid and it looks like jelly. She pulls all the feathers out and she cooks the chicken on the stove. When it’s finished we eat it. My sister likes it but I don’t. My mom tries to make me eat it, but I only pretend to eat it. I don’t really like meat because it is too hard to swallow.

Turtles

This is how my mom kills turtles. She cuts off the shell, and gives it to me and my sister to play with. We pretend it’s a bowl and we pretend we are dolls drinking tea, but in real life we don’t really like tea. While we play with the shell my mom puts the turtle in a pot of boiling water on the stove. Sometimes I peek in the kitchen and look at what my mom is doing, but she tells me, “Go play.” When it’s finished, my sister grabs all the legs for herself because those are the best parts. I never want to eat it, but my mom says, “You have to eat it.” I swallow it without chewing.

Fish

This is how my mom kills fish. She scrapes the scales off the fish, and throws them in the garbage can. They sound like Rice Krispies popping when they land on each other. Then she puts the fish on a dish. Sometimes she boils it in soup and puts ginger and soy sauce on it. My sister likes it but not me.

Ducks

This is how my mom kills ducks. She cuts the neck and squeezes it upside-down and the blood drops into the sink like red raindrops. Then she pulls the feathers off in little clumps. She boils it in a pot. My mom makes me eat this too even though I don’t like it.

About the Author

Hi! My name is Madeline. I am also the author of “Things I Don’t Believe in Anymore” and “I Hate My Life with You.” I was in fourth grade when I wrote “Sorry” but now I’m in fifth. I have a younger sister and I live in San Francisco.

Bumpy’s Day by Kenny, age 9

The lightning flashed on the playground. The playground was messy. Leaves and garbage were all over the place. I found a dog. He was alone. He had thunder powers. His eyes looked like fireballs. I took him home. I called him Bumpy. I gave him food and he ate it. Bumpy was playing ball. Then many robots came to my house and tried to burn it down. Bumpy used his thunder powers to burn the robots. One robot was red. He had a green gun. The robot was getting my Bumpy. The robot was also shooting his gun everywhere.

Bumpy bit one of the robots. Then two robot bosses showed up. They had two guns in their hands.

“You are not going beat our boss,” said one of the robots. “Now give us that dog!”

The robots had 16 lives. They were made of steel. They had fire power. Bumpy killed the robots two times. Then I started to fight. I kicked and punched and tripped the robots.

Then one friendly robot blasted bubbles out of his gun. “Are you alright?” he said.

“I’m alright,” I said. “My name is Bubble. I have water power. My dog has thunder power. How about you? Do you have powers?”

“My name is Scissors and my power is shooting poison. Will you be my friend?”

“Yes, I will be your friend.”

We dug a hole to make a hiding place to hide from the bad robots. We went inside and brought tools with us to change Scissor’s batteries.

About the Author

Hi! My name is Kenny. I am nine years old. My birthday is January 1. I have one brother. His name is Kevin. This is my first published story. My family and I live in San Francisco. I like Pokemon a lot.

Tinkle Sprinkle by Jeff and Phong, both age 10


Tinkle Sprinkle fell asleep with the TV blaring. A show about a crazy local lunatic trying to destroy the world was on. Two heroes showed up and stopped the world from Armageddon.

“Twelve o’clock,” said Tinkle Sprinkle. “Time for the wedding, I better not be late.” He reached the wedding in time. He took his spot and asked, “Do you, Frosty, take Fat Rat Man as your lawfully wedded husband?”

“I do,” said Fat Rat Man.

“And, do you, Fat Rat Man, take Frosty as your lawfully wedded wife?”

“I do.

“By the power vested in me by the state of California, I now pronounce you man and wife.”

Tinkle Sprinkle jumped up and threw off his cover and just sat there in bed breathing hard. He wondered what his dream was about and fell back asleep.

“Munch Crunch Munch Mmmm donuts,” said Tinkle Sprinkle, the only superhero who lived in Donutville, the village where radioactive donuts and chocolates lived. Donutville had houses made out of red chocolate. Dountville stood on a donut-shaped island next to a 100,000-mile mountain. They had to be careful because rockslides could kill them. Everybody loved fake cannibalism because they thought it made them the king.

While he was eating, an arrow made of blue cheese hit Tinkle Sprinkle in the face. He turned around just in time to slam into Fat Rat Man, the most victorious rat in the world, but Fat Rat Man bit Tinkle Sprinkle’s jelly-filled belly.

Tinkle Sprinkle screamed, “Owwwwww,” and threw poisonous shrunken donuts made out of babies with rabies. Tinkle Sprinkle suspected that Fat Rat Man was up to something. So when Fat Rat Man was about to leave, Tinkle Sprinkle bugged him with an electronic spying device.

Fat Rat Man ran into his Fat Rat lair in the hills, screaming, “Fat Rat crew attack!” His crew followed his instructions and stole all the food sources from Donutville so they could get fatter and real Donutville donuts would starve to death.

Tinkle Sprinkle listened to the bug on Fat Rat Man and he heard the crew’s plans. Tinkle Sprinkle waited until they stole every food source then refilled the donut supply from his sticky armpits.

Tinkle Sprinkle yelled, “Angus donut, attack!” Tinkle Sprinkle was also an Angus Donut, but his boss was on vacation, so Tinkle Sprinkle was in charge for now. Frosty, the Angus donut jumped out and threw flaming donuts at the Fat Rat crew, burning them to death. One of the crewmembers shot rotten cheese at Frosty.

Tinkle Sprinkle said, “P.U,” and shot a gallon of white glaze at Fat Rat Man’s mouth. Fat Rat Man started to puke like a pig. Whoosh! Suddenly Fat Rat Man turned around and puked a great tornado of white glaze at Tinkle Sprinkle.

Tinkle Sprinkle dodged the tornado, shouting, “Fat Rat is a yuck, who has a rubber duck, every time he turns around it goes cluck cluck.” Fat Rat Man got so angry his blood boiled and his tail blew up turquoise, oozing blood. The drops of blood fell like hail on Frosty’s head and he fell to the ground like an old building hit by a wrecking ball.

Frosty suddenly said, “What can I do for you, sir?” Fat Rat Man’s blood could control people, and Fat Rat Man controlled Frosty.
Fat Rat Man knew that he could only control Frosty for a limited time. So Fat Rat Man told Frosty to dance like a ballerina so he could kick Frosty’s butt. After Frosty danced for one minute, Tinkle Sprinkle shoved some warm milk in Frosty’s mouth. All of a sudden, Frosty danced like Bill Clinton.

Frosty screamed like a rock star. He said, “Ooo yeah I like that Fat Rat Man, huh. I love Fat Rat Man! He’s my idol!” Tinkle Sprinkle reached for Fat Rat Man’s minivan and slammed Frosty with it.

Fat Rat Man was so angry he screamed, “Cheesy donuts, attack!!!!!!!.” Suddenly a loud rumble broke out and rocks fell on everybody’s head.

“Ahhhhhh!!!!!” Everyone in Donutville screamed as rocks fell on their heads. When the rocks finally stopped, everybody was dead.

About the Authors

Hi! My name is Phong and I am a crazy 10-year-old lunatic who plays on the computer. I usually play Boy Tipping on nick.com, Pokemon Diamond, and Naruto Clash of Ninja 2 on Game Cube with Jeff when he comes to my house. This is my third published story. I am also the author of Nine Nightmares and Peanut Butter Zombo.

Hi. My name is Jeff and I like to play on the computer. I also like to play two square with my friend Phong. This is my second published story. I am also the author of A Sky Without Clouds.

The Flying Car by Nhung, age 8


Inside a house a little girl was laying in a green and pink bed, drinking hot, steaming cocoa, watching a TV show where people were hitting each other with coconuts. She got up from her bed, sat down in her chair and spun it around. Then she went to make dinner for her dad. When she cooked, hot oil popped up and burned her hand. She made eggs and chicken. When she went to her dad’s room, she saw that he was lying down. When they were done eating dinner they went to the car because they were going to her grandma’s house.

When the father put in the key, the car flew into the sky. They drove to a deep, deep volcano. They clicked a red button with an S on it and then a forcefield surrounded the car and it automatically drove inside the volcano. The car didn’t catch on fire because it was magic. They had never seen a magic car that flew like this car. There were lots of clouds up in the sky.

They got to the Future. The future smelled like roses. They saw that all the cars were blue and their car was yellow. Their car drove them to a park. The parents could not go in the park because only kids could play in that playground and there was another place for moms and dads. The place for moms and dads was noisy and snow was falling down. When the girl was done playing, her father put his key in the car and drove them to their house.

When they got home, they didn’t know that they’d ever left. The father and the girl saw a bell on their mailbox. When they rang the bell the father could not hear the bell because only kids could hear it. Then he told the girl to throw it away but she said, “No, because this bell, it feels like my lucky bell.” The father yelled at her, then she got mad and she went to her room.

When the girl slept, she dreamed that she opened her closet and saw that it was full of water. A river poured out. She floated to the door to her father’s room and she opened the door and there was nothing. She went back to her room and checked her closet but there was nothing there. When she woke up she was sweating. She went downstairs to the kitchen and said sorry to her dad. Her dad was drinking milk. He said, “I’m sorry too.”

About the Author

Hi! I am Nhung. This is my first published story. I am eight and a half years old. I have three best friends. Their names are Michelle, Holly and Kimberly. My birthday is August 21. I have three people in my family: my mom, my dad and me.

Twelve Midnight by Michelle C., age 9


I was in my bed dreaming about Halloween when I heard a church bell. I woke up. I looked out my window. I saw people walking to a church. It was midnight. I saw my parents and my aunt and uncle. They were acting like zombies. I could hear them from my room. They were all saying, “Migphy, migphy, migphy.” The people were hypnotized by a monster covered in green slime. It had purple eyes and blue eyebrows. I saw the monster with my own two eyes. It was seven feet tall, it had two slimy, purple arms, two slimy, blue legs and a pink mouth. I didn’t know what to do. I felt scared. I sniffed my room and it smelled like daisies. I looked at my nightlight. It was a glowing perfume bottle. It used to be a bunny. I looked to my left. I saw a paper with my name on it. I took it and opened it. It said:

Dear Sally,
We’re going to church and we don’t know why. Take care of yourself. We will be back tomorrow morning.

Love,
Your Parents

I was scared. I tried calling my best friend, but the phone wouldn’t work. I thought to myself If my parents don’t come home tomorrow, what am I supposed to do? How am I going to buy new clothes? How am I supposed to eat and make food?

I got out of bed and ran to the door. I opened it and went to my parents’ room. I opened the door. The bed was neat, the closet was closed and organized, and the table was piled with paper. The phone rang. I picked it up. It was my cousin Shirley! I told her about people going to a church at midnight. I said to her, “I saw your parents at church too.”

“Really?” asked Shirley.

“Yep,” I told her.

After the talk with my cousin, I ran to the living room. My sister Lina was there! I didn’t know she was home. I ran to her. I asked her, “Have you noticed that mom and dad aren’t home?”

“Yes,” answered my sister.

She was watching the Nature Channel. The show was about a group of bears chewing on a deer. I went online to a website called howtodestroymonsters.com. It said monsters can’t stand light, so I grabbed my flashlight and jacket and went to the church. I shined the light at the monster and it turned into a dust cloud and floated away. The peoples’ hypnosis wore off.

I went back home and went to sleep. The next day when I woke up, I went to my parents’ room. Their bed was the same as it was the night before. I heard someone in the kitchen. I tip-toed to the kitchen. Inside I saw my mother! Next to her was my father! I started to sing and dance.

My sister came out of her room and turned on the TV. She turned on the Nature Channel again. This time the show was about flamingoes dancing around a pond, doing a chicken dance. It’s good to be with the whole family.

About the Author

My name is Michelle. I am nine years old. My birthday is on December 29. My friends are Nhung, Holly, Kimberly, Catherine, Anna and Tiana. This is my first published book. I wonder about caves. Do monsters live in them with bears?

The FF 200 by Stanley, age 8


Sam saw a jet. The jet was called the FF 200. It was blue and it was made out of metal. Sam went back to his house. He always liked to drink milk. His mom heard the telephone ring. She answered it and said, “Let’s go to Canada so we can have fun.”

The next day Sam and his mom went to the airplane. They got on with her friend. When they were on the airplane they looked out the window. They saw a jet. It was the same airplane Sam saw before, the FF 200. It was blocking the plane Sam and his mom were in because their plane had a bad pilot who couldn’t fly past the FF 200.

A man in the FF 200 said into a big speaker, “Your airplane gives you poisonous food. It will make you sick!” He told everyone in Sam’s airplane to get down from the plane. So Sam’s mom pressed a button then a ladder went down to the ground from the plane.

Then the bad pilot of Sam’s plane said, “No!” So the bad pilot pulled up the ladder and used it to slap the FF 200. The FF 200’s pilot used a machine to destroy Sam’s airplane. The pilot of the FF 200 pressed a button and then Sam’s airplane exploded. But everybody survived because they already escaped down the ladder.

About the Author

My name is Stanley I am eight and a half. I have a pet crayfish. It is fun to feed him. I am scared of nothing. I wonder if crayfish ever ride jets. My best friend is Ezra.

The Boy Who Turned into a Cell Phone by Chelzea, age 9

On a dark, cloudy night, my mom left me at the park with my grandma. I saw a boy who I knew. His name was Anthony. He was bouncing a basketball. I hid behind a car because I thought he might hit me for spying on him. My grandma went to the store and bought some drinks. After she bought the juice she saw me hiding and she hid behind a tree.

Anthony turned around and saw my feet. I saw a witch behind him. She had squiggly snakes as hair. She was wearing a black cape and she had a mole on her nose and face.

“Anthony,” said the witch, “You took my magic!”

“What magic?”

“The magic I kept in my arms.”

The witch waved her hands around and said, “You will turn into a cell phone.”

Anthony’s hands became buttons, his legs became the speaker and his face turned into the caller ID screen. I covered my ears because he made a really loud sound.

I knew Anthony’s weakness was music because he hated music. Whenever he heard it, he would throw up. So I sang a song about Anthony and his sister. I sang, Aow aow aow aow. The curse was broken and we became good friends.

About the Author

Hi, My name is Chelzea. I am nine years old. I live in San Francisco with my mom and dad. I like to sing and bake cakes and cookies. I want to be good at art. When I grow up, I want to be a Rock Star. This year I want to memorize the timetables. I am scared of tigers. I wonder about cats. Why do they scratch us sometimes and sometimes don’t?