About My Brother, Our Dog and Our Cat

4.8

I am a small girl, but not very small because I am already six years old. My name is Tanya. Our family is not very large: I have a father, a mother and a brother. My father is an engineer, he works at a laboratory. He goes there every morning by tram or by trolley-bus.

My Mum is a teacher of chemistry, she works at School Number Four where my brother Yurik is a pupil of the seventh form.

I do not think that Yurik is a very good pupil: he does not like to do his lessons and he likes to play very much. He studies many subjects at school: Algebra, Russian, Physics, Geometry, Literature, Biology and many others. But I think he likes only Drawing, Singing and Physical Training lessons. Mum helps Yurik with his lessons. She corrects his mistakes and asks him to retell his History and Geography lessons.

Mum shows Yurik how to pronounce French words correctly and repeats them to him many times. Mum often says to Pa:

“I am happy that I can see Yurik and his teachers at school every day. Our Yurik can get only fours and fives, but he thinks very little about his lessons.”

When I am a schoolgirl I am going to be a good pupil and get only good marks. In the afternoon when Mum comes back from school she shows me letters. I already know all the letters of the alphabet. I can read a little and count up to a hundred.

We have a dog and a cat. We call our dog Blackie, because his hair is black. Our cat’s name is Ginger, because her hair is red. Blackie is a large dog with nice brown eyes, long ears and long silk hair. Blackie wears a metal collar round his neck. Blackie and Yurik love each other very much. When Yurik is not at home Blackie is not happy. He sits at the door looking at it. When Yurik comes home Blackie jumps at him and runs after him. Yurik always carries pieces of sugar in his pockets because his friend likes sugar very much.

Blackie usually goes to school with Yurik. After school he meets Yurik in the street opposite the school. Blackie likes to carry Yurik's school-bag or Mum's handbag or umbrella in his mouth.

Blackie knows Yurik’s time-table very well. He knows when Yurik’s form has Manual Work in the workshop or when the children have their Physical Training in the gymnasium. The gymnasium is on the ground floor. Blackie stands on his back legs and looks into the window of the gymnasium to see what Yurik is doing there. When Yurik is late Blackie knows that he has a Pioneer meeting or some kind of club or circle. Blackie goes with Yurik to the library which is not far from our house. All the people at school from the director to the man who sweeps the yard know Blackie and like him. When it is very cold the woman in the cloakroom tells Blackie to come in.

In the afternoon Yurik plays with his friends and Blackie in the playground. They run and laugh all the time. But the dog cannot go with Yurik to the sports ground where Yurik plays football or other games, because Blackie wants to play too. He takes the ball in his mouth and runs away.

I like Blackie, I like my dolls and toys, but I must say that I like my cat Ginger better. Ginger has green eyes and red hair. How nice she looks with a bright nylon ribbon round her neck! I can’t understand why she does not like to wear it. Ginger is very dear to me. There is only one thing that I don’t like about Ginger. That is how she looks at birds. I don’t like her eyes when she is watching birds out of the window. I know that she wants to eat them, but she can’t: they are too quick for her.

One day I am sitting in the children’s room. The weather is bad, it is raining and I cannot go out and play. I begin to cry. Ginger comes into the room and sees that I am crying. She comes up to me and touches me with her black nose. She does not want me to cry, she is not happy either. But I can’t stop, I cry and cry. Ginger runs out of the room but soon comes back. She has a big grey mouse in her mouth. She thinks that I am crying because I want to eat. She knows that cats cry when they want to eat. Ginger puts the mouse on the floor and again touches me with her nose. I understand what she wants to say: “Don’t cry, take this nice mouse and eat it.”

I look at the mouse, at Ginger, and begin to laugh. Now I do not want to cry any more. And Ginger is happy because I am not crying. You see what a nice cat Ginger is. We are very good friends and I love her very much.