Chapter 4 Mr. Fitzgibbon's Plough In this chapter we learn that Timmothy is feeling better but Mrs. Frisby is worried because the ground has thawed and the plough may come sooner than expected. **Vocabulary with definitions and audio for chapters 1-5. https://teach.italki.com/vocabulary/910556** Send me a message for your free pdf copy of this book. https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/13365914 When Mrs Frisby went into her house, she found Timothy asleep and the other children waiting, frightened, sad and subdued. ‘He went to sleep right after you left,’ Teresa said. ‘He’s waked up twice, and the second time he wasn’t delirious. He said his chest hurt and his head hurt. But, Mother, he seemed so weak — he could hardly talk. He asked where you were, and I told him. Then he went back to sleep.’ Mrs Frisby went to where Timothy lay, a small ball of damp fur curled under a bit of cloth blanket. He looked scarcely larger than he had when she and Mr Frisby had carried him to Mr Ages as an infant, and the thought of that trip made her wish Mr Frisby were alive to reassure the children and tell them not to worry. But he was not, and it was she who must say it. ‘Don’t worry,’ she said. ‘Mr Ages gave me some medicine for him and says he will recover.’ She mixed the contents of one of the packets, a grey-green powder, in water, and then gently shook Timothy awake. He smiled. ‘You’re back,’ he said in a voice as small as a whisper. ‘I’m back, and I’ve brought you some medicine. Mr Ages says it will make you all right.’ She lifted his head on her arm, and he swallowed the medicine. ‘I expect it’s bitter,’ she said. ‘It’s not so bad,’ he said. ‘It tastes like pepper.’ And he fell back to sleep immediately. The next morning, as predicted, his fever was lower, his breathing grew easier, and his heartbeat slowed down; still, that day he slept seven hours out of each eight.

*This story contains graphic and explicit material it is not recommended for children, for mature audiences only* The Cat and The Baboon is a short story about gossip and the service industry involving a cat and a baboon, by David Sedaris illustrations by Ian Falconer. Send me a message for your free pdf copy of this book. https://www.italki.com/en/teacher/13365914 The Cat and The Baboon The cat had a party to attend, and went to the baboon to get herself groomed. “What kind of party?” the baboon asked, and she massaged the cat’s neck in order to relax her, the way she did with all her customers. “Hope it’s not that harvest dance down on the riverbank. My sister went last year and said she’d never seen such rowdiness. Said a fight broke out between two possums, and one gal, the wife of one or the other, got pushed onto a stump and knocked out four teeth. And they were pretty ones too, none of this yellowness you find on most things that eat trash.” The cat shuddered. “No,” she said. “This is just a little get-together, a few friends. That type of thing.” “Will there be food?” the baboon asked. “Something,” the cat sighed. “I just don’t know what.” “ ‘Course it’s hard,” the baboon said. “Everybody eating different things. You got one who likes leaves and another who can’t stand the sight of them. Folks have gotten so picky nowadays, I just lay out some peanuts and figure they either eat them or they don’t.” “Now, I wouldn’t like a peanut,” the cat said. “Not at all.” “Well, I guess you’d just have drinks, then. The trick is knowing when to stop.” “That’s never been a problem for me,” the cat boasted. “I drink until I’m full, and then I push myself away from the table. Always have.” “Well, you’ve got sense, then. Not like some of them around here.” The baboon picked a flea from the cat’s head and stuck it gingerly between her teeth.