That timber cat walks over and sits down in the fire. Just like the other cats did it. And he picks up this live coal. And he puts it right on his slanted, green eyes. He dusts his eyeballs with it! And he turns around to the other cats sittin on each side of John.

The timber cat says to the other cats, says, showin his teeth, "What you want to do with him there?" And looks straight dead at John, too.

And the other cats say right back all in one meow, "We better wait till Martin comes."

With that, John gives a great heave up. The chair comes up with him. But at least he was up. And he runs out the wide-open front door. He's callin as he goes out flyin, "Mister Cats! You tell Martin I was here, but I couldn't wait on him. And now I'm gone!"

And he was. Long gone. And never seen in that county since.

—“Better Wait Till Martin Comes,”
Virginia Hamilton

Use the drop-down menus to identify how the reader's emotions change during the story.

The reader feels

during the story when each new cat is bigger than the last one.

The reader feels

when Martin speaks and runs out the door with a chair stuck to his backside.