She walked some more on the soft pine needles until at last she found an old nest, maybe a squirrel's, maybe a skunk's, maybe a porcupine's it's hard to tell when a nest has gone unused for a long time, and this one surely had. She should have been worried in the falling dark.

She should have been concerned about the lightning, slicing the drops of rain in two and electrifying the air. She walked and walked, farther and farther from the red dirt road. The pine needles were soft beneath her feet she heard the water splash onto the puddles all around, noticed the evening roll in, the sky grow darker. Here in this old forest where the rain slipped between the branches and settled into her fur. Something about a car, something about a long drive. How long has she been walking? Hours? Days? She wasn't even sure how she got here, so far from the town where she grew up. Her family, the one she lived with, has left her in this old and forgotten forest, this forest where the rain is soaking into her soft fur. THERE IS NOTHING lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road. 'synopsis' may belong to another edition of this title. For everyone who loves Sounder, Shiloh, and The Yearling, for everyone who loves the haunting beauty of writers such as Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, Flannery O'Connor, and Carson McCullers, Kathi Appelt spins a harrowing yet keenly sweet tale about the power of love - and its opposite, hate - the fragility of happiness and the importance of making good on your promises. And one kitten's one moment of curiosity sets off a chain of events that is astonishing, remarkable, and enormous in its meaning. Kittens, however, are notoriously curious creatures. But they are safe in the Underneath.as long as they stay in the Underneath. Ranger urges the cat to hide underneath the porch, to raise her kittens there because Gar-Face, the man living inside the house, will surely use them as alligator bait should he find them. They are an unlikely pair, about to become an unlikely family. She dares to find him in the forest, and the hound dares to befriend this cat, this feline, this creature he is supposed to hate.

There is nothing lonelier than a cat who has been loved, at least for a while, and then abandoned on the side of the road.Ī calico cat, about to have kittens, hears the lonely howl of a chained-up hound deep in the backwaters of the bayou.

The underneath appelt