"The Cat Trail to Texas Part 7"

(posted at the same time Part 6 was)

Part 7 (Final Part)

Grandpa drove to the nearest hospital. We were almost to Texas. But Grandma was more important.

Grandpa sat my Grandma’s side when she was in the hospital bed, and gave me the car keys.

“In case you need anything.” He said.

The three of us went out into the car, and sat there. We sat in the seats.

“What are we supposed to do now? Grandma’s in the hospital, and we can’t drive!” Jason said.

“Um, do you realize that there’s a two-person bike in the back of the car with a sturdy, large wired basket?” Selena said.

"Whazza wha?” I said.

“Jeez, Katrina. You sound like your grandma!” she said.

“I know! Let’s get that bike!” I said.

We opened the trunk, and we got the bike. We lowered the seats, and tightened the basket.

I wrote Grandpa a note saying that were biking to Texas, and that I have my cell phone.

I got on the front seat, Jason got in the basket, and Selena got on the back seat.

“Ready?” I said.

“Ready.” Selena said.

“I think I am.” Jason said.

Our cats rested in a bag that was attached on the back of the bike tightly. The cats had to come with us. This was a cat trail to Texas.

We biked for miles.

Pretty soon, we were finally in Texas. The legs of Selena and I were as sore as anything. But we kept going. The idea of finding our dads locations at an Information Center in Texas was keeping us going.

Finally, we found the center we were looking for.

We walked up to a man at a desk.

“Sir, can we have the locations of Jon Hector and Newton Smith?” I said.

“Who are you?” he said.

“Their children.” I said.

He was wide-eyed. He whispered to another man, and he shook his head.

“We know exactly where they are.” He said.

He took us to see Selena’s dad, Mr. Smith, first.

He drove us in his car.

He was driving us in a cemetery.

“No.” Selena whispered. “No…no…no…NO!” Selena said.

“It’s ok.” I said.

She hugged me, cried, and said. “No…”

He drove us to a headstone.

Selena and I went to see it.

It said “Newton Smith” on it, and it had dates on it.

But wait…the death said…1963?

“Selena! This guy died in the 60’s!” I said.

“WHAT?!” she said. “WHERE’S MY DAD?” she said to the man.

“I don’t know.” He said.

“Why I ought to slap you! This isn’t her father!” I said.

“Sorry, miss.” He said. “Want to find you dad?”

“You couldn’t even find Selena’s dad!” he said.

I called Grandpa. I told him we were in a cemetery in Texas.

He came to pick us up. Selena was ticked.

Luckily, Grandma was ok. She just needed to stay at the hospital for the night.

Grandpa was going to take us to a motel, but first he took us to the hospital gift shop, because we wasted our time with that stupid guy.

We went in, and looked at Webkinz.

Then we heard men talking.

“You think this cat is cute?” one man said

“Yeah. What about this little dog for my girl?” the other said.

They were looking at Webkinz.

Selena and I recognized the voices. Our eyes widened. We couldn’t believe it.

It was…our…dads…

“Jason.” I said as a poked him.

“What?” he said.

I pointed to the two men.

“DAD!” he said.

“Jason?” my dad said.

“Dad!” I said.

“Katrina?” my dad said.

Then Selena walked up to her dad.

“Hi, Dad.” She said.

“Selena!” he said.

Jason and I hugged our dad, and Selena hugged hers.

We couldn’t believe it. We found our dads.

“Dad? Why didn’t you come home?” I said.

“Katrina, here’s the story. I met Selena’s dad. After calling your mothers, we discovered that you and Selena were friends. We would talk about you guys. Then Selena’s dad caught cancer, and it took many months to treat it and cure it, and he couldn’t leave. I wanted to stay with him because he needed a friend, and I will still recovering from your grandma’s death. Plus, we wanted to surprise you together.” He said.

I hugged him.

Well, on our little cat trail to Texas, we ended up finding our dads in a hospital in Oklahoma instead.

And, on this cat trail to Texas, the three of us learned two things.

One, is that Webkinz really does bring people together. From our story, to the three of us finding our dads in a hospital gift shop, shopping for Webkinz for us.

Two, is that everyone has their own Webkinz story. From Stuart’s story of making Webkinz popular in our school, to Mandy’s story of learning to not be afraid to play Webkinz, to June’s story of setting up a club with us, to Claire’s Webkinz family story, and to our story, which you have just read.

Well, we have to get back home.

Home to Massachusetts. Home to where our Webkinz Club now has over 300 members. Home to our friends. Home to our families together. Home to where Study Hall is used playing with Webkinz and online on Webkinz. Home to where Stuart and I will marry our Lion and Lioness, and have them have a Lil’ Kinz Lion. Home, to adding to our Webkinz story…

She has her Webkinz, she has her Webkinz story, he has his Webkinz, he has his Webkinz story, and I have my Webkinz, and I have my Webkinz story.

Meow meow.