Pretty Things

Tally was eight now. She’d asked for a kitten for her birthday, and had gotten her wish. Panko was the sweetest, cuddliest, playfullest kitten ever! He was a stripey yellow boy with a white tummy and feet. At eight weeks old, he’d chase and paw at anything Tally dangled in front of him. Tally would much rather play with Panko than do homework!

In the morning, Tally would help Mama feed the kitten, and Mama would feed the kitten again later at night. There was one thing that she had promised Mama that she would do on her own, though, and that was to clean the litter box. Tally knew she was supposed to check every day to see if Panko had left a little present. She was to scoop it out and put it in a paper bag. The paper bag was to go into the trash can. Tally had no idea what happened to the poop after that.

There were also clumps of litter where Panko had made pee-pee. Those had to be scooped up, too. And then, once a week, the whole box had to be changed. It was a lot to do, and Tally forgot to do it on the second day. “Did you scoop the poop?” her mother asked her at bedtime. “I forgot!” said Tally, with a gasp. “Do I have to get up now?”

Her mother allowed her to stay in bed that night, but cautioned her against forgetting. “If you make it a habit, you won’t even have to try to remember,” her mother said cheerfully. But Tally forgot again on the fifth day. That weekend when she emptied the entire box and put new litter in, she told herself she would take care of this task as soon as she came home from school. Every day. She looked at Panko, who was rolling on the carpet with a tiny toy mouse. So silly, but causing so much trouble!

On Monday after school, Tally ran to the litter box, eager to complete her chore. She started to scoop, then stared. There in the box was a large green jewel! Its many sides reflected the light. It had not come from Panko, that’s for sure — the poop was in the other corner. Tally picked up the jewel and ran to the kitchen sink. She washed it carefully, and washed her hands, too. What a strange thing! She put the jewel in a box in her room with her collection of stones and acorns.

There was no jewel the next day. But now Tally was definitely more interested in her chore. The day after that, there was no jewel. But on Thursday, there sat a bright yellow jewel with glitter embedded in it! Now Tally was suspicious, but she didn’t want to say anything to Mama. What if Mama had been putting these things in the litter box? That would take the mystery away, and Tally wasn’t ready for that to happen.

The following week there was only one jewel, a red one that was pointed on one end and had what looked like a silver snowflake inside the other end. It was the most beautiful one yet. The week after that there were no jewels, and Tally finally asked her mother: “Have you been putting pretty things in the litter box?”

“It’s called intermittent positive reinforcement, Tally,” her mother said. “Now you have a habit of taking care of Panko’s litter box needs! And guess what? Those jewels were from a set. You may have the rest!” Tally shook her head and made a face. “Oh, Mama.”

— Macoff