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vulnerable little kitten. In the early morning when I would disturb her and

get out of bed, she would tag along after me, climb up my robe and

crawl into my pocket to fall asleep. I was missing her terribly.

Vulnerable: weak, easy to influence

After some days, the workers were removing the remains of the burned

house. They were living in a rented apartment nearby but Zan would visit

his old house and see the workers. He wished to find his cat there. He

had lost her but kept thinking of the poor soul. How it would wake up

when Zan disturbed it and then followed him, climbed up his gown and

would fall asleep while sitting in his pocket. He missed her.

It always seems that bad news spreads quickly, and in my case it was

no different. Everyone in high school, including the teachers, was aware

of my plight. I was embarrassed as if somehow I were responsible. What

a way to start off at a new school! This was not the kind of attention I

was looking for.

Plight: sad story

Zan thought that bad news spread faster

because everyone, including all the teachers

knew about his sad story. Zan felt embarrassed

as if he was guilty for all that had happened. He

was getting attention for all the wrong reasons.

The next day at school, people were acting even

more strange than usual. I was getting ready for

gym class at my locker. People were milling around me, asking me to

hurry up. I thought it strange, but in the light of the past few weeks,

nothing would surprise me. It almost seemed that they were trying to

shove me into the gym — then I saw why. There was a big table set up