There was a very big, very , very falling apart house. It was the kind of house� ever went into, because any house that looked like that just had to be ; and who would want to take a chance and find out for ? Nobody, not on purpose. But sometimes things� and there's nothing you can do about it.
�The time this story happened was on a �and rainy night. The driver was in a hurry. It was late, probably near . Suddenly out of the black bushes, on the side of the road, a huge cat ran out in front of the car. The driver� the car to save the huge cat that ran onto the road. The car hit a tree, and there was no getting� that night.
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�The man got out of the car. And in the dark, dark night, he could see the� of the huge cat staring at him. "You big� thing", the man said. And the cat just stared at him, snarled and� into the woods.
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It was raining hard and the man could see� nothing. He began to walk along the road, hoping that the car might� and pick him up. But there was nothing. Nothing that is, until he came to the huge, old house�by the side of the�deserted road. There were no . "Everyone must be a sleep", he thought, but�on a night like this he was certain, they would let him in. So he walked closer to the house, closer.... he was able to see the windows were , shutters were hanging and the steps �the front door were falling apart.
"Well", thought the man, "at least it has a� and maybe I can build myself a fire and ." He went in, the house was very dark and seemed very empty. He lit a� and by its light, he could see a fireplace. There were old papers lying around and enough wood. He gathered it all up and� a nice warm fire.
"Ah, that's not like home" he said to himself, "but it's dry... and even if it's an old coming apart place, it's warm now." He put his hands close to the fire to warm them. When he , he saw a small gray cat looking at him. He tried the cat, but the cat moved away from him. So the man went back to the fire and listen to the thunder and the rain and wondered when the� would stop.
The� door opened, the man looked around and coming through the door; he saw the huge cat that he'd met on the road. The cat didn't look at him. It walked to the�small� cat.
�"What are we going to do with him?", the big black cat asked; and the little cat said, "Wait until Martin comes..."
The man had� heard of talking cats... so he thought he hadn't heard what he had heard.� he was too ill, too cold, too tired and he was beginning �things because he knew, just the way that you know, cats don't talk. So he went back to the fire and paid no� until he saw another cat come through the door. This one was even�he than the other cats. A huge, huge cat, the biggest cat the man had ever seen. He watched, , as the huge, huge cat walked to�the other cats.
The small cat asked, "what are we going to do with him?"
The huge, huge cat said, "Wait until Martin comes." And all� cats sat in a row and stared at the man.
The man was afraid now. What was Martin? Who was Martin? And what could Martin do? He thought about the� and hoped that�Martin just wouldn't come.
The biggest cat �walked through the door. The eyes of the great cat shone as he walked towards the man. "Maybe this was Martin", and if it was... the man thought to himself... but he never finished the thought.
" we do it now?", the biggest of all cats asked.
And the little gray cat said,"let's wait 'til Martin comes."
The man didn't want to� for Martin, not now. Not even if it was raining harder than ever.�Not even if the storm was getting�. He wasn't going to wait for Martin. Not him. He started to leave...
(screams)
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�....and Martin came�through the door.
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