Curiosity killed the cat, unless of course 'Curiosity' is the name of a mouse.

  Larisa stared through the microscope at an ugly round creature swimming in the fluid. "Ross." She called for her little brother.

Ross' head popped in her door. "Want to play?" he asked hopefully.

 "No. Get me another earmite."

Ross' face fell. "Gato doesn't want me to get another mite." He showed her the claw marks he had received from his first attempt to scrap ear mites out of the cat's ear.

Larisa frowned as she examined Ross' arms. Her mom was going to kill her for letting Ross get so scratched up. "Did you clean these scratches?" she asked as she inspected the red flaming streaks that ran down both arms.

Ross shook his head.

 "You're going to love this." Larisa smiled mischievously, as she dragged her brother to the medicine cabinet.

***

Ross was not certain what his sister had in mind, but he was pretty certain he wasn't going to "love" it. Still, he complacently followed her. She was after all a good two feet taller than him.

Larisa opened a bottle of hydrogen peroxide. "Lay your arms across the sink."

 Ross protectively hugged his arms to his chest. "No, it'll hurt."

"No, it won't." She frowned. Did peroxide hurt? She honestly couldn't remember. "Come on Ross," she cajoled sweetly. "You can trust me."

 With immense reluctance, Ross let her stretch his arms across the sink and pour the clear liquid over his wounds. He expected great pain and was quite surprised when it did not hurt. Instead, his wounds begin to bubble and fizz. He laughed in relief.

"Neat huh?" Larisa commented as she blotted him dry and poured some more peroxide over the wounds.

Once again the fizzing occurred. "Here you try." She offered Ross the bottle and twisted about until her knee hung over the sink.

Ross carefully tipped the bottle to pour a small portion on her knee. Unfortunately, he tipped too far and the liquid rushed out, onto Larisa's knee and right down her leg into her tennis shoe and all over the carpet.

"Ross, look what you've done!" She frantically grabbed toilet paper to dry the carpet. Did Hydrogen Peroxide stain? She recalled references to people peroxiding their hair blonde. Was peroxide like a bleach?

Ross helped her clean up the carpet and there appeared to be no damage. Larisa still feared the carpet would slowly change colors. She cleaned it with hair shampoo as well as she could and then meticulously dried the fibers.

"Let's play sharks," Ross suggested, now that the turmoil had subsided.

Larisa sighed. She was incredibly bored. They were living in a rented apartment in Washington D.C. She had only one friend here and he had left on vacation three days ago. Her mom didn't like for her to go out alone because the "streets were dangerous." So she was confined in this tiny apartment with her young brother and a crazed cat. She didn’t want to push plastic sharks around the bathtub. She wanted adventure!

 "Let's put aluminum foil on Gato's feet," she suggested.

Ross shook his head. He had absolutely no intention of getting near Gato for at least a year. If Larisa wanted to attempt such a suicidal feat, fine, then—he would stand by with the peroxide.

An hour later, with a half a roll of aluminum foil torn to bits, Larisa had yet to succeed in getting even one of Gato's paws covered. When they ran out of peroxide to bath her wounds, she called it quits.

Now not only was she bored, but her arms were covered with pink stinging lines and little puncture marks. This made her grumpy and mean.

Ross recognized the signs and wisely escaped into his room.

When Larisa's mom came home, Larisa was laying in the middle of living room floor, staring morosely at the ceiling.

"Mom, I'm bored." Larisa declared before her mother had set down her purse.

"Mom!" a gleeful cry came from Ross as he bound from his room into his mom's arms. He was so glad to be safe again!

"What have you two been up to?" her mom asked, smelling a peculiar odor in the room.

"Nothing! There's nothing to do!" Larisa complained. "When are we going back home, so I can go out and play? I hate being cooped up like a veal calf."

"I know you do sweetheart, but..." her mom stopped mid-sentence as she spotted Ross' ravaged arms. " Ross Lane, what did you do to your arms?"

She grabbed up his right arm and studied the strange little lines. The odor was more distinct now. Hydrogen peroxide, his little arms reeked of peroxide.

 "Gato scratched me," Ross explained with utter innocence.

"Why did Gato scratch you?" Larisa's mom asked, as she studied his left arm for a moment.

"Because the cat is psycho!" Larisa exclaimed before Ross could answer more specifically. "Look!" She held out her battled scared arms.

Her mom studied Larisa's scratches, shook her head in dismay and sighed. That cat was really getting out of hand. Why couldn't they have a normal cat like everyone else?

The smell of peroxide wafted up

from Larisa's arms also. Well, Larisa's mom consoled herself, she needn't worry about infection. Both her children were saturated in hydrogen peroxide.

"Mom, can't we do something?" Larisa asked.

"Your Aunt Carol keeps saying Gato will calm down as he gets older," her mom replied, not really believing that would ever be true.

"No, I don't mean about Gato, I'm talking about being so bored!"

"Well, yes, I think I may have found something to help that particular ailment." She pulled a flyer from her purse and handed it to Larisa.

"Carnival Extravaganza," Larisa read aloud. "Great fun for children of all ages. June 6-August 30." She looked up. "June 6^th— that's tomorrow! Can we go? Can we?"

"Of course not, Larisa, I just show you that poster to torture you," her mom responded with sarcasm.

"We're going to the carnival! We're going to the carnival!" Ross chanted as he ran to his room to search out every animal he possessed to create his very own carnival.

 "Neat," Larisa replied in more subdued tones than her brother. After all, she was nearly thirteen, almost an adult now. Still the idea of getting out of this apartment was wonderful.