Free Sadie and Ratz by Sonya Hartnett

On Saturday, at our house, something strange happened. I was drawing pictures, and Baby Boy was wandering around. Suddenly some marker was on the wall. It was a long black line on the clean white wall.

    “Who did this?” asked Dad.
    This is when the strange thing happened.
    Normally Baby Boy would pretend he hadn’t heard Dad’s question. He would pretend he was a spaceman who couldn’t hear a sound. Instead of owning up to drawing on the wall, he would act like he was deaf.
    But this day, this strange day, Baby Boy yelled, “Sadie and Ratz did it!”

    Sadie and Ratz
    They showed Baby Boy their claws.
    But Baby Boy was hiding behind Dad, safe from attack.
    “Sadie and Ratz should be more careful,” said Dad, scrubbing the wall.
    Baby Boy peeked out at me, and smiled like a crazy monkey.

    Later, after dinner, when Baby Boy was playing with trucks, Sadie and Ratz showed him their new yoga position:

    Baby Boy did the banshee bull thing.

    I got sent to bed.
    As usual.
    That was a strange day, but things were about to get stranger.
    On Sunday morning, when milk got on the carpet, Baby Boy told Mom, “Sadie and Ratz did it.”
    That afternoon, when he skinned his knee, Baby Boy told Grandma, “Sadie and Ratz pushed me.”
    Even though Sadie and Ratz had not spilled milk or pushed Baby Boy, I didn’t say anything. I just gave Baby Boy a cold stare.

    Grandma gave Baby Boy a kiss and a cookie. I only got a cookie.

    I could not understand why my brother was telling these fibs. Maybe he wanted his ears rubbed so hard they disappeared.
    That night, when Baby Boy was in bed, Sadie and Ratz and I crept into his room. “Do you want your ears rubbed off your head?” we asked.

    Baby Boy’s eyes made circles. He was about to yell like a whole herd of banshee bulls. Sadie and Ratz had no choice but to
    Mom and Dad came running. I got
The Stern Talk
. Baby Boy got more kisses.

    Everything was wrong.
    At school on Monday, I took my lunch to a corner where nobody goes. I needed some private time. I ate my sandwich and thought.

    Baby Boy was only four, but he was becoming tricky.
    It was better when he was a spaceman who never heard or spoke. Sadie and Ratz liked doing bad things, but they didn’t like getting in trouble for bad things they didn’t do.
    But everyone knew Sadie and Ratz were naughty. Everybody believed the worst when it came to Sadie and Ratz.
    I ate my sandwich slowly. I wondered what Baby Boy was doing at home. I wondered what he was breaking or wrecking. I wondered what Sadie and Ratz would get the blame for today.

    A horrible thought came into my head. Maybe Sadie and Ratz would have to change. Maybe the only way to stop Baby Boy blaming Sadie and Ratz for everything was to tame them, and make them nice.
    No!
I couldn’t do it. It would break Sadie and Ratz’s hearts.

    Because they were sad, I let Sadie and Ratz have a war with each other. Sadie won, but it was close. They are both good fighters.

On Tuesday, my stick insect, Pin, was missing a leg. At breakfast, he had six legs. At dinner, he had five!
    This was too much.
    I made the noise like the banshee bull. “Baby Boy stole Pin’s leg!” I wailed.
    “Don’t be silly,” said Dad. “It probably just fell off. Maybe Pin ate it? Insects do funny things.”
    “Pin did not eat his leg!”
I thundered. “Baby Boy pulled it off!”
    “Baby Boy is a good boy,” said Mom. “He wouldn’t do something as naughty as that.”
    I jumped up and down. I kicked the wall. “If
he
didn’t do it, who did?”
    From where he was hiding, in the laundry basket, Baby Boy shouted, “Sadie and Ratz!”

    But even Mom and Dad knew that Sadie and Ratz wouldn’t hurt Pin. Mom looked at Dad. Dad looked at Mom. Both of them looked worried.
    I started to cry. “Baby Boy will get Pin out of his cage, and Pin will escape, and Dad will step on him!”

    “No, no,” said Mom, “I’m sure he wouldn’t do that!”
    “Oh no!” said Dad. “I’m sure I won’t