The Day My Cat Lost Her Mind

3asafeer.com

Author: Samar Al-Wakeel

Illustrator: Shurooq Bushnaq

The original work of this book was made possible through the generous support of the All Children Reading: A Grand Challenge for Development (ACR GCD) Partners (the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), World Vision, and the Australian Government). It was prepared by Asafeer Education Technologies FZ LLC and does not necessarily reflect the views of the ACR GCD Partners. Any adaptation or translation of this work should not be considered an official ACR GCD translation and ACR GCD shall not be liable for any content or error in this translation.

I’ll tell you a story my friends. I had a very tough day at school yesterday. It happens to everybody. Surely you’ve had days like this. I went back home tired and I really wanted to see my cat Apry, but I

never expected what I saw.

My cat wasn’t there. I searched for it everywhere you could think of. I searched here and there, but I didn’t find her anywhere. Did she go out of the window, but the window is shut. Oh! No! could she be kidnapped?

I was about to call the police to help me find my cat but suddenly…

A box appeared as it slowly pushed itself towards me. I screamed, “who is moving this box?” “who is inside it?” Then I heard the meowing of my cat .

I hurried to open the box while I yelled, “Apry my dear cat. I finally found you.” But Apry didn’t reply her usual way. In fact, she replied so weirdly, “Who is Apry, I’m not Apry, I’m a schrodinger cat”. I didn’t understand a word of what she said.

I told her, “You are Apry my dear cat. My little friend with orange fur. Don’t you remember”? She looked at me and shook her little head, saying “no”.

Let me admit this my friends, I was about to cry. My cat totally lost her mind. But guess what, Apry still had more unusual

surprises. She said, “it seems that you didn’t understand yet. I am schrodinger cat. I’m both dead and alive at the same time. Then she gestured with her claws and said, “come.”

She opened the box to show me what was inside and explained that this box has a very precise system. It also has a bottle of poison. Then she continued explaining saying, if this system works and the bottles breaks I’ll die straight away, but if it didn’t break I’ll remain alive.”

Apry entered the box and closed it. From inside, her voice said, “did you see? Am I alive or dead? You won’t ever know the answer. That’s why I’m both.” I replied, “but how are you talking then.” Her voice was sharp and she said, “I’ll stop talking and then let me know if you’ll know if I’m dead or alive, genius.”

Silence prevailed. I didn’t hear anything but my breath. After a while, I started to get worried. Is this

poison real? Does she have enough oxygen inside? What if something bad happens to her? I couldn’t bear

waiting any more. So, I gently said, “Apry, are you ok?” she didn’t reply. Only extreme silence

prevailed. So, I decided to wait, until all this was over. So I repeated my question, “Flonders cat? Are you alive.”

Now, Apry yelled, “Schrodinger! Didn’t you study anything at school?” I laughed and thanked God, she’s ok, but my laughter disturbed Apry who peeped up with her little head and furrowed her brows as she said, “You must have studied schrodinger cat theory at school, try to remember.” I tried to

remember but I couldn’t. I was embarrassed as I

replied, “I don’t know anything about it.”

Apry quickly jumped and said, “Look at this box with me. It has a radiant substance. If a particle comes out of it, the system will work, the bottle will break and I’ll die straight away, but if it doesn’t I’ll stay alive.”

Then she began licking her fur with her tongue and said, “but because no one can see what is going on inside the box. I’ll be both dead and alive at the same time.” What is this poor cat

saying? I told her that if I’m sleeping on my bed. I’ll be sleeping on my bed and I won’t bother if someone opens the door or not.

Apry laughed and shook her head as if she was talking to a child. She said, “you’re right in many aspects, what happened doesn’t change by observation, but you see, minute things such as

particles and atoms, there are different rules, like quantum physics for example.” I tried my best to understand and I wanted to say something smart, but I said nothing except, “what!”. Apry

narrowed her eyes so I knew that she lost her patience and temper.

I decided to try harder to understand. I’m a big boy and she’s only a cat that lost her mind and I have to save her. I asked her to re-explain and so she did. Then she said, “only observation will sum up the ex- periment. Do you understand now?”

I excitedly said, “yes schrodinger cat, I did. What do you think, I’ll be the observer. We’ll see what

happens to you?”. Apry refused because she was so happy with her complex situation. She wanted to stay like this forever, but I wanted to go back to my

normal life. I was in a real dilemma. But don’t

worry, it was due to my marvellous powers of

persuasion that Apry accepted the experiment.

Apry entered the the box and closed it. I waited for a few moments. Do you think Apry will come back to me? I really wished so. I opened the box quickly and I found her. But do you know how I found her?

She was looking at me and I screamed without thinking; “schro- dinger cat, you’re alive. What a miracle”. Schrodinger, I mean Apry jumped to cuddle me and a tear came running out of my eyes. I would have to wait longer to see if it was really Apry.

Then I sat quietly looking at her as I waited if it was Apry or a schrodinger cat.

Apry said, “won’t we play together Ross? Where’s my food”? I jumped out of happiness. Apry is finally back. I fed her then we ran together to laugh and play until it was dark. Then we went to bed. Our faces had the broadest smile ever. And that, my friends, is how I got my dear cat Apry back.

“where is my box?

I’m a schrodinger cat.”

THE END