CAPITOL CATS

Excerpts from Capitol Cat & Watch Dog
                 Unite Lady Freedoms

The invisible magic entered the U.S. Capitol only at night, drifting across the beautiful tiled floors up to the high, painted ceilings, converting the historic bronze statues from stiff, silent figures into the real persons they were when alive.

No one understood the transforming night magic. It just happened. Capitol Cat and the statues themselves could observe it. Human beings could not. After she became friends with Watch Dog, Capitol Cat told him the secret so he could see it, too.

  

Long ago, to liven up the evenings, Capitol Cat and Watch Dog organized the Capitol statues into two groups patterned after the daytime House and Senate bodies, chosen by the location where the statue was placed. Like the daytime group, they called themselves a Congress.

  

Late at night, Capitol Cat, Watch Dog, and their statuesque followers sat in the same chairs the representatives and senators sat in during the day.

  

The playful night wind ruffled Capitol Cat's fur as she and astronaut Swigert reached the base of the bronze Lady Freedom at the very top of the United States Capitol building dome, 288 feet above the ground.

Swigert put on his astronaut helmet to keep the transforming night magic inside. He hadn't been outside since he came as a bronze statue. The scene reminded him of the first time he saw our planet Earth from way out in space.

Except for the faint muffled sounds of traffic below, it was peaceful and quiet as Cat and Swigert balanced near the globe on which Lady Freedom had stood since December 2, 1863.

Illustrations by Jason Eckhardt

The Texas Bar selected Capitol Cat & Watch Dog Unite Lady Freedoms for their statewide Law-Related Education program for Texas teachers. Janice Law spoke in Austin about Capitol Cat & Watch Dog to a Texas teachers conference hosted by The Texas Bar.

Barnes & Noble-- Janice Law meets young fans of Capitol Cat & Watch Dog Unite Lady Freedoms.

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