Arnold Friend: The Cat Torturer

Character: Arnold Friend

Place:  Shaw Middle School on the West Bank

Conflict: Arnold Friend, the cat torturer, goes to school on the West Bank and wants the chemistry kit from his Science teacher.  It’s hard to get the Chemistry kit because it’s for eighth graders and he is a sixth grader – plus the school is low on money, so there aren’t enough kits supplied in the school for him to get.  Not to mention, the school is locked up, which makes it even more difficult for him to retrieve the kit – so, he has to steal it.

First scene: 

Arnold Friend watches his cat, Diablo, through the screen door.  Diablo is catching lizards, batting them between his paws, when a bolt of lightning fries him and the lizard.  Arnold’s eyes crinkle.  The lizard skitters behind a flowerpot, but Diablo doesn’t move.  Arnold kicks the door open and checks the cat’s pulse.  He needs Diablo alive.