That timber cat walks over and sits down in the fire. Just like the other cats did it. And he picks up this live coal. And he pu
ts it right on his slanted, green eyes. He dusts his eyeballs with it! And he turns around to the other cats sittin on each side of John. The timber cat says to the other cats, says, showin his teeth, "What you want to do with him there?" And looks straight dead at John, too.
And the other cats say right back all in one meow, "We better wait till Martin comes."
With that, John gives a great heave up. The chair comes up with him. But at least he was up. And he runs out the wide-open front door. He's callin as he goes out flyin, "Mister Cats! You tell Martin I was here, but I couldn't wait on him. And now I'm gone!"
And he was. Long gone. And never seen in that county since.
—“Better Wait Till Martin Comes,”
Virginia Hamilton
Write two to three sentences explaining how the suspense within the story makes the climax of “Better Wait Till Martin Comes” funny.
The suspense in "Better Wait Till Martin Comes" grows when Martin falls through the seat of the chair and becomes stuck. The reader fears for John since each new cat is larger than the last one, and the reader worries that John won't be able to escape once Martin arrives. The situation seems more and more hopeless for John, so it is hilarious when John breaks the suspense by making a funny comment and running away with a chair stuck to his rear.
