Холли Вебб - The Missing Kitten

Bootle purred and purred, and rubbed his face against hers, and purred louder.

“Izzy! Scarlett! What are you doing out here? Oh! Oh, no, has he been shut in here?” Mrs Mason peered worriedly into the dusty shed.

“All night,” Scarlett told her, shivering. “Can I call my dad, Mrs Mason, please? Can I take him home?”

Mrs Mason nodded. “Yes, you’d better take him up to the office again. I hope he doesn’t keep doing this, Scarlett.”

Scarlett stroked Bootle, who was pressed against her cardigan like he never meant to let go. “Me too.”

“Well, he got soaking wet and trapped in a shed, so maybe he’ll stay at home now,” Izzy suggested.

Scarlett nodded. “He looks like he wants to go home,” she agreed, feeling the sharp little points of Bootle’s claws hooked into her cardigan. “I promise I won’t ever let you get lost again,” she whispered to him, feeling his whiskers brush across her cheek. “I’ll look after you always.”

“I’m really glad my mum said I could come back with you.” Izzy sighed happily and blew on her hot chocolate.

Scarlett nodded, stroking Bootle, who was curled up on her lap, with his claws hooked determinedly into her school skirt. He wasn’t letting her go. “We might never have worked out where he was if it wasn’t for you! He could have been stuck in there for ages – until Mr Larkin had to put the chairs away again.”

Bootle purred as Scarlett gently rubbed behind his ears. He was finally starting to feel properly warm again.

Scarlett’s dad had lit the fire in the living room, and the girls were huddled in front of it – it was raining again, so it had been a wet walk home. They’d splashed through the puddles as fast as they could, anxious to see Bootle again, and check that he was OK.

“Do you want any more hot chocolate, girls?” Dad asked. “Jackson’s after another cup.”

Scarlett shook her head. “No, thanks.”

Izzy smiled at him. “No, that’s OK, thanks. It was lovely. It’s a pity cats can’t have hot drinks, though, Bootle must have been frozen after a night in the shed.”

“I’ve had him on my lap ever since I picked him up,” Dad told them. “Apart from when he was wolfing down a massive dinner and breakfast in one. He definitely wanted company, and since he couldn’t have you, Scarlett, I was the next best thing.”

“I hope he’s not going to follow us again tomorrow,” Scarlett said, looking down at him anxiously. He didn’t look very adventurous at the moment…

Dad shook his head. “No, I’m sure he’ll remember being trapped. He won’t want that to happen again. But I promise I will make sure every window’s closed. I’ll even let him play with the computer, Scarlett.” He grinned. “I’ll find him one of those homework websites, then he won’t need to go to school.”

Bootle stretched out his paws and stared up at them in surprise as they laughed, and then he huddled himself back into the front of Scarlett’s cardigan. It was lovely and warm inside. And dry. He hadn’t realized how damp and miserable it could be, following people. For the moment, he was going to stay right here.

Amber rolled the jingly cat ball down the length of the hallway and giggled as Cleo flung herself after it, her paws slipping on the wooden floor. She loved the way the kitten took chasing the ball so seriously!

Her mum opened the kitchen door and gasped as she almost tripped over the skidding kitten. “Oh, Cleo! I nearly kicked you. Are you all right?”

But Cleo didn’t even seem to have noticed. She had finally caught her jingly ball and was rolling over and over with it, growling fierce kitten growls.

“I don’t think that ball’s coming out alive,” Mum commented, smiling. “Amber, did you finish sorting out all your new pencils and things for school? Have you packed them in your rucksack?”

Amber nodded. “Everything’s ready.” She got up, looking worriedly between Mum and Cleo. “Mum, what’s going to happen to Cleo while I’m at school?”

“What do you mean, what’s going to happen to her?” Mum looked confused.

“I’m worried she’s going to be bored,” Amber explained. “She’s not really been on her own that much, has she?”

Amber’s family had got Cleo from a local cat shelter right at the beginning of the summer holidays. Amber had been desperate to get a kitten for ages, and her parents had finally agreed. Mum and Dad and her big sister, Sara, had spent ages sitting with her on the sofa, looking at the website. But as soon as Amber had seen the photo of Cleo with her brothers and sisters, Amber had known that she was the one. Amber never seen such a gorgeous cat. Cleo was a really unusual colour – mostly ginger, but with big dark patches and huge black ears that looked like she needed to grow into them.

Amber had spent the whole holiday playing with Cleo – it was amazing how many mad games a kitten could invent to play with just a piece of string. Or a feather. Or even the flowers on Amber’s flip-flops. She was going to miss Cleo so much – and she had a feeling Cleo was going to miss her, too. Even though Cleo was officially a family cat, and everyone played with her, Amber did most of the looking after. She loved feeding Cleo and making sure she always had clean water – it made her feel that the kitten was just a little bit more hers.

“She’s always had me and Sara at home to play with,” Amber went on.

“I see what you mean.” Mum gave her a hug. “She’ll be fine, Amber. Cats are quite independent, you know. And think how much time Cleo spends snoozing! She’ll just save up her playtime for when we’re all home. Anyway, I’ll be around some of the time – you know I only do half days. Cleo can distract me from all the marking I’ve got to do!”

“I suppose so,” Amber agreed, a bit doubtfully. Cleo did sleep a lot. She was still only small, and she didn’t seem to understand taking things easy. She’d race around until she was exhausted and then collapse in a little furry tortoiseshell heap. Amber loved it when she flumped down with her paws in the air!

She wriggled the ball out from between Cleo’s paws and rolled it back down the hallway again. “I’m worried that she’ll be bored and find a way to get round the front of the house. She thinks the front garden must be the most exciting thing ever, just because we won’t let her go out there. She nearly escaped again yesterday, when the postman brought that parcel.”

Her mum made a face. “I honestly don’t think we can do much about that. We’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t slip out. I think the noise of the cars would put her off going on the road anyway.”

Mum didn’t look all that sure, though, and Amber sighed. One of their neighbours had a cat who’d been run over and badly hurt, and she hated to think of anything like that happening to Cleo. She was sure Cleo was very clever, but kittens weren’t known for being sensible. If Cleo saw something interesting on the other side of the road, Amber was almost certain she’d chase after it. And it wasn’t as if she could train Cleo to look both ways first.

Cleo sniffed curiously at the bags in the hallway. Today felt different. Everyone was rushing around. She whisked behind one of the rucksacks as Sara came dashing past and nearly stepped on her tail. She crouched there, watching as Amber and Sara chased up and down the stairs, looking for things they’d forgotten. Their mum was standing in the hallway, glancing at her watch.

“Come on, you two! I thought you said you’d got everything ready last night? We really do need to go – I’ve got a staff meeting before school.”

“I’m here, I’m ready.” Amber jumped down the last two steps and looked around for her bag and shoes. “I just wanted to find a photo of Cleo to show my friends. Hardly anyone’s seen her yet – only Maisie and Lila when they came over.”