Холли Вебб - The Missing Kitten

“I’m ready, too,” Sara said, sighing. “I can’t believe we’re going back to school – it feels as if the holidays have only just started. And everyone says Year Eight means loads more homework.” Sara’s secondary school wasn’t that far from the house, but she usually got a lift with Mum and Amber in the mornings and walked back home with her friends.

“I shouldn’t think anyone will give you much on the first day,” her mum replied. “Come on. Grab your stuff and let’s get in the car.”

Cleo opened her mouth in a silent mew of surprise as the bag in front of her disappeared. And then she realized – the front door was open!

“Oh, Cleo, no! Sara, stop her!” Amber called out. She was all mixed up with her PE bag and rucksack and she still only had one shoe on.

Sara crouched down to try and field the kitten, but Cleo jinked expertly around her reaching hands and skipped out on to the doorstep.

Cleo caught the different outdoor smells as she leaped down the step and then darted off to investigate the wheelie bins. She’d only managed to get out into the front garden a couple of times, and she wanted to explore.

“Did you get her?” Amber came hurrying up to her sister.

“No, she was just too speedy!” Sara gasped. “Sorry! I think she’s gone behind the bins. Here, Cleo! Come on… Puss, puss!”

Mum sighed. “How does she know when we’re in a hurry? Amber, can you catch her? Try not to let her go under the car – it’ll take ages to get her back out again.”

Amber crouched down beside the bins. The kitten was in the flower bed now, peering out through the pink geraniums.

Cleo gazed up at her with round green eyes. She didn’t understand why they made such a fuss about her being here , when no one minded if she went through her cat flap into the back garden. She looked around, eyeing the pavement and the road beyond. There were interesting smells out there – more cats and other things, too. But the cars speeding past were so loud that she’d never dared to do more than peek round the edge of the garden wall. She wanted to, though. She was working up to it.

“There!” Amber reached through the flowers and grabbed her, and Cleo snuggled up against her school cardigan. The kitten didn’t mind being caught, not really. Especially because Amber always gave her cat treats when she brought her back in.

Cleo dived out of the cat flap and shook her ears crossly. She didn’t like the way it banged behind her – it always made her feel jumpy. She licked at the fur on her white front until she felt calmer and then strolled out on to the patio. The garden was very bright, and there were fat bees blundering through the lavender bush. She could even hear a bird rustling in the apple tree at the far end. But somehow the back garden didn’t seem quite as exciting as it usually did.

Cleo sat on the patio, feeling the warm afternoon sun on her fur and wondering what to do. She had slept for a lot of the morning, and now she wanted to play. Amber’s mum was working on her computer, and she’d stroked Cleo for a bit. But when Cleo had tried to pounce on her keyboard, she’d shooed her away. Cleo was used to playing with Amber, and she missed her. It wasn’t as much fun being on her own. She could chase down the garden after that bird or wriggle into the lavender and swipe at the bees. But she never seemed to catch anything… When would Amber come back?

Then her ears flattened and she sprang up, stalking across the patio to the bench by the garden wall. Amber had gone out of the front door. Perhaps she was at the front of the house somewhere. If she hopped up on to the bench, she wouldn’t be that far from the top of the wall…

Cleo wriggled her bottom and leaped, scrambling from the arm of the bench into the twiggy mass of jasmine that was growing up the wall. She clawed and scrabbled and pulled her way up on to the top. Half her fur was standing on end and it was full of tiny green leaves, but she had done it. She was almost sure this wall led round to the front of the house, where Amber was.

Cleo paced along the top of the wall, then over the flat roof of the garage. She dropped back down on to the wall again where it ran along the side of the little front garden. She had to pick her way carefully through the tall plants that grew up against it, but eventually she reached the front of the garden, where the wall was lower and half-hidden by bushes. She perched between the bushes, looking out on to the street.

“Cleo!”

The kitten peered curiously round the bushes and saw Amber racing down the street towards her, with her rucksack bouncing against her shoulders. Cleo stood up and purred, arching her back proudly. She’d been right! Amber was here! Amber would see that she’d been clever and climbed the wall. As Amber ran up to her, Cleo purred even louder and leaned down to rub her head against Amber’s shoulder.

“Oh, Cleo,” she murmured lovingly, “you’re so naughty! How did you get out here? Mum, look!”

“Cleo!” Amber’s mum stared at the kitten. “I made absolutely sure she didn’t slip past me when I left to get you from school. She was in the house this afternoon – I know she was. She tried to sit on the computer while I was working.”

Amber gently scooped the little kitten off the top of the wall. She held Cleo against her shoulder as Mum went to unlock the front door. “But that means she must have got round the house by herself,” Amber said, looking up at the garden wall. “She can’t have done… That wall’s so high for her to jump up to, and then she had to get on to the garage roof!”

Cleo looked up at the wall, too, and purred smugly into Amber’s ear.

Copyright

STRIPES PUBLISHING

An imprint of the Little Tiger Group

1 The Coda Centre, 189 Munster Road,

London SW6 6AW

First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing in 2017

Text copyright © Holly Webb, 2013

Illustrations copyright © Sophy Williams, 2013

eISBN: 978-1-84715-471-2

The right of Holly Webb and Sophy Williams to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

All rights reserved.

Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.

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