Холли Вебб - The Rescued Kitten

“Slow down!” Layla gasped, as she hurried along the path after Edie.

“I can’t! I really, really want to get home and check Barbie’s OK, and I want to look at the place we found her and see if we can work out what happened,” Edie explained.

Layla smiled. “Oh, all right.” She sped up a bit, until they arrived panting back at the little space in the bushes. “I honestly don’t see what we’re going to find, though.”

Edie sighed. “I know. But we have to try. I mean, what if it was the cat’s owner who abandoned her kittens?”

“How horrible!” Layla was shocked.

“Some people do that. They don’t think animals matter.” Edie scowled and Layla stared at her.

“You look scary like that.”

“Good!” But then Edie’s shoulders drooped. “I can’t see any clues, can you? And we don’t even know what we’re looking for.”

Layla stood on tiptoe, trying to peer through the bushes on the side of the footpath. “What’s behind this hedge?”

“The road that goes into the village.” Edie stepped up close to the hedge. “If Mum’s right and it was a feral cat moving her kittens, she would have had to carry them across the road.”

“Maybe a car…” Layla’s voice trailed off, and the two girls looked at each other, appalled. “But your mum or dad would know about that, wouldn’t they? Somebody would have brought the cat in if they’d hit her?”

“I suppose…” Edie sniffed. “Can you see anything else? On the other side it’s just a field…”

“There are some sheds or something over there, near that copse of trees.” Layla pointed across the field. “They’re quite a long way, though.” Then she glanced up at the sky. “Edie, look! It’s going to pour down any minute. Come on. Let’s get home.”

Edie watched the grey-black cloud chasing up behind them and nodded. It looked like it might thunder and she knew Layla hated thunderstorms. Besides, she was desperate to get home and see Barbie. She grabbed Layla’s hand and they ran down the length of the field and across the courtyard.

Edie’s dad was standing at their front door and he waved. “I’m glad you’re back – it looks like it’s going to pour down, the kitchen went so dark!”

“How’s Barbie?” Edie asked, panting a little.

“Hello, Dad, did you have a nice day, Dad…” Edie’s dad rolled his eyes. “Barbie’s fine. She’s started to eat the kitten food. And she got a lot of fussing from Sammi and Jo at the surgery.”

Edie smiled. The two receptionists were both big cat fans, she wasn’t surprised they’d loved Barbie.

Barbie was in her box on the kitchen table, where Dad had been starting to make the dinner. She was awake and standing up, although she looked a bit wobbly.

“Hello, beautiful,” Edie whispered, putting her hand into the box. She didn’t want to scare the tiny cat by suddenly stroking her.

Barbie looked up at the hand that had appeared in her box and stomped forwards, marching shakily across the folded towel, her tiny paws catching on the fabric. When she got to Edie’s hand, she butted at it hard with the side of her head and mewed.

Layla started laughing and pulled her phone out of her backpack. “I promised I’d take a video of her,” she explained. “My little sister loves cats. And my mum said Barbie sounded cute.” She rolled her eyes. “I’m still working on my dad. But I don’t think even he could resist you,” she added to Barbie.

Barbie rubbed her tiny face against Edie’s hands and purred. It seemed far too loud a noise for such a tiny kitten to make.

Edie’s dad sighed. “Typical. I’ve been looking after her all day, and she didn’t do any of that to me! She’s obviously decided you’re her person.”

Edie looked at him sideways. “Dad … now she’s better, can we keep her? You and Mum didn’t really say for definite the other day…”

“She’s keeping us. Look at her. Yes, Edie, don’t worry, she’s staying.”

Barbie nudged lovingly at the girl, rubbing up against her hand and scenting her properly. Now everyone would know that Edie was hers.

Then she gave a surprised little squeak as she was gently lifted out of the box and Edie snuggled her up against the cardigan she was wearing. Barbie sniffed at it curiously and stuck her tiny claws into the fabric, pulling herself up like a mountain climber. It was hard work but she climbed all the way to Edie’s shoulder and batted a paw at Edie’s plait, which was swinging temptingly next to her. It was so close – she could reach it if she stretched out, just a little. Barbie leaned over a bit further and her paws slid on the cardigan. She could feel herself slipping down and she scrabbled frantically for a second, and mewed.

Edie’s hand closed round her tummy, scooping her up again and setting her gently back in her safe box. The kitten yawned and slumped down, her front paws splayed out against the soft towel. She wriggled a little and breathed out a tiny, squeaky snore.

“Look, there’s a rainbow!” Layla pointed out of the kitchen window. “It’s really sunny and beautiful outside now.”

Edie came to stand beside her. “Amazing! Hey, do you want to come out searching for Barbie’s family again? I can’t help worrying about them – I mean, if there are other kittens and the mum had to abandon them, too… They could be out there on their own.”

“Because she couldn’t feed them? Would she do that?” asked Layla.

Edie sighed. “I don’t know. We still don’t know what happened to Barbie. I just hate thinking of kittens being hungry and cold.”

“Yeah…” Layla nodded. “Let’s try again.”

“Maybe we should look in other places – all round the field and in that little copse nearby.”

“That’s a long way from where we found Barbie,” Layla said doubtfully.

“I know but you just saw her climb up my cardigan and she’s only five weeks old! Mother cats do amazing stuff to look after their kittens. She might have carried them for miles. She’d have had to keep putting them down and leaving them – she can only carry one in her mouth at a time – so it would have taken ages but they can do it.”

“Mmm. Maybe…” Layla nodded. “OK. Should we tell your dad?”

Edie nodded and went to find him in the little office space under the stairs. “Dad, me and Layla are going to look for Barbie’s mum.”

He looked round. “OK… But if you find her, don’t touch her, will you? Feral cats can be fierce, especially if they’re protecting their kittens. Where are you going to look?”

“Round the edges of the field and in the copse?”

Edie’s dad checked his watch. “OK, but I want you back by five thirty – so you’ve got just over an hour. And don’t go on the road.”

“We won’t!” Edie hurried out before her dad could change his mind. She was allowed to go off exploring with Layla and her other friends, but she had a feeling Dad didn’t really like it. He worried too much.

“We could start by checking the hedges all round this field,” she suggested to Layla. They were standing in a corner of it. “She might just have made a nest in the bushes.”

It sounded simple enough, but the field was enormous and the rain had left the grass soaking wet. By the time they were halfway round, the girls were drenched and feeling a bit hopeless. They hadn’t seen any sign of a mother cat or more kittens.

“What about those sheds?” Edie asked suddenly. The buildings were over on the far side of the next field near a copse of trees and looked like they’d been abandoned for a while – she could see holes in all the roofs.

“Do you think it’s OK?” Layla said doubtfully. “Mum always says not to go inside anywhere like that, in case it’s dangerous.”