Шейла Нортон - Charlie The Kitten Who Saved A Life

‘Oh, no,’ she said, very quietly. ‘Oh dear, I was desperately hoping it wouldn’t be necessary. Yes, of course you’re worried, darling – so am I. Well, the sooner it’s done the better. It may still be a false alarm, they just have to check, if there’s any doubt, don’t they? Right, so you’ll take her back with you on Sunday?’

There was a silence as she listened to Julian’s response, and then Laura gave a huge sigh and went on: ‘She won’t want to come back again afterwards, you know. I feel awful now about getting impatient with her. What if her moods and rudeness are because she’s sick again? She told me today she feels more lonely down here than she did when she was ill. It really brought me up sharply. Yes, she was being stroppy, but even so …’ There was another pause, and then: ‘Well, she’d started demanding that we let her friend Grace come down to stay for a week – because I’ve got Nicky here, you know, so I suppose she feels left out.’

It didn’t take much guesswork to realise they were talking about Caroline and that there had been some bad news. They went on talking for a while, with Laura saying ‘Yes’ and ‘I agree’, and then finally she said: ‘OK then, I think that’s a good plan. Shall I call her down so you can talk to her now?’

Caroline came bounding down the stairs as soon as Laura yelled that her dad was on the phone. She looked excited.

‘I’m going to ask him if he can bring Grace back with him this weekend,’ she said. ‘I bet he’ll agree.’

‘Caroline, Daddy’s got something to tell you …’ Laura warned her, but the phone had already been taken out of her paw and Caroline was babbling excitedly to Julian about her idea for Grace to visit.

Laura and Nicky exchanged a look, and Nicky grasped Laura’s paw. Like me, she must have guessed what the conversation had meant.

‘What?’ Caroline suddenly demanded. ‘I’ve got to go back to the hospital? Why?’ Then she fell silent, the corners of her mouth turning down. ‘Oh,’ she said quietly. And then: ‘Yes. All right. I suppose so. OK. Bye, Dad.’

She handed the phone back to Laura, silently, scowling to herself.

‘It’s probably nothing to worry about, sweetheart,’ Laura began.

‘Not for you , maybe,’ Caroline shot back. ‘It’s me who’s got to go and have the horrible bone marrow thing done again. Why? They said I was better now. It’s not fair!’

‘No. You’re right, it isn’t. It’s very un fair. But we have to trust the doctors. There was apparently something slightly borderline in your blood test, which is why it’s taken longer than usual to hear back about it. They need to investigate it further. It might be nothing whatever to do with the leukaemia, but the biopsy is just to rule that out. Did Daddy tell you what he’s going to do?’

‘Yes, he’ll take me back with him on Sunday. That’s the only good thing about it. I can get away from this boring dump.’

‘You’ll have your biopsy done on Monday, and he’ll bring you back again.’ Laura paused, looking at Caroline’s face. ‘And if it’s OK with her parents, he’ll bring Grace back with you.’

‘Oh!’ She brightened up immediately. ‘Really? He didn’t say!’

‘No, well, he’s going to phone her mum and dad now, so he probably didn’t want to get your hopes up yet. But, well, I thought it would cheer you up to know that’s the plan. We’ll keep our fingers crossed, shall we?’

‘Yes. Oh, thanks, Laura! It’ll be so cool …’, and she was off again on a surge of excitement about having Grace to stay. Borrowing Laura’s phone, this time with her permission, she ran back upstairs to call her friend again.

Laura glanced at Nicky and shook her head. ‘It’s as if she’s forgotten about the possibility of the leukaemia recurring already! I hope I did the right thing, telling her about Grace.’

‘I think so. It’ll take her mind off it. I’m sure Sarah and Martin will agree to let her come – especially in the circumstances.’

‘Oh, Nicky!’ Laura said, wiping her eyes. ‘I’m so frightened for her. Please don’t let this be bad news. I can’t bear to think she’d have to go through all that again.’

‘Try to think positive,’ Nicky said, putting her arm round Laura. ‘At least you won’t have too long to wait. Come on, you need to be brave for Caroline now.’

‘And more patient with her.’

‘No. Then she’ll really worry that you believe she’s ill again!’ Nicky said, smiling. ‘I think it’s important for now that everything stays normal, don’t you? She waited a long time to be treated like a normal girl. Don’t change that now, unless you have to.’

They hugged each other then, and Laura wiped her eyes again and got up to make a cup of tea. I jumped up on Nicky’s lap. I wanted to be hugged too. I was just as worried about Caroline as they were, but I had nobody to talk to about it.

Julian took Nicky and Benjamin home that Sunday when he left with Caroline, who was looking pale and subdued now she knew the hospital appointment was the next day. Laura reminded her, as she kissed her goodbye, that she had Grace’s visit to look forward to, and she nodded and gave a little smile. For the next two days until Julian brought her back again with Grace, it was very quiet in the holiday cottage with just me, Laura and Jessica, apart from the times when Jessica was mewing at the top of her lungs, of course. Laura looked sad and worried, and seemed to keep forgetting I was there. I was very pleased to see Julian’s car arriving outside again when they came back.

‘How did it go?’ Laura said, the minute they walked in. I’d been shut in the kitchen, as usual, while the doors were opened and closed but I was listening from behind the kitchen door.

‘Fine,’ Julian said. ‘Caroline was very brave. We just have to wait for the result again now.’

‘Well done, Caroline,’ Laura said. ‘At least it’s all over now, and you’ve got Grace here to take your mind off it.’

‘My mind is off it,’ Caroline said. ‘I don’t want to think about it ever again. I’m not going to be ill again, and I’m not going back to that hospital anymore.’

‘Well, that’s a good attitude to have, but …’

‘Let’s go and play in my room, Grace!’ Caroline said without waiting for Laura to finish. ‘Come on, I’ll show you round!’

‘Where’s Charlie?’ I heard Grace say. ‘Can I say hello to him?’

Oh, at last! Someone remembered I was there! I meowed at her through the door, and then finally I was let out to join in the reunion.

‘Come on, Charlie, come upstairs with us!’ Caroline said, and all three of us bounded up to her bedroom, the two girls laughing excitedly.

‘I’m glad she’s OK,’ I heard Laura say a bit cautiously as we went.

‘Yes,’ Julian replied in a similar tone. ‘A bit over the top, though, if you know what I mean. All this hysterical excitement. I wonder if she’s covering up how she really feels.’

‘Scared?’

‘Yes. Of course.’

That night Caroline and Grace lay awake for half the night giggling, curled up together in Caroline’s bed. Every now and then I’d hear Julian or Laura saying ‘Shush! Keep the noise down! Go to sleep!’

Julian went back to work again the next day, and everything settled down a bit, but Caroline and Grace certainly didn’t keep their noise down. Grace had brought something with her that played music, loudly, and the girls took to singing along at the tops of their voices, sometimes dancing too, and making up their own songs. Sometimes I joined in. I think I sing quite nicely, but for some reason it always made the two girls fall about laughing, which was a bit hurtful.