Шейла Нортон - Charlie The Kitten Who Saved A Life

‘Charlie, stop caterwauling !’ Caroline said on one occasion, making Grace laugh even more. I’d never heard that word before but I guessed it wasn’t complimentary. Even Laura was laughing, but then she stopped and, still smiling, said, ‘I’m glad you’re having fun, girls, but please keep it down a bit when Jessica’s asleep.’

When they weren’t singing and dancing, the girls were down at the beach. They didn’t have to come home for Jessica’s feeds or naps anymore, as Laura was happy for them to be out together on their own, as long as they came back at the time she’d told them. One day they were apparently late, though, and got told off.

‘You must come back on time, or I won’t be able to let you go out on your own anymore,’ Laura said. ‘I’m responsible for Grace’s safety while she’s here, Caroline, as well as yours.’

‘It’s just ten minutes !’ she retorted. ‘Chill, Laura, for God’s sake!’

Laura sighed. I wondered if she was finding it hard to be more patient with Caroline, like she’d said she would.

‘Please don’t speak to me like that, Caroline. It isn’t clever, it’s just rude. You can both go upstairs and get changed now – dinner’s nearly ready.’

‘All right, but I don’t want any meat.’

‘Well, it’s take it or leave it, I’m afraid. I’m not messing around making two different meals.’

The girls went up to their room, and I ran after them.

‘See what I mean?’ Caroline was muttering to Grace. ‘She’s, like, totally unfair to me.’

‘Don’t worry, my mum and dad are just the same. They think everything my sister Rose does is amazing, but me, I can’t do a thing right these days.’

‘But Laura was always really nice to me before Jessica was born.’

‘Maybe the younger one is always the favourite,’ Grace said.

‘That’s what I think as well. If she and Daddy were really so worried about the leukaemia, you’d think they’d be nicer to me. It’s bad enough they’re making me go to a different school from you and all the others! I don’t want to go. Sometimes I feel like running away from home.’

‘Me too. I don’t want you to go to St Margaret’s, either. I’m really scared about starting at Great Broomford High without you. But when I try to talk to Mum and Dad about it, they’re just, like, Oh, you’ll soon get used to it. They don’t care about my feelings at all.’

‘If we ran away together before next week, when we’re supposed to be going home, we wouldn’t even have to go to high school,’ Caroline said quietly. ‘And I wouldn’t have to go back to that horrible hospital ever again.’

‘Unless they found us. Then we’d be in even more trouble.’

‘Yeah.’

They sat on the bed together, holding paws, looking so sad I wanted to mew myself. But to be honest, I was too shocked. You can probably imagine how worried I was. Half-grown kittens like Caroline and Grace, talking about running away from home! They’d never survive out there. They weren’t used to hunting for their own food, and goodness only knew whose territory they might wander into.

‘You mustn’t do it!’ I meowed at them. ‘It doesn’t matter if your adults get cross with you – they get cross with me, too, but I’m not leaving home, am I?’

Grace finally gave a little giggle. ‘We’re making Charlie sad too,’ she said, jumping up and starting to change out of her sandy clothes. ‘Come on, Caro, let’s have dinner and then we can write some more songs.’

‘OK.’ Caroline grinned. ‘I’m so glad you’re here. Everything feels better now I’ve got you to talk to.’

But that, of course, was before the Really Bad Thing happened.

*

It was the following day, and as usual the two girls had been to the beach. When they got home it was still warm and sunny, so they went outside to play in the garden. I watched them from my kitchen window as they danced around, shrieking and laughing, pretending to be pop stars , whatever they are. It was nice to see them being happy.

‘I’m going in to get your iPad,’ Caroline yelled, and she burst in through the kitchen door.

I heard her race upstairs to their bedroom, and back down again, turning the music thing on as she went back into the garden.

‘You’ve left the door open,’ I meowed to her, but she didn’t answer. She was already running across the grass to Grace, the music blaring.

I jumped down from the windowsill and stood in the doorway, watching them.

‘You’ve left the door open!’ I called again, but neither of them looked round.

Just then, a stupid pigeon landed on the lawn, right near where they were sitting, and before I even realised what I was doing, I’d shot out of the door and across the grass after him, startling him into taking off again, with a clumsy flapping of his silly wings. Well, it was my job. And very satisfying it was too.

‘Charlie!’ Caroline screamed, making me jump almost out of my fur. She lunged at me, grabbing me round my tummy so that I wriggled and protested. ‘What are you doing out here? Oh, God, I left the door open, Grace! Quick, Charlie, let’s get you back inside.’

But needless to say, Laura had already heard the commotion and was coming out of the kitchen door after us, looking cross.

‘What on earth are you doing?’ she said to Caroline. ‘He could have run away and got lost!’

‘I know!’ Caroline said, starting to mew. ‘I’m sorry, Laura, I didn’t realise I’d left the door open.’

‘Well, you should have realised! Daddy warned you, Caroline, about keeping Charlie safe. It was you who insisted on bringing him down here with us.’

‘I know!’ she said again. ‘I’ll be more careful, I promise. Please don’t tell Daddy or he’ll take Charlie home and put him in the cattery.’

‘Don’t say that!’ I meowed. I was being carried back into the kitchen now. I must say I’d enjoyed my brief couple of minutes of freedom, though. And I didn’t like Caroline getting the blame. I knew I wasn’t supposed to go out, after all. It was the stupid pigeon’s fault.

‘Well, if it happens again, he will have to go to the cattery,’ Laura said, closing the kitchen door firmly. ‘That’s if he doesn’t end up lost, or run over by a car.’

As you can probably imagine, I had my paws over my ears at this point.

‘I said I was sorry!’ Caroline mewed. ‘I didn’t mean it!’

Laura shook her head. ‘Go and play upstairs,’ she said, as she walked away.

I followed the girls up to their bedroom once again. Caroline was mewing properly now.

‘They don’t want me around, I’m always getting the blame for everything. I might just as well run away!’ she sobbed to Grace.

‘If you do, I’ll come with you,’ Grace said.

‘So, shall we actually do it, Grace?’ They looked at each other for a moment, Caroline still sniffing with tears. ‘If we do it now, we won’t have to start at our new schools. It’s nearly the end of August already.’

‘Yeah, let’s do it. I don’t want to go back home anyway.’

‘And I don’t want to stay where I’m always getting moaned at. But where can we go?’

‘I’ve got an idea,’ Grace said. ‘I was thinking about it after we talked yesterday. I’ve got this great-aunt called Barbara – she’s quite old, but she must be nice, ’cos she sends me and Rose money every year for our birthdays and Christmas. She lives in Duncombe. It’s the next village along the coast, I saw it when Daddy showed me on the map where Mudditon is. I bet she wouldn’t mind letting us stay with her.’

‘But your parents will guess that’s where we are.’