Шейла Нортон - Charlie The Kitten Who Saved A Life

‘That’s just great ,’ she said, although I didn’t think it was, at all. ‘Not only are you taking me away from all my friends for a whole month , just before I have to say goodbye to them forever to go to that stupid new school – but now you’re even taking my cat away from me! It’s so unfair!’

I agreed. It was. I didn’t want to go to the cattery. I wondered if I should run away before they took me there. Caroline started to cry, and I joined in.

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ said Julian. ‘What do you want me to do? We can’t take him with us.’

‘Can’t we?’ Laura said quietly. She put a paw on Julian’s arm. ‘It might be a better option.’

‘How?’ he demanded. ‘You can’t just take a cat to a strange place. He’ll run off and get lost. Is that what you want?’ he asked, turning to Caroline.

‘No!’ she said. ‘I don’t want any of it! I don’t want to come! I’ll stay at home with Charlie.’

‘Julian, I’m sure we could manage it,’ Laura said. ‘He’s been neutered, so he’s not so likely to stray.’

‘But we’d still have to keep all the doors and windows shut the whole time – and in summer too! It’s just not realistic. He’ll get out and get lost.’

‘We’ll have to make sure he doesn’t.’

Laura and Julian were looking at each other. I could tell they were more worried about Caroline being upset than about me suffering the stress of the cattery, but just thinking about being shut in one of those cages, I let out another loud yowl of distress and finally Julian gave a little laugh – the type that sounded like he wasn’t really amused – and said:

‘All right, all right. I give in. We’ll take him with us.’ He turned to Caroline again. ‘But you’ll have to play your part in keeping him safe.’

‘I will,’ she said. She nuzzled my head with her cheek and I purred happily. Thank goodness. No cage. ‘I will, because Charlie’s the only one around here who cares about me.’

With which she carried me upstairs to her room and we lay on her bed together.

So it seemed like I was going on holiday, whatever that meant. I’d have preferred to stay here and play with my friend Oliver. But I never get a say in anything!

I had mixed feelings about baby Jessica. When they first brought her into the house, everyone, even Caroline, was ridiculously excited about her, but I didn’t seem to be allowed anywhere near her.

‘Keep Charlie away from her,’ Laura said on the very first day they brought her home. ‘You hear terrible things about cats and new babies.’

I felt quite upset by this. I mean, it was true I didn’t like her constant high-pitched mewing, but I’d never have done anything to hurt her – she was only a tiny human kitten. Sometimes she smelt nice and milky, but at other times, when Laura or Julian were doing things with her bottom that made me feel violently ill, I didn’t want to be anywhere near her. I hoped it wouldn’t be long before they trained her to use a litter tray. Because of Jessica, I started being shut in the kitchen quite often, and if I protested by meowing loudly about it, I got told off. That seemed quite unfair because nobody told the baby off for crying, and I think she was louder than me.

By the time the holiday was being discussed, I suppose I was getting used to the situation. But Caroline’s excitement about having a baby sister had completely worn off. That day after the argument about the cattery, she poured out her heart to me as we lay on her bed together.

‘I’m fed up with it, Charlie. I can’t imagine why I was looking forward to the new baby coming. Daddy’s never got time for me now. I feel like I’m just in the way.’

I knew how she felt. Only the previous day I’d been shouted at for bringing a nice fat woodpigeon in through the cat flap. I thought they’d be proud of me, as it was the biggest one I’d ever caught, but oh no, there was a lot of squawking and carrying on about germs and the baby , and Laura shooed me back outside while she got rid of my prize trophy.

‘At least they’re not saying you’re a danger to the baby and shutting you out in case you attack her,’ I pointed out to Caroline now, in Cat, but of course, she still hadn’t bothered to learn our language so she just stroked me and nuzzled the top of my head.

‘And as for this holiday !’ she went on crossly. ‘It’s going to be awful! Thank goodness Daddy’s finally agreed to let you come with us. At least I’ll have you to keep me company. I’m going to go mad, stuck in some boring place with no friends, for a whole month .’

Listening to Caroline’s complaints, I must admit I was beginning to feel quite anxious about this holiday thing. Nobody apart from Julian seemed to think it was a good idea, and even he was getting stressed whenever it was mentioned. I wondered whether my humans were ever going to start being happy and cheerful again like they used to be.

One day soon afterwards, I was sitting on the kitchen windowsill washing my whiskers after my dinner when I heard raised voices again in the dining room.

‘Eat your dinner, Caroline,’ Julian was saying.

‘Don’t want it.’

‘What’s wrong with it?’ Laura said. ‘You’ve always liked spaghetti bolognese.’

‘Well, I don’t now!’ Caroline sounded like she might be going to cry. ‘I keep telling you, I don’t like meat anymore. I’m not hungry.’

‘You’re hungry enough when it comes to biscuits and sweets!’ Laura retorted. ‘We’ll have to stop all those treats if you can’t eat your dinners.’

‘You’ll make yourself ill if you don’t eat properly,’ Julian told her.

‘Maybe I am ill!’ Caroline said. ‘Maybe I’ve got the leukaemia again. Not that you’d care!’

I’d stopped washing, sitting very still while I listened to all of this. I didn’t like to think that Caroline might be ill again. I don’t think Julian or Laura liked it either, because after she’d gone off upstairs to her bedroom again, they were talking very quietly together about her hospital appointment in London the following day. Apparently Julian was taking her there instead of going to work, and he and Laura both sounded worried about it.

‘Some of the symptoms are just the same as before,’ Julian said. ‘The tiredness, pallor, loss of appetite …’

‘But she’s so cross all the time, too!’ Laura said. ‘I can’t seem to get through to her anymore. I know she’s worried about starting the new school. Do you think it’s that?’

‘Surely not. She’ll soon settle there when she starts. No, I think she’s probably as frightened as we are, about the thought of being ill again. That’s why she’s being so snappy. We should try to be understanding.’

‘Well, I’m glad you’re seeing the consultant tomorrow. Let’s hope he can reassure us.’

They went off early in the morning in Julian’s car to catch the train from Great Broomford. I hung around indoors for a while, thinking Laura and Jessica might like my company. I’d found an old toy mouse of mine behind my bed, and after I’d got bored with playing with it on my own in the kitchen, I thought it might be nice to let Jessica have a turn with it. I trotted into the lounge with it in my mouth. Laura was sitting in one of the armchairs, reading the paper, so she didn’t see me come in, and Jessica was lying on a blanket on the floor, staring at the ceiling and making funny little noises as she kicked her back paws in the air. I dropped the toy mouse onto her face and waited to see if she’d realise she was supposed to play with it, but her eyes went wide with surprise and she shook her head so that it fell off onto the blanket next to her. I sat down next to her head and waited. She smelt nice and clean and I quite fancied lying down with her and seeing if she’d stroke me. But just then, Laura turned a page of her paper and glanced down at the baby.