Шейла Нортон - Charlie The Kitten Who Saved A Life

CHAPTER NINETEEN

When the day finally came for the vet to take the collar off me, I nearly jumped off his table with joy. I felt light and free and frisky as a … well, frisky as a little kitten, I suppose.

‘He certainly seems to have cheered up a lot since last week,’ the vet said, and Laura laughed.

‘He hasn’t been very happy about being kept indoors. It’s just lucky his friend Oliver has been visiting, to keep him company.’

‘Oliver, the pub cat? He’s a very unusual cat, that one, isn’t he? Seems to understand humans, somehow – and befriending another cat, too? That’s unusual in itself.’

‘No it isn’t!’ I meowed at him. ‘You humans just think it’s unusual because you don’t understand us . We often make friends with other cats actually.’

But, of course, even vets don’t bother to learn Cat, do they, although you’d have thought it should be part of the job. So he completely ignored me, and busied himself instead with checking my leg and my eye, and putting a nasty, cold hard object into a very personal part of my body to take my temperature.

‘Well, I’m pleased to say that he’s on the mend,’ he said eventually. ‘The leg’s healed well, his eye has cleared up, and he seems to be putting some weight back on. He should be fine to go outside again now and get back to normal. Just bring him back in if you’re at all worried, won’t you.’

‘Of course. Thank you.’

‘I’m just glad it’s been a happy ending for the little fellow,’ he said, giving me a stroke. ‘Hard to imagine how he survived while he was missing, but I reckon he lost a few of his nine lives in the process.’

‘No, I didn’t!’ I protested. I’m pretty sure I would have known about it if I had!

‘Come on then, Charlie,’ said Laura, picking me up and putting me in the horrible basket to drive me home. ‘You can go off and play with Oliver now, to your heart’s content.’

Play? We had business to attend to! But of course, in the meantime, I was certainly looking forward to a run around outside. I’d noticed from the kitchen window that there was quite a layer of fallen leaves now on my lawn, and I was itching to get out there and dance around in them. I really wanted Caroline to come outside and play with me, but as usual, after school she was too tired to do much apart from lying on the sofa. I hadn’t told Ollie yet of my worries about her, but I knew he loved her too. At the moment he was far too concerned about Nicky to think of anything else, but I decided that as soon as I’d helped him with that situation, I’d ask his advice about Caroline.

After my dinner that evening, I trotted off down the lane into the village, as arranged, to meet Oliver at the pub where he lives. I jumped up onto the windowsill, pleased to find my injured leg was working so much better now, and meowed through the glass until he saw me.

‘Is Daniel in there?’ I asked when Oliver appeared from his cat flap in the back yard.

‘Yes, as usual. Thanks for coming. You look more normal now.’

‘I should hope so, without that thing round my neck. So what are we going to do? Leap on his lap and yowl in his ear till he goes home?’

He stared at me. ‘That’s a bit aggressive, isn’t it?’

I blinked. Was it?

‘Not where I’ve come from,’ I said, thinking back to some of the tactics the feral boys used.

‘Charlie, wherever you’ve been recently, please remember you’re back in polite cat society now,’ he admonished me. ‘We don’t go in for jumping on humans and yowling at them, around here – not unless they’ve hurt us, of course.’

‘No, all right, fair enough,’ I said, duly chastised. ‘So, what do you say we should do? Sing to him? Blink him kisses?’

‘No need for sarcasm, either. I thought perhaps we should bring Nicky to the pub and let him see how upset she is.’

‘How’s that going to work? She’ll be looking after her human kitten, Benjamin.’

‘I know. She can bring him with her. When he sees her with the baby he’ll remember his responsibilities and feel ashamed of himself.’

I didn’t want to argue with Oliver, but it sounded pretty unlikely to me. For a start, I wasn’t convinced we’d be able to persuade Nicky to bring the baby out to the pub at night, and even if she did, I suspected Daniel wouldn’t be impressed.

‘What’s wrong?’ Oliver said, as I hadn’t replied. ‘Are you not up for it after all?’

‘Of course I am. Come on then, let’s give it a go,’ I said.

I followed him down the road to Nicky and Daniel’s house, and once again I showed off the strength of my newly healed leg by jumping up onto the nearest windowsill. Oliver jumped up beside me and we put our noses up against the cold glass.

‘She’s there, sitting on the sofa,’ Oliver said. ‘Come on, let’s make a noise and get her to let us in.’

‘Hang on, who’s that?’ I said. A tall, thin male with lots of facial fur was sitting next to Nicky on the sofa. ‘Is it her father?’

‘No, I don’t think so. I think it’s the male who lives next door. Put your ear against the glass, Charlie,’ Oliver said, doing the same himself. ‘Let’s try to hear what they’re saying.’

In fact I could only hear the male’s voice at first. Nicky didn’t seem to be saying a lot.

‘I prefer Thai food myself,’ he was saying. He had a peculiar kind of smile on his face, and he seemed to be leaning too close to Nicky. She didn’t look very comfortable and was edging further along the sofa. ‘I know a nice little Thai restaurant in town. The food is delicious, and it’s a really nice atmosphere in there. Do you like Thai? I think you’d enjoy it. Maybe I could take you there one of these evenings when you’re all on your own.’

Nicky gave a funny little laugh that didn’t sound quite right. ‘I’ve got Benjamin asleep upstairs, remember.’

‘Can’t you get a babysitter? We wouldn’t have to be out late. I’d drive you.’

‘No, Kevin, I can’t. It wouldn’t be right.’

‘So is it right that he spends every evening at the pub? You’ve already told me you’re fed up with being left on your own.’

‘I shouldn’t have said that.’

‘You wouldn’t have said it if you didn’t mean it. I’m glad you felt you could confide in me, Nicky. Glad to be here for you, as a friend, you know, someone you can talk to. You obviously need that, and God knows you deserve it. You work so hard, looking after Benjamin all on your own, as well as minding other people’s children.’

‘It’s my job. It’s what I do. Dan works hard too.’

‘Yes, but he’s not being fair to you, is he? You deserve to have a bit of fun in your life too. You need someone to take you out, treat you a bit special and show you some attention. Everyone needs that, don’t they?’

He reached out a paw to take hold of one of hers, but she moved it away, staring straight ahead of her, going a bit red in the face.

‘Don’t, Kevin,’ she said. ‘I … look, I’ll go and make us both a cup of tea, shall I?’

She got up, but as she did he reached out for her paw again, giving it a little stroke.

‘I’m not here to upset you in any way, Nicky. I’m just trying to be a friend to you.’

‘I know, and I appreciate it.’ She shifted from one back paw to the other, still looking uncomfortable. ‘So: tea or coffee?’

‘I’ve heard enough,’ Oliver said, jumping down from the windowsill. ‘It’s bad, Charlie, very bad. Worse than I thought. They’re on the verge of mating, I’m afraid. It’s the same as what happens with unneutered cats when they’re getting randy.’

‘Really?’ It was nothing whatever like the kind of mating I’d witnessed among my feral cat friends. There was no long drawn-out meowing and paw brushing involved in that, unfortunately, although I think their females might have liked it a bit better if there had been.