Шейла Нортон - Charlie The Kitten Who Saved A Life

‘Yes. I can’t expect a little kitt—cat … like you to understand such things, but I can assure you we need to move fast.’

‘What are we going to do, then? Rush in and jump him? Go for his throat?’

He gasped. ‘Charlie, what in the name of all that’s warm and cosy has come over you since you went missing? We don’t go for the throat of a human, even if we don’t like what they’re doing.’

‘Sorry. I keep forgetting myself.’

‘Yes, well, the sooner you remember yourself the better. No, what we’re going to do is go back to the pub and persuade Daniel to come straight home, right this minute, before it’s too late.’

‘How are we going to do that? Jump on …?’ I stopped quickly, seeing the look he was giving me. ‘Whisper in his ear?’ I tried instead.

‘We have to walk backwards and forwards to and from the pub door,’ Oliver said, as we started to run back down the road. ‘Watch me, and do what I do, OK? I taught Daniel to understand a bit of Cat body language when there were some important issues last year. It’ll soon come back to him. As long as he hasn’t had too many of those drinks of beer. It seems to make humans extremely forgetful.’

In no time at all, we were jumping through the cat flap into the back room of the pub.

‘Follow me,’ Oliver said, striding ahead of me into the main room where everyone seemed to be talking very loudly or laughing and lifting their glasses of drink to their mouths. ‘There he is, by the window. Now remember, watch me and do what I do.’

‘OK.’ I followed him to where Daniel was sitting with a couple of other males. They had drinks on the table in front of them and were deep in conversation.

‘I still say West Ham should’ve been allowed that goal,’ one of the other males said.

‘Don’t talk rubbish, man,’ Daniel said, laughing. Then he glanced down and said, ‘Oh, there you are, Ollie. And who’s this you’ve brought home with you? It’s little Charlie Kitten, isn’t it?’

‘I’m not a little kitten now!’ I meowed crossly, but Oliver gave me a look and hissed:

‘Stay focused on the job, Charlie!’

‘We heard he’d been found. He looks a bit skinny, doesn’t he?’ one of Daniel’s friends said, bending down to stroke me.

I could sense that Oliver was getting frustrated.

‘Never mind about all that!’ he meowed. ‘Daniel needs to come with us.’ And he proceeded to stalk across to the main door of the pub, his tail waving in the air. ‘Come on!’

I copied him, meowing as I went, waving my tail.

‘What’s up with them?’ the other friend asked. ‘Do they want to go out? George!’ he called across to Ollie’s owner, who ran the pub. ‘What’s up with your cat? Has he been fed?’

‘Oh, for mewing out loud!’ Oliver said to me. ‘They’re so slow to catch on. Come on, do it again.’

We turned round, ran back to Daniel’s table, meowing loudly, and once again walked towards the door, looking back at him. Suddenly, he put down his glass, staring at us.

‘I think they want me to go with them,’ he said.

‘What? Are you serious? Did they talk to you, or what?’ one of the others laughed.

‘In a way, yes. Oliver’s done it before. He has … some kind of strange powers.’ Ignoring the sniggers from his friends, he pushed back his chair and got up. ‘It might be an emergency,’ he said, suddenly looking a bit frightened. He threw some money down on the table. ‘Sorry, lads – got to go.’

‘See?’ Oliver meowed to me as he opened the pub door and we all ran out into the night. ‘I told you we could do it.’

‘Yes. Well done.’ We started to run, ahead of Daniel, leading him back along the road to his own house.

‘What is it, boys?’ he panted, running after us. ‘It’s not … not Nicky, is it? Oh my God, please don’t let it be something wrong with Benjamin? God, no, please, don’t let anything have happened to them, while I was …’ He broke off, and when I looked round I saw him wiping his face with his paw. In the light of the street lamps he looked white and scared. ‘What the hell have I been doing?’ he muttered. ‘I’ll never forgive myself if …’

But he didn’t get any further, because by now we were at his front door and he’d already got his key in his paw. He opened the door and was just about to charge in, when we all heard the sound of voices coming from the lounge. I glanced at Oliver. Kevin with the furry face was obviously still here. Daniel froze where he was on the doorstep, listening.

‘But why not?’ Kevin was saying in a soft, wheedling kind of voice. ‘We’re getting along so well together, aren’t we? And let’s face it, your marriage is … well, it’s pretty much on the rocks, isn’t it? You can’t deny …’

I heard Daniel gasp. He took a couple of steps into the hallway, but stopped dead again as we heard Nicky interrupting Kevin. This time her voice was a lot louder than before, and a lot crosser.

‘That’s enough, Kevin! I think you’d better go.’

‘Oh, come on, Nicky! You know you want to …’

‘No, I don’t! I don’t know how I’ve given you the impression that I was interested in you in that way, but if I have, I’m very sorry. I did think we got on well, as neighbours, as friends perhaps, and I’ve enjoyed your company in the evenings. It’s true Daniel’s been neglecting me recently—’

Daniel gasped again, and put his paw to his head. He looked like he was going to fall over.

‘—and yes, it has made me sad, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped loving him. And it doesn’t mean I’m going to jump into the arms of another man, just because you’ve told me about your divorce, and let me confide in you. I shouldn’t have done that. Daniel and I will sort out our problems. I don’t want you to come round anymore.’

‘Oh, surely there’s no need to be like that,’ he said. ‘I think—’

But we never found out what he thought. Because at that point Daniel suddenly seemed to burst into life again and, throwing his keys on the hall table, he raced into the lounge and skidded to a halt within nose-touching distance of furry-faced Kevin, who staggered backwards away from Nicky with a look of surprise.

‘You heard my wife,’ Daniel said in a growly voice like an angry dog. ‘Go.’

‘No need for that, mate,’ Kevin protested, waving his paws in front of him as if he was smoothing something down. ‘Nicky and I have just been having a nice friendly chat over a cup of tea. While you were neglecting her . As she said.’

‘Dan, I didn’t say … well, I didn’t mean …’ Nicky was saying. ‘Don’t! Dan, leave him alone. Don’t hit him! It was my fault, I must have given him the wrong impression.’

I felt my fur standing on end. Daniel had got hold of Kevin by his jumper and had his paw screwed up into a fist, like a weapon. Kevin’s eyes were wide with fear, and he was making a stuttering noise that sounded like ‘Uh … uh … uh …’

‘Dan!’ Nicky squealed more loudly. ‘Don’t! It won’t help! Please don’t do something you’ll regret.’

‘Sparrows alive!’ I meowed.

I wasn’t going to wait to see what happened. Nicky was one of my favourite humans, and Daniel was making her upset, even more upset than she’d been with Kevin. I wasn’t going to stand for it. I wasn’t a timid little kitten anymore, I was a fighter, a rescuer, a cat who sorted things out and got things done. Just as Daniel was raising his paw to hit Kevin right in his furry face, I leapt up onto the sofa, threw myself at Daniel and clung to his jacket by my claws, yowling in his ear.

‘Stop it, for the love of catnip!’ I shouted. ‘No fighting! Nicky doesn’t like it.’