Дженни Дейл - Felix Тhe Fluffy Kitten Аnd Other Kitten Tales

“Wow!” breathed Jo as she rushed in too, not wanting to be left out.

Nell sat crouched in the corner on her threadbare towel and looked at Tom’s mum.

Tom’s mum looked at Nell. “Did Nell do this?” she demanded.

“Not all of it,” miaowed Nell, beginning to lick her paws, which were sticky with egg. All this noise and fuss – she wished more than anything that she was still safely asleep in her basket up in Tom’s room.

“Well, Tom? Did she?” asked Mrs Morgan sternly.

“Sort of . . . I suppose . . .” Tom said reluctantly.

“I thought so,” said his mum. “That kitten is nothing but trouble! I don’t think she’ll ever make a good farm cat. We won’t have a farm left if she carries on like this!” Mrs Morgan sighed. “I really think Nell may have to go and live somewhere else,” she said quietly.

“No, Mum!” cried Tom.

Nell looked down at her eggy paws, feeling very miserable.

“But Mum, Nell didn’t break the crockery,” said Hattie. “I knocked it all on the floor when I slipped on the eggs.”

“And I’m sure Nell didn’t mean to break the eggs, Mum,” said Tom. “Please give her another chance. Please !”

“Please!” said Hattie and Jo.

Mrs Morgan looked at the three pleading faces. “All right,” she said, sighing again. “One more chance. Just one! But that’s it, OK?”

“OK, Mum,” said Tom, smiling in relief.

While Hattie and Jo helped Tom clear up the broken eggs and smashed crockery, Mrs Morgan went out to feed the pigs.

Nell sat quietly under the radiator and carried on cleaning her paws.

The kitchen was soon clean and tidy again. Hattie and Jo ran off outside to play.

Tom decided he ought to try and get back in his mum’s good books. He’d go and help her with the pigs. “Back soon, Nell,” he said. “Be good.”

Nell stopped licking her paws and watched the door close behind Tom. Then she watched it swing open again as it came off the latch.

Nell sat and looked at the slight opening in the kitchen door. Her nose twitched. It was such a lovely warm day and the farmyard sent such interesting smells wafting her way.

She sat there a bit longer. Then she decided. She could be just as good sitting by the open door, couldn’t she? She crept over to the doorway and poked her little pink nose out into the sunshine . . .

Chapter Four

Over in Poppy’s pen, Tom and his mum were giving Poppy and her piglets some clean straw to lie on. Suddenly a burst of squawking came from the duck pond.

Tom’s heart thumped quickly. Nell! He rushed out just in time to see Nell scooting round the pond, chasing all the ducks into the water. He caught the naughty kitten almost at once, but by then Tom’s mum had seen what had happened.

“I’ll take Nell inside and shut her in my room,” said Tom quickly.

Mrs Morgan nodded crossly. “And make sure she stays there this time,” she snapped. “I’ve had quite enough of that kitten today.”

Nell could tell that she was in trouble again. Tom took her up to his room and played with her for a while, but Nell could see that he was thinking about something else. After a while, she went over to snooze in the warm sunshine by the window.

Nell was right, Tom was thinking about something. He was thinking about Nell’s last chance and hoping that his mum did not mean what she had said.

But that evening, when Tom was on his way to clean his teeth, he heard his mum and dad talking in the kitchen.

“Tom will be very upset,” Tom’s dad was saying. “He’s become especially fond of Nell.”

“I know,” sighed Tom’s mum, “but that kitten is never going to settle down here. It would be kinder to let Julie take Nell now so that she can get used to a new home while she’s still young.”

“Maybe . . .” said Mr Morgan. “But let’s give it just a little bit longer, just for Tom.”

“You’re a big softie,” Tom heard his mum say. “OK, one last chance, then.”

Tom rushed back to Nell. He picked her up and hugged her tightly. “From now on you really, really have to stop being so naughty, Nell,” he told her. “Otherwise you have to go and live with Auntie Julie.”

Nell was having a strange dream about being hugged by a talking pig. She gave a muffled miaow.

Tom smiled. He loved Auntie Julie, but there was no way she was going to have Nell . . .

The next day was hot and sunny. Tom’s mum and dad were busy up in the fields turning the hay so that it dried in the sunshine.

Nell was sitting quietly on Tom’s windowsill, gazing out at the sunny farmyard. She stuck her pink nose right up against the window and wished she was outside too, having fun.

Her eyes followed Tom as he walked up to the field where Mr and Mrs Morgan were working. Nell could see Hattie and Jo in the far corner of the field, where they were allowed to play with the hay. They had built a big pile and were jumping into it. It looked like fun!

And now Tom was joining in. Nell yawned and stretched. She wanted some fun too!

She jumped down from the windowsill and went downstairs to explore. But the kitchen door was firmly shut. And so was the door to the sitting-room.

Nell scampered back upstairs. She looked in the bathroom. Nothing much to play with in there. The next room she came to looked far more interesting . . .

When lunchtime arrived, Mrs Morgan called Tom, Hattie and Jo over. “Hay monsters!” she laughed, as they arrived, picking bits of hay out of their hair and clothes.

“Can I let Nell out for a while, Mum?” Tom asked, as they all walked back to the house together. “I’ll stand and watch her, to make sure she doesn’t get into any trouble.”

Mrs Morgan nodded. “As long as you do watch her,” she said.

Tom smiled back then glanced up at his bedroom window to see if Nell was still looking out. There was no sign of her. Then something caught his eye in the next window along, his mum and dad’s bedroom. Tom couldn’t quite believe what he saw. Outside it was beautiful sunshine, but inside his mum and dad’s room it was snowing.

Chapter Five

“What on earth . . . ?” gasped Mrs Morgan. She had seen it too and began to rush towards the house.

Tom hurried behind her with his dad and sisters. He had an awful feeling that this was something to do with Nell . . .

Mrs Morgan marched through the kitchen and up the stairs with Tom hot on her heels. She threw open the bedroom door.

Tom squeezed past her into the room. He was right. There in the middle of the big bed, surrounded by a cloud of white feathers, was Nell. She was busily shaking a pillow as though it was a huge white mouse. The other pillow looked crumpled and empty – its feathers already floating around the room.

Nell looked up, saw Tom and was about to purr – but sneezed instead. Then she saw Tom’s mum. Mrs Morgan’s face was very red and fierce-looking. Nell knew that she was in big trouble. She jumped off the bed, shot out of the room and hid in her basket in Tom’s bedroom.

“They’re my best pillows. I don’t believe it. I just don’t!” shouted Mrs Morgan.

“Mum, please, she was bored,” Tom pleaded. “I should have left her a toy to play with.”

“No, Tom,” Mrs Morgan replied. “She’s just too naughty and this is the last straw!”

Nell sat in her basket and listened miserably to the fuss going on next door. Soon she heard the sound of Mrs Morgan’s footsteps going downstairs. Then Tom came in and picked her up.

“Oh, Nell!” he said sadly. “You’ve really done it this time. Mum’s on the phone to Auntie Julie.”

Mrs Morgan’s voice came floating up the stairs. “I’m so cross! I’m going to have to buy new pillows, Julie . . .” she was saying. “Yes, terrible . . . Tomorrow morning will be fine . . . Thanks, Julie . . . Bye . . . Bye . . .”