Холли Вебб - A Kitten Called Tiger

Ava nodded. “I don’t think he’s big enough to get out of the garden yet, though. Megan’s walls are too high and there’s no holes underneath, because she doesn’t want Charlie and Max escaping. And there’s the wall between our garden and the alleyway on the other side. Tiger’s not big enough to jump on to that.”

“I don’t think it’s going to be long,” Mum murmured. “He’s such a good climber.”

“I know.” Ava sighed.

“This is really nice, Gran.” Ava nibbled a piece of popcorn and snuggled up next to Grandma Shirley. “We should do this more often!”

“Definitely,” her gran agreed. “We just have to persuade your mum and dad. It’s very special for them to have a day out together.”

“Shh!” Lucy glared at them. “Don’t talk!”

Ava and Gran exchanged a look. Because Lucy was the littlest, she seemed to think she had to be extra bossy.

“Where’s Tiger?” Bel asked, in a whisper. “I wanted him to sit on me while we watch the film.”

Ava smiled at her. “Do you want me to go and get him? He’s in his basket.”

“Please!” Bel whispered back. Gran was smiling, too – she loved Tiger. She’d told Ava she thought he was the cleverest kitten she’d ever seen.

Ava hurried into the kitchen but there was no stripey kitten in the basket. She looked around the room – she even checked the top of the door, just in case. Tiger seemed to find pawholds where she couldn’t even imagine them. He must have gone upstairs, she thought, or perhaps he was out in the garden. Now he’d been allowed out for a few weeks, they left the cat flap unlocked in the daytime so he could go out by himself. She opened the back door and leaned out, calling, “Tiger! Tiger!”

She’d expected that he would leap out of the bushes by the back door. He loved lurking in there, watching the birds hopping about in the branches.

“Tiger!” Ava called again. But there was no answering mew, only Charlie and Max barking in the garden next door. Barking a lot, actually, Ava thought, wondering what was the matter. Megan worked on Saturdays, in one of the department stores in town, so the dogs were on their own.

“Hey, Charlie! Hey, Max,” she called over the wall. “Shh… What’s wrong?”

It was as if the dogs didn’t even hear her. They just kept on barking.

Ava bit her lip, suddenly worried. She dashed back indoors and up the stairs, checking all the bedrooms to see if Tiger was curled up on someone’s bed. But he wasn’t. Ava leaned out of Lucy and Bel’s bedroom window, trying to look down into Megan’s garden but the wall was in the way. She could only see the back end of the garden and she knew the dogs were nearer the house – she’d heard them close to the back door.

Ava dug her nails into her palms, trying to stop herself panicking. She didn’t know that Tiger was in next-door’s garden. How could he be? He wasn’t big enough to get over that huge wall and there were no gaps that he could have squeezed through. It couldn’t be Tiger that Charlie and Max were barking at.

Ava wasn’t completely sure, though. Not sure enough.

Tiger had been right down at the bottom of the garden, stalking a blackbird. It had been cheeky enough to flutter down on to the grass right in front of him. The kitten had been so surprised he almost fell over his own paws but as soon as he realized what was happening, he sank into a hunting crouch. He had seen birds hopping about in the bushes before but never one so close up. He inched forwards, hardly breathing, creeping nearer and nearer. Then, all of a sudden, the bird spotted him and shot into the air with a frantic beating of wings. Tiger dived after it but the bird was too fast. It was gone before he landed, up into the scrubby lilac that grew against the wall.

Tiger scrambled after the bird, and it squawked furiously at him and fluttered away over the wall.

He looked up as it flew off, with his ears laid back. He had been so close. Tiger clambered the rest of the way up the lilac, on to the wall, but the bird had disappeared. Then he gazed around curiously. He had never climbed on to the top of the wall before. He was high up enough to see all along the garden – and into next-door’s garden. A whole new place to explore!

He paced along the bricks, wondering if there were any other cats down there. A huge white cat had appeared in his own garden a couple of days before and hissed at him as though he wasn’t meant to be there. He had been furious and scared all at the same time. But then Bel and Ava had come outside and started shouting, and the white cat had dashed away.

The new garden seemed quite still, so he sprang down on to the grass and began to wander about, sniffing curiously at the plants. He was just investigating the tiny pond next to the patio when there was a sudden bang, followed by an ear-splitting series of barks.

Charlie and Max came shooting out of their dog flap, barking so loudly that Tiger just froze. He stood perched at the edge of the pond, trembling in fright.

Tiger had seen the dogs before, out of the window – he’d even heard Charlie and Max when he was in his own garden. But he hadn’t known they lived here! He hadn’t realized that this garden belonged to them.

Terrified, Tiger ran at last, racing towards the gate.

“Ava, are you all right?” Grandma Shirley called up the stairs.

“I can’t find Tiger!” she said, dashing down to Gran. “And the dogs next door, they’re barking like mad. Do you think Tiger could have got into their garden?”

Gran looked doubtful. “Surely not … with that big wall? But then, cats really are amazing climbers…”

“I know. I have to check, Gran, but I can’t see over the wall from the back windows, I’ve tried.”

Ava hurried out into the garden and looked up at the wall helplessly. She’d never be able to see over it. It was more than two metres tall. Ava drew in a deep breath – the wall was just too big. Tiger couldn’t have jumped on top of it, could he? But then, he’d managed to jump on to her bedroom door… He might have managed it if he’d jumped on to something else first. She had to make sure.

“Gran, can you hold on to this chair for me?” Ava asked, pushing one of the garden chairs up against the wall. “I need to look over the top.”

She stepped up on to the chair. “Oh no. That’s no use – it’s not tall enough.” She was still a long way from seeing into next-door’s garden.

“Oh, Ava, be careful,” Gran gasped as she jumped down. “I don’t want to ring your mum and dad and tell them I’ve had to take you to hospital with a broken leg!”