Sophie Pembroke - Lara The Runaway Cat - One cat’s journey to discover home is where the heart is

I’d never been on a plane, or any further away from home than I was right now. But I would tomorrow. I’d be flying high in the sky over to China, according to Mum. I wondered if they’d hold tight to me.

I looked over at Gobi again. Mum had one hand resting on her fur as she talked to Jennifer. And I knew, right then, that I wasn’t anyone’s ESA: Gobi was. She was the pet who had changed everything. The one who got to go on all the big adventures, because people wanted to see her wherever she went. I was just tagging along. This wasn’t my big trip at all, it was all Gobi’s.

‘And this is going to be her longest journey yet.’ Cleo was still talking, oblivious to my realization of my unimportance. ‘She’s going all the way to Australia. That’s practically a whole day on a plane, she says. And …’ Cleo’s voice dropped, lower and smaller, like she was ashamed of what she was going to say next. ‘… I’m terrified of flying. It was bad enough just jetting around Europe but a whole day on a plane? I can’t take it. All I want is to go back home, with the automatic kitty feeder they used to use when they went away for a weekend. Is that so much to ask?’

I made a vague sympathetic noise, but my brain was stuck on one word.

Australia .

I knew about Australia. Not much, but enough.

You see, that was where Dad was from, before he met Mum and me. He grew up there. He showed me on the map – and it was further away than China, even.

Dad talked about Australia sometimes. Not often, but every now and again. Because he’d not been back there in years – since long before he found Gobi in the desert.

Which meant that Gobi had never been to Australia.

That was an adventure that was too much even for Gobi.

But I was sure I could do it.

I studied Cleo carefully. Same fluffy white and dark brown fur. Same blue eyes. Same fluffy tail. We really did look very alike …

Suddenly, an idea floated into my mind. An adventurous, crazy idea. One that was more extreme than a ferry ride, or a book tour. It might even be more exciting than being lost in China, or running an ultramarathon.

The sort of idea that, if it worked, would mean that no one would be able to say that I was just an indoor, homebody cat ever again.

I’d be Lara, cat adventurer. I’d be the pet everyone wanted to talk about. Maybe they’d even write a book about me, too.

‘We should swap places,’ I said, without thinking it through any further. ‘I’ll go to Australia with Jennifer, and you can …’ Ah … For a cat who hated flying, I was pretty sure the flight to China wouldn’t be a lot of fun, either.

‘Hide out in the airport until Jennifer gives up and comes home again?’ Cleo finished for me. She sat up straighter, looking imperious and calculating. Somehow, I got the feeling that my adventure had just slipped from my paws into hers. ‘That could work.’

‘It could ?’ I’ll be honest, I hadn’t thought through the specifics, I’d just acted on impulse. Like Gobi did.

To my surprise, it felt kind of good.

‘We’d need to be cunning about it.’ Cleo was watching Jennifer again, sounding thoughtful. ‘But yes, I think it could work.’

‘Great,’ I said. But inside I was wondering what on earth I’d got myself into now. It had sounded exciting in my head, but now the words were out in the world, it was sort of, kind of, terrifying.

Well, I’d wanted my own adventure. One that wasn’t about Gobi at all.

It looked like I’d got one.

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