Holly Webb - The Curious Kitten

“George is right,” Lila agreed. “Cats are clever. I’m sure Cleo will learn how to cross the road, no problem.”

“Maybe,” Amber said. She loved how Cleo was so curious – it made her even more fun to play with. But it also meant that she liked to explore everything. She sighed to herself as Mr Evans told them to stop chatting and settle down. She was probably worrying too much – it was the first time they’d had a pet, after all. She just couldn’t help that little nagging feeling that Cleo was too nosy for her own good.

Cleo sat perched on the front wall, peering out from under a climbing rose and eyeing the men working on the other side of the road. There was one big truck, with a crane lifting off huge pallets of bricks. Then there were two smaller vans and lots of people going backwards and forwards between them and the house. She wanted to get closer to see what was going on.

The road was in between her and the action, though, and she didn’t like the way the cars roared and growled as they shot past. Yesterday, after a few days of exploring the front garden, she’d actually ventured out on to the pavement. At first she’d just stood by the gate, flinching back when a car came past. But they all seemed to stick to the road, and she was sure the pavement looked safe enough.

She’d crept along the bottom of the wall, keeping well away from the road. Then a car had sped by. Cleo had felt the rumbling of the road under her paws and smelled the exhaust, and she’d raced back to the safety of the garden.

She still wasn’t quite brave enough to cross the road and investigate the unusual things that were happening on the other side. Cleo edged between two bushes as another van came driving up. But this time when the van stopped it was on her side of the road.

Cleo wriggled out between the thick stems, her whiskers twitching. The driver was getting out – Cleo could see his heavy boots walking round the side of the van. Then he opened up the back doors and lifted out a box, which he carried across the road to the interesting house on the other side.

Almost without realizing it, Cleo was padding eagerly out into the middle of the pavement. The van was new and exciting, and she wanted to see what was in it.

Then the man was coming back. Cleo ducked under the sprawling fuchsia bush in the garden next door. Amber and Sara always tried to grab her when she went out at the front of the house. She didn’t want this man to catch her now and stop her exploring. But the man didn’t even notice her. He just unloaded another box and set off across the road again, leaving the van’s back doors open.

As Cleo edged out of the bush, she came to a sudden halt. Her collar was caught on the wiry branches. She pulled at it crossly. She hated collars. When the safety catch came open, she tossed her head briskly from side to side, enjoying the freedom. Then she hurried out from under the bush, shaking the dry leaves from her fur.

Cleo sniffed at the tyres of the van and then stretched up, putting her front paws on the little back step. The van was full of boxes, some old sacks, a folded plastic sheet and all sorts of fascinating things. There were dark corners and good smells to investigate, too.

She jumped up, scrabbling to get her back legs on to the step, and clambered into the van. It was dusty, which made her sneeze, but that didn’t put her off. She prowled further inside and rubbed up against one of the boxes. She liked this place and she wanted to mark it as hers.

Suddenly there was a shout from outside and the sound of footsteps approaching. Cleo froze, laying her ears back. What was happening? Was someone coming to chase her out? She backed between the box and a pile of sacks and watched, round-eyed, as the doors at the back of the van swung shut with a slam.

She was trapped.

Amber turned to her mum, smiling in relief. “It’s OK! Cleo’s not in the front garden. She must have decided to stay round the back today.”

Mum nodded. “Maybe the novelty’s worn off.”

All the same, Amber was a little bit hurt that Cleo didn’t come rushing to see her as she stepped into the house. Whenever they’d been out over the summer holidays, she’d always come to greet them. As soon as she heard the door bang, she would come dashing downstairs from Amber’s room, where she’d been asleep on her bed. Or sometimes she was sitting on the living-room windowsill, watching to see them drive up.

The house felt oddly quiet and empty without a little tortoiseshell cat twirling around her feet. “Cleo!” Amber called up the stairs. “Cleo, where are you?”

Mum pushed the front door shut and looked around in surprise. “Isn’t she here? She’s usually desperate for us to feed her when we get in from school.”

“I know…” Amber said. “Cleo! Cleo!” She hurried through to the kitchen and out into the back garden. But no kitten came galloping over the grass to meet her. The garden was empty and still, with just a few birds twittering in the trees.

Amber trailed back inside, feeling worried.

Her mum was emptying one of Cleo’s pouches of kitten food into her bowl and she glanced up as Amber came in. She put down the pouch, looking thoughtful. “No sign of her?” she asked.

Amber shook her head.

“That is odd. Go and check upstairs, Amber. She might have got shut in one of the bedrooms.”

Amber smiled. “I didn’t think about that! I hope she hasn’t made a mess in Sara’s room. Sara got really cross when Cleo tipped over all her hairbands and stuff the other day.”

She raced upstairs, but all the bedroom doors were ajar. She checked the airing cupboard on the landing, just in case, but she wasn’t in there... Or in Sara’s wardrobe, or hers, or Mum and Dad’s. She wasn’t anywhere at all.

“Mum, I don’t know where she can be,” Amber said, bursting back into the kitchen. She was trying very hard not to cry. Mum would only say she was getting in a state about nothing. But this really didn’t feel like nothing. Cleo never missed meals.

Mum put her arm round Amber’s shoulders. “Sit down for a moment, have a drink, and let’s think about this.” She handed Amber some squash and pushed her gently into a chair. “Cleo was around just before lunch when I went into school. And we know she’s been getting more adventurous lately, going over the wall into the front garden. She’s probably just gone further than before. After all, you’ve only been back at school a week. Cleo doesn’t really know what time you come home, does she? And the fact I’m working different times of day probably confuses her, too.”

“I suppose so…”

“I expect she’ll be back in a minute, yowling if we don’t get her food in front of her before the cat flap bangs shut.”

Amber tried to laugh, but she couldn’t quite manage it.