Holly Webb - The Homeless Kitten

This couldn’t be happening, Lily thought, looking miserably from Dad to Mum to Carly. Everyone seemed to be certain that Stanley had to go. How could this be happening now? Tomorrow was supposed to be the start of her grand plan to convince everyone they could keep their gorgeous kitten forever – and now instead he was going to be sent to the shelter.

“He just can’t,” she whispered. “He’ll hate it there. We saw the cats when we went to get Hugo – they had those little rooms. He’s used to a whole big kitchen and my bedroom. He’ll be so lonely without us.” And without Hugo , Lily added in her head. She still couldn’t understand what had happened. Hugo had never barked at the kittens – not even when he’d first found them in the woods. He’d looked after them so carefully – Stanley even slept in his basket. This just wasn’t right.

But nobody was listening to her. It felt like all the plans were already made – Mum and Dad were discussing who could go and drop off Stanley at the shelter. Carly was still petting Hugo and glaring at the kitten.

“What are we going to do with them tonight?” Dad murmured, looking between Stanley and Hugo. “We can’t leave them both in here, obviously.”

“I’ll take Stanley upstairs with me,” Lily said quickly. It was their last night, she realized. Her last time to cuddle him. “I’ll take his box upstairs with me and put it by my bed.”

Mum nodded. “OK. But shut your door, Lily.”

“I’ll bring the box for you,” Dad said. He picked it up and followed her up the stairs.

Lily couldn’t help crying into Stanley’s fur as she took him up to her room. He was still so little – far too little to go to the shelter, she was sure. It would be like sending him off for his first day of school. She half laughed, half sniffed at the thought.

“I’m really going to miss this one,” Dad said, rubbing one finger under Stanley’s chin as Lily climbed into bed, still holding him. She put him down gently on top of the sheet and Stanley started to wander around the folds, his paws sliding.

“Oh, Lily, don’t cry, sweetheart.” Dad put his arm round her. “He’ll go to a lovely new home. He’s so gorgeous, he probably won’t even be in the shelter for a day.”

“I don’t want him to have a lovely new home,” Lily sobbed. “I want him to stay here!”

“I know.” Dad sighed. “I had been thinking that, too… But this is Hugo’s home, Lily, love. You know that.”

“I still can’t believe they were fighting…” Lily whispered.

Stanley came stomping back up the bed towards her and began to clamber on to her legs, wriggling as he got caught up in the sheet. Dad laughed and helped him up with a hand under his bottom. “There you go, Stanley. Night, Lily.” He went over to close the bedroom window. “Just in case – we don’t want Stanley getting out. I hope it’s not too hot. Everything will be OK, honestly.”

Lily watched him go, blowing her a kiss from the doorway and then closing the door behind him. How can everything possibly be OK? she thought sleepily, as Stanley padded round and round on her tummy, making himself a comfy little nest. It’s not OK at all …

Stanley tucked his nose under his tail and closed his eyes. He loved the feeling of snuggling up on top of Lily. He could tell that there was something wrong, her breathing sounded different, with strange little hitches that made him bounce on her tummy each time. But he’d never been able to sleep on her bed before – it was even better than curling up next to Hugo. He was warm and safe…

His ears flattened back for a moment as he suddenly remembered and he let out a little mew of fright. He’d been fast asleep and then the barking had woken him. Stanley had never heard Hugo bark like that before – he was protecting his house. He’d been trying to protect Stanley, too, but the noise was still so scary.

Stanley had run madly around the kitchen, trying to find a hiding place but nowhere had felt safe. In the end he’d jumped on to the kitchen table and then made a flying leap on to the counter, scrabbling madly and nearly falling back down. He’d huddled himself behind the curtains, curling up as small as he could as the barking and hissing went on and on.

Stanley stood up, pacing round and round on the bed to calm himself down. Lily shifted a little, with a wheezy moan, and settled again. Then, at last, they slept.

“Do you think they’ll want his toys at the shelter?” Mum said doubtfully, holding up a catnip mouse with half its tail gone and a hole where the stuffing was coming out.

“He loves that mouse,” Lily said, with a catch in her voice. “You have to take it!” She abandoned her cereal – she wasn’t hungry anyway – and got down on the kitchen floor, looking for all the jingly balls, feathers and other toys that were scattered about. Of course, Stanley’s favourite toy was Hugo, she realized, looking at them both under the table. Mum and Dad had decided that as long as someone stayed with them both the whole time, it was OK to let them be in the same room until Mum took Stanley to the shelter.

Hugo was lying full length under the table – probably hoping for Carly’s toast crusts – and Stanley was playing with his paws. He was hopping over them, pouncing and patting at them with his own. Every so often Hugo would yawn and move a paw a little, so that Stanley leaped on it with ferocious tigerish growls.

Mum kept turning round from the bacon she was cooking and glancing over at them, obviously checking that they weren’t about to fight again but they weren’t. It was a game, it always was. Lily stared at them, trying not to let herself start crying again. She still couldn’t quite believe that this was happening. How could they be happy together now, when Hugo had been so furious last night and Stanley so terrified?

“Can you get that, Lily?” Mum said, as the doorbell rang. “I don’t want to leave this pan. It’s probably just the post.”

Lily got up and went to the door, opening it just as her dad came downstairs. Their next-door neighbour, Anna, was standing there, looking worried.

“Hi, Anna.” Dad came over to the door. “Is everything all right?”

Anna smiled. “I hope so… But I’ve come to apologize, just in case.”

“OK…” Dad said, looking puzzled. “Would you like some coffee? We’re just having breakfast.”

“Oh, I didn’t mean to interrupt!”

“Honestly, it’s fine.”

“I’d love a coffee.” Anna smiled, and followed Lily and Dad through to the kitchen, where Mum was dishing out the bacon.

“I do feel bad, though,” Anna continued. “I’ve a horrible feeling that Pixie’s been in here again. She bolted in through the cat flap at about midnight, in a bit of a state. She was soaking wet and all the fur that wasn’t plastered down with water was sticking up. And I heard a lot of barking, so I wondered if she’d climbed through Lily’s window again and had had a bit of a bust-up with Hugo… You mentioned she’d come in that way before.”

Anna looked between Mum and Dad as the whole family stared at her. “I really am sorry,” she added. “I know she’s a nightmare. My neighbours on the other side got quite cross with her the other day – they found her on the kitchen table licking the butter…” Her voice trailed away. “Oh no, what did she do?”