by Holly Webb
Her dad laughed. “I don’t know if it’s really true but tortoiseshell cats have a reputation of being … um … determined? Stubborn? What your grandma would call a bit of a character. So, naughty tortie.”
“I think they’re gorgeous,” Layla said indignantly. “They’re only babies.”
“Shh, look!” Edie grabbed her dad’s arm. “I just saw her, the mum! She’s behind those wooden crates.”
“OK. Let’s try putting the cage over there then, with a trail of food to tempt her…” Edie’s dad suggested. He opened the bag he’d brought and pulled out a packet of cocktail sausages that were meant for Edie’s packed lunches. “I knew you wouldn’t mind,” he said, showing her the pack. “If she doesn’t go for these we’ll try cheese.”
“She looks hungry enough to eat anything,” Edie whispered. “Oh, I hope this works.” She watched eagerly as her dad laid a couple of sausages close to the boxes where the cat was hiding and then a few more inside the cage.
“I need to stay fairly close because I’ve got to shut the door once she goes in,” her dad explained. “If this is no good I’ll get the local cat shelter out, they’ll have a trap cage we can use. But I shouldn’t think they’ll be able to come today.”
“She might have moved the kittens by the time they get here,” Edie pointed out, and her dad nodded.
“Yes, so let’s hope we can tempt her in now.”
But the black cat stayed stubbornly away from the sausages. Edie was sure that she could see her pacing back and forth in the shadows behind all the junk but she wouldn’t come out. She didn’t appear when her dad added cheese to the trail of bait either.
“This is not looking good,” he said, after about half an hour of waiting. The kittens were all mewing miserably now and they sounded really hungry. He looked around, frowning. “I wonder if it’s worth putting the cage round the back of the shed instead? There’s a pretty big hole in the wall there. We could put the cage up against it. Maybe she’d go for the food if she couldn’t see us?”
He picked up the cage and the girls followed him round to the back of the shed. The wooden wall had several rotten pieces crumbling away and there was a hole that looked a perfect cat-door size. Edie’s dad put the cage close to the hole, and stood flat against the wall, ready to swing the door shut.
“Dad, I’ve just thought of something!” Edie whispered urgently. “Layla’s got a video of Barbie on her phone and Barbie’s mewing really loudly in it. If we played it, do you think the mum might come? Would she know it was Barbie? She’d come and see, wouldn’t she?”
“She might…” her dad said slowly. “It’s worth a try, anyway.”
Layla pulled out her phone and crouched against the wall on the other side of the cage. She started the video, turned the sound right up and held the phone just by the side of the hole. Barbie’s squeaky mew echoed around them and Edie looked hopefully at the hole. Surely her mother wouldn’t be able to resist?
After a moment, there was a rustling on the other side of the wall. Edie made frantic faces at her dad, pointing to the hole, and he nodded back. Layla set the video to play again, and black whiskers appeared at the hole, followed by a black nose and then the rest of the cat, her ears twitching cautiously. She looked around for her kitten, and then sniffed the sausages and cheese, the first piece just inside the open cage.
Edie and Layla stood frozen against the wall of the shed as the cat stepped forward. She obviously couldn’t resist the food right in front of her and she gobbled down the first sausage in seconds. Then she walked right into the cage to eat the rest of them – and Edie’s dad swung the cage door shut.
“Look at you, you’re so clever,” Edie murmured, as Barbie sat up on her bottom and waved her front paws at the feathery toy. Edie had spotted it in the supermarket while she was out shopping with her mum the day before, and it was Barbie’s new favourite thing. It was like a mini feather duster, a bendy wand topped with lime green feathers and tinselly bits, and the little kitten loved the way it bounced. She danced about all over the kitchen chasing it.
“And you’re getting so big… I don’t know how you can be so different in just a week. I wonder how your brother and sisters are doing?” Edie said, flicking up the feathers and giggling as Barbie sprang into the air. She was learning to do the most amazing standing leaps – she could jump twice her own height when she really tried. “Do you think your sisters are being naughty torties, like Dad said? Layla thought they were gorgeous, but they’re nowhere near as cute as you. Dad said the lady at the shelter thought they’d all be adopted easily, though. She said they’d do lots of work to socialize them, so they made good friendly pets.”
The kittens’ mum wouldn’t ever be gentle enough to become a pet, though, which Edie thought was really sad. The shelter had said they would wait until the kittens were fully weaned and rehomed, which would be another couple of weeks, when they were about eight weeks old. Then they’d neuter their mum so she couldn’t have any more kittens and release her back near where Edie and Layla had found her. Edie didn’t like the idea of the black cat living outdoors again, in the cold and the rain, but Mum and Dad had said it was probably what she’d be happiest doing.
“Do you miss them?” Edie whispered, as Barbie gave a massive yawn, which showed a lot of her bright pink tongue. “Do you even remember them?”
Barbie sniffed at the green feathers, which Edie was dancing in front of her nose again, and batted at them with one paw. She wasn’t really trying. She’d been jumping and chasing for ages and now she was tired. She gave another huge yawn and padded over to Edie, climbing up her jeans and scrambling into her lap. She slumped down and then stood up again, marching round in a circle on Edie’s tunic top until she had it just right. Then she curled herself into a little ginger ball, with one paw over her eyes and went to sleep.
“Guess what! Guess, you have to guess!” Layla was hopping up and down on the front doorstep, hardly able to get the words out, she was so excited.
“What? Oooh, catch her! Sneaky puss!” Edie and Layla both lunged for Barbie, who’d crept up behind Edie and was making a dash for the front door. Layla grabbed her and snuggled her up against her fleece.
“Well done,” said Edie. “She’s desperate to go outside but Mum and Dad say she can’t until she’s had all her vaccinations and she’s been neutered. And that won’t be for ages. She’s got to be almost four months old before they do it.”
Layla beamed back at her. “No problem. I need the practice,” she said happily, glancing meaningfully between Edie and Barbie, who was now trying to climb up her fleece.
“Practice? Hey, come in before she disappears down the back of you and makes another run for it.” Edie beckoned Layla inside and shut the door, and Barbie sprang down from Layla’s arms and marched away in a kitten huff, tail whipping from side to side. Edie giggled. “I don’t think she’s talking to us now. Anyway, what are you so excited about?”
“I persuaded them! Actually, I think it was mostly Barbie. Remember when my mum and dad came over to have coffee with yours the other day and Barbie was playing, and then she spent all that time sitting on my dad’s lap?”
“He did look pretty happy about it,” Edie observed.
“He’s never had a cat, he’s always said he wasn’t a cat person. But they know all about Barbie’s sisters – I showed them the photos I took on my phone that day we found them, and so…”
“You’re going to adopt one of the naughty torties?” Edie threw her arms round Layla. “That’s amazing! Barbie’s going to have her sister living next door!”
“We went to see them at the shelter yesterday afternoon and we’re picking her up the weekend after next! They have to come and do a home visit first, and the kittens have to be eight weeks old to leave their mum.”
“Which one? The one with more ginger, or the darker one?”
“This one.” Layla showed Edie a photo on her phone – Layla holding a gorgeous tortoiseshell kitten
against her shoulder. They were nose to nose and Edie thought she’d never seen her friend look so happy. “She’s the dark one, but she’s got a big ginger streak down her nose. And her whiskers are white on one side and black on the other!” She smiled blissfully. “Sorry, Edie, but I think she’s even cuter than Barbie.”
Edie grinned. “That’s OK. But don’t you listen to her, Barbie! She thinks your sister’s more gorgeous than you are!” she added to her kitten, who’d forgotten to be cross and was marching back down the hall towards them, dragging a huge catnip-stuffed fish in her mouth. It was nearly as big as she was and she kept tripping over it. Eventually she just gave up and lay down on her side, hugging the fish and kicking at it with her hind paws.
Edie shook her head as she crouched down beside her. She tickled Barbie’s cream-coloured tummy, and the ginger kitten gave up on the fish and came to nudge against Edie’s arm, rubbing the side of her head up and down Edie’s sleeve, and purring and purring.
“She really loves you,” Layla murmured, and Edie smiled at her.
“Dad says it’s because I’m the one who feeds her but he’s only being grumpy.”
“No, it’s more than that. Do you think the tortoiseshell kitten will love me, too?” she added shyly. “I’m going to be looking after her.” She reached out to run her hand over Barbie’s ears and the kitten purred for her as well.
“Of course she will. It looks like she already does in that photo.” Edie gathered Barbie up in her arms, gently combing her fingers through the kitten’s long ginger fur. “Imagine if we hadn’t stopped to find out what that noise was,” she said, looking round at Layla wide-eyed. “We’d never have found them all.”
“Best walk home from school ever,” Layla said seriously and then she laughed as Barbie wriggled in Edie’s arms so that she was snuggled in the crook of her elbow, on her back like a baby. Her pale ginger paws were folded on her chest, and she yawned, wide enough to show her needle-sharp white teeth. Then her green eyes closed slowly, and she breathed out a tiny, quiet purr.
Barbie batted a cautious paw at her new cat flap. She had only been allowed to go out for a few days, and she was still a bit confused by the flap – the way it sometimes opened and sometimes didn’t – and she didn’t much like the bang it made when it shut behind her. She usually jumped through it as fast as she could. She patted it again and then dived through, out into the garden.
It was sunny and warm, and there were butterflies. She loved butterflies. They were like the feathery toy that Edie waved for her – they bounced and fluttered, and she never knew which direction they would go in. She had tried chasing them, but they were hard to catch…
Barbie turned as she heard the back door open behind her, and Edie stepped out carrying a sandwich. Barbie eyed the plate hopefully. Edie was good at sharing, and her sandwiches often had ham in them, or cheese. She liked cheese. She padded over to Edie and started to weave around her feet.
“Layla!” Edie called across the garden. “Are you there? Is Amber out?” She hopped up on to the garden bench and looked over the wall.
“Yes! She’s chasing butterflies, I really hope she doesn’t catch one.”
“Barbie loves doing that, too. Oh! Hello, Barbie!”
Barbie was scrabbling at the wall, and Edie watched impressed as she climbed all the way on to the top, next to Edie’s elbow. The little kitten perched there looking proud of herself and Edie scratched her behind the ears.
“Aren’t you clever? Look, who’s that?” Edie whispered to her, pointing across Layla’s garden. “Can you see?”
Barbie’s tail fluffed up a bit and Edie watched her, a little worried. She wasn’t sure how Barbie was going to feel about another cat so close to her own garden.
Amber came pacing down the garden towards the wall. There wasn’t a bench on her side, so she couldn’t jump up, but she stood beneath the wall, gazing up at Barbie, her golden eyes round and curious.
The two kittens stared at each other, and Edie and Layla stood watching. Neither of them had been sure how their kittens would react when they met. Would they even understand that they were sisters?
Then Amber stood up, patting her front paws against Layla’s leg, asking to be picked up. Layla lifted her, and Amber leaned out of her arms, reaching forward curiously towards the wall.
Barbie leaned over, too, and the kittens sniffed at each other. Amber wriggled and Layla reached up to put her on the wall next to Barbie.
“Do you think they remember?” Edie whispered, as the sisters inspected each other carefully, sniffing and nudging. Then she smiled as Barbie stepped closer to Amber and rubbed her head all round Amber’s, nuzzling at her gently. “They do, look! They know they’re sisters!” Edie rested her chin on her arms, watching as Amber snuffled round Barbie, and smiled at Layla on the other side of the wall.
“We rescued them both,” Layla whispered.
“We’re never going to let anything happen to you,” Edie told them. Then she laughed as Barbie padded back along the wall to nuzzle a cold little nose lovingly against her cheek.
Zoe wandered along behind her dad, looking for daisies in the grass. She wanted the ones with the fat stalks and pink-tipped petals to make into a bracelet. There were just a few starting to open up, now that spring was coming.
She was gazing so closely at the grass around her feet that she was almost nose to nose with the dog before she saw it. She stopped, half crouching, staring into a curious, furry face. Zoe loved dogs and she thought she was good at recognizing what sort they were – she had a huge dog-breed poster on her wall. But she didn’t know this one.
It had thick soft fur that was mostly black on its head, but with a white muzzle going into a white stripe up its forehead. There was a splash of gingery-brown on the sides of its muzzle and it had the most gorgeous ginger eyebrows. They stood out against its black fur and made it look very surprised to see her. Its ears were fluffy and long, and a bit like a spaniel’s. Though it definitely wasn’t a spaniel, Zoe was sure.
Even though the dog was quite big, Zoe thought it must be a puppy. It had that teddy-bear look – cuddly and fatlegged, as though it hadn’t yet grown into its paws.
It was beautiful.
“Hello, sweetheart…” Zoe whispered, wondering if the puppy was a boy or a girl. She eyed the puppy sideways, trying not to stare too much into its eyes and make it scared. Her old dog Honey hadn’t minded – she even quite liked being hugged, which lots of dogs didn’t, but she had known Zoe forever.
The puppy leaned forwards – and licked Zoe’s cheek, making her giggle. Without even thinking, she reached out and stroked one of its fluffy black ears. Then she stared at it guiltily. She loved dogs, but her mum and dad had made her promise never to stroke one without asking the owner if it was OK first. Not all dogs were as friendly as they looked so it was always best to ask. Zoe hadn’t meant to break her promise, it was just that this cute puppy had licked her…
“You’re beautiful,” she murmured. “I wish I could make a big fuss of you! I’m sure you are friendly. Where’s your owner, hey?” She looked around. The puppy’s lead was tied to the playground fence, so perhaps it belonged to one of the families who were playing inside. The playground was busy, though, just after school pick-up time, and Zoe wasn’t sure who had brought the puppy.
“Zoe!” Her dad waved from the gate. “Come on!”
Zoe sighed and smiled at the puppy. “Bye, gorgeous! Maybe I’ll see you again sometime,” she added.
“Did you see that cute dog?” she asked her dad, as she ran up to him. “Look, over there by the fence.”
“Wow. Very cute,” her dad agreed.
“I don’t know what sort of dog it is.” Zoe said thoughtfully. “But I reckon it’s a large breed – it was really big already and I think it’s still a puppy.”
“I don’t know, either.” Her dad looked back over his shoulder. “Do you really think it’s a puppy?”
“Yes! Well … probably.” Z
oe sighed, and slipped her hand into her dad’s, leaning her head against his arm. “I miss Honey.”
“Me, too.” Her dad sighed. “That dog reminds me of her a bit – I think it’s the fluffy ears.”
“Hers were even fluffier,” Zoe said loyally. “She was the best dog ever.”
Honey had died in the autumn the year before and Zoe had been devastated. Her parents had owned the gentle Golden Retriever from before Zoe was born, so she’d never known their house without her. She still woke up some mornings and forgot that Honey wouldn’t be there when she went downstairs, sniffing and licking and loving her, all one giant wag.
“She was,” her dad agreed. He was silent for a moment as they came through the park gate and out on to the road, just a little way down from their house. “Maybe we’ll have another Golden Retriever one day,” he suggested. “I bet you’d enjoy having a puppy.”
Zoe looked up at him in surprise. After Honey had died, Dad had said he didn’t want to think about having another dog, not yet. She tried to imagine a different Golden Retriever lying in Honey’s favourite spot, next to the kitchen radiator. It was difficult – the new dog looked just like Honey.
Still… A puppy…! Zoe smiled to herself, thinking of walks with a dog again and curling up to read a book with a loving dog’s nose in her lap. “Yeah … maybe…”
Scout turned to watch the girl walking away from the playground, his tail still wagging faintly. Was she going to come back? He had liked her petting his ears and fussing over him. He let out a hopeful whine, standing up to peer further around the fence. But she was gone.
The puppy heaved a sigh and slumped down, stretching out his fat tan and white forepaws and resting his muzzle on them. He wished Jack would hurry up and come and play with him. It wasn’t much fun sitting here. He could hear baby Tilly wailing and he sat up again, looking worriedly into the playground. Jack was on the top of the climbing frame and Tilly was in the pushchair, with her mum leaning over to comfort her. Everything was all right…
