by Holly Webb
For Emily and the gorgeous Rosie Bumble
www.hollywebbanimalstories.com
CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
Extract from The Curious Kitten
More books by Holly Webb
Author bio
Copyright
Scarlett looked around her new bedroom with delight. It was huge! And as it was up in the roof of the cottage, it was a really interesting shape, all ups and downs. There was a gorgeous window as well, with a curly handle to open it, and a big, wide windowsill she could sit on. Her old bedroom had been tiny, and a very boring squarish sort of shape.
“Good, isn’t it?” Jackson, her big brother, put his head round the door. He had the bedroom next to hers, which was basically the other half of the roof space. Mum and Dad had said that their bedrooms used to be the attic.
“I love it,” Scarlett said happily. “The window’s the best thing! I love seeing all the fields and trees, and look! Cows! Out of my bedroom window!”
Jackson chuckled. “Cows not cars. Now that makes a change! Yeah, it’s really good. Except everything’s a bit far away.”
Scarlett nodded slowly. “There is a shop in the village,” she reminded him.
Jackson made a face. “Yeah, one shop! And a blacksmith. How weird is that?”
“And the school’s in the village too,” Scarlett added, very quietly. “I wish we didn’t have to change schools.” That was the thing she was least happy about with their move to the countryside. She was really going to miss her old school, and her friends. Lucy and Ella had said they’d come and stay in the next holidays, but that was a long time away. And meanwhile, she was going to start at a school where she didn’t know anyone, and she certainly didn’t have any friends.
“It’ll be all right,” Jackson told her cheerfully, and Scarlett sighed. He wasn’t worried. He never was. Jackson was really sporty, and he found it very easy to make friends. And yet he didn’t show off, so people just wanted to hang out with him. Scarlett wished she knew how he did it.
“Did you hear that rustling noise?” Jackson pointed up at the ceiling. “I bet there are mice in all that thatch. Remember to tell Mum and Dad about that, Scarlett. You need to start working on them again about a kitten, now that we’re here. They said maybe after we’d moved, didn’t they?”
Scarlett grinned at him. “I know! I thought I’d maybe give them a day though, before I started asking. Let them get some boxes unpacked first…” She looked up too. “Do you really think there are mice?”
Jackson gazed thoughtfully at the ceiling. “Probably. It sounds like it to me. Unless it’s a rat, of course.”
“Uuurgh! OK, I’ll ask Mum now. No way am I living in a house with a rat!” Scarlett shuddered.
“I’m with you on that,” Jackson grinned. “Rats can be pretty big, you know. Bigger than a kitten, anyway.” He made a ratty face, pulling his lips back to show big ratty teeth.
“Stop it!” Scarlett cried. “Maybe we can get a grown-up cat then. I don’t mind if it isn’t a little kitten. I’d just love to have any sort of cat, and they did say maybe we could. You’ll help, won’t you? You’ll ask too?”
Jackson nodded. “Yeah. Although I don’t fancy coming down in the morning to find a row of dead mice on the doormat. That’s what Sam says his cat does.”
Scarlett looked worried. “I think I’d rather have a cat that just scares the mice away…”
Scarlett started her kitten campaign while everyone was sitting down eating lunch. It felt really odd seeing their old kitchen table in a completely different kitchen.
“It’s so quiet,” Mum said happily, looking out of the open window. “I don’t think I’ve heard a single car since we got here. I love it that we’re down at the end of the lane.”
“I keep thinking there’s something missing,” Dad admitted. “But it’ll be great once we’re used to it. And the air smells amazing.”
Jackson sniffed loudly. “That’s cowpat, Dad.”
Scarlett made a face at him. She didn’t want him distracting Mum and Dad – this was a great opportunity to mention a kitten. She took a deep breath. “It’s not a bit like Laurence Road, is it?” she said, thinking about their old home. “With all the busy traffic…” She swallowed, and glanced hopefully from Mum to Dad and back again. “You wouldn’t worry about a cat getting run over here, would you?”
Dad snorted with laughter and turned to Mum. “You win, Laura. She lasted more than an hour.”
Scarlett blinked. “What do you mean?”
Mum reached out an arm and hugged her round the shoulder. “Dad and I were talking about it last night, Scarlett. We wondered how long you’d be able to wait before you asked about a cat. I said that I thought it would be once we’d settled in a bit, and Dad said you’d ask the moment we got here. So I won, and now he has to cook dinner tonight!”
“Simple. Fish and chips,” Dad said, taking a huge bite of sandwich.
Mum smiled at him. “You do realize it’s a twenty-minute drive to the nearest fish and chip shop now, don’t you?”
“You mean you were just waiting for me to ask? So can we have one?” Scarlett said hopefully, eager to get back to talking about kittens.
Mum nodded slowly. “Yes. But we can’t go off to an animal shelter tomorrow – we need to do some unpacking, and besides, I haven’t a clue where the nearest one is.”
“I could find out!” Scarlett said eagerly. “It’s just – it would be really nice to have time to get to know the kitten before school starts. We’ve only got two weeks, and then me and Jackson won’t be at home for most of the day.”
Dad nodded. “I know, Scarlett, but I don’t think we’ll be able to find you a kitten right now. I know it would be lovely to have one while you’re still at home. But it won’t be a huge problem if you’re at school. Mum’ll be at work, but I’ll be at home working, so the kitten won’t be lonely. And your new school’s really close. You’ll be home in ten minutes.”
Scarlett nodded. That was another thing that was different, being able to walk to school. Mum and Dad had even said she and Jackson could walk on their own, if they wanted, as it was all along footpaths.
“I suppose.” Scarlett nodded. “So we can really have a cat? You actually mean it? We can look for one?”
“Promise,” Dad told her solemnly.
Scarlett beamed at him. She could come home from school and play with her cat. Her own cat! She’d wanted to have one for so long, and now it was going to happen.
“Scarlett! I’m off to the village,” Dad yelled up the stairs.
Scarlett shoved an armful of T-shirts into the drawer, and dashed out of her room. “I’m coming!”
She really wanted to walk there. They’d seen the village a couple of times before. The first time was when they came to look at the house. Mum had got her new job at the hospital, and Mum and Dad explained that they would need to move, as it was too far for her to drive every day. Scarlett had really missed her for those few weeks when she’d been leaving early, and not getting back until it was almost time for Scarlett to go to bed. Now they’d moved, the hospital was only half an hour away, in Leaming, the nearest big town to their tiny little village, which was called Leaming Ford. Once they’d made the decision that Mum would take the job, and agreed to buy the cottage, Scarlett and Jackson had gone for a day’s visit at their new school, and seen the village again. But Scarlett had been so nervous about the school, she couldn’t remember what it was like.
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br /> “It’s so pretty,” she murmured, as they walked along the footpath. “Look at all the flowers. I saw a rabbit last night, Dad, did I tell you?”
“Only about six times! I nearly had a heart attack when you screamed like that. I thought you’d fallen out of the window.”
“Sorry! I was excited! I’ve never seen a rabbit in my garden before!” Scarlett giggled. “Can we go down here? Is it the right way?”
Dad nodded. “Yup, this is the quickest path down to the village, the way you and Jackson will go to school, probably.”
Scarlett swallowed nervously. She was still worrying about the school. It was tiny, which was nice, she supposed. There wouldn’t be that many people to get to know. But they’d probably all been together since playgroup. They might not want a stranger joining their class at all.
Dad nudged her gently with his elbow. “You had a good time on your visit, didn’t you?”
Scarlett looked up at him, surprised.
“It was pretty obvious what you were thinking, sweetheart.”
“I suppose. Yes. Everyone was nice. But that was just one morning. I’ve got to go there every day…”
“It’ll be great. You’ll be fine, I’m sure you will.”
Scarlett nodded. She didn’t really want to think about it. “Look – is that the village? I can see houses.” She ran on ahead. “And there’s the shop, Dad, look.”
“I’d better find the list,” Dad muttered, searching his pockets. “We definitely need bread. Can you be in charge of finding that for me? Now where on earth did I put it?”
But Scarlett wasn’t listening. She had seen something – a noticeboard in the shop window. It was full of advertisements – exercise classes in the church hall, someone offering to make celebration cakes, a nearly new lawnmower for sale…
And a litter of kittens, three black-and-white, one ginger, ready to leave their mother now, free to good homes.
“Dad! Look!” Scarlett was so excited, she couldn’t keep still – she was dancing from foot to foot, pointing madly at the notice.
“What?” Her dad hurried up, peering into the window. “Oh! I can see why you’re so excited. ‘Ready now’, hmmm?” He read the advert through thoughtfully, and then got his phone out.
“Are you going to call them?” Scarlett squeaked excitedly.
“No. I’m going to put the number into my phone, get some bread and milk, and go home and talk it over with your mother. Can you imagine what she’d say if we went out for shopping and came home with a kitten?”
Scarlett sighed. “I suppose you’re right. It would be funny though.” She giggled. “‘Hi, Mum, here’s the milk…’ And we take a kitten out of the bag!”
“It might have been here a while, this notice,” Dad pointed out. “The kittens might all have gone. Don’t get your hopes up, OK?”
Scarlett nodded. But as they paid for the shopping, she took a deep breath and smiled at the lady behind the counter. She hated talking to people she didn’t know, but this was important. “Excuse me, but you see the notice in the window about the kittens? Has it been up for long – I mean, do you know if they still have any left?”
The lady beamed at her. “After a kitten, are you? Julie Mallins will be pleased. She only put the notice up earlier this week, and I know she’s still looking for homes for them all.”
“Really?” Scarlett was dancing around again, she just couldn’t help it. “Oh Dad, can we go home and talk to Mum about it now, please?”
“All right, all right!” Dad grinned, raising his eyebrows at the lady.
Scarlett ran all the way home – in fact, she went twice as far as Dad did, because he wouldn’t run too, so she kept having to turn round and run all the way back to him to tell him to hurry up. When she raced in through the front of the cottage, she was completely out of breath.
“Mum! Mum!” she gasped, running from the living room to the kitchen and back to the bottom of the stairs.
“What’s the matter, sweetheart?” Her mum backed out of the understairs cupboard, where she’d been putting coats and wellies away. “Scarlett, you’re scarlet!” It was an old family joke.
“Ha ha. Mum, there’s someone in the village who’s got a litter of kittens they want to give away!”
“Really?”
“There was a notice up in the village shop.” Dad came in, holding out his phone. “I’ve got the number, what do you think?”
Scarlett bit her lip to stop herself shrieking “please, please, please”. Her mum was very firm about not whining, and she really didn’t want to get on the wrong side of her right now.
“Well, I suppose we could ask to go and look at them…” her mum said, rather doubtfully. “I’m just a bit worried that the house is all upside down right now while we’re still unpacking. Wouldn’t that be stressful for a kitten?”
Scarlett’s face fell. Mum was right. “Maybe we could wait?” she whispered. “Maybe we could just choose a kitten and ask them to keep it for us a bit longer?” She really wanted to have a kitten now, but she didn’t want their new pet to start out scared by all the boxes everywhere.
Dad hugged her. “Well, let’s see what Julie says – that’s the owner,” he explained to Mum. “She might not think it’s a problem. To be honest, we’ve done most of the unpacking in the kitchen already. We could keep it in there for the time being – I think you have to keep new kittens in one room to start off with anyway.”
Mum nodded. “I’d forgotten that. We used to have a cat when I was little,” she told Scarlett, “but it’s ever such a long time ago. We’ll all have to learn how to look after a cat together.”
“What?” Jackson put his head round the kitchen door. “Are we getting one? What’s happening?”
“Scarlett found a notice about a litter of kittens needing homes,” Dad told him. “We should have known – if there were kittens around, Scarlett was bound to find them! Shall I call this lady then?”
Mum nodded, and Scarlett flung her arms around her. She held her breath and listened as Dad made the phone call.
“Hi, is that Julie? We saw your advert about the kittens… Mmm… We wondered if we’d be able to come and see them? Uh-huh. Well, now’s great, if that’s really OK with you. Fantastic. Kendall’s Lane. Oh, off the main road? See you in about ten minutes then.”
Scarlett gasped. Ten minutes! Ten minutes till they saw their kitten!
“Here they are.”
Julie turned out to be a really sweet lady, who’d adopted Goldie, the kittens’ mum, after finding her eating scraps of bread under her bird table, because she was a stray, and so terribly hungry.
“It took weeks to even get her to come inside,” Julie told Scarlett, as she led them through to the kitchen. “But she’s settling down now. I think she knew she needed to let someone look after her, so she could have her kittens somewhere nice and warm.”
“How old are the kittens?” Scarlett’s mum asked as Julie opened the kitchen door.
“Ten weeks – the vet said they should be fine to go to new homes,” Scarlett heard Julie say. But she wasn’t really concentrating. Instead, she was staring at the basket in the corner, where a beautiful brownish tabby cat was curled up, with four kittens mounded around and on top of her.
“Goodness, she looks tired,” Mum murmured.
“Yes, I think she is, poor thing. She’s been a really good mum, but she was so thin to start with, apart from her huge tummy full of kittens. I was worried that she wouldn’t be able to feed them, but she’s done very well. They’re all practically weaned now – they love their food!”
Woken by the voices, one of the kittens popped his head up, his big gingery ears twitching with interest.
“Oh, look at him!” Scarlett whispered. “His ears are too big for him!”
Julie nodded. “I know, he’s cute, isn’t he? He’s got massive paws too; I think he’s going to be a really big cat.”
The kitten gently biffed the brother or sister next to h
im with the side of his chin, and the rest of the kittens popped up in a line, staring at Scarlett and Jackson.
The other three were black and white, very pretty, without the massive ears. They had enormous whiskers instead – great big white moustaches of them.
“I like the ginger one,” Jackson said. “That one’s a boy, right?”
Julie nodded. “Yes, and the three black and white ones are all girls.”
“I like him too,” Scarlett agreed. “Will they let us stroke them? Is that OK?”
“They’re usually very friendly. Especially Ginger.”
“Oh, is that what he’s called?” Scarlett tried not to sound disappointed. She would have liked to choose a name together for their kitten – Ginger was what all ginger cats were called!
“Oh no. I’ve tried not to give them names – I’m hoping to find homes for them all, and if I name them I’ll just want to keep them. But it’s hard not to think of him as Ginger.”
The ginger kitten was standing up now, arching his back and stretching as he climbed out of the basket. He looked sideways at Scarlett with his big blue eyes, to check that she was admiring how handsome he was as he stretched. She was watching him eagerly, and she gave a little sigh of delight as he stepped towards her, gently rubbing himself against her arm.
“Oh, he’s got boots!” Scarlett looked over at Jackson and her mum and dad. “Look, he’s got furry white boots on!”
Mum laughed. “He does look like he has,” she agreed. “Those are very cute.”
“I know lots of cats have white paws, but I’ve never seen one where the white goes that far up before.” Scarlett stroked the ginger kitten lovingly, and his black and white sisters followed him out of the basket, looking for some attention too. Their mother stared watchfully after them, then seemed to decide that Scarlett and the others weren’t dangerous to her babies. She gave a massive yawn, and curled up for a sleep.
