Charlie the Kitten Who Saved a Life

by Sheila Norton

  In no time at all, we were jumping through the cat flap into the back room of the pub.

  ‘Follow me,’ Oliver said, striding ahead of me into the main room where everyone seemed to be talking very loudly or laughing and lifting their glasses of drink to their mouths. ‘There he is, by the window. Now remember, watch me and do what I do.’

  ‘OK.’ I followed him to where Daniel was sitting with a couple of other males. They had drinks on the table in front of them and were deep in conversation.

  ‘I still say West Ham should’ve been allowed that goal,’ one of the other males said.

  ‘Don’t talk rubbish, man,’ Daniel said, laughing. Then he glanced down and said, ‘Oh, there you are, Ollie. And who’s this you’ve brought home with you? It’s little Charlie Kitten, isn’t it?’

  ‘I’m not a little kitten now!’ I meowed crossly, but Oliver gave me a look and hissed:

  ‘Stay focused on the job, Charlie!’

  ‘We heard he’d been found. He looks a bit skinny, doesn’t he?’ one of Daniel’s friends said, bending down to stroke me.

  I could sense that Oliver was getting frustrated.

  ‘Never mind about all that!’ he meowed. ‘Daniel needs to come with us.’ And he proceeded to stalk across to the main door of the pub, his tail waving in the air. ‘Come on!’

  I copied him, meowing as I went, waving my tail.

  ‘What’s up with them?’ the other friend asked. ‘Do they want to go out? George!’ he called across to Ollie’s owner, who ran the pub. ‘What’s up with your cat? Has he been fed?’

  ‘Oh, for mewing out loud!’ Oliver said to me. ‘They’re so slow to catch on. Come on, do it again.’

  We turned round, ran back to Daniel’s table, meowing loudly, and once again walked towards the door, looking back at him. Suddenly, he put down his glass, staring at us.

  ‘I think they want me to go with them,’ he said.

  ‘What? Are you serious? Did they talk to you, or what?’ one of the others laughed.

  ‘In a way, yes. Oliver’s done it before. He has … some kind of strange powers.’ Ignoring the sniggers from his friends, he pushed back his chair and got up. ‘It might be an emergency,’ he said, suddenly looking a bit frightened. He threw some money down on the table. ‘Sorry, lads – got to go.’

  ‘See?’ Oliver meowed to me as he opened the pub door and we all ran out into the night. ‘I told you we could do it.’

  ‘Yes. Well done.’ We started to run, ahead of Daniel, leading him back along the road to his own house.

  ‘What is it, boys?’ he panted, running after us. ‘It’s not … not Nicky, is it? Oh my God, please don’t let it be something wrong with Benjamin? God, no, please, don’t let anything have happened to them, while I was …’ He broke off, and when I looked round I saw him wiping his face with his paw. In the light of the street lamps he looked white and scared. ‘What the hell have I been doing?’ he muttered. ‘I’ll never forgive myself if …’

  But he didn’t get any further, because by now we were at his front door and he’d already got his key in his paw. He opened the door and was just about to charge in, when we all heard the sound of voices coming from the lounge. I glanced at Oliver. Kevin with the furry face was obviously still here. Daniel froze where he was on the doorstep, listening.

  ‘But why not?’ Kevin was saying in a soft, wheedling kind of voice. ‘We’re getting along so well together, aren’t we? And let’s face it, your marriage is … well, it’s pretty much on the rocks, isn’t it? You can’t deny …’

  I heard Daniel gasp. He took a couple of steps into the hallway, but stopped dead again as we heard Nicky interrupting Kevin. This time her voice was a lot louder than before, and a lot crosser.

  ‘That’s enough, Kevin! I think you’d better go.’

  ‘Oh, come on, Nicky! You know you want to …’

  ‘No, I don’t! I don’t know how I’ve given you the impression that I was interested in you in that way, but if I have, I’m very sorry. I did think we got on well, as neighbours, as friends perhaps, and I’ve enjoyed your company in the evenings. It’s true Daniel’s been neglecting me recently—’

  Daniel gasped again, and put his paw to his head. He looked like he was going to fall over.

  ‘—and yes, it has made me sad, but that doesn’t mean I’ve stopped loving him. And it doesn’t mean I’m going to jump into the arms of another man, just because you’ve told me about your divorce, and let me confide in you. I shouldn’t have done that. Daniel and I will sort out our problems. I don’t want you to come round anymore.’

  ‘Oh, surely there’s no need to be like that,’ he said. ‘I think—’

  But we never found out what he thought. Because at that point Daniel suddenly seemed to burst into life again and, throwing his keys on the hall table, he raced into the lounge and skidded to a halt within nose-touching distance of furry-faced Kevin, who staggered backwards away from Nicky with a look of surprise.

  ‘You heard my wife,’ Daniel said in a growly voice like an angry dog. ‘Go.’

  ‘No need for that, mate,’ Kevin protested, waving his paws in front of him as if he was smoothing something down. ‘Nicky and I have just been having a nice friendly chat over a cup of tea. While you were neglecting her. As she said.’

  ‘Dan, I didn’t say … well, I didn’t mean …’ Nicky was saying. ‘Don’t! Dan, leave him alone. Don’t hit him! It was my fault, I must have given him the wrong impression.’

  I felt my fur standing on end. Daniel had got hold of Kevin by his jumper and had his paw screwed up into a fist, like a weapon. Kevin’s eyes were wide with fear, and he was making a stuttering noise that sounded like ‘Uh … uh … uh …’

  ‘Dan!’ Nicky squealed more loudly. ‘Don’t! It won’t help! Please don’t do something you’ll regret.’

  ‘Sparrows alive!’ I meowed.

  I wasn’t going to wait to see what happened. Nicky was one of my favourite humans, and Daniel was making her upset, even more upset than she’d been with Kevin. I wasn’t going to stand for it. I wasn’t a timid little kitten anymore, I was a fighter, a rescuer, a cat who sorted things out and got things done. Just as Daniel was raising his paw to hit Kevin right in his furry face, I leapt up onto the sofa, threw myself at Daniel and clung to his jacket by my claws, yowling in his ear.

  ‘Stop it, for the love of catnip!’ I shouted. ‘No fighting! Nicky doesn’t like it.’

  ‘Ouch! Bloody hell, Charlie, what the hell are you doing? Get off me, you crazy kitten. For God’s sake!’ he cried, struggling to loosen my claws from the cloth of his jacket. The fight seemed to have gone out of him, because even though I’d shocked him, he was being gentle with me now. ‘There you go. Get down,’ he said, putting me back on the floor. ‘Stay there! What’s the matter, woman?’ he added, turning to Nicky, who seemed to be trying not to laugh.

  ‘Sorry.’ She reached out and put both paws round his waist. ‘He didn’t hurt you, did he? I’m sorry, Dan, but that was so funny. It was … as if he knew someone had to stop you. Are you all right?’

  ‘Yes.’ Daniel stared back at her. ‘I’m OK. I’m sorry. I lost my temper, and you’re right, it would only have made things worse.’

  ‘Yes. He’s not worth it. He was just trying his luck. I shouldn’t have let him get so close to me. It was stupid of me.’

  ‘No. Stupid of me, leaving you on your own every night, without giving a thought to how you felt. I’m such an idiot, such a selfish idiot! God, Nicky, if you ever left me I don’t know what I’d do.’

  ‘I’m not going to leave you, you fool. I knew we’d sort things out eventually. And I know you’re working so hard, I can understand you want a drink with your mates sometimes, but …’

  ‘But not every night. It’s not fair, and I shouldn’t have been doing it. I should be coming home to you and Benjamin. Can you forgive me?’

  ‘Of course. Don’t be daft.’

  ‘And you won’t see Kev
in anymore?’ He turned to look around the room. ‘Where is he?’

  ‘He sneaked out quickly when Charlie threw himself at you,’ Oliver meowed. Oliver was looking at me in a very strange way. ‘I think … I have to say … I think you saved the day just then, Charlie boy.’

  ‘I don’t think we’ll be seeing much of Kevin now,’ Nicky said, laughing again. ‘You and Charlie have both scared the life out of him.’

  ‘Good. What a creep! I suppose I should feel sorry for him. He’s probably lonely, and wishes he had a lovely wife like you to come home to.’

  ‘Yes, well, he’ll have to find one of his own.’ She cuddled up to him and they started to kiss each other.

  ‘I think we should make ourselves scarce now,’ I meowed at Oliver.

  ‘Let those two cats out, will you?’ Daniel muttered at the same time.

  ‘Did you bring them home with you?’ Nicky asked him as she went to open the door for us.

  ‘Um, well, actually they brought me home,’ he said. ‘I know you think I’m mad, but I’m telling you, Ollie here has some kind of strange powers. He told me there was an emergency.’

  ‘Right.’ She giggled. ‘Well, if that’s the case, I reckon little Charlie has the same powers too. He saved you from your own temper just now.’

  ‘Yeah.’ He was watching us both as we trotted to the front door. ‘In fact they might well have saved our marriage. Amazing.’

  ‘Job done!’ I said to Oliver, and we started to walk home together.

  CHAPTER

  TWENTY

  It must have been late at night by the time we said goodbye outside Oliver’s pub. People were coming out of the door, calling out goodnight to each other.

  ‘Closing time,’ Ollie said knowledgeably. ‘Will you be all right walking home by yourself, Charlie?’

  ‘Of course I will,’ I meowed. I was beginning to feel impatient with his fussing over me. ‘I’ve been used to going out at night scavenging for food.’

  For a minute he didn’t reply, but just looked at me, his head on one side.

  ‘You really have got a story to relate, haven’t you?’ he said eventually.

  ‘Yes! I keep telling you I have.’

  ‘And now we’ve got Nicky and Daniel sorted out, I’m looking forward to hearing it.’

  ‘Good. I’m looking forward to telling you, too. Come to my place tomorrow?’

  ‘Definitely.’ He stared at me again. ‘You’ve certainly changed, Charlie. You are more grown up, and more confident, somehow. I couldn’t believe the way you stopped Daniel from hitting that Kevin, back there.’

  ‘I’m sorry if it wasn’t very … polite behaviour.’

  ‘Nonsense. You’re quite right, sometimes a situation calls for quick thinking and bold action rather than politeness. What you did back there saved the day. And you heard Daniel, we’ve probably saved their marriage too. Well done, Charlie, my little protégé! I’m proud of you.’

  He rubbed his face against mine.

  ‘Thanks, Ollie. But you taught me all I know,’ I said.

  ‘That used to be true, but it’s not anymore. You’ve learned a lot more since you’ve been away. Things I could never have taught you.’

  Yes. I knew I’d learned a lot from the feral cats, and I’d never forget them, or the time I spent with them. But I hoped my dear, kind friend Oliver would never need to learn about any of those things. In a funny kind of way, I almost felt more grown up than him now, even though it was me who was always going to be little kitten.

  The next morning I woke up early, looking forward to finally being able to tell Ollie the whole story of my time in Mudditon. But first I needed to talk to him about Caroline.

  ‘So have they actually said her illness has come back?’ he asked, when I brought the subject up as soon as he arrived through the cat flap.

  ‘Not exactly. But when I first came home I heard Laura saying to Caroline that I’d get better just as she would. And then Caroline told Grace that the reason she was moody and cross before was that she’d been frightened about being ill again. But apart from that, nobody’s saying anything.’

  ‘And is she not being moody and cross anymore?’

  ‘No – well, not most of the time, anyway. But she’s really, really tired and her face looks white, and when she comes home from her new school she just lies on the sofa.’

  Ollie meowed in distress when he heard this, and walked round and round on the spot for a minute, obviously thinking it over.

  ‘I don’t like the sound of that,’ he admitted. ‘That’s how she looked when she was ill before. And has her fur come off her head?’

  ‘No. Well, not yet, anyway. If anything, it’s grown longer. She ties it up so it looks like a horse’s tail.’

  ‘And she hasn’t had to go off to the hospital place?’

  ‘Not as far as I know. Not since we were in Mudditon, anyway – the holiday town. She was in hospital there because … well, that’s another story. But nobody’s told me what happened while she was there.’

  ‘I don’t know what to think, then, Charlie. Perhaps it’s the new school that’s making her tired? I was outside Grace’s house the other day when she came home carrying such a big bag of books, she was almost bent double. I don’t know why humans make their kittens carry so many books. Surely they can only look at one at a time?’

  ‘I know, it’s weird, isn’t it? But what can I do, Ollie – you’re the clever one – how can I find out what’s wrong with her?’

  ‘I’m afraid you’ll just have to keep listening to their conversations. Or you could show Caroline how worried you are about her by jumping on her lap and mewing a lot.’

  ‘I keep trying that. I get lots of cuddles, but no answers.’

  ‘Oh dear.’ Poor Oliver looked as worried now as I was. ‘Well, the only other thing I can suggest is, I’ll make lots of extra visits to Grace and her family, as well as to Nicky and Daniel, and listen carefully to all their conversations. If Caroline is ill again, they must be really worried too, and they’re bound to talk to each other about it. I’ll report back to you as soon as I find anything out, all right?’

  With which he turned round and headed back to the cat flap.

  ‘Aren’t you staying to hear my story?’ I called after him, disappointed.

  ‘No, Charlie, sorry,’ he meowed at me. ‘Not now you’ve told me this about Caroline – I won’t be able to concentrate until we’ve found out what’s wrong.’

  ‘No, of course not,’ I said, feeling guilty now for even suggesting it. How could the story of my time in Mudditon possibly compare in importance with Caroline’s health? ‘You’re quite right. Thanks for your help, Ollie.’

  When Caroline came home that afternoon, I spent ages sitting on her lap mewing sadly in her ear. But in the end I had to stop because she called out to Laura that she was worried I was ill because I kept crying.

  ‘I’m fine,’ I purred at her. ‘It’s you I’m worried about.’

  But she still didn’t tell me anything.

  The next day must have been a Saturday, as nobody was going to school or work, and I could tell straight away that something was going on with my family. They were all talking at once, excitedly, like there was going to be something different happening. I listened carefully, hoping it wasn’t going to be another holiday!

  ‘How did they find out he was back home?’ Caroline was saying.

  ‘Well, it was a series of things, really,’ Julian said. ‘You know I wrote to the two ladies in Mudditon who found him and took him to the vet there?’

  They were talking about me! I sat up, listening even more carefully.

  ‘Yes, I know, you said you were letting them know how well he was recovering, and that you’d given their reward money to Cats’ Protection because the ladies didn’t want to accept it.’

  ‘That’s right. Well, coincidentally, it seems it was the niece of one of those two ladies who had put that original video on YouTube—’

&nb
sp; ‘The one of Charlie that was on TV?’

  ‘Yes.’ He hesitated. ‘Presuming it was Charlie, of course.’

  ‘Dad, it definitely was!’

  ‘Yes, it was, Julian,’ Laura agreed. ‘I was convinced, the moment you brought him back home. He had the same injuries as the cat in the video!’

  ‘Yes, that’s true. Well, as you know, when these things are popular on YouTube, they escalate—’

  ‘It’s called going viral, Dad,’ Caroline said. She seemed to know a lot more these days. It must have been because of her new school.

  ‘Right.’ Julian and Laura exchanged a smile over the top of Caroline’s head. ‘Yes, it went viral. Well, it seems people in Mudditon were still interested in what happened to Charlie, because of the bit on TV, and because everyone was saying on social media that he was the same cat who was in the “Missing” posters I put up around the town. When our two ladies got my letter, the niece updated her Facebook and Twitter accounts, telling people Charlie had been brought back home and was making a good recovery. Apparently loads of people were following the story, and commenting on it.’

  ‘Ah. That’s nice,’ Laura said.

  I was pleased, too, to hear people in Mudditon were interested in me, but I just wished my feral cat friends could know I was safe and well. They probably had even less idea than me what Facebook or Twitter were, though. Twitter sounded like something to do with sparrows so I couldn’t quite see the relevance.

  ‘Well, because of it all going viral again,’ Julian went on, ‘it got picked up once more by the local paper in Mudditon. They ran a cute story about how the little cat who saved the old lady from the seagull was found and returned safely home.’

  ‘And that’s how the BBC’s got hold of it again,’ Laura finished.

  ‘Yes.’ Julian paused. ‘Although there’s a bit more to it than that, apparently. Something new has come up. The guy who called me said he’ll explain when they get here.’