The Case of the Missing Cat

by Laura Pearson

  Rani saw it too. “Another one! Kittens!”

  There was a third baby Lady Lovelypaws asleep in Ava’s doll tent, and one in Isabel’s bunny slipper. A fifth was curled up in Zoe’s wavy hair.

  As the rest of the girls struggled awake, there came the sound of a desperate meow. Someone was in real trouble. There were only a few creatures in Crabtree School that could make a meow like that.

  The five human detectives and their dog sprang from the tent, leaving the tiny Lady Lovelypawses behind them.

  “Mrs Peabody?” shouted Lottie, as they threw open her office door. “Are you OK?”

  The headmistress was asleep on top of her desk, clutching the photo of Lady Lovelypaws. The meow had not come from her. Across from Mrs Peabody, Miss Moody snored away in a chair. The five friends tucked Mrs Peabody’s blanket around her and backed out of the office. They tiptoed back to their tent.

  They stood looking at the kittens, who had now crawled out on to the quilt.

  “How can there be kittens but still no Lady Lovelypaws?” asked Isabel.

  Then they heard another meow. Pip jumped to his feet. “Follow that dog!” shouted Lottie as Pip headed for the playground.

  “We’ve already looked out here,” said Ava. “Where could she have been hiding?” Pip went to the side of the school. He scratched and dug against the bricks, but there was nothing there.

  Lottie got down on her hands and knees and felt along the bottom of the school’s red brick wall.

  “A hole!” she cried. “Quick, get me a torch!”

  There, in a dark cavern under Crabtree School, Lady Lovelypaws crouched over one last tiny version of herself. But this kitten’s leg had got stuck between two bits of brick in the back of the little cave. Holding the kitten in her mouth by the back of its neck, Lady Lovelypaws tugged and tugged, but she couldn’t get the kitten’s leg out.

  “Quick, get a grown-up!” cried Isabel. “The kitten is going to get hurt!”

  “A grown-up won’t fit in there,” said Ava. “The hole is too small.”

  “Let me try!” said Lottie. She got down on her stomach and slithered into the hole. Once she got close to the kitten, Lottie ever-so-gently lifted its tiny foot out of the crack in the bricks.

  Lady Lovelypaws purred and purred. She picked up the kitten in her mouth again.

  “Let’s get out of here,” Lottie told the mummy cat. “I don’t want Colonel Crunch seeing us and boarding up this hole. It’s a perfect hiding place!”

  Lady Lovelypaws smiled in agreement.

  “Six beautiful babies!” cried Mrs Peabody. She stood beaming at the kittens, a cup of tea in her hand.

  “So that’s where you’ve been,” she said to Lady Lovelypaws. “Off looking after your kittens! I’ve missed you so.”

  Lady Lovelypaws smiled up at the headmistress and rubbed against her legs.

  “I think,” said Rani, watching the kittens play in the doll tent, “that maybe Lady Lovelypaws meant to give each of us a kitten? When we woke up, we each had one. There was one in my trainer, one was in Zoe’s hair…”

  “I’m certain she did,” replied the headmistress. “You are very brave, girls, and you saved the day. Who better to look after Lady Lovelypaws’s children than you five? Of course, we’ll have to ask your parents, but I’m sure it will be fine.” Mrs Peabody couldn’t believe anyone would turn down the chance to have their very own Lady Lovelypaws.

  A tent, ghost stories, s’mores and now a kitten as a going-home present: Lottie thought that this surely must be the best sleepover in the history of the world.

  “But wait,” said Zoe, who had already decided to call her kitten Eliza. “There are six kittens. Who will take the last one? The poor little one that got stuck?”

  Mrs Peabody said Crabtree School already had a cat, and needed only one. Miss Moody had a dog at home that wasn’t quite as friendly as Pip. The Crunches were far too busy keeping up with the Crabtree girls to look after a cat.

  “But what will happen to her?” insisted Lottie. “She needs a good home!”

  “We’ll sort it out, girls,” said Mrs Peabody. “First, let’s have some breakfast.”

  “That poor little guy will be sad,” said Ava, whose own kitten was called Zinkelflop. (Ava was convinced that aliens had something to do with all this excitement.) “All of her friends have lovely homes to go to, but she doesn’t.”

  They were just tucking into Mrs Crunch’s delicious blueberry pancakes when there was a bang at the front door.

  “Who would be visiting on a Saturday morning?” wondered Mrs Peabody aloud. Shortly after she went to see who it was, they heard Mrs Snoop’s voice in the hall.

  “What is SHE doing here?” shrieked Rani. “Quick! Hide the kittens!” They stashed two kittens in Isabel’s robe pockets, one under Lottie’s black hat, one between two pancakes and one under an overturned teacup. Lady Lovelypaws scurried under a table. But where was the last kitten?

  “I was hoping someone would be here,” Mrs Snoop was saying to Mrs Peabody as they came in. “We like to search the schools for animals on the weekends, when no children are about.” Mrs Snoop stopped when she saw the pancake breakfast.

  “What’s this?” she asked, her face as stony as ever. “Why are there children here?”

  Mrs Snoop knew the answer to this of course, because she had seen the girls around the campfire the night before, but she couldn’t very well let on that she had been spying.

  As Mrs Peabody and the five friends tried desperately to think of what to say, Isabel’s kitten, which she had named Mabel, was crawling out from under the pancakes.

  Lottie saw the teacup with Rani’s kitten under it move across the table. Rani’s kitten was called Girl, because Rani was happy that it was one.

  The kitten under her hat was nibbling on Lottie’s ear, and it was hard not to giggle. Lottie’s kitten was called Sweetie.

  “I shall have a good look round now,” said Mrs Snoop. “I hope that you have listened to my warning, Mrs Peabody. I’m sure you know better than to break rule four thousand, three hundred and twenty-one aga— Ahhhhh!”

  A kitten was wobbling across the floor towards Mrs Snoop’s feet.

  “What is the meaning of THIS?” cried Mrs Snoop. The woman was so shocked that Lottie thought she saw Mrs Snoop’s face move the tiniest bit. “What dirty, smelly, FEROCIOUS creature is this?”

  Everyone knows that kittens are not dirty, or smelly, or ferocious. They are snuggly and fluffy and quite possibly the cutest things on the planet. Kittens are not afraid of grouchy old ladies, either. Lady Lovelypaws’s tiniest baby trotted right up to Mrs Snoop’s shoe.

  “It’s attacking me!” screamed Mrs Snoop. “Get it AWAY! Call the police!” Her lips were moving a bit as she shouted.

  As they watched, the kitten climbed right up Mrs Snoop’s shoe. It began licking her ankle.

  “OH HELLLLPPP!” shrieked Mrs Snoop. “It’s eating me alive! It’s … aah – hee hee. Ha ha. Hee hee – that tickles!” Mrs Snoop’s eyebrows went up in surprise. There was a small cracking sound as her stony skin began to move.

  “Go on,” said Lottie. “Pick him up. He won’t hurt you!”

  Mrs Snoop bent over. She looked at the tiny kitten rubbing against her. He liked her soft, puffy ankles. He was purring.

  Mrs Snoop reached out a bony finger to touch the fluffy white fur. She began to stroke the kitten. He chewed at her shoelace.

  Ever so slowly, Mrs Snoop picked up the ball of white fur with two hands and held him up in front of her face. There were little cracks showing where her forehead had moved.

  There was a gasp all round as the kitten batted Mrs Snoop’s nose with his little paw. They all waited to see what would happen next.

  Mrs Snoop’s lips twitched. Her cheeks quivered. With a loud creaking, cracking, crumbling sound, her stony face broke into a smile.

  Mrs Snoop’s smile wasn’t just a small one. It was the kind you make with your whole face. Lottie though
t that she looked like the happiest person in the world just then. Which was saying a lot, considering Mrs Snoop was surrounded by five little girls who’d just had a sleepover AND been given a kitten.

  Mrs Snoop fed her kitten milk with a tiny spoon as the girls finished their breakfast and packed up Lottie’s tent. Whilst they waved goodbye to Mrs Peabody and Lady Lovelypaws, they saw Mrs Snoop tucking the kitten gently into the pocket of her grey coat. She was still smiling.

  They never heard another word about SCAT again, though some weeks later Mrs Peabody did receive a note from Mrs Snoop, asking if she could bring the kitten, who was now called Rocky, to the Crabtree School Pet Parade in the spring.

  There were a few exclamations of “You’ve brought home a WHAT?” from the mummies and daddies later that morning, but with lots of convincing and googolplex pleases, the other five kittens found loving homes with Zoe, Rani, Isabel, Ava and Lottie. Pip and Sweetie became the best of friends and took long naps snuggled up together.

  Lady Lovelypaws lived at Crabtree School for the rest of her nine lives, and over the years she had many more kittens that brought many more smiles to many more faces. Kittens will do that.

  Lottie, Ava, Isabel, Zoe and Rani were sat in Lottie’s hideout in a secret location somewhere in Lottie’s garden. In Lottie’s hand was an envelope, and in this envelope were the photographs from the greatest sleepover in the history of the world.

  “My mum has just got them back from the olden-days camera place!” said Lottie excitedly. Huddled together, the friends began to look through the pictures.

  There was a photo of the tent, with all of their sleepover supplies.

  There was one of Ava’s face, lit by a torch, looking delighted to be terrifying them all.

  There was one featuring Mrs Peabody in her robe and curlers, and Miss Moody in her sheep pyjamas.

  There were loads of pictures of the Year Six classroom, and one of the creepy doll in the attic.

  Looking through the pictures felt like they were at the sleepover all over again. Eventually they came to the last photograph.

  “I don’t remember taking that one,” said Rani. “Do you, Lottie?” Lottie did not.

  The picture was of the attic. It was a bit blurry, and quite dark.

  “That must have been when you dropped the camera, Rani,” said Lottie. They leaned in for a closer look.

  They could see Rani’s sparkly knees, but most of the photo was of Ava, in her long white nightdress. At her feet, there was a small white cloud. It looked a little like a cat, except they could see right through it to the broken doll’s buggy behind.

  “What’s that?” asked Rani, pointing.

  They stared.

  “It looks like—” stuttered Isabel.

  “I knew it!” said Ava.

  “But it can’t be,” replied Zoe.

  “It has to be,” said Lottie. “We have proof.” She tucked the photo into her purple notebook.

  They would need to do more investigating.

  Carry on reading for lots more Crabtree School fun!

  ALL ABOUT ME

  MY FULL NAME: Charlotte Christina Lewis, aka: Lottie, Charlie, Doodles

  WHERE I LIVE: 221b Birchwood Lane

  WHAT MY ROOM LOOKS LIKE: It looks normal, but it has LOTS of great hiding places, including a secret passage from under my bed to under my desk.

  WHO IS IN MY FAMILY: There is my mummy, who is called Francesca Lewis and gets lots of parking tickets. Also my dad, who is called John Lewis like the shop and is not good at barbecuing. Last is my sister, Lola Lewis, who is four years old and last week coloured on our sofa with a marker pen.

  MY PETS: I have a dog called Pip Lewis who snores a lot. He will not eat the regular kind of dog food, only the really fancy kind.

  MY BEST FRIEND(S): My best friend is Isabel. She is good at crafts and has a shoebox as her secret hiding place.

  WHAT I LOVE TO DO: I love to go to the movies and watch people. I like to watch people in real life, too. And I love solving mysteries!

  WHAT MAKES ME CROSS: When grown-ups think kids don’t know what they are talking about it makes me VERY cross. I always know what everyone is talking about!

  WHAT I AM MOST AFRAID OF: Vampire bats, because they are real animals that really exist. And also trolls. Trolls are scary.

  WHAT I COLLECT: Clues!

  MY SECRET HIDING PLACE: No way am I answering that! It’s a SECRET!

  HOW TO BE A GOOD SPY

  by Lottie

  1) Always be on the lookout for good hiding places! Don’t choose hot places, cold places, smelly places or places where a grown-up might see you and make you help tidy up/set the table/practise piano.

  2) Keep your notebook with you at all times. It can go in your sock, in your pocket, in your shoe or even in your ponytail. But keep it close, and away from little sisters.

  3) Write down EVERYTHING. You never know what might be important for solving a mystery someday! But do remember the Golden Rule of Spying:

  Never write anything mean about anyone. Never. Because a truly good spy is a kind one!

  THE CASE OF THE MISSING CAT HAS EVERYTHING FROM A KOOKY OLD DOG TO LITTLE FLUFFY KITTENS, BUT WHICH ANIMAL ARE YOU? TAKE THE QUIZ TO FIND OUT!

  1. What’s your bedroom like?

  a. Neat and tidy

  b. Pretty messy, but bright

  c. Cosy and comfy

  d. Full of games and stuff

  e. Really grown-up

  2. Choose a fun activity:

  a. Something crafty

  b. Swimming

  c. Playing hide-and-seek

  d. Going to the funfair

  e. Dressing up

  3. What word describes you best?

  a. Curious

  b. Loyal

  c. Kind

  d. Energetic

  e. Strong

  4. What’s your favourite food?

  a. Fish fingers

  b. Hamburger

  c. Cake

  d. Crisps

  e. Popcorn

  5. What’s your favourite colour?

  a. Green

  b. Red

  c. Orange

  d. Silver

  e. Blue

  6. What’s your favourite school activity?

  a. Story time

  b. Play time

  c. Lunch time

  d. Drama

  e. PE

  7. What do you like to do with your friends?

  a. Put on a play

  b. Run around outside

  c. Make dens and forts

  d. Dance

  e. Play make-believe

  8. What’s your favourite season?

  a. Summer

  b. Spring

  c. Autumn

  d. Winter

  e. You like them all!

  Mostly As: A Cat!

  You’re a regular Lady Lovelypaws! You love school and you’re curious about new things and ideas. Your room is always neat and tidy, and your favourite thing to do is curl up in bed with a good book. You’re never in a rush and you like to do things at your own pace – gently and gracefully.

  Mostly Bs: A Dog!

  You’re like Pip, only with a lot more energy! You love running around outside more than anything and are always looking for a fun new game to play with your friends. You can be a bit messy (sorry, Mum!), but that’s because you have so many fun things to do. Once you’re friends with someone they’re a friend forever.

  Mostly Cs: A Rabbit!

  You’d be right at home in Isabel’s rabbit hutch! You’re really easy-going and extremely kind to everyone you meet – you love making other people happy. You always have a fun plan for what to do on a play date or during break, and everyone always has a good time when you are in charge.

  Mostly Ds: A Hamster!

  You’re so energetic no one can pin you down for more than second. You love to dance and go to parties with your friends, and you are brilliant at doing tricks. Sitting still is far too bori
ng for you, but when you aren’t running about, you’re the most caring creature around. You are very good at looking after younger children, which is lucky because, at Crabtree School, you live in the Reception classroom!

  Mostly Es: A Horse!

  You’re the pony every Crabtree girl dreams of! You love going to new places and exploring – you’re always up for an adventure or learning something new. You’re sometimes shy when you meet new people, but when you’re with your best friends you’re fun, loyal and brave, no matter what.

  Scholastic Children’s Books

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  SCHOLASTIC and associated logos are trademarks and or registered trademarks of Scholastic Inc.

  First published in the UK by Scholastic Ltd, 2015

  This electronic edition published by Scholastic Ltd, 2015

  Text copyright © Lauren Pearson, 2015

  Illustration copyright © Becka Moor, 2015

  The right of Lauren Pearson and Becka Moor to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work has been asserted by them.

  eISBN 978 1407 15523 4

  A CIP catalogue record for this work is available from the British Library.

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