The Unwanted Puppy
Page 5
Ava laughed. Now that she could actually see the kittens, the strange feeling inside her had disappeared. “Three,” she told Rosie. “The one who was licking your toast…”
“There’s another ginger one over there on the climbing frame,” Bel said.
“And there’s a tabby kitten by the door,” Ava added, peering round the table to see properly. The tabby kitten was playing with a fluffy rabbit that was nearly as big as it was, rolling over and over on the floor.
“There ought to be four,” Rosie said, scanning the kitchen. “We’re missing one. There’s another tabby kitten – and honestly, it’s always him!”
Ava crouched down to check under the table but there was only the ginger kitten, still licking his buttery whiskers. Then, as she stood up, Ava spotted the tip of a stripey tail on top of the bookcase. “Is that him?” she asked Rosie, pointing. “Behind those photographs?”
“How did he get up there?” Dad laughed. “That’s a huge jump for such a small cat.”
Rosie shook her head, smiling. “I didn’t think any of them could get up there. But I suppose if he went from the climbing frame to the table, to the edge of the sink and then scrabbled up the curtain… This whole kitchen is like a playground for kittens. But he’s definitely the most adventurous!”
“Hello,” Ava whispered to the kitten as he eyed her round the side of the photo frame. “Are you stuck?” The kitten looked so funny with his head sticking out one end of the frame and his tail the other. He mewed at her and edged a little further out from behind the photo. But there wasn’t much room and he nudged into a vase that was standing behind him, making it wobble dangerously.
“Oh!” Ava said worriedly. “Come on, kitten. You’re going to get squished in a minute.” She reached up to lift him out from behind the photo frame and then looked uncertainly at Rosie. Was it OK to pick the kitten up?
Rosie nodded at her. “Can you reach? Just lift him down from there.”
Ava slipped both hands round the kitten’s middle, hoping she wasn’t scaring him. But she thought he actually looked quite grateful to be rescued. He didn’t wriggle at all and she snuggled him against her cardigan, loving the feel of his warm fur and his squidgy kitten tummy.
“Oh, he’s very handsome!” Mum said, coming over to look. “So stripey!”
“He’s the stripiest cat I’ve ever seen,” Ava agreed, looking down at the kitten. He was a beautiful golden brown colour, with black stripes running down his sides and fat black rings all along his tail. Ava had seen tabby cats before, of course, but never one with such perfect stripes.
“He’s what’s called a mackerel tabby,” Rosie said. “Like the fish – they have stripes, too.”
“He looks more like a tiger,” Mum said. “The way his stripes match on both sides.”
Ava giggled as the kitten scrabbled his way up her cardigan and climbed on to her shoulder. She knew he was probably just trying to get up high, so that he could see what was going on with all these strange people in his kitchen but it felt like he belonged with her somehow.
“Mum,” she whispered. “Do you think… Could we have this one?”
Lucy stood up to see. She’d been trying to get the ginger kittens to look at her toy cat but they weren’t very interested. “What’s his name?” she asked Rosie.
“Oh, well, I tried not to name them, because I knew they’d be going to new owners,” Rosie explained. “But in my head I’ve been calling him Adventure Kitten.”
“He sounds like a superhero!” Ava said.
“I think he’s called Tiger,” Lucy said, nodding her head. “Let’s take him home now.”
“Oh, Lucy, we haven’t decided yet,” Mum said, but she was smiling. “And don’t forget, we need to go and buy a cat carrier and a basket and, oh, lots of things! Although he is lovely…”
“And Tiger would be a great name,” Dad said. “Bel? Ava? What do you think?”
Bel reached up to stroke the kitten’s tiny paws and smiled. “Even his paws are stripey.”
Ava nodded, just a little, so as not to shake the kitten around too much. “It’s perfect! He looks just like a tiger and he’s as brave as one, too.”
COPYRIGHT
STRIPES PUBLISHING
An imprint of the Little Tiger Group
1 Coda Studios, 189 Munster Road,
London SW6 6AW
First published as an ebook by Stripes Publishing in 2018
Text copyright © Holly Webb, 2018
Illustrations copyright © Sophy Williams, 2018
Author photograph copyright © Nigel Bird
eISBN: 978–1–78895–007–7
The right of Holly Webb and Sophy Williams to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.
All rights reserved.
Apart from any use permitted under UK copyright law, this publication may only be reproduced, stored, or transmitted, in any forms, or by any means, with prior permission in writing of the publishers or, in the case of reprographic production, in accordance with the terms of licences issued by the Copyright Licensing Agency.
A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.
www.littletiger.co.uk
Excerpt From: Holly Webb, A Kitten Called Tiger.