by Holly Webb
For everyone remembering a much-missed cat
For more information about Holly Webb visit:
www.holly-webb.com
CONTENTS
Title Page
Dedication
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Chapter Five
Chapter Six
Chapter Seven
Chapter Eight
About the Author
Other titles by Holly Webb:
Copyright
Chapter One
“Oh, Mia, look! I told you Mrs Johnston had a new cat. Isn’t she gorgeous? So fluffy!” Mia’s mum stroked the little black cat, who was sitting proudly on Mrs Johnston’s front wall.
Mia’s best friend Emily tickled the purring cat under the chin. “She’s so lovely!”
Mia’s mum looked over at Mia hopefully, then sighed. She hadn’t even glanced up as Mum and Emily petted the cat. She was staring firmly at her school shoes as she marched on down the road. It was as if she hadn’t heard.
Mum and Emily exchanged worried looks, and hurried after her. Emily lived a few doors down from Mia, and the girls usually walked to school together. Their mums and Mia’s gran took it in turns to go with them, now that Emily’s big sister Leah had started secondary school. Gran lived in a little flat at the side of Mia’s house, and looked after Mia when her parents were working. She’d moved in with them a few years ago, when she’d been ill and it had been difficult for her to live on her own.
“See you tomorrow, Mia!” Emily called, as she turned into her drive.
“Bye! Call me if you get stuck on that homework!” Mia was very good at maths, and Emily wasn’t. Emily had been moaning about their maths homework all the way back from school.
Mia flung off her coat and hurried upstairs before Mum could start going on about Mrs Johnston’s gorgeous cat again. She could hear her mum asking her if she was OK, if she wanted a drink or a chat, but she ignored her.
Mia just didn’t want to hear. She’d never realized before how many cats there were in her road, or on the way to school. Now that she couldn’t bear to see them, there seemed to be cats everywhere.
She slumped down on her bed, and looked sadly at the navy blue fleece blanket spread over her duvet at the end. It had a pattern of little cat faces scattered over it – and there were still ginger hairs clinging on to it here and there. Sandy had slept on it every night, for as long as Mia could remember. She still woke up in the middle of the night expecting her old cat to be there – sometimes she even reached down to stroke him, waiting for his sleepy purr as he felt her move. It was so hard to believe that he was really gone.
She looked at the photo on her windowsill. It had been taken a couple of months earlier, at the beginning of the summer holidays, just a few weeks before Sandy died. He was looking thin, and they’d taken him to the vet’s, but that day he’d been enjoying the late summer sun in the garden, and Mia had been sure he was getting better. Looking back now, she realized that he hadn’t been jumping and pouncing and chasing the butterflies like he usually did, just lying quietly in the sun. But she hadn’t wanted to believe that there was anything wrong with him.
Tears stung her eyes as she stroked the glass over the photo, wishing she had the real Sandy snuggled up on her lap.
How could Mum keep pointing out other cats, and expecting her to want to stop and stroke them? Dad had even suggested going to the cat rescue centre to look for a kitten! Mia didn’t want a kitten, ever. She was never going to replace her beautiful Sandy.
Mum was calling her from downstairs, asking if she wanted a snack. Brushing the tears away, Mia carefully straightened Sandy’s blanket, and went down to the kitchen.
She could tell that Mum was watching her worriedly as she ate her apple. It only made her feel worse.
“Shall I go and fill up the bird feeder?” she asked, wanting an excuse to leave the room. Mia knew Mum was only trying to help, but she really wasn’t, and any minute now she was going to start talking about kittens again, or getting a rabbit, like she’d suggested yesterday.
Mia grabbed the bag of bird food from the cupboard, and let herself out of the back door, taking a deep breath of relief. A blackbird skittered out of her way as she went over to refill the feeder, and she murmured to it soothingly as she unhooked the wire case.
“It’s all right, I’ll be gone in a minute. And I’ll probably drop bits, you can come and peck them up.” She poured in the seed, and then hung up the feeder and perched on the arm of the bench, shivering a little in the autumn sun. She didn’t want to go back inside just yet.
All of a sudden, a damp nose butted her hand, and Mia jumped, a strange, silly hope flooding into her.
But when she turned round, it wasn’t her beautiful Sandy playing tricks on her. It was a pretty, plump white cat, with blue eyes, and Mia recognized her. Silky, her friend Emily’s cat.
“Hi, Silky,” she whispered. “You look a bit round, pusscat. Emily needs to stop giving you so many treats.”
Silky rubbed up against her affectionately. Cats always liked Mia, and Silky knew her anyway, as Mia spent loads of time over at Emily’s house. Sandy had known Emily too, although he’d always chased Silky if she came into his garden.
This garden.
Mia swallowed and gently pushed Silky away, then walked swiftly back into the house.
Her mum was standing by the kitchen window – she’d been watching, and she sighed, very quietly, as Mia hurried back inside.
“Are you OK, sweetheart?” she asked.
“I’m going to do my homework,” Mia muttered, trying not to sound tearful. She was so sick of people worrying about her. Dad had talked to her for ages at breakfast that morning about Sandy. But she was perfectly all right! Why couldn’t everyone just leave her alone?
Chapter Two
Mia and her gran called for Emily on their way to school the next morning. Emily waved at them through the front window as they walked up, and then she disappeared, and flung open the door.
“Guess what!” Emily shrieked.
Mia shook her head, laughing, as Emily came running down the path. “What? You finished the maths homework and it was easy?”
Emily shuddered and made a face. “No, it was awful, I don’t even want to think about it. I’ll have to tell you – you’ll never guess. We think Silky might be going to have kittens!”
Gran smiled delightedly, and Mia gasped. “What, really? Kittens? When will she have them?”
“We’re not quite sure. Mum’s going to take her to the vet’s today to check. We were looking at her last night, and we just realized how big she’d got round the middle! Mum’s a bit annoyed though… Well, she’s excited, but she says it’s going to be a big fuss, and we’ll have to find homes for all the kittens.” Emily frowned. “But me and Leah are going to work on Mum to let us keep one of them.”
“Oh, wow…” Mia murmured. “You know, Silky came into our garden yesterday, and I thought she was looking a bit plump. But I didn’t realize she was having kittens!” I only looked at her for a moment before I pushed her away, Mia added in her head, feeling a bit guilty.
Emily chattered on happily about the kittens all the way to school, wondering how many there would be, and whether they’d be white like Silky.
Mia joined in with a comment here and there, but thoughts were buzzing around inside her head. She still loved cats, of course she did. But it was definitely hard to be around them right now, when every cat seemed to remind her so much of Sandy. It wouldn’t be so difficult if her mum and dad weren’t so keen for them to get another pet – they seemed to think Mia needed another cat to get over Sa
ndy properly. And now Emily was all excited about kittens as well…
“What’s the matter, Mia? You’ve gone all quiet,” Emily asked, as they waved to Gran and went in through the school gates.
Mia smiled and shook her head. “I’m fine. I’m glad I’m walking home with you and my mum today – can we pop in and see Silky, and ask your mum what the vet said?” She was trying hard to sound excited, like she knew she should, and it must have worked, because Emily beamed at her.
“Of course you can!” Emily said, giving her a hug. “I can’t wait to tell everyone about Silky having kittens! I just hope it’s true!”
Emily told Mia’s mum the news as soon as they came out of school. She’d come straight from work to pick them up and hadn’t spoken to Gran, so it was a total surprise.
“Oh, Mia, isn’t that lovely? Kittens!”
“Mmm.” Mia tried to sound enthusiastic. She really didn’t want to spoil things for Emily. “Can we go and see Silky on the way home?” she asked. “Emily’s mum took Silky to the vet, so she should know for certain by now – maybe she’ll even know when the kittens might be born.”
Mum nodded. “Of course!”
They hurried back to Emily’s house, and Emily burst through the door, racing ahead and calling for her mum. “What did the vet say? Is she definitely having kittens? When will they come?”
“Sooner than we thought!” her mum said, laughing. “Could be only a couple of weeks, the vet said. And she felt Silky’s tummy, and she thinks there are at least three kittens, possibly more.”
“Three!” Emily breathed, crouching down next to Silky, who was curled up in her furry basket. “That explains why she’s so fat!”
Mia sat down next to her friend, and stroked Silky gently. She was very well-named – her fur was beautifully soft and smooth. She wasn’t asleep, but her pretty blue eyes were half-closed, as though she was tired. She probably was, Mia thought.
“Three kittens to find homes for,” her mum sighed. She looked thoughtfully at Mia’s mum. “I don’t suppose…”
Mia saw her mum smile, and glance over at her, raising her eyebrows. Emily’s mum glanced at her too, and nodded understandingly. Mia could tell exactly what Mum meant – Maybe, but I’m not sure about Mia.
She gave Silky one last gentle stroke. It was odd to think that there were tiny kittens squirming around inside her.
“Mum, I’ve got loads of homework,” she pointed out, getting to her feet. “We’d better go.” They didn’t really need to leave that minute, but she didn’t want her mum and Emily’s exchanging any more of those secret looks.
The subject didn’t go away, though. Dad was full of questions at dinner time, wanting to know when the kittens would arrive, and what Silky had looked like.
“Silky’s such a sweet cat,” he said, looking at Mia. “She’ll have cute kittens, Mia, don’t you think?”
Mia nodded. “But they won’t be as gorgeous as Sandy,” she said, eyeing her dad firmly. “We’ll never find another cat like him.”
He shook his head, with a sigh. “No, I suppose not. But different can be good too, you know, Mia.”
When she went up to bed that night, Mia lay there for ages, hugging Sandy’s blanket and thinking. She’d never actually had a kitten of her own. Sandy had been older than she was, he was about two when she was born. Gran had a lovely photo of him that she kept in her little living room, one that Mum and Dad had sent her when she still lived in her old house, before she came to live with them all a few years later. It was a photo of Mia as a baby, sitting up in her bouncy chair, and reaching out a fat little hand for Sandy’s tail as he strolled past.
Mum had photos of Sandy as a kitten, too, in her photo album. He’d been super cute – with round green eyes that looked too big for his little whiskery face, and apricot pink pads to his paws. They were darker by the time Mia knew him, from going outside and roughening them up. But he was still beautiful, and his eyes were like emeralds.
Mia gulped, and buried her face in the blanket. It still smelled of him. She really wanted to be excited for Emily, but even the thought of kittens made her miss Sandy so much. She wasn’t sure she could bear to see them for real.
Chapter Three
“I wonder if there’s any news yet!” Emily said excitedly, as they put on their coats at the end of school. “Mum’s picking us up today – I can’t wait to ask her. Silky’s been a bit shy and weird all weekend, then she went off and snuggled herself up in the hall cupboard this morning. I’m sure that means she’s ‘nesting’, getting ready for her kittens to come.”
It was Monday, two weeks since Emily had found out Silky was having kittens, and she had been getting more and more impatient every day.
Mia smiled. Even though the thought of kittens made her miss Sandy, she could see how happy Emily was. They hurried out into the playground, looking eagerly for Emily’s mum. But she wasn’t there – instead, Mia’s gran was waving at them from by the gate.
“Gran! What are you doing here?” Mia called in surprise.
Gran smiled. “Silky’s having her kittens! Your mum didn’t want to leave her on her own, Emily, so she called me. My legs aren’t so bad today, so I was glad to come out for a walk.”
“She’s having them right now?” Emily squealed in delight, whirling her schoolbag around. “Ooooh, how many are there?”
“Four so far, apparently, and your mum thought that might be it, but she wasn’t quite sure.”
“Four kittens!” Emily said blissfully, and even Mia felt her stomach squirm with excitement. “Can Mia come in and see them, Mrs Lovett?” Emily asked Mia’s gran.
“Better not today,” Gran said thoughtfully. “They’ve only just been born, and Silky will be tired and very protective of her new babies, I should think. She won’t want lots of visitors. You can tell Mia about them tomorrow.”
Emily walked home so fast she was practically running, and she dashed in at her gate with a wave, leaving Mia and her gran to walk on to their house.
“You’re looking serious, Mia,” Gran commented. “Aren’t you excited about the kittens?”
Mia was silent for a moment. The walk home and Emily’s happy chattering about Silky’s babies had brought back that strange, miserable feeling again, even worse than before. It seemed so unfair that Emily should have her beautiful Silky and four lovely little kittens, too. She wasn’t jealous of Emily, exactly – just sad.
“I was,” she admitted. “When you told us they were coming, I thought it was wonderful. But then Emily started talking about how sweet they’d be, and how she was looking forward to cuddling them and playing with them. And it just made me miss Sandy so much!” She leaned her face against Gran’s arm. “I’m not even sure I want to go and see them,” she whispered.
Gran nodded thoughtfully. “I wondered if that was it. Poor Mia.” She gave her a hug as they reached their drive. “Come on, let’s go and make some hot chocolate. Perhaps that will cheer you up a little.”
Emily was full of news of the kittens the next day at school. Their friends Libby and Poppy rushed up to her, desperate to know what had happened. Mia did her best to join in and sound enthusiastic, but it was hard.
“There’s a black one, and two tabbies, and the last one to be born was a tiny, tiny little white one, with the most enormous set of whiskers!” Emily beamed at Mia. “Do you think you can come and see them after school?”
Mia hesitated. She could – but she was worried she’d do something awful like start crying. “Um, I’m not sure,” she said slowly. “Gran’s picking me up, and she said something about going shopping.”
“Oh.” Emily looked a bit surprised, as though she’d been expecting Mia to be more excited, and Mia felt guilty.
“Did you learn those spelling words?” she asked quickly, to try and distract Emily from the kittens.
Emily pulled a face. “Well, I looked at them… But then the kittens were so lovely to watch – they’re all just nosing around each other
and Silky and squeaking, it’s so funny. I probably haven’t learned them properly.” She sighed. “Can you test me?”
Mia nodded, feeling relieved. She’d got away with it for today, but she wasn’t going to be able to keep on making excuses. Sooner or later, she was going to have to go and see the kittens.
By the end of the week, Mia had run out of excuses to say to Emily, and Emily was running out of patience. On Friday at lunchtime, she told Mia that her mum said she could come over at the weekend to see the kittens if she wanted.
Mia’s mind went blank. What could she possibly say, except that she didn’t want to? She couldn’t pretend to be busy for the whole weekend.
“So will you come?” Emily asked, staring at her and frowning slightly.
Mia opened her mouth, and then closed it again helplessly.
“You don’t want to, do you?” Emily said. Her voice was flat, and Mia could see that she was really hurt. It made Mia feel terrible.
“Sorry…” she whispered.
“Is it because of Sandy?” Emily said. She sounded as though she was trying to be cross, but she couldn’t manage it. Emily was useless at arguing. When she and Mia had a fight it usually only lasted two minutes before Emily cried.
Mia nodded. “It’s not that I don’t want you to have them… I just miss Sandy, and you having all those kittens…”
“I know you miss Sandy,” Emily said, her voice getting sniffly already. “But you’re supposed to be my best friend, and you ought to at least try and be happy for me! I really wanted to show them to you.”
Mia nodded. She felt like she might cry now, too. “I know! I really am trying! I just can’t make myself stop being sad about him. I can’t be happy about the kittens. I can’t do it!”
