Charlie the Home-alone Kitten

by Tina Nolan

  This series is for my riding friend Shelley, who cares about all animals.

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Chapter Eleven

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  “‘Animal Magic – we match the Perfect Pet with the Pefect Owner!’”

  Eva Harrison read the words on the computer screen. “You missed out the ‘r’ in the second ‘Perfect’,” she pointed out to her brother, Karl. They’d been working together for almost an hour, designing a leaflet for Animal Magic’s Open Day.

  Karl added the ‘r’ and scrolled through the rest of the leaflet. “Can I print it off now?” he asked.

  “Just a minute.” Eva read the whole thing one last time. “‘We take in and care for unwanted animals and rehome them with caring owners.’ Yep, cool. ‘We make sure that no healthy animal is ever put to sleep.’ Yeah, that’s good. ‘In our first year we rehomed 124 dogs and 156 cats. We also found new owners for 5 horses, 2 goats, plus 42 rabbits and 13 guinea pigs.’” She looked at the photos underneath. There was one of three feral kittens, Treacle, Wilma and Snap, and another of a white rabbit called Pom-Pom. “Cute!” she murmured.

  “So can I print it?” Karl asked impatiently.

  “Wait!” Eva read on. “‘Animal Magic Open Day. Saturday 5th August. Meet a celeb!’ This is the best bit! ‘Soccer star, Jake Adams, will be here to meet you on Saturday at 2.00 p.m. Jake and his girlfriend, Marietta, are big fans of Animal Magic, so don’t miss your chance to chat and get Jake’s autograph!’ Can you believe it!”

  “I know, this really is cool!” Karl agreed, tapping keys to begin printing the leaflets. He and his best mate, George Stevens, were seriously into football. “I can’t wait to meet Jake!”

  “I already have,” Eva reminded him. It wasn’t often that she had one up on her older brother, but this time she did. “I was with Dad when he took Charlie to Jake’s house, remember.”

  “Yeah, no need to rub it in,” Karl muttered, keeping an eye on the printer as it churned out the leaflets.

  Eva sailed on regardless. “Jake lives at Okeham Hall, a massive mansion with a swimming pool. He came to the door with Marietta. I handed him Charlie and he said thanks. He said we were doing a great job.”

  “Yeah, yeah!” Karl sniffed. “Next you’ll be telling me that it was you who persuaded him to come to our Open Day!”

  “Yeah well, no, actually, that was down to Dad.” Eva had to admit the truth. “Jake invited us in. That was when Dad asked him to be our last-minute celebrity guest. Jake said yeah, he’d love to do it if it helps to raise our pro-feel—”

  “Raise our what?” Karl cut in.

  “Pro-feel – y’know, if it helps make us more well known.”

  “You mean profile!” Karl grinned.

  “Whatever.” Taking a stack of leaflets fresh from the printer, Eva blushed and made a quick exit. “Only two days to go!” she muttered. “I’d better post these through every letter box in the village.”

  “Here, take another peel!” Karl laughed. “And remember, take it easy – delivering those leaflets means you’ll have to walk meels and meels!”

  ‘Hah!’ Eva retorted, flouncing off to the surgery to find their mum.

  “Hi, Dad. Is Mum about?” Eva asked, popping her head around the office door. “Is she in the surgery?”

  Her dad looked up from his pile of papers. “She’s in the stables, vaccinating the two ponies we brought in yesterday.”

  Eva hurried on past the surgery and the row of converted barns that housed the smaller rescue animals until she came to the small block of new stables that her dad had been working on for the last few weeks. “Mum?” she called, stepping out of the sunlight into the stables.

  “Hush!” Heidi whispered. She was stroking the neck of a small brown and white pony whose shaggy mane fell over his dark eyes. “Apache didn’t like his injection, did you, boy?”

  “Aah! But it’ll make you feel better,” said Eva, scratching Apache’s nose. Quietly, she went up to the other pony, a skinny chestnut called Rosie. “Do you want a stroke too?” she murmured.

  Rosie nuzzled Eva’s palm with her soft nose. Inside the stall, a hay-net hung from the wall and there was a bucket of feed on the floor.

  “We’ll soon feed you up and make you big and strong!” Eva promised, remembering the parched field where they had found her. A neighbour had called Animal Magic to say that the poor creature had been left without fresh water and abandoned by her owners while they took a two-week holiday in Spain.

  “Hey, Apache,” Heidi whispered, still stroking the little piebald. “Now that needle didn’t really hurt, did it?” She turned to Eva. “Did you want something?” she reminded her.

  “Oh yeah. We’ve finished the leaflets about the Open Day. I wanted to ask if I can deliver them round the village.”

  “Let me see.”

  Eva handed her mum a leaflet. Heidi read through it, nodding and finally saying, “Yes, that’s fine. It looks very good… Eva, did you hear me?”

  “Hmm?” Eva had her arms around Rosie’s neck and she was murmuring sweet nothings into the pony’s ear. “Oh, yeah. Thanks, Mum!”

  Heidi smiled. “Go!” she urged.

  “OK, I’m out of here!” Eva said. “Here I come, Okeham village!”

  Chapter Two

  Eva hurried up Main Street, pushing leaflets through letter boxes, humming as she went. She felt really excited about Saturday. All the plans were going well, especially since Jake Adams had agreed to be there.

  “Hi, George. Are you coming on Saturday?” she called to Karl’s best mate, who stood astride his bike in his driveway. She fluttered a leaflet under his face. “You’ll get to meet Jake Adams if you do!”

  “Wow, no way! Is this for real?”

  Eva nodded. “So you’ll come?” She was already on her way.

  “Count me in,” George said. He cycled after Eva to the house next door. “What time does Jake arrive?”

  “Two o’clock!” she called over her shoulder. “Be there early if you want to get his autograph!”

  “Our big day will soon be here!” Eva told Treacle, Snap and Wilma, one of four litters of kittens in the cattery. Charlie was their brother, and as yet, he was the only one to find a perfect new home.

  “We’ll have to make you look extra specially beautiful on Saturday,” she cooed, lifting out ten-week-old Treacle and tickling his tummy.

  The brown tabby wriggled and squirmed.

  “Yes, I know, you’re already adorable!” Eva laughed. Her dad had found the litter in an air vent at the back of a factory. Realizing that they were wild, and seemingly without their mum, he had brought them straight back to Animal Magic. Eva had given the four kittens names before Jake Adams had come along and taken Charlie.

  “There’ll be hundreds of people,” she promised, putting Treacle back into the kitten unit then moving on to check a Siamese stray called Satin. Right now the cattery was bursting at the seams with animals needing owners, just like the dog kennels next door.

  “Hundreds of people!” Eva repeated, as she closed the cattery door and went next door to see Penny, Bruno and Becks. “Down, Becks!” she said sternly to the black Great Dane.

  Becks was almost as tall as Eva – a gentle giant who had been dumped at their door a month earlier. He gazed at her with soft brown eyes that would melt the hardest h
eart.

  “Hundreds!” she promised, going from one kennel to the next.

  The dogs woofed and whined. They jumped up and wagged their tails.

  “People will queue for Jake Adams’s autograph then they’ll come to visit you,” she told them. “They’ll see you and fall in love with you. Before you know it, they’ll want to take you home.”

  “Woof!” the dogs replied. “Woof – wruff – woof!”

  Eva looked up at the pink sky as the sun disappeared in the west. “It’s going to be the best, best day!”

  Chapter Three

  “Hi, Eva. Can I come in?” Annie Brooks poked her head around the cattery door.

  It was early Friday morning, and Eva was feeding the cats. “Sure. Why not?”

  Annie bit her lip nervously. “I wondered if you were still talking to me, after what Mum and Dad have done.”

  Eva smiled. “We’re not at war with you, Annie. Only your mum and dad!”

  “I’m so sorry!” Annie sighed. She sidled up to the kitten unit where Treacle, Snap and Wilma snoozed in the warmth. “You know what Mum’s like. She’s always joining committees and setting up campaigns against stuff. Last year it was to stop cars speeding through the village.”

  “And this year it’s to close us down,” said Eva. “But why doesn’t she like us?” she asked, placing a bowl of food in front of a white cat called Libby. Libby’s long coat had been so filthy and matted that Heidi had decided to clip it off, except for the fur on her face and tail. Now she looked strange and scrawny as she gobbled her food.

  Annie shrugged. “She reckons you’re noisy and attract too much traffic, stuff like that.”

  “Doesn’t she care about animals?”

  “Yes, she does. But she doesn’t like having them next door, that’s all.” Annie wanted to change the subject, so she asked if she could pick up Wilma.

  “Go ahead,” Eva told her. “With any luck, by this time tomorrow, she might not be here!”

  Annie nestled the tiny kitten against her. “So cute!” she murmured. Wilma miaowed and cuddled up close. “Aah, have they found you a new home?”

  “Not yet. But it’s our Open Day tomorrow, so here’s hoping!”

  Annie frowned and put Wilma back into the unit. She flicked her long, fair hair behind her shoulders. “What Open Day?”

  “Oh,” Eva said, feeling embarrassed. “Hmm, yeah – I was too scared to post a leaflet through your letter box,” Eva said. “I thought your mum might tell me off. Anyway, we’re inviting the whole village to Animal Magic so they can see what we do. Mum says it’ll help find new owners for all the animals.”

  “Hmm.” Annie’s frown deepened. “That means lots of cars and lots of people. Maybe I’d better break it to Mum.”

  “OK, if you think that’s best,” Eva said. “But poor you!”

  “Yeah, I’d better go,” Annie decided, heading for the door.

  “Take a break,” Heidi suggested when she saw Eva pushing a wheelbarrow towards the manure heap at the back of the yard. “Don’t wear yourself out. It’s going to be a long day.”

  “I’m fine!” Eva insisted, trundling on. “I want to finish mucking out.”

  Her mum waited at the stable door until Eva came back with an empty barrow. “Good job!” she smiled. “I just came to take a look at Apache, to make sure he’s OK after yesterday’s jab.”

  “Apache’s fine,” Eva said, following Heidi into the stables. “But take a look at Rosie. She’s stomping around a bit and pawing the ground. She doesn’t look very happy.”

  Heidi nodded. She looked at the little chestnut mare, who had now gone down on to her knees and was trying to roll on to her side inside her stall. “This doesn’t look good,” Heidi muttered, clicking into action. “Eva, fetch me a head collar. We need to get Rosie out of here and walking around the yard as quickly as possible.”

  Eva did as she was told. “What is it? What’s wrong?” She held open the stable door as her mum buckled the head collar, got the pony back on to her feet, and then led her outside.

  “It could be colic,” Heidi replied. “If we’ve caught it early, she’ll be OK.”

  Eva gasped and caught up with her mum. “And if not?” she asked.

  “Colic is serious.” Heidi didn’t hide the facts. “If we haven’t got to her in time, I’m afraid Rosie could die!”

  “Poor Rosie!” Karl exclaimed. He had seen what was happening from the kitchen window and run out to help. He took over the lead-rope from Heidi, who ran to fetch her vet’s bag from the surgery.

  Eva felt helpless as she watched the pony stiffen her legs and refuse to walk. Then Rosie turned her head towards her flank and curled her lip to show her teeth. “Mum, hurry. She looks as if she’s in real trouble!”

  Heidi ran back. She checked Rosie’s symptoms. “Yes, she’s sweating up, and her heart rate is racing. I’m pretty sure this is colic.”

  “Come on, girl,” Karl urged.

  “It’s probably due to her change of diet,” Heidi told them. She pressed her hands against Rosie’s flank. “Yes, it feels like there’s some kind of intestinal blockage. But if we keep walking her, it might clear itself.”

  “Walk on!” Eva begged.

  “Yes. Come on, Rosie, you can do it!” Karl urged.

  Gamely the little pony responded to their voices. She took a step forward, then another. Gradually she began to move around the yard.

  “Good work!” Heidi told Karl and Eva. In an emergency she always stayed calm. “Eva, keep talking to her. Karl, keep some pressure on the rope to lead her on.”

  “Does it hurt a lot?” Eva asked Heidi, who nodded. “It’ll soon be better,” Eva soothed.

  “We hope!” Karl muttered.

  Walking ahead of Rosie, Eva checked over her shoulder to see that the pony was still following. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Linda Brooks appear at the main gate. “Uh-oh!” she warned the others. “Here comes more trouble!”

  “Everything OK?” Mark asked Eva. He’d called home in his lunch break. “Are we all ready for the big day?”

  “Erm, actually not so good,” Eva told him. “Rosie’s got colic. Karl and I are taking it in turns to walk her round the yard.”

  “Oh no. How is she?” Her dad sounded worried.

  “A bit better. Mum says it’s probably a food blockage, so hopefully it’s not going to be serious long-term. Her temperature’s going down now.”

  “Good. What else?”

  “Mrs Brooks came round.”

  “Uh-oh!” Mark knew this could only mean one thing. “What happened?”

  “Annie told her about our Open Day. Mrs Brooks got really mad and yelled at Mum. Mum kept her cool and said she was busy with an emergency. Mrs Brooks said she’d call the police if cars blocked her drive. She stomped about a bit and then she went home.”

  “Oh, dear,” Mark said. “Maybe I’ll pop round and see them when I get back from work.”

  “One more thing,” Eva added, to crown what had been a bad morning. “Karl listened to the weather forecast and it’s not good. They say there’s going to be a thunderstorm tomorrow and it’ll pour with rain.”

  “Just what we need!” There was a long silence, and then her dad gave a deep sigh. “Never mind. Maybe things aren’t going according to plan,” he said. “But at least we still have the star turn of Jake Adams up our sleeves!”

  “Don’t give Rosie anything to eat until I say so,” Heidi told Eva, before heading off to the surgery. A stray dog had just been brought in by one of the Animal Magic volunteers and it needed a full examination. “She can drink plenty of water, but no food!”

  Eva nodded and stroked Rosie’s nose. The sick pony was back in her stable, still shaking from the pain of her colic. But her temperature and pulse were back to normal. She was over the worst.

  “Good girl!” Eva soothed as Rosie nuzzled her hand. “You’re going to be fine.”

  Eva settled the pony into her fresh, clean stable. “W
e’re going to be fine!” she told herself, getting over the morning’s events. “Dad will sort things out with Mr and Mrs Brooks. The forecast will be wrong, and tomorrow will be a lovely sunny day. There’ll be a huge crowd! And Jake Adams will be the star attraction!”

  “I wouldn’t count on it if I were you.” Karl had wandered into the stable. There was a deep frown on his face.

  “Uh-oh, it’s Mr Grumpy!” Eva told Rosie. “Seems like he’s in a bad mood. Don’t take any notice.”

  Karl sniffed and went to stroke Apache.

  “He gets like this,” Eva explained brightly, as if Rosie understood every word. “Something probably went wrong with the website. Maybe he can’t download a picture or perhaps he’s deleted something by mistake.”

  Karl tutted and his mood darkened. “Shut up, Eva!”

  She made a face behind his back. Then she felt bad for teasing him. “OK, OK, I’m sorry. Is something really wrong?”

  He sighed, turned away and then strode back towards her. “We’ve had a message from Jake Adams,” he told her.

  Eva’s heart did a little flip, and seemed to stop and then start again. “Saying what?” she whispered.

  Karl looked her in the eyes and gave her the bad news. “Saying he can’t come to the Open Day,” he reported. “Something happened. He had to go away.”

  Eva gasped. She shook her head in disbelief.

  “It’s true,” Karl insisted. “It’s all off. Jake won’t be here tomorrow. Finito. End of story. Kaput.”

  Chapter Four

  “Jake didn’t give a reason,” Karl insisted, shaking his head in disbelief. “He just said he had to go away. I can show you the email if you want. I tried to send him a reply but it just bounced back.”