by Holly Webb
But she couldn’t hold out for long.
She padded gracefully down the wall to let the man stroke her ears and tickle her under the chin.
Milly didn’t even mind when he picked her up – she liked to be cuddled.
But then he locked his hand tightly around the scruff of her neck and hurried down the road with her. He opened the back of his blue van and stuffed her into a cat carrier.
And then he drove away while Milly howled and scrabbled and fought to get out.
“Oh! Milly isn’t in the window,” Tia said, sounding surprised.
“Maybe she heard Christy singing and went to the door already,” Mum suggested. “I bet the whole street heard her.”
But there was no kitten rubbing lovingly around their ankles when Mum opened the front door.
Tia hurried into the kitchen to see if Milly was waiting by her food bowl. There was no sign of her at all. “Where is she?” she asked anxiously. “Did you shut her in upstairs, Mum?”
“No… She was definitely getting under my feet when I left,” Mum said. “Unless she managed to shut herself in somewhere. Go and check, you two.”
Tia and Christy raced upstairs, opening every door and calling frantically. Tia even looked in their wardrobe.
“Milly won’t be in there!” Christy told her, but Tia shook her head.
“You never know. Remember when she got shut in the kitchen cupboard?”
“She only went in there because that’s where the bag of cat food is,” Christy pointed out.
But all the cupboards were empty, and they hurried back downstairs.
Mum was starting to get worried. “I’ve looked everywhere down here,” she murmured. “You didn’t unlock the cat flap, did you?”
Tia shook her head, glancing at the cat flap. Then she frowned. “Hey, it’s not closed properly.” She crouched down next to it. It was definitely open, just a little – the flap balanced against the frame. Tia gulped. “She’s gone out.”
“But it was locked,” Mum protested. “How can she have gone out?”
“Look.” Tia pointed. “It’s still locked, but the lock’s only a bit of plastic, Mum. It stops the door opening out, but Milly’s so clever, she didn’t open it outwards – she pulled it in. And then she squeezed under the flap.”
Tia unlocked the back door and ran out into the garden. “Milly! Milly!” she called, hoping to see a toffee-gold kitten come darting through the grass. But all she heard was Max, whining next door.
“She’s gone…” Tia whispered, her heart thumping so hard it almost hurt. “Someone’s taken her.” She knew that it was silly – Milly could be in Mr Jackson’s garden again, chasing the fish. Or messing about in that garden with all the brambles a few doors down. There was nothing to say that she’d been catnapped. But somehow Tia knew. She just knew.
Milly peered out of the wire cage. The man had tipped her out of the carrier, and she had felt so dazed and dizzy after the car journey that she had simply curled up in the corner with her eyes shut. But now that she was feeling a little better she was trying to understand where she was and what was happening.
Her cage was small – not all that much bigger than the carrier had been – and there was a tatty blanket in it, a litter tray and a water bowl. There was a food bowl, too, but it was empty. The cage was stacked on top of another one and there were several more all round the shed. The whole place was grubby and cold, and it smelled as though the litter trays weren’t emptied often enough. It was dark, too – the only window was dirty and hardly let in any light.
But the strangest thing was that there were three other cats. Milly hadn’t seen that many since she’d come to live with Tia and Christy. Occasionally she would see one of the neighbourhood cats prowling through her garden, which she hated. But there wasn’t a lot she could do about it, except scrabble her paws on the window.
There was a cat in the cage right next to her, just on the other side of the wire. He was bigger than her, and he had a fat, squashed face and a lot of long fur in a strange blue-grey colour. He hissed angrily at Milly, and she took a step back and nearly fell over.
The big blue Persian hissed again and shot out a fat paw, scraping it down the side of the wire with a screechy clatter.
Milly’s tail fluffed up to twice its usual size, and she hissed and spat back. She might be small, but she was angry. She had been stolen and stuffed in a box, and now she was shut up here.
The Persian was still hissing, but crawling backwards now, his golden-orange eyes fixed on hers. They glared at each other, both of them refusing to back down.
As Milly watched him edge up against the side of his cage she decided that there wasn’t much point in making a fuss. He was there and she was here, neither of them could get out – that was what they should be worrying about.
She let out a last little growl and curled herself up on the blanket, wondering how she was going to get home to Tia.
“Anything?” Mum asked, as Tia came in from the garden. She had been out to call for Milly again while Mum and Christy went to ask Mr Jackson if he’d seen the kitten, and Max’s owners too. No one had seen her, though.
Tia rubbed her eyes, trying not to cry. She didn’t want to scare Christy. “Do you think someone took her?” she whispered to Mum.
Mum hugged her. “No, Tia, I’m sure she’s just gone exploring. Don’t worry.”
But Tia was worried. Milly never went far. Whenever Tia called her, there’d always be a scrabbling on the other side of the fence and a little whiskery golden face would appear over the top. “Can we go and look up and down the road?” she begged.
They searched their street and the next couple of streets, calling for Milly and asking people if they’d spotted her. And they kept going until it got too dark to see.
Mum said Milly would probably come back when she got hungry, but the kitten still hadn’t returned by bedtime. Christy climbed the ladder to Tia’s top bunk, and the sisters curled up together.
“She’ll come back tomorrow, won’t she?” Christy asked.
Tia tried to sound confident. “Oh yes.” Please let it be true, she thought. “We’ll probably find her in her basket when we come down in the morning.”
“She could be there now!” Christy clutched at Tia’s pyjamas. “We should go downstairs and see!”
“No… Not yet,” Tia murmured. She wasn’t sure she could manage not to cry if they didn’t find their lovely kitten.
“I really miss her…” Christy said sleepily.
“Me too,” Tia sniffed. “But she’ll be back tomorrow,” she said, trying to convince herself.
But the next morning there was no Milly yowling for her breakfast. It seemed so unfair to have to go to school – all Tia wanted to do was search for Milly. It was Friday. Nothing important happened at school on Fridays.
As she trailed into the playground, her friend Lucy came running over.
“Hi, Tia! Hey, what’s the matter?”
“Milly,” Tia gulped, swallowing back tears. “She’s disappeared. And I can’t help thinking someone’s kidnapped her. Remember I told you about those cat thieves?”
Lucy’s eyes widened. “Oh no! How long’s she been gone for?”
“She wasn’t there when we got home yesterday. She managed to get out of her cat flap even though it was locked.”
Lucy frowned. “I don’t think Mittens would ever do anything like that. What makes you think she’s been stolen?”
Tia sighed. “It’s just a feeling I’ve got… I know that sounds stupid.”
“No…” Lucy said thoughtfully. “I know what you mean. When Mittens was lost, I was sure she’d come back. She was gone for more than a week, and Mum told me maybe I should give up, but I didn’t.”
“I forgot about that! It was in the summer holidays, wasn’t it? How did you find her?” Tia asked eagerly.
“We made loads of posters and stuck them on lamp posts, and I put leaflets through the door of every house in our
road, asking them to check their sheds. And that’s where somebody found her! It was just lucky that it was a leaky shed and there was a puddle of water, otherwise Mittens would have died,” Lucy added, her voice shaking a little.
“Posters…” Tia said thoughtfully. “And leaflets. Right. We’ll make some tonight.”
“What about this one?” Tia said to Dad, pointing to one of the photos of Milly on the screen.
“Mmmm.” Dad nodded. “But she’s more recognizable from the side, don’t you think? Because of her lovely spots.”
“Look!” Christy said. “That’s the one Mum took when Milly climbed into the cupboard!”
Tia enlarged the photo and smiled. Milly was peering out, looking worried. They’d actually moved the cat food to the top cupboard after her first cat-food raid. And Mum had even started keeping the food in a tin instead of a bag. But Milly was just too clever. She’d even managed to hook the lid open with her claws.
“She’s so naughty…” Mum sighed.
“Mum!” Tia looked up at her. “Aren’t you sad she’s missing?”
“Of course I am, Tia! But she is naughty!”
“I suppose you wish we had a better-behaved cat instead!” Tia said, her voice choked with tears.
“I didn’t mean that at all,” Mum tried to say, but Tia was too upset to listen.
“You’re glad she’s gone!” she sobbed.
“Tia!” Mum snapped, her voice sharp enough to jolt Tia out of her fit of crying. “Sweetheart, that’s just silly. Yes, I get cross with Milly when she’s naughty, but she’s a kitten! Kittens do silly things, it’s what we signed up for! Especially when we agreed to have a Bengal.” She put her arm round Tia’s shoulder. “Do you think you’re the only one who read that book on Bengal cats?”
Tia gaped at her. She hadn’t realized Mum had read the book too.
“When I’m at home with her in the mornings, she follows me around, you know.” Mum sniffed. “And I’m always having to rescue her from the washing machine. It’s a wonder I’ve never actually put it on with her in it! I love her too, Tia, and we will do our absolute best to find her.”
“Sorry,” Tia murmured. Somehow knowing that Mum was really missing Milly helped.
Dad smiled. “She’s a little terror, isn’t she? But nobody wants a better-behaved cat, Tia. We want our cat. Now I think this photo of her in the garden is the best. What shall we say on the poster?”
Milly stared at the door, wondering when the man would come to bring their food. He’d fed them that morning, but the food hadn’t been the same kind she had at home. She’d left it for a while, but then finally eaten it – she’d been too hungry not to.
She had tried to dart out of the cage when the man put her food bowl in, but he’d batted her away. She felt hopeless – she couldn’t see how she was ever going to get out of here. And she was hungry again.
Tia always fed her at about this time of day. Where was Tia? Milly had been hoping that Tia would come and take her away from this horrible place.
She began to wail, over and over again. The Persian cat didn’t join in, he just stayed in the corner of his cage, sulking. But the other two cats started to howl too.
The door banged open, and the man stamped in, scowling. “Shut up!” he yelled, hitting the front of the cage.
Milly let out a frightened little whimper. No one had ever shouted at her like that before. People had been cross or snapped, “Milly, no!” But this was different. She cowered at the back of the cage as he shoved in a fresh bowl of food. She didn’t even think about trying to escape this time. She didn’t want to go any closer to the man than she had to.
“I’m glad it’s Saturday and we can be out looking for Milly,” Tia said to Lucy. Her mum had texted Lucy’s the night before to ask if Lucy could come and help.
“That’s a brilliant photo,” Lucy said, as she gave Tia some sellotape to stick the poster to a lamp post. “Anyone who sees Milly will definitely recognize her.”
Tia sighed. “I don’t think anyone will see her, though. I still reckon it was those catnappers Laura told me about. Mum did ring the police, and they said they’d make a note of it, but there wasn’t a lot to go on. Actually, do you mind if we run back and ask Mum if we can go and tell Laura what’s happened? I want to warn her to keep Charlie safe.”
“Good idea,” Lucy agreed. “If the catnappers did take Milly, I bet they saw Charlie too. They might come back, mightn’t they?”
“Exactly.” Tia shuddered.
They hurried back down the road to meet Tia’s mum and Christy, who were doing the lamp posts at that end. Mum had told the girls they could go further up the road as long as they stayed where she could see them. Dad had gone to the street that ran behind theirs, in case Milly had jumped over the back fence.
“Mum! Can we go and tell Laura what happened? I want to warn her to keep Charlie in.”
“Oh, Tia… I’m sure it’s nothing to do with catnappers,” Mum said, patting her shoulder. “Milly’s just wandered off. Cats do!”
“Please?”
“Well, OK. But don’t bother Laura for long.”
Tia and Lucy crossed over the road, and rang Laura’s bell.
“Hello! I’ve just seen you from upstairs, putting up posters.” Laura frowned. “Milly’s not lost, is she?”
“Yes.” Tia gulped. “Actually, I’m sure she’s been stolen. There was a man asking me about her, just a couple of days ago…”
Laura gasped. “Youngish? Short blond hair? With a blue van?”
“I don’t know about the van…” Tia started to say. “Hang on, yes, there was a van…” She scowled to herself, wishing she could remember. It just hadn’t seemed important at the time. “I think it was blue. You saw him too, then?”
“Yes! He was asking me about Charlie. He was nice, he said my cat looked very special, and I was all set to say Charlie was a Bengal. Then I remembered that newspaper article, and I just smiled at him and went inside. I felt a bit guilty afterwards. I was rude…”
“He was nice to me too,” Tia whispered sadly. “If he was asking about Charlie, that’s not just chance, is it? He’s a cat thief, and Milly really has been stolen.” Tia’s eyes filled with tears. “He’ll sell her to someone else, and we’ll never get her back!”
Milly flattened her ears. She could hear the man coming. She gave a small, nervous mew. He frightened her.
He had a pile of food bowls in one hand, but in the other he was holding a cat carrier. What was happening? Then she suddenly realized – perhaps he was going to take her home! She purred, hoping she was the one he had brought the carrier for.
She stood nicely as he opened the cage door, and let him pick her up and put her in, though usually she would scrabble and fight.
“Who’s being a good girl,” he murmured in the sort of voice that Tia would use. Milly still didn’t like him, but at least he was carrying her carefully. She had expected him to put her back in the van. But instead he put the carrier down indoors somewhere and left her.
What was happening? Why had he put her in the carrier if he wasn’t going to take her home? Milly mewed worriedly, but she didn’t howl like she had before. If she was noisy, she was sure the man would shout at her again.
At last, she heard him coming back. He was talking to someone else, a woman, and his voice was soft.
“Yes, she’s lovely. Unfortunately her owner couldn’t keep her. The old lady had to go into hospital, you see, so she asked me to find her a new home. She’s very reasonably priced for a Bengal.”
Milly tensed as he undid the clips on the front door of the carrier, and then he reached in and scooped her out. She did her best not to hiss, but she wanted to, and the fur rose up all along her back.
“Oh dear, she doesn’t look very happy.” The woman frowned. “She’s so pretty, though. Do you have her pedigree?”
“I don’t have the pedigree at the moment – with being in hospital, her owner was a bit frantic. But it’s
very good.”
“Can I hold her?” the woman asked, and she took Milly, stroking her softly. The woman seemed nice – or at any rate, a lot nicer than the man. Milly relaxed a little. She didn’t know who this person was, but perhaps she was going to take her back to Tia.
“Oh…” The lady ran her hand down Milly’s tail. “There’s something wrong with her tail.”
“What?” The man’s voice was cross again, and Milly flinched and pressed herself against the woman’s coat.
“Look – it’s bent over.”
“Well, that doesn’t matter, does it? Seeing how reasonable the price is.”
“I don’t know. If there’s something wrong with her…” The woman held Milly out to the man. “I hope I haven’t wasted your time.”
Milly looked up at her, realizing that she wasn’t going to take her away from here, and let out a despairing yowl. The man snatched her and stuffed her into the carrier, slamming the wire door angrily. He looked furious – and the woman appeared very glad to be leaving.
Milly was worried that he might come back and shout at her again. But there was a loud bang, like a door shutting, and heavy footsteps went thudding away upstairs.
After a few minutes she felt brave enough to come closer to the wire door and look out. The room was a kitchen, a bit like Tia’s, and the carrier seemed to be on a table. Milly pressed her nose up against the wire and then jumped back as it moved.
He hadn’t shut the door! He had only slammed it – he hadn’t twisted the catches to hold it in place! Milly nudged the door with her nose, harder and harder, and it swung open. She jumped out on to the table. She had to get away from here, as quickly as she could. She looked over at the back door, but there was no cat flap.