“Oh, hello. I hope you’ve both been keeping well. And how’s Milly?”
She placed a finger through the white metal bars of the basket and tickled the top of her head.
“Hi, Katie. She’s been poorly and seemed worse this evening so we thought we’d bring her in. Her leg and mouth are fine now. She’s recovered well from her accident.”
“Oh, Milly. You’re not feeling well, are you?” Katie simpered. “That nice man the vet’ll be here to see you in a minute.”
Milly looked up at Katie, her hair on end and heart thumping, and considered snapping at her finger. Luckily for Katie, she withdrew it before Milly could act.
On cue, the vet emerged from another door accompanied by a woman with a brown and white Jack Russell straining at the leash. The dog was full of beans and the vet appeared unperturbed at its condition. Milly stiffened and glared at it, her hackles rising. After catching sight of her, the Jack Russell started yapping and almost dragged its owner to the floor. Milly hissed back but further commotion was averted when the woman and dog exited quick sharp through the front door. The vet beckoned Tom and Jill into the examination room, Jill placing a pound coin into the RSPCA box on the reception desk on the way. Once there, the vet opened the basket, picked Milly up and placed her on the table. He stroked her, examined her mouth and felt the leg that had been broken.
“And how’s she been?”
It was Jill who replied.
“We were just saying to Katie that she’s recovered fully from her accident ...”
“Her mouth looks fine and her leg feels perfect,” the vet interrupted, nodding.
“... but she’s been poorly for a few days now. She’s lethargic, very unlike her, and can be a bit grisly at times. We think she’s worse today.”
The vet felt Milly’s body while Jill was talking, spending most of his time examining her underside.
“Is there something there?” Tom asked, looking worried.
The vet didn’t reply immediately and continued his examination. A moment later, he withdrew his hands and smiled.
“Well, I can tell you the problem straightaway. She’s pregnant.”
“Pregnant!” It was Milly who reacted first. “I knew it! I knew it! I thought I might be.” Her mind turned to Jasmine and the long stare she had given her earlier. “She knew it all along!” Then it dawned on her. “’Cos she’s pregnant herself! Henry!”
Tom and Jill were stunned and looked at each other open-mouthed.
“Pregnant! Can you believe it? Tom, what a coincidence!”
The vet’s eyebrows rose. Instinctively, he glanced at Jill’s midriff with an impish grin but said nothing.
“Incredible. What a day, Jill.”
“You can say that again.”
Breaking into the widest of smiles, Tom and Jill tickled Milly’s chin and ears. She began to purr and leaned into their hands. Tom put his arm around Jill and Milly rose up on her hind legs, placing one of her front paws on Jill’s chest and the other on Tom’s for balance. Jill ran her fingers along her spine while Tom stroked the top of her head.
Suddenly, without prompting, Tom and Jill turned their heads and faced each other with knowing looks. In unison, they exclaimed, “Archie!”
Epilogue
Surrender
“I’m going to catch you if it’s the last thing I do.”
After seeing Tom sprinkle some bread crumbs over the lawn, Milly exited the kitchen and hurried to her usual spot in the ivy to await her nemesis, the house sparrow. In no time at all, she saw it flutter to the ground and begin to feast. Concentrating so hard her head hurt, Milly fixed her eyes on it. In her excitement, her tail flickered left and right but, to her relief, the sparrow heard no sound.
“It’s got its back to me and looks pretty set so this might be my best chance ever.”
Crouching lower, Milly formulated a plan.
“There’s no point making a lunge for it ’cos it’s just too quick for me. I think more stealth is required. If I creep up nice and easy, I don’t think it’ll hear me, and then when I’m right on top of it, I’ll pounce. I’ve got you this time, I know it!”
Staying low, Milly’s confidence rose as she took several slow, languid, precise paces forward, the hairs on her belly combing the grass. She was barely five feet away. The sparrow continued to pick at the crumbs without a care in the world.
“I’ve got you, finally!”
Milly took another step forward, then another and another again. She was virtually on top of it, a few inches away. Just as she was about to pounce, her rear end wiggling furiously, Milly heard some soft cries coming from the direction of the back door. She glanced over. Her litter of four kittens, large-eared and flint-eyed, were clambering clumsily over the doorstep, trying to get out. Albert, the tiny tabby and spitting image of Archie, tumbled over and did a full somersault, a Catherine wheel of splayed limbs and spiked fur, before gingerly getting to his feet. His brother, Arthur, and sisters, Lulu and Cilla, followed more carefully. The sound of their crying and sight of their pristine-white needle-sharp canines alarmed the house sparrow. It took off and soared away over the cherry blossom tree.
Milly rose up on her hind legs and took a cursory swipe at it with her left paw but was way too late. She sighed and planted her front legs firmly back down on the ground. Looking up into the clear blue, cloudless sky, she sent the sparrow a message.
“That’s it, enough is enough. I know when it’s time to throw in the towel. I won’t try again.” Then, turning to her litter. “Come on, you lot, let’s go back inside. Time for your feed.”
❖ The End ❖
This eBook is published by
Grosvenor House Publishing Ltd
28-30 High Street, Guildford, Surrey, GU1 3EL.
www.grosvenorhousepublishing.co.uk
All rights reserved
Copyright © Roberto Rabaiotti, 2018
The right of Martin Doohan to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted in accordance with Section 78 of the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988
The book cover image is copyright to Roberto Rabaiotti
The front cover illustration is copyright to JIBI
ISBN 978-1-78623-359-2 in electronic format
ISBN 978-1-78623-342-4 in printed format
No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means including information storage and retrieval systems, without permission in writing from the author. The only exception is by a reviewer, who may quote short excerpts in a review.
Oh, Milly! Page 6