‘Fine,’ Julian said. ‘Caroline was very brave. We just have to wait for the result again now.’
‘Well done, Caroline,’ Laura said. ‘At least it’s all over now, and you’ve got Grace here to take your mind off it.’
‘My mind is off it,’ Caroline said. ‘I don’t want to think about it ever again. I’m not going to be ill again, and I’m not going back to that hospital anymore.’
‘Well, that’s a good attitude to have, but …’
‘Let’s go and play in my room, Grace!’ Caroline said without waiting for Laura to finish. ‘Come on, I’ll show you round!’
‘Where’s Charlie?’ I heard Grace say. ‘Can I say hello to him?’
Oh, at last! Someone remembered I was there! I meowed at her through the door, and then finally I was let out to join in the reunion.
‘Come on, Charlie, come upstairs with us!’ Caroline said, and all three of us bounded up to her bedroom, the two girls laughing excitedly.
‘I’m glad she’s OK,’ I heard Laura say a bit cautiously as we went.
‘Yes,’ Julian replied in a similar tone. ‘A bit over the top, though, if you know what I mean. All this hysterical excitement. I wonder if she’s covering up how she really feels.’
‘Scared?’
‘Yes. Of course.’
That night Caroline and Grace lay awake for half the night giggling, curled up together in Caroline’s bed. Every now and then I’d hear Julian or Laura saying ‘Shush! Keep the noise down! Go to sleep!’
Julian went back to work again the next day, and everything settled down a bit, but Caroline and Grace certainly didn’t keep their noise down. Grace had brought something with her that played music, loudly, and the girls took to singing along at the tops of their voices, sometimes dancing too, and making up their own songs. Sometimes I joined in. I think I sing quite nicely, but for some reason it always made the two girls fall about laughing, which was a bit hurtful.
‘Charlie, stop caterwauling!’ Caroline said on one occasion, making Grace laugh even more. I’d never heard that word before but I guessed it wasn’t complimentary. Even Laura was laughing, but then she stopped and, still smiling, said, ‘I’m glad you’re having fun, girls, but please keep it down a bit when Jessica’s asleep.’
When they weren’t singing and dancing, the girls were down at the beach. They didn’t have to come home for Jessica’s feeds or naps anymore, as Laura was happy for them to be out together on their own, as long as they came back at the time she’d told them. One day they were apparently late, though, and got told off.
‘You must come back on time, or I won’t be able to let you go out on your own anymore,’ Laura said. ‘I’m responsible for Grace’s safety while she’s here, Caroline, as well as yours.’
‘It’s just ten minutes!’ she retorted. ‘Chill, Laura, for God’s sake!’
Laura sighed. I wondered if she was finding it hard to be more patient with Caroline, like she’d said she would.
‘Please don’t speak to me like that, Caroline. It isn’t clever, it’s just rude. You can both go upstairs and get changed now – dinner’s nearly ready.’
‘All right, but I don’t want any meat.’
‘Well, it’s take it or leave it, I’m afraid. I’m not messing around making two different meals.’
The girls went up to their room, and I ran after them.
‘See what I mean?’ Caroline was muttering to Grace. ‘She’s, like, totally unfair to me.’
‘Don’t worry, my mum and dad are just the same. They think everything my sister Rose does is amazing, but me, I can’t do a thing right these days.’
‘But Laura was always really nice to me before Jessica was born.’
‘Maybe the younger one is always the favourite,’ Grace said.
‘That’s what I think as well. If she and Daddy were really so worried about the leukaemia, you’d think they’d be nicer to me. It’s bad enough they’re making me go to a different school from you and all the others! I don’t want to go. Sometimes I feel like running away from home.’
‘Me too. I don’t want you to go to St Margaret’s, either. I’m really scared about starting at Great Broomford High without you. But when I try to talk to Mum and Dad about it, they’re just, like, Oh, you’ll soon get used to it. They don’t care about my feelings at all.’
‘If we ran away together before next week, when we’re supposed to be going home, we wouldn’t even have to go to high school,’ Caroline said quietly. ‘And I wouldn’t have to go back to that horrible hospital ever again.’
‘Unless they found us. Then we’d be in even more trouble.’
‘Yeah.’
They sat on the bed together, holding paws, looking so sad I wanted to mew myself. But to be honest, I was too shocked. You can probably imagine how worried I was. Half-grown kittens like Caroline and Grace, talking about running away from home! They’d never survive out there. They weren’t used to hunting for their own food, and goodness only knew whose territory they might wander into.
‘You mustn’t do it!’ I meowed at them. ‘It doesn’t matter if your adults get cross with you – they get cross with me, too, but I’m not leaving home, am I?’
Grace finally gave a little giggle. ‘We’re making Charlie sad too,’ she said, jumping up and starting to change out of her sandy clothes. ‘Come on, Caro, let’s have dinner and then we can write some more songs.’
‘OK.’ Caroline grinned. ‘I’m so glad you’re here. Everything feels better now I’ve got you to talk to.’
But that, of course, was before the Really Bad Thing happened.
*
It was the following day, and as usual the two girls had been to the beach. When they got home it was still warm and sunny, so they went outside to play in the garden. I watched them from my kitchen window as they danced around, shrieking and laughing, pretending to be pop stars, whatever they are. It was nice to see them being happy.
‘I’m going in to get your iPad,’ Caroline yelled, and she burst in through the kitchen door.
I heard her race upstairs to their bedroom, and back down again, turning the music thing on as she went back into the garden.
‘You’ve left the door open,’ I meowed to her, but she didn’t answer. She was already running across the grass to Grace, the music blaring.
I jumped down from the windowsill and stood in the doorway, watching them.
‘You’ve left the door open!’ I called again, but neither of them looked round.
Just then, a stupid pigeon landed on the lawn, right near where they were sitting, and before I even realised what I was doing, I’d shot out of the door and across the grass after him, startling him into taking off again, with a clumsy flapping of his silly wings. Well, it was my job. And very satisfying it was too.
‘Charlie!’ Caroline screamed, making me jump almost out of my fur. She lunged at me, grabbing me round my tummy so that I wriggled and protested. ‘What are you doing out here? Oh, God, I left the door open, Grace! Quick, Charlie, let’s get you back inside.’
But needless to say, Laura had already heard the commotion and was coming out of the kitchen door after us, looking cross.
‘What on earth are you doing?’ she said to Caroline. ‘He could have run away and got lost!’
‘I know!’ Caroline said, starting to mew. ‘I’m sorry, Laura, I didn’t realise I’d left the door open.’
‘Well, you should have realised! Daddy warned you, Caroline, about keeping Charlie safe. It was you who insisted on bringing him down here with us.’
‘I know!’ she said again. ‘I’ll be more careful, I promise. Please don’t tell Daddy or he’ll take Charlie home and put him in the cattery.’
‘Don’t say that!’ I meowed. I was being carried back into the kitchen now. I must say I’d enjoyed my brief couple of minutes of freedom, though. And I didn’t like Caroline getting the blame. I knew I wasn’t supposed to go out, after all. It was the stupid pigeon’s
fault.
‘Well, if it happens again, he will have to go to the cattery,’ Laura said, closing the kitchen door firmly. ‘That’s if he doesn’t end up lost, or run over by a car.’
As you can probably imagine, I had my paws over my ears at this point.
‘I said I was sorry!’ Caroline mewed. ‘I didn’t mean it!’
Laura shook her head. ‘Go and play upstairs,’ she said, as she walked away.
I followed the girls up to their bedroom once again. Caroline was mewing properly now.
‘They don’t want me around, I’m always getting the blame for everything. I might just as well run away!’ she sobbed to Grace.
‘If you do, I’ll come with you,’ Grace said.
‘So, shall we actually do it, Grace?’ They looked at each other for a moment, Caroline still sniffing with tears. ‘If we do it now, we won’t have to start at our new schools. It’s nearly the end of August already.’
‘Yeah, let’s do it. I don’t want to go back home anyway.’
‘And I don’t want to stay where I’m always getting moaned at. But where can we go?’
‘I’ve got an idea,’ Grace said. ‘I was thinking about it after we talked yesterday. I’ve got this great-aunt called Barbara – she’s quite old, but she must be nice, ’cos she sends me and Rose money every year for our birthdays and Christmas. She lives in Duncombe. It’s the next village along the coast, I saw it when Daddy showed me on the map where Mudditon is. I bet she wouldn’t mind letting us stay with her.’
‘But your parents will guess that’s where we are.’
‘No, they won’t. The only time they mention her is when she sends us the cheques. We’ve never been to her house. I’ve only met her once, as far as I know. She came to stay with us, years ago, but she went home the next day.’
‘How would you be able to find her house, then, if you’ve never been there?’
‘It’s a really easy address: April Cottage, Duck Pond Lane. I know it off by heart because every birthday and Christmas, Mum makes us write her a thank-you letter for the money.’
‘April Cottage, Duck Pond Lane,’ Caroline was repeating. ‘It sounds nice. Do you really think she’ll let us stay with her? Do you think you should phone her and ask her?’
‘I haven’t got her phone number. But I’m sure she will. She must really like me, or she wouldn’t send me so much money. It was fifty pounds last time!’
‘Wow!’ Caroline said. ‘She must be well loaded.’
‘Yeah. She’s probably, like, one of those old ladies who couldn’t have her own children so she loves other people’s. I bet she won’t tell us off all the time.’
‘Perhaps she’ll adopt us!’ Caroline said, giggling.
‘Yeah! Then we’ll be sisters!’
And the two girls collapsed on the bed together, laughing with excitement. But the whole time they’d been talking, I’d been sitting on the floor listening, frozen to the spot with horror. What were they thinking of, plotting to run off on their own like that? They’d get lost! They’d get attacked by feral humans! And their parents would be really, really scared and upset – especially as Julian and Laura were already so worried about Caroline being ill again. I meowed at them until I thought I’d lose my voice, but they took absolutely no notice of me – they were too busy giggling over the packing of their little pink rucksacks, putting in pyjamas and socks and a torch and talking about stealing some food and drink from the kitchen when Laura’s back was turned.
This was awful. It was as if they thought it was one of those adventure games Caroline played on Julian’s computer. I’d heard her shout ‘I’m dead! Again!’ sometimes when she was playing one of them, laughing as if it was funny to be dead, as if she could come back to life again and no harm would be done. Surely she understood that humans don’t have nine lives? If anything happened to her, or Grace, I’d never forgive myself. But what could I do to stop them? I was just a little cat and nobody ever listened to me. I stood for a moment in the doorway of their room, trying to calm myself down. And I made a promise to myself that I’d do everything I possibly could to save the two girls, whatever the danger to me and no matter how many lives I lost in the process.
CHAPTER
SEVEN
I ran downstairs and into the kitchen where Laura was cooking dinner.
‘They’re talking about running away!’ I shouted at her in Cat. ‘They’re packing their bags!’
‘Charlie, please don’t get under my feet while I’m cooking,’ she said without looking at me.
It’s the most frustrating thing, isn’t it, when you need to say something really important but you know they won’t make any effort to understand you. I meowed my head off at her and tried walking round her legs to get her attention, only to be told off and sent out of the kitchen. I was still hoping there was a chance the girls would realise it was a silly idea and change their minds. But when they sat at the table later, giving each other secret little smiles and eating up all their dinners without making any fuss at all, even remembering to say thank you to Laura for cooking it, I had a horrible, sinking feeling in my tummy that they were purposely being extra good so that she wouldn’t suspect anything. They went up to bed earlier than usual – I know, because Laura looked up in surprise and said: ‘Well, I might as well have an early night myself, too, while Jessica’s settled so nicely.’
The cottage was soon in darkness, and I could hear Laura’s steady breathing as I loitered at the bottom of the stairs. I crept up and sat outside the door of Caroline’s room. They kept the bedroom doors closed now, to keep me out, but I could hear the girls whispering to each other. Perhaps if I stayed there, I could keep guard over them. I settled down, keeping one eye open, but of course, it’s so hard not to fall asleep, isn’t it, when it’s quiet and dark and you’ve had a stressful day. Suddenly, though, their bedroom light went on and I heard them padding about, whispering again, and the next thing I knew, the door was opened and they came tiptoeing out, almost falling over me on the dark landing.
‘Ssh!’ Caroline whispered at me fiercely. Then she picked me up and carried me downstairs with them. What was she doing? Surely she wasn’t taking me with them? But downstairs in the lounge, she sat down for a minute with me on her lap.
‘I’m going to miss Charlie, though!’ she whispered to Grace, and her eyes filled up with tears.
‘Don’t go, then!’ I meowed at her. ‘Please! It’s a crazy idea!’
‘Ssh, Charlie,’ Grace warned me. ‘Caro, put him down, or he’ll wake Laura up. Come on, we ought to get going. Goodbye, Charlie. I’ll miss you too.’
They both gave me a stroke, and Caroline’s tears dripped on my head. I meowed and Caroline put me down quickly, and before I could even try to trip them up again they were picking up their bags and turning towards the door.
I started to run back up the stairs. If I woke Laura up now, she could still catch them. They’d get a terrible telling off, but it was better than getting lost or attacked, wasn’t it?
‘Laura!’ I meowed at the top of my voice. ‘Quick, wake up! It’s an emergency! They’re running away!’
But her bedroom door was still closed. I started to scratch at it desperately, but then I heard the sound of the porch door being opened. It was too late! They were going! Frantic now, I shot back down again, just in time to wriggle through the glass door to the porch before Caroline closed it. It was so dark, neither of the girls noticed me, and when Caroline opened the outside door I slipped out in front of them and hid, shaking, under the hedge. It was dark, really dark, and the girls were holding hands and shining their little torch in front of them as they walked off. I could see OK, obviously, but I knew their night vision would be rubbish. Humans, as Oliver explained to me when I was a little kitten, are a seriously underdeveloped species compared with us cats. They can’t see, smell or even hear half as well as we can, which is probably why they need us to look after them. I only hesitated for a minute, twitching my tail a
nxiously as I watched their torchlight getting fainter in the distance.
It was no good. I’d never thought of myself as a scaredy-cat, and this was no time to start becoming one. I’d promised myself to do all I could to rescue those two human kittens, hadn’t I? So with my little heart pounding in my chest, I set off to follow them into the unknown.
Oh, I’m really sorry, Tabitha. I forgot to warn you, didn’t I? Yes, we’ve got to one of the scary parts now. But look, don’t keep mewing about it, you can see I survived, or I wouldn’t be here now, talking to you, would I? Is everyone else all right for me to carry on? Any little kittens need taking home? Oliver, can you see if anyone’s hiding behind the dustbins? Honestly, sometimes the responsibility of being a famous hero cat is quite a burden.
Well, you can probably imagine how I was feeling at this point in the story. Yes, Tabitha, that’s right – scared out of my fur. I was in a strange place a long way from home, with no familiar smells, and to make matters worse, there was a crashing and booming noise going on nearby that I couldn’t identify. I scurried along, following the light of Grace’s torch and keeping close to the hedges. If circumstances had been different I might have had a sniff around to see what creatures were lurking there, but I knew I mustn’t lose sight of the girls.
Then we turned a corner and crossed a road and for a minute I stood rooted to the spot, my back arched, my fur standing on end. I thought we must surely have reached the end of the world. Ahead of us was … nothing. Well, there was something, something huge and black that, when the moon kindly poked itself out from behind a cloud for a minute, I could see was moving, sliding backwards and forwards and making the crashing sound I’d heard. It took me a while to realise this was it – the sea, that monstrous moving thing I’d glimpsed from the lounge window of the cottage. In the dark and close up, it looked even more threatening. I’d had no idea it was so noisy! Whoosh, crash. Whoosh, crash. Whoosh, crash. I wanted to hiss at it to shut up, but I was afraid it would come up onto the road and attack me.
Charlie the Kitten Who Saved a Life Page 6