by Holly Webb
Emily stared back at her, tears welling up in her brown eyes, and then she gave a huge sniff and raced off to hide in the corner of the playground behind one of the benches.
Mia stared after her sadly. She knew she ought to go after her friend and say sorry, and promise that of course she’d go and see the kittens. But her feet just wouldn’t move.
It was a very strange walk home. Mia and Emily didn’t talk to each other, and Mia’s gran, who’d come to fetch them, could hardly get them to talk to her either. For Mia, it was a relief when Emily ducked into her garden.
“What on earth’s the matter?” Gran asked, as they took off their coats in the hallway. “Have you two had a row?”
“Sort of…” Mia admitted.
“Well, I hope you’re going to make up, Mia. You both looked so miserable. Can’t you talk to her about it? Why don’t you give her a call?”
Mia shook her head. “It wasn’t really that sort of fight. We didn’t shout at each other, or anything. It’s mostly my fault, and Emily won’t be my friend unless I can sort it out. But I can’t…” She sniffed. She’d spent the whole afternoon feeling awful, and now she was at home with only Gran to see, she felt like just letting herself cry.
Gran hugged her. “Oh, Mia. Why don’t you tell me? Maybe talking to someone else will help.”
Mia shook her head. “I don’t think it will,” she whispered. But she let Gran lead her into her little sitting room, and sat down on the sofa with her.
Gran gave her a tissue. “Go on, Mia. What happened?”
“She wants me to go and see her kittens.”
“And you can’t?”
Mia leaned against her shoulder. “It makes me too sad,” she murmured. “Mum and Dad keep talking about us getting another pet, a rabbit, or even another cat. It’s like everyone’s forgotten Sandy.”
Gran sighed. “I don’t think that’s true, Mia. Your mum and dad are trying to cheer you up, that’s all. We all loved Sandy, you know that. He was your special cat, though, I do understand.”
“I really, really miss him…” Mia said tearfully. “Mum and Dad won’t listen to me. They think I ought to have got over it by now, and I’m just being silly!”
“Oh, Mia, they really don’t think that. They just want you to be happy.”
“But it was August when he died, and it’s only October now. I haven’t stopped missing him yet.” Mia sniffed. “I can’t imagine not missing him! And now I can’t even say anything about it to Emily, because she’s so excited about her kittens. I tried to explain, but she didn’t understand.”
“It’s such a special time for her,” Gran said, stroking Mia’s hair. “She can’t help being happy about it, can she?”
“I suppose not. I just wish I could be happy with her, that’s all.”
“Are you sure you want to be happy?” Gran said thoughtfully, and Mia sat up and stared at her.
“Of course I am! I don’t want to be miserable!”
“But I think you’re hanging on to being sad, Mia. At least if you’re miserable, someone’s still missing Sandy. It’s as if he’s still here. Do you see what I mean?”
Mia shook her head. “It isn’t like that…” But her voice trailed off. Maybe it was, a little bit.
“Look.” Gran got up, and fetched a little photo album from a shelf. “I’ve been making this for you, Mia, but I wasn’t going to give it to you yet, in case it just made you more upset.”
“Oh, Gran! All these photos of Sandy…” Mia turned the pages, laughing as Sandy turned from a little gingery fluffball into the big, handsome cat she remembered. “He was so special,” she said sadly.
“Do you know what I noticed most of all about these photos?” Gran asked, smiling at a photo of Sandy last Christmas, lying in a pile of wrapping paper, a ribbon wrapped around his paws. “He was always such a happy cat.”
Mia smiled. It was true.
“Except those last couple of weeks, when he was ill. He was so tired, he wasn’t really himself any more. He’d purr if we stroked him, especially for you. But most of the time, he just slept.”
Mia nodded. “He didn’t even want to eat.”
“Exactly. And this was Sandy, he loved his food!”
Mia giggled. Mum was always getting cross with Sandy – if she left anything lying around in the kitchen while she was cooking, she only had to turn her back for a second, and a sneaky ginger paw would have swiped it. He even ate mushrooms, which was very unusual for a cat.
“He wasn’t happy, was he?” she murmured.
Gran shook her head. “No. And he loved you so much, Mia. He hated it when you were miserable about something, didn’t he?”
“Like that time I fell over.” Mia closed her eyes, remembering. She’d fallen down the stairs and banged her arm – not actually broken it, but it had still really hurt. She’d been moping around the house with it all bandaged up, until Sandy had come and sat on her while she was lying on the sofa. He sat on her chest and stared at her, dangling his big white whiskers in her face and purring like a lawnmower. It was as though he was determined that she had to cheer up. And of course it worked!
“You’re right.” She turned to the last picture in the album. It was her and Emily, both holding Sandy – he was big enough for two girls to hold. They were both grinning at the camera, and Sandy looked so pleased with himself.
“Emily’s your best friend, Mia. You have to make an effort for friends, even if it’s hard sometimes.”
Mia nodded. “I know. I’ll call Emily and say I’m sorry, and I’ll go and see the kittens soon. Maybe on Monday. And I’ll try to stop missing Sandy so much, Gran. I really will.”
Chapter Four
Gran must have told Mum about the talk she’d had with Mia, because on Monday morning Mum said she’d walk Mia to school, and they’d stop and call for Emily on the way.
“Maybe you can just nip in and see the kittens,” Mum suggested. “Not for long though, because you and Emily can’t be late for school. OK?”
Mia nodded, and gave her mum a quick hug. She could see what Mum was doing. She was giving Mia a chance to see the kittens for just a couple of minutes. If it made her too sad, they could say they had to get to school.
Emily and her mum were waiting for them at the door. Mum had probably texted Emily’s mum, Mia decided, feeling a sudden rush of love for Mum and Gran, worrying about her and trying to make everything OK again. The fussing had got on her nerves before, but they were only being nice.
“Come and see, come and see!” Emily grabbed her. “We came down this morning and they’d opened their eyes. They’re so cute!” She stopped pulling Mia along and looked at her worriedly. “You still want to see them, don’t you?”
Mia nodded. “Of course. And I’m sorry I’ve been such a grump.”
“Oh, you weren’t!” Emily hugged her.
Mia was still anxious as she followed Emily into the warm kitchen. Silky and the kittens had a little sort of pen that Emily’s mum had made out of bits of old bookcase. It was close to the radiator to make sure the kittens stayed warm.
“Just look at them,” Emily said proudly. “Aren’t they the most beautiful things you’ve ever seen?”
Mia glanced at the pen, and Silky yawned hugely and stared back at her. She looked as though she agreed with Emily entirely, and she expected Mia to agree too. There was a definite look of smug pride on her pretty white face as she gazed down at her new family.
The kittens were wriggling about next to their mum. Just as Mia leaned closer, the black kitten, who seemed to be the biggest, although it was hard to tell, climbed right on top of the tiny white one, who gave an indignant squeak.
“Oh no! Is he OK?” Mia asked anxiously, but Emily only giggled.
“I’m sure he is. They do that all the time! I wondered if it would get better when they opened their eyes, but they still just walk all over each other. And they’re so greedy and pushy about getting to Silky for their milk.”
; “He’s the boy, isn’t he? The little white one?” Emily had told Mia that they’d worked out there were three girls and one boy.
Emily nodded. “He’s cute, isn’t he?”
“They all are.” Mia crouched down by the pen, glancing at Silky first to check she wasn’t bothered. But the white cat looked as though she was enjoying showing off her babies. The two tabby kittens were suckling, and the black one was trying to reach Silky’s side too. But the little white kitten stayed curled up near his mum’s front paws. He yawned, and then gazed up at Mia with dark, dark blue eyes.
Mia knew that he was so small he probably couldn’t see her very well, but somehow he seemed to be looking straight at her, and he wrinkled his nose and mewed a tiny little mew.
Mia smiled, and reached out her fingers for the kitten to sniff. How could she have thought anything so lovely would make her sad?
Somehow after that, Mia found that the thought of the kittens didn’t upset her any more. Maybe it was because none of them was ginger, like her Sandy. They were themselves instead, and although she still missed Sandy, the kittens were so cute they mostly just made her laugh. Especially the white kitten, who seemed so loving. He always nuzzled at her and licked her fingers.
One Friday afternoon, a couple of weeks after they were born, Mia went to tea at Emily’s house. She was really looking forward to it. She’d popped in to see the kittens quite a few times since her first visit, but only quickly. Somehow there hadn’t been a chance to spend proper time with the kittens.
Mia followed Emily into the kitchen. It was two or three days since she’d seen the kittens, and she gasped as she got closer to their pen.
“They’re so much bigger!”
Emily laughed. “I know! It’s amazing, isn’t it?”
Mia shook her head. “It’s like someone’s blown them up, like little furry balloons…” She crouched down to look more closely at the four kittens in their pen. One of the tabbies was stomping determinedly across the soft blankets on the floor, while the other three were feeding. “They look more cat-shaped, somehow. Do you know what I mean? They were just tiny fluffy balls before, but now they’re mini-cats. Oh, look…”
The white kitten seemed to have heard her talking. He stopped feeding, and looked around curiously, trying to work out where her voice was coming from. Then he stumbled towards her, uttering that tiny squeak of a mew she’d heard before.
“Hello, sweetie,” Mia whispered, and the kitten mewed back, trying to scrabble his way up the side of the pen.
“Wow! He’s never done that before!” Emily murmured, her eyes wide.
“Can I pick him up?” Mia asked hopefully. “Would Silky mind?”
Silky was still feeding one of the tabbies and the black kitten, but she had her head up, and she was watching Mia and the white kitten carefully.
“It should be OK, don’t you think, Mum?” Emily asked. “We’ve picked them up before, and you can see he wants you to!”
Very gently, Mia reached into the pen and scooped up the white kitten, snuggling him carefully in her lap.
The kitten let out a little breath of a purr, padding at her school skirt with his paws. Then he curled up with a contented sigh. This was what he had wanted.
“He’s so soft!” Mia whispered. “And I’m sure his whiskers have grown since I last saw him. Just look at them!”
The kitten stared up at her. He liked her voice. He recognized it from when she had come before, and the girl’s smell. She had stroked him, and he’d wanted her to cuddle him. He yawned and his waterfall of white whiskers shimmered.
“None of the others have whiskers like that!” Mia laughed. “You should call him Whiskers, Emily. You haven’t named them yet, have you?”
Emily shook her head. She had a huge smile suddenly. “Well, we’ve only named the black kitten, because we’re keeping her! She’s going to be my birthday present!” She picked up the black kitten, who seemed to have fallen asleep while she was feeding. “I’m calling her Satin, to go with Silky, you see?” She snuggled the kitten under her chin lovingly.
“You’re so lucky!” Mia smiled, but her stomach turned over. Of course. The kittens would have to go to new owners. She sighed, and the white kitten made a little grumbling noise as his comfy lap shifted. She’d only known Whiskers – she couldn’t help calling him that, even though she knew it wouldn’t be his real name – for a couple of weeks, but already she knew she would miss him.
Chapter Five
Whiskers wriggled himself further into the cosy fold of the blanket. He was still only very tiny, but he was starting to understand more about the world, and today the world felt cold. He didn’t like it. Usually he would have snuggled up next to his mother, but she had disappeared. Now that he and his sisters were a bit bigger, nearly four weeks old, she did that every so often.
Something soft landed in the pen next to him, and Whiskers twitched and woke out of his half-doze. It was a big, round, bright pink thing. He had no idea what it was. Neither did his two tabby sisters, who prowled towards it together, hissing fiercely. They were very good at being fierce. Whiskers and Satin watched worriedly as one of the tabby kittens dabbed a paw at the pink thing. It bounced a little. She tapped it again, and it wobbled in an interesting sort of way, so she jabbed at it with her claws out, this time.
The balloon burst with an enormous bang, and the tabby kittens jumped back in surprise, eyeing the shrivelled bit of pink rubber that was left. Whiskers cowered back in the corner of the pen, mewing with fright and wishing his mother would come. He had no idea what had happened! How had the round pink thing disappeared, and why had there been that terrible noise?
Silky shot back into the room, convinced that someone was hurting her babies, and leaped into the pen, checking them all frantically. Whiskers pressed up against her, shivering.
“I’m sorry, kittens.” Emily crouched down by the pen. “I didn’t mean to scare you. It was only a balloon – I’m blowing them up for my birthday party, and that pink one must have rolled off the table.”
Whiskers mewed again, eyeing the other strange round pink things he could see on the kitchen table. Did that mean there were going to be more horrible noises? When Emily tried to give him a comforting stroke he let her, but he was trembling, and showing his tiny little teeth.
“Oh no…” Emily said sadly. “It really scared you, didn’t it? Never mind, I’ve got some good news. Mia’s coming later, and she’s staying the night. That’ll be nice, won’t it? You love Mia, don’t you?” She sighed to herself, almost crossly. “And Mia loves you too, she just doesn’t know it yet.”
Mia had been visiting the kittens almost every day, and she always made straight for Whiskers. “I wish she’d just hurry up and work out that she should take you home,” Emily told Whiskers sadly. “Mum’s already talking about looking for new homes for you in a few weeks’ time. I’ve given Mia loads of hints, but she doesn’t get them at all, and I don’t want to come out and say it in case it makes her miserable about Sandy again.”
She tickled Whiskers behind the ears. “You want to be Mia’s kitten, don’t you, Whiskers? You never play as nicely with anyone else. And you’re always sad when she goes home. You mewed after her yesterday, and you looked really lonely, even though you were cuddled up next to Silky.” She sighed. “Anyway, you’ll all have to be super-cute tonight for my sleepover,” she told the kittens, half-seriously. “Mia’s coming, and Libby and Poppy. At least, they are if it doesn’t snow before then. It’s so cold now! You’d better groom your babies, Silky. Put their party fur on!”
“Oh, did you do all the balloons, Emily? Good. I’ll hang them up in the hall, you go and get changed. Leah’s just putting the birthday banner on the front door.” Emily’s mum hurried into the kitchen, and gave her a quick hug. “Are you excited about your party?”
Emily nodded, laughing. “Course I am. But it’s so chilly! I’m not sure about sleeping on the living-room floor now!”
Her mum
nodded. “I know, I hope it doesn’t get too much colder before Christmas, it’s still only November.”
Leah came in, rubbing her fingers. “I’m frozen,” she moaned, but then her eyes widened. “Hey, look at Satin!”
The black kitten was teetering on the edge of the pen, and as they watched, she half-jumped, half-fell on to the kitchen floor, where she stood up and shook herself, trying to look as though she meant to do exactly that.
“Oh, my goodness…” Mum muttered. “We’re in for it now. They’ll be everywhere. We must remember to keep the kitchen door closed. They would choose today of all days!”
The two tabby kittens were now standing on their back legs, peering over the top of the pen and staring at their sister with huge, round eyes, as though they couldn’t believe what she’d managed to do. Satin had set off to investigate the kitchen and was sniffing thoughtfully around the table legs.
“Shall I let her explore for a bit?” Emily asked, and Mum nodded.
“I expect she’ll wear herself out quite soon. Go and get changed – they’ll all be here in a minute! Just make sure you shut the kitchen door!”
Mia looked at the kittens a little anxiously. Libby and Poppy had just arrived, and the kitchen had suddenly got very noisy. She hoped Silky and the kittens wouldn’t mind.
But Satin and the two tabby kittens were loving the attention. They put on a beautiful performance of stalking a piece of wool, and then climbed all over Libby and Poppy. Satin then snuggled up on Libby’s knee, while the tabbies fought each other for the wool. Only Whiskers was still in the kitten pen, hiding behind Silky.