The Secret Kitten (4 page)

Slowly, creeping her fingers across the grass, Lucy stretched out a hand
to get her sandwich. It was chicken. Perfect for a kitten treat.

The kitten watched her, wide-eyed, shrinking back a little as Lucy’s hand came close. But then she smelled the chicken – Lucy could see the exact moment. Her whiskers twitched and her ears flicked forward, then her eyes grew even rounder.

Lucy tore off a tiny piece of sandwich and gently laid it down, just where the tufts of long grass met the branches. Then she watched. The kitten didn’t have to move far. If she wasn’t brave enough, maybe Lucy could throw her a piece further in, but that might scare her away.

The kitten looked at the piece of sandwich and Lucy could see her
sniffing. She looked between Lucy and the sandwich a few times, then she wriggled forwards on her stomach, inching slowly towards the food. As soon as she was close enough, she seized the chickeny mouthful and darted back into the safety of the bush.

Lucy wanted to laugh, but she folded her lips together firmly, in case the noise scared the kitten away. She watched the kitten wolf down the scrap and then she tore off a little more. This time she left it a bit closer to her feet.

The kitten didn’t take as long to decide she was going for the food the second time. She gave Lucy one slightly suspicious look and then raced to grab it.

After that, Lucy put the plate down, right next to her feet, to see what would happen. Surely the kitten wouldn’t be able to drag away a whole sandwich, would she? She’d have to stop by the plate and eat it there. And then maybe Lucy would be able to stroke her…

The kitten stared at the sandwich. The two pieces she’d already eaten had been so delicious. But now the rest of the sandwich was closer to the girl and she wasn’t sure that she was quite brave enough to go and take it.

But the smell… She could taste it in her mouth still and she was really hungry. She hadn’t eaten for such a long time. After she had scrambled over the fence the afternoon before, she had run and climbed and run again, frightened and desperate to get away. Her cosy den in the box had suddenly been snatched from her and she didn’t understand. She just knew that she wasn’t safe there any more.

She had only stopped in the
big garden because she was tired. Wriggling through the tiny gap under the back fence had worn her out. She had simply lain down in the dry, shadowy space under the bush and gone to sleep. When she’d woken, it had been dark and she had been so hungry. She’d finally understood that everything was different now. Her mother wasn’t there to bring her food and there was no one there to curl up and sleep with. She was lost and all alone.

She had been on her own before, of course she had. But she had always known that her mother would come back. The kitten would purr throatily, and her mother would wash her, licking her fur lovingly all
over.

Now her fur was dusty and matted with dirt, and a clump of it had torn out when she had squeezed under the fence. She had sat there below the bush and tried to wash herself, but it wasn’t the same and it only made her feel more lonely.

The night sounds seemed louder than they’d ever been before. Cars roared past and made her shudder with fright, and people laughed and shouted. Another cat had stalked through the garden, late at night, but it hadn’t been her mother. She had jumped up eagerly, ready to run and nuzzle it, but all it had done was stare at her and she’d seen it thicken out its tail. Then it had paced on, away down the side of the house
and the kitten had ducked back under the bush, knowing that she was more lost than ever.

As Lucy pursed her lips and tried to make kitten-encouraging noises that sounded something like
prrrrrrp
, the kitten stared back at her and wondered what to do. The girl seemed quiet and gentle, not like those stomping men that had chased her away from her home. And she had food. Just now, food seemed the most important thing of all.

Slowly, paw by paw, the kitten came out of her hiding place and crept towards Lucy.

Chapter Five

“Lucy…”

“
Shh!
”

“Lucy, is that a kitten? Is that the kitten from by the baker’s shop?”

“Yes, but
shh
! Please don’t make her run away. She’s really shy, William. Look, come and sit down here.”

William sat down, as slowly and quietly as he could, and stared at the
kitten. She stared back for a moment, but she was so busy devouring the rest of the chicken sandwich that she didn’t really have time to worry about him.

“How did she get here?”

“I don’t know.” Lucy reached out one hand and held it by the plate, close enough for the kitten to sniff. The kitten glared at her and then butted gently at Lucy’s hand.

William giggled. “She’s telling you to get off her sandwich.”

“Maybe. Or she might be putting her scent on me,” said Lucy. “That’s what a cat’s doing when it rubs its face against you. They’ve got scent glands there. They’re saying we belong to them.”
I want to belong to you
, she added silently.
Please stay. Please, please, please
.

“Lucy,” William whispered. “Do you think – do you think she could be our cat? Can we keep her?” He looked around the garden. “We could make her a nest in the greenhouse. Wow, she’s actually finished all of that sandwich. Do you think she wants another one? Gran asked if I wanted a sandwich but I said no. I could go and say that I’ve changed my mind…”

Lucy looked worried. “I don’t like
telling Gran lies – but we can’t tell her the truth, can we? Dad said she wouldn’t want a pet in the house. And this kitten really needs food. She’s so skinny.”

“The greenhouse isn’t the same as being in the house,” William pointed out. “I bet she wouldn’t mind. So it doesn’t matter if we don’t tell her.”

Lucy couldn’t help thinking that it
did
matter, and that they were just twisting things around to be the way they wanted – but she wouldn’t be able to bear it if Gran made them take the kitten back to the alleyway. The greenhouse would be like a palace to a kitten who was used to living in a box. And Gran didn’t usually go down to the end of the garden. It would be all right.

And if she really had a kitten, she wouldn’t be lying to Sara any more.

“Yes.” She nodded. “Go and ask Gran if you can have a sandwich. With lots of chicken.”

“Oh dear, what’s the matter with that poor little girl?” Gran speeded up as they made their way home from school. She hurried down the pavement towards a toddler, standing outside the baker’s shop next to a little scooter and howling. “I hope she’s not lost.”

“She isn’t, Gran, look, I can see her mum coming.” Lucy pointed to a lady running towards the little girl.

“Good.” Gran bent over the little
girl. “What happened, sweetheart? Did you fall off your scooter?”

The little girl stared back at her and shook her head. She stopped crying.

Gran smiled at the little girl’s mother, who had reached them at last and was now crouched next to her daughter, hugging her and all out of breath. “I’m sorry, we didn’t see what happened, but she says she didn’t fall.”

“Mummy! The cat!” And the little girl began to howl again.

“Oh, Macey! Did you try and stroke a cat? Did he scratch you?”

The little girl nodded and wailed louder, holding up her arm towards her mum.

Lucy sucked in her breath through her teeth – Macey had a long scratch down
the inside of her arm. It wasn’t bleeding very much, but it obviously hurt.

“Some cats are just grumpy, Macey. You know I said not to chase after them.” Her mum sighed. “Don’t worry, baby. We’ll go home and put one of your teddy-bear plasters on it.”

Lucy bit her lip. It probably wasn’t the right time to say that the cat must have been scared if the little girl had tried to grab it.

“It was probably that stray tabby that lives down the end of the alleyway,” Gran said. “Stray cats can be very wild and fierce.”

Lucy and William exchanged glances, thinking of the little black-and-white kitten, curled up in the greenhouse back at home. They’d made her a cosy nest out of one of the cardboard boxes they’d had for packing up their things, tipped on its side and lined with an old sweatshirt of Lucy’s. Then they’d laid the kitten a trail of chicken sandwich pieces to show her where the greenhouse was.

Lucy and William had done their best to make it into the nicest den a kitten could have. They’d even made her a litter tray, out of an old seed tray they’d found
on one of the greenhouse shelves – it had been full of dusty earth. Lucy had a feeling the kitten might not know what it was for, as she was a stray and used to weeing anywhere, but if she was going to be an indoor cat one day, it was important to try. William had brought her a plant saucer full of water from the outside tap, as well.

That morning, before they went to school, Lucy had nipped out with some Weetabix and milk. It wasn’t the best thing for a kitten, she knew, but they didn’t have any proper cat food. Anyway, the kitten hadn’t seemed to mind. She had buried her face in it eagerly and when Lucy finally had to go, the kitten had been blissfully licking milky gunge off her whiskers.

She hadn’t looked very wild and fierce at all. She was still shy, of course. But when Lucy had arrived with the bowl, she hadn’t run away, or hidden herself behind the wobbly towers of flowerpots. Instead, she’d just pricked her ears, wary, but hopeful.

Lucy and William lagged behind Gran for the rest of the way home. “Did you hear what Gran said about stray cats being fierce?” William asked anxiously.

Lucy nodded. “I know. I was really wishing we could tell her about Catkin.”

“Catkin?” William blinked in surprise. “You named her?” He frowned a little. Lucy could tell he was hurt that she’d given the kitten a name without talking to him.

“Gran used to have a black-and-white cat called Catkin,” Lucy explained. “She was telling me about her. It’s a really sweet name and I thought that maybe if we called the kitten Catkin, too, it would remind her of it. But now Gran’s thinking about nasty fierce cats instead. It’s the worst timing ever.”

“Ohhh.” William nodded. “I see. But our Catkin’s sweet, Lucy. She’s not fierce
at all. Gran will see that, won’t she?”

“Mmmm. But let’s not tell her just yet that we’ve got Catkin in the greenhouse. She’ll have to go on being our secret kitten. And don’t tell Dad, either!”

“Come on, you two!” Gran called back. “It’s starting to rain.”

Lucy and William sped up, the first fat drops splashing on to the pavement as they dashed after Gran.

“What if she gets wet?” William hissed. “The greenhouse has got all those big holes in the roof! She’ll get wet!”

“You’re right,” Lucy muttered back. She smiled at William. “You know that big old wardrobe in my bedroom… Perhaps we could hide her in there?”

“Why not my bedroom?” William said.

“Because you haven’t got a wardrobe, just drawers. And because your bedroom’s next to Dad’s! Mine’s up those creaky stairs and I can always hear people coming. So I’ve got time to hide a kitten in my wardrobe before they get to the top, you see?”

“I suppose so.” William sighed heavily.

Lucy smiled to herself, imagining falling asleep tonight with the faint sound of purring echoing out from her wardrobe. Or maybe even a small furry ball of kitten on the end of her bed. “I hope she understands we’re trying to help,” Lucy said suddenly. “She might not want to come inside.
She’s probably never been in a house before.” Lucy had thought they’d be able to tempt Catkin inside gradually. She’d never thought of doing it so soon.

William grinned at her. “I think if you gave her a chicken sandwich she’d probably go anywhere!”