A Kitten Called Tiger

  For Angel and Poppy – two adventurous cats!

  www.hollywebbanimalstories.com

  CONTENTS

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Extract

  Collect them all

  Biography

  Copyright

  “Ava! Come on, wake up. Look at this!” Mum held up her phone in front of Ava’s nose and Ava squinted at the photo on the screen sleepily. Then she sat bolt upright in bed and grabbed

  the phone. Ever since her parents had agreed to getting a kitten, Ava had been scanning the local animal shelter’s website and checking the noticeboard in the supermarket. But no one seemed to have any kittens in need of homes – until now.

  “Oh! They’re gorgeous! Mum, are they real? I mean, are they for sale? Can we go and see them?” The photo showed a litter of kittens snuggled up in a cardboard box – it wasn’t a very big one but they’d obviously all decided it was the best place to sleep ever. Ava was almost sure there were four but it was quite hard to count them…

  “Yes, they’re real and, yes, we can go and see them. Rosie, the lady who owns them, put their picture on Facebook and she said she’s free this weekend if people want to visit. I’ve sent her a message to see if we can go round today. Your auntie Jade sent me their picture – Rosie’s a friend of hers. Auntie Jade said she thought of you as soon as she saw them!”

  “They’re so little and fluffy…” Ava cooed, stroking the phone screen with her finger. Then she sighed as the picture disappeared. “Oops! Sorry, Mum, I’m still half asleep. I just wanted to stroke them!”

  Mum smiled as she took back the phone. “I love the ginger and white one – but the stripey kitten’s gorgeous, too. I think we might have a really hard time choosing. Oh, look! Rosie’s messaged me back, asking if we can come round at about ten o’clock. Ooooh, I don’t know, Ava, what do you think? It’s a bit early for a Saturday, isn’t it?”

  Mum laughed as Ava leaped out of bed, flinging off the duvet. “You think we can, then? We’ve got to get Lucy and Bel up, remember. And your dad’s still asleep.”

  “We’ve only got two hours!” Ava squeaked. “Wake him up now, Mum! And tell Lucy and Bel we’re going to see some kittens. They’ll be out of bed the fastest you’ve ever seen, I promise!”

  “Hurry up,” Ava groaned. “There’s the house, look, number twenty-two. Lucy, you don’t need to bring your toy cat, we’re going to see real kittens…”

  “They will like my toy cat,” her sister said firmly, gathering up her toy cat and her handbag and all the cat’s clothes, and clambering down from her car seat. Lucy was only just three – Mum and Dad had said they’d think about getting a family pet once she was old enough to understand that a kitten wasn’t another toy for her to play with. Ava had been looking forward to Lucy’s birthday more than her own.

  Ava’s middle sister, five-year-old Bel, had run on ahead and was trying to undo the latch of the garden gate.

  She was just as excited as Ava was. Neither of them had been able to eat any breakfast, and they’d watched Dad and Lucy ploughing through their Weetabix with disbelief.

  “OK.” Dad locked the car and led Lucy over to the gate. “Let’s go!”

  Bel finally managed to unlatch the gate and the front door opened as they walked up the path. A lady in a stripey T-shirt waved at them. “I saw you coming. I’m Rosie.” She scooped up a silvery tabby cat who was trying to escape round her legs. “And this is Moppet. She’s the kittens’ mum.”

  “She’s beautiful,” Ava’s mum said.

  “She really is,” Rosie agreed. “Come on in. Moppet’s too young to have kittens, to be honest. She was a stray. She kept coming into the garden and in the end I adopted her. I didn’t know I was getting five cats instead of one!”

  “Oh, wow…” Ava sighed. It sounded like a dream come true to her.

  “Anyway, come and see the kittens. They’re in the kitchen.”

  Ava could feel her heart thumping with excitement as they walked through the hallway. The kitchen door was closed and Rosie opened it carefully, obviously trying not to bump into any kittens on the other side.

  “Oh! Oh! A kitten!” Bel squealed as a little furry face popped round the edge of the door.

  The kitten disappeared at once and Mum shushed Bel gently. “Sweetheart, remember what we talked about.

  You’ve got to be quiet round the kittens. If you shout, you’ll scare them.”

  Bel nodded but Ava could tell that she was so excited she wasn’t really listening. Ava swallowed hard as Rosie opened the door all the way. There seemed to be a bubble of nervousness stuck in the top of her throat. She had been daydreaming about this moment for so long!

  The kittens seemed to have taken over Rosie’s kitchen. There were cat toys everywhere, a cosy basket sat next to the radiator, and a huge kitten climbing frame made of scratching posts and carpeted hidey-holes was squashed up next to the kitchen table. As they all went in, a small ginger kitten looked up from licking the butter off a piece of toast.

  Rosie put Moppet down and sighed. “That was my breakfast,” she told the kitten, lifting it off the table. “You’ve had yours.” She looked round at Ava and her family. “They’re lovely but they get everywhere.” Then she frowned. “Hang on. How many kittens can you see?”

  Ava laughed. Now that she could actually see the kittens, the strange feeling inside her had disappeared. “Three,” she told Rosie. “The one who was licking your toast…”

  “There’s another ginger one over there on the climbing frame,” Bel said.

  “And there’s a tabby kitten by the door,” Ava added, peering round the table to see properly. The tabby kitten was playing with a fluffy rabbit that was nearly as big as it was, rolling over and over on the floor.

  “There ought to be four,” Rosie said, scanning the kitchen. “We’re missing one. There’s another tabby kitten – and honestly, it’s always him!”

  Ava crouched down to check under the table but there was only the ginger kitten, still licking his buttery whiskers. Then, as she stood up, Ava spotted the tip of a stripey tail on top of the bookcase. “Is that him?” she asked Rosie, pointing. “Behind those photographs?”

  “How did he get up there?” Dad laughed. “That’s a huge jump for such a small cat.”

  Rosie shook her head, smiling. “I didn’t think any of them could get up there. But I suppose if he went from the climbing frame to the table, to the edge of the sink and then scrabbled up the curtain… This whole kitchen is like a playground for kittens. But he’s definitely the most adventurous!”

  “Hello,” Ava whispered to the kitten as he eyed her round the side of the photo frame. “Are you stuck?” The kitten looked so funny with his head sticking out one end of the frame and his tail the other. He mewed at her and edged a little further out from behind the photo. But there wasn’t much room and he nudged into a vase that was standing behind him, making it wobble dangerously.

  “Oh!” Ava said worriedly. “Come on, kitten. You’re going to get squished in a minute.” She reached up to lift him out from behind the photo frame and then looked uncertainly at Rosie. Was it OK to pick the kitten up?

  Rosie nodded at her. “Can you reach? Just lift him down from there.”

  Ava slipped both hands round the kitten’s middle, hoping she wasn’t scaring him. But she thought he actually looked quite grateful to be rescued. He didn’t wriggle at all and she snuggled him against her cardigan, loving the feel of his warm fur and his squidgy kitten tummy.

  “Oh, he’s very han
dsome!” Mum said, coming over to look. “So stripey!”

  “He’s the stripiest cat I’ve ever seen,” Ava agreed, looking down at the kitten. He was a beautiful golden brown colour, with black stripes running down his sides and fat black rings all along his tail. Ava had seen tabby cats before, of course, but never one with such perfect stripes.

  “He’s what’s called a mackerel tabby,” Rosie said. “Like the fish – they have stripes, too.”

  “He looks more like a tiger,” Mum said. “The way his stripes match on both sides.”

  Ava giggled as the kitten scrabbled his way up her cardigan and climbed on to her shoulder. She knew he was probably just trying to get up high, so that he could see what was going on with all these strange people in his kitchen but it felt like he belonged with her somehow.

  “Mum,” she whispered. “Do you think… Could we have this one?”

  Lucy stood up to see. She’d been trying to get the ginger kittens to look at her toy cat but they weren’t very interested. “What’s his name?” she asked Rosie.

  “Oh, well, I tried not to name them, because I knew they’d be going to new owners,” Rosie explained. “But in my head I’ve been calling him Adventure Kitten.”

  “He sounds like a superhero!” Ava said.

  “I think he’s called Tiger,” Lucy said, nodding her head. “Let’s take him home now.”

  “Oh, Lucy, we haven’t decided yet,” Mum said, but she was smiling. “And don’t forget, we need to go and buy a cat carrier and a basket and, oh, lots of things! Although he is lovely…”

  “And Tiger would be a great name,” Dad said. “Bel? Ava? What do you think?”

  Bel reached up to stroke the kitten’s tiny paws and smiled. “Even his paws are stripey.”

  Ava nodded, just a little, so as not to shake the kitten around too much. “It’s perfect! He looks just like a tiger and he’s as brave as one, too.”

  When the carrier was set down at last and the wire door swung open, Tiger didn’t move. He wasn’t sure what was outside the carrier but he knew it wasn’t his home. It smelled different. There was no comforting smell of his mother and the other kittens.

  “Why isn’t he coming out?” Bel said, crouching down.

  “He’s probably frightened,” Mum explained. “This is all really strange for him.”

  “Should we try the cat treats? The ones Rosie said he liked?” Ava suggested, opening the kitchen cupboard.

  Tiger took a step closer to the open wire door as he heard the crinkle of the foil packet. He could smell the treats, too – the delicious fishy ones. Even though he was still scared, he padded forwards another couple of steps and peered through the wire bars. Yes, there was the packet. His whiskers twitched and he eyed the girl holding the treats.

  “Come on, kitten!” Lucy wriggled away from Mum and bounced towards the cat carrier. Tiger heard her voice and the thud of her footsteps and retreated back inside the carrier.

  “Luuu-cy!” Ava snapped and then wished she hadn’t when her little sister’s face crumpled. “You have to be really gentle,” she added, but Lucy had already burst into tears.

  “Maybe we should give Tiger some time to come out by himself,” Dad suggested. “I know you all want to play with him but he’s nervous. Why don’t we put on a DVD?” He picked up Lucy for a cuddle and led Bel out of the kitchen but Ava hesitated. Surely she could stay? Tiger liked her – he’d let her lift him off the bookshelf the day before and he’d seemed happy for her to hold him then. She looked pleadingly at Dad but he shook his head. “It isn’t fair otherwise, Ava,” he pointed out. “And there’ll be loads of time to play with him.”

  Mum put an arm round her shoulders. “We’ll give Tiger time to explore a little by himself, then we’ll all go and see how he’s doing. Anyway, don’t you have to do your literacy homework, Ava? How long should that take you, twenty minutes? If you get it out of the way now then you’ll have the rest of the afternoon free to play with Tiger.”

  Ava nodded and sighed. Mum was right about the homework. But why did Lucy and Bel always have to mess things up?

  Tiger’s ears twitched as the kitchen door clicked shut. He could still smell those cat treats. He crept to the carrier door and peered round it. There was a scattering of treats on the floor and they smelled so good. He stepped out and then started to crunch up the treats, looking around carefully between each bite. But there were only a few and they were gone in seconds. He looked uncertainly back to the carrier. He knew he was safe in there but he didn’t like it much. Now that the kitchen was quiet, he wanted to explore.

  He jumped up on to a kitchen chair and then the table. He liked to be high up, to see what was going on. He prowled across the table and eyed the window above the sink. The main window was mostly closed but there was a smaller window at the top and that was open. Just then, a bee looped in through the window from the garden. Tiger watched it with interest, not really sure what it was. He crouched down a little, wondering if he could pounce on the bee from where he was. It zigzagged round the kitchen and as it swooped back over the table he followed it, his tail twitching with excitement.

  Tiger balanced at the very edge of the table, trying to swipe at the bee with his paw. But he just couldn’t get close enough. Then the bee stopped for a rest, perched on the kitchen wall. Tiger hopped back on to the chair and down to the floor. He would creep up on it and pounce! Stealthily he padded across the tiles and then he launched himself at the bee.

  The bee flew away, buzzing frantically, and Tiger turned his head to watch. He’d missed it by miles. Then he looked down and flexed his claws rather worriedly. They were firmly stuck in the thick wallpaper. He was halfway up the kitchen wall and he wasn’t quite sure how he’d got there…

  Ava peeped round the kitchen door, wondering where Tiger was. She had rushed through her homework – she was sure Mrs Atkins wouldn’t be impressed.

  “I hope he’s come out of the cat carrier,” Mum said, looking over her shoulder. “But I can’t see him. I’m surprised he’s so shy – he seemed really daring at Rosie’s house. He was definitely the most adventurous of the four.”

  “Mum! Look!” Ava pointed across the kitchen at the wall, next to the fridge. Mum was always saying that she wanted to change the wallpaper, she thought it was too bright and plasticky-looking but Ava liked it. The paper was yellow, with a bright pattern of jam jars on it. Right now, though, halfway up there was a little stripey kitten.

  “How did he get up there?” Mum gasped.

  “He must have climbed up,” Ava giggled. “I suppose the paper’s squishy enough that he can stick his claws in. Poor Tiger! Are you stuck? Shall I get you down?” She walked slowly over to the wall. “How long have you been up there, silly boy? What did you do that for, hey?”

  “Just be careful, Ava,” said Mum. “Don’t pull at him, it might hurt his claws.”

  Ava put one hand under Tiger’s bottom and tried to lift his front paws up a bit to unhook the claws.

  “How is he?” Dad asked, putting his head round the door. “Settling in OK?”

  Mum sighed. “You could say that. Look!”

  Dad laughed. “Wow! That’s one way to get rid of that wallpaper! Can you get him off there, Ava?”

  “His claws are stuck right in,” Ava said worriedly. “I can’t lift his paws away and he’s so panicked he’s just clinging on. At least I’m holding him up now, so it’s not like he’s hanging there by his claws… What are we going to do? Should we call Rosie?”

  Dad shook his head. “Just a minute, I’ve got an idea.” He reached out and gently rubbed the top of Tiger’s closest paw. The kitten looked round at him, his ears laid back, and his eyes wide and anxious-looking.

  “What are you doing, Dad?” Ava asked.

  “My mum did this when our cat climbed the back of the sofa and got stuck. Our old grey cat, Smokey – remember, Grandma Shirley showed you his picture.”

  Ava nodded. Her gran loved cats – she’d had s
everal and Ava had seen photos of all of them. Smokey was the beautiful grey long-haired cat that Dad’s family had owned when he was about Ava’s age.

  “It’s working,” Ava whispered as Tiger relaxed his claws and his paw came away from the wallpaper with a little popping noise. “Do the other paw, Dad!”

  Dad rubbed Tiger’s furthest paw and it happened even quicker this time. Tiger was free – his hind paws hadn’t been stuck in nearly as deeply. Ava lifted him away from the wall and put him down carefully on the floor.

  The kitten stalked away, shaking his ears crossly, and Ava pressed her hand across her mouth, trying not to laugh. “I think he’s embarrassed that he got stuck,” she whispered to Dad. “He’s pretending it didn’t happen!”

  “I hope his paws are all right,” Mum said, leaning sideways to look at the way Tiger was walking. “He’s not limping, is he?”

  “No, I think he’s fine.” Ava crouched down to check and Tiger looked round at her curiously. “Hey, Tiger. You’re OK, aren’t you? No sore paws?”

  Tiger padded up to her and dabbed his nose against her knee.

  Dad smiled. “Maybe that was a thank you.”

  “Mum, where’s Tiger?” Ava dashed out into the garden, where her mum was planting some cuttings. Ava’s best friend Jess’s dad worked as a gardener and he’d given them to Mum at school the day before.

  “Isn’t he in the kitchen? He was asleep in his basket a few minutes ago. I think he was worn out after you girls waved that feather toy at him for so long.” Mum stood up, taking off her gardening gloves.

  “He’s definitely not. I came down to check on him after I’d finished my maths homework.” Ava looked around the garden worriedly. “He didn’t slip out after you, did he? He’s not supposed to go outside yet!”

  “I’m sure he didn’t.” Mum was silent for a moment. “I wonder where your sisters are…?”