The Curious Kitten

  For George

  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

  Amber rolled the jingly cat ball down the length of the hallway and giggled as Cleo flung herself after it, her paws slipping on the wooden floor. She loved the way the kitten took chasing the ball so seriously!

  Her mum opened the kitchen door and gasped as she almost tripped over the skidding kitten. “Oh, Cleo! I nearly kicked you. Are you all right?”

  But Cleo didn’t even seem to have noticed. She had finally caught her jingly ball and was rolling over and over with it, growling fierce kitten growls.

  “I don’t think that ball’s coming out alive,” Mum commented, smiling. “Amber, did you finish sorting out all your new pencils and things for school? Have you packed them in your rucksack?”

  Amber nodded. “Everything’s ready.” She got up, looking worriedly between Mum and Cleo. “Mum, what’s going to happen to Cleo while I’m at school?”

  “What do you mean, what’s going to happen to her?” Mum looked confused.

  “I’m worried she’s going to be bored,” Amber explained. “She’s not really been on her own that much, has she?”

  Amber’s family had got Cleo from a local cat shelter right at the beginning of the summer holidays. Amber had been desperate to get a kitten for ages, and her parents had finally agreed. Mum and Dad and her big sister, Sara, had spent ages sitting with her on the sofa, looking at the website. But as soon as Amber had seen the photo of Cleo with her brothers and sisters, Amber had known that she was the one. Amber never seen such a gorgeous cat. Cleo was a really unusual colour – mostly ginger, but with big dark patches and huge black ears that looked like she needed to grow into them.

  Amber had spent the whole holiday playing with Cleo – it was amazing how many mad games a kitten could invent to play with just a piece of string. Or a feather. Or even the flowers on Amber’s flip-flops. She was going to miss Cleo so much – and she had a feeling Cleo was going to miss her, too. Even though Cleo was officially a family cat, and everyone played with her, Amber did most of the looking after. She loved feeding Cleo and making sure she always had clean water – it made her feel that the kitten was just a little bit more hers.

  “She’s always had me and Sara at home to play with,” Amber went on.

  “I see what you mean.” Mum gave her a hug. “She’ll be fine, Amber. Cats are quite independent, you know. And think how much time Cleo spends snoozing! She’ll just save up her playtime for when we’re all home. Anyway, I’ll be around some of the time – you know I only do half days. Cleo can distract me from all the marking I’ve got to do!”

  “I suppose so,” Amber agreed, a bit doubtfully. Cleo did sleep a lot. She was still only small, and she didn’t seem to understand taking things easy. She’d race around until she was exhausted and then collapse in a little furry tortoiseshell heap. Amber loved it when she flumped down with her paws in the air!

  She wriggled the ball out from between Cleo’s paws and rolled it back down the hallway again. “I’m worried that she’ll be bored and find a way to get round the front of the house. She thinks the front garden must be the most exciting thing ever, just because we won’t let her go out there. She nearly escaped again yesterday, when the postman brought that parcel.”

  Her mum made a face. “I honestly don’t think we can do much about that. We’ll just have to make sure she doesn’t slip out. I think the noise of the cars would put her off going on the road anyway.”

  Mum didn’t look all that sure, though, and Amber sighed. One of their neighbours had a cat who’d been run over and badly hurt, and she hated to think of anything like that happening to Cleo. She was sure Cleo was very clever, but kittens weren’t known for being sensible. If Cleo saw something interesting on the other side of the road, Amber was almost certain she’d chase after it. And it wasn’t as if she could train Cleo to look both ways first.

  Cleo sniffed curiously at the bags in the hallway. Today felt different. Everyone was rushing around. She whisked behind one of the rucksacks as Sara came dashing past and nearly stepped on her tail. She crouched there, watching as Amber and Sara chased up and down the stairs, looking for things they’d forgotten. Their mum was standing in the hallway, glancing at her watch.

  “Come on, you two! I thought you said you’d got everything ready last night? We really do need to go – I’ve got a staff meeting before school.”

  “I’m here, I’m ready.” Amber jumped down the last two steps and looked around for her bag and shoes. “I just wanted to find a photo of Cleo to show my friends. Hardly anyone’s seen her yet – only Maisie and Lila when they came over.”

  “I’m ready, too,” Sara said, sighing. “I can’t believe we’re going back to school – it feels as if the holidays have only just started. And everyone says Year Eight means loads more homework.” Sara’s secondary school wasn’t that far from the house, but she usually got a lift with Mum and Amber in the mornings and walked back home with her friends.

  “I shouldn’t think anyone will give you much on the first day,” her mum replied. “Come on. Grab your stuff and let’s get in the car.”

  Cleo opened her mouth in a silent mew of surprise as the bag in front of her disappeared. And then she realized – the front door was open!

  “Oh, Cleo, no! Sara, stop her!” Amber called out. She was all mixed up with her PE bag and rucksack and she still only had one shoe on.

  Sara crouched down to try and field the kitten, but Cleo jinked expertly around her reaching hands and skipped out on to the doorstep.

  Cleo caught the different outdoor smells as she leaped down the step and then darted off to investigate the wheelie bins. She’d only managed to get out into the front garden a couple of times, and she wanted to explore.

  “Did you get her?” Amber came hurrying up to her sister.

  “No, she was just too speedy!” Sara gasped. “Sorry! I think she’s gone behind the bins. Here, Cleo! Come on… Puss, puss!”

  Mum sighed. “How does she know when we’re in a hurry? Amber, can you catch her? Try not to let her go under the car – it’ll take ages to get her back out again.”

  Amber crouched down beside the bins. The kitten was in the flower bed now, peering out through the pink geraniums.

  Cleo gazed up at her with round green eyes. She didn’t understand why they made such a fuss about her being here, when no one minded if she went through her cat flap into the back garden. She looked around, eyeing the pavement and the road beyond. There were interesting smells out there – more cats and other things, too. But the cars speeding past were so loud that she’d never dared to do more than peek round the edge of the garden wall. She wanted to, though. She was working up to it.

  “There!” Amber reached through the flowers and grabbed her, and Cleo snuggled up against her school cardigan. The kitten didn’t mind being caught, not really. Especially because Amber always gave her cat treats when she brought her back in.

  Cleo dived out of the cat flap and shook her ears crossly. She didn’t like the way it banged behind her – it always made her feel jumpy. She licked at the fur on her white front until she felt calmer and then strolled out on to the patio. The garden was very bright, and there were fat bees blundering through the lavender bush. She could even hear a bird rustling in the apple tree at the far end. But somehow the back garden didn’t seem quite as exciting as it
usually did.

  Cleo sat on the patio, feeling the warm afternoon sun on her fur and wondering what to do. She had slept for a lot of the morning, and now she wanted to play. Amber’s mum was working on her computer, and she’d stroked Cleo for a bit. But when Cleo had tried to pounce on her keyboard, she’d shooed her away. Cleo was used to playing with Amber, and she missed her. It wasn’t as much fun being on her own. She could chase down the garden after that bird or wriggle into the lavender and swipe at the bees. But she never seemed to catch anything… When would Amber come back?

  Then her ears flattened and she sprang up, stalking across the patio to the bench by the garden wall. Amber had gone out of the front door. Perhaps she was at the front of the house somewhere. If she hopped up on to the bench, she wouldn’t be that far from the top of the wall…

  Cleo wriggled her bottom and leaped, scrambling from the arm of the bench into the twiggy mass of jasmine that was growing up the wall. She clawed and scrabbled and pulled her way up on to the top. Half her fur was standing on end and it was full of tiny green leaves, but she had done it. She was almost sure this wall led round to the front of the house, where Amber was.

  Cleo paced along the top of the wall, then over the flat roof of the garage. She dropped back down on to the wall again where it ran along the side of the little front garden. She had to pick her way carefully through the tall plants that grew up against it, but eventually she reached the front of the garden, where the wall was lower and half-hidden by bushes. She perched between the bushes, looking out on to the street.

  “Cleo!”

  The kitten peered curiously round the bushes and saw Amber racing down the street towards her, with her rucksack bouncing against her shoulders. Cleo stood up and purred, arching her back proudly. She’d been right! Amber was here! Amber would see that she’d been clever and climbed the wall. As Amber ran up to her, Cleo purred even louder and leaned down to rub her head against Amber’s shoulder.

  “Oh, Cleo,” she murmured lovingly, “you’re so naughty! How did you get out here? Mum, look!”

  “Cleo!” Amber’s mum stared at the kitten. “I made absolutely sure she didn’t slip past me when I left to get you from school. She was in the house this afternoon – I know she was. She tried to sit on the computer while I was working.”

  Amber gently scooped the little kitten off the top of the wall. She held Cleo against her shoulder as Mum went to unlock the front door. “But that means she must have got round the house by herself,” Amber said, looking up at the garden wall. “She can’t have done… That wall’s so high for her to jump up to, and then she had to get on to the garage roof!”

  Cleo looked up at the wall, too, and purred smugly into Amber’s ear.

  Now that Cleo had worked out how to climb the wall in the back garden, she was desperate to try it again. Amber had homework to do – which she thought was really unfair on her first day back. She left Cleo gobbling down her tea, hoping she would come and find her when she’d finished. But Cleo had other ideas, and when Amber’s dad came home from work he was met by a purring kitten on the path.

  Dad laughed as Cleo danced happily around his feet and he crouched down to fuss over her. “You’re not meant to be out here, little miss. Did you slip out? Come on, then.”

  He opened the front door and called out, “Look who I found!”

  Amber and Sara peered over the top of the stairs.

  “Oh no! Was she out at the front again?” Amber hurried down to scoop Cleo up. “She’s definitely learned to climb the wall, then. Mum said she must have done it earlier, but I thought Cleo might have sneaked out without her noticing. She was on the front wall when I came home!”

  “She was only in the front garden.” Dad looked round at Amber as he hung up his jacket. “I don’t think she’ll come to any harm.”

  “What about the road, though?” Amber sighed worriedly and then laughed as Cleo’s head butted into her chin. “Oh, Cleo, are you telling me not to fuss?”

  “How’s Cleo?”Amber’s friend Maisie asked in class a couple of days later, spotting the photo that Amber had stuck on the front of her planner. “Has she learned any more tricks?” Amber had told her about all the games she’d invented with Cleo.

  Amber rolled her eyes. “Yes! She’s learned how to scramble on to the back wall, then climb all the way over the garage roof so she can get into the front garden.”

  Lila leaned over the table. “Why? What’s so exciting about your front garden?”

  “Who knows?” Amber sighed. “But it’s got a road in front of it, that’s the problem. There’s this really nice lady who lives down our street, Susan. Her cat got run over last year. He crawled back in through the cat flap with a broken leg. He had to have an operation to fix the bone back together with metal pins. Then he had to live in a cat crate for two months to stop him walking on it.”

  “But that’s not going to happen to Cleo,” Lila said comfortingly.

  “It might do.” Amber ran her finger over Cleo’s whiskers in the photo – they were so white, and they fanned out like she had a moustache. “She’s only little and she doesn’t know what cars are. The people across the road are starting to have an extension built this week. Mum was telling me. She was saying it might be tricky to get out of our driveway because of all the builders’ vans and things. So that’s loads more traffic to worry about.”

  “I’m sure it will be OK…” put in a quiet voice.

  Amber looked over at the other side of the table, a bit surprised. The two classes in the year had been mixed around again, and she didn’t know George very well. He’d always been in the other class in her year. She’d not seen him on her way to school, either, so she guessed he didn’t live very close by. They’d been on the same table for a week now, but George hadn’t said much at all.

  “My mum’s cat, Pirate, goes up and down our street, and he does cross the road sometimes. But he’s really careful. I bet your kitten will just learn what to do.”

  “George is right,” Lila agreed. “Cats are clever. I’m sure Cleo will learn how to cross the road, no problem.”

  “Maybe,” Amber said. She loved how Cleo was so curious – it made her even more fun to play with. But it also meant that she liked to explore everything. She sighed to herself as Mr Evans told them to stop chatting and settle down. She was probably worrying too much – it was the first time they’d had a pet, after all. She just couldn’t help that little nagging feeling that Cleo was too nosy for her own good.

  Cleo sat perched on the front wall, peering out from under a climbing rose and eyeing the men working on the other side of the road. There was one big truck, with a crane lifting off huge pallets of bricks. Then there were two smaller vans and lots of people going backwards and forwards between them and the house. She wanted to get closer to see what was going on.

  The road was in between her and the action, though, and she didn’t like the way the cars roared and growled as they shot past. Yesterday, after a few days of exploring the front garden, she’d actually ventured out on to the pavement. At first she’d just stood by the gate, flinching back when a car came past. But they all seemed to stick to the road, and she was sure the pavement looked safe enough.

  She’d crept along the bottom of the wall, keeping well away from the road. Then a car had sped by. Cleo had felt the rumbling of the road under her paws and smelled the exhaust, and she’d raced back to the safety of the garden.

  She still wasn’t quite brave enough to cross the road and investigate the unusual things that were happening on the other side. Cleo edged between two bushes as another van came driving up. But this time when the van stopped it was on her side of the road.

  Cleo wriggled out between the thick stems, her whiskers twitching. The driver was getting out – Cleo could see his heavy boots walking round the side of the van. Then he opened up the back doors and lifted out a box, which he carried across the road to the interesting house on the other side.

 
Almost without realizing it, Cleo was padding eagerly out into the middle of the pavement. The van was new and exciting, and she wanted to see what was in it.

  Then the man was coming back. Cleo ducked under the sprawling fuchsia bush in the garden next door. Amber and Sara always tried to grab her when she went out at the front of the house. She didn’t want this man to catch her now and stop her exploring. But the man didn’t even notice her. He just unloaded another box and set off across the road again, leaving the van’s back doors open.

  As Cleo edged out of the bush, she came to a sudden halt. Her collar was caught on the wiry branches. She pulled at it crossly. She hated collars. When the safety catch came open, she tossed her head briskly from side to side, enjoying the freedom. Then she hurried out from under the bush, shaking the dry leaves from her fur.

  Cleo sniffed at the tyres of the van and then stretched up, putting her front paws on the little back step. The van was full of boxes, some old sacks, a folded plastic sheet and all sorts of fascinating things. There were dark corners and good smells to investigate, too.

  She jumped up, scrabbling to get her back legs on to the step, and clambered into the van. It was dusty, which made her sneeze, but that didn’t put her off. She prowled further inside and rubbed up against one of the boxes. She liked this place and she wanted to mark it as hers.

  Suddenly there was a shout from outside and the sound of footsteps approaching. Cleo froze, laying her ears back. What was happening? Was someone coming to chase her out? She backed between the box and a pile of sacks and watched, round-eyed, as the doors at the back of the van swung shut with a slam.

  She was trapped.

  Amber turned to her mum, smiling in relief. “It’s OK! Cleo’s not in the front garden. She must have decided to stay round the back today.”