The Loneliest Kitten Page 2

  It was actually Dad who came up with the name. He said the kitten reminded him of someone he’d been at school with – his friend Charlie was always getting into trouble, but then he’d look really innocent and sorry and everyone forgave him. Dad suggested it just after the kitten had been sick on his shoe.

  Charlie’s worst trick was getting rid of his collar. “How did you do it this time?” Darcy murmured, tickling him under the chin. “I’ll look for it in the garden later, Mum.”

  Ever since Charlie had been old enough to go outside, Darcy and Will had been finding collars in the flower beds and Hannah, who lived next door, had come round with one that had been in her lavender bush. Charlie seemed to have a gift for hooking his collar on things. The collars had special catches that came open if the cat was trapped or caught on something and Charlie had figured out exactly how to get rid of them.

  He wriggled as Mum clipped on another collar and Darcy was sure he glared at her. He was probably working out how to get himself out of this one.

  “Have you got your bag packed ready for tomorrow, Darcy?”

  “No.” Darcy sighed. She was looking forward to going back to school and seeing everyone, but after seven weeks of holidays it was going to be hard getting up early every morning. And it was going to be even harder leaving Charlie behind after spending all those weeks playing with him. “Charlie’s going to miss us, Mum. You must promise you’ll make a fuss of him, even when you’re working.”

  Mum laughed. “Yes, of course I will. I don’t think I’ll have a choice anyway. He’ll be up on my desk stomping about on my keyboard, I bet.”

  “I suppose…” Darcy agreed. “I’ll go and sort out my stuff now, and I’ll take Charlie with me.”

  Darcy carried the kitten up to her room and put him on her bed. She watched, smiling, as Charlie stomped up and down the duvet, his paws sinking in with every step. Then he peered thoughtfully over the edge of her bed and scrambled down the side to explore the bedroom.

  Darcy got her school backpack out of the wardrobe. Mum had bought her new pencils and things a couple of weeks before but she had forgotten where she’d put them – her room was a bit of a mess. Charlie stalked a ball of paper across the carpet and went wriggling under the bed for a while. He came out with his white bits all covered in fluffy dust and Darcy had to brush him off.

  “You’re so funny,” she whispered as she blew dust off his whiskers and he sneezed and nearly fell over. “I’m going to miss you but I promise I’ll come home straight after school.

  We’ll spend ages playing with you then. And Emma’s going to come round too. You like her, don’t you?”

  Charlie climbed on to Darcy’s lap and curled up there, batting sleepily at the ends of her hair. Darcy sighed. Even though Mum had promised to try, Charlie was going to be so bored without her and Will to play with.

  “Mum! Mum! Guess what!” Darcy came flying out of school that first afternoon with Emma dashing behind her. She flung herself gleefully at her mum.

  “I can’t guess,” Mum said, staggering backwards. “What’s happened?”

  “Mrs Jennings is organizing a girls’ football team – and me and Emma are going to be in it! It’s in a schools’ league and everything! There’ll be practice on Tuesdays and Thursdays, and matches too. That’s OK, isn’t it? I can do it, can’t I? There’s a form you have to sign. Mrs Jennings even showed us the kit – it’s green – it’s so cool, Mum!”

  “Wow! Yes… That should be fine, I think. Luckily it doesn’t clash with swimming on a Wednesday. You’re going to be busy!”

  “I can do it, though, can’t I, Mum?” Emma asked her mum hopefully, and she nodded.

  “Of course. Well done, you two!”

  “It’s going to be amazing!” Darcy hugged Emma and they danced around until Will came across the playground, looking a bit tired and grumpy.

  “We’re going to be in the football team!” Darcy told him excitedly.

  “Oh – great. Can we go home and see Charlie now?”

  Darcy blinked. Just for those few minutes since Mrs Jennings had come to their classroom at the end of school, she’d completely forgotten about Charlie – on the very first day they’d left him alone. She suddenly felt guilty.

  “Was he OK today, Mum?” she asked anxiously.

  “I think so. He played with the cat dancer toy and then he slept on my knee while I was working. Still, he’ll be pleased to see you two.”

  Darcy nodded. “We’ll play with him for ages when we get home.”

  “Don’t forget your football practice,” Emma reminded her. “Mrs Jennings said we need to practise at home too.”

  Charlie hopped down the stairs a step at a time as he heard them coming up the path. He’d spent most of the day asleep, with spells of wandering around the house looking for Darcy and Will. Their mum was in her little office under the stairs, but she just kept typing around him, even when he tried to catch her fingers to nibble. It wasn’t much fun.

  As the front door opened he galloped across the hallway and twined lovingly in and out of Darcy’s and Will’s legs. They crouched down and fussed over him and Darcy stroked his ears just the way he liked it. Charlie purred and purred – he’d missed them so much.

  He followed the children eagerly as they went into the kitchen and accepted a little bit of Darcy’s cheese sandwich. Where had they been all day? They’d never gone away for so long before. Charlie bounced around excitedly as Darcy waved the cat dancer toy. It was his favourite – he loved stalking it up the hallway, but every time he pounced, Darcy would whisk it up out of the way, so that his paws just grazed the dancing feathers. He had more of a chance when he played with Will, as sometimes Will wasn’t quick enough and Charlie managed to get a mouthful of feathers.

  But after they’d played for a little while, Darcy disappeared upstairs and came down in different clothes. She was going into the garden, Charlie realized, and he hurried out of the door after her. He loved being outside. There were so many good hiding places and interesting smells in the garden. Sometimes there were bees too, and butterflies. Charlie was desperate to catch a fat furry bumblebee. They blundered about just in front of his nose but somehow he’d never managed to nab one.

  Whatever Darcy was doing was probably even more interesting than a bee, though. He followed her down the lawn and sprang delightedly on the football when she tapped it with her foot and it rolled across the grass. She laughed and tapped it again and he raced after the ball, flinging himself on top of it and then rolling off on to the grass. He sprang up and lunged again as Darcy shimmied the ball across the grass, and this time as the ball rolled he went with it, nosediving to the ground.

  Darcy crouched down next to him. She looked at him worriedly as he shook his whiskers. “Sorry, Charlie. Did it squish you? Are you OK? Maybe I’d better take you inside, kitten. I don’t want you to get hurt.”

  She scooped him up and slipped him back inside the kitchen door, and then she flipped the switch on the cat flap so he couldn’t follow her back out again.

  Charlie glared indignantly at the cat flap. Darcy had been away all day and now he wasn’t allowed out to play with her! He stalked across the kitchen and sat down grumpily in his basket. Why had Darcy stopped him playing? He’d only wanted to be with her. What had he done wrong?

  Charlie could see the children were going to disappear the next day too – they had bags and coats and everything was a rush. When he tried to get on the table to drink the milk out of Will’s cereal bowl, Mum scooped him back down with a firm, “No!” and then she added, “Oh no, he’s lost his collar again! I’ll have to get him another one.”

  Darcy made a fuss of him when she gave him his breakfast but she was dashing about and didn’t want to play. Charlie went to sit a little way up the stairs and watched as the children pulled on their shoes. Why were they going off again?

  When Will ran back into the kitchen to fetch his forgotten lunch box, Charlie padded softly down the stairs and
sniffed at his backpack, trying to work out what was happening. The zip was open and the bag smelled strange – musty, like leftover packed lunches. It was interesting… Charlie put one paw in, and then the other, and sniffed at the grubby crumbs at the bottom of the bag. Then he sneezed.

  “Look at Charlie! He’s in my bag!”

  Charlie looked up to see Will crouching over him, laughing.

  “I think he wants to come to school!”

  “Poor Charlie – he’s missing you,” Mum said. “You’d better get him out, Will. We need to go.”

  Charlie wriggled as Will gently reached under his front legs and lifted him out of the bag. Taking him out only made him think that the bag was exciting…

  He watched gloomily as the front door slammed behind them, and then stalked back into the kitchen to his basket.

  Perhaps they’d play with him when they got home?

  Darcy and Will did their best to fit in looking after Charlie with all their school stuff. But Darcy was really excited about being in the football team. She’d always loved kicking a ball about but now she was seriously trying to practise her football skills. And it wasn’t just practising – she got Dad to take her to the library to find football books too. If she wasn’t outside playing football, she was curled up on the sofa reading about it.

  A couple of weeks after term had started, Charlie padded into the living room to see if Darcy would play with him. She and Will had just got back from school and he was so pleased to see them. He snuggled up between Darcy and the cushions for a while, but he’d been dozing for most of the day and he wanted to dash about and chase things, not help her read. He tried patting at the pages and even sitting on the book, but she just kept moving him. In the end he jumped down from the sofa and went to see what Will was doing.

  Charlie could hear him growling as he came into the kitchen. Will was glaring at a worksheet on the table – then he started to rub out what he’d just written and ended up throwing the rubber halfway across the table so it bounced on to the floor.

  A game! At last!

  Charlie sprang at it, batting the rubber with his paw and enjoying the way his claws caught in it.

  “Hey! I need that!” Will reached down and grabbed it back. “Sorry, Charlie. I hate homework, it’s the worst thing about Year Two.” He looked at Charlie again. “You’ve lost another collar! I’d better tell Mum.”

  Charlie sat under Will’s chair, hoping that he might throw the rubber again, but he didn’t. In the end the little kitten gave up on him and popped through the cat flap out into the garden. Perhaps today would be the day he caught a bumblebee?

  He padded across the grass, twitching happily as he felt the hot sun on his fur. He sat down in the middle of the lawn and washed his ears for a bit – and then all of a sudden, there was a bee!

  It zoomed wildly across the grass in front of him, swooping down to a patch of clover. Charlie went into a hunting crouch and tried to stalk it, but the bee lumbered away before he even got close. He hurried after it, chasing it over to the lavender bush by the wall until it disappeared over into next-door’s garden, buzzing happily.

  Charlie stared after it, his tail twitching. He could still hear the buzzing. He’d been so close! Suddenly determined, he jumped up on to the garden bench and then made a wobbly leap on to the wooden back. He teetered there for a moment and then sprang for the wall, scrabbling hard and digging his claws into the branches of ivy. Then he was on the top of the wall, with the bee buzzing lazily across the flower beds below him.

  Charlie made a rushing, scrambling climb down the other side of the wall and looked around for the bee. The fur on his back was rumpled up with the wild scramble down the wall and a little bit with fright. He hadn’t expected it to be quite so high. But now, surely, he’d catch that bee?

  Except it had disappeared. It had completely, utterly gone. Charlie looked around in disbelief. It wasn’t fair!

  A soft murmuring noise made his ears twitch – but it wasn’t a bee. It was someone talking. Whoever it was had a pleasant, gentle sort of voice, a bit like Darcy when she was stroking him.

  Curiously, Charlie padded down to the fence at the end of next-door’s garden and saw that there were gaps along the bottom of it – quite big gaps. He could get through there easily, no scrambling needed. He wriggled through and hesitated in the bushes, watching an old lady watering her flowerpots. She was murmuring to herself about the weather, which was warm and dry now after the wet summer.

  The water drops glinted and sparkled in the sunshine and he padded a little closer. The old lady didn’t see him, she just kept watering, and Charlie couldn’t resist the pattering of the drops any longer. He pounced, springing at the glittering water, trying to catch the drops with his white paws.

  “Oh! Where did you come from?” the old lady gasped. “Oh dear, are you all wet now?”

  Charlie had water droplets covering his whiskers, up his nose and in his ears. He shook his head briskly and then looked hopefully up at her. Was she going to do it again? He reached up one paw and tapped at the watering can.

  “You liked it?” Laughing, the old lady tipped up the watering can and let another shower of droplets fall down on the plants – and the kitten. Charlie batted his paws eagerly, but still he couldn’t catch the water.

  “I wonder where you came from?” the old lady asked thoughtfully. “I haven’t seen you before, I’d remember that lovely tabby pattern.” She reached down and gently stroked the top of the kitten’s head. “You don’t look like you’re lost. You’re definitely someone’s pet, you’re so friendly. But you don’t have a collar on…”

  Charlie tapped the watering can again and she sprinkled a little more water on her patio, laughing as he danced about and tried to catch the water. At last she set it down by an outside tap and walked slowly back inside. Charlie padded after her. He liked this lady. She was fussing over him just the way he wanted and the water was a lot of fun.

  “Oh no, I don’t think you should come inside, little one,” she said gently. “You’re someone else’s kitten and they wouldn’t want you coming in, would they? You go on back home now.”

  She closed the glass door and stood just inside it, watching him. Charlie stared back and then stood up, putting his front paws on the glass and peering through. He mewed sadly and saw the old lady put her hand on the sofa and try to crouch down to look at him. Then she shook her head firmly, stood up and walked away.

  Charlie sat down on the patio and wailed. He wanted her to come out and play again. No one would play with him. He was so lonely…

  Five minutes later Charlie was inside the old lady’s living room, sitting on the arm of the sofa and nibbling a little cube of cheese.

  “Yes!” Darcy ran back to high-five Bella, who’d set up her goal. “Three-one!” She waved jubilantly at Mum and Emma, who were standing at the edge of the pitch. Emma was jumping up and down. Mrs Jennings was trying to make sure everyone got a go at playing, especially as this was their first real match, but Darcy felt a bit bad that Emma hadn’t got to play for longer. She didn’t seem to be upset about it, though.

  Darcy had been really worried when Mrs Jennings told them about the match – after all, they’d only been a team for three weeks and they definitely needed more practice. But Mrs Jennings promised it would be really good experience, even if they lost. And now they were winning! All that skills training Darcy had been doing in the park after school had made a difference. When the final whistle went, the score was four-two and the Willow Primary team just couldn’t stop talking about the match.

  “Shall we go to the supermarket and get a celebration cake?” Mum suggested as Darcy got into the car. “I noticed the other day that they had some with footballs on.”

  “Yes, please!” Darcy leaned back in the front seat, exhausted but beaming. She loved the idea of a special celebration tea. “I can’t wait for Sunday,” she added happily. Mrs Jennings had arranged another match – a friendly with a local scho
ol – for that Sunday afternoon.

  “Can we get Charlie some cat treats too?” she asked as they took the cake to the tills. “I think we’re out of them.”

  “Sure – I think they’re in that aisle.” Mum pointed, and Darcy hurried off.

  “They were on three for two, so I got all the flavours,” she explained as she came back and put them in the basket.

  When they got home, Darcy went to have a shower and then came down for a piece of cake. She opened the bag of cheese-flavoured cat treats and shook them. That always made Charlie come running – he knew exactly what the noise meant!

  Nothing happened and Darcy shook the bag again, this time next to the open kitchen window. She expected to see a little tabby and white blur come dashing down the garden to bang the cat flap open, but still nothing. She stood in the middle of the kitchen with the bag, looking rather lost.

  “Mum, where’s Charlie?”

  Her mum looked up from cutting the football cake and glanced round the kitchen. “I expect he’s in the garden. I should put his food down actually. I forgot we haven’t fed him yet.”

  “So … he hasn’t had any tea?” Darcy said, frowning. No tea and he wasn’t coming for his favourite cat treats? That was definitely strange, and worrying…

  Darcy looked all round the house for Charlie – she wondered if Mum had accidentally shut him in one of the bedrooms. But she couldn’t see him anywhere. She stood in the garden and called for him, but no kitten appeared.

  Mum went to look up and down the street at the front of the house. Charlie had wandered down the side path of the house before, and Darcy had found him sunbathing on the front wall. Will searched upstairs again, even going through all his toy baskets.