A Kitten Called Tiger

Ava froze in the middle of the path. “I heard him! Jess, I heard Tiger mewing!”

Jess stopped, staring around. “Oh, wow! I heard him that time, too! Where is he, though? I can’t see him.”

Ava turned round slowly, listening for the mewing, trying to work out where it was coming from. She was almost certain it was Tiger – he was all right! At least, she hoped he was. He sounded scared.

“I can’t see him. Oh! Jess, look! He’s up there!” Ava pointed over to the tall tree by the side of the alley.

“Where?” Jess squinted up at the tree. “Are you sure?”

“Yes!” Ava’s voice shook. She pointed again, impossibly far up into the branches. “Right at the top. Tiger! Tiger! He can see us!”

Tiger yowled loudly and started pacing up and down the branch.

Jess swallowed. “Do you think he’s been there all this time? Is he stuck?”

“He must be. Mum! We found him!” Ava waved madly at her mum, who was just catching up with them, along with Jess’s mum. “Bel, he’s here!”

Bel ran over and Mum broke into a jog with Lucy’s pushchair. “Up in the tree? I might have known he’d be stuck somewhere silly! Oh, Ava, I’m so relieved, well done…” Her voice trailed off as she looked up into the tree and saw how high up Tiger was. He was still walking up and down the branch, mewing down at them. “Oh, my goodness!”

“How are we going to get him down?” Ava asked, clutching her mum’s arm. “I don’t mind climbing trees but I don’t think I can get up that far.”

Mum shook her head firmly. “You’re definitely not climbing. I don’t want you stuck up there as well. We could call Dad but it’ll take him quite a while to get back from work. I wonder if we could ring the fire brigade?”

“A fire engine?” Bel asked, hopping up and down excitedly.

“They couldn’t get a fire engine down here,” Jess’s mum put in. “But Dave might be able to reach her if he used his long ladder.”

Ava looked at her hopefully. Dave was Jess’s dad and he had ladders for trimming trees. “Has he got a really tall ladder? We’ve only got a little one.”

Jess’s mum nodded, smiling at her. “He definitely has. And I’m pretty sure he said he was doing a garden down the road today. It’s going to be all right, Ava.” She pulled her phone out of her pocket. “Hey, love. Look, are you nearly done? You’re in Fircroft Lane, aren’t you? It’s Ava and Bel’s kitten, he’s stuck up a tree in the alley by their house. Have you got your long ladder with you?” She listened for a moment and then said, “You’re a star. See you in a minute.” Then she patted Ava’s shoulder. “It’s OK. He was just finishing. He’ll be here soon.”

Tiger peered down through the branches at Ava. He wanted to get to her so badly but he didn’t see how he could. Ava kept calling up to him. He loved hearing the sound of her voice. Surely she’d find a way to bring him down?

Then he saw someone else – a man, carrying a long ladder. Ava and the others rushed over to talk to him, and Tiger stared at them, wondering what was happening. Then the tree juddered as the ladder was pushed against it and Tiger gave a little mew of fright as he felt the branch shake again.

Tiger sank his claws tightly into the bark. The ladder was growing taller now, pushing up towards him.

Tiger was still jumpy from the incident with the bike and a whole night stuck up the tree on his own, and he hated the look of the metal thing that was getting closer and closer. What was going on? Why wasn’t Ava coming for him?

Mewing, he started to edge back, out along the branch to the narrow end, shaking and bouncing in the wind. He had to get away before that metal thing reached him.

Jess’s dad climbed back down the ladder, shaking his head. “It’s no good. He’s terrified, poor little thing. He’s going further and further along the branch as I get closer to him. I don’t want to risk it.”

Ava’s mum sighed. “Oh no. Thanks so much, Dave. Maybe I should try? Perhaps he’d be OK with someone he knew.”

“Mum!” Ava stared at her. “You can’t! You hate heights.” Dad was always teasing Mum about it. She didn’t even like the big slide at the funfair. “What about me?” Ava asked, swallowing her nerves. She really didn’t want to climb another ladder, not after she’d almost fallen off that ladder a few weeks before. But someone had to get Tiger down.

Mum shook her head. “I don’t want you going up that high! And how are you going to climb down again with a wriggly little kitten?”

“Tiger isn’t wriggly when Ava carries him,” Bel put in.

Ava nodded. “I’ve got a better idea, anyway. Why don’t we get the cat carrier? If I put that on the branch, with cat treats in it, he’d definitely climb in. Then I could shut the door and pass it down to Jess’s dad.”

“That’s actually a really good plan,” Dave agreed. “I could climb up behind Ava and help her. The ladder’s not strong enough for two adults on it at the same time but me and Ava should be fine.”

Mum nodded slowly. “All right, if you reckon that will work. I’ll run home and get the carrier and the cat treats.”

It seemed like the longest five minutes ever. Ava held Bel’s hand and they all took it in turns to call lovingly up to Tiger. But then, at last, Ava saw her mum come hurrying back.

“Right, Ava,” Dave said, as Mum opened the treats and placed them inside the carrier. “You start climbing up. Your mum and Jess’s mum are going to hold the ladder steady, and I’m going to climb up behind you with the carrier. I’ll pass it to you when you’re ready.”

Ava nodded, trying to wriggle her fingers. They felt so cold and she knew it was only because she was nervous… But what if she slipped while she was climbing the ladder? It was twice as high as the garden wall, at least.

She just couldn’t slip, that was all. She had to do it.

Slowly she put her foot on the first rung of the ladder and began to climb. She didn’t look down at the ground or even up at Tiger. She just looked at the rungs in front of her and kept going.

“I’m coming up behind you now, Ava. Hold on tight and don’t worry if you feel the ladder shaking!” Dave called.

“OK!” Ava called back, her voice odd and high. The ladder was shaking and it was making her feel a bit sick.

“Ava, you’re nearly there!” That was Bel’s voice, sounding a very long way below.

“A couple more rungs, Ava.” Mum called. “You’re doing so well.”

Ava lifted her face a little to look up at the branches and gasped as she saw Tiger for the first time since she’d started climbing. He was there, staring at her, and he looked so scared.

Suddenly Ava felt a tiny bit better. “Hey, Tiger,” she murmured. “We’re going to get you down.” Carefully she went up two more rungs, so that she was right next to Tiger’s branch. She definitely wouldn’t have been able to carry the kitten back down, she thought, shivering a little.

“Here’s the carrier,” Dave said quietly. “Can you grab it? You’ll have to let go with one hand. Take your time.”

Ava nodded, and forced herself to loosen her fingers and reach down. She grabbed the handle and shakily pushed the carrier up on to the branch. There was a forked bit of branch sticking out and she wedged the carrier in it. Now she didn’t have to hold on to it – otherwise she’d have to let go with both hands to open the door. The packet of cat treats was inside – Tiger’s favourite flavour, she noticed, the fishy ones. Ava reached in and shook the scrunchy foil bag.

“How are you doing?” Dave called up.

“He’s coming!” Ava cried.

Tiger had started edging back along the branch. It was going to work! His soft fur brushed against her arm as he climbed into the carrier, sniffing at the bag. Ava shut the door so quickly she almost caught his tail and then she turned the catch.

“He’s in!”

“Brilliant! Pass him down to me then. Take it slow, Ava. The carrier’s going to be heavy now.”

Ava nodded, lifting the carrier and reaching down to pass it to Dave. She heard a worried little mew as the carrier moved. “It’s OK, Tiger. We’re going home,” she whispered to him.

“Back down now, Ava. Nice and slow.”

Ava wasn’t sure how she ever got back down the ladder. She didn’t even remember doing it. She was just there at the bottom, with Mum hugging her and saying she’d been so scared and she should never have let Ava go up there, and Bel telling her she was the best big sister ever, and Lucy moaning because no one was listening and she’d dropped her toy cat.

Ava crouched down in front of the basket and peered in at the little stripey face looking out at her.

“Please don’t ever do that again,” she whispered to Tiger. “Thank you so much for rescuing him,” she told Jess’s dad.

He grinned at her. “I didn’t, Ava! It was all you! I think you’d better take him home and make a big fuss of him.”

Ava nodded, picking up the carrier – she didn’t even hold it by the handle, she wrapped her arms round it, like she never wanted to let Tiger go. She could feel the kitten padding about inside as she carried him down the path and round the corner to her house. She called goodbye to Jess – she couldn’t wave, she was holding on too tight to Tiger in his carrier.

Lucy and Bel followed Ava into the house and crouched down next to her as she put the carrier down on the hall floor. Tiger peered out at them all, his ears twitching.

“It’s all right,” Ava whispered. “You’re home now.”

Tiger stepped slowly out of the carrier and then scrambled up on to Ava’s knees, purring at last. She had come and rescued him. He’d known she would.