Oliver The Cat Who Saved Christmas

CHAPTER SEVENTEEN

As I finally made my way home from the Big House, I bumped into Suki. She was looking as cross as Tabby had done when I saw him the previous week.

‘Oh, hello,’ I said. ‘I … er … understand congratulations are in order.’

‘No, they’re not,’ she said very sharply. ‘Think about it, Ollie. How would you feel if your tummy was going to swell up until you could hardly move, and then you were going to go through hours of agony and end up with a mob of squealing kittens to feed?’

‘Well, put like that…’ I said, feeling awkward. ‘Er, where’s Tabby, anyway?’

‘That’s a very good question.’ She flicked her tail at me. ‘If you see him, tell him I’m looking for him, would you?’

‘OK.’ I didn’t know which of them to feel the most sympathy for. It does seem unfair that females have to go through all that stuff, but there you go – that’s life – and there wasn’t really any point her taking it out on Tabby. I was just glad I wasn’t a female. If I was, nothing would have persuaded me to mate with a horrible randy male like Tabby.

I looked in all the obvious places for Tabby – round the back of the shop, by the swings on the village green, even at his own house. I went as far as jumping over his garden fence and putting my nose up against his cat flap, but there was no sign of him. He was certainly doing a good job of making himself scarce. In the end I finally tracked him down to the side of the big noisy road at the other end of the village.

‘What on earth are you doing here?’ I shouted at him. I had to shout, because of the noise of the cars racing past.

‘Thinking about running across to the other side,’ he said morosely.

‘Don’t be ridiculous! The cars will trample you as soon as you set paw on the road.’

‘Maybe. But if they don’t, I can escape.’

‘Oh yes? Escape where, exactly?’ I was getting cross with him now. ‘Do you have any idea how it feels to be lost, with no home to go to, and nothing to eat or drink? Have you ever been cornered by a fox, or left in a sack to die? No, of course you haven’t, you’ve had a lovely home with nice humans to feed you and pamper you the whole of your life. How can you even talk about escaping?’

He hung his head. ‘Sorry, Ollie,’ he said. ‘I know, you’re right. I’ve been a lucky cat all my life, and I haven’t had to go through anything scary like you have. And I’m sorry I’ve been rude to you lately, as well. You’ve been a good friend to me. I don’t deserve you.’

‘Oh, don’t start getting all melodramatic on me,’ I said impatiently. ‘Just get away from this horrible road before we both end up getting hurt. Come on.’

He followed me back up the hill, and when we got to the village green we sat under one of the benches and washed each other’s faces like we were brothers.

‘Is it just because of Suki?’ I asked him eventually. ‘Is she still yowling at you? I bumped into her a bit earlier and I must say she seemed … um … keen to see you.’

‘Just wants to have another go at me, I suppose. I preferred her before she found out she was expecting. She was nice then – gentle, and sexy. Now, whenever we see each other it almost turns into a cat fight. At the end of the day, she was just as keen about the mating as I was.’

‘Well look,’ I said, ‘maybe you should just let her blame you, if it makes her feel better. After all, it is her who has to get a fat tummy, and go through agony to produce the kittens.’ I was just repeating what Suki had said, of course. I had no idea how these things actually worked. ‘You might even like the kittens when they’re born.’

‘Huh. I doubt it. But you’re probably right. Maybe I’ll go and see her tomorrow. Will you come with me?’

‘Oh. I don’t think that’s a good idea, Tabs.’

‘Please, Ollie. You’re so much better than me at understanding how females think.’

‘Yeah, well, that’s because of being neutered, I suppose.’

‘I’m beginning to envy you. Seriously, at least you have your freedom, and don’t feel like you’re going to spend the rest of your life being shouted at by a vindictive female who didn’t want to have kittens.’

I laughed. ‘You’d better try and persuade your owners to take you to the vet, then. Come on, let’s walk home together. I’m getting hungry. And I want to tell you what happened to me today. You think you have a stressful life? You’ve got no idea.’

As we walked, I told him about the Big House, and Caroline, and being caught by her father.

‘What?’ he kept saying. And, ‘I told you not to go back there!’

‘I know you did,’ I agreed. ‘And I probably should have listened to you, but I felt like that poor little girl needed me.’

‘Your trouble is, you’re too soft-hearted, Ollie. And you didn’t believe me when I told you there was an angry man there, did you?’

‘No. I think he’s only there sometimes at weekends, though. So what I’m thinking is, I might go back on Monday.’

‘What!’ he yelled at me again. ‘Are you completely raving mad? You’ve just told me how terrified you were, how he picked you up and dropped you.’

‘Only because I dug my claws in.’

‘But now you’re defending him.’

‘No, I’m not, at all. Although it’s funny, he was just as horrible to the Laura female as he was to me. But she defended him. She actually really likes him. She told me, when she found me in the shed.’

‘Yes, but there’s no accounting for humans’ stupidity, as you well know. We cats have more sense. If you go back there, I’ll … I’ll wash my paws of you!’

We’d reached my foster homes now. I stopped outside the gate to Daniel and Nicky’s cottage and turned to face Tabby.

‘Did I, or did I not, save your life today?’ I asked him straight. ‘Didn’t I stop you from running out onto the bypass?’

‘Not exactly. I probably wouldn’t have done it. But thanks anyway,’ he added quickly.

‘Well, at least I hope I’ve talked some sense into you. And have I, or have I not, agreed to come with you to talk to Suki tomorrow, even though I really don’t think I ought to be getting involved?’

‘Yes, and I’m grateful. I appreciate it.’

‘So I’m going to ask you to do something for me, in return. To show how much you appreciate it.’

‘Go on. What?’

‘Come with me on Monday, to the Big House.’

He jumped back as if I’d shot him.

‘Not on your life! Sorry, Ollie, but no way. What do you take me for?’

‘What do I take you for? A good friend, I hope. And anyway, you’re always fond of saying that I’m a timid little thing. Well, if that’s the case, and if you’re so much bigger and tougher than me, what are you so scared of?’

‘I’m not scared,’ he retorted, puffing out his chest. ‘I just don’t see the point of it.’

‘The point is, that little girl’s been very ill and Laura said that ever since I’ve been visiting her, she’s been getting better. So if I stop visiting her, she’s going to get worse again, isn’t she?’

Tabby looked a bit uncomfortable. ‘You don’t know that for sure.’

‘But I wouldn’t want it on my conscience. And if you don’t come with me, to protect me, because you’re so much bigger and braver than me’ – I put a lot of emphasis on the bigger and braver – ‘it’ll be on your conscience too, Tabs.’

‘Oh, now, hang on a minute!’

‘And you don’t really want anything else on your conscience, do you, what with Suki and her kittens?’

‘I thought you were on my side.’

‘I am, I am. But I’m just saying … look, I’ve made my mind up. Although it’s true, I was terrified today, and I am only little and timid, I’m going back on Monday, even if it’s just to make sure Caroline’s all right. And if I’m willing to risk it, but you won’t come with me, well, what does that make you?’

‘A cat with a bit more common sense?’

‘No. A scaredy-cat.’

It was a terrible insult. I waited for him to clout me with one of his big paws. But instead, he looked down at the pavement, and swished his tail a couple of times. And then he looked back at me and raised a paw in surrender.

‘OK, I give in. If you’re determined to go, I’d better come with you, or it’ll be you I have on my conscience when the angry man gets you.’

‘He won’t be there, I’m telling you. We’ll go in the morning. I heard them say he goes to the place they call London.’

‘All right. But don’t forget I’m counting on you tomorrow, then, to come and see Suki with me.’

‘Of course. Call for me here after breakfast, all right?’

We meowed our farewells, and I went in to see how Nicky and Daniel were. My head was aching at the thought of all these problems I was trying to sort out. It had been a traumatic day, and it had taken all my powers of persuasion to talk that rascal Tabby round. I must admit I was feeling pretty pleased with myself for the way I’d managed it. But most of all, I just wanted a nice bowl of Kitty-Chunks and a long, long nap.

I slept for a long time, in a comfy chair in Nicky and Daniel’s sitting room, and when I woke up it was getting dark and I could hear Nicky saying, in a loud voice out in the hallway:

‘There you are! For God’s sake, Dan, I was just about to send out the search parties. What the hell took you so long?’

‘Sorry, Nick. I got waylaid.’ He didn’t sound sorry. He actually sounded quite pleased with himself.

‘You did get some firewood, I hope?’

‘Yes, look. A whole bag full. And then, when I was on my way back, the guy who lives in the corner house was trying to start his car.’

‘Right. Very interesting.’ It’s funny, with humans, Charlie. They so often seem to mean the opposite of what they say. Nicky didn’t sound the least bit interested, in fact she went on quite impatiently, ‘Now, it’s freezing in this house and you must be cold too, being out all that time. If I make you a hot cup of tea, do you think you could use some of that wood to get the fire going? Or is it too damp?’

‘It might be. But I’ll give it a try.’

He came into the lounge, shrugging off his jacket and putting his rucksack down next to the fireplace.

‘Oh, hello, Ollie,’ he said as I stood up in the chair and did some stretching and yawning. ‘Have you been asleep in here? Had a busy day?’

‘You don’t know the half of it,’ I meowed.

I watched him for a while as he built up the wood in the fireplace. Nicky was quite right, it was really cold in the room. If it was going to take a while for that fire to warm us up, I’d be better off going next door and getting into my hammock on the radiator. But just as I was about to ask Daniel to let me out, Nicky came back into the room with two mugs of steaming tea on a tray.

‘Sorry I snapped,’ she said, putting the tray down on the little table. ‘I just couldn’t understand why you were taking so long. And I was getting cold. I nearly put the heating on.’

He stood up and pulled her into his arms. ‘You should have done. You must look after yourself, Nick. I don’t want you catching a chill and getting ill. Not now.’

‘Oh, don’t worry,’ she said. ‘The baby’s plenty warm enough in here.’ She patted her tummy. ‘Anyway, what were you doing all that time?’

‘I tried to tell you. The guy on the corner – his name’s Tony…’

‘Couldn’t start his car. So you spent half an hour or more watching him?’

‘No! It was obvious what the problem was – his battery was flat. I knocked on the car window and asked if he wanted some help.’

‘Ah!’ She laughed. ‘I might have guessed.’

‘Well, I couldn’t just watch him going on and on turning the ignition and risking flooding his engine, could I. He and his wife were supposed to be going to visit their daughter. They’re pensioners, and I’m not being funny but he seemed a bit clueless about cars. I asked him if he had a battery charger, and he looked at me like I was talking Swahili! His wife told him to take me round to his garage to have a look for myself. He doesn’t know what he’s got in there, she told me. And yes, there was a battery charger, still in its box like it had never been used, so…’

‘You came to the rescue.’ Nicky laughed. ‘Well, that was nice of you.’

‘The battery’s still on charge, of course. I’ll pop back later and see if I can get it going for him. He phoned his daughter to say they’d go tomorrow instead. I told him he really needs a new battery. But at least he should be OK temporarily, as long as he doesn’t leave his lights on or anything silly like that.’

‘You sound really … kind of fired-up.’ Nicky looked at him a bit sadly. ‘I’d almost forgotten how much you always enjoyed it – tinkering around with cars.’

‘Hardly tinkering around. Just putting a battery on charge. Not like getting down and dirty taking an engine out.’ He shrugged and picked up his mug to take a sip of tea. ‘Never mind. One of these days perhaps I’ll at least have time to start playing around with our own old wreck. That’d be a start. As things are, it’s a good job we only use it to drive to the station and back. It’s amazing it even got through its MOT. If it was a horse, they’d have put it down.’

Nicky laughed. ‘You will get time, Dan, when the spring comes, and the lighter evenings. If you can do it up a bit, we should probably sell it. We can hardly afford to fill it up, never mind paying the tax and insurance. We were mad to buy it in the first place, even though it was cheap. We’d be better off using the bus.’

‘Just another of our crap decisions,’ he agreed, sighing.

And they both stood there, sipping their tea, watching the wood begin to glow orange and red in the fireplace, and I decided it was time to meow my urgent need to be let out.

By the time I jumped through the cat flap in Sarah and Martin’s kitchen, I was hungry again, despite having had some food earlier next door. Nobody seemed to be around downstairs, but I could hear voices from the bathroom. I padded upstairs, enjoying the warmth of the central heating. The bathroom door was half open and there was a steamy, soapy feel in the air. I could tell from this, and from the splashes and laughter coming from the room, that the children were in the bath. I’ve never understood why humans seem to find sitting in water so enjoyable, but I certainly wasn’t going to get near enough to get splashed myself. I darted into the girls’ bedroom and waited on Rose’s bed for someone to notice me and remember to feed me.

After a while I heard Martin calling from downstairs.

‘Hello! I’ve finished in the shed now.’ Presumably doing his Saturday pottering again. ‘Shall I start putting some dinner on?’

‘Yes please!’ I meowed loudly.

‘Oh – Ollie’s back,’ I heard Grace saying in the bathroom. ‘I can hear him in our bedroom, Mummy.’

‘He must be hungry. He’s been out all day, hasn’t he,’ Sarah said. ‘Martin, will you put some food down for Ollie, please? I’m just chasing the kids out of the bath, then we’ll all be down. I’ve told them they can stay up and watch TV for a while tonight once they’re in their pyjamas.’

‘Where does Ollie go when he’s out all day?’ Rose asked. ‘I hope he doesn’t run into the road,’ she added quietly.

‘I’m sure he won’t,’ Sarah said, but they’d all gone quiet and I knew Rose had started thinking about Sooty again.

I jumped off the bed, anticipating my dinner, but just then Grace came bounding into the room with her dressing-gown on.

‘Hello, Ollie,’ she said, squatting down to stroke me. ‘You won’t get too close to the roads, will you?’

‘No,’ I meowed firmly in Cat. ‘I’m not an idiot like my friend Tabby.’

She put her lips close to my ear and did this thing humans call whispering. It’s like talking, you see, Charlie, but without their voice coming out. It tickled my ear.

‘Don’t tell anyone,’ she said. ‘But I’m going to buy Rose a new cat. I mean, one to keep forever, because you’re going to go back to your real home one day, aren’t you?’

And with that, she ran off downstairs, while I followed more slowly, my heart in my paws. So it was true. They were going to get rid of me. Or even worse, bring a new cat into the house who would resent me, as a lodger, and make my life difficult.

I was so upset I almost didn’t enjoy my dinner.