Oliver The Cat Who Saved Christmas. Charlie The Kitten Who Saved A Life

Sarah was indoors, working in the study. I went in to keep her company, jumping up on the desk next to her computer.

‘Hello, Ollie,’ she said, but she seemed to find the screen of the computer more interesting than me. I tried to lie across the part where she tapped out writing – it was nice and warm from her hands – but she sighed and lifted me off. I really didn’t feel very welcome. Was she getting bored with me? I toyed for a few minutes with a funny-shaped thing lying next to the computer, but then she reached for it herself and sighed again.

‘Ollie, please don’t play with the mouse,’ she said, sounding tired and fed up.

Mouse? I stared at it. If it was a mouse, it had been dead for a long time, that was for sure.

‘I’m very busy,’ she said. ‘This is a tricky piece of work and I need to concentrate. I think you’d better get down.’

And she lifted me off the desk, putting me down quite firmly on the floor. I was mortified. Shemust be getting bored with me! Was I going to be expelled from the family even sooner than I’d feared? I slunk off to my bed in the kitchen and curled up tight, burying my head under my tail, and consoled myself with a little nap.

When I woke up, there was pandemonium in the house. The children were home from school, they were both shrieking at the tops of their voices and Sarah was trying to calm them down.

‘It’sgross,’ Grace was shouting. ‘I nearlytrod on it.’

‘Its eyes were staring at me,’ Rose cried. ‘It’s horrible.’

‘Why does Ollie do it?’ Grace said. ‘I wish he wouldn’t. Sooty never did it, did he, Mummy?’

I sat up in bed, horrified. What had I done wrong? I tried my best to please them, and I just got compared unfavourably with Saint Sooty. How could I compete with a ghost?

‘Sootydid do it,’ Sarah said calmly. ‘You don’t remember, because you were too little when he was a young cat. He got too old to hunt in the end. All cats like to hunt – it’s normal. I agree, it’s not very pleasant for us, but it’s part of living with cats, and there’s no point making all this fuss. I’ll clear it up. Now, calm down, and go and get changed out of your uniforms.’

I stayed in the kitchen, sulking, feeling unappreciated. A little while later, both girls came in to talk to me.

‘I know you can’t help it, Ollie,’ Grace said very seriously, squatting down to stroke my head. ‘But really, it isn’t very nice.’

‘Next time, Ollie, leave it somewhere else,’ said Rose. ‘A long way away.’

‘Yes, as far away as possible,’ Grace said, and they both giggled.

At least they didn’t seem cross with me anymore. I sighed. Humans could beso hard to understand at times. *

The next day, Sarah took Rose to the hospital and they both came home with big smiles on their faces.

‘Look, Ollie!’ she shouted, running into the room, waving both paws at me. ‘My plaster’s off! I can cuddle you properly now. Can we do the decorations now, Mummy?’

‘Yes, when Grace gets home from school,’ Sarah said. ‘I don’t want any more arguments about it.’

There was a much better atmosphere in the room this time, with both girls happy and excited about climbing on a chair to put the sparkly stuff and the shiny baubles on the tree.

‘You can put the angel on the top, Rose,’ Grace said. She’d been particularly kind to her sister since the trouble at the weekend. ‘I’ll hold the chair steady for you. Be careful you don’t fall.’

Nothing more was being said about a new cat. But as I’m sure you can imagine, I had my ears up constantly, listening for any talk about one replacing me. It had brought home to me how precarious my position was, as a foster cat in the family. Thank goodness I’d got a back-up with Nicky and Daniel next door, even though I suspected they might prefer their new baby to me when it arrived. Oh, how I wished I could be back in my pub, where I had George all to myself and didn’t have to compete with anyone else. *

I tried to console myself with the new friends I’d made at the Big House. It was so nice to see Caroline looking so happy when I arrived, and in fact the next time when Laura let me in and gave me her usual little cuddle before putting me on Caroline’s lap, she said:

‘You’re doing Caroline so much good, you know, Oliver. You’ve really cheered her up since you’ve been coming here. I can’t see how Julian could possibly object.’

I guessed Julian must be Caroline’s father. It was good to hear that he couldn’t object to me. I decided now that he couldn’t be the same person as the angry man with the stick that Tabby had gone on about. I’d still never seen any sign of the father, and I guess I was getting a little bit complacent. I’d stopped lookingover my shoulder when I ran up the driveway and meowed at the glass doors. I should have known it was too good to be true. *

It happened on another Saturday, the one after the argument about the Christmas tree. Looking back, I suppose until then I hadn’t been going to the Big House at weekends, because there was always so much more going on at my two foster homes. Daniel and Nicky were at home, Martin and the children were around, and sometimes the Brownie Foxes turned up to do their important study of my behaviour. Having so many people to play with, I didn’t get bored and lonely like I sometimes did during the week. But now I’d started seeing Caroline every day, and because Laura had told me I was doing her good, I didn’t want to miss out any days anymore.

I bounded down the drive as usual and called out to Laura from my normal place at the glass doors. For a minute I thought nobody was there. I put my ear against the glass and heard Caroline calling out to Laura:‘Oliver’s here!’ She sounded a bit startled.

‘Oh!’ Laura had rushed back into the room and was staring at me in surprise. ‘He’s never come at the weekend before. We’d better not let him in,’ she said, looking back over her shoulder. ‘Itwould have to be one of the Saturdays that your dad works from home.’

‘Oh,please, Laura!’ Caroline said.

‘Yes,please, Laura!’ I meowed in Cat. It was cold outside.

‘Just for a little while? I can keep him under my blanket,’ Caroline was pleading. ‘Daddy’s in his study. He’ll be in there all morning, won’t he?’

‘Well…’ Laura sighed, looked back through the door of the room again, then quietly closed it behind her. ‘All right, then, but only for a few minutes. If he makes any noise, he’ll have to go straight out again.’

She opened the glass door for me and I dashed over to the sofa and jumped up next to Caroline. She giggled and pulled me onto her lap, putting the blanket right over me.

‘No noise, Oliver,’ she whispered. ‘You’ve got to be a very quiet, verysecret cat today.’

I quite liked the idea of being a secret cat. It wasn’t easy to keep from purring, though, snuggled up like that under the warm blanket with Caroline giving me a nice stroke.

‘Can we have the TV on?’ she asked Laura. ‘Then if Oliver does start meowing, Daddy won’t hear.’

‘OK.’ Laura smiled at her. ‘Just this once.’ I heard the television being turned on and for a while, I settled down and closed my eyes, enjoying the warmth and comfort and letting Caroline’s stroking soothe away my worries about being displaced by a new Sooty.

‘I’m just going to the bathroom, Caroline,’ I heard Laura say after quite a while. ‘And when I come back, Oliver’s going to have to go. No fuss, please, otherwise he’ll have to stop coming altogether.’

‘OK,’ Caroline said reluctantly. ‘Sorry, Oliver,’ she whispered to me as the door closed quietly behind Laura. ‘She’s worried about my dad, you see. Maybe I should get brave enough to tell him about you, but since I’ve been ill he tends to get upset about things.’

There was the sound of the door opening again. Laura coming back, I supposed. I made the fatal mistake of getting up and having a stretch, before turning round to settle myself back down again. To my surprise, Caroline pushed me down quite hard under the blanket, giving a little gasp.

‘Daddy!’

I froze. I had a horrible feeling my tail was half out of the blanket. A frightened little mew escaped from my lips.

‘What the hell?’ came this loud, cross voice. Footsteps thumped across the floor. The blanket was lifted off us, and a huge paw grabbed me round the back of my neck. I was suddenly reminded so horrifyingly of being grabbed in the same way by that very first scary man in my life, when I was onlya tiny kitten, that I screeched in terror and dug my claws into the skin of the man’s other paw.

‘Ouch! Let go, you horrible, vicious thing.’ He flung me off himself and I landed, shaking with fear, on the floor near the glass door.

‘Let me out! Let me out!’ I cried out to Caroline in Cat, but even if she could have understood me, she was too busy crying herself.

‘Daddy, you didn’t have to do that. You’ve hurt him.’

‘I’ll hurt him a lot more if I ever see him in this house again. What on earth was Laura thinking of, letting you have ananimal in here with you? LAURA!’ he shouted – and she came running in, red in the face and trembling almost as much as I was.

‘I’m sorry, Julian. I didn’t think it’d do any harm – he’s a nice clean little cat, he has a collar on…’

‘I wouldn’t care if he had a dinner jacket on. You know perfectly well I do not allowanimals in my house, and especially not on my daughter’s sickbed.’

‘It’s not a sickbed, Daddy, it’s a sofa. I’m not as sick as I was, I’m getting better,’ Caroline cried.

‘You’re still susceptible to germs, you know that. Your immunity is low. You’re not supposed to mix withpeople, never mind dirty, flea-riddenanimals.’

Flea-ridden? If I hadn’t been in a state of such abject terror, I’d have jumped up and clawed him again for being so rude.

‘Julian, I really think you’re overreacting,’ Laura started to say, but he turned on her angrily.

‘Overreacting? Can I remind you that this is mydaughter, my only child, the only person I have left to care about in my life? Wasn’t it enough that she had to have this bloody awful illness and go through months of treatment that made her sick and weak and…’

‘And she’sgetting better, Julian. Yes, she’s still weak, but she’s getting stronger every day. You’ve got to stop treating her like an invalid. She wants to make friends, she needs company. It’s only people with colds and germs she needs to keep away from, not everybody. She was going crazy with boredom until Oliver started visiting.’

‘Oliver? Thatanimal? You mean to tell me this has been a regular occurrence– he’s been coming here all the time, encouraged by you, behind my back?’ For a minute I thought he was going to grab hold of Laura by the neck like he did with me, but Caroline spoke up.

‘It’s not Laura’s fault, Daddy. Imade her let him in. It’s true, I was bored. It’s been lovely seeing Oliver every day. I feel better because of him.’

The man just ignored her, though, and carried on shouting at poor Laura.

‘I employ you tocare for my daughter, not to put her health at risk by lettingcats into my house. Do you understand?’

‘Yes. I’m very sorry, Julian. I won’t let the cat in again.’

Everyone seemed to have forgotten I was still in the room.

‘You’d better not,’ he said in a quieter voice that somehow sounded even more dangerous than the shouting. ‘Or you’ll be out on your ear. Plenty of other nurses would jump at a nice little job like this.’ He glanced across the room and finally noticed me quivering in the corner by the doors. ‘Let that cat outnow and don’t let me ever see it here again.’

Caroline was still crying, and I could tell Laura was shaking as she opened the door for me. But I’m afraid I was too terrified for my own life to stop and give either of them a purr or a tail-wave in goodbye. I shot straight out of the door and round the other side of the house. I wasn’t even going to risk running back down the driveway until I was sure that angry man was nowhere around – I’d feel too exposed out in the open. There was a wooden shed just round the corner of the building that gave me a vague memory of the place I was born in. The door was ajar, so I crept inside, found a dark little spot behind some flower pots, and lay there panting and mewing softly to myself, waiting for my heartbeat to settle back down. *

You’ll find, as you get older, little Charlie, that stress does funny things to us cats. Once I’d calmed down a bit and felt relatively safe, I must have gone straight off to sleep. The next thing I was aware of was a man’s voice. I stiffened, immediately scared again, but soon realised this wasa different man, a younger one with a quieter voice.

‘So he didn’t actually throw the poor little cat out of the door?’ he was saying.

‘No. But he grabbed him round the neck.’ I sat up in surprise. It was Laura, the nurse. I could see her in the doorway of the shed, but I could only see the back view of the young man. ‘And when the cat dug his claws in – you couldn’t blame him! – Julian dropped him. He wasn’t hurt, but it must have really scared him.’ I heard her sigh. ‘And it was all my fault.’

‘Oh, don’t say that. You were only trying to do your best for the child, weren’t you?’

‘Of course I was. The cat was giving her so much pleasure. If only Julian would relent and let her have some company – other than me, I mean. She needs other youngsters to chat to.’

‘She doesn’t know any kids round here, though, does she? I mean, she hasn’t been to school since they moved here. She was in hospital, and since she came out, she’s been…’

‘Lying on the sofa, poor little love. No, I thought it’d be good for her to meet some of the children in the village. But when I suggested that to Julian, it was almost as bad as when he found the cat. Anyone would think all the kids in Little Broomford are carriers of some deadly disease.’

‘He’s being unreasonable, if you ask me.’

There was a silence for a moment.

‘Well,’ Laura said, ‘I know that’s how it seems. And he did really upset me – and Caroline – about the cat. But you know, it’s only because he’s been so frightened of losing her. He told me, when he first took me on, that since his wife died, Caroline is all he’s got, and the shock of her cancer nearly killed him. I know he seems like a bully sometimes but the poor man’s been through a lot.’

‘That’s no excuse,’ the man said. ‘And as for threatening you with the sack – he’s an idiot. He’d be lost without you caring for his daughter. Six days a week, while he works in London. Not many people would do it. He should be grateful you haven’t walked out on him.’

‘I wouldn’t do that,’ she replied quietly. ‘I care too much about Caroline. And he pays me well. I shouldn’t have gone behind his back with the cat. But he won’t really get rid of me, you know. It was just bluster.’

‘I certainly hope he won’t, Laura. Well, I’d better get on with mending that fence over the other side of the paddock. Was there anything you wanted or did you just come out for a chat?’

‘Oh, I just came to look for a box of old jigsaw puzzles Caroline’s asking for. She thought her dad might have put them in here when they moved in, and forgotten them.’

‘I haven’t seen anything like that,’ he said, turning round and scratching his head. ‘But you’re welcome to have a look through those boxes at the back.’

‘OK, Harry. Thanks. See you later.’

He went off, whistling, and Laura came into the shed and started lifting lids off boxes. I hopped out from behind the flowerpots and meowed a hello at her.

‘Oh – Oliver!’ she said. ‘You made me jump! What are you doing still hanging around here? I’d have thought you’d have run a mile, after our telling-off.’

I probably should have done, too. The last thing I wanted was for that Julian to come out and find me here. Now I’d slept off the stress, I needed to get going. I walked round Laura’s legs a couple of times to say goodbye, and to my surprise she sat down suddenly on one of the boxes and picked me up, holding me close to her.

‘What am I going to do, Oliver?’ she said softly against my fur. ‘I must be crazy to care about him like I do. He can be so mean sometimes, but I know that’s not the real Julian. He’s just beside himself with worry all the time about Caroline. I wish I could tell him how I feel. All I want is to be able to look after him and make him happy again. But he’s not interested in me, or anyone else, apart from his daughter.’

To be honest I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing. I know humans can be quite peculiar in the way they choose their mates, but surely this nice female could find someone kinder and gentler than that bad-tempered cat-hating Julian? I felt quite sorry for her, though – she must have had some kind of problem inher head. He’d been really nasty to her and she was still making excuses for him. Sometimes, Charlie, I wonder if I’ll ever understand humans at all.

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 wouldyou 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 eventalk 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, itis 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 evenlike 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 tome 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, ‘Itold 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. Butshe 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 notscared,’ 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 Istop 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 thebigger andbraver– ‘it’ll be on your conscience too, Tabs.’

‘Oh, now, hang on a minute!’

‘And you don’t really want anythingelse 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, Iwas terrified today, and I am onlylittle andtimid, I’m going back on Monday, even if it’s just to make sure Caroline’s all right. And ifI’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 beyou 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’tsound 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, whatwere 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 ourown 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.‘Youwill 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 itwas 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 hisSaturday 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.

CHAPTER EIGHTEEN

The next morning, as promised, I was outside the front gate bright and early, washing the breakfast off my whiskers while I waited for Tabby. He eventually turned up, looking as gloomy as a cat in a cage.

‘I wish I didn’t have to face her,’ he said as we set off to look for Suki. ‘She’s just going to give me another mouthful of abuse.’

‘So let’s get it over with. Remember, just try to be sympathetic. I’ve heard females have something calledhormones going on when they get pregnant. I don’t know what it is, but it probably isn’t very nice.’

‘All right, Ollie, I’ll do my best. But be a good cat and back me up if she starts on me.’

Suki was sitting on a windowsill of her house, staring out. When she saw us coming along the road she sat up straight and fixed us with a really mean, vicious glare.

‘This doesn’t bode well,’ Tabby groaned.

We waited in her front garden as Suki jumped down from the windowsill, her tail already flicking dangerously, and disappeared from view.

‘She’ll be heading straight for the cat flap,’ he said, ‘and then straight for my throat.’

‘Stay calm. Don’t go on the offensive,’ I advised him, although I obviously wasn’t looking forward to the confrontation either.

‘Look what the dog dragged in,’ Suki meowed nastily as she reappeared round the side of the house. ‘I thought you must have done a runner, Tabby. Haven’t seen you around since our last fight. Too scared to face me, were you?’

‘No, I just don’t want to fight with you,’ he said, in a pathetic whining mew. I looked at him in surprise. I’d never heard Tabby sound so unsure of himself before. ‘What’s done is done, Suki.’

‘Yes, butyou’re not the one walking around with kittens in your tummy as a result.’

‘Look, I’m sorry, but…’

‘Don’t saybut,’ I said to him very quietly. ‘Justsorry.’

‘Sorry isn’t good enough. And who asked you, Oliver?’ She immediately turned her venom on me. ‘Who asked you to get involved anyway?’

‘Tabby did,’ I admitted. ‘But it’s true, heis sorry. He was telling me yesterday how sorry he is. He wishes the pair of you didn’t mate in the first place, don’t you, Tabby?’

‘Do I?’ Tabby gave me a puzzled look. ‘Oh, er … I suppose I do, yes, in the circumstances.’

‘So now you’re saying you didn’t even enjoy it?’ she shrieked.

‘No! No, I’m not saying that.’ He got up and turned around a couple of times on the spot, looking even more uncomfortable than I felt, while Suki just sat there, glaring, waiting. ‘Look,’ he said again finally, with an air of desperation in his meows. ‘You’re a nice cat, Suki, and we had fun, didn’t we?’

‘And now I’m having kittens, you’re dumping me.’

‘No! Did I say that? I’ve only stayed away from you because you’ve been in such a foul mood.’

I glared at him. That didn’t sound like the best thing to say to her.

‘I’mpregnant!’ she hissed at him. ‘Of course I’m in a bad mood.’

‘All right. But it won’t last forever, will it. And then, afterwards, maybe we can get together and have fun again,’ Tabby said, looking suddenly considerably brighter.

‘What!’ she screeched. ‘Are you completely off your head? You needn’t think you’re going to talk me into it again. Anyway, my humans have always said they were going to get me spayed after I’d had one litter. I just don’t think they expected it to happen quite so soon. And nor did I,’ she added, giving him another reproachful look.

‘It must have been a shock for you,’ I said, trying for my most sympathetic mew. ‘Have your humans not realised yet that you’re expecting?’

‘No, but I’m sure they soon will. At the rate I’m putting on weight, I won’t get through the cat flap for much longer.’

‘You still look good to me, Suki,’ Tabby purred.

I stared at him. It was unbelievable. Even now he was trying to come on to her. He couldn’t seem to help himself. I wasso glad I didn’t have to live my life at the mercy of these strange urges.

‘Anyway,’ I said, trying to change the subject, ‘we think you’ll be an excellent mother, don’t we, Tabby?’

‘Yes, excellent,’ he said without much obvious interest. If cats could shrug, his shoulders would have been up round his ears.

‘Do you really think so, Ollie?’ she said.

And I suddenly realised she was probably frightened. That was why she was being so aggressive. She was still a young female and probably had no idea how she was going to cope with the birth and raising the kittens.

‘Ofcourse I mean it,’ I said. ‘You’ve got exactly the right temperament. It’s as if you were born to be a mother. Isn’t it, Tabby?’

‘Er, yes. Sure.’

‘And you know what? I bet once they’re born, you’re actually going tolove those kittens,’ I went on. ‘Little kittens are so cute, everybody loves them – but their mothers always love them best of all.’

Suki was looking at me very strangely.

‘That’s a nice thing to say, Ollie. But what’s the matter? You look like you’re going to cry.’

‘I’m all right,’ I said, turning away. I went and sat a little way away from them, washing myself, trying not to show how much Idid feel like crying.

‘He was taken away from his mother,’ I heard Tabby telling Suki very quietly.

‘Kittens nearly always leave their mothers,’ she retorted. ‘We can’t keep them all with us forever.’

‘No. But I bet when you were a kitten, you at least stayed with your mum until you were old enough to walk, and see properly, and eat meat. I bet you weren’t snatched away from your mum and left to die.’

‘Oh.’

I turned back to look at her. She’d gone all soft-looking, like she wanted to cry herself.

‘Poor Ollie,’ she said gently. ‘I didn’t know. And you’ve turned out to be such a nice cat, haven’t you, despite everything. Unlikesome males I could mention!’ she added with another venomous glare at Tabby. She stood up and stretched. ‘Anyway, I’ll be seeing you both, I suppose. I need my rest. I’ve got my kittens to think about now.’

We watched her turn tail and head back round the side of her house.

‘Well,’ Tabby said, ‘I think I handled that quite well, don’t you? *

Back at Sarah and Martin’s house, it was looking very festive. Martin had put twinkly lights over the front door and the windows, and the children were helping Sarah to put decorations up in the lounge. They were singing songs about red nosed reindeers and the three kings of Orient, whoever they were, and talking about making Christmas cards for their school friends. After they’d had their Sunday lunch they all went out to visit some friends in another village. Left on my own, I sat on the back of the sofa, looking at the pretty baubles twinkling on the Christmas tree. A couple of them were within easy reach of my paws from where I was sitting. They were just hanging there, sparkling at me, begging to be swatted. Nobody would ever know, would they? I reached out one paw and batted a big silver one. It swung backwards and forwards prettily on the tree for a minute. Very nice. I batted it a bit harder. Oh, it wasso satisfying– I could keep this up all day. A little Father Christmas figure was swaying just above my head. I lay on my back and reached up with my back paws, giving it a good kick, then jumped up again and swiped at a red shiny bauble on a higher branch. By now the adrenaline was really pumping. How far upcould I reach? With a little jump I could hit that big glittery golden one … pow! Oh, drat. I misjudged the jump slightly and instead of landing safely on the back of the sofa, crashed through the lower branches of the tree, ending up tumbling off the bucket and onto the floor. A shower of pine needles fell over me, followed by two or three baubles and some tinsel, which had got itself round my neck. I ran for the kitchen, shaking the tinsel and pine needles off as I went. Phew! That had ended up a bit scary. Just as well nobody was watching. I gave myself a good wash and decided to pop round to see Nicky and Daniel, so that I wouldn’t be tempted by any more illicit play with the baubles.

The cottage next door was so bare compared with Sarah and Martin’s house. Nicky was cleaning her little kitchen in silence while Daniel was busy putting something he calleddraught excluder around their doors and windows instead of twinkling lights.

‘Cheer up, babe,’ he said, coming into the kitchen and putting his arms around her waist from behind. ‘Things are going to get better.’

‘Are they, though, Dan? It’s only two and a bit weeks now till my parents are due to come. It’s nice that Sarah and Martin are putting them up overnight, but I’ve still got no idea how we’re going to make it seem anything like a proper Christmas.’

‘We’ll get presents for them, and for your brothers. And I’ll get a turkey, and all the trimmings, I promise. I’ll put it all on my credit card.’

‘Your card’s already maxed out. Don’t be stupid. We’re in enough debt as it is.’

‘So a little bit more won’t hurt. Come on, Nick, it’s nearly Christmas. We need to think positive.’

Just then there was a knock on the door. They looked at each other in surprise.

‘Can’t imagine who that might be,’ Daniel muttered.

He went to open the door, and I heard him say,‘Oh, hello again, Tony. Come in, for God’s sake, it’s freezing out there. How’s the car?’ he added as he closed the door and led the way into the kitchen.

‘Running perfectly smoothly, thanks to you,’ the other man was saying. His voice sounded pleasant enough, but nevertheless he was still a strange male, and my heart was doing its usual little dance of fear. ‘I hope I didn’t keep your husband too long yesterday,’ he added to Nicky.

‘Not at all,’ she said with a smile. ‘He loves nothing better than tinkering with cars, and he doesn’t often get the opportunity. I’m Nicky, by the way – I don’t think we’ve met. We only moved here a few months ago.’

‘I’m Tony.’ He suddenly caught sight of me cowering under the little kitchen table. ‘Oh, your cat looks just like the one that used to live in the pub.’

‘He is! It’s Oliver. He spends some of his time with us, and some with Martin and Sarah next door – since the fire, you know,’ Daniel explained. He picked me up and gave me a little stroke. ‘He’s a bit shy with strangers, but he’s a lovely boy, aren’t you, Ollie?’

I purred in response, feeling much safer in Daniel’s arms.

‘I was never a regular in the Forester’s, but I thought I recognised him. I heard George had had to relocate temporarily. Good of you and Martin to take care of the cat.’

‘Oh, it’s been nice to have him around, when we’re here, that is. We both work in London all week.’

‘Do you? I don’t envy you. I used to commute myself, before I retired a couple of years back. Not a lot of fun, is it, and so expensive these days.’

Daniel glanced at Nicky and nodded.‘You’re right there.’

‘Would you like a cup of tea or something, Tony?’ Nicky asked.

‘No, thank you, I’m sure you’re busy. I just came to thank you again, really, for your help. This is just by way of a small recompense for your time.’ He held out a carrier bag, adding, ‘It’s not much.’

‘Oh!’ Daniel blinked and went a bit pink. ‘There wasn’t any need…’

There was a clinking of bottles as he put me down and took the bag from Tony. I knew that sound quite well, of course, from my days at the pub. Daniel peered inside the bag and exclaimed:‘No, really, you don’t have to do this!’

‘I insist. It’s the least we could do. If you hadn’t helped me out I’d have had to call someone from the garage in town, and you can imagine what they’d have charged me, just for my own stupidity in letting the battery go flat. It’s only a couple of bottles of plonk.’

‘And this too?’ Daniel asked, lifting something else out of the bag. It was a bowl of some sort, covered with that plastic stuff they call cling film.

‘Just a Christmas pudding,’ Tony said with a short laugh. ‘Chuck it out if you don’t want it.’

‘Of course we wouldn’t chuck it out,’ Nicky said, looking shocked. ‘But surely you want it yourselves for Christmas?’

‘My wife makes half a dozen of the things every year, love, and there’s only us, and my daughter and son-in-law. I think she wants to feed the entire village. She always gives one to the WI for a raffle prize, and one to the Scouts’ bazaar – not that they’re having one of course, this year, because of the hall.’ He shrugged. ‘If it’s any good to you, please take it and enjoy it. They’re good, I have to say, her puddings. There’s just too many of them.’

And, laughing again, he turned to leave.‘Hope to see you both again before Christmas, anyway. Thanks again, Daniel.’

‘No, thankyou, for these,’ Daniel said, still staring into the bag.

‘How kind of him!’ Nicky exclaimed after she’d seen him out. ‘Can you believe what he said?Just a couple of bottles of plonk? They look like good wines, Dan. We’ll have to put them away for Christmas Day.’

‘Yes, I suppose we should,’ he said, looking regretful.

She laughed.‘Andchuck the pudding away if you don’t want it! As if! How lovely– at least we’ll havethat to serve up to my family now. I could even pretend to Mum that I made it myself.’

Daniel put both arms round her then and they clung together, laughing. It was so nice to see them happy for once. I purred my delight at them, walking round their legs, and it felt like we were all doing a little dance together. For a minute or two, you know, it actually felt warmer in that chilly little kitchen. *

I didn’t get a particularly warm welcome, though, when I went back to Sarah and Martin’s house. Sarah had the hoover out – I always hated the noise it made, so I tried to run straight upstairs. But she saw me, turned off the hoover and called out to me in quite a stern voice:

‘Yes, you might well run away, Oliver! Look at the mess I’m having to clear up in here. Three baubles broken, pine needles everywhere, tinsel strewn through the lounge…’

‘Sorry!’ I squawked in Cat as I scarpered up the stairs. ‘I got carried away.’

I was worried she might be so cross with me that she’d go and get the new cat straight away and send me packing. I slunk into the girls’ bedroom to hide under one of their duvets.

‘Cats!’ I heard Sarah exclaim out loud to herself. ‘Almost as much trouble as kids.’

I couldn’t quite work out whether that was good or bad. But just before the hoover started its noise again, I was surprised to hear her laughing to herself.

Phew! Perhaps she still loved me after all.

CHAPTER NINETEEN

Tabby and I had another early start the following day, and again I wasn’t looking forward to it. However strongly I’d insisted on Tabby coming with me back to the Big House, I didn’t really feel brave about it at all.

What’s that, Charlie? You think Imust have been a brave cat to go back after what happened? Well, it’s nice of you to say so, little one. But honestly, my paws were shaking as I went to call for Tabby on the way there.

‘Morning!’ I said as he came out of his cat flap, looking like he’d just woken up. ‘Blimey. Didn’t you get much sleep last night? Your fur’s all over the place.’

‘Had a bit of a late one out on the tiles,’ he admitted, yawning. ‘There’s a new little Burmese moved in just down the road here. Cute as anything – slim little paws, beautiful green eyes…’

‘Tabby!’ I was so taken aback, I almost forgot how nervous I was about our destination. ‘You’re still going through all this trauma with Suki about giving her kittens! How can you…’

‘Oh, I think Suki will come round, you know, after the chat we had yesterday,’ he said breezily. ‘And meanwhile, there’s no point letting the grass grow under your paws, Ollie.’

I had to laugh.‘You’re incorrigible,’ I said. ‘But I can forgive you anything, as long as you’re still up for coming with me this morning.’

‘I’m not up for it at all, actually. I think you’re a nutcase. But you’re right, I can’t let a little fella like you go into danger on your own, without the protection of someone bigger and braver and more macho like me.’

‘Oh, give it a rest,’ I said, nudging him with my head in a friendly way. ‘Let’s get going.’ *

As we walked up the hill together I started telling Tabby my worries about Sarah and Martin getting a new cat.

‘So what?’ he said. ‘You’re not living with them forever, are you? And notjust them, anyway– I thought you said you live in the house next door too? All right for some, having two homes to choose from.’

‘I know it sounds nice, and yes, I am lucky. But I’d rather be back with George than with either of them. That’s not going to happen for ages, though. They haven’t even started rebuilding the pub yet, have they? And if Sarah and Martin don’t want me anymore, I’ll have to live with Nickyand Daniel permanently.’

‘Don’t you like them?’

‘Yes, of course I do. But they’re both out all day, working, and the house is really cold, and they’re not usually very happy because of the money thing humans worry about all the time. I’d feel ever so lonely if I couldn’t go to Sarah and Martin’s house too.’

‘I see. But why do you think they’ll chuck you out, even if they do get a new cat?’

‘I’ve been a kind of replacement for their old one who got run over.’

‘Oh yes, poor old Sooty.’ Tabby nodded at me. ‘That was horrible, poor chap.’

‘I never met him.’

‘He was quite old, didn’t go out a lot. I reckon that was why the car got him – he couldn’t run away fast enough. Shame about the little human, too – broke her paw, didn’t she?’

‘Yes. She’s sweet. They say I’ve cheered her up. But if she gets a permanent new cat, that’s obviously going to be much better for her, isn’t it.’ I sighed. ‘And the new cat won’t want me around.’

‘It might do. After all, Ollie, you wouldn’t pose too much of a threat to another male.’

‘Wellthanks!’

‘Don’t mention it. And on the other hand, it might be a female.’ He nudged me and gave a little suggestive mew of laughter. ‘But of course,’ he added, ‘that’d be wasted on you, wouldn’t it.’

‘You’ve got a one-track mind, Tabby,’ I complained. ‘I wish your humanswould get you neutered. We might be able to have a serious conversation then, without the subject of females coming up every five minutes.’

We’d reached the gates of the Big House by now, and we both fell silent as we squeezed through the iron pattern and into the grounds.

‘Don’t be frightened, Ollie,’ Tabby said eventually as we walked stealthily down the drive – but I noticed his voice was shaking. ‘I’ll be right behind you.’

I’d have preferred him in front of me, as he was bigger, but there you go.

‘This is the room where the little sick human usually is,’ I told him quietly when we reached the glass doors. ‘We can see her if we look through here.’

‘There’s nobody in there,’ said Tabby, peering over my shoulder into the room.

‘No.’ How disappointing. ‘Perhaps she’s still in bed. Weare quite early, I suppose.’

It’s hard to tell, in winter, you see, Charlie. It often still looks like the middle of the night in the morning, and then it looks like the middle of the night again halfway through the afternoon. And then, in the summer, you’ll find it’s just as tricky because night time doesn’t seem to come round all that often at all. We never know where we are – it’s quite tiring trying to fathom it out, which is why I find it best to simply sleep as much as possible, regardless.

‘So shall we just go home?’ Tabby said hopefully.

‘No. Not yet. Let’s have a quick check around the house. We might see her inside one of the other rooms.’

‘You’re one crazy cat,’ he muttered. ‘Lead on, then, if you know the way.’

I led him round the corner and past the steps where I’d jumped up on the windowsill that day to look at the huge empty room. There was no way Caroline would be inthere.

‘I suppose she’ll be somewhere upstairs, if she’s still asleep in her bedroom,’ I said.

I gazed up at the great walls and high roof of the huge house. No chance. Even Tabby wouldn’t try to serenade anyone onthat rooftop. And then I saw it– a little bit further, round a corner of the house and sticking out into the grounds, was one of those glass rooms humans call conservatories.

‘Let’s just have a quick look in there,’ I suggested, and I started to sneak forward along the wall of the house before Tabby could dissuade me. The bottom part of the conservatory was a low brick wall. I waited behind this for Tabby to catch up and then hopped up onto the window ledge and peered through the glass.

It was a cold, frosty morning again, but very sunny, and all the morning sunshine was on this side of the house, so I thought it was quite likely Laura and Caroline might be in here. What I definitelyhadn’t expected was to see Caroline’s father instead. I nearly fell off the ledge with fright. What was he doing here? He was supposed to go to the London place today. Had I got the days wrong? He was standing with his back to me, holding his chin in his hand, staring out of one of the windows on the opposite side of the room – thank goodness!

‘Is she in there? Can you see her?’ Tabby hissed at me from the safety of the ground.

‘Ssh!’ I warned him.

The window ledge was narrow and I was having trouble keeping my balance. I was just about to jump back down and start running, when I heard a noise from inside. I pricked up my ears. It was him, the father, talking to himself. At first I couldn’t quite believe it. But a couple of the windows were a fraction open on my side of the conservatory, despite the cold – perhaps, with all that glass, the sun had made it warm inside – and with my excellent hearing, I was picking up every word. I was so surprised, I forgot to run away and stayed where I was, listening.

‘What an idiot,’ he was saying. ‘What a bloody stupid idiot. What’s the matter with me? There was no need to talk to her like that. Threatening to sack her! It’ll be my own stupid fault if she walks out now.’

Yes, it will, I thought crossly.And there was no need to be so horrible to me, either!

‘What’s going on?’ Tabby called up. ‘Are you all right up there?’

‘Ssh!’ I hissed again. ‘I’m listening. Be quiet!’

The man was sighing to himself. I could see his chest and shoulders going up and down.

‘I suppose it’s too late to apologise. She must already think I’m just an arrogant bully, and now I’ve made things even worse. I don’t know why I behave like this – taking out all my frustration on her. And she’s so good with Caroline – so kind, so patient. Not just with Caroline – with me too. Oh, God, what’swrong with me? She’s the first woman I’ve felt like this about since you died, Susan—’

Susan? Who was this Susan, and how did she come into it? I put my ear closer to the glass.

‘—and there’s absolutely no chance she’ll forgive me this time. She must hate me, and I don’t blame her.’ He sighed again. ‘What should I do, Sue? Try to talk to her? Maybe just write her a note. That’d be better, wouldn’t it – a little note to say I’m sorry. At least then we could put that episode on Saturday behind us and I’ll tryagain to be better tempered.’

He was searching in a drawer now, and then, having found a pen and a pad of paper, to my horror he turned round and walked towards my side of the conservatory. Once again I nearly fell off the ledge on top of Tabby, but luckily, the man was looking down at the floor, and just sat down on a chair with his back against my window. His head was so close to mine, if I’d knocked against the glass with my collar he’d have jumped. I knew I was asking for trouble now. I should just go, and be grateful he hadn’t seen me. But he was still talking to himself, and if curiosity really did kill the cat, I was probably about to lose a life.

‘Dear Laura,’ he said out loud as he wrote quickly on his pad. ‘The way I spoke to you on Saturday was unforgiveable, so I won’t attempt to excuse it. You’re so understanding and sympathetic, I don’t have to tell you that it’s my overwhelming anxiety about Caroline, and the sleepless nights I have, worrying about her condition, that have made me so constantly on edge that I snap at the slightest thing. But there’s no excuse for taking it out on you, so I can only appeal to your kind and caring nature, to overlook my bad temper once again and accept my apology. If you only knewhow much I actually care about you…’

He stopped, chewing his pen, staring out of the opposite window again. Then he suddenly got up, almost scaring me, yet again, into toppling off the ledge, and he ripped the page out of the pad. He screwed it up fiercely into a ball and lobbed it into a wastepaper basket.

‘What’s the point?’ he exclaimed crossly to himself. ‘She hates me and I deserve it. I’m wasting my time.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Oh, God – what am I doing still here? I’ve missed my train now. Where are my car keys? There’s probably no parking left at the station. Damn! I’m going to have to drive into the city, now.’

And with that he strode out of the room, and I threw myself off the window ledge.

‘Quick!’ I hissed at Tabby. ‘Hide!’

We belted across the grass and ducked behind a shrub. A few minutes later the door of a garage block on the corner opened and a big, sleek, shiny car purred out and disappeared round the side of the house.

‘He’s gone,’ I said with relief. ‘We’re safe.’

‘Was thathim?’ Tabby squeaked. ‘He washere? Why didn’t you say? Why didn’t we run off straight away?’

‘Because he was talking to himself, and…’

‘Tohimself? See, I told you he was mad.’

‘I wanted to listen. And it was very interesting. Now…’

‘Now we can go home,’ he said, looking all around him nervously. ‘I don’t like it here.’

‘It’s fine now he’s gone. He’ll be at work all day. Come on, I’m going inside.’

‘No!’ he squawked, running in front of me and trying to block my way. ‘Don’t be an idiot, Ollie, it isn’t safe. Come back!’

‘There’s a window open up here,’ I told him, jumping up onto the ledge again. ‘We can easily squeeze through.’

‘Speak for yourself,’ he muttered, but with a bit of huffing and puffing, he followed me, jumping down after me into the conservatory and still muttering his disapproval. ‘What now?’ he asked. ‘Weare trespassing, Ollie– I suppose you do realise that? Whatare you doing?’

I’d made a dive for the wastepaper basket and knocked it over.

‘Here it is,’ I said, picking up the screwed-up page in my teeth. ‘Come on! I’m taking this to show Laura.’

‘The cat’s gone completely bonkers,’ he moaned to himself, nevertheless trotting obediently after me. ‘We’re going to get thrown out, probablykicked out…’

Just then a shadow fell over us. I glanced up, and to my relief, it was only Laura. But she didn’t look pleased. I suppose she didn’t want any more trouble for allowing one cat into the house, never mind two.

‘What…?’ she started. I dropped the ball of paper near her feet, but she didn’t even notice, kicking it with one foot as she came towards me. ‘Oliver! How did you get in, and who isthis?’ She gave Tabby a disapproving look, and he shrank away from her. The paper ball had rolled towards him, and he promptly knocked it back to me, trying to show it had nothing to do with him.

‘Oh,look,’ came a little voice from behind Laura. It was Caroline, holding onto Laura’s arm as she watched us. ‘Ollie’s brought a friend with him, and they’replaying!’ She laughed. ‘Aren’t they cute?’

‘Cute!’ Tabby meowed to me indignantly.

‘Yes!’ I replied. ‘Be cute. Play!’

I knocked the ball of paper to him with my paw, and waited for him to bat it across to me again. I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the ball-of-paper game, however nervous he was feeling. When he knocked it back to me, I deliberately sent it towards Laura’s feet.

‘They want us to play with them,’ Caroline squealed.

But this time Laura bent down and picked up the paper. I held my breath. Was she just going to throw it back in the bin? No! She smoothed it out and started reading it. I watched her face. Her eyes widened, and when she got to the end, she flushed very red. For a moment, we were all frozen there– Laura staring at the note, Tabby and I poised to make a run for it, Caroline watching us.

‘Huh!’ Laura exclaimed suddenly, making me jump. ‘Why am I bothering to evenread this nonsense? He must have been drunk when he wrote it.’

‘What is it?’ Caroline asked.

‘Just a bit of rubbish.’ And she screwed it back up and dropped it in the bin. ‘And I’m sorry, Caroline, but the cats have to go. You know what your father said.’

She opened the conservatory door and shooed us out.

Well, at least, I suppose, we didn’t have to climb back out of the window.

CHAPTER TWENTY

So I’d been through all that trauma, and achieved precisely nothing. I felt a failure. I’d tried to be a helpful cat, a cat who made people happy, and in the end all I’d been was a silly little cat who got people into trouble.

‘Don’t be too hard on yourself,’ Tabby said cheerfully. Funny how he’d perked up now we were on the way home and out of danger – but then, to be fair, at least he did come with me and didn’t run away when the heat was on, like a scaredy-cat. ‘It was an adventure. Something we can showoff to the females about.’

I laughed and rubbed heads with him.‘Thanks, Tabs. I’m glad we’re friends.’

‘Me too. You’re a much braver little cat than I ever thought. I don’t know why you used to let me call you timid.’ *

But in my little heart, I felt sad and sorry. I’d started off my new life as a foster cat with too high an opinion of myself, I now realised. Because I’d given a few people in the village the idea of getting together in their homes, I’d thought I was the mouse’s whiskers, but I obviously wasn’t as clever as I thought I was. I went back through the cat flap into Sarah’s kitchen and spent most of the day asleep.

When the children came home from school, the rest of the Foxes came round, and spent some time playing with me while Sarah looked through the papers they’d been writing about me during the last few weeks.

‘Well done, girls,’ she said eventually. ‘You’ve all completed your “Pet” projects now and they’re very good. I’ll pass these on to Brown Owl, and you can get started on the other sections of the badge.’

The children clamoured around her as she read out some options from a book.

‘The zoo!’ Grace shouted. ‘Yes! Let’s go to the zoo!’

‘Yes, the zoo!’ they all chorused.

Sarah laughed.‘All right, I’ll talk to Brown Owl about it, and perhaps we can take you together. We could go on the train, during the Christmas holiday.’

‘Bye, Ollie,’ the girls called out as they trooped off to their homes.

I slunk back out to the kitchen and lay down in my basket, curling up with my tail over my head. Even the Foxes didn’t need me anymore. Pretty soon the family were going to replace me with another cat, and then there’d be nobody left who cared about me. Oh, if only that fire had never happened. If only I were still in the pub with George. I mewed myself quietly back to sleep. *

I didn’t really cheer up until the following evening, when Sarah was rushing around the house excitedly, moving extra chairs into the lounge and tidying up, because it was her turn to have the WI ladies there.

‘Nicky next door is going to come tonight,’ she told Martin, who had put on his old coat and was going out to the shed, with a mug of beer in his hand, tomake himself scarce.‘I’m really glad I’ve persuaded her. It will do her good to meet some of the other women.’

I was glad too, and I felt sorry then for thinking I’d have nobody else in the world if Sarah and Martin didn’t want me. Although their cottage was cold, Nicky and Daniel were lovely humans and I know they liked me too. If it hadn’t been for Daniel, I might still be up that tree in the wood, or in the fox’s tummy, I reminded myself sternly with a little shudder.

When all the females started arriving, I sat in my hammock on the radiator so that I could listen to them chat. To my surprise, they started off by standing up in a row and singing a song about some place called Jerusalem. Some of them had loud screechy voices and I thought I’d better join in, to try to keep them in tune. I lifted my head and yowled as loudly as I could. They all started smiling and as soon as the song was finished there was a loud burst of laughter from everyone and they turned to me and clapped their paws. Believe me, Charlie, you’ll find female humans can be even stranger than the males at times.

After that, they all sat down, apart from one, who stood at the front reading things out to them about money they needed to pay and trips they might be going on.

‘And as we all know, ladies,’ she went on, ‘the Christmas party is cancelled this year but Sarah has kindly offered to have us all back here on the Saturday after Christmas, for a buffet lunch. Some of you have offered to bring cakes or sandwiches – you know who you are – and please all bring your own drinks, or all you’ll get is a glass of water.’

They all laughed again. They seemed a cheerful bunch. Nicky was sitting next to Sarah, smiling and appearing to enjoy herself.

‘Finally, I have a plea for help from Louise.’ The female in charge nodded at her. ‘If anyone knows of a qualified child minder who could work part-time, please let her know. She’s absolutely desperate for someone to look after Freya and Henry after Kay finishes. She’s had no luck with adverts in the paper…’

‘There’s a notice about swapping kids on different days, on the board,’ someone at the back of the room called out.

‘I know.’ Louise turned to face her. ‘But it’s no good for me. I work five mornings a week. I’m on the waiting lists of two nurseries in Great Broomford, but it could take ages to get a place.’

There was a murmur of sympathy around the room.

‘I could help you out for the odd morning, love,’ one of the older women said. ‘Not that I’m qualified or anything, but I’ve brought up my own kids and helped with the grandkids.’

‘Well, me too,’ said Sarah. ‘I only work part-time from home, so I could help out sometimes.’

A couple of others joined in, offering help on odd mornings here and there.

‘That’s really kind of you all,’ Louise said, ‘but I really need definite, reliable cover for the whole week. My mum might come and stay for a few weeks, but I can’t expect…’ She tailed off, shaking her head. ‘I’m going to lose my job if I can’t sort something out.’

I saw Sarah glance at Nicky, who was looking at the floor. Later, after one of the other women had stood up and talked to them all for a long time about her trip to Peru and shown them her photos, and they were all milling around chatting to each other, I followed Nicky out to the kitchen where she’d gone to help Sarah make tea and coffee.

‘You should talk to Louise, you know,’ Sarah said.

‘What’s the point? Daniel told me he saw her advert on the notice board. She only wants someone for twenty hours a week, and she won’t be able to pay me what I need.’

‘But Nicky, you won’t want to work more than twenty hours, once your own baby’s arrived. Trust me, you’ll probably even struggle with that. I know – Iknow you need the money, but perhaps, if things are that bad and Daniel isn’t earning enough, you’ll need to think about claiming some benefits. I’m sorry to be so personal,’ she added more quietly, ‘it’s only because I’m concerned about you.’

‘If my parents thought we were on benefits,’ Nicky said in a tight voice like she was being strangled, ‘they’d go mad. They’d say we were letting them down, and they’d blame Daniel.’

‘Or perhaps they’d help you out a bit,’ Sarah retorted.

No. They’d rather I left him and went back home to them.’

They poured tea in silence for a minute, then Nicky started carrying cups into the lounge.

‘You’ve upset her now,’ I meowed at Sarah.

‘Oh, Ollie.’ She looked down at me, shaking her head. ‘I shouldn’t have said anything, should I? But I just want to help her. What shall I do?’

‘Don’t ask me,’ I said, rubbing against her leg in sympathy, ‘I make a mess of everything.’

‘It’s no good.’ She picked up the last two cups, ready to go back to the lounge. ‘I’m going to have a quiet word with Louise myself. Call me interfering, but if I don’t say anything I might always regret it.’

Perhaps she was a bit like me– trying her best to help people, but not always succeeding. *

I don’t think Nicky noticed Sarah and Louise chatting quietly in the corner, or Louise glancing in Nicky’s direction with interest – because by then she was talking to someone else herself. I was eavesdropping as usual, of course, and I’d gathered from the conversation that this was the wife of Tony, who’d had the sick car, and her name was Cath.

‘I’mso glad I’ve met you, dear,’ she said, beaming at Nicky. ‘You have no idea how grateful Tony and I were to your husband for charging the battery up for us. We are both so useless with car problems.’

‘He was just glad to help, honestly, Cath, and to be fair it was an easy thing for him to sort out. And I should be thankingyou, for the wine, and the Christmas pudding.’

‘Oh, nonsense, you’re welcome. But listen, I was telling Sarah earlier about how Daniel helped us, and, well, I didn’t realise he’s actually looking for work in that field. He didn’t mention that to Tony.’

‘Oh!’ Nicky gave a little laugh. ‘No, that’s not quite true, he isn’t, not really. I don’t know what Sarah said to you, but you see, hewanted to be a car mechanic– he’s very good, his dad taught him – but, well, he has a full-time job in London now.’

‘Oh.’ Cath bit her lip. ‘Oh dear, I hope haven’t put my foot in it, then. I’ve sent Tony a message on my mobile, asking him to ring our son-in-law and tell him we know someone who might be able to help him. He’s a farmer over the other side of Great Broomford, and he’s looking for someone to sort out his old truck. I thought your Daniel might be able to help.’

‘Well, he could probably have a look at it, at least,’ Nicky said. ‘But it’s really just a hobby for him, you see. He might be able to give your son-in-law some advice, as a favour, though.’

‘No, no – if he canfix it, my son-in-law will pay him properly. But of course, he’s probably too busy, working all week.’

‘Well, perhaps he might have time over the weekend,’ Nicky said, looking a little brighter. ‘I’ll talk to him about it.’

‘All right, dear. Let me know, will you?’

‘Of course I will.’ Nicky smiled, and I felt like smiling too. It sounded like good news. I hoped I was right for once. *

I popped in next door to see them first thing in the morning, while they were getting ready for work.

‘Well, are you up for it or not?’ Nicky was saying as she ate a slice of toast, standing up, leaning against the kitchen worktop. ‘We need to let Cath and Tony know.’

‘I don’t know, babe. It depends how much work it entails, doesn’t it.’

I meowed with surprise. I was expecting Daniel to be really excited at the prospect of this working-on-a-truck thing. Especially being paid for it.

‘For God’s sake!’ Nicky had obviously expected more excitement from him too. ‘Just say you’ll go andlook at it and assess how much work it is– then you can decide whether you’ve got time or not. What’s the matter? I thought you were really keen to get stuck into some motor work again?’

‘I am!’ He spread his hands, looking awkward. ‘It’s not about the time, Nick. If it’s a lot of work, I could work all weekend, spread it over two weekends if necessary, or even take a couple of days’ leave from the shop. I want to do it, and obviously I want the money…’

‘So what’s the problem?’

‘I’ve hardly got any tools now. A lot of them were my dad’s old stuff, but I’d got some things myself too. I left nearly all of them behind when I moved out. I couldn’t exactly bring them all to your parents’ place and expect them to store them somewhere. And of course, the next thing we heard was that Mum was selling up and moving to Spain with Whatsisname.’

‘She surely didn’t get rid of everything? Without even telling you? Oh, Dan! You never told me that,’ Nicky said, looking appalled.

‘By the time I’d phoned her and begged her to hang onto all the tools so that I could come and get what I wanted, it was too late. I was more upset because of them being Dad’s, really. At that time I never thought I’d be working as a mechanic so I just had to put it behind me.’

‘Oh.’

‘Exactly:Oh. So is there really any point me even going all the way over there to look at the truck in the first place?’

‘No. I suppose not.’ She reached out and touched his hand. ‘I’m so sorry, Dan.’

‘Not your fault. I’ll go and see them tonight and explain.’

‘OK.’

They finished their cups of tea and slices of toast in silence and I left the house with them when they got into their little car to drive to the station at Great Broomford. Neither of them had spoken a word to me. I didn’t blame them. I felt as disappointed as they were. Nothing seemed to be going the way I wanted, for some of my favourite humans. It didn’t seem like I was going to be the Cat Who Saved Christmas for them at all.

CHAPTER TWENTY ONE

I spent most of that day with Tabby again. He was feeling fed up because the pretty little Burmese he had his eye on wasn’t interested in him.

‘Why these pedigree females seem to think they’re too good for the likes of us, I can never understand,’ he complained. ‘They should realise they’d have healthier kittens if they mated with good strong moggies like us, instead of going in for all that inbreeding.’

‘I don’t think you’re going to be able to change the way of world just to suit your sex life, Tabs.’

‘More’s the pity. Anyway, how are things with you? Got over that business at the Big House now?’

‘Yes. I’m just disappointed all our efforts didn’t work.’

‘Allyour efforts, you mean. I didn’t even have a clue what you were up to, playing with bits of paper when we should have been legging it out of there.’

‘It just seems such a shame.She likes him, andhe seems to like her, too. Why can’t they just get together and be happy?’

‘Perhaps one of them is a pedigree and the other one isn’t,’ he said morosely. ‘As you said, you can’t change the world.’

No, I couldn’t, and I was beginning to realise that.

We played together in Tabby’s garden for a while, but we were both getting cold, and then suddenly it started to pour with that icy stuff they call sleet. It’s the worst stuff of all, when it comes down hard, little Charlie. Drenches your fur and freezes it at the same time.

‘Quick, into the garage,’ he meowed at me. It was a lot closer than his cat flap. ‘There’s a gap under the door.’

I’d never been in there before. The gap where the door didn’t close properly was only just big enough – I was surprised Tabby could squeeze through – but once inside, it was nice and dry, even if not very warm. We both sat and washed ourselves and rubbed our faces with our paws to get the icy drips off.

‘Why have they got a garage,’ I asked Tabby, looking around, ‘if they haven’t got a car?’

‘They used to have one – a big old thing, it was. Very bad-tempered. It used to growl and cough a lot, and sometimes it refused to move at all. They got rid of it in the end. Said they were getting too old to drive anyway, and now they just go on the bus or walk. My man, Eddie, used to look after it really well, too. See all those tools, in those boxes at the back there? He was forever opening the car’s mouth and looking at its teeth or whatever was wrong with it. But he said he was getting too old to do that any more, too.’

‘Oh.’ A little idea was blooming in my head, as I’m sure you can guess. ‘So why has your man still got all those tools?’

‘Don’t ask me. My woman said ages ago he should get rid of them, but you know what male humans are like, Ollie – never get around to anything. She did say the other day she was going to write an advert out to sell them, if he wouldn’t do it.’

‘And did she? Did she write the advert?’

‘I don’t know, Ollie. There’s a bit of paper in the front window, but don’t ask me what it is. I might be clever but I’m not Wonder-Cat, I can’t read. Why are you so interested, anyway?’

‘Oh, just being curious,’ I said.

‘Careful. You know what they say.’

‘Yes, I do. And it hasn’t killed me yet!’ *

I saw the piece of paper when we walked round the front of his house later. It was just ordinary white paper with big black letters on. For all I knew, it could be a page out of a newspaper. But was it worth a try? Or would I just be wasting my time– again? *

After school that afternoon, Rose went to play with one of the children in her class. Grace went up to their bedroom, and when she came back down she was holding the pink purse, the one she’d tipped the money out of before.

‘Mummy,’ she said, ‘can I ask you something? It’s got to be a secret from Rose.’

I couldn’t help letting out a little mew of anxiety. Was this it? Was this the point when they’d go and buy the new cat?

‘What is it, love?’ Sarah said, sounding amused. ‘Have you decided what to get her for Christmas?’

‘Well, yes, it could be her Christmas present. That would be good. But do you think I’ve got enough money yet?’ She unzipped the purse and tipped out the coins and the note again. ‘If Daddy gives me this week’s pocket money tonight…’

‘What is it you want to buy her? It doesn’t have to be something expensive, Grace. It’s the thought that counts.’

‘A new cat. I want to buy her a new cat that she can call Sooty again.’

Sarah’s eyes went wide with surprise. ‘Oh, Grace, darling, that really isn’t a good idea,’ she said. ‘I mean, it’s sweet of you to think of it, but…’

‘Why not?’ Grace demanded crossly. ‘I want to, Mum. I want to make up for being a horrible sister.’

Sarah put both paws round Grace and pulled her close.‘You’renot a horrible sister, not at all. Why on earth would you think that?’

‘I said that nasty thing to her, didn’t I, that day when we got the Christmas tree? About her being stupid for running into the road to save Sooty. I don’t know why I said it, Mummy. I was just feeling cross and impatient about decorating the tree.’

‘Sweetheart, we all knew you didn’t mean it. Even Rose knew you didn’t. It’s all forgotten now.’

‘I haven’t forgotten it,’ Grace retorted. ‘It still makes me feel horrible, knowing I said it.’

‘Well, that just shows you’re really a very nice sister, who wouldn’t normally dream of hurting Rose’s feelings. We all say nasty things sometimes, and feel sorry afterwards. But once you’vesaid sorry, and been forgiven, Grace, you have to move on and forget about it.’

‘OK.’ Grace shrugged. ‘But I still want to buy her a new cat.’

‘We have Oliver now, don’t we?’

Phew. I started to breathe again.

Grace frowned.‘But Oliver isn’t really ours, not to keep, is he. I know Rose loves him – so do I – but when he gets taken back by his real owner, she’s going to be even more upset.’

Sarah looked at her for a minute as if she was considering it.

‘Well, you have got a point there…’

Oh no, I thought.Here we go.

‘… and Daddy and I have already agreed we’ll get another cat of our own after Oliver leaves. But perhaps you’re right. Perhaps it should be before rather than after.’

She paused and glanced over at me, and I meowed loudly in distress.

‘But I don’t think it would be fair on Ollie,’ she went on, ‘to bring another cat into the house while he’s staying with us.’

I wanted to rush over and jump on her lap and lick her to death, but I was almost too weak with relief to move.

‘Oh, butMummy…’

‘We’ll get a kitten instead.’

‘Oh! A kitten! Oh, yes, that’d be even better.’ Grace jumped up and punched the air as if she was one of those football people on the television. ‘Have I got enough money for akitten, then?’ she added.

‘Put your purse away, Grace,’ Sarah said, laughing. ‘Daddy and I will buy the kitten, but not until after Christmas. Christmas isn’t the right time to bring a new pet into the house. No, don’t argue, or I’ll change my mind and we won’t get one at all. There’s too much excitement, and things going on. A kitten will need calm, and quiet, to settle down. After New Year, I promise you and Rose canboth help to choose a kitten. So there’s no need to keep it a secret from Rose. It’ll be something for us all to look forward to. But why don’t we go to the shop now, while Rose is out, and you can choose a book or a puzzle for her instead, that you can wrap up for her for Christmas?’

‘OK. Itwill be exciting to have a new kitten to look forward to, won’t it? Will Ollie mind that, though?’

‘I don’t think so. A kitten won’t be a threat to him, like an adult cat might be, and it’ll be more likely to accept that Oliver is Top Cat while he’s here.’

They both looked at me. I was purring. Akitten! Oh, that would be nice. I could help to bring it up. It would be fun. And, most importantly, they obviously weren’t planning to send me packing. I’d be Top Cat. I jumped out of my chair, stretched, and gave a big yawn of contentment, and Sarah and Grace both burst out laughing.

‘It’s almost like he’s been listening,’ Grace said, coming over to pick me up. ‘Ah, Ollie, we still love you too, don’t we, Mummy?’

‘Of course we do,’ Sarah agreed, giving me a stroke.

So I was one very happy, very lucky, cat, after all. *

I’d have liked to stay with them that evening, cuddled up on the children’s laps while they talked excitedly about our new kitten. But, of course, I had a plan involving Daniel next door, and now I was feeling more positive about life, I wanted to try it out, even though most of my plans seemed to be backfiring.

‘Hello, Ollie!’ Nicky said brightly when she opened the door to my usual chorus of meows. I’d tried to time it right so that they’d had their dinner but not settled down for the evening yet. ‘Come in, out of the cold.’

‘No!’ I meowed. ‘You come outhere.’

‘Come on, boy,’ she insisted. ‘Quickly, we’ve got the fire lit and you’re letting in the cold.’

I paraded up and down, my tail erect, looking back at her.

‘What’s going on?’ Daniel called from inside the cottage.

‘It’s Ollie. He’s behaving really strangely. He won’t come in – he keeps pacing up and down outside.’

Daniel appeared behind her, watching me over her shoulder.

‘He did that to me once before,’ he said thoughtfully. ‘Remember? That time I told you I had the distinct impression he wanted to lead me to the notice board.’

‘Yeah, right!’ She laughed. ‘What are you, now? The cat whisperer?’

‘Maybe.’ He shrugged, but he was still watching me. I flicked my tail harder and walked a few paces towards the corner of the road. ‘OK, I might be losing my marbles, but I’m going to follow him, Nick. I’ll just get my coat.’

‘If I didn’t know you better, Dan, I’d say you were using Ollie as an excuse to pop off down the pub,’ Nicky said, still laughing.

‘If there was even a pub to pop down to.’ He kissed her quickly on the cheek. ‘Won’t be long.’

Nicky shut the door behind us, shaking her head.

‘Come on, then,’ I told him, leading the way. Thank God he was getting better at understanding cat body-language.

We were soon at Tabby’s house. Fortunately there was a lamppost right outside, and the white sheet of paper was still glaring from the window. I stopped outside the gate, turning round and round on the spot, meowing.

‘What is it, Ollie?’ Daniel said, staring around him. ‘What’s wrong?’

For mewing out loud, I thought.I’m going to have to lead him by the nose!

I hopped up onto the low front wall and over onto Tabby’s front path, and up to the window. Did I really need to jump up onto the windowsill? No. When I turned back to Daniel, he was staring at the paper. Hooray! Now I just had to hope it wasn’t just aHappy Christmas decoration or a sign I’d heard about, sayingNo Cold Calling– whatever that meant.

‘Well, I’ll be damned,’ Daniel muttered to himself. ‘That could be interesting.’

Could it? Well, I hoped so. He certainly seemed keen. He opened the gate and marched up the path, gave a firm rat-a-tat to the door knocker and waited, looking at me and shaking his head as if he couldn’t quite work me out.

‘Hello?’ Eddie, Tabby’s human, stood in the doorway, staring at him. ‘Can I help you?’

‘Hello. I’ve just seen the notice in your window,’ Daniel said. ‘Garage contents to be disposed of? Tools? Um, I just wondered what kind of tools you’re selling.’

‘Selling?’ Eddie laughed. ‘Just clearing them out, mate. Well, my wife is – it was her that put the notice up. She’s sick of me hoarding stuff I don’t need. Can’t blame her really. We haven’t even got a car now, so why would I want to hold onto all the gear I used to work on the oldbanger with?’

‘Tools forcar maintenance?’ Daniel squawked. He glanced at me again, his mouth open. ‘Sorry, it’s just such a coincidence. I could really do with some. Can I have a look? And would you by any chance take a cheque?’

Eddie clapped a paw on his shoulder, laughing.‘I told you, lad, I don’t want anything for them. Take the lot, if you like – you’ll be doing me a favour. They’re not new, mind. The wife was all for throwing them out. But if they’ll do you a turn, so much the better. Come and have a look. Live in the village, do you? Haven’t seen you around.’

And they disappeared round the side of the house to the garage, Daniel starting to tell Eddie where he lived, how recently he and Nicky had moved in, and how he’d got the offer of the work on the farmer’s truck. By the time Daniel returned home, whistling, telling Nicky he needed to take the car round the corner because he’d got a box of heavy tools to bring back, I was on the chair next to Nicky, pretending to be asleep.

Mission accomplished. For once I’d been a success. What a good day. Suddenly I was feelingmuch better about myself.

CHAPTER TWENTY TWO

When I went into Nicky and Daniel’s house on my regular visit the next evening, I noticed that Daniel kept giving me funny looks.

‘I really think there’s something spooky about him,’ he said to Nicky. ‘He must have supernatural powers.’

She burst out laughing. It was nice to hear her sounding more cheerful.

‘Oh, Dan, don’t keep on about it! It was just a lucky coincidence. Save the fairy stories for after the baby’s born.’ He cuddled her and I purred around their legs happily. ‘Youare looking forward to the baby, then?’ he asked her softly.

‘Of course I am, in one way. If only I wasn’t so worried about the financial situation.’

‘I know,’ he said. ‘Well, let’s just hope that now I’ve accepted this bit of work with the farmer, it might be a turning point. Perhaps our luck’s going to change. Now I’ve got the tools, I could even put a notice up on that board, offering to look at people’s car problems, or do maintenance work.’

‘That’s a good idea. Just don’t take on too much, though, Dan – you’ve only got weekends.’

Just at that moment, the doorbell rang, and Daniel went to answer it.

‘It’s someone for you,’ he said to Nicky as he showed the visitor in.

It was Louise, one of the pram females. I meowed a hello to her and she smiled at me.

‘Sorry to intrude,’ she began, after Nicky had got up to greet her. ‘And I hope you’re not going to be offended…’

Nicky shook her head, looking puzzled.

‘Sit down, please, Louise. Why would I be offended?’

‘Well, Sarah had a little chat with me about you the other night. You probably heard I’m absolutely desperate for someone to look after my children.’

‘Oh.’ Nicky went bright red. ‘I’m sorry. Sarah really shouldn’t have said anything. I’ve already told her, I can’t help you. It’s not that I don’t want to…’

‘Don’t be cross with Sarah. She was only trying to help – help both of us. She’s obviously very fond of you, and she told me about your qualifications and your career so far, which I must say are really impressive.’

‘Well, thank you, but you see, I already have a full-time position in London which, to be honest, pays good money and I need – Daniel and I need – that level of income.’ She sounded really flustered and awkward. ‘And I’m pregnant now,’ she added. ‘So I’m afraid it’s out of the question.’

‘Um, I know she probably shouldn’t have,’ Louise said, looking down at her paws, ‘but Sarah did mention that to me, too. And it’s all the more reason to work part-time, isn’t it?’ she added gently. ‘Especially if it means there wouldn’t be any commuting.’

‘I know, but…’

‘And especially if I offer to match what you’re earning in London, minus your fares, so that overall you’ll be no worse off.’

‘What?’ Nicky stared at her. ‘I’m sorry, but I don’t think you understand. I’m full-time at the nursery.’

‘Yes, and I’m sure the money is excellent, for a nursery. But working as a private nanny, with your qualifications and background, you could almost demand your own salary. Dave and I earn good money too, Nicky, and good childcare is top of our priorities. I work twenty hours a week, but by the time I drive to work and back, I’ll need you there for more like twenty-five. I might want the occasional couple of hours for an evening out, too,’ she added, smiling. ‘You realise you could make a little bit more around the village like that? Babysitting? I know of at least one other mum who’s desperate for a good babysitter so that she and her husband can go out sometimes.’

‘Oh.’ Nicky glanced at Daniel, whose eyes were wide with surprise. ‘Well, I don’t know what to say. If it wasn’t for the fact that I’ll have my own baby…’

‘That’s exactly why you should go for it, Nick,’ Daniel said. ‘I’ve been really worried about the idea of you travelling up to London with the baby, working all day up there like that.’

‘But how soon would you want me to start? I mean, the baby’s due in May, and I’d have to have at least a couple of weeks off, I suppose.’

‘I’ve thought about that. I’ve already spoken to my mum, and she’d be happy to cover while you take some maternity leave. Dave and I would take some holiday in the summer, too. I realise you’ll want to talk this all over.’ She hesitated. ‘The thing is, I’d need someone to start as soon as possible after Kay retires at New Year. If you think there’s even a chance you might be interested, please come and meet the children. Freya’s quite a sensible little girl but she’s not four till the middle of September, so she misses out on starting school this year – which means I’ll need childcare for her for another whole year after that. And Henry, well, he doesn’t seem to be turning out to betoo demanding, as toddlers go.’

‘I’m sure I’ve dealt with a lot worse at the nursery,’ Nicky said, smiling. ‘But you really wouldn’t mind me having my own baby with me at the same time?’

‘I think the kids would love it. And as long as you can cope, which I’m sure you’ll be able to, by the sound of your current job, it’ll be fine with me.’ She sat back in her chair and took a deep breath. ‘Will you at least consider it?’

‘Well.’ Nicky turned to Daniel, who was nodding enthusiastically. ‘Yes, obviously it does sound interesting.’

‘Then let’s talk money,’ Louise said, producing her phone from her bag and turning it into one of those adding-up things humans use instead of counting in their heads. ‘And then I’ll leave the two of you to talk it over.’ *

After she’d gone, there was a different atmosphere in the little cottage. Daniel and Nicky both seemed too stunned to talk, for a while.

‘I said maybe our luck was changing,’ Daniel said eventually.

‘You think it could work? Honestly? It just seems too good to be true.’

‘You haven’t met her kids yet,’ he teased her. ‘They might be little demons.’

‘I’m used to those,’ she laughed. ‘Oh, Dan, do youreally think this might be a turning point?’

‘I do, Nick. I think you should go for it. And an occasional bit of babysitting in someone’s nice warm house for an evening – that wouldn’t be so bad either, would it?’

‘No, it wouldn’t. I don’t know why I didn’t think of that myself. I could advertise that on the board, couldn’t I?’

And they started hugging and kissing again. They didn’t look like they wanted me to join in, so I jumped into the armchair nearest the fire and left them to it. *

I was so cheered up by events in Nicky and Daniel’s house, I made a rather rash decision. Despite everything, I was going back to the Big House. I wasn’t going to tell Tabby this time – I knew he wouldn’t come with me again anyway – but I couldn’t get rid of this niggling feeling that I’d be letting Caroline down if I stayed away. From what I’d overheard, her father didn’t let her have any friends in to play, and as well as being poorly and weak she must be so lonely, it made me mew with sadness just to think about her. At least I’d made her smile when I visited her. I told myself that, this time, I’d be far more careful. I already knew to avoid weekends, and now I’d avoid early mornings too in case the father was still there.

So the next day, I waited until Sarah stopped her work on the computer and started making herself a sandwich for lunch. I knew that meant it must be the middle of the day. I ran all the way up the hill to the Big House and up the driveway. The male called Harry was outside one of the sheds, sawing wood, but he had his back to me and I scampered straight across to the big windows, where I could see Caroline and Laura sitting in the room. I scratched at the glass with my paws and did some frantic meowing, and Caroline sat up, looking so excited to see me, I was already glad I’d come. Laura came over and opened the door.

‘Oliver,’ she said. ‘You mustn’t come here any more. You got us into a lot of trouble before.’

‘But Daddy’s not here now,’ Caroline said, reaching out a paw towards me. ‘Please let Oliver come in again, Laura. He’s never going to find out.’

‘No, really, I don’t think so.’

‘Oh,please. It’s so unfair. Daddy treats me like a prisoner. At least in hospital I could see the other children on the ward. Sometimes I wish I was stillin hospital.’

‘You don’t mean that, Caroline,’ Laura said, sounding upset.

‘Don’t I? I didn’t like being so ill, but at least it wasn’tboring.’

For a minute, Laura stood there in the doorway, blocking my entrance, looking down at me but blinking fast like she had dust in her eyes.

‘OK, Oliver,’ she muttered suddenly, standing back so that I could run inside. ‘If he finds out, and starts on me again like last time, he can have my notice.’

I didn’t know which notice she was talking about. One of the ones on the notice board, I supposed. I didn’t care. I was just glad to be in the warm, cuddling up to Caroline again and seeing her smile. *

So now I reasoned I was safe to go back to the Big House again, as long as I went in the middle of the day. And Caroline and I had such a lovely time in that nice warm room with the thick carpet and the comfy sofa. We played with a cotton reel, and a pencil tied to a length of string. Despite all the sophisticated cat toys your humans might buy you, Charlie, you can’t beat a good old-fashioned bit of string for some jumping up with all four paws off the floor, or some rolling on your back with your paws in the air. You know the kind of thing. When Caroline got tired, we snuggled together on the sofa under the pink blanket and listened to Laura reading us a story. I was just happy to be allowed to cheer her up again. *

That Saturday, I didn’t see much of Daniel, because he’d gone off with his new box of tools in his car, to work on the farmer’s truck. I spent a bit of time with Nicky to keep her company. She seemed happier. She told me she’d been round to Louise and Dave’s house to meet their children, and that they seemed ‘lovely’.

‘We’ve decided I’m going to accept the job, Ollie,’ she said, giving me a hug. ‘Oh, I do hope we’re doing the right thing. I’ve got to hand in my notice at the nursery. I feel a bit sick thinking about it, but Dan says it’s going to be the best thing for me and the baby, and I’m sure he’s right. It’s just such a big change. I can still hardly believe I’m doing it. I wonder what my parents will say,’ she added in a different tone of voice. ‘They’re bound to think I’m mad to give up such a good job.’

I was still at their house, asleep in the chair nearest the fire again, when Daniel finally arrived home just as it was getting dark.

‘You must be worn out,’ Nicky sympathised. ‘Did you manage to finish the job?’

‘Yep, all done, road tested and left in perfect running order,’ he said happily, pulling off his boots. ‘The guy was so pleased, he not only paid me, he’s promised us a free turkey too.’

‘A freeturkey?’ Nicky echoed.

‘Yes, he’s a poultry farmer. I’ve got to pick it up on Christmas Eve. It’ll be plucked and oven ready for us.’

‘Oh, Dan, that’s wonderful. I’d been doing a reckon-up of our bills and trying to work out whether we could afford to get a cheap one from the supermarket.’

‘This’ll be much nicer, Nick, and bigger. It’ll last us all week. Now we’ve got the turkey, the pudding and the wine,’ he said, giving her a hug. ‘I wonder what I can get from my next client.’

She laughed.‘Well, don’t count your chickens – or should I say your turkeys. You haven’t got another clientyet. Although, if you put that advert up…’

‘Actually,’ he said, a note of pride in his voice, ‘I’ve got another job lined up already. Rob, the farmer, has recommended me to a friend of his. He’s a gardener and handyman whose van needs a bit of attention. Should be a quick, easy job. I’ve got a day’s leave to take before Christmas so I’ll book him in in a couple of days’ time.’

‘Oh, Dan, that’s amazing. Each job has led to another one. You must be doing something right.’

‘Well, it’s made me realise how nice people are, around here. They’re all saying they like to give work to local people and help each other. I’m just really grateful for the chance to do a bit of mytinkering again.’

‘And get paid for it. Anyway, go and have a hot bath, and put those greasy clothes in the washing machine. I’ve got a shepherd’s pie ready to go in the oven.’

‘Lovely. I’m starving.’ He kissed her. ‘You’re an angel.’

She giggled.‘Andyou’re freezing cold, and filthy dirty. Go on, clean up.’

He was whistling as he went upstairs. I was actually really pleased to hear it. *

So a couple of days later, when I was making my way up the drive of the Big House to play with Caroline, I noticed a car parked by the garage that looked exactly like Daniel’s. When I got a bit closer, I nearly jumped in the air with surprise. Itwas Daniel’s! And there he was, standing just inside the garage doors, talking to the man called Harry. I hid under a shrub and wriggled closer so that I could hear what they were saying.

‘Really pleased you could fit me in so quickly, mate,’ Harry said. ‘Rob told me you did a fantastic job on his truck. Good to know there’s someone in the village now that we can call on. Been in the business long, have you?’

‘Well, to be honest,’ Daniel said, ‘it’s not my full time job. Kind of a sideline, really.’

‘Pity. I bet you’d get a lot of work around here if you set yourself up in business. There’s no one else local, and who wants to take their car to those rip-off big companies in town? Anyway, look, the van just needs a tune-up for now, but there’s a bit of bodywork damage here that I wouldn’t mind getting sorted out at some point. Do you get involved with that? Panel beating and respraying?’

‘Absolutely,’ Daniel said, sounding so excited, anyone would think he’d been offered a bowl of meaty-chunks. ‘Would you like me to quote you for doing that, while I’m here?’

‘Yeah, would you do that, please, mate? I’d be glad to get it done. Right, I’ll leave you to it, then – I’ve got to get on. His Lordship wants some holly and ivy cut today to decorate the place for Christmas. And there’s a Christmas tree to carry indoors. Bloody Jack-of-all-trades here,I am. Still, he’s generous with the pay, so I’ve got no complaints.’

He turned in my direction to head towards the wooded area of the grounds, just as I’d sneaked out from under my shrub to run across the lawn to the house.

‘Morning, Oliver,’ he called out cheerfully.

Laura had obviously let him in on the secret that I was visiting again. The angry father wouldn’t be there today, I was sure of it, but for a minute I froze, looking from him to Daniel and back again, swishing my tail anxiously.

‘Ollie!’ Daniel said in surprise. ‘What areyou doing here?’

‘Is he your cat?’ Harry asked.

‘No, he belongs to the pub, but my neighbour and I are looking after him, between us, until it’s rebuilt. I didn’t realise he wandered this far.’

‘Oh yes. We keep it quiet, mind.’ Harry laughed. ‘He comes to visit Caroline.’

‘Who?’

‘The daughter. She’s been ill, in hospital for ages – leukemia, poor kid. On the mend now, but her father’s kind of overprotective. He went potty when he found out Laura – that’s the nurse he’s hired for Caroline – had been letting the cat in. Thinks they carry germs, or something.But Oliver cheers the kid up so much, Laura gave in and let him in again. Caroline’s lonely, you see. She doesn’t see a soul, stuck in this house all day every day. For God’s sake keep this to yourself, or Laura will probably lose her job.’

‘Right.’ Daniel was staring at me. ‘Somehow, that’s just typical of Ollie, wanting to cheer up a lonely child. He’s quite a special kind of cat.’

‘Thanks! Nice to be appreciated,’ I meowed at him. And then I ran off quickly to the house, to be let in out of the cold. Special cat or not, I needed my home comforts.

CHAPTER TWENTY THREE

That evening, Sarah and Martin cleared up the dinner things early and got the children to bed. Nicky and Daniel were coming in for drinks again, and there was a kind of excitement in the air.

‘Nicky said they’ve got some good news,’ Sarah said. ‘Oh, I do hope things are improving for them, Mart.’

So a bit later I sat in my hammock on the radiator, happily washing myself, as Nicky explained how she’d now accepted Louise’s offer and was leaving the nursery after Christmas to start as nanny to Freya and Henry.

‘I have to thank you, Sarah,’ she said, looking slightly embarrassed for a moment. ‘I understand you put in a good word for me. I’m sorry I was snappy with you when you tried to encourage me to talk to her. I really didn’t expect her to offer me such a good deal.’

‘I’m just pleased it’s working out for you,’ Sarah said. ‘Congratulations. They’re nice children, too. I’m sure you’ve made the right decision.’

‘And it helps that I’ve been earning a bit extra,’ Daniel said. ‘Doing a little bit of work on some motors. Actually, I have Ollie to thank for that.’

‘Dan believes Ollie’s got magic powers,’ Nicky giggled. ‘He thinks he somehow knew this guy called Eddie had some tools to get rid of, and led him to his house.’

They all turned to look at me. I lifted my head and meowed, and they all burst out laughing.

‘Magic powers, indeed,’ scoffed Martin. ‘Look at him. He’s just a shy little pussy cat.’

‘Well, I don’t know about that,’ Daniel said. ‘Guess where I saw him today?’

I froze, mid-wash. Daniel had been warned about keeping my visits secret. I didn’t want to get into trouble with the angry father, or get Laura into trouble with him, either. But he was tapping the side of his nose with a finger as he went on:

‘This is strictly between us, mind. I’ve taken a vow of silence about it.’

And he explained about his job at the Big House, and what Harry had told him, about Caroline, and Laura, and the father’s dislike of cats.

‘I didn’t even know he had a daughter,’ Sarah exclaimed. ‘Not that we really know him. All I know is he’s called Julian Smythe, and he hardly ever comes into the village, but on the few occasions he’s been to the shop he’s apparently been so grumpy and miserable, he’s made himself unpopular.’

‘Well, Harry said Caroline was in hospital for a long while after they moved here, and now the poor kid is holed up there all day every day, just her and the nurse. So she hasn’t even been to school since they moved from London, and hasn’t got any friends here.’

‘Poor girl.’ Sarah sighed. ‘I don’t suppose anyone else in the village knows about her either, then. How old did you say she is?’

‘Ten, apparently.’

‘Similar age to Grace. What a shame that she hasn’t even got any friends to play with.’

‘That seems to be why Ollie’s been going up there. I’m telling you, there’s something a bitdifferent about that cat. He almost seems to understand humans.’

The others all laughed again, and I went back to washing myself, pretending not to take any notice. If only they knew, eh, Charlie? Nothing unusual in us cats understanding humans. It’s them who can’t understand us, more’s the pity. *

‘There’s another bit of news in the village, as it happens,’ Sarah said a little later. She picked up her wine glass. ‘Top up the drinks, can you, Mart? Remember Nicky’s only on orange juice.’

‘So what’s the news?’ he asked as he poured the wine.

‘You know old Barbara Griggs down Back Lane? And I told you she and Stan Middleton have been spending time and laughing together?’

‘Yes. Bloody amazing. I thought they were both cantankerous old devils. Maybe they’re well suited.’

‘It appears so.’ Sarah paused for effect. ‘Let’s hope so, anyway. They’re getting married!’

‘What?’ Martin nearly dropped the wine bottle. ‘You’re joking! They must both be getting on for ninety.’

‘I know, but apparently they’ve become soul mates. One of the older ladies from the WI who goes to the pensioners’ get-togethers told me Barbara is announcing it to the whole world.’

‘Ah. I think that’s rather sweet,’ Nicky said. ‘Bless them!’

‘Bless them?’ Martin retorted, laughing. ‘Well, I suppose we should all be pleased they’re getting along together and keeping each other quiet. That woman used to frighten the life out of us all, even when I was a kid. She used to shout at us if we rode our bikes past her house or made too much noise playing outside. We thought she was a witch.’

‘Love must have had a calming effect on her,’ Sarah giggled. ‘Apparently she’s being as nice as pie to everyone now. She’s had her hair coloured, her nails painted and has started wearing lipstick.’

‘Good for her,’ Nicky said. ‘When are they getting married?’

‘Soon after New Year, apparently, at the church in Great Broomford. They seem to be in quite a hurry. Barbara told the other ladies on the quiet that Stan wanted them to move in together, to save on heating and council tax and so on. And she wouldn’t hear of it unless he married her first.’

‘Fair enough,’ Daniel said. ‘And anyway, it’s not a bad idea, is it. They say two can live as cheaply as one.’

‘If only that were true,’ Nicky said, sighing. ‘How about three living as cheaply as one?’ she added, patting her tummy.

‘You’ll be fine,’ Sarah comforted her. ‘Things are looking up for you both. You’ll see, it’ll all come good, Nicky. I’m sure of it.’ *

Hearing them talking about Nicky and Daniel’s baby, reminded me that I hadn’t seen Tabby or Suki for a few days, so the next morning before going on my visit to the Big House, I trotted round to Tabby’s place and meowed loudly at his cat flap until he finally put his head through, looking like he’d just woken up.

‘All right, keep your fur on,’ he said crossly. ‘What’s up?’

‘Nothing! I was just wondering how you were, but if you’re in a bad mood I’ll go away again.’

‘Sorry.’ He jumped through the flap to join me. ‘Suki turned up last night and gave me a right earful. I’ve been sleeping off my headache ever since.’

‘I thought you said she’d calmed down a bit since we had that chat with her?’

‘She had. But it seems her humans have realised she’s pregnant now.’

‘Oh dear. Were they upset with her?’

‘Not really. Suki said they blamed themselves for letting her out at night without getting her spayed.’

‘I see.’

‘So they’re saying that as soon as she’s recovered from having the kittens, and she’s weaned them, they’re going to take her to the vet’s. She’s heard from one of her friends that it’s a really big operation for females. So now she’s blaming me for that too. She saysI should have been done.It’s just a little snip for a male, she said. Like it’smy fault my humans didn’t take me to the vet like yours did.’

‘If they had, you wouldn’t have wanted to mate with her in the first place,’ I reminded him.

‘Hmm. Well, maybe that wouldn’t have been such a bad thing,’ he muttered. ‘It just leads to trouble, if you want my opinion.’

I couldn’t help laughing. Maybe now he wouldn’t be in such a hurry to mate with every available female he met.

‘What about the kittens, then?’ I asked. ‘Are Suki’s humans going to look after them?’

‘Well, they said they’ll keep one – which will be nice for Suki. It’ll keep her busy and maybe she’ll leave me alone. And they’ll let the others go to new homes. I think they’ll probably advertise them for sale after they’re weaned.’

‘Perhaps your Eddie will buy one to keepyou busy?’ I teased him.

‘Huh!’ He turned his back on me, twitching his tail. ‘What would I do with a kitten? Ifyou want one, get your own humans to buy one.’

‘As it happens, they’re already talking about getting one,’ I said. ‘And, do you know what? You’ve just given me an idea.’ *

I had to be careful how I did it. From what Tabby had said about Suki’s angry mood, I didn’t want to do anything to upset her. I called on her straight after saying goodbye to him.

‘Oh, hello, Ollie,’ she said, looking up from washing her tummy. It wasn’t surprising that her humans had noticed her pregnancy. She was looking bigger every time I saw her. ‘Nice to see you.’

‘Is it?’ I squeaked in surprise. ‘I mean, sorry, nice to see you, too. How are you keeping?’

‘Not bad. I suppose Tabby sent you round? I was a bit hard on him last night. I suppose I’m taking it out on him, but can you blame me?’

‘No, I can’t blame you, Suki. But he didn’t send me round. He doesn’t know I’ve come. Look, I hear your humans are only going to let you keep one of your kittens?’

‘Yes.’ She sighed. ‘Don’t get me wrong – one will be more than enough, really. It’ll be hard work feeding them all until they’re weaned, never mind keeping an eye on them once they start running around. But, you know, theywill be my own flesh and blood. Well, mine and Tabby’s, more’s the pity.’

‘I expect you’d like them to go to nice human families, wouldn’t you?’

‘Yes. Of course – I wouldn’t want them to go to humans who don’t look after them properly, obviously.’

‘Well, look, I’ve got a suggestion. Obviously you don’t know how many kittens you’re going to have, but I can at least try to get one of them into a lovely family.’

‘How come?’

‘It’s my foster family. They’re getting a kitten some time after Christmas. So … how can I put this nicely, Suki? Why don’t you come home with me this evening and show them your tummy?’ *

It took a while for Sarah and Martin to catch on. Sarah was surprised, of course, to see me on the doorstep with Suki.

‘Oh! Who’s this?’ she said. ‘Martin! I think Ollie’s brought a friend home.’

‘Really? Well, they can play outside, then. I don’t mind, but if we start letting all the neighbourhood cats in, there’s no knowing where it’ll end – especially if they all want to bring dead pigeons home with them.’

He followed Sarah to the front door and looked down at us.

‘Roll on your back,’ I hissed at Suki. ‘Go on!’

She gave me a bit of a look, but did it anyway. I saw Martin’s face change.

‘That’s not just a friend,’ he said quietly. ‘If I’m not much mistaken, it’s a girlfriend.’

‘She looks like she’s pregnant,’ Sarah agreed.

‘But I thought … I’m sure George said Ollie had been neutered.’

What?‘It’s nothing to do withme!’ I meowed at them indignantly. Perhaps I should have marched Tabby round there too.

‘You’re right, he’s neutered,’ Sarah said. ‘That’s why he’s so sweet.’

Now it was Martin’s turn to look indignant! I wasn’t sure I liked being calledsweet, but I was too relieved that they realised I wasn’t responsible for Suki’s condition to make a big meow about it.

‘So your friend’s got herself in a bit of a fix, has she, Ollie?’ Martin said, grinning. ‘Oh well. She’s obviously from a good home. She’s beautiful, isn’t she?’

‘So Tabby seems to think,’ I said.

‘Have a look at her collar, Mart,’ Sarah suggested. ‘Let’s just make sure she’s not lost, or anything.’

Suki stood up and allowed Martin to look at her identity disc.

‘Oh, she lives at The Willows, down Ponds Farm Road. Her name’s Suki. Hello, Suki. You’re a lovely girl, aren’t you?’

‘That’s Arthur and Joan Furlong’s place, isn’t it?’ Sarah said. ‘You know them, they used to run the caf? in Great Broomford before they retired. The Singing Kettle, next to the church. Nice couple – I think he’s got quite bad arthritis now so they don’t get out much. Never knew they had a cat. Wonder what they’re going to do with the kittens.’

I looked at Suki, she looked at me, and we both meowed. Sarah laughed.

‘I have an idea,’ she said. ‘Shall we ask them if they’re planning to sell them? You know I promised Grace we could get a new kitten after Christmas.’

‘Yes.’ Martin nodded thoughtfully. ‘It would save us going to the Cats’ Protection League, wouldn’t it?’

‘And if her kittens take after Suki, they’re going to be gorgeous.’

Suki stretched her neck and purred, making Sarah laugh again.

‘Yes, you know you’re beautiful, don’t you,’ she said, bending down to stroke her. I almost felt jealous, but only for a minute, because then she added: ‘You’re a clever boy, Ollie, bringing Suki home with you. Anyone would think you knew we’d be interested in her kittens.’

‘Perhaps Daniel’s right, after all,’ Martin chuckled. ‘Perhaps Ollie really does have magical powers.’

Perhaps I did. You know what, Charlie? I was almost beginning to think so myself.

CHAPTER TWENTY FOUR

Hello again, Charlie. You know, I’m surprised you keep asking to hear more of my story. I’d have thought a little kitten like you would have been bored with it by now. You say you think it’s exciting? Well, thank you, I suppose it must be the way I’m telling it. Anyway, if you want to hear the rest – yes, we’re coming to the end soon! – you’d better settle down and leave your tail alone. It’s not going anywhere, it’ll still be there to chase when I’ve finished.

Now, at this point in my story we were getting really close to Christmas. I could tell by the ever-increasing levels of excitement in Sarah and Martin’s house. Apparently there were only a couple of days left at school, because Grace came running downstairs the next morning, singing at the top of her voice:

‘Hooray, hooray, hooray, it’s nearly the holiday!’

But instead of feeling excited, I felt sad. George had said he’d be back again to see us before Christmas, hadn’t he, and now I was wondering whether he wasn’t coming after all. Had he forgotten all about me? Decided he’d got used to not having a cat and wouldn’t bother to have me back when the pub was mended? I mewed to myself miserably at the thought of it.

‘What’s wrong, Ollie?’ Sarah asked. ‘Cheer up, it’s nearly Christmas!’

I didn’t feel like cheering up. But I supposed I should go and see Caroline as usual and cheerher up, at least. I waited until Sarah was having her lunch, and then meowed a goodbye as I popped out of the cat flap and set off for the Big House. *

Caroline didn’t look particularly cheerful either, although Laura was doing her best to sound bright and chirpy. The room looked lovely, with a really big Christmas tree like we used to have in the pub, and lots of pretty decorations, but Caroline had a long face like a cat with a toothache.

‘I’m sobored,’ she moaned.

‘But Oliver’s come to play with you,’ Laura said.

‘I know. But I wantfriends to play with. It’s not fair. I never get to seeanyone. When can I start the new school? I won’t have any friends there – nobody will know me.’

‘You’ll soon make friends when you’re well enough to go. Hopefully before too long.’

We played together as usual, although Caroline didn’t quite seem to have her heart in it and I found it difficult to keep myself from jumping up and having a play with the baubles on the lower branches of the Christmas tree. I did manage one quick swipe while Laura wasn’t looking, but Caroline whisperedNo, Oliver, you mustn’t! so I reluctantly left it alone. Then, just as we’d both snuggled down for our rest, there was a sudden loud banging noise that made me jump up out of Caroline’s blanket in fright. At least it made her giggle.

‘It’s only the door knocker, Oliver!’ she said. ‘Who’s that, Laura?’

‘I’ve no idea.’

Laura left the room, and I hid back under the blanket. I was still supposed to be a secret, remember, and we’d never had other visitors before when I was there. We both lay quietly, listening to Laura talking to someone at the front door.

‘Oh!’ she was saying. ‘Well, that’s very kind of you. Um … did Mr Smythe tell you about her illness? Only, I know he doesn’t talk to many people about it.’

‘No,’ said the other voice – and I popped my head out of the blanket in surprise. It was Sarah! ‘To be honest, we heard … from another source. I don’t want to get anyone into trouble for gossiping or anything, if it’s supposed to be kept quiet, but, well, we felt so sorry for the little girl – being ill, and new to the area, not having any friends. Especially at this time of the year.’

‘You’re very kind,’ Laura said again. ‘Would you like to come in and meet Caroline?’

‘Are you sure that’d be all right?’

‘Well,I think it’d be nice for her. She’d love to have some visitors.’

Caroline and I were blinking at each other in surprise. And the next thing we knew, there they were, in the room with us– not just Sarah but also Grace, and little Rose, still in their school uniforms, and clutching some wrapped-up parcels!

‘It’s Ollie!’ Grace said, staring at me.

‘Yes.’ Sarah smiled. ‘We heard he’d been visiting.’

‘Oh, soyou’re the family he’s staying with! Harry – our handyman – said he’d found out Oliver was the pub cat and was being looked after for the landlord since the fire.’ Laura reached out and stroked my head. ‘Caroline loves seeing him. But I’m afraid I’d get into trouble with her father if he found him hereagain.’

‘We won’t tell anyone, will we, children,’ Sarah said very seriously, and they both shook their heads. They were staring at Caroline. I suppose they were surprised by the lack of fur on her head.

‘It’s all right,’ she said, sitting up on the sofa. ‘My hair fell out because of the medicine they gave me to make me better, but it’s starting to come back now.’

‘Soare you better now?’ Rose asked shyly.

‘Getting better,’ Caroline said. ‘I’m just bored now.’

‘These are for you.’ Grace held out one of the wrapped-up boxes. ‘They’re for Christmas, from us.’

‘Oh!’ Caroline went all pink. ‘Thank you! Should we put them under the Christmas tree, Laura?’

‘You can open them now if you’d like to,’ Sarah said. ‘If Laura says that’s all right.’

Grace and Rose crowded round and the three girls laughed together as the paper was ripped off the boxes. Me, I had a great time rolling on the floor with the ribbon they’d been tied up with, and jumping after the screwed-up wrapping paper, which made them all laugh even more. I think we were all feeling more cheered up, then. Sarah and Laura sat on the other sofa together drinking coffee and chatting, and the girls played with the new toys and talked about school and hospital and Christmas and Brownies – and eventually I fell asleep in front of the fire. It was lovely. I must have got there later than usual, and it was now at least halfway through the afternoon because the girls had finished school. But I didn’t realise quitehow late it was, until I woke up with a start to hear the front door opening.

‘Oh my God!’ Laura gasped, jumping to her feet. ‘He’s home early.’

‘Shall we go?’ Sarah asked – but there was no time for anyone, even me, to go anywhere. Caroline’s angry father was already there, in the doorway, looking around at us all, going redder in the face every minute.

‘What the hell…?’ he began, but Laura went to stand in front of him, her paws on her hips.

‘Don’t start, Julian!’ she said, in a very cross voice. ‘Don’t youdare start, in front of these kind people who’ve come, out of the goodness of their hearts, to visit yourbored, lonely daughter and bring her these presents because theyunderstood– yes, they understood better than you do – how she must be feeling.’

‘What?’ he stuttered.

‘Yes! Look at her.Look at how happy she is, how much healthier she looks, just from having some company, some children to play with for a couple of hours. It’s what she needs now, Julian, and I’mnot going to apologise for allowing it, nor for allowing the cat to come back, either. He’s living with this lovely family, and he’s not dirty, or carrying germs, he’s a nice little cat and he does Caroline good. If you don’t like it, you’d better sack me right now, because I refuse to carry on keeping your daughter languishing here on her own forone single day longer.’

As she finished, she suddenly clasped her paw to her mouth and took a step backwards, like she’d only just realised who she was talking to. We all stood still, frozen like statues, staring at the Julian man.

‘We’d better go,’ Sarah said again. ‘Come on, children.’

‘No,’ he said, putting out a paw to stop her. ‘Don’t.’ His voice sounded like a cat being strangled. ‘Please, don’t rush off. Itwas kind of you to call on Caroline, and … thank you for the presents. Please don’t think me horribly rude. I’m just…’

‘He’s just been worried about Caroline,’ Laura said, in a shaky voice now, staring at him. ‘That’s all.’

‘Yes. I have. Worried sick. But Laura’s right. I’m sorry. I should have let Caroline have some company. I can see how much happier she looks today. I’m sorry, darling,’ he added with a funny choking noise like he was going to cry – and he ran to take hold of Caroline and hug her really hard. ‘I’ll try to be different.’

‘It’s OK, Daddy,’ she said. ‘I know you were just trying to look after me. But I’m getting better now.’

‘I know you are. Thank God.’ He made the choking noise again. ‘Her mother…’ he added, looking up at Sarah. ‘You see, I lost her mother, and then, when Caroline got sick too…’

‘I’m so sorry to hear that,’ Sarah said, putting a paw on his arm. ‘It must have been an awful time for you. I’m so glad to hear Caroline’s getting better, but if you’d prefer us not to come again…’

‘No. Please – if I haven’t frightened you off,’ he said, with a little sad smile, ‘please do bring the children again. Carolinedoes need to make friends, and Laura’s right, it was kind of you to visit. Thank you.’

I followed Laura as she showed Sarah and the girls to the front door, apologising quietly for thescene, as she called it.

‘Please don’t worry,’ Sarah said. ‘I do understand.’

I took the opportunity to scoot out of the front door myself. But as they walked off down the drive, I slunk round to the big windows where I normally went in and out. I wanted to make sure Julian wasn’t going to tell Laura off after everyone had gone.

But, to my surprise, there was a totally different kind ofscene going on in the room. While Caroline was engrossed with her new Christmas toys, Julian put both front paws round Laura and pulled her very close to him. I couldn’t hear what he was saying – he was talking right into her ear. But she was quite pink in the face and smiley. And his mouth was moving slowly down from her ear to her lips …

At least he didn’t seem to be angry anymore. I went home feelingmuch happier! *

It didn’t take long for word to get around. Sarah got on the phone to Anne, the one they called Brown Owl, and next thing I knew, she turned up with a couple of the other Foxes and their mums, and everyone started chatting about how they could take the children to visit Caroline.

‘I’m going to draw a picture for Caroline,’ Rose said, getting out her crayons.

‘I’m going to make her a Christmas card,’ Grace said.

‘Me too,’ said one of the other Foxes, and the children all clustered around the table, sharing out paper and crayons and pens.

‘We should stagger our visits,’ Anne said. ‘We don’t want to overwhelm the poor child by all turning up together.’

‘That’s a good idea,’ Sarah agreed. ‘Let’s get our diaries out and get ourselves organised.’

‘It will be lovely for Caroline to make some friends before she starts school,’ Anne said. ‘And perhaps she’ll be well enough to join Guides by the time Grace moves up. They can start together. Thank goodness her father’s seen sense. She must have felt so isolated, poor thing.’

‘I can understand it, though,’ Sarah said. ‘He was beside himself with worry about her. I don’t think he’s really a miserable person at all. He’s just had a lot of unhappiness.’ She grinned suddenly. ‘But do you know what? I think that nurse, Laura, has a soft spot for him. And he might not show it, but I suspect he feels the same way.’

I lay back in my hammock, purring to myself with a secret happiness. I didn’t know where Laura’ssoft spot might be, but I knew for sure that it was true they liked each other. I was the only one who’d seen the evidence with my own eyes.

CHAPTER TWENTY FIVE

Later that evening, after dinner, I was paying my usual visit to Nicky and Daniel’s house, when Sarah turned up to share the news with them about what had happened at the Big House.

‘Poor little girl,’ Nicky sympathised. ‘But how lovely that you’re taking all the children round there to play with her now.’

‘Yes. I actually feel sorry for her dad, too, now.’

‘I’ll be meeting him myself soon,’ Daniel said. ‘I haven’t had a chance to tell you this yet, Nick, but the handyman, Harry, apparently recommended me to him after I did the work on his van. Mr Smythe wants me to service his car. Well, he’s actually got two cars – a Mercedes, and a smaller one he uses to commute to the station. Harry called me today to say he wants me to go over there after Christmas to talk to him about it.’

‘Oh, well done, Dan, that’s great.’ Nicky gave him a kiss. ‘Maybe he’ll want them both serviced regularly – and you’ve got the bodywork on Harry’s van to do, too.’

‘I’m really pleased for you.’ Sarah smiled. ‘It all helps, doesn’t it. And you enjoy doing it, anyway. Perhaps you’ll have a look at our car when you get the chance. Martin keeps complaining that it turns over too slowly, or something.’

‘Of course I will.’ Daniel looked like the cat that got the cream. I knew exactly how that felt. *

The next day was the children’s last day at school, and Sarah brought them along to the Big House again after they’d finished. I was already there, of course, cuddled up with Caroline, and at first I was horrified to hear the Julian man coming home early again. But Laura and Caroline just smiled at each other and told Sarah that it was absolutely fine now, and he was home early because he was doing something calledwinding down for Christmas.

Sure enough, he was like a completely different human. He came into the room full of smiles, giving Caroline a big hug and kiss, and touching Laura on her paw in a way that made me think he wanted to stroke her.

‘Good to see you again,’ he said to Sarah and the children. ‘And our little furry friend there.’

I nearly fell off the sofa in surprise. Was this really the same male who’d half-strangled me and called me a dirty, flea-ridden animal? I thought he hated cats?

‘I actually quite like cats, you know,’ he went on as if I’d spoken out loud in Human. ‘At least, I used to, before I became so … well, overly obsessed with hygiene, I suppose, because of Caroline’s illness.’

‘Oh, Daddy, can we have one?’ Caroline said. ‘I love Oliver so much, and it’s so lovely that he comes to see me, but he’s not mine, and I’dlove a little cat of my own.’

‘Well, I don’t know about that.’ He frowned. ‘I’ll have to think about it. Maybe after Christmas.’ He turned to Sarah, obviously keen to change the subject. ‘Apparently some of the other little girls are coming to visit Caroline tomorrow. Children from the Brownie pack.’

‘Yes. They’re in the same Six as Grace and Rose.’

‘Caroline’s been so excited about it,’ he said. ‘She used to love Brownies, didn’t you, darling?’

‘Yes, Daddy. And I want to jointhis Brownie pack, now I’ve met Grace and Rose and heard all about it. Can I? Please?’

‘We … e … ll…’

‘Sheis getting stronger,’ Laura said. ‘Perhaps, after Christmas, I could take her along to a meeting, at least, and stay with her? She could just watch – she wouldn’t have to run around or anything.’

‘That would be lovely,’ Sarah said, ‘but the Brownies aren’t having proper pack meetings now. We’re just having meetings for each Six, separately, in each other’s houses, because…’

‘Oh, yes – because of the fire. Grace told me,’ Caroline said. ‘There’s no village hall for them to meet in, Daddy.’

‘Oh, of course, the pub fire. I’d forgotten the hall was damaged too.’ He looked down at his paws. ‘I’m afraid I don’t often go into the village. I’ve found it difficult to meet people, to be honest. I didn’t know how I’d handle it if they started asking questions, so I kept out of their way. I realise now how stupid that was. Everyone must have thought I was being stand-offish.’

‘Oh, well, I wouldn’t say that…’ Sarah began, but her mouth was twitching at the corners.

He smiled and shrugged. He looked so much nicer when he smiled.

‘I can’t blame them. But now you and the children, and the other families, are being so good to us, I’ve realised, well…’ He hesitated, then admitted, ‘I guess it wasn’t just Caroline who was desperately in need of some good neighbours. You must let me know if I can do anything in return.’

‘There’s no need, honestly. We’re happy to help.’

‘Thank you, again.’ He turned to go. Halfway out of the door, he swung round and looked back at Sarah.

‘So there’snowhere for all the Brownies to meet together? Nowhere else in the village?’

‘No. Not just the Brownies. None of the groups and clubs have anywhere to meet. But it’s funny how we’ve all somehow managed to get around it. People in the village have become so good at improvising and co-operating with each other – we’ve actually all benefited from the situation, in a way. Small groups have been getting together in each other’s homes, drawing up rotas, even making new friends.’

‘But we can’t have a Christmas party this year,’ Grace said sadly.

‘No.’ Sarah shook her head. ‘All the Christmas parties and meals have had to be cancelled. The pensioners, the WI, the playgroup, mums-and-babies group– obviously nobody has room to cater for the numbers that would be involved.’

‘I see.’ Julian paused, looking around him. ‘But we do.’

‘Pardon?’

‘I said,we do.’ His eyes went suddenly brighter, like he’d just seen a nice juicy mouse running past. ‘We’ve got empty rooms in this house, rooms that I haven’t even got around to furnishing. We’ve got an enormous greatballroom, for God’s sake!All the clubs could have their parties in there, and it still probably wouldn’t be crowded. In fact,’ he went on, sounding so excited now, Caroline had sat upright in surprise, and Laura and Sarah both had their mouths hanging open, staring at him, ‘in fact, why don’t we just have the whole village here together? Make it a huge village family party? Let’s do it! I’ve got a colleague who used to moonlight as a DJ – he’s still got all his equipment. I know he’ll do me a favour if I ask him. Let’s start at teatime, so all the children can come. How about Christmas Eve? A lot of people will have finished work early.’

‘Oh, Daddy!’ Caroline was squealing. ‘Can I come? Please, please, can I come? I won’t even have to leave the house. And Laura will be here to look after me. And I can see Grace and Rose and the other Brownies.’

‘Yes, of course you can. But you’ll have to remember you still get very tired. You won’t be able to run around like the other children.’

Caroline bounced up and down on the sofa, her cheeks all pink with excitement.

‘But…’ Sarah had gone a bit pink too. ‘Mr Smythe, honestly, you can’t…’

‘Julian, for goodness’ sake, and yes I can. Iwant to. It’s the least I can do, to make up for being so unsociable and rude.’

‘But what about food, Julian?’ Laura asked, looking worried. ‘It’s such short notice. I mean, I’ll help, but there’s not much time for shopping or cooking.’

‘Hmm, that’s a point. Might be too late to organise caterers,’ he said, frowning.

‘Perhaps we should leave it until after Christmas,’ Laura suggested.

‘But I’d like to make it a Christmas party,’ Julian insisted. ‘Where’s your sense of fun, Laura?’ He laughed. ‘It’ll be great – spontaneous! I’ll just have to drive into town and load up with lots of party food.’

‘No!’ Sarah stood up now, shaking her head. ‘Absolutely not. If you really want to do this – and honestly, I agree it’s a bit rushed! – we certainly can’t let you go to the trouble and expense of providing food. There are too many of us. We’ll sort it out together, like we’ve beendoing, with notices on the notice board, and with phone calls, emails, and notes through people’s doors, and we’ll all bring something along. Plates of sausage rolls, sandwiches, cakes – everyone who comes will rustle up or buy something quickly.’

He started to protest, but Laura stopped him.

‘It’s actually a good idea, Julian,’ she said. ‘People won’t feel so embarrassed about coming, if they contribute.’

‘Oh, I suppose that’s a point. All right, then, but please tell them the contributions are voluntary. And I’ll provide drinks. Soft drinks for kids, wine and beer for the adults who want it. I insist! It’s the first thing I’ve contributed to village life, and not before time.’ He grinned at Laura. ‘I’m looking forward to this. It’s…’ He coughed, and took a deep breath. ‘It’s the first thing I’ve looked forward to for a long while.’

‘Perhaps the first of many,’ Laura said quietly, and they gave each other that long look again.

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, Daddy, why don’t you just kiss her?’ Caroline said. ‘It’s been obvious for ages that you want to.’

And everyone burst out laughing. *

When Sarah was ready to leave, I decided to go with them. Grace and Rose lingered over their goodbyes to Caroline, while I followed Julian and Sarah out into the hall.

‘Just a thought,’ Sarah said very quietly to Julian. ‘If youdo decide to get Caroline a cat after Christmas, we happen to know someone whose cat’s having kittens soon. We’re actually getting one ourselves. We went to see the couple last night, and they’ll be wanting to re-home all but one of the kittens. If you’re sure about this party, and they come, I’ll introduce you.’

‘Thank you. Yes,’ he said, ‘I think, now I’ve got over the shock of seeing Oliver with her, it would be very good for Caroline. And I like the idea of having a kitten from someone in the village.’

‘I’m glad. You know, a lot of what’s happened here seems to have come about because of Oliver. Since he’s been with us, things seem to have … fallen into place, somehow.’ She laughed. ‘My neighbour thinks he’s got magical qualities.’

‘Maybe he has. People used to believe that about cats, didn’t they, in medieval times? Thought they were associated with witches or something.’

I have no idea what witches are, little Charlie, or whether I’d want to be associated with them. All I knew was, I didn’t particularly feel magical. But Iwas, after all, beginning to feel like I really could be the Cat Who Saved Christmas.

CHAPTER TWENTY SIX

Those next few days, there was such a flurry of activity everywhere, I felt like wherever I went, people were tripping over me. Everyone in the village seemed to be shopping in a hurry, cooking in a hurry, wrapping things up in a hurry. And at the Big House it was even worse, with Julian and Laura and Harry rushing around putting up decorations and balloons and big tables andanother big Christmas tree in the huge empty room they called the ballroom. I couldn’t quite work out why it was called a ballroom when there wasn’t a single ball in there to play with, but what did I know?

And then it was Christmas Eve, and everyone was even busier. The children were beside themselves with excitement. Almost every time Sarah opened her mouth it was to tell them that if they didn’t calm down and behave themselves, Father Christmas wouldn’t be coming. I tried to keep out of her way, as she ran around the kitchen with pots and pans, getting flustered and red in the face. But finally it was time to get ready for the party, and to my delight, Sarah told me I was invited too.

‘You’re one of the guests of honour,’ she said, tying a piece of red Christmas ribbon round my neck, over my collar.

I normally hated wearing fussy things like that, but I was too excited about the party to care.

And then, just as everyone was getting their coats on ready to leave … George turned up.

I’m sure I don’t have to tell you, do I, Charlie, how overjoyed I was! When I saw him come into the hallway I went a little bit crazy, walking round and round his legs, and rubbing my cheek against him madly to show him he still belonged to me. I know some cats treat their humans with disdain ifthey feel they’ve been neglected – walking away from them, twitching their tails – but I’ve never been able to hide my feelings like that. When George bent down and picked me up, I must have been the happiest cat in the world. I blinked so many kisses at him, I made my eyes hurt. Grace and Rose were shrieking with laughter at how loud I was purring.

‘I’m sorry I haven’t managed to get down here before now,’ he was saying. ‘I’ve been so busy in the new job. But I’ve brought all of you a few treats for Christmas, to make up for it – and another payment for Ollie’s board and lodging of course, for you and next door.’

He put some bags of exciting-looking gift-wrapped parcels down on the table, then turned and looked at us all again– the children with their coats zipped up, me in my silly bow, Sarah with containers of food ready to take with us.

‘Oh, I’m so sorry. You’re just going out.’

‘It’s fine, George. Stay and have a coffee or something. There’s no rush,’ Martin said, giving a warning look to the children, who were shuffling their paws impatiently.

‘Oh,Daddy,’ little Rose said. ‘Everyone will be there before us.’

‘It’s just a village party,’ Sarah explained apologetically. ‘A last-minute thing, actually.’

‘Really? That’s nice. Whose party?’

‘You’ll never believe it.’ Sarah laughed. ‘It’s at the Big House. Julian Smythe has invited the whole village.’

‘Never!’

‘Yes!’ She glanced at Martin and then added, ‘Actually, George, why don’t you join us? Nicky and Daniel next door are coming too – they’ll be calling for us any minute now. We can tell you the whole story on the way there.’

‘Oh, no. I couldn’t. I haven’t been invited.’

‘Yes you have,’ Martin said. ‘You’re part of the village –everyone’s invited. We’re all taking food with us. Come on, mate, it’ll be great to have your company. Everyone’ll be really chuffed to see you.’

So, together with Nicky and Daniel, we all set off up the hill. George even carried me the whole way– not because I couldn’t walk, of course, but because I couldn’t bear for him to put me down, even for a minute. I knew he’d soon be going back to London again and it might be a long time before he came back. *

I can’t tell you too much about the party, Charlie, except that the music was very noisy, all the children were very noisy, and lots of people seemed to be hugging each other and eating and drinking a lot. I’m afraid I put my paws over my ears and fell asleep on George’s lap, and when I eventuallywoke up, I’d been put on a chair in a quiet corner of the hall, with one of the children’s coats over me to keep me warm. I was happy to let George carry me home again.

I think it was quite late by the time the children had been tucked up in bed. This, by the way, was a longer process than usual, with strange rituals being carried out involving a glass of sherry and a mince pie being left on the fireplace, and stockings hung at the ends of both their beds, and a lot of giggling– none of which I could make any sense of. Then, after a last cup of coffee and chat with Sarah and Martin, George had to say goodbye to us all again. I went off to bed and tried not to cry. This time I felt a little more certain that he’d be back again. *

When I woke up, it was quite obvious it was Christmas morning. The girls were shouting their heads off about the new toys they’d got, and next to my bed was a little red stocking full of cat treats, a catnip toy with jingly bells and feathers on, and a squeaky toy mouse.

‘It’s from George, Ollie,’ Grace said when she came into the kitchen and saw me poking my nose into it. ‘But we’ve bought you some presents too. They’re under the tree. Happy Christmas!’

Dear George. And there was I, thinking Father Christmas must have been real after all. *

Just after breakfast, a big car stopped outside Nicky and Daniel’s house. I sat on Sarah’s windowsill and watched as a male, a female and two quite large human kittens got out of the car carrying a lot of bags between them, and went in through the front door.

Sarah had been watching too.‘Nicky’s parents and brothers are here,’ she called out to Martin. ‘Oh, I do hope it’s all going to go smoothly for them.’

But of course, we had no idea whether it was going smoothly or roughly– not until much later, after everyone had opened more presents, eaten their Christmas dinner and pulled apart some really horrible things calledcrackers. They made a loud bang which sent me scuttling out to the kitchen and set the children off in fits of laughter. I really couldn’t see what the point of that was.

It seemed a long day. They watched a lady calledQueen on television, who did nothing but sit in a chair and talk, so I didn’t know why it seemed so important, then they played games and ate chocolate, and later ate sandwiches and cake, and finally Grace and Rose looked like they were going to fall asleep where they sat, so they were packed off to bed. *

I’d had my own dinner and was just thinking about going to settle down for the night, when there was a little light tap on the door, and Martin let in Nicky and Daniel, followed by their whole family. I immediately scarpered behind the sofa, anxious about the strange males.

‘Oh, is this the cat you were telling us about?’ one of the young males asked Nicky – and she laughed, and came to pick me up. She introduced me to everyone at the same time as introducing her family to Sarah and Martin.

‘Ollie’s our good luck cat,’ Daniel said, quite seriously. ‘All the good things that have happened recently – well, he seems to have been involved somehow.’

‘We must get to know him, then,’ the female said, giving me a little stroke. She seemed quite nice. I wondered what all the fuss had been about. ‘And you, of course,’ she added to Sarah and Martin. ‘We’ve heard so much about you both. I understand from my daughter that you’ve been extremely kind to them since they moved in.’

‘We’re enjoying their friendship, that’s all,’ Sarah said.

‘Well, I can’t thank you enough for offering to put us up overnight like this. But we’ve brought some presents for your little girls, and a couple of bottles of wine.’

‘You didn’t have to do that,’ Martin said. ‘Please, sit down, everyone, and I’ll get you all a drink. Have you had a good day together?’

‘Yes. Definitely!’ Nicky’s mum smiled. ‘We’re thrilled to hear Nicky and Daniel’s news, of course.’

Nicky was grinning like a Cheshire cat. Not that I’ve ever seen a Cheshire cat, Charlie, but apparently they grin, which is rather strange, as most cats can’t.

‘At first we were worried,’ her dad said. ‘I mean, they’re so young, and, well, they haven’t had a very good start, which was partly our fault.’

‘No it wasn’t, Dad,’ Nicky said, but he held up a paw and went on:

‘Yes. Our fault for not trusting the pair of you to make a go of it – not believing in you. To be honest, we didn’t think it would last. We underestimated you both.’

‘We’re not out of the woods yet,’ Daniel murmured.

‘Maybe not, but we can see now that you’re both doing your best, that you’re committed to making it work. Perhaps itis a bit soon to be having the baby, but from what we’ve heard and seen today, if anybody can make a go of it, you two will. With Nicky’s new job…’

‘That’ssuch a relief,’ her mum said quietly to Sarah. ‘I’d have been so worried at the thought of her travelling up to London every day with a tiny baby.’

‘Yes. And Daniel getting all these recommendations for work in the field he wasalways cut out for– well, we can only hope things are going to steadily improve for you both now, and good for you. You deserve it.’

‘They certainly do,’ Sarah agreed.

‘So, now we’ve seen how hard they’re both working, and with the baby on the way – it’s so exciting, our first grandchild,’ the mum went on, ‘the next step will be for them to buy a home of their own.’

Nicky and Daniel were beaming at each other.

‘If we can find somewhere suitable – something small, of course, but with a little garden for when the baby’s growing up – Mum and Dad are going to lend us the deposit,’ Nicky said. ‘Isn’t that wonderful?’

Nicky’s dad winked at Martin. ‘We won’t be expecting them to pay us back in a hurry. Perhaps when we’re old and grey and we need help ourselves.’

‘And,’ Nicky’s mum added, ‘we’re going to help them plan their wedding. If we’d realised they were only putting off getting married because they couldn’t afford it, we’d have offered to help sooner.’

‘We only want a quiet affair, Mum,’ Nicky said. ‘It won’t have to cost the earth.’

‘But you’ll need a bit of help with the cost, whatever. And if we couldn’t do that, for our only daughter, it’d be a poor show, wouldn’t it.’

‘Well,’ Sarah said, raising her glass. ‘I think this all definitely calls for a toast. To Nicky and Daniel – and the baby.’ They all took a sip of their drinks. ‘I hope you won’t move too far away, though,’ she added. ‘We’d miss you.’

‘No. We need to stay in the village. We’ve both got work here now,’ Daniel said. ‘Any idea if there are any houses for sale?’

‘Oh!’ Sarah suddenly sat up in her chair. ‘Yes, of course, I do know of one. It’s Barbara Griggs’s cottage. You know she’s moving in with Stan Middleton when they get married next month? TheFor Sale sign has only just gone up. It’s not much bigger than your place next door, but thereare two bedrooms, and yes, a little garden. And between you and me, it will need a bit of work. Just decorating, mainly.’

‘I’d be happy to do that,’ Daniel said immediately.

‘I’d come over and help you,’ Nicky’s dad said. ‘You’ll be busy with your motor business.’

‘I could give you a hand too,’ Martin said.

‘The point is, I suspect they’ll take an offer, because it needs doing up. Why don’t you see if you can go round and have a look after the holiday?’ Sarah suggested.

‘Oh, yes, we will, definitely. If we like it, it’d be perfect,’ Nicky said. ‘A bedroom for the baby. And a proper little garden.’

Everyone seemed so happy and excited, I didn’t think they’d notice me creeping up to the little low table where Sarah had placed some very tempting dishes of snacks, including my favourite – little cubes of cheese. I stretched up with my two front paws on the table and was just about to grab a bit of cheese when the smaller one of the boys started giggling. Everyone looked round and to my embarrassment, I was caught in the act of trying to scamper off with the cheese in my mouth.

‘Oh, Ollie!’ Sarah laughed. At least she wasn’t cross. ‘I shouldn’t have left all this food within your reach, should I? Are you hungry, boy? Or could you just not resist the cheese?’

‘I think he’s earned a few extra treats, don’t you?’ Martin said.

‘Yes, I agree.’ Daniel nodded, looking quite serious. He waited until Martin had got my food dish from the kitchen and started putting some cheese in it especially for me. ‘Whatever you all say, I still believe Oliver’s somehow helped turn things around for us,’ he went on. ‘I might have saved him from being stuck up the tree that day, but in return, it’s like he’s pretty much saved our lives.’

‘Saved yourlives? Exaggeration, or what, Daniel?’ piped up the bigger of the two boys.

‘All right,’ Nicky said, ‘let’s put it this way – if nothing else, there’s no denying he’s certainly savedChristmas– for us, and probably for the whole village.’

‘Definitely for young Caroline at the Big House,’ Sarah added, and everyone murmured their agreement.

‘So I’d like to suggest another toast,’ Daniel said, topping up Nicky’s glass with more lemonade. ‘Here’s to Oliver – our very special shared house guest. The Cat Who Saved Christmas!’

And they all raised their glasses, smiling at me, and joined in:‘To Oliver!’ ‘Here’s to Oliver!’

If I’d been a human, I’d have been crying with happiness. But even if theydid think I was very special, at the end of the day I’m still just a little cat. So I just finished my cheese, blinked kisses at them all and washed my whiskers before taking myself off to bed.

I’d done it, Charlie – they all said I had. Who’d have thought it? A little cat like me – after everything that had happened to me. I really was the Cat Who Saved Christmas.

EPILOGUE

Of course, the story doesn’t end there, Charlie. Not quite.

Through all the freezing cold weather that came after Christmas, even when the snow came and I had to scamper through it with icy paws, I kept going back to the Big House to see Caroline. I saw her lovely golden fur grow back thick and shiny, her skinny little paws grow plumper and stronger, and her pale cheeks starting to turn a healthy pink. By the time the weather began to warm up again, she’d turned into a proper little girl, running around the house, laughing and shouting and playing with her friends. And with me.

But I’m getting ahead of myself now. Back at Sarah and Martin’s house, something very important happened during those cold winter days. Their new kitten came home. The whole family went out together to collect her, and when they came back, Grace was carrying her very carefully in a cardboard box. Sarah closed all the doors and then they put the box down and let her out.

‘Keep Ollie away for the first little while,’ she told the children. ‘We don’t want her to be frightened.’

As if I, of all cats, was going to frighten a poor little kitten. I knew just how it felt to be tiny and defenceless in a scary new place. I sulked in my chair in the lounge, listening to the children’s excited voices, imagining the little newcomer scurrying around the kitchen, wondering where she was, who these new humans were, and what had happened to her mother and her siblings. It brought back sad memories for me. Butthis new little kitten had come to a good home straight away. She was going to have a happy start in life.

Of course, she soon settled in, and quickly got used to me, too. I liked having her snuggle up with me in my bed. She was a bright little thing. Pretty soon she understood enough Cat for me to start giving her the benefit of my experience and teaching her about the human world. They called her Nancy. Apparently that was the name of someone in a book, a book about an Oliver.

‘All we need now is an Artful Dodger,’ Martin said. Sarah laughed, but I had no idea what he was talking about. *

Not long after Nancy arrived, I was on one of my regular visits to Caroline when I heard a little squeaking noise coming from the kitchen. I sat up straight, ears erect and twitching. For a minute I thought Nancy must have followed me all the way there. I must have imagined it– it had sounded just like a kitten crying.

‘Come and see, Oliver,’ Caroline said, her eyes bright with excitement. ‘Be very gentle, though.’

I followed her into the kitchen, across the wide stone floor, and there, by the big old cooker that seemed to be turned on, belting out heat all day every day throughout the winter, was a furry cat bed just like the one I had. And sitting in the middle of the bed, looking a bit lost, was a tiny kitten. He looked even smaller than Nancy, but it might have been because the bed was too big for him. And whereas you could already see Nancy was going to be a beauty, with her mother Suki’s sleek shiny fur and creamy colouring, this little fellow looked like he’d been born with a cheeky expression on his face. He glanced up at me, his head on one side, one ear up and the other down, let out another little squeak and then clambered out of the bed, tripping over his own paws. He came right up to me, bold as brass, and began to rub his face against my legs. I couldn’t believe it – it was like looking at a miniature version of my old friend. There was no doubt about it, he was quite clearly Tabby’s son.

I couldn’t help feeling fond of the little chap. He was certainly never going to lack for anything, this one – he’d fallen on his paws, all right, living in this beautiful house, with these lovely humans. But if he looked for a father figure, a good upright male cat to guide him as he grew up – well, Tabby certainly wasn’t going to be around to do that. I made up my mind there and then that I’d take this little kitten under my own paw and tell him all he needed to know. Starting with my own life story, of course.

Yes, of course, that was you, Charlie– that was our first meeting. As you know, Nancy’s your sister. Suki was your mother, and unfortunately for you, Tabby was your dad. I’m only joking, he’s not a bad sort really. You could do worse than grow up like him, I suppose – you’re already like him in so many ways. *

Ever since that day, I’ve been coming back to see you, haven’t I. Well, all right, I apologise – I know it’s been a bit of a while this time. I’ve been a very busy cat. I’ve obviously had to spend time every day inspecting the rebuilding of my pub, and I’m happy to say that last week we moved back in. Yes – I’m back where I belong, with George, and if you’d ever been lost or homeless you’d understand why I’m so happy. And the thing is, you see, I still have to visit my friends at my two foster homes, because they keep telling me they miss me. And I need to do a tour of the village every day to make sure all my other human friends are getting along OK.

But look at you now! Have you had a couple of growth spurts since we last met? You must be almost fully grown by now. I’ll certainly never be able to call youLittle Kitten again. You do realise you’ll probably end up growing bigger than me, don’t you? You’re quite the young man about town now, I suppose. And with that cheeky way about you, I daresay you’ll be getting all the female cats’ hearts racing, just like that old rascal Tabby still seems to do. But I hope you’ll always remember what a lucky cat you are, to be living here. It was always a cat’s paradise, with those huge grounds and these big rooms to run around in, but everything’s so much nicer here now that Laura’s finished furnishing it and making it really homely. Julian’s a good, kind male – who’d have guessed how much he actually does like cats, after all. And of course, you love Caroline, don’t you. Everyone says how quickly she got better after you came to live with her.

Where are they, by the way? In the sitting room? Come on, then, let’s go and see them. *

Ah, just look at them! Do they do that all the time? Sitting snuggled up together on the sofa like two cats curled up in their basket? Why do they keep looking at each other and grinning like that? To think, I used to wonder whether Laura had something wrong with her when she said she liked Julian. I’m glad she’s moved in. It’s nice to see them so happy together, isn’t it – nice for Caroline, too.

Caroline’s pleased to see us – look, she’s coming over to play with us now.

Hello, Caroline. Ha! It still makes you laugh when I rub myself around your legs like this, doesn’t it. Sorry if it tickles, but I just can’t help it – it’s so lovely to see you up on your two back paws all the time. Yes, I’ve come to talk to Charlie, but I’m here to seeyou as well. You say you’re excited about Christmas?

Surely it’s not going to be another Christmas again, so soon? It’ll be your first one, Charlie. Now, remember what I told you about the Christmas tree. You’re going to want to play with those baubles. They’re irresistible. You might have to sit on your paws to stop yourself. You say they’re bringing the tree in tomorrow? You saw Harry chopping it down outside? Oh, listen – they’re just talking about it now.

‘I don’t mind where we put it, Julian,’ Laura says. ‘In here, or in the ballroom. You decide.’

‘I don’t mind either,’ he says, looking back into her eyes with that silly smile. ‘I want everything the wayyou’d like it this Christmas, darling. No expense spared. Decorations everywhere. We’re celebrating Caroline’s recovery – and us all being together.’ *

And look who else is here! It’s Nicky, with baby Benjamin. He’s getting big now. Do you like him, Charlie? Yes, I know he makes a lot of squealing and squawking noises, but he can’t help that, you used to do it yourself.

It’s nice that Nicky has come to visit Caroline, with the baby. Look how Caroline enjoys fussing over him. Nicky’s put him down on the carpet so she can play with him. So she often comes here when she’s not looking after Freya and Henry? Ah, I see – she’s got friendly with Laura. They like to have a chat together. It looks like Julian’s going to leave them alone to talk. Perhaps he’s going off to do someSaturday pottering like Martin does.

‘How’s the house coming on, Nicky?’ Laura’s asking her now.

‘Slowly!’ She laughs. ‘But we’re getting there. We’re going to put a new kitchen in after Christmas – we’ve been saving up, and Dad’s going to help. Daniel’s so busy with the car repair business.’

‘I hear he’s going part-time at the shop in London now?’

‘Yes. He’s hoping to give it up altogether eventually. He’s got dreams of having his own workshop one day, and employing an apprentice.’ She gives another little laugh. ‘Good to have dreams, I suppose.’

‘I hope they come true. For both of you,’ Laura says, squeezing Nicky’s hand. ‘It’s good to see you looking so happy.’

‘And you,’ Nicky says. ‘I’m so glad it’s going well, Laura. Julian’s a good man.’

‘Yes.’ Laura’s cheeks go pink and she’s smiling to herself. ‘It’s going to be a wonderful Christmas. He’s determined to make everything perfect. For Caroline – for all of us. A celebration. It’s been a good year.’

‘Yes, it has,’ Nicky agrees. ‘Who’d have thought, this time last year, that Daniel and I would be married and living in our own home with our baby by now? It’s been a really special year.’

‘For me, too,’ I meow at them, in case they’d forgotten me – and they both turn and smile.

‘He always looks as if he’s trying to tell us something,’ Laura says. ‘I wish I knew what he was thinking.’

It just doesn’t seem to occur to them, you see, Charlie? If they’d only put themselves out a bit, and learn to speak some Cat! But however much they love us, and care for us and try to understand us, as far as I know not a single human has ever done it. Never mind, you’ll just have to do what we all do – listen to their conversations in Human and let them think there’s something unusual about you because you can understand them. One day, you might even have an important job yourself, like me – saving Christmas … or something else … for your humans. If not in this life – maybe in one ofthe other eight. Who knows? That may not be a myth, after all.

2. CHARLIE THE KITTEN WHO SAVED A LIFE

CHAPTER ONE

OK, settle down, you lot. My friend Oliver here says you’re all desperate to hear my story, so please come out from behind the dustbins for a minute and stop fighting over that dead sparrow. Now, before we start, I know that some of you still think of me as a silly little tabby kitten who barely knows his tail from his whiskers, but I’ve had to grow up a lot during this summer, and you’ll understand why when you hear my story. Oliver, could you let my sisters sit next to you in case they get frightened? That’s right, Nancy. Yes, snuggle up to Oliver, Tabitha. I do feel a bit protective of you both, you see, even though we spend our lives living with separate human families. And if there are anyreally little kittens listening, or any scaredy-cats– sorry, I mean any cats of a nervous disposition – you may need to cover your ears with your paws at certain parts. No, Tabitha, I didn’t meanyet. I haven’t even started. I’ll tell you when we get to a scary part.

Where should I begin? Well, I suppose I should start with the day I found out about the holiday. Of course, back then, before it all happened, I had no idea what a holiday was. The first I heard about it was when my human, Julian, came home from work one evening and announced:

‘Right. I’ve booked a holiday.’

His female, Laura, just looked up at him, her eyes all cloudy with tiredness. I felt sorry for her, because I knew she hadn’t been getting much sleep. None of us had.

‘Oh, Julian,’ she said, sighing. ‘It’s a nice idea, but how on earth can we go on holiday at the moment? With all the bits and pieces we’d need to take for the baby?’

Right on cue, the baby, Jessica, who was upstairs in her little white basket, supposedly asleep, began to mew at the top of her voice. You know the sweet, soft little squeaky noises we make when we’re new-born kittens? Well, trust me, this was nothing like it. Human kittens, as I’d now learned only too well, make the most terrible din you can imagine. They howl. Their little faces go red, their mouths open so wide they seem to fill their whole face, and they scream. It happens when they want milk, but it also seems to happen for no apparent reason, any time, day or night. No wonder poor Laura looked exhausted.

‘I’ll go,’ Julian said, throwing his jacket on a chair and heading up the stairs. I trotted up after him. He hadn’t said hello to me yet. I meowed at him a bit and jumped round his feet while he lifted Jessica out of her basket, but he just said, ‘Mind out of the way, Charlie. I don’t want to drop the baby.’

The baby, the baby. It was all I heard about, these days! I mean, she was cute, I supposed, when she wasn’t yelling, but what about me? I wasn’t getting my share of cuddles anymore, and there had even been times when they’d forgotten all about my dinner. I’d had to walk round and round my empty dish so many times, calling for attention, I ended up getting dizzy.

Still ignoring me, Julian carried the baby out of the little pink room where she slept and past the door of Caroline’s bedroom. Caroline, our big human kitten, had had what her father called agrowth spurt recently. If she’d been a cat, I’d have said she was more or less fully grown, but humans seem to stay kittens for much longer than we do. She spent a lot of time in her bedroom, especially since the baby had arrived. I sneaked in there with her as often as I could. She was the only one who still seemed to have time to cuddle me.

‘Hello, Caroline!’ Julian called out, pausing outside her door and tapping on it gently. ‘Come downstairs, I’ve got something exciting to tell you.’

I waited for her outside her door, and after a bit she came out and trudged down the stairs alongside me.

‘What is it?’ she asked. She didn’t look like someone who was about to be told something exciting. In fact Julian was the only one looking remotely excited. As usual, nobody was tellingme what was going on so I just had to listen carefully to their Human chat and try to pick up some clues.

‘I’ve booked us a holiday,’ Julian said again. He smiled, obviously pleased with himself. He’d been standing jiggling the squawking baby in his arms, and now he placed her on Laura’s lap so that she could feed her.

‘Oh, cool!’ Caroline said, brightening up. ‘Where are we going? Is it Florida? One of the girls at school went there last year.’

‘Florida?’ Julian echoed, staring at her. ‘No, of course not. We can’t go somewhere like that with a three-month-old baby.’

‘Oh.’ Caroline’s mouth turned down again. ‘Typical. Everything’s abouther now.’

‘Caroline!’ Julian said, giving her a warning look. ‘That’s not true, at all—’

‘So, where are we going?’ she interrupted.

‘Mudditon-on-Sea.’

There was silence. Even baby Jessica was quiet now she was being fed. Caroline just stared back at her father, while Laura shook her head as if she couldn’t quite believe it.

‘But it’ll be lovely!’ Julian said, looking from one of them to the other. ‘I’ve booked us a beautiful holiday cottage for the whole of August.’

‘The whole of August?’ Caroline gasped.

‘Yes! Look,’ he said, turning to Laura, ‘I know how hard it’s been for you. The pregnancy wasn’t easy, the Caesarean left you exhausted, and the baby’s been hard work—’

‘How can you possibly take a whole month off?’ Laura said.

‘Oh.’ Julian sat down next to her, his smile fading. ‘Well, I’m not, exactly. I’ll just spend the first week with you all, then of course I’ll have to come back.’

‘And go back to work.’

‘Yes, but I’ll come down for weekends. You can enjoy the sea air, darling, and get lots of rest.’

‘Rest? In a self-catering cottage?’ she said quietly. ‘I’ll still have to do everything, Julian, the baby won’t stop being demanding just because we’re at the seaside, and you won’t even be there to help.’

‘AndI’m not coming!’ Caroline said, her face all red and cross. ‘I don’t want to spend the whole school holiday at boring Mudditon-on-Sea. My friends are all planning stuff. Going into town on the bus and going to the cinema and things, and I’ll be the only one not around!’

With which she stomped back upstairs and slammed her bedroom door.

Julian got to his feet, looking upset.

‘Leave her,’ Laura said. ‘She’ll come round.’

‘I’m sorry,’ he said, spreading his paws out helplessly. ‘I’ve got it all wrong, haven’t I? I’d better cancel it.’

‘No, don’t.’ She looked up at him now, smiling. ‘Sorry I wasn’t more excited, love. I’m just so tired, I can’t think straight.’

‘I thought it’d be a nice surprise. We all need a break. Things have been so tense recently. I’m worried about Caroline, she’s looking pale and sad all the time, and she keeps shutting herself away upstairs. I thought the sea air would do everyone some good.’

‘I know. Itis a nice idea. I’m sure we’ll have fun.’

Her smile looked a bit strange, like she didn’t really mean it. Julian went upstairs again to get changed, and I jumped up on the sofa next to her. She looked at me over the top of the baby’s head.

‘Notreally my idea of fun, Charlie,’ she whispered. ‘On my own with a crying baby and a sulky girl who doesn’t want to come. But what can I do? I don’t want to hurt his feelings.’

I meowed back at her and she took one hand away from the baby to pat me gently on the head. But like all humans, she didn’t understand Cat, so she didn’t know I was trying to say something very important to her:‘What about me? Who’s going to look after me while you’re away? Doesn’t anyone think about me anymore?’

The next day, when Julian had gone to work and Caroline was at school, Laura’s friend Nicky came round with her baby, Benjamin. Benjamin was a lot bigger than our Jessica, and was now managing to stand on his back paws and do a funny sort of walk for a few steps before he fell over. It beats me why humans bother with all that effort of walking on two paws. What’s the point? I’ve tried it, several times, but it just doesn’t work. It seems like the most unnatural thing in the world.

I liked Nicky. She always made a fuss of me, playing with me and scratching me on the head and under the chin just the way I like, making me purr with pleasure.

‘So, is Caroline excited about it?’ Nicky asked when Laura had finished telling her about the holiday.

‘No. She’s not happy at all.’ Laura sighed, shaking her head. ‘She told Julian she doesn’t want to come and she’s hardly spoken a word to either of us since. She’s gone off to school in a huff this morning.’

‘Well, I suppose a whole monthis a long time. She’ll probably miss her friends. She’s getting to an age where her friends are just as important to her as her family.’

‘I know. And of course, she’s already cross enough about September when she’s going to a different school from her friends in the village. I really hope we’re doing the right thing, Nicky, sending her to the private school. It’s been so nice seeing how she’s made friends now, after all that time off being so lonely while she was ill.’

That was before I came to live with them, but I knew all about it from Oliver, because he used to visit the family before I was born. Caroline had been very poorly, and apparently Laura had been her nurse until Julian decided he wanted her as his female.

‘She’ll come round. She’ll make new friends easily enough once she starts at St Margaret’s,’ Nicky said, and Laura sighed again.

‘I do hope so. We’re quite worried about her, to be honest. She seems so tired and listless all the time these days. Almost everything I say, she snaps my head off. I asked her to tidy her room a few days ago and she said“You can’t tell me what to do, you’re not my mother.”’

‘Oh dear. That must have been hurtful.’

‘Well, I guess she must still think about her mum. It’s only natural, even though Caroline was quite little when she died. I’ve never tried to take her place.’

‘I know. And she does love you really, Laura. Perhaps she’s just feeling tired. It’s the end of term – all the kids are probably ready for a break.’

‘Yes, that’s true. Anyway she’s got her check-up at the hospital next week. We’re going to ask her consultant to run some tests.’

‘Really? You’re that worried?’ Nicky took hold of Laura’s paw. ‘You don’t think the leukaemia has come back?’

‘That’s what we’re frightened of, obviously,’ Laura said quietly. ‘It’s hard not to fear the worst. She’s only been in remission for a year.’

Nicky put her arm round Laura. I could tell I wasn’t going to get stroked anymore so I jumped down and ran off to play outside. As you know, my house is the one they call The Big House, so I have a lot of lovely grounds within my territory, a lot of borders to patrol to make sure none of you lot sneak in without my permission. It’s quite a responsibility. It was a lovely warm day, with all sorts of wonderful scents in the air, and dopy insects and birds out of their trees and bushes, so I was having fun jumping around, chasing my shadow in the sunshine, and I must have been gone longer than I thought.

When I finally returned, they were all home. And to my disgust, nobody took the slightest notice of me again, because there was another argument going on.

‘I can’tbelieve you’re going to do that!’ Caroline was saying crossly to her father. ‘Howcould you? He’ll hate it!’

‘No he won’t,’ Julian said. ‘It’ll be like a holiday for him.’

Oh, more talk about holidays. I didn’t want to hear it. I just wanted my dinner. I meowed loudly at them all, walking around them and flicking my tail.

Laura looked down at me, frowning.

‘Perhaps I could ask Nicky if she and Dan could look after him,’ she said. ‘Although itis a whole month. It’s a bit much.’

I stopped meowing abruptly. Were they talking aboutme?

‘No. I’ve said, he can go to the cattery,’ Julian said. ‘He’ll be fine.’

The cattery? I felt my fur begin to stand on end. Oliver had told me about that place. I’ll never forget the story, it’s haunted me ever since. You really want to hear it, Nancy? Well, it was apparently our father – Oliver’s friend Tabby – who was sent to the cattery once, when his humans went away. He said it was the worst experience of his nine lives. He was kept in a cage, day and night, with just a bed and a litter tray. And although there were lots of other cats there, he couldn’t see them, he just smelt their fear and heard them crying. He wasn’t allowed out to hunt, and although he was fed regularly he felt too stressed to eat much. Apparently the humans wholooked after him there were friendly, and gave him plenty of strokes and cuddles, but he didn’t know whether to trust them or not, and had no idea whether he was ever going home again. He had nothing in the cage that smelt of home or his humans, and by the time they finally came back to collect him he was so upset he wouldn’t have anything to do with them for days – he went off on his own and they thought he’d run away. Of course, eventually he gave in because he was so hungry, but Oliver said it took him a long time to get over it.

Yes, it’s a horrible story, isn’t it? So, as you can imagine, when I heard the cattery being mentioned, I let out a long, mournful cry of distress. Caroline dived on me and picked me up, holding me tight. Her eyes looked all wet.

‘That’s justgreat,’ she said, although I didn’t think it was, at all. ‘Not only are you taking me away from all my friends for awhole month, just before I have to say goodbye to them forever to go to that stupid new school– but now you’re even taking my cat away from me! It’s so unfair!’

I agreed. It was. I didn’t want to go to the cattery. I wondered if I should run away before they took me there. Caroline started to cry, and I joined in.

‘Oh, for heaven’s sake,’ said Julian. ‘What do you want me to do? We can’t take him with us.’

‘Can’t we?’ Laura said quietly. She put a paw on Julian’s arm. ‘It might be a better option.’

‘How?’ he demanded. ‘You can’t just take a cat to a strange place. He’ll run off and get lost. Is that what you want?’ he asked, turning to Caroline.

‘No!’ she said. ‘I don’t wantany of it! I don’t want to come! I’ll stay at home with Charlie.’

‘Julian, I’m sure we could manage it,’ Laura said. ‘He’s been neutered, so he’s not so likely to stray.’

‘But we’d still have to keep all the doors and windows shut the whole time – and in summer too! It’s just not realistic. He’ll get out and get lost.’

‘We’ll have to make sure he doesn’t.’

Laura and Julian were looking at each other. I could tell they were more worried about Caroline being upset than about me suffering the stress of the cattery, but just thinking about being shut in one of those cages, I let out another loud yowl of distress and finally Julian gave a little laugh– the type that sounded like he wasn’t really amused – and said:

‘All right, all right. I give in. We’ll take him with us.’ He turned to Caroline again. ‘But you’ll have to play your part in keeping him safe.’

‘I will,’ she said. She nuzzled my head with her cheek and I purred happily. Thank goodness. No cage. ‘I will, because Charlie’s the only one around here who cares about me.’

With which she carried me upstairs to her room and we lay on her bed together.

So it seemed like I was going on holiday, whatever that meant. I’d have preferred to stay here and play with my friend Oliver. But I never get a say in anything!

[Êàðòèíêà: i_002.jpg]

CHAPTER TWO

I had mixed feelings about baby Jessica. When they first brought her into the house, everyone, even Caroline, was ridiculously excited about her, but I didn’t seem to be allowed anywhere near her.

‘Keep Charlie away from her,’ Laura said on the very first day they brought her home. ‘You hear terrible things about cats and new babies.’

I felt quite upset by this. I mean, it was true I didn’t like her constant high-pitched mewing, but I’d never have done anything to hurt her – she was only a tiny human kitten. Sometimes she smelt nice and milky, but at other times, when Laura or Julian were doing things with her bottom that made me feel violently ill, I didn’t want to be anywhere near her. I hoped it wouldn’t be long before they trained her to use a litter tray. Because of Jessica, I started being shut in the kitchen quite often, and if I protested by meowing loudly about it, I got told off. That seemed quite unfair because nobody told the baby off for crying, and I think she was louder than me.

By the time the holiday was being discussed, I suppose I was getting used to the situation. But Caroline’s excitement about having a baby sister had completely worn off. That day after the argument about the cattery, she poured out her heart to me as we lay on her bed together.

‘I’m fed up with it, Charlie. I can’t imagine why I was looking forward to the new baby coming. Daddy’s never got time for me now. I feel like I’m just in the way.’

I knew how she felt. Only the previous day I’d been shouted at for bringing a nice fat woodpigeon in through the cat flap. I thought they’d be proud of me, as it was the biggest one I’d ever caught, but oh no, there was a lot of squawking and carrying on aboutgerms andthe baby, and Laura shooed me back outside while she got rid of my prize trophy.

‘At least they’re not saying you’re a danger to the baby and shutting you out in case you attack her,’ I pointed out to Caroline now, in Cat, but of course, she still hadn’t bothered to learn our language so she just stroked me and nuzzled the top of my head.

‘And as for thisholiday!’ she went on crossly. ‘It’s going to be awful! Thank goodness Daddy’s finally agreed to let you come with us. At least I’ll have you to keep me company. I’m going to go mad, stuck in some boring place with no friends, for awhole month.’

Listening to Caroline’s complaints, I must admit I was beginning to feel quite anxious about this holiday thing. Nobody apart from Julian seemed to think it was a good idea, and even he was getting stressed whenever it was mentioned. I wondered whether my humans were ever going to start being happy and cheerful againlike they used to be.

One day soon afterwards, I was sitting on the kitchen windowsill washing my whiskers after my dinner when I heard raised voices again in the dining room.

‘Eat your dinner, Caroline,’ Julian was saying.

‘Don’t want it.’

‘What’s wrong with it?’ Laura said. ‘You’ve always liked spaghetti bolognese.’

‘Well, I don’t now!’ Caroline sounded like she might be going to cry. ‘I keep telling you, I don’t like meat anymore. I’m not hungry.’

‘You’re hungry enough when it comes to biscuits and sweets!’ Laura retorted. ‘We’ll have to stop all those treats if you can’t eat your dinners.’

‘You’ll make yourself ill if you don’t eat properly,’ Julian told her.

‘Maybe Iam ill!’ Caroline said. ‘Maybe I’ve got the leukaemia again. Not that you’d care!’

I’d stopped washing, sitting very still while I listened to all of this. I didn’t like to think that Caroline might be ill again. I don’t think Julian or Laura liked it either, because after she’d gone off upstairs to her bedroom again, they were talking very quietly together about her hospital appointment in London the following day. Apparently Julian was taking her there instead of going to work, and he and Laura both sounded worried about it.

‘Some of the symptoms are just the same as before,’ Julian said. ‘The tiredness, pallor, loss of appetite …’

‘But she’s socross all the time, too!’ Laura said. ‘I can’t seem to get through to her anymore. I know she’s worried about starting the new school. Do you think it’s that?’

‘Surely not. She’ll soon settle there when she starts. No, I think she’s probably as frightened as we are, about the thought of being ill again. That’s why she’s being so snappy. We should try to be understanding.’

‘Well, I’m glad you’re seeing the consultant tomorrow. Let’s hope he can reassure us.’

They went off early in the morning in Julian’s car to catch the train from Great Broomford. I hung around indoors for a while, thinking Laura and Jessica might like my company. I’d found an old toy mouse of mine behind my bed, and after I’d got bored with playing with it on my own in the kitchen, I thought it might be nice to let Jessica have a turn with it. I trotted into the lounge with it in my mouth. Laura was sitting in one of the armchairs, reading the paper, so she didn’t see me come in, and Jessica was lying on a blanket on the floor, staring at the ceiling and making funny little noises as she kicked her back paws in the air. I dropped the toy mouse onto her face and waited to see if she’d realise she was supposed to play with it, but her eyes went wide with surprise and she shook her head so that it fell off onto the blanket next to her. I sat down next to her head and waited. She smelt nice and clean and I quite fancied lying down with her and seeing if she’d stroke me. But just then, Laura turned a page of her paper and glanced down at the baby.

‘Charlie!’ she said, throwing the paper down. ‘What are you doing?’

‘Looking after Jessica,’ I meowed. Wasn’t it obvious?

‘Get away from the baby’s face,’ she said. ‘And … what on earth isthat?’ She bent down and picked up my toy mouse. ‘What is this revolting dirty old thing doing in here? I don’t want it on Jessica’s blanket!’ She picked it up and sighed at me. ‘Honestly, I can’t take my eyes off her for one single minute while you’re around, can I?’

I ran off to hide behind the sofa while she fussed around with the baby, straightening out the blanket and moving it even closer to her chair, as if to protect her from me. I couldn’t see what I’d done wrong. It wasn’t as if it was areal mouse. Or perhaps that was what she’d prefer? I decided to try that next time.

From behind the sofa, I watched Laura with the newspaper for a while. I loved the rustling noise it made when she turned the pages, and one of my favourite things was to jump up on her lap, on top of the paper, so that I could tread all over it, scrunching it with my paws. She used to laugh when I did that, but these days she just sighed loudly and lifted me off her, so there wasn’t much point. But when Jessica started to cry and Laura laid the paper down on the floor to pick her up, I couldn’t resist it any longer. I dived across the room, jumped on the outspread pages and had a lovely time walking round in circles, making satisfying scrunching sounds.

‘Charlie!’ she snapped, sounding really cross this time. ‘Get off! What onearth is the matter with you these days?’

I yowled in protest as she pushed me off the paper and put it back on the arm of her chair. It looked a bit torn but I knew she got a new one every day so I couldn’t see why it was such a big deal.

‘Go and play outside,’ she told me as she sat down to feed Jessica. ‘I really can’t cope with you being difficult at the moment.’

Me, difficult? I went out, feeling hurt and unloved. If that was how she felt, I wouldn’t bother hunting for a mouse for baby Jessica after all. So there!

Julian and Caroline were home when I came back into the kitchen later. Caroline had gone into the lounge to watch the TV.

‘The consultant sent us to have blood samples taken for testing, and if the result is suspicious of the illness returning, she’ll have to have a bone marrow biopsy,’ Julian was telling Laura.

‘Oh no. Not again. Poor Caroline,’ Laura said. ‘Did he say he thinks itis the leukaemia?’

‘He wouldn’t say. He said her symptoms might just as easily be something else, but of course with her history he wants to rule it out.’ Julian sighed. ‘He did say the blood test results might not be back with the GP for a while, though.’

‘And we’re supposed to be going away tomorrow. Do you want to wait until we get the results? It wouldn’t hurt to put off going for a few days.’

I thought Laura actually sounded quite cheerful about the idea. But Julian shook his head.

‘No. The results might take longer than that, and anyway I can phone for them from Mudditon.’

‘But if shedoes need the biopsy…’

‘Laura, I’m trying to be positive here! I think we should go ahead as planned. Caroline needs this holiday as much as we do. The sea air will do her good. If she does have to have the biopsy, I’ll just have to bring her back for a few days.’

‘OK.’ Laura put her paws round Julian’s middle. ‘You’re right, we mustn’t keep thinking the worst.’

‘Hard not to, though.’ He sighed. ‘Well, hopefully the holiday will help take our minds off it.’

The next morning, everyone was up before me. Jessica had, as usual, woken me up during the night so I’d decided to go out for a moonlight stroll. You know how pleasant it is, on a summer’s evening, to scamper around outside in the dark, when most of the humans are asleep. Having such good night vision is a wonderful thing! I like trying to catch little field mice and voles unawares on nights like that. I was having such fun, I didn’t stop at the boundary of my own territory but carried on chasing one little mouse all the way down the lane into the centre of Little Broomford village. Suddenly a bigger cat loomed out of the darkness in front of me, making me skid to a stop, stifling a whimper of fright. I shouldn’t have wandered this far at night – I was probably trespassing in someone else’s territory and might have been about to get told off, or worse, attacked, for my cheek.