Sammy the Shy Kitten

Chapter Three

“Dad!” Emma ran over to the car where her dad was waiting and flung her arms around his waist. “You’ll never guess what happened!”

Her dad blinked at her in surprise. “Did Sparky behave himself for once?”

Emma shook her head and laughed. “Nope, actually he was really tricksy and I fell off. But I’m OK! It’s Tiggy – she’s had three kittens, and I found them!”

“That is exciting! Are they really small?”

“I think they’re only a day or two old,” Emma explained. “Liz said Tiggy had disappeared for a couple of days, so I guess she went off to hide and make herself a little nest. The kittens are teensy – only about this big.” She held her hands apart to show him. “Do you want to come and see?”

Dad wrinkled his nose. “I’d love to – but what about Tiggy? Isn’t she really shy? If loads of people start tramping past her kittens, she might get upset.”

Emma nodded. “I know. But Liz said that seeing as I found them, I can take some food back for Tiggy. You could come with me. Liz has made her a special treat – she found a bit of fish in the freezer. She reckons Tiggy deserves it!”

Dad grinned. “I haven’t seen any tiny kittens for years – not since my cat Bella had kittens when I was about your age.”

“Did she?” Emma looked surprised. “Didn’t you have her neutered, then?”

“She was a stray that Granny May adopted,” Dad explained. “Well, she adopted us, really. She was sitting on the front doorstep one day when we came home from school. We hadn’t even got as far as taking her to the vet, to be honest. We were just getting used to having a cat when the kittens arrived. We had her neutered after that… One litter of kittens was fun, but your gran didn’t want to find homes for any more.”

“You’re so lucky,” Emma sighed. “I wish we had kittens. Or a grown-up cat – I wouldn’t mind.” She gave her dad a sideways look. “Dad, if you really like cats, why don’t we have one?”

Her dad looked thoughtful. “Well, it would have been tricky when me and Mum were both working full-time. But I suppose now we’ve changed our shifts around we could…” Emma’s parents both worked at the local hospital. “I don’t know what your mum would think, though, Ems. She’s never had a cat.”

“I don’t see how anybody could not like a tiny little kitten,” Emma said coaxingly.

“Perhaps because it’ll turn into a great big cat clawing the sofa? You know your mum likes everything really tidy in the house.”

“A cat could be tidy…” Emma said hopefully. “Oh, Liz has got the food, look!” Liz was standing by the car-park gate, holding a couple of bowls. Emma grabbed her dad’s arm, hauling him after her.

“We’ll be really careful,” she told Liz, as she took the food bowl. “Oh, you’ve got some water, too. I was going to ask you about that.”

Emma’s dad took the water bowl and followed her across the yard to the old barn. “I can hear them rustling about,” he whispered to Emma, as they tiptoed over to the stall.

Tiggy was looking anxious, and she half stood up as Emma and her dad came to the door of the stall. The kittens squeaked a little and shifted around in the straw nest as their mother moved. Emma ducked her head, trying to see the kittens without staring at Tiggy – she knew from a cat programme she’d seen on TV that cats didn’t like to make eye contact sometimes. “It’s OK,” she whispered. “We brought you some delicious food. Fish – can you smell it?”

She was sure that Tiggy’s whiskers flickered, and the fluffy cat was definitely eyeing the bowls.

“I’ll put the food here.” Emma crouched down and stretched out her arm, trying to get the bowl into the stall without scaring Tiggy. “And Dad’s got you some water, too.” She glanced across at her dad. “Can you see the kittens? Look, they haven’t even got their eyes open!”

The kittens wriggled and made tiny mewing noises, calling for Tiggy to feed them. They were like little furry balloons, Emma thought, all plump and squidgy. Their fur was still quite short and fine, so the pink skin showed through on their tummies and paws, and their tails were almost as thin as string.

“I wish we could stay and watch,” she murmured to Dad, as she edged away, still crouching. “But Tiggy might not want to eat while we’re here because it’ll mean leaving the kittens.”

“I know, she is looking a bit worried,” Dad agreed. “I love that little tabby. It looks like it’s going to have great silver and black stripes. But they’re all cute.”

“I like that one, too,” Emma whispered, giving the kittens one last look from the doorway. “That’s the sort of cat I’ve always imagined having.”

Snuggled in the straw, the kittens cheeped faintly, and blundered their way over towards their mother and her milk. They were so little that food and warmth were the only things they understood. They heard the soft vibrations of Emma’s voice, and her dad’s, but only Tiggy understood that Emma had brought her food and water, and had kept her distance from the precious kittens.

“The kitten of one of those cats at the stables?” Emma’s mum asked doubtfully. “I don’t think that’s a very good idea, Emma. I know they look beautiful, but none of them are friendly. They’re all half-wild. I don’t think we want a cat like that.” She put the salad on the kitchen table and sat down. “It isn’t that I don’t want us to have a pet, but we’ve never had a cat before. Shouldn’t it be somebody who really knows what they’re doing looking after kittens like those?”

“But there isn’t anybody who knows!” Emma tried to argue. “Liz would be really pleased if we wanted to adopt one, I know she would. You should see him, Mum, the little grey tabby kitten. He’s got white paws and white under his chin. His nose is all pink and soft because he’s so small.”

Mum smiled at her. “He sounds lovely, Emma. But a kitten like that might be a lot of work. Maybe we could find one from somewhere else?”

Emma looked desperately at her dad. She ought to be delighted – Mum had never said anything about being able to get a cat before. Emma knew that she was lucky to have her riding lessons – she’d never thought they’d be able to have a pet at home, too. But now she didn’t want just any cat, she wanted to help those little kittens at the stables.

She’d always felt sorry for the stable cats, not having proper homes to go to. They didn’t seem to mind – they curled up together in the stalls, and Liz put food out for them – but it wasn’t like a lovely warm basket by the radiator, or sleeping at the end of someone’s bed. She didn’t want the kittens to grow up wild like their mother, even though Tiggy was gorgeous.

“Let’s see what we can find out about taming kittens,” Dad suggested. “They were very sweet. And I think it’s too late to put Emma off them. She’s already fallen in love with the little tabby. I wonder if it’s a boy or a girl? We didn’t get close enough to check.”

“I thought he was a boy, just because he looked like he was wearing a little white shirt. But I don’t know for sure.”

Emma’s dad looked over at her mum and she smiled.

“We’ll see,” Mum said. “I’m not promising anything, but perhaps you could do a bit of research. Find out what we’d have to do…”

“Yes!” Emma squealed. “Oh, Mum, this is so exciting! Please can we hurry up and eat lunch so I can look it all up on the computer.”

“Hello, Ivy Bank Stables?”

“Hi, Liz,” Emma said, a bit shyly. She’d never rung up the stables before – usually Mum did it if they had to book a lesson.

“Oh! Is that you, Emma? Is everything OK? How’s your ankle?”

“It doesn’t hurt at all now. I’m just ringing because I’ve been talking to Mum and Dad about the kittens. I asked if we could adopt one, but my mum’s not sure. She says maybe it ought to be somebody who’s more experienced with cats.” Emma frowned to herself, trying to remember all the information she and Dad had looked up that afternoon. “But the thing is, if they’re going to be rehomed, the kittens need to have lots of contact with people, so they’re not shy around humans like Tiggy and the others are. So I was wondering if I could come and spend some time with them.”

“Yes, that makes sense,” Liz said slowly. “And it’s lovely that you want to help look after them, Emma. Of course you can – if your mum and dad are fine with it.”

“Oh, they are,” Emma told her. She hesitated, and then went on, “I’m really hoping Mum will let me adopt one of the kittens, if I can help tame them. At the moment she’s a bit worried that they’ll be too wild. But we’ve found lots of ways to help with that. Me and Dad have been doing loads of research. It’s the little tabby one I really love.”

“He’s adorable, isn’t he? So, is there anything I should be doing? Or the others at the stables?” Liz asked.

“I think just try to spend some time with them. Would it be OK if I came to the stables after school sometimes, as well as for my lessons? The more the kittens get used to people, the better. I’m guessing you want to find homes for the others as well?”

Emma heard Liz sigh down the phone. “Yes, I need to think about that. Perhaps I’ll put a notice up on the board outside the stables.”

“Oh!” Emma suddenly remembered something she’d read on a website. “There’s a charity that’ll help with neutering the cats. They’ll even come and get them for you! They’ll catch them and neuter them for free, and then bring them back.”

“Really? That sounds amazing. Could you find their details for me, please?” Liz laughed. “You really are serious about cats, aren’t you, Emma?”