Charlie the Kitten Who Saved a Life Read online

  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!

  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 about germs and the 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 this holiday!’ 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 a whole 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 again like 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 I am 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 so cross 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 is that?’ 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 a real 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 on earth 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 mar
row biopsy,’ Julian was telling Laura.

  ‘Oh no. Not again. Poor Caroline,’ Laura said. ‘Did he say he thinks it is 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 she does 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.

  ‘Charlie, it’s me!’ the bigger cat meowed, just as I was about to make a run for it.

  ‘Oh, hello, Ollie!’ I felt a bit embarrassed, then, for behaving like a scaredy-cat. But he came up to me and rubbed his face against mine.

  ‘It’s brave of you, isn’t it, being out in the village on your own at this time of night?’

  I was still a little kitten to Oliver, you see. He’s always been protective of me.

  ‘It’s such a nice night for hunting,’ I explained. ‘I was chasing a mouse, and I got carried away.’

  ‘Well, let’s go back up the lane together. How are you – I haven’t seen you for a few days.’

  ‘I know. To be honest, so much has been happening at home, with my humans, I’ve been so worried … I hardly know where to start.’

  ‘What’s wrong? Are they in trouble?’

  ‘I don’t know. I can’t work it out – you know how complicated humans are. They’re all really stressed and cross with each other—’

  ‘Well, you’ve been saying that since the new kitten – Jessica – arrived, haven’t you?’

  ‘Yes, but it’s got even worse lately. It’s Caroline I’m most worried about. She seems so unhappy, a lot of the time. I know Julian and Laura are worried about her too. You don’t think she’s got that horrible illness again, do you, Ollie?’

  ‘I certainly hope not. It was so good to see her getting better, I’d hate to think of her being ill again. Is that what Julian and Laura think, then?’

  ‘They seem to, yes. Julian took her somewhere today to see a consultant, and he looked very worried when they came back. I wish I knew what I could do to make her better.’

  ‘It’s really hard to know how to help humans, sometimes,’ Oliver said seriously. And he should know. As you’re all aware, he’s famous for having helped everyone in the whole village, back before I was born. ‘You need to listen carefully to their conversations and try to pick up clues.’

  ‘All they do is argue, these days,’ I said sadly. ‘And a lot of the rows are about the holiday.’

  ‘Oh yes, you told me about that. It means they’re going away somewhere, right? And have they decided yet what’s happening to you? Not the cattery, I hope?’ he added with a shudder.

  ‘No. They say they’re taking me with them. I’m a bit nervous about it, though, as I don’t really understand where we’re going, or why. Nobody seems to be looking forward to it. But at least I’ll be with Caroline. I’m sure she’ll look after me. I only wish I could make her happy.’

  ‘Try taking a nice fat mouse back for her tonight?’ Oliver suggested.

  ‘Laura would go mad. She keeps telling me off about things like that. She seems to think they’re dirty.’

  ‘Yes, it’s odd how humans aren’t always pleased with our gifts. But surely Caroline would be grateful, at least?’

  ‘I could try it,’ I said doubtfully. ‘But I think she might just prefer a cuddle, to be honest.’

  ‘That’s the best thing,’ Ollie agreed. ‘Humans always like cuddling us. They think they’re doing it for our sakes, but of course, it’s really the other way around. They’re very needy creatures, you know, Charlie. Very fragile, emotionally. It’s a good thing we cats are so well-balanced or we’d never be able to cope with them.’

  I said goodbye to Ollie at the gates of my house and went wearily in to bed, our conversation still playing on my mind. After such a late night, I’d have appreciated a lie-in in the morning, but it wasn’t to be. Julian and Laura were up, dressed, and rushing around the house like cats being chased by foxes. They were folding clothes, picking up things and putting them in bags, calling to Caroline to get herself ready. I felt quite left out of it all, and was rather grumpy about having had to remind them three times about my breakfast. Then I noticed they’d left one suitcase open in their bedroom, with some nice soft clothes of Laura’s right on top. Well, it was as good a place as any to settle down for a nap and try to catch up on my sleep. I made a nice little nest for myself in a soft cardigan and pulled a dress over the top of me, and was just dozing off when Julian marched into the room again calling out to Laura:

  ‘Is this case finished? Can I close it up now?’, before slinging the lid of the suitcase down on top of me.

  ‘Help! Let me out!’ I meowed in panic – and the lid was opened again and the dress lifted off me.

  ‘Charlie!’ Julian said, and I wasn’t sure from his tone of voice whether he was cross or amused. ‘What on earth are you doing in there?’ He lifted me out onto the floor, just as Laura came into the room behind him. ‘Charlie was having a nap in the suitcase!’ he told her.

  ‘Well, I hope he hasn’t creased my new dress,’ she said.

  I noticed Julian having a quick look at the dress, frowning and glancing at me before he closed the lid in a hurry and fastened up the case.

  ‘I’m sure it’ll be fine,’ he said. And then, to my absolute horror, he went outside to the garage and came back in with the dreaded Carrying Basket.

  ‘But I thought you said I wasn’t going to the cattery!’ I yelled.

  They’d lied! How could they do this to me? I made a dash for the cat flap but even more horror – it was locked! There was no escape!

  ‘Sorry, Charlie,’ Laura said, picking me up and giving me a stroke. ‘But you’ll have to spend the journey in your basket. It’ll be fine. There you go.’

  I tried to struggle, kicking my legs out so I couldn’t fit through the opening, but Laura pushed me in and clipped the metal door shut.

  I cried mournfully as she carried me outside in the basket and loaded me into the car. I was put on the floor, just under where baby Jessica was sitting in her funny little seat. From the gaps in the top of my basket I could just see her back paws in their little pink socks. Caroline got into the other side of the back seat and bent down to talk to me.

  ‘Shush, Charlie, you’re all right,
don’t cry. We’re going on a long journey so perhaps you’ll have a little sleep.’

  It was only then that I realised I wasn’t going to the cattery after all but being taken on the holiday. I was so relieved, I did actually stop crying for a while – which is more than I can say for Jessica.

  CHAPTER

  THREE

  I hate being in a car. I don’t suppose I’m the only one, am I? No, I didn’t think so! For one thing, I’ve already learnt that it normally means we’re going to the vet. Then there’s the horrible noise cars make and the way they seem to quiver, as they go along, like a cat about to pounce on its prey. Even though I’d stopped crying, I couldn’t help myself from letting out little whimpers of fear. Caroline kept talking to me, but eventually she was getting drowned out by the noise of Jessica’s screaming.

  ‘Can’t I have Charlie sitting on my lap?’ she called above the din to Laura.

  ‘No. He might jump off and try to sit on top of Jessica.’

  ‘I won’t!’ I mewed.

  ‘He won’t,’ Caroline said. ‘Oh, please let him. He’s frightened. I’ll hold onto him.’

  ‘No, it’s not safe,’ Julian said. ‘Anyway, it’s the law – cats have to be in a carrier on car journeys. And if we had to stop suddenly he could get hurt.’

  ‘Not fair,’ I heard Caroline mutter to herself. ‘Poor Charlie.’

  So I closed my eyes, told myself sternly to stop being a scaredy-cat, and tried to settle down and catch up on the sleep I’d missed the previous night. It was getting hot in the car with the sunshine coming through the windows and I felt cramped and uncomfortable in my basket. As we all know, even in extreme circumstances, sleep has to take priority. But have you ever tried to get to sleep with a human kitten wailing its head off just above you?

  ‘Shush, Jessica,’ Laura kept saying, turning round in her seat and trying to reach one of the baby’s paws to stroke. ‘All right, baby, all right.’

  ‘What’s the matter with her?’ Caroline asked irritably.