“Oh, he’s very handsome!” Mum said, coming over to look. “So stripey!”
“He’s the stripiest cat I’ve ever seen,” Ava agreed, looking down at the kitten. He was a beautiful golden brown colour, with black stripes running down his sides and fat black rings all along his tail. Ava had seen tabby cats before, of course, but never one with such perfect stripes.
“He’s what’s called a mackerel tabby,” Rosie said. “Like the fish – they have stripes, too.”
“He looks more like a tiger,” Mum said. “The way his stripes match on both sides.”
Ava giggled as the kitten scrabbled his way up her cardigan and climbed on to her shoulder. She knew he was probably just trying to get up high, so that he could see what was going on with all these strange people in his kitchen but it felt like he belonged with her somehow.
“Mum,” she whispered. “Do you think… Could we have this one?”
Lucy stood up to see. She’d been trying to get the ginger kittens to look at her toy cat but they weren’t very interested. “What’s his name?” she asked Rosie.
“Oh, well, I tried not to name them, because I knew they’d be going to new owners,” Rosie explained. “But in my head I’ve been calling him Adventure Kitten.”
“He sounds like a superhero!” Ava said.
“I think he’s called Tiger,” Lucy said, nodding her head. “Let’s take him home now.”
“Oh, Lucy, we haven’t decided yet,” Mum said, but she was smiling. “And don’t forget, we need to go and buy a cat carrier and a basket and, oh, lots of things! Although he is lovely…”
“And Tiger would be a great name,” Dad said. “Bel? Ava? What do you think?”
Bel reached up to stroke the kitten’s tiny paws and smiled. “Even his paws are stripey.”
Ava nodded, just a little, so as not to shake the kitten around too much. “It’s perfect! He looks just like a tiger and he’s as brave as one, too.”
When the carrier was set down at last and the wire door swung open, Tiger didn’t move. He wasn’t sure what was outside the carrier but he knew it wasn’t his home. It smelled different. There was no comforting smell of his mother and the other kittens.
“Why isn’t he coming out?” Bel said, crouching down.
“He’s probably frightened,” Mum explained. “This is all really strange for him.”
“Should we try the cat treats? The ones Rosie said he liked?” Ava suggested, opening the kitchen cupboard.
Tiger took a step closer to the open wire door as he heard the crinkle of the foil packet. He could smell the treats, too – the delicious fishy ones. Even though he was still scared, he padded forwards another couple of steps and peered through the wire bars. Yes, there was the packet. His whiskers twitched and he eyed the girl holding the treats.
“Come on, kitten!” Lucy wriggled away from Mum and bounced towards the cat carrier. Tiger heard her voice and the thud of her footsteps and retreated back inside the carrier.
“Luuu-cy!” Ava snapped and then wished she hadn’t when her little sister’s face crumpled. “You have to be really gentle,” she added, but Lucy had already burst into tears.
“Maybe we should give Tiger some time to come out by himself,” Dad suggested. “I know you all want to play with him but he’s nervous. Why don’t we put on a DVD?” He picked up Lucy for a cuddle and led Bel out of the kitchen but Ava hesitated. Surely she could stay? Tiger liked her – he’d let her lift him off the bookshelf the day before and he’d seemed happy for her to hold him then. She looked pleadingly at Dad but he shook his head. “It isn’t fair otherwise, Ava,” he pointed out. “And there’ll be loads of time to play with him.”
Mum put an arm round her shoulders. “We’ll give Tiger time to explore a little by himself, then we’ll all go and see how he’s doing. Anyway, don’t you have to do your literacy homework, Ava? How long should that take you, twenty minutes? If you get it out of the way now then you’ll have the rest of the afternoon free to play with Tiger.”
Ava nodded and sighed. Mum was right about the homework. But why did Lucy and Bel always have to mess things up?
Tiger’s ears twitched as the kitchen door clicked shut. He could still smell those cat treats. He crept to the carrier door and peered round it. There was a scattering of treats on the floor and they smelled so good. He stepped out and then started to crunch up the treats, looking around carefully between each bite. But there were only a few and they were gone in seconds. He looked uncertainly back to the carrier. He knew he was safe in there but he didn’t like it much. Now that the kitchen was quiet, he wanted to explore.
He jumped up on to a kitchen chair and then the table. He liked to be high up, to see what was going on. He prowled across the table and eyed the window above the sink. The main window was mostly closed but there was a smaller window at the top and that was open. Just then, a bee looped in through the window from the garden. Tiger watched it with interest, not really sure what it was. He crouched down a little, wondering if he could pounce on the bee from where he was. It zigzagged round the kitchen and as it swooped back over the table he followed it, his tail twitching with excitement.
Tiger balanced at the very edge of the table, trying to swipe at the bee with his paw. But he just couldn’t get close enough. Then the bee stopped for a rest, perched on the kitchen wall. Tiger hopped back on to the chair and down to the floor. He would creep up on it and pounce! Stealthily he padded across the tiles and then he launched himself at the bee.
The bee flew away, buzzing frantically, and Tiger turned his head to watch. He’d missed it by miles. Then he looked down and flexed his claws rather worriedly. They were firmly stuck in the thick wallpaper. He was halfway up the kitchen wall and he wasn’t quite sure how he’d got there…
Ava peeped round the kitchen door, wondering where Tiger was. She had rushed through her homework – she was sure Mrs Atkins wouldn’t be impressed.
“I hope he’s come out of the cat carrier,” Mum said, looking over her shoulder. “But I can’t see him. I’m surprised he’s so shy – he seemed really daring at Rosie’s house. He was definitely the most adventurous of the four.”
“Mum! Look!” Ava pointed across the kitchen at the wall, next to the fridge. Mum was always saying that she wanted to change the wallpaper, she thought it was too bright and plasticky-looking but Ava liked it. The paper was yellow, with a bright pattern of jam jars on it. Right now, though, halfway up there was a little stripey kitten.
“How did he get up there?” Mum gasped.
“He must have climbed up,” Ava giggled. “I suppose the paper’s squishy enough that he can stick his claws in. Poor Tiger! Are you stuck? Shall I get you down?” She walked slowly over to the wall. “How long have you been up there, silly boy? What did you do that for, hey?”
“Just be careful, Ava,” said Mum. “Don’t pull at him, it might hurt his claws.”
Ava put one hand under Tiger’s bottom and tried to lift his front paws up a bit to unhook the claws.
“How is he?” Dad asked, putting his head round the door. “Settling in OK?”
Mum sighed. “You could say that. Look!”
Dad laughed. “Wow! That’s one way to get rid of that wallpaper! Can you get him off there, Ava?”
“His claws are stuck right in,” Ava said worriedly. “I can’t lift his paws away and he’s so panicked he’s just clinging on. At least I’m holding him up now, so it’s not like he’s hanging there by his claws… What are we going to do? Should we call Rosie?”