“Ava, what are you doing out here?” Mum and Bel had pulled up in the car outside the house, and Ava hurried over to them.
“We can’t find Tiger! Mum, shall I ring Megan’s doorbell? Just to check he’s not in her garden again.”
“Let’s do that,” Mum murmured, following Ava up their neighbour’s path, with Bel clinging to her hand.
Megan answered the door straight away, smiling until she noticed Ava’s anxious face. “What’s wrong, Ava? Oh no, the dogs haven’t chased Tiger again, have they?” She looked down at Max and Charlie, who were bouncing about by her feet.
Ava had told Megan all about the rescue mission – Mum had taken her round the following day to say sorry for climbing over the wall. Megan had said it was an emergency and she would have done exactly the same. She said Ava was very brave and she’d given Mum a spare key to the gate in case it happened again.
“We can’t find him!” Ava gasped. “Tiger’s always back for tea, always!”
“Megan, you couldn’t have a quick look in your garden, could you?” Mum asked.
“Of course. Here, you two, in here, come on.” Megan shut the dogs into her living room. “I’ll just go and see. Hold on a minute.”
Ava waited, breathing fast. She wasn’t sure what she wanted Megan to say. If the dogs had chased Tiger again, he would be so scared. But if he wasn’t in her garden, it meant that they had no idea where he was…
Tiger had jumped on to the wall between the garden and the alleyway. It was a jump that he’d only just got big enough to do – he had to leap on to the back of the garden bench and then up on to the wall, and it was a tough scramble. But once he was up there, he could walk along it all the way down the side of the house to the front garden and the street. Then he could sit on the wall and watch people and cars going past, or even jump down on to the pavement. There were all sorts of interesting smells out there and a tree in the garden next door that was always full of sparrows. Tiger had never caught a bird – but of course he was going to keep trying.
That afternoon the sparrows were particularly loud and they kept fluttering about in the bush outside Megan’s house in a most fascinating way. Tiger hopped from Ava’s front wall down on to Megan’s and prowled along to be closer to the tree.
But he wasn’t quick enough, or quiet enough. The sparrows heard the little thump as he dropped down and they flew away, scolding shrilly.
Tiger stood on the wall, staring at the empty bush. Then he simply pretended that he hadn’t been trying to chase the sparrows at all and leaped down on to the pavement.
He stalked along crossly, wondering if he could work out where the sparrows had fluttered away to. He was thinking about the birds and not paying that much attention to anything else.
“Hey!” All of a sudden, there was a strange hissing noise behind him, followed by a squeal and an angry shout. Tiger darted out of the way with a yowl of fright as a bike skimmed past him. The rider’s leg brushed against the kitten, shoving him sideways. Tiger shot away down the pavement but he was so scared that he ran right past his house and into the alleyway. He’d never been down the path before but he didn’t care. He just wanted to get away from the bike and the angry rider.
Tiger dashed along the alleyway but it didn’t feel far enough. He had to go up. If he was up high, he would be safe. No one would be able to catch him. He leaped and scrambled up into one of the tall trees. Still shaking from fright, Tiger kept climbing, higher and higher. He had to get as far up as he possibly could.
At last he stopped, crouched on a branch right at the top of the tree. Trembling all over, he gazed out into the darkening night.
“No one’s seen him at all?” Dad asked, as Mum and Ava came back in. He’d been putting Lucy and Bel to bed while Mum and Ava went out searching for Tiger.
“No. But it’s eight o’clock. Ava needs to go to bed.”
“I don’t want to!” Ava protested. “Honestly, Mum, there’s no way I could sleep now, when we still don’t know where Tiger is.”
“You’ve got school tomorrow. No, Ava, I’m not arguing, it’s bedtime. I promise Dad and I will keep looking up and down the street. We’ll take turns. And we’ve asked all the neighbours, remember. If anyone sees Tiger, they’ll call us.”
“He hasn’t been missing that long,” Dad pointed out. “Only a few hours, since after lunch sometime.”
“Dad! He never, ever misses tea!” Ava pressed her hands to her eyes. She’d been trying really hard not to cry – she knew it wouldn’t help – but she was so tired and frightened. And if she was frightened, how was Tiger feeling? What if he was lost or hurt?
“I know some cats stay away for ages,” she went on, her voice shaking. “But Tiger doesn’t. He’s still only little and he loves home! He does stupid things but he doesn’t go off a long way away. He might be trapped somewhere. Or maybe he’s been hit by a car!” She couldn’t hold back her tears any more.
Mum pulled her into a hug. “Ava, sweetie. I know you’re scared. But it’s too soon to panic like this. Dad’s right. Tiger will probably pop through the cat flap in an hour or so, looking like he’s never been away. And you can’t stay up any longer. Come on. Bed.”
Mum shooed Ava up the stairs and she went to her room, dragging her feet all the way. She couldn’t imagine that she’d ever sleep. She was far too worried. She put on her pyjamas and trailed into the bathroom to do her teeth, all the time straining her ears for the bang of the cat flap. It didn’t come. She climbed into bed and lay there, crying silently into her pillow.
“Ava! Ava!”
She must have fallen asleep, Ava realized. If she hadn’t, no one would need to be waking her up…
That was Bel, Ava thought sleepily. And there seemed to be something heavy weighing down her feet. She sat up, blinking. Her room was still dark but she could see, just a little, by the nightlight on the landing. “What’s the matter? It’s not time to get up…” she whispered.
“We’re worried,” Bel told her.
The strange heavy lump on Ava’s feet turned out to be Lucy, sitting on the end of the bed. “Worried…” she echoed.
“About Tiger?” Ava sighed. “Me, too.”
“You have to find him, Ava,” Bel said seriously. “You rescued him from Charlie and Max. You climbed over the wall! I want him back. And so does Lucy.”
“We’ll look for him again tomorrow before school,” Ava said, trying to sound confident. “I bet we’ll find him.”
“Do you promise?” Bel demanded.
“Um.” Ava swallowed hard. How could she promise? But Bel and Lucy looked so scared. “I promise…” she whispered.
Tiger stretched and shivered. He was so cold, he ached. He had spent the night huddled up on his branch, sleeping every so often but then being shocked awake as he remembered the bike nearly running him over.
He desperately wanted to go back home to Ava and his family, and have them stroke him and snuggle up with him and make him feel safe. But he didn’t dare go back down the tree, even though he felt so terribly hungry. It was starting to get light now – it felt like breakfast time, except that he’d missed his dinner so his stomach was doubly empty. He needed a drink, too…
Tiger gazed down through the early morning mist. He could just make out the road from up here. The occasional car zoomed past, making him shrink back against the tree trunk but they never came anywhere close. And there was no sign of the man on the bike. Perhaps it was safe to climb down now?