“I hope it won’t take long,” Jodie’s mum said, writing down their number. “I want that grey fluff combed out before it gets shed all over the house!”
Mr Pearce tickled Felix behind his ears. “With a thick coat like that, I reckon you’d soon comb enough fluff off him to knit yourself a woolly jumper!” he joked.
Jodie laughed. “I just want to keep him looking good.”
“I tell you what,” Mr Pearce said. “He’s such a handsome kitten that I’d like to take his photograph to put in my window. I’m sure it would attract a lot of attention. I’ll give you the comb and a smart new collar in return. How’s that?”
“Great!” said Jodie. “Can we, Mum?”
Mrs Taylor nodded. “I can’t see why not,” she said.
Felix began to wash around his face so that he’d look his best for the photograph.
“Why don’t you choose a collar while I go and get my camera?” said Mr Pearce.
Jodie held a red and a green collar next to Felix, then chose the red one. She was carefully putting it on him when Mr Pearce came back with his camera.
Felix just loved attention. Everyone in the shop was watching him now. “How about this?” he purred, looking over his shoulder, his tail up straight. “Or this?” he miaowed, rolling on his back and looking up at the camera, his blue eyes wide. “Have you ever seen anything so sweet?”
“I think he knows he’s being snapped,” Mr Pearce said, grinning. “He’s posing like a model. He thinks he’s one of those supermodels.”
Supermodel? Superkitten, more like, Felix thought.
Chapter Three
“You’ll have to try to keep Felix off this sofa, Jodie,” Mrs Taylor said a couple of days later.
Jodie had just come in from school and was sitting watching TV, with Felix on her lap.
Mrs Taylor dabbed at the sofa with a damp cloth, then frowned at the grey fluff she’d gathered up. “Dad sat down wearing his new suit and got it covered in grey hairs this morning,” she went on.
“Sorry,” Jodie said. “I’ll try and brush some of the loose fluff out of Felix’s coat later.” She was going to make do with an old blue hairbrush until the special comb arrived at the pet shop.
Tutting a little under her breath, Mrs Taylor went over to the vacuum cleaner in the corner. “And this old vacuum cleaner of ours is hopeless!” she added.
“Shall I have a go with it?” Jodie offered, feeling guilty at the extra work Felix’s fluff was making for her mum.
Mrs Taylor shook her head. “It’s much too heavy for you to lug around, love. It’s too heavy for me, come to that!” She plugged in the big old machine and switched it on.
Felix, who’d been snoozing, sat bolt upright. What was that horrible roaring noise? He jumped down and made a dash for the stairs. Pale grey fluff hung in the air as he ran . . .
It was Saturday and Jodie was taking her time in the bathroom. She didn’t have to rush to school this morning and could play with her new kitten all day.
Felix had decided to keep Jodie company while she showered, and was perched on the edge of the bath. He bobbed from side to side, dabbing his paw in the drops of water. “Why can’t I catch these little round silvery things?” he miaowed sharply. It was very annoying!
Jodie turned off the shower and put a dollop of soapy foam on the edge of the bath for Felix to play with.
Felix looked at the white froth. He reached out a paw – but the bit he touched seemed to disappear. Very odd.
He leaned over to sniff the strange stuff – and jumped back in surprise, sneezing as tiny soapy bubbles flew up his nose. Felix lost his balance and slid into the bath, a wisp of foam still on his nose.
“Oh, Felix!” Jodie cried. “You silly puss!”
Jodie couldn’t stop laughing as she lifted Felix out of the bath.
Then she noticed the hairs that had flown off Felix as he’d skidded into the bath. She grabbed a cloth and quickly wiped them up before her mum noticed. Jodie could hear the vacuum cleaner on again, downstairs.
Felix had been with the Taylors for just over a week now, and he had settled in really well. But there was one big problem: his fluff!
Felix’s lovely thick coat shed oodles of fluffy hair wherever Felix went. And Mrs Taylor was not pleased about it.
Jodie got dressed and took Felix into her bedroom. “Time to brush out some of that fluff,” she said to him, setting him down on her bed.
She went to find the old blue hairbrush. But when she came back, Felix had vanished. Then she noticed a fluffy tail, fat as a squirrel’s, sticking out of the duvet. “I can see you!” she called.
Jodie flung back the duvet to find Felix crouched down ready to pounce. He leapt into the air, scrabbled up her back and landed on her shoulder. “You’re back! Let’s play!” he miaowed loudly.
As Jodie collapsed onto the bed, giggling, her mum appeared in the doorway.
“Just look at all that fluff on your bedclothes, Jodie,” Mrs Taylor said frowning. “You’d better change them. And don’t you think it’s about time you started grooming that kitten? If you combed out all that loose fluff it wouldn’t come out all over the house!”
“I’m going to, Mum – right now,” Jodie said, and held up the brush to show her.
With a sigh, Mrs Taylor went back to her cleaning. Pulling Felix onto her lap, Jodie gently began to stroke the brush along his back.
But as far as Felix was concerned, the bristly blue creature was trying to attack him! He sprang round. “How dare you!” he hissed, ready to fight the brush.
Jodie sighed. “Come on, Felix, you have to let me groom you – otherwise we’ll both be in trouble!”
Just then, the vacuum cleaner stopped again, and Mrs Taylor called from the bathroom. “Jodie, leave that kitten alone for a moment and come in here, will you?”
Jodie put the brush down on the bed and went out to her mum. Felix pounced on the blue creature, biting and kicking it. “Caught you!” he growled happily.
“Have you had Felix in here with you?” Jodie’s mum asked sternly when Jodie went into the bathroom.
Jodie nodded. “He likes to sit and watch me clean my teeth.”
“I thought so,” Mrs Taylor said, “because there are hairs in the sink and on the flannels.” Mrs Taylor shook her head. “Wherever I look there’s a smudge of grey fluff!”
“But what can I do, Mum?” Jodie said. “Felix can’t help moulting.”
“I never seem to stop cleaning these days,” Mrs Taylor grumbled. “Not since Felix arrived.” And then she stared at a toothbrush in horror. “That’s the limit!” she cried. “There’s cat hair on my toothbrush!”
“Perhaps the special comb we’ve ordered from the pet shop will work,” Jodie said.
Her mum nodded. “I hope so – I feel quite worn out with all the extra work.”
Feeling guilty, Jodie escaped back to her bedroom and watched as Felix burrowed under her duvet again, leaving a cloud of grey fluff behind him. She just hoped that Felix would allow her to use the new comb on him. If he didn’t, she could see things getting very difficult . . .
Chapter Four
A couple of days later, Jodie and her mum made their way to Pearce’s Perfect Pets after school. Mr Pearce had called to say the special comb was in.
As they approached the pet shop Jodie noticed that Felix’s photograph was now in the window. “Oh, look, Mum!” she pointed. “There’s Felix! Doesn’t he look gorgeous?”
They both stopped and stared at the big photograph of Felix in the middle of the window display. He was wearing his new collar, with his head on one side, looking his cutest. A slogan above the picture read: