Tom was beginning to wonder if Nell really had disappeared.
Chapter Six
Out by the pigpen, huddled inside an upturned tin bucket, Nell kept as quiet as a mouse. When Mrs Morgan had taken her basket out of Tom’s room that morning, Nell had guessed that something not very nice was going to happen to her.
Nell had crept downstairs, and when Tom’s Auntie Julie had arrived, she had scooted outside unnoticed. She watched and waited, listening unhappily to the sounds going on around her.
“We can’t find her anywhere,” sighed Hattie and Jo.
Tom watched Auntie Julie through the window as she fussed around the pigpen. He was beginning to hope that Nell would disappear long enough for Auntie Julie to give up waiting and go home. He threw himself down on the sofa and sighed.
A moment later Auntie Julie came back in. Mrs Morgan shook her head to let her know that they hadn’t found Nell.
Auntie Julie shrugged her shoulders, then sat down at the kitchen table.
“You can’t hide Nell forever,” Mrs Morgan told Tom crossly.
“I’mnot hiding her!” Tom cried.
Out by the pigpen, Nell’s nose twitched. Something was wrong. She peeped around the edge of the bucket and saw a little pink bottom with a curly tail rush by. It was one of the piglets. What was it doing out of the pigpen?
Nell crept out of the bucket to see more piglets running from the pen, while their mother snuffled about in the chicken feed. The pigpen gate hadn’t been closed properly. As she watched, one of the piglets squeezed under the front gate and ran down the lane.
Nell was worried. She liked to tease the other farm animals, but she didn’t want to see any of them hurt. And that piglet was going to get into big trouble, running off like that!
Nell dashed over to the house– but the kitchen door was closed! She jumped onto the stone ledge under the kitchen window. Tom and his sisters, and his mum and Auntie Julie were all sitting round the table, talking.
“Tom! Tom – come out! Come and look!” Nell miaowed loudly, scratching on the windowpane as she called.
Everyone looked up.
“Catch her!” shouted Mrs Morgan, pushing her chair back and dashing outside, closely followed by Tom.
Then Mrs Morgan saw that the piglets were out of their pen.“Oh no!” she cried, forgetting about Nell. “Catch them!” she yelled.
Everyone began to run around the yard, herding the piglets safely back into the pen. But Nell ran over to the front gate, hoping Tom would follow her.
“Come here, Nell,” Tom called, walking towards her.
But Nell ran under the gate and on down the lane.
“Nell! Come back!” Tom called. He quickly climbed over the gate and ran after her.
Just then, Nell spotted the runaway piglet snuffling about in a muddy ditch. She stood there, waiting for Tom to catch up.
At first, Tom couldn’t believe his eyes. Nell wasn’t being naughty at all. She’d run off to show him one of the farm animals was in trouble!
When Tom’s mum spotted him walking back up the lane she called out to him, looking worried. “There’s a piglet missing, Tom.”
“No there isn’t,” Tom called back, smiling. He held the piglet up for his mum to see.
Nell walked beside Tom, feeling pleased. Perhaps she was a real farm cat now.
But Mrs Morgan didn’t see it that way. She briskly picked Nell up and tucked her under her arm. “I might have known you’d be right in the middle of trouble,” she said to Nell crossly.
“Mum …” protested Tom.
“Oh, that’s not fair,” Auntie Julie told her sister. “All this was my fault, not Nell’s.”
“Your fault?” asked Mrs Morgan, puzzled.
Auntie Julie went a little pink.“I must have left the pigpen gate open. Sorry.”
“And Mum,” said Tom, “if Nell hadn’t come and scratched on the window at us, all the piglets might have got out on the road!”
“Oh don’t, Tom,” said Mrs Morgan, looking pale.
“So Nell wasn’t being naughty at all this time,” Jo said brightly.
Tom smiled at his sister.“That’s right. Nell knew what was happening, Mum,” he said. “She came and got us – and then she led me straight to the piglet that had run off down the lane!”
“Now Nell’s a proper farm cat,” said Harriet, happily.
“So I think we should keep her, Mum,” Tom said quietly.
Harriet and Jo nodded hard.
Mrs Morgan looked at Auntie Julie to see what she thought.
“Tom’s right,” said Auntie Julie. “I think Nell will be a good farm cat, after all.”
“Yes, I will,” miaowed Nell, wriggling in Mrs Morgan’s arms. “Now can you stop squashing me, please?”
Mrs Morgan untucked the wriggling kitten from under her arm and gave her to Tom, smiling.“Then I suppose she can stay.”
“Really?” asked Tom.
“Really,” laughed Mrs Morgan.
Hattie and Jo cheered and Tom hugged Nell tight, a huge smile on his face.
As Nell purred happily in Tom’s arms, two ducks waddled past. Nell’s tail twitched. She was tempted, but she wasn’t going to chase them. No – she was going to enjoy being a good farm cat – for today, at least …
10. SNUGGLES THE SLEEPY KITTEN
Chapter One
Super-Snuggles the Wonder Cat stood very still. His back was arched, and the tip of his tail waved slowly from side to side. Timmy, the biggest fiercest tomcat in town, was walking towards him.
Super-Snuggles stared the ginger tom right in the eyes. One of them would have to move out of the way. Who would it be?
Timmy got closer. And closer …
But Super-Snuggles stood his ground. It was about time Timmy treated Super-Snuggles the Wonder Cat with a bit of respect!
“Morning, Super-Snuggles,” Timmy miaowed politely. He stepped quickly around the other cat. “And how are you today?”
“Fine,” Super-Snuggles purred. “Just fine!”
“Snuggles …”
The voice was coming from a long way off.
“Snuggles!”
Snuggles, the tabby kitten, opened one blue eye. His owner, Mr Chapman, was stroking his back.
“Goodness, Snuggles, you’ve been asleep for hours!” Mr Chapman said. “I was beginning to get worried about you.”
“I’m OK, Mr Chapman,” Snuggles purred. He yawned and stretched, then rubbed his face against Mr Chapman’s cardigan. “In fact, I was having a brilliant dream!”
Snugglesloved curling up on Mr Chapman’s comfy lap and going to sleep. In his dreams he became Super-Snuggles the Wonder Cat …
Super-Snuggles could jump high and run fast. All the other cats in town wanted to be like him. And all the dogs were scared of him. Super-Snuggles could do anything! He could do all the things that Snuggles the kitten was too scared to do.
But Snuggles knew that Mr Chapman worried about him, because he slept so much.
“I can’t become Super-Snuggles the Wonder Catunless I’m asleep!” Snuggles purred, looking up into his owner’s kind old face. “I wish I could make you understand.”
“Don’t go to sleep again, Snuggles,” Mr Chapman said anxiously. “Why don’t you go and play in the garden for a while?”
Snuggles stopped purring.“The garden!” he mewed worriedly. “What if Timmy the tomcat chases me?” Snuggles was very scared of bad-tempered Timmy – except in his dreams!
“Come on, Snuggles.” Mr Chapman picked the kitten up and carried him into the kitchen. “I’ll come with you.”
Snuggles couldn’t help shivering as his owner unlocked the back door. The outside world seemed such a scary place.
Mr Chapman put Snuggles down on the lawn. The kitten padded slowly across the grass, looking around him worriedly as he went.
Suddenly, Snuggles noticed a small hole in the bottom of the fence. His whiskers twitched with interest. The house on the other side had been empty for as long as Snuggles had lived with Mr Chapman. Snuggles had heard his owner say that its garden had become very overgrown– like a jungle! Snuggles imagined it to be a very frightening place.