“Yes?” he asked.
“Have you seen a kitten?” Rosie said nervously. “There were some cats here, and they were taken to a rescue centre, but we think one of the kittens ran away and…” She trailed off. “We just wondered if you’d seen him? A ginger kitten?”
“No, sorry.” The builder turned away. Rosie didn’t dare call him back, even though she wanted to.
“Could you keep an eye out for him, please!” Gran called, and Rosie squeezed her hand gratefully. She’d wanted to ask that, too.
They carried on walking, Rosie looking back sadly every so often. They seemed to be able to see that fence for ages.
“Don’t give up hope, Rosie,” Gran told her. “You never know.”
But Rosie couldn’t help feeling that her chances of finding Ginger were getting smaller and smaller. What if he had escaped before the fence went up. Maybe he wasn’t there at all!
Ginger was hiding between two hay bales in the barn, peering out occasionally, and trembling as the men’s heavy boots thumped past the door. Who were they? And why were they stamping and crashing round his home? He wished his mother and his brother and sisters would come back, but he was almost sure now that they were gone for ever. If his mother had still been here, she would have come to find him by now, wouldn’t she?
He had hidden in the barn when the men came to put the fence up, and he’d dashed back there again this morning when they returned. He didn’t dare do more than poke his nose out occasionally to see if they’d gone. He was starving, and it was getting harder to find anything to eat in the bin bags by the farmhouse.
There were voices outside now. Were more people coming? He shivered. He wanted the farm to go back to being quiet and safe like it was before. He listened miserably, but then his ears pricked up. He knew that voice. It was the girl! She was there! Maybe she’d known he was hungry and had brought him some more sandwiches? He edged nervously round the barn door, the fur on his back ruffling up.
The men were still there, and the girl was talking to one of them. If only they would go, he could run over to her. Perhaps she didn’t know he was here. He mewed a tiny mew, hoping she would hear. But he didn’t dare call more loudly in case the men saw him.
No! The girl was turning away. She was going!
Rosie walked sadly away down the lane with Gran, leaving the kitten staring desperately after her.
The girl had gone, and Ginger didn’t know if she would come back. He felt so small and scared, and very, very alone…
Chapter Five
On Friday Gran was waiting outside school for Rosie as usual. It was spitting with rain, and Rosie was taking a while. She and Millie were among the last few to come out, and Millie had her arm round her friend.
“Rosie’s really upset about Ginger,” she explained to Rosie’s gran.
“I just don’t think I’m ever going to see him again,” Rosie whispered sadly.
“You mustn’t give up!” Millie said firmly.
Millie’s mum had come up and was giving Rosie a concerned look. “Is everything OK, Millie?” she asked, and Millie explained about Ginger being missing.
“Poor little thing,” her mum murmured. “Have you tried putting food out to tempt him, just in case he’s still around?”
Rosie lifted her head. “No! No, we haven’t, we should try that! Can we do that today, Gran? Oh no, I should have saved my sandwiches for him!”
“You could buy some cat treats in the pet shop!” Millie suggested. “Sammy loves those, especially the salmon-flavour ones.”
“Please!” Rosie begged. “I’ll pay you back out of my pocket money, Gran.”
Gran smiled. “I think I can afford some cat treats. Come on then.”
“Oh, I wish I could come with you, but I’ve got dancing,” Millie said. “I’d love to see him. I bet he’ll come out for those cat treats.”
“Thanks for the brilliant idea,” Rosie told her gratefully, and she and Gran set off to the pet shop.
“Call me and let me know if you see him!” Millie yelled after them, and Rosie turned back to wave. Millie had understood at once why she was so upset. She adored her fluffy, white cat, Sammy. He’d been lost for a couple of days last year, and it had been awful.
Rosie chose the salmon treats, like Millie had suggested. Sammy was gorgeous and podgy and liked his food – Ginger was sure to like them, too. Then they walked quickly over to the farm. From a long way down the lane, they could hear banging and the rumbling sounds of big vehicles. Rosie and Gran exchanged a look and speeded up to see what was going on.
The farm looked so different. The builders were knocking down the barn! A huge, yellow digger was thundering past them on the other side of the fence – even Rosie felt scared by how big and loud it was. How would a kitten feel!
“Oh no!” Rosie cried. “That’s where the cats all used to sleep.” She watched as the digger tore at the walls. She clung on to the wire fence, pressing her face against it so hard she could feel the wires marking her forehead, and looked frantically around the building site. She still couldn’t see the kitten.
“He’s not there, is he?” she asked, her voice shaking. “You don’t think he was in the barn, when they – when they started pulling it down…”
Gran stared through the fence at the builders and their machines, and sighed. “I don’t know, Rosie. He could just be hidden away somewhere because he’s frightened. It’s so noisy, he might want to come out, but he doesn’t dare.” She put her arm round Rosie.
“Try the cat treats,” she suggested gently. “Why don’t you scatter a few through the fence? Maybe the smell will tempt him.” She helped Rosie tear open the tough packet. “Goodness, I should think he’d smell that from miles away, they’re very fishy, aren’t they?”
The treats did smell very strong, and Rosie pushed a few through the mesh of the fence. Then they waited, watching the builders in their bright yellow vests and hard hats as they cleared away the broken pieces of wood that were all that was left of the kitten’s home. But there was no sign of Ginger – no long, white whiskers peeping out from behind a hay bale, no ginger tail flicking round the corner of the farmhouse. He was nowhere to be seen. After ten minutes of waiting and calling, Gran turned to Rosie.
“It’s starting to rain harder, Rosie. We’d better go, but we’ll try again. Maybe your mum will bring you over tomorrow or on Sunday. We won’t give up.”
Rosie nodded, feeling slightly better. She would never give up on Ginger.
Even though he was only across the farmyard, Ginger hadn’t seen them. He was lurking under the abandoned tractor, shuddering each time the digger crashed and clanged through his old home. He had run out as soon as the builders had come into the barn, and had been hiding here ever since. He was wet, cold and hungry, and now he didn’t even have anywhere to sleep!
As the barn was flattened, Ginger came to a decision. This wasn’t his home any more. It hadn’t been his home since his family had gone – he realized now that his mother wasn’t coming back. He needed to get away, and find somewhere new.
Perhaps he could go and find that nice girl with the sandwiches?
Rosie’s mum took her back to the farm on Sunday, and they stood by the fence calling for ages.
“Put some more cat treats down,” Mum suggested. “Then at least he’ll have something to eat.”
Suddenly Rosie gasped. “Mum, look!”
“What is it? Have you spotted him? I can’t see anything.” Mum peered through the fence.
“No, that’s it, I can’t see anything, that’s the point! The cat treats I poked through the fence on Friday, they’ve gone!”