“Hello, Misty,” Amy whispered.
Chapter Five
The kitten sat there a little nervously, still ready to run, as Amy stroked her and then Lily joined in too.
“Isn’t she beautiful?” Amy said proudly.
“The prettiest kitten I’ve ever seen – except Stella,” Lily added, out of loyalty. “Oh, Amy, she’s started purring!”
She had. Amy had just found the exact itchy spot behind her left ear, and the kitten had her eyes closed, and a tiny little throaty purr was making Amy’s hand buzz.
“Tea, girls!”
The kitten’s eyes shot open. She leaped off the ladder and raced back along the branch, jumping down on to the fence and disappearing away.
“Bye, Misty!” Amy called after her quietly. “Why did Mum have to pick just then to call?” she complained to Lily, as they scrambled down from the tree house. “I think Misty might even have let us pick her up.”
Lily nodded. “She was definitely friendly. But you’re right, she is much too thin. When I stroked her I could feel her ribs. She needs a nice owner to feed her properly.”
The kitten obviously agreed. She came back to the tree house the next afternoon at the same time, and Amy opened one of the tins of cat food she’d bought. She put it in an old plastic bowl she’d borrowed from the kitchen cupboard, and sat in the doorway of the tree house, watching Misty gobble it down. Misty let Amy stroke her again, too, and even put her paws on Amy’s leg, as though she was considering climbing into her lap.
“Are you going out to the tree house again?” Mum asked. “It’s raining, though! I didn’t realize you loved it that much.”
“It’s my best present ever!” Amy giggled, a little guiltily. She did love the tree house, but that wasn’t the main reason she was spending so much time out there. Every afternoon that week, as soon as she got home, she’d rushed straight there to look out for Misty.
She threw on her hoodie over her uniform and went out to the tree house. The ladder was slippery from the rain so she climbed up slowly, peering out along the fence for a little kitten. But no kitten came running to see her today. She sighed. Maybe Misty was sheltering from the rain somewhere.
She stood up and pulled open the tree house door, planning to sit and read on the beanbag, while keeping an eye out for Misty through the window.
But the beanbag was already occupied.
A little kitten – her fur shiny and spiky from the rain – was curled up on it, fast asleep.
Now that she had discovered that the tree house had a soft, comfortable place to sleep, and that Amy would come and feed her, Misty spent most of her days there, even though she still went back to Mrs Jones to sleep at night. She had climbed in through the half-open window that first time to get out of the rain, and Amy hadn’t seemed to mind. In fact, she’d looked really pleased, and spent ages stroking her. The window was always open a little way now, so that she could get in, and there would always be a little bowl of cat crunchies or something else delicious waiting for her.
“I don’t know if I’m imagining it, but I think you’re looking plumper,” Amy told the kitten lovingly, a week after she’d first found her inside the tree house. She stroked the little black tummy, as the kitten lay sleepily in her lap. “Are you getting fatter, Misty?”
“Prrrrp.” The kitten purred, and yawned. Then she snuggled up on Amy’s lap, feeling more at home than she had for a long time.
Amy stroked her gently, wishing Misty was really hers. “Stay here, puss,” she murmured. “This is your tree house now too.” But it was getting dark now and Amy knew she’d have to head inside soon, and leave the kitten all alone.
“Amy! Your tea’s getting cold!” came her mum’s voice, from just below the tree house.
Amy jumped and so did Misty, springing off her lap.
She could hear her mum climbing up the ladder. Panicking, Amy dropped her hoodie top over Misty. She couldn’t let the secret out now – not when Misty felt almost hers. Mum would never let her keep a kitten.
Amy’s mum poked her head through the doorway. “I’ve been calling you for ages!”
“Sorry!” Amy got up quickly and went over to her mum, hoping she wouldn’t see the wriggling hoodie behind her. She followed her down the ladder.
Misty edged her way out from under the top, shaking her fur crossly. Why had Amy done that?
She slunk over to the tree house door and watched Amy going up the garden towards the house. Misty slipped out along the branch, and jumped down on to the fence, then into Amy’s garden. Keeping her distance, she followed Amy, trotting after her. But just as she reached the house, Amy closed the door.
Misty stood outside it sadly. She wished she could follow Amy into the house. It looked warm and friendly.
There was a big magnolia tree, growing close to the kitchen window, and Misty scrambled up the trunk to a branch, then jumped on to the window sill. She could see Amy, and two other people, laughing and eating.
The food smelled delicious. She mewed, hoping that Amy would see her and let her in. But the man sitting closest to the window was the one who stood up and came to look.
“It’s a cat!” He laughed. “A little black kitten. Come and see, Amy.”
Amy jumped as she saw Misty, accidentally knocking her glass of juice off the table. It smashed on the floor, and the woman got up with a sigh.
Misty leaped back on to the branch, hiding in the gathering darkness, and watching as they cleared up the mess. She wished she was in there with them, but Amy had seemed upset to see her and she didn’t know why. Misty watched for a while, until Amy disappeared and the lights went off. Then she pattered sadly down the garden and back up into the tree house. But this time she didn’t sleep on the beanbag. She curled up on the hoodie top instead. It smelled of Amy.
“Mum came up to the tree house and nearly saw Misty last night!” Amy told Lily before school on Friday morning. “I had to throw my hoodie on top of her, poor thing! And then she was suddenly there at the window, and Dad saw her!” She sighed. “It’s fun having a secret kitten, but I wish I didn’t have to hide her all the time. It would be so nice to be able to take her inside, too. I’d love her to sleep on my bed, like Stella does with you.”
“It is nice,” Lily admitted. “She keeps my toes toasty. Do you think your mum and dad really wouldn’t let you keep her?”
Amy shook her head thoughtfully. “I just don’t know. I’ve begged for a kitten for so long – if they were going to let me have one, wouldn’t they have given in by now? I can’t see them changing their minds.”
“But she’s so cute!”
“Maybe I should tell them all about Misty. But what if they make me take her to a cat shelter?” Amy shuddered at the thought.
Even so, she couldn’t stop imagining how lovely it would be to curl up and sleep with her own little kitten. She just had to think of a way…
“This is brilliant!” Lily said excitedly, as she laid out her sleeping bag on the floor of the tree house. “I’m so glad Mum agreed I could stay over. Do you really think Misty will come and sleep with us too?”
“I think she spends the night here sometimes now. I tried brushing all the cat hairs off the beanbag last night, and there were more this morning. So she must have been here…”
Amy had come up with the sleepover plan at school, and the girls had begged their mums to let them do it that Saturday. Lily’s mum had been a bit worried that they would be cold, but she’d agreed in the end, when Lily reminded her about the special sleeping bags they’d bought to go camping. She even had a spare one for Amy!