‘I wouldn’t do that,’ she replied quietly. ‘I care too much about Caroline. And he pays me well. I shouldn’t have gone behind his back with the cat. But he won’t really get rid of me, you know. It was just bluster.’
‘I certainly hope he won’t, Laura. Well, I’d better get on with mending that fence over the other side of the paddock. Was there anything you wanted or did you just come out for a chat?’
‘Oh, I just came to look for a box of old jigsaw puzzles Caroline’s asking for. She thought her dad might have put them in here when they moved in, and forgotten them.’
‘I haven’t seen anything like that,’ he said, turning round and scratching his head. ‘But you’re welcome to have a look through those boxes at the back.’
‘OK, Harry. Thanks. See you later.’
He went off, whistling, and Laura came into the shed and started lifting lids off boxes. I hopped out from behind the flowerpots and meowed a hello at her.
‘Oh – Oliver!’ she said. ‘You made me jump! What are you doing still hanging around here? I’d have thought you’d have run a mile, after our telling-off.’
I probably should have done, too. The last thing I wanted was for that Julian to come out and find me here. Now I’d slept off the stress, I needed to get going. I walked round Laura’s legs a couple of times to say goodbye, and to my surprise she sat down suddenly on one of the boxes and picked me up, holding me close to her.
‘What am I going to do, Oliver?’ she said softly against my fur. ‘I must be crazy to care about him like I do. He can be so mean sometimes, but I know that’s not the real Julian. He’s just beside himself with worry all the time about Caroline. I wish I could tell him how I feel. All I want is to be able to look after him and make him happy again. But he’s not interested in me, or anyone else, apart from his daughter.’
To be honest I couldn’t quite believe what I was hearing. I know humans can be quite peculiar in the way they choose their mates, but surely this nice female could find someone kinder and gentler than that bad-tempered cat-hating Julian? I felt quite sorry for her, though – she must have had some kind of problem in her head. He’d been really nasty to her and she was still making excuses for him. Sometimes, Charlie, I wonder if I’ll ever understand humans at all.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
As I finally made my way home from the Big House, I bumped into Suki. She was looking as cross as Tabby had done when I saw him the previous week.
‘Oh, hello,’ I said. ‘I … er … understand congratulations are in order.’
‘No, they’re not,’ she said very sharply. ‘Think about it, Ollie. How would you feel if your tummy was going to swell up until you could hardly move, and then you were going to go through hours of agony and end up with a mob of squealing kittens to feed?’
‘Well, put like that…’ I said, feeling awkward. ‘Er, where’s Tabby, anyway?’
‘That’s a very good question.’ She flicked her tail at me. ‘If you see him, tell him I’m looking for him, would you?’
‘OK.’ I didn’t know which of them to feel the most sympathy for. It does seem unfair that females have to go through all that stuff, but there you go – that’s life – and there wasn’t really any point her taking it out on Tabby. I was just glad I wasn’t a female. If I was, nothing would have persuaded me to mate with a horrible randy male like Tabby.
I looked in all the obvious places for Tabby – round the back of the shop, by the swings on the village green, even at his own house. I went as far as jumping over his garden fence and putting my nose up against his cat flap, but there was no sign of him. He was certainly doing a good job of making himself scarce. In the end I finally tracked him down to the side of the big noisy road at the other end of the village.
‘What on earth are you doing here?’ I shouted at him. I had to shout, because of the noise of the cars racing past.
‘Thinking about running across to the other side,’ he said morosely.
‘Don’t be ridiculous! The cars will trample you as soon as you set paw on the road.’
‘Maybe. But if they don’t, I can escape.’
‘Oh yes? Escape where, exactly?’ I was getting cross with him now. ‘Do you have any idea how it feels to be lost, with no home to go to, and nothing to eat or drink? Have you ever been cornered by a fox, or left in a sack to die? No, of course you haven’t, you’ve had a lovely home with nice humans to feed you and pamper you the whole of your life. How can you even talk about escaping?’
He hung his head. ‘Sorry, Ollie,’ he said. ‘I know, you’re right. I’ve been a lucky cat all my life, and I haven’t had to go through anything scary like you have. And I’m sorry I’ve been rude to you lately, as well. You’ve been a good friend to me. I don’t deserve you.’
‘Oh, don’t start getting all melodramatic on me,’ I said impatiently. ‘Just get away from this horrible road before we both end up getting hurt. Come on.’
He followed me back up the hill, and when we got to the village green we sat under one of the benches and washed each other’s faces like we were brothers.
‘Is it just because of Suki?’ I asked him eventually. ‘Is she still yowling at you? I bumped into her a bit earlier and I must say she seemed … um … keen to see you.’
‘Just wants to have another go at me, I suppose. I preferred her before she found out she was expecting. She was nice then – gentle, and sexy. Now, whenever we see each other it almost turns into a cat fight. At the end of the day, she was just as keen about the mating as I was.’
‘Well look,’ I said, ‘maybe you should just let her blame you, if it makes her feel better. After all, it is her who has to get a fat tummy, and go through agony to produce the kittens.’ I was just repeating what Suki had said, of course. I had no idea how these things actually worked. ‘You might even like the kittens when they’re born.’
‘Huh. I doubt it. But you’re probably right. Maybe I’ll go and see her tomorrow. Will you come with me?’
‘Oh. I don’t think that’s a good idea, Tabs.’
‘Please, Ollie. You’re so much better than me at understanding how females think.’
‘Yeah, well, that’s because of being neutered, I suppose.’
‘I’m beginning to envy you. Seriously, at least you have your freedom, and don’t feel like you’re going to spend the rest of your life being shouted at by a vindictive female who didn’t want to have kittens.’
I laughed. ‘You’d better try and persuade your owners to take you to the vet, then. Come on, let’s walk home together. I’m getting hungry. And I want to tell you what happened to me today. You think you have a stressful life? You’ve got no idea.’
As we walked, I told him about the Big House, and Caroline, and being caught by her father.
‘What?’ he kept saying. And, ‘I told you not to go back there!’
‘I know you did,’ I agreed. ‘And I probably should have listened to you, but I felt like that poor little girl needed me.’
‘Your trouble is, you’re too soft-hearted, Ollie. And you didn’t believe me when I told you there was an angry man there, did you?’
‘No. I think he’s only there sometimes at weekends, though. So what I’m thinking is, I might go back on Monday.’
‘What!’ he yelled at me again. ‘Are you completely raving mad? You’ve just told me how terrified you were, how he picked you up and dropped you.’