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Emily’s mum showed Maria into the kitchen, where Emily and Leah were playing with the kittens.
“Oh, aren’t they sweet! How many are there?” Maria asked, laughing as one of the tabbies sniffed her boots.
“Four, but we’re keeping Satin – the black kitten. There are two female tabbies, and the little white boy. Did you want just one kitten?” Emily’s mum asked. “We’re thinking that the tabby girls might want to stay together – they’re such a team.”
“I was only planning on getting one,” Maria said. “I can’t see a white kitten…”
“He was here a minute ago!” Leah looked around the kitchen. “Now that they can climb out of their pen they’re all over the place.”
“He’s a little shy,” Emily’s mum explained. “But he’s very sweet once he gets used to you. Look, there he is!” She smiled, and pointed to the pen, where a little white head was poking out under the fleecy blanket. “I’ll get him out.” She picked him up and tried to pass him to Maria, but Whiskers squeaked in fright and then hissed, his paws all sticking out rigidly, and his tail fluffed out to twice its usual size.
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“Oh dear, don’t make him if he doesn’t want to,” Maria said worriedly. “Poor thing, he really is nervous. There are a lot of cats round where I live, and I’m not sure this little one would cope very well if he’s so shy. I’m sorry – I’m sure you’ll find lovely homes for them all.”
Emily’s mum followed her to the door, and Emily and Leah looked down at Whiskers, who was now huddled in Leah’s arms.
“Oh, Whiskers,” Emily muttered. “No one’s going to want you if you do that every time. It’s so stupid! He wants to be Mia’s kitten, I know he does.”
Leah nodded.“I know. But we can’t make her have him. Maybe she’ll come round to the idea.”
Emily sighed.“I wish she’d hurry up about it.”
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A couple of weeks later, Mia and her gran popped in on the way home from school, and found that only Whiskers and Satin were left.
“I’m not surprised Whiskers didn’t like them. The two little boys were quite noisy,” Emily’s mum was saying to Gran. “They thought Whiskers was lovely, and they were all set to choose him, but it was just like with Maria. They tried to cuddle him, and he actually shot out of the kitchendoor, and went and hid in the cupboard under the stairs! So they decided they’d take the tabbies instead.” She laughed. “And they’re going to call them Molly and Polly. I don’t think they’ll ever be able to remember which is which!”
“So it’s only Whiskers now?” Mia asked, as Emily’s mum made Gran a coffee. Mia sat stroking the little ball of white fur curled up in her lap.
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Emily nodded.“At least he’s still got Satin to play with. But Mum’s determined we’re only keeping one. We have to find Whiskers a home, and no one wants an unfriendly kitten.”
“He isn’t!” Mia said indignantly. “He’s a sweetheart. He’s just shy.”But maybe that’s a good thing, she admitted to herself.I really don’t want him to go…
Whiskers yawned, and wriggled himself comfortable again. Mia and Emily had been rolling balls of newspaper for him and Satin to chase, and he was exhausted. The kitchen was covered in shredded paper, though. Whiskers and Satin had done a thorough job… He rolled over on to his back, all four paws in the air, showing off his fat pinkish tummy. He was liking solid food more and more now, and after he’d had a meal, he was practically circular.
“But he’s so different with you…” Emily sighed. “He doesn’t mind playing with me and Leah, and he’ll let us stroke him. But I don’t think he’s ever gone to sleep on me. And definitely not upside down! That means he really trusts you, you know.”
Mia nodded. She didn’t dare say anything, but she looked up at Gran. She was smiling, and nodding as if she agreed with Emily. Maybe she was being silly. Was it like Gran had said when the kittens were born, that she was still holding on to missing Sandy? Was she making herself sad on purpose? Maybe it was finally time to let Sandy go…
Chapter Seven [Êàðòèíêà: i_012.jpg]
“I’ll come and fetch you at about six then, Mia,” Gran said, one day after school. Gran gave her a kiss, and Mia waved goodbye. Whiskers was already weaving himself happily around her ankles, purring. His purr had definitely got louder as he got bigger, Mia decided. He was twelve weeks old now, definitely old enough for a new home. But no one seemed to want a rather shy, nervous little white cat. Mia didn’t mind. She was looking forward to spending lots of time with Whiskers over the Christmas holidays. It had even started to snow that morning, although the flakes hadn’t really settled. She was sure that Whiskers would look gorgeous if they took him out to play in the snow. He would be invisible, except for his round blue eyes!
Whiskers patted at her leg with his paw, asking to be picked up. Mia came to see him almost every day now, but he still missed her when she wasn’t there. One day maybe she would take him with her?
“Hello, Mister Whiskers.” Mia picked him up and cuddled him. “What shall we do, mm?”
“Homework!” Emily said, grinning and waving the sheet Mrs Jones, their teacher, had given them for the project they had to do over the Christmas holidays. It was the last week of term and neither of the girls really felt like working, but Mrs Jones was known as the scariest teacher at their school. The project had to get planned, even if it was only a little over a week till Christmas Day. “We have to sort this project out, remember? Come on, bring Whiskers with you.” She scooped up Satin, leaving Silky alone in the hallway, looking quite relieved. Whiskers and Satin were so much bigger now, and so bouncy that they wore Silky out.
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“I can smell fishfingers,” Mia said, a while later. “So can Whiskers and Satin, look at them!” The kittens were prowling up and down by Emily’s bedroom door, their tails twitching eagerly.
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“I think our plan sounds quite good,” Emily said, looking down at what they’d written. “Animals in the time of Queen Victoria. I bet no one else will have thought of that. It’s a brilliant idea, Mia.”
Mia laughed.“I’ll have the ideas, you do the writing. You almost finished the whole plan while I was just cuddling Whiskers. Do you think tea’s ready? The smell of those fishfingers is making me hungry, too.”
“Must be. Let’s go and see.” Emily opened the door, and the kittens shot out on to the landing and eyed the stairs uncertainly. They wanted to be down there with the delicious fishy smell – but they weren’t really sure about stairs yet…
Whiskers looked at Mia pleadingly, and she laughed and picked him up. She carried him down to the kitchen, while Emily followed with Satin.
Emily’s mum smiled as they came in. “Look at those kittens! I’ve never seen them look so hungry. We’d better find the fishy-flavour kitten food.”
“I think they’d rather just have the fishfingers,” Emily said, going to the cupboard for the tin, and spooning out the kitten food. “Uurgh, this one smells the worst!”
But Satin and Whiskers raced for their bowls, and gulped down the food eagerly.
Emily’s mum had just passed Leah, Emily and Mia their tea, when the phone rang. She went to answer it, fighting with her oven gloves. “Hello? Oh, yes… That’s right. There’s actually only one kitten left now.”
Mia smiled, pausing with her fork halfway to her mouth. A paw was patting her knee. Whiskers must have wolfed down his kitten food already, and now he was on the hunt for something even nicer. She scooped him up on to her lap, and fed him a tiny bit of fishfinger. Emily’s mum wasn’t looking, she was concentrating on the phone call.
“Oh, you’ve been looking for a white kitten? That’s wonderful. He is a little bit shy though, that’s the only thing. He’s very friendly once he knows you, but he may not want to be picked up.”