The person on the other end of the phone didn’t seem to mind this. Emily’s mum was nodding and smiling.
Whiskers stared up at Mia, hoping for some more fishfinger. His whiskers shook with excitement as he reached up a little white paw to pat Mia’s hand.
But she didn’t give him any. She put down her fork, very slowly and quietly, and stared at him. The kitten’s whiskers drooped. Mia’s face had changed; she didn’t look like the girl who’d been sneaking him scraps a moment before. She was pale and miserable. Whiskers mewed, his ears flattening against his head. What was wrong?
“Tomorrow evening? Yes, that would be great. See you then.” Emily’s mum put down the phone, smiling. “Someone wants to come and see Whiskers! Her name’s Miriam, and she says she’s rehomed a nervous cat before, so she doesn’t mind if he’s shy. And she’s always wanted to have a white kitten. It’s perfect!”
Emily nodded, but she was looking worriedly at Mia.
Mia gulped. It was. Whiskers was going to have a perfect home– and it wasn’t with her. She’d let this happen. If only she’d been brave enough to say that she wanted him to be her kitten – that she still loved Sandy, but she’d said goodbye to him.
[Êàðòèíêà: i_026.jpg]
She stood up jerkily, huddling Whiskers against her tummy, and passed him to Emily.“I’m sorry, I’m not feeling very well. I have to go home,” she said, hurrying to the front door.
“Mia, wait! I’ll call your gran,” Emily’s mum said worriedly.
“It’s OK, I’ll be fine,” Mia called back, tears already stinging her eyes as she wrestled with the front door catch. At last it gave, and she dashed down the path.
Mewing frantically, Whiskers made a flying leap off Emily’s knee and chased after her. Where was she going? She hadn’t even tickled his ears and scratched under his chin, like she usually did when she left.
He shot out of the front door, on to the path, and looked around. He’d never been out at the front of the house, only on carefully-guarded trips into the back garden. The garden was frozen over with a layer of frost, and snowflakes were flurrying down from the darkening sky. If Mia had been with him, Whiskers would have chased the strange fluffy things, but now he hardly noticed them. He had no idea where Mia had gone. He sat down on the path and wailed for her.
[Êàðòèíêà: i_027.jpg]
But Mia couldn’t hear him. She was almost home now, and she could hardly see for tears, let alone hear a heartbroken kitten halfway up the road. She pressed the front door bell over and over till Gran came, looking worried.
“Oh, it’s you, Mia! But I was coming to fetch you… Mia, what’s wrong?”
“Whiskers,” Mia sobbed. “I was too late for Whiskers. I should have said I loved him, and I didn’t. How could I be so stupid? You were right all along, Gran, and now I’ve lost him!”
Gran hugged her.“Oh, Mia. I’m so sorry. Has someone taken him?”
Mia nodded.“A lady’s coming to see him tomorrow, and she’s going to love him, I know she will.”
“Tomorrow?” Gran drew her inside, and shut the door. “But Mia, why don’t you go back to Emily and her mum and explain? Tell them you want him.”
“But I can’t!” Mia wailed. “I kept saying no, because of Sandy. They’ll think I’m just going to change my mind again. And I told Dad that I never ever wanted another cat. Dad and Mum would never let me have Whiskers now.” She sat down on the bottom of the stairs with her chin in her hands. “Miriam – the lady who phoned – she knows all about nervous cats, and she really wants him. Whiskers deserves to have an owner like that.” She sniffed. “I should have been braver before.”
Gran sat down next to her, rather carefully.“I do see what you mean, Mia, but I think you’re being too hard on yourself – and that poor little cat.” She stared thoughtfully at the front door, and a small smile curved up at the corners of her mouth.
[Êàðòèíêà: i_028.jpg]
Mia didn’t see it – she had her fingers pressed against her eyes now, to stop herself crying. She could see white speckles against her eyelids, and they reminded her of kitten fur.
[Êàðòèíêà: i_004.jpg]
“Are you sure?” Emily wrinkled her nose anxiously and glanced up, checking that Mrs Jones hadn’t seen them talking. “Won’t it just make you feel worse?”
Mia shook her head.“No. I really want to say goodbye to him. I have to. I probably will feel horrible, but it would be awful to never see him again.”
“I suppose you’re right.” Emily sighed. “Miriam sounded really nice, from what Mum said.”
“I know,” Mia whispered. Then she shook her head, trying not to think about saying goodbye to Whiskers. “We’re supposed to be writing about Victorian animals. Did you bring that book from the library?”
They got on with their work– Mrs Jones had said their project idea sounded excellent. But every time she stopped writing, Mia felt sad again, remembering Whiskers’s soft white fur and those amazing whiskers! He was so different to Sandy, but he was special too. The way he always wanted to climb all over her, and his clever trick of perching on her shoulder.
He’ll be too big to do that soon, though, she thought. She’d never see what he looked like as a grown-up cat! Mia swallowed miserably.
She wasn’t sure if the day raced by, or if it crawled. All their lessons seemed to last for ever, but home time came so quickly. It seemed all of a sudden she was putting on her coat and grabbing her stuff, and following Emily to meet Leah outside the gates. And the walk home seemed to vanish in seconds.Mia felt almost sick as they went into Emily’s house.
She expected Whiskers to bounce up to her purring, as he usually did, but the house was very quiet– Silky and Satin were curled up together in Silky’s old basket.
Mia swallowed.“Where’s Whiskers?” she asked Emily’s mum.
[Êàðòèíêà: i_029.jpg]
She looked around, hoping that he was hiding, and he was going to jump out and surprise her. But really, she knew that he wasn’t. “He’s gone, hasn’t he? That lady’s already come and taken him?”
Emily’s mum was starting to say something, but Mia couldn’t bear to listen. She was too late – even to say goodbye!
Emily rushed over and tried to give her a hug, but Mia gently pushed her away and ran off home.
Gran answered the door, looking excited, but Mia hardly saw her. She didn’t even stop to listen to what Gran was trying to say. She simply raced up the stairs to the safety of her bedroom, flinging herself on to her bed and hugging Sandy’s old blanket.
Now she had lost both of them.
[Êàðòèíêà: i_030.jpg]
Chapter Eight [Êàðòèíêà: i_012.jpg]
Whiskers sniffed around the strange room worriedly. He didn’t understand what was going on. He had been carried here in a box, and he hadn’t liked it, his claws catching and scratching on the cardboard as he slid around, mewing and hissing. Then he’d been let out in this strange new place. He was sure he’d never been there before, but it smelled familiar somehow, and there was a bowl of his favourite food, and some water. The old lady had watched him, but she hadn’t tried to pick him up. She’d just sat, very quietly, and every so often she murmured gently to him. He knew her. She came to visit with Mia sometimes – so why was she here,when Mia wasn’t?
It was all very odd. He’d hoped that Mia might come and see him, after she disappeared so quickly the day before. But what if she didn’t know where he was? He needed to get back home so Mia could find him.
The old lady had gone away now. She had hurried off when that doorbell rang. She’d closed the door behind her, Whiskers noticed, as he sniffed at it. Or almost, anyway. The latch hadn’t quite caught. Whiskers nosed it, and it swung open a little more. The curious kitten poked his whiskers round the door, and then his nose, and then the rest of him – and set off to searchfor Mia…