“Sure – I think they’re in that aisle.” Mum pointed, and Darcy hurried off.
“They were on three for two, so I got all the flavours,” she explained as she came back and put them in the basket.
When they got home, Darcy went to have a shower and then came down for a piece of cake. She opened the bag of cheese-flavoured cat treats and shook them. That always made Charlie come running– he knew exactly what the noise meant!
Nothing happened and Darcy shook the bag again, this time next to the open kitchen window. She expected to see a little tabby and white blur come dashing down the garden to bang the cat flap open, but still nothing. She stood in the middle of the kitchen with the bag, looking rather lost.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_24]
“Mum, where’s Charlie?”
Her mum looked up from cutting the football cake and glanced round the kitchen.“I expect he’s in the garden. I should put his food down actually. I forgot we haven’t fed him yet.”
“So … he hasn’t had any tea?” Darcy said, frowning. No tea and he wasn’t coming for his favourite cat treats? That was definitely strange, and worrying…
[Êàðòèíêà: img_9]
Darcy looked all round the house for Charlie– she wondered if Mum had accidentally shut him in one of the bedrooms. But she couldn’t see him anywhere. She stood in the garden and called for him, but no kitten appeared.
Mum went to look up and down the street at the front of the house. Charlie had wandered down the side path of the house before, and Darcy had found him sunbathing on the front wall. Will searched upstairs again, even going through all his toy baskets.
“I wonder where he can have got to,” Mum said as she came back in. “He’s usually good at turning up for meals, although…”
“What?” Darcy asked anxiously. “Although what, Mum?”
“Have you noticed that Charlie hasn’t been around as much over the last week? And he hasn’t been climbing on me while I’m working.”
Darcy shook her head.“No. He’s always here when we get home from school.” Then she was silent for a minute.Was he? Would she definitely have noticed? She’d been so busy with after-school football training and all the extra practice she was doing. “Mum, do you think something’s happened to him?”
“I’m sure he’s fine,” her mum said encouragingly, but there was still no Charlie.
Darcy was just starting to get really panicky when the kitten appeared, popping in through the cat flap and strolling calmly across the kitchen. He looked quite surprised when Darcy swooped down and picked him up for a hug.
“We didn’t know where you were!” she murmured, rubbing his ears.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_25]
Charlie blinked at her and nudged her chin with his chilly little nose.“Are you hungry?” Darcy asked him. She kept him cuddled in one arm and used the other hand to reach the bag of kitten food out of the cupboard.
Mum took over and poured biscuits into Charlie’s bowl. Darcy had expected him to leap down at once and start eating but he didn’t seem very interested. He just sniffed at the bag as she got it out, that was all. When she put him down next to the bowl he only nibbled a couple of mouthfuls and then he sat next to the food and started to wash. He didn’t seem to be hungry at all.
“Perhaps he doesn’t like it,” Will suggested, looking down at the cat biscuits. “I wouldn’t. It smells horrible.”
“He’s liked it until now,” Darcy said. “Why would he suddenly change his mind?”
“Actually, I’ve noticed he hasn’t been eating the whole bowl, recently,” Mum said. “Perhaps we should cut down on how much we’re giving him. If he’s not growing quite as fast now he’s a bit older, maybe he’s not as hungry.”
“Maybe…” Darcy sighed. She couldn’t help feeling there was more to it. But at least it was Friday and she could keep a really careful eye on Charlie over the weekend. They didn’t have much planned until her football match on Sunday afternoon so she could spend loads of time with him.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_9]
“Darcy, whatare you doing?” Mum called out of the kitchen window.
“I’m trying to teach Charlie how to be a stunt cat,” Darcy yelled back. “He high-fived me! Did you see?”
“I can see him eating a lot of cat treats,” Mum said, a minute or so later.
“That’s how the training works. You reward them every time they get it right. Or almost right. He’s very clever,” Darcy said lovingly, holding out her hand for Charlie to tap. He sniffed at her hopefully, looking for another treat.
“OK… Just don’t feed him the whole bag!”
The website she’d been reading had said only to do five-minute training sessions, Darcy remembered. She didn’t want Charlie to get fed up. “You’re a very good boy,” she told him, putting the treats in her pocket. “What shall we do now, hmm?”
She’d been trying to keep an eye on him all day but she was beginning to think that they’d been worrying about nothing. Charlie had eaten almost all his breakfast and then she’d played with him, rolling a jingly ball up and down the hallway. He’d snoozed on the arm of the sofa for a bit. Then he’d stalked a feather round her bedroom floor while she’d done her homework. Will had taken him downstairs and played with the cat dancer and then Charlie had sat under the kitchen table looking hopeful for the whole of lunch. Hemight have got the end of a cheese sandwich.
Everything was fine.
Darcy turned as she heard footsteps behind her, and saw Will coming out on to the patio.
“Play football with me?” Will asked coaxingly. “Please, Darcy? I’m bored.”
“Not right now. I’m trying to play with Charlie.”
“You aren’t. You’re just sitting there.”
“Is that my football you’ve got?” Darcy asked suspiciously. “That’s my new one!”
“It was behind that flowerpot.” Will shrugged. “You should put it away if it’s so special.”
“You’re not playing with it,” Darcy said firmly. “I’m serious.”
“Don’t be so mean!”
“Will, that’s my new ball, go and get your own!”
[Êàðòèíêà: img_26]
Will didn’t answer. He smirked at Darcy and started to kick the ball against the garden wall.
“Mum!” Darcy yelled. “Make him stop playing with it!”
Will looked round to see if Mum was in the kitchen, listening, and lost control of the ball. It went flying over the back fence.
“Oh, now look what you’ve done,” Darcy said furiously. “We’ll never get it back.”
“Sorry…” Will said shamefacedly. “I’ll go round and ask for it.”
“It’s no good,” Darcy snapped. “It didn’t go next-door into Hannah’s, it went behind – that’s the garden for the flats. And we don’t even know which flat it belongs to.” Then she stopped scowling at Will and turned slowly. “Where’s Charlie?”
Will looked round the garden.“I don’t know.”
“But I was trying to watch him. I don’t believe it – this is all your fault, Will!”
[Êàðòèíêà: img_9]
Charlie wriggled underneath the fence into the old lady’s garden. He adored Darcy, especially when she was playing with him or he was snuggled up next to her in a fold of duvet at night-time – but loud voices and shouting made him nervous and twitchy. He didn’t like it when Darcy and Will argued. Every time they had a spat, the fur would start toprickle up along his spine and his tail lashed. The old lady’s basement flat was always peaceful – there was no shouting. And she had cat treats now too.
He padded up the garden and nosed hopefully at the glass door. It was shut but one of the windows next to it was open a crack. He could definitely fit through there. He sprang up on to the windowsill and wriggled his way in, stepping carefully around the photo frames and the vase on the inside. There didn’t seem to be anyone at home but there was a patch of warm sunlight on the rug so he sat down in it and started to lick his paws. He’d stay a while and then maybe he’d go back and see if Darcy wanted to play again. In a bit…