The cat in the other neighbouring cage was a fireside called Elton – a fluffy white Persian moaning about his early retirement.
‘I used to be a calendar cat, you know … Oh yes, humans used to take photos of me sprawled out on the grass in the sunshine … My face adorns over a million walls, you know … Well, for one month of the year … But now I’m too old apparently … My fur’s all tired and matted … My eyes have lost their twinkle … And Persians are out of fashion, they say … “Your look is too opulent … It is too 1980s … We want scruffy-looking cats …” And they do! Have you seen the models recently? They have swipers now … Seriously, where has all the class gone? It’s all filth and fleas! Filth and fleas!’
Elton went on like this for hours. But Mocha didn’t mind, and concentrated her thoughts elsewhere, such as on the tall human girl talking to the cattery owner, who the cats knew only as the Man of Infinite Kindness. A man who every cat seemed to feel affection for, without understanding why.
She was there, this human girl, leaning over the desk and staring into the man’s face. Mocha had seen this human girl before. She had walked by Mocha’s house once with Barney Willow. And now she was talking urgently to the Man of Infinite Kindness.
‘But you look exactly like him,’ the girl was saying, getting nothing but an awkward glance in response. ‘So … what is your name then if it’s not Mr Neil Willow?’
‘It’s Smith.’
‘Just Smith?’
‘Please, I’ve got a lot of things to do …’
Mocha watched the Man of Infinite Kindness type something on his computer, trying to look busy. But there was no stopping the tall girl with the crazy hair.
‘Your son is worried about you. He thinks you might be dead … I’m Rissa. Rissa Fairweather. I’m Barney’s best friend.’
‘I’m not him.’
‘But you sound like him. You look like him. Barney’s … Barney’s missing. I think he might have come to look for you.’
‘There has been no boy here, I assure you …’
Rissa was trying not to get angry. ‘Well maybe you could help us. Maybe if you made a public announcement and told local TV that you’d come back, or something.’
The Man of Infinite Kindness was also the Man of Infinite Patience, Mocha realized. He just sighed thoughtfully and seemed genuinely worried for the girl. ‘Listen, the boy you are looking for might not be missing.’
‘What? Of course he is.’
‘He might have come to you but you didn’t recognize him. Trust me, keep your mind open to the impossible and you will find the truth.’
Rissa had no idea what he was talking about. ‘Look, if you see him will you contact me?’ She handed over a crumpled piece of paper.
And then he looked at Rissa with eyes that were as honest as eyes can look. ‘Of course.’
Rissa looked uncertain, but just at that moment a woman came in carrying a Burmese cat called Lapsang, who Mocha knew from the fences. ‘Hello, I’m Mrs Hunter,’ the woman said. ‘I’ve booked Lapsang in for two weeks … We’ve heard ever such good things about this cattery.’
The Man of Infinite Kindness smiled softly, pretending Rissa wasn’t still there. ‘Well, I just try and make cats as comfortable as they can be.’
Lapsang, meanwhile, was looking all around over Mrs Hunter’s shoulder, miaowing in pleasure. ‘Now this is more like it. Oh, Mocha, sweetie darling, I didn’t see you there.’ Then Lapsang spied someone else, a grizzled and rather scruffy-looking moggy in a cage near the entrance. His ear was damaged, bitten. ‘Oooh,’ she mewed in disgust. ‘A swiper.’
‘That’s low,’ grumbled the moggy. ‘I’m a rescue cat, posh-paws, there’s a difference …’
But Mocha stayed watching Rissa. The girl was looking confused and a bit defeated as she backed away out of the cattery, wondering what was best for her friend.
Over The Hill From Weird
RISSA CAUGHT A bus home.
‘This isn’t just weird,’ she told herself. ‘This is over the hill from weird.’
She stared out of the window at the fast-moving houses. She knew that the man had looked very much like Barney’s dad, but at the same time there was something that wasn’t right. When she had looked into his eyes she had felt, very surely, that she had been looking into the eyes of a stranger.
Again, all this weirdness was making her more worried about Barney. She got off at the closest stop to home, walked through the streets, along the river path to her parents’ barge. She stepped inside, crouching as she went down the little wooden steps to the galley and then the narrow living quarters beyond.
Her mum and dad weren’t there.
Rissa went to the small fridge, which was old and battered and had a big sticker of a rainbow on it.
She opened it up and saw some of her mum’s special carrot cake. Normally she couldn’t get enough of the stuff, but today she realized she wouldn’t be able to eat anything, even though she’d left most of her pizza at lunch.
She went to her bedroom. Bedroom wasn’t really the word for it. It was more like a narrow box, with a tiny porthole and a futon instead of a bed, and a beanbag instead of a chair. But Rissa liked it. The sound of the water lapping against the bow of the boat usually made her feel very calm.
Usually.
Not today, though.
On the floor by her futon was a book her dad had taken out of the library especially for her. It was a book Barney had always gone on about and she’d wanted to try herself.
The Water Babies, by Charles Kingsley.
She’d started it last night, and had decided she didn’t like the way the boy character was so perfect and the girl was so horrible. But she did like the way the writer had made water so magical. Looking out of her porthole at night and seeing the moonlight reflected on the surface of the river was enough to make you believe life was full of a million unfathomable wonders. It was the same feeling Rissa had when looking through her telescope at stars that had died millions of years ago, even though their light lives on.
She stared at the book. And then it came to her. Of course. The library.
She phoned it, asked to speak to Mrs Willow.
‘Oh, Rissa. Hello. What’s wrong?’
Rissa thought about telling Barney’s mum about her visit to the cattery, but she really didn’t know what to say. Had she seen Mr Willow or hadn’t she? So instead she said: ‘It’s Barney.’
‘Barney? I phoned the school earlier and spoke to Miss Whipmire. She told me he’s fine. He’s at school. But he’s been a bit badly behaved.’
Rissa waited a moment. This didn’t make sense. ‘No,’ she said. ‘He’s not been at school today. He ran away. I tried to tell you in my message but the bus driver took the phone off me.’
A pause. Rissa heard Mrs Willow’s anxious breath creating a fuzzy noise on the phone. ‘Miss Whipmire assured me he was there.’
‘Well,’ said Rissa, not knowing how else to put this, ‘I’m afraid that Miss Whipmire is a liar.’
Princess Piglet’s Pink and Pretty Perfectly Perfect Princess Party (and Other Forms of Torture)
IT WOULD HAVE been a massive house even by human standards, but from a cat-sized perspective it was like entering the largest palace you could imagine.