“Yes, yes, I know.” Mum sighed. “Just a little longer then. We’ve been up and down the street twice now though, I don’t know where else to look.”
“What about that little wood that backs on to the gardens further down?” Ella’s dad suggested.
“Well, yes, I suppose she could have got in there,” Mum agreed doubtfully. “It’s worth a try.”
“There’s an alleyway round the corner, we can get in that way.” Dad strode off, Ella trotting beside him.
They were a few steps in among the trees when Mum held Ella back.“I’m not sure this is a good idea after all,” she told Ella. “The snow must have blown right in here, it’s really deep, and there’s bound to be tree roots and things hidden under the snowdrifts. You could break an ankle.”
“Mmmm.” Ella’s dad looked thoughtful. “You’re right. Maybe we should poke a branch into the snow to make sure we aren’t about to fall into anything dangerous.”
Ella wasn’t listening. Letting go of her dad’s arm, she took a shaky step forward, and crouched down. Her parents watched in amazement as a tiny grey shape staggered towards them through the gloomy, snow-filled wood. Ella was crying, tears tracking down her face without her even noticing.
Fluff put on a burst of speed and shot into Ella’s arms, curling her head joyfully in under Ella’s chin, and purring with relief and happiness. She’d found Ella. She was back. She was safe.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_32]
For a few moments she allowed herself to enjoy being stroked and cuddled and told how brave she was, and how naughty to go running off in the snow. Then she wriggled herself out from Ella’s tight embrace, putting her paws against Ella’s chest and mewing urgently.
“What’s the matter?” Ella looked confused. Fluff had seemed so happy to see them, but now it was obvious that she wanted something.
Fluff struggled out of Ella’s arms and jumped lightly down, looking back up at Ella, and mewing again.Follow me! she was saying, as clearly as she could. She trotted a few paces back into the wood, and looked round at Ella beseechingly.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_33]
“What’s she doing?” Dad asked. “Fluff, that’s not the way home. Come on!”
“She wants us to follow her,” Ella said firmly. “Look, she’s calling us.” And she set off after Fluff, who bounded ahead delightedly, all her tiredness gone. Only a few moments before, she had felt as though she was going to drop down in the snow and sleep. She had been struggling throughthe drifts for over an hour, trying to find any signs of the way home. But now she was back with Ella, she had a surge of new energy.
“Ella, be careful!” her mum called. “Don’t trip over any fallen branches!” Ella’s parents scrambled after them. They had no idea where they were going, but it was clear that Fluff was trying to get them to follow, anyone could see that. Every so often she would turn round to check they were still with her, then head off again, following her paw prints purposefully back through the trees.
There it was! Fluff jumped through the door of the cottage, popping her head back out to call to Ella. Ella crouched down to squeeze through the gap in the door after her.
“Ella, no!” her mum yelled. “Be careful, you don’t know what’s in there!”
“It’s OK, Mum,” Ella called back. “I’m following Fluff, it’s fine.”
Her mother tried to catch her up and stop her, worried that the old building might be falling down, but she slipped on the snow, and slid over, falling on to her hands and knees just in time to see Ella disappearing into the building. Ella’s dad stopped to help her up, and they skidded over to look through the window.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_34]
Fluff wove her way hurriedly through the cottage, still calling to Ella to follow.
“I’m coming, I’m coming, Fluff! I can’t fit underneath all this stuff like you can!” Ella puffed, scrambling over a pile of old sofa cushions. “I wish I knew what you were trying to show me, anyway.” She realized that Fluff had stopped next to an old cupboard that was jammed up against the far wall. She was peering round the door, her body tense, nervous, almost scared – as though she wasn’t sure what she was going to find. Ella walked quietly up to Fluff, and knelt behind her, but she couldn’t see what Fluff was looking at. Suddenly some of the stiffness went out of Fluff’s spine, and she reached gently into the cupboard. She backed carefully out, carrying something in her mouth – something quite large. She dropped it in Ella’s lap, and it was only as Fluff sat back and gazed hopefully up at her, that Ella realized what it was. Fluff had just given her a kitten! She had pulled it out of the cupboard like a magic trick.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_35]
“Fluff! It’s a kitten! Where did you—?”
Fluff mewed urgently at her, and Ella looked more closely. She stroked the tiny white head, and saw that the little creature didn’t stir. She gave Fluff an anxious look, her heart thudding with nervousness. Fluff looked back up at her lovingly.
“I don’t know,” Ella said worriedly. “She’s so little and weak, Fluff. I – I’m not even sure she’s still breathing.” She stood up, cradling the tiny furry ball gently. “Come on. We need to get her to a vet.” Very carefully she wrapped the kitten in her scarf, and tucked the parcel inside her jacket. She wasn’t sure she could clamber over all that junk carrying her.
Ella’s parents were calling her as they headed back, and her dad was starting to pull away the boards blocking the door.
“Ella! There you are!” he said angrily as she crouched to go through the hole. “What have you been doing? You should never have gone in there; what have we told you about playing in dangerous places like that?”
“I wasn’t playing, Dad!” Ella said indignantly. “Look!” And she opened her jacket to show them her tiny passenger. “Fluff found her. But I’m not sure—” Her voice wobbled. “I can’t see her breathing,” she whispered, tears stinging the corners of her eyes.
“Let me see.” Her dad lifted the kitten out, and she lay floppy and lifeless in his big hands. He was silent for a horribly long moment. “She is. But only just. Come on, we need to get home right now and ring the vet. We need to tell them we’ve got an emergency coming in.”
[Êàðòèíêà: img_36]
[Êàðòèíêà: img_6]
Ella had been to the vet’s surgery before, to take Fluff to have all her vaccinations, but this time there was no hanging around in the reception. She and her parents raced in, Ella cradling the kitten, and were rushed straight through to the surgery. It was the same vet who’d looked after Fluff before, and she smiled, recognizing Ella.
“The receptionist said you’d found a stray kitten?” she asked, gently taking the scarf-wrapped bundle from Ella.
Ella nodded.“She’s so tiny, and she’s only just breathing,” she explained. “It wasn’t really us that found her though, it was Fluff.”
“We think she must have been abandoned by her mother,” Ella’s dad put in. “Fluff and Ella found her in an old cottage on some woodland near us.”
The vet nodded thoughtfully.“She looks about three or four weeks old to me. Only just old enough to survive without her mother. She’s very weak – I think she’s had a couple of days on her own in the cold. I’m going to put her on a drip to get some food into her, and we’ll put her in an incubator, get her really nice and warm.” She smiled, looking at Ella’s anxious face. “I think you found her just in time. I can’t promise, but it looks to me as if she’s just cold and hungry, nothing worse. You might even be able to take her home in a couple of hours.” She started to get the equipment she needed.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_37]
“Oh, that’s fantastic!” Ella squeaked, not noticing that Mum and Dad looked a bit shocked. “That’s really good, because I don’t think Fluff will understand where she is. She looked so upset when we drove off. She was watching us through the window—”