Smudge yawned, and stretched out his paws. Rob was stroking him very nicely, but he wanted to go and see what Olivia was doing. He hadn’t seen her all day, and he wanted her to play with him. And he was hungry. There were food smells coming from the kitchen, good fishy smells, he thought. He stood up sleepily, getting ready to jump off Rob’s lap.
Rob looked down. “Where are you going, Smudge?” He tickled him under the chin and Smudge purred. Maybe he wouldn’t go just yet.
“Ben’s so lucky,” Rob murmured gently. “I wish I had a kitten like you.” He sighed, and picked up his school bag from the floor, rooting around in it.
Smudge peered over, and stuck his nose in. It smelled good.
Rob laughed. “I’m just looking for my Polos, but I don’t think they’re good for cats. Oh, I bet I know what you can smell. My leftover ham sandwich.” He laughed again as Smudge stuck his whole head in the bag. “Where are you going?”
Smudge could smell the delicious ham at the bottom of the bag, and he wriggled all the way in.
“Hey, Ben’s going to think I’m taking you home.” Rob grinned. But then his smile faded a little. Smudge popped his head out of the bag, licking round his jaws hopefully. “There isn’t any more, Smudge, sorry.”
The little kitten yawned widely, and ducked back into the bag, curling up at the bottom and closing his eyes.
Rob shook his head. “I can’t believe you’re asleep in my school bag.” He stared at Smudge thoughtfully and sighed. “I really could take you home…”
“Mrs Williams…”
“Oh, hello, Rob. Do you want to help with the cookies?”
Rob was standing by the kitchen door, looking shifty. “Um. No. I have to go home. Um, I feel sick.”
“Oh dear!” Olivia’s mum put down the tray of biscuits, and hurried over to him.
Ben and Olivia stared at Rob in surprise. “You don’t look ill,” Ben said.
“Has it just suddenly come over you?” Olivia’s mum asked. “Are you hot?”
Rob backed away from her, and nodded. “Yes. And I feel really sick. Please can I ring my mum?”
“Of course.” She handed him the phone. “You poor thing.”
Rob took the phone out into the hallway, and they could hear him explaining urgently to his mum.
“He does sound very upset, poor Rob,” Olivia’s mum said anxiously.
“He was fine ten minutes ago,” Ben muttered.
Olivia frowned. “I bet he’s broken something. And he doesn’t want to get into trouble. Did he mess anything up in your room?”
“Don’t be silly, Olivia. The boys have just been watching TV. How could he have broken anything?” Mum glared at her crossly. “You mustn’t be mean.”
“She’s coming.” Rob stood at the kitchen door, holding out the phone to Olivia’s mum.
Rob’s mum arrived a few minutes later, and Olivia’s mum chatted to her, while Rob lurked impatiently by the door. “I’m really sorry. I don’t think it’s anything he’s eaten – we hadn’t even had tea.”
Rob’s mum shook her head. “It’s probably just something going round – I only hope he hasn’t given it to Ben and Olivia. At least he’s got the weekend to recover. Anyway, I’d better get him home. Thank you for having him!”
Rob darted into the living room and came out carrying his school bag. He was holding it against his tummy, hunching over, and his mum looked at him worriedly. “Oh dear, you do look as though you might be sick. Come on, let’s get you home.” She led him down the path to the car.
Mum closed the door and hurried into the kitchen. “I’d forgotten about the fish fingers with all of that going on; I’m afraid they might be a bit crispy…”
“Can Smudge have one of Rob’s ones?” Olivia asked. “I bet he’d love a fish finger.” Then she jumped up suddenly. “Where is Smudge?” she asked, her voice a little panicky. “I haven’t seen him in ages. Rob was cuddling him in the living room.”
“Perhaps Rob shut the living-room door?” Mum suggested, as she served up tea. “He’s probably stuck in there.”
But the living-room door was open and there was no Smudge on the sofa, or hiding behind it to leap out at Olivia as she searched around. She darted upstairs to look in her room.
“Smudge! Smudge! Mum, he’s not in there, and I’ve checked upstairs, and I can’t find him anywhere!” Olivia ran back into the kitchen.
Ben was sitting at the table eating a huge pile of fish fingers – his and Rob’s. “He’ll be under your bed or something. I’ll come and help you look.” But Smudge wasn’t in either of their rooms, and he hadn’t climbed into the bath and got stuck. He wasn’t in the airing cupboard on the towels either.
“Could he have got out somehow?” Ben asked when they came back downstairs.
Mum frowned. “I’m sure all the windows were shut. After he nearly got out yesterday I was a bit worried he might try that again.”
Olivia nodded. “I checked all the windows this morning, before we went to school.”
Mum sighed. “Smudge must be hiding somewhere, like he always does. He’ll pop out at us in a minute, I’m sure.”
Olivia turned to Ben, her hands on her hips. “Did you and Rob let him outside?”
Ben stared at her, wide-eyed. “He was just watching TV with us, Olivia. We didn’t even go out, so how’s it our fault suddenly?”
“I bet that’s why Rob wanted to go home.” Olivia sat down on a chair as her knees suddenly felt shaky. “He was scared he was going to get into trouble. You let him out. I can’t believe you’d do that!” she yelled.
“Olivia!” Mum warned. “You’re just jumping to conclusions.”
“We didn’t let him out!” Ben stood up angrily. “How many times do I have to say it?” He stomped out of the kitchen, muttering. “I’m going to look for him upstairs. He must be here somewhere.”
Olivia slumped on her chair, feeling tears welling up in her eyes. However much Ben denied it, she was sure the boys had let Smudge get out – either by accident, or as part of some stupid game. Smudge was so little! He’d only been outside once, and he’d had her and Ben there to make sure he didn’t escape from the garden, or get himself stuck somewhere. Just thinking of all the places where he might hurt himself made her feel sick.
Chapter Five
Smudge woke up, and was surprised to find that everything was dark, and the bag was bumping around. The little kitten swayed from side to side, mewing with fright. Where was Olivia? Why was he stuck in here? He needed Olivia to let him out!
“Hey, ssshhh. I’m going to get you out of there.”
The bag opened, and Smudge could see Rob peering inside. He gave a soft little mew. This wasn’t right. He had thought that Olivia would come and find him. He cowered back against the bottom of the bag, and hissed as Rob tried to open it up a bit more. The boy had been kind before, stroking and cuddling him, and feeding him sandwiches, but now Smudge was confused, and he wanted Olivia.
“Hey, Smudge. Don’t you want to get out? Come and see my bedroom,” Rob said, gently reaching in to pick up the kitten.
Smudge spat crossly as a warning, and when Rob didn’t take his hand away, he clawed at it, hard.
“Ow!” Rob sat back, sucking at the bleeding scratch. Then he sighed. “OK. I suppose I’d scratch if I got shut up in a bag and bounced around all over the place. Maybe I’d better get you something else to eat.” He smiled at Smudge. “You liked that ham sandwich, didn’t you?”
Smudge saw him stand up.
“I’ll go and see what’s in the fridge, but I might be a while. Mum still thinks I’m sick, so I’ll have to wait till she’s not looking. Back soon. Here, you can play with this ball, it’s got spikes, look! That’d be fun, wouldn’t it? See you in a minute, Smudge.”