‘Of course not,’ said Beatrice.
They went out of the room and left Lukas alone with his cat for the first time.
When he lifted him up, he gave a little squeak. Then he started playing with one of the buttons on his pyjama jacket.
At that moment, Lukas just knew that he was in love with this cat. He’d often wondered what it would be like, being in love with something. Now he knew. He’d got something for his birthday that he’d never even dared to dream about.
He was interrupted by Whirlwind barging in through the door.
‘It’s not allowed in my room,’ he said. ‘Don’t forget that!’
‘You must knock before you come into my room,’ said Lukas. ‘Look, you’ve frightened him!’
‘A dog would have been better,’ said Whirlwind. Then he left and slammed the door shut.
Lukas guessed that Whirlwind was only jealous. That wasn’t a bad thing. Now Whirlwind could find out what it felt like. It was usually Lukas who felt jealous, because Whirlwind was allowed to do much more than he was. Now he could have some of his own medicine.
It seemed to Lukas that today marked the start of something different. Having a cat of your own that you were responsible for — that was something tremendous, something important. He must start by finding a name for the cat. What could you call a cat that was completely black? He wondered if he ought to have the same name as he did, Lukas. That could be good when Mum or Dad shouted: they would both come. But what would happen when Whirlwind shouted? That would be bound to cause problems, because he’d said the cat wasn’t allowed in his room. No, Lukas would have to think of a different name. He looked at the cat, who had lain down on the middle of his pillow and fallen asleep. He was a completely black patch on the white pillow. And then it struck him what name the cat must have. Lukas didn’t know of anything that was as black as the night.
Obviously, his cat would be called Night.
Now he had the only cat in the whole world called Night.
He lay down with his head next to the cat, and started stroking him. He immediately started purring.
‘Night,’ said Lukas. ‘I have a cat called Night. I have you.’
Then Lukas fell asleep, and when his mum wondered why it was so quiet in his room and popped her head round the door, only Night was awake. Lukas was fast asleep.
From that day on, Lukas thought of hardly anything apart from his cat. Night was a remarkable cat. Although he could only miaow, or squeak when he was hungry, it seemed to Lukas that he always understood what he’d said. Lukas had made up his mind that if he couldn’t teach the cat to talk, he would have to learn the cat’s language. Then they could go out into the world together.
He had never imagined he’d get such a wonderful present when he celebrated his seventh birthday.
Three
And so Lukas began his new life with Night.
It was soon clear to him that everything had changed since Night joined the household. Every morning when Lukas woke up, it was Night who’d woken him. He would jump up onto the bed when he thought Lukas had slept for long enough, and lie down on his face. Deep down in his dreams, Lukas could hear a purring noise: he would slowly wake up and open his eyes. The fur was so soft, and there was a smell of leaves and rain about Night.
The only problem was that the cat couldn’t tell the time. He sometimes woke Lukas up at four in the morning. Lukas tried to explain to Night that it was too early, and that he wanted to sleep longer than that. But Night just carried on playing, and when Lukas pulled the covers over his head, Night would continue to tug away at the sheets and bite Lukas’s toes. Lukas had no choice but to get up, go to the kitchen and pour out some milk for Night, in the saucer on the floor next to the cooker. Then he would close the door and hurry back to bed. Night would sit in the kitchen, squealing and squeaking, but there was nobody to let him out until Beatrice and Axel got up to make breakfast.
Needless to say, Whirlwind had argued about where Night’s litter tray ought to be. At first, Lukas had thought that the best place would be in the kitchen, where it would be easy to clear up any sand that Night had scratched and kicked onto the floor. But then Whirlwind started complaining about the smell being so awful that he couldn’t eat. Lukas hadn’t noticed any smell at all, and neither Axel nor Beatrice had mentioned any such thing until Whirlwind started going on about it. Eventually, Axel grew annoyed and said that Lukas should have the litter tray in his room. That was when Lukas resolved to teach Night to hiss every time Whirlwind spoke. But the main thing was that Night should grow up a bit. He was still only a kitten that jumped and scampered around, climbed up the curtains and played around with all the shoes in the hall.
For some time after Night had arrived on the scene, he wasn’t allowed out. Axel said he needed to get used to his new home first. Otherwise there was a risk that he might run away. And Lukas was scared that somebody might steal his cat if he showed itself outside the house. Several times when Lukas shouted for Night and he didn’t appear, Lukas was afraid that the kitten might somehow have found its way out and vanished. Then his heart started pounding, exactly like when he’d woken up out of a nightmare. He shouted for Night, searched the whole house, but there was no sign of him.
Lukas soon discovered where Night used to hide away when he wanted to be left in peace and go to sleep. He would often lie on the laundry basket in the bathroom. Sometimes he would be hiding in Axel’s wardrobe. Occasionally he would jump up and lie on top of one of the highest cupboards in the kitchen. But sometimes, Lukas couldn’t find him anywhere. When Beatrice noticed that Lukas was so upset that his lower lip started trembling, she would help him to look. And they would eventually find him. On one occasion Night had managed to get into the garage, and bedded down in a box full of rubbish. But every time Lukas found Night, he was so pleased that all he could do was to sit absolutely still, gazing at his very own cat. That was something quite new for Lukas — being so happy that the only thing it was possible to do was to sit quite still. Before that, being happy meant shouting out loud, or jumping for joy. But now that Night had entered Lukas’s life, something totally new had happened.
The big problem was Whirlwind. Lukas was soon absolutely sure that Whirlwind really was jealous because his little brother had a cat. Whirlwind sometimes pulled Night’s tail. Not hard enough to really hurt, but enough to make Night squeal. That made Lukas so furious that he started punching at Whirlwind, who naturally did nothing but laugh. If Axel was at home, he sometimes became so angry that it all ended by Lukas taking Night into his room and shutting the door. He had noticed that Whirlwind was careful to annoy him and Night when their father was at home, and preferably when Dad was tired or in a bad mood. Lukas suspected that Whirlwind hoped Dad would become so fed up with all the messing about that he would refuse to allow Night inside the house.
That was a horrible thought. Lukas didn’t know what he could do about that, apart from always keeping a little parcel of food in the fridge. If Night wasn’t allowed in the house, Lukas wouldn’t want to be there either. They would go off together.
Once, when his dad had been in a really bad mood and complained about all the arguments taking place every day, Lukas had asked his mum if Dad now regretted having given Lukas Night as a present. Mum calmed him down and said that of course, they would never even dream of taking the cat away from him. Lukas thought that was probably right. But then again, he wasn’t quite sure. Every day he made up his little parcel of food, and hid it behind the milk at the very back of the fridge.