The tabby kittens stumbled out behind the ginger one and gazed thoughtfully up at Mum and Darcy.
“Do they know we want to take one of them home?” Darcy whispered to her mum.
“You’re actually the first family these kittens have met,” Jesse said, “so they probably don’t know what’s going on. We’ve had them for a few weeks, with their mum. We’re planning to rehome her with one of the kittens, and the others either on their own or together.”
“Just one for us!” Dad said anxiously. “We’re not very experienced pet owners. We only want one kitten.”
Darcy closed her mouth firmly. She’d been just about to say that maybe they should have two kittens, but she didn’t want to put Dad off.
“Aren’t there four of them?” she asked Jesse, looking around the room. There were definitely only three kittens out. The two tabbies were still by the crate, watching cautiously, and the ginger one was now trying to climb up Dad’s jeans.
Jesse nodded. “Look…” he murmured, and Darcy crouched down to look inside the wire crate. It was padded with a rumpled fleece blanket and peering out from under the folds was a small, worried-looking tabby and white face.
The kitten had the pinkest nose that Darcy had ever seen on a cat. It was such a bright pink that it almost looked like it would glow in the dark. The kitten stared back at Darcy with round, yellow-green eyes and then it stepped out from under the folds of the blanket. Now Darcy could see that it looked different to the other two tabbies. They were tabby all over, with grey-brown paws. This kitten was tabby with a neat white shirt front and sparklingly white paws. It had a very cute white chin too, as if it was white with a tabby mask over its eyes and ears.
“Oh, that’s a very sweet kitten,” Mum said and Jesse laughed.
“I know – I love his markings.”
The tabby and white kitten edged slowly out of the crate and then sat down in front of it. He still looked nervous – perhaps he was scared of the room full of people, Darcy thought. Will was so desperate to make Jesse think he was sensible that he hadn’t said a word, but even though they were being quiet, they were still very big compared to a kitten.
The kitten lifted one of his front paws, licked at it and passed it vaguely in the direction of his ears. Darcy had a feeling he wasn’t really trying to wash, it was just giving him something to do, so he could pretend he hadn’t noticed all these people staring at him.
Now that he was washing, Darcy noticed the underside of his paws – the pads were the same neon-pink as his nose. They stood out brightly against the white fur, like little pink beans.
“He’s gorgeous,” she said, looking hopefully at Mum to see if she felt the same way. Maybe she’d fallen in love with one of the others?
But Mum was looking at the kitten washing too, with the same sort of face that Darcy imagined she was making. “Isn’t he?” she agreed.
“He’s washing his ears,” Will said in a tiny whisper. “He’s so clever!”
Dad sighed. “I take it we’re having this one then?”
“Don’t you like him?” Darcy asked indignantly.
“Um… He’s definitely cute,” Dad admitted. “I’m just not a big cat person.”
“Sorry,” Darcy said to Jesse, hoping this didn’t put him off them.
“It’s OK.” Jesse grinned. “I’m pretty sure this one will win your dad over.”
They walked back to the car with the kitten in a cat carrier – it had been in the boot of the car the whole time, but Darcy and Will hadn’t known. Mum told them she had been to the pet shop and bought it the same day the shelter had done the home check. She’d bought a cat basket, some food bowls and kitten food too. They were all hidden in the shed in the garden.
“I haven’t got any toys or a collar yet, though. I thought you two would like to help choose those,” she said.
“What will the kitten play with when we get home?” Will asked, frowning.
“Kittens play with everything.” Mum laughed. “You saw that ginger one trying to eat Dad’s shoelaces. They like bits of string, balls of paper. Sunbeams even. Don’t worry, I expect our kitten will be too busy exploring to miss having any toys.”
Our kitten. Darcy smiled – it sounded so good. She watched as Mum settled the cat carrier on the back seat between her and Will. Darcy could just see the kitten through the spaces in the sides. He was huddled up in a little ball at the end and he didn’t look very happy.
“It’s OK,” Darcy whispered as Mum started the car. “I expect you don’t like being shut up in there. But we’ll be home soon and then you can get out.”
From inside the carrier, the kitten heard her whispering, but he didn’t know what she meant. He didn’t like this. The carrier had been swinging about and now it was moving strangely, so that his insides felt like they were being left behind. The car lurched to a stop and the carrier juddered. The kitten slid forwards with a little mew of fright.
The carrier had a soft blanket on the bottom, folded up like a cushion. He remembered a blanket like that from the crate back at the shelter. It was soft and warm, and inside it would be dark. He’d feel safe in there, he decided. He patted at the edge of the blanket with his claws, ruffling it up into a fold so he could sneak underneath. It made a cosy little cave and he crept inside.
“I don’t think he liked being in the car,” Darcy said, looking worriedly at the small hump of blanket that was the kitten. “He mewed when we had to stop at the lights and then he hid in the blanket.” They had put the carrier down in the corner of the kitchen but the kitten didn’t seem to want to come out.
“Poor little thing,” Mum said, crouching down to look at the rumpled blanket. “I did try to drive as slowly as I could. But I suppose he’s never been in a car before. He’ll be OK soon. Right now, though, I think we need to be patient and just leave him alone.”
Darcy nodded. She knew Mum was right, even though she was desperate to play with the kitten. Jesse had told them that the kittens had been born at the shelter after their mum had been found abandoned. They’d never been anywhere else. Their kitten must feel like everything was different and scary. No wonder he wanted to stay wrapped up in a blanket.
“Maybe he’ll come out if we put down food for him?” Will suggested hopefully.
“He’s in a blanket!” Darcy pointed out. “He won’t see the food.”
“But he might be able to smell it,” Mum said thoughtfully. “It’s worth a try. We want him to like being here, so feeding him would be a good start.”
She fetched the bag of kitten food and shook some of the little biscuits into the kitten’s new bowl. It rattled as the biscuits fell in and Darcy saw the blanket twitch.
The kitten was thinking. He knew that noise and he was hungry. But outside the warm, safe cocoon of blanket there were different smells and the oddness of being away from his mother and the other kittens. Did he want to come out?
He was very hungry, though. He could smell the food now – the scent was creeping across the kitchen and it was making him feel even hungrier. His nose poked out from under the fold of blanket and he eyed the open door of the carrier. He could see the bowl right there, with the girl and boy sitting on the floor behind it.
When they saw him watching, the girl patted the boy’s arm and they edged backwards, leaving a bit more space between them and the bowl. That was better. It wasn’t quite as scary if they weren’t so close.
The kitten stumbled out over the folds of blanket and stood hesitantly in the doorway of the carrier. Then he crept over to the bowl and started to eat, keeping one eye on the children. It seemed ages since he’d last been fed and there was a good bowlful here. He had to go more slowly towards the end and he even left a few biscuits. He then sat down heavily and ran his paw over his whiskers.