“OK… Just don’t feed him the whole bag!”
The website she’d been reading had said only to do five-minute training sessions, Darcy remembered. She didn’t want Charlie to get fed up. “You’re a very good boy,” she told him, putting the treats in her pocket. “What shall we do now, hmm?”
She’d been trying to keep an eye on him all day but she was beginning to think that they’d been worrying about nothing. Charlie had eaten almost all his breakfast and then she’d played with him, rolling a jingly ball up and down the hallway. He’d snoozed on the arm of the sofa for a bit. Then he’d stalked a feather round her bedroom floor while she’d done her homework. Will had taken him downstairs and played with the cat dancer and then Charlie had sat under the kitchen table looking hopeful for the whole of lunch. He might have got the end of a cheese sandwich.
Everything was fine.
Darcy turned as she heard footsteps behind her, and saw Will coming out on to the patio.
“Play football with me?” Will asked coaxingly. “Please, Darcy? I’m bored.”
“Not right now. I’m trying to play with Charlie.”
“You aren’t. You’re just sitting there.”
“Is that my football you’ve got?” Darcy asked suspiciously. “That’s my new one!”
“It was behind that flowerpot.” Will shrugged. “You should put it away if it’s so special.”
“You’re not playing with it,” Darcy said firmly. “I’m serious.”
“Don’t be so mean!”
“Will, that’s my new ball, go and get your own!”
Will didn’t answer. He smirked at Darcy and started to kick the ball against the garden wall.
“Mum!” Darcy yelled. “Make him stop playing with it!”
Will looked round to see if Mum was in the kitchen, listening, and lost control of the ball. It went flying over the back fence.
“Oh, now look what you’ve done,” Darcy said furiously. “We’ll never get it back.”
“Sorry…” Will said shamefacedly. “I’ll go round and ask for it.”
“It’s no good,” Darcy snapped. “It didn’t go next-door into Hannah’s, it went behind – that’s the garden for the flats. And we don’t even know which flat it belongs to.” Then she stopped scowling at Will and turned slowly. “Where’s Charlie?”
Will looked round the garden. “I don’t know.”
“But I was trying to watch him. I don’t believe it – this is all your fault, Will!”
Charlie wriggled underneath the fence into the old lady’s garden. He adored Darcy, especially when she was playing with him or he was snuggled up next to her in a fold of duvet at night-time – but loud voices and shouting made him nervous and twitchy. He didn’t like it when Darcy and Will argued. Every time they had a spat, the fur would start to prickle up along his spine and his tail lashed. The old lady’s basement flat was always peaceful – there was no shouting. And she had cat treats now too.
He padded up the garden and nosed hopefully at the glass door. It was shut but one of the windows next to it was open a crack. He could definitely fit through there. He sprang up on to the windowsill and wriggled his way in, stepping carefully around the photo frames and the vase on the inside. There didn’t seem to be anyone at home but there was a patch of warm sunlight on the rug so he sat down in it and started to lick his paws. He’d stay a while and then maybe he’d go back and see if Darcy wanted to play again. In a bit…
“He’s been gone for ages,” Darcy said miserably. “Hours, Mum. He never stays away this long. It’s teatime and usually he’s starving. He’s always sitting around looking hopeful long before we feed him.”
Mum frowned. “Not for the last week or so, Darcy. Like I told you, he just doesn’t seem as bothered about his food any more. That’s why I cut down how much I gave him for breakfast this morning.”
Darcy stared at her. She vaguely remembered Mum saying something about that the day before when Charlie hadn’t turned up in time for tea, but she’d been more worried about where Charlie actually was and she hadn’t really been listening. Clearly she should have been.
“And you said he hadn’t been around as much,” she murmured. “He wasn’t bothering you while you were working… That’s why I was trying to keep an eye on him today.”
Her mum nodded. “I’ve missed him,” she admitted with a worried smile. “I used to moan when he walked across the keyboard – he wasn’t that helpful when I was trying to get people’s accounts to balance, but actually he did make it a lot more fun…”
“And then he stopped doing it?”
“Yes… I assumed it was because he was getting a bit older and less playful. I just thought he was sleeping more.” Mum nibbled her bottom lip and glanced at the cat flap as though she hoped Charlie might just pop through it.
He didn’t.
“That makes sense, though,” Dad said helpfully. “Cats sleep more when they’re older, don’t they?”
Darcy sat down on one of the kitchen chairs, her heart thumping fast. Charlie kept disappearing and he wasn’t as bothered about his food. It was almost as if… She looked down at her fingers, twisting them over and over. It was almost as if he didn’t think their house was home any more. He was going somewhere else. “Do you think he’s got another home?” she blurted out.
“What?” Will shook his head. “He couldn’t.” He sounded almost angry. “Don’t say that, Darcy.”
“Someone else who’s feeding him and playing with him…” Darcy went on unhappily. She felt really guilty. She’d been so excited about getting their own kitten, and she and Will had made such a fuss over him those first weeks. They’d loved Charlie and played with him all the time. They’d carried him about, they’d built him adventure playgrounds out of pillows and comfy beds whenever he’d looked the tiniest bit sleepy. They’d followed him anxiously once he was allowed out and started to explore the garden.
Then school had started again and Darcy had been chosen for the football team – and suddenly there were more exciting things than kittens to think about.
But she’d had to practise, a little voice protested inside her. It was important! Well, yes, it was – but she didn’t need to have done that much practice, Darcy admitted to herself. And all those football books she’d borrowed from the library, because she had to be the best in the team…
Darcy winced as she remembered putting Charlie down on the floor because he would keep sitting on the exact diagram that she was trying to look at. He’d only wanted to play with her, she thought now. He hadn’t understood – there had been so many weeks in the holidays when she’d wanted to do nothing but play. And he’d thought they would carry on as before and she’d been annoyed with him. She’d told him to stop it. Darcy felt tears pressing up behind her eyes and she sniffed.
What about Will, though? There had been Will for Charlie to play with, the little voice inside her tried to point out. Except Darcy knew quite well that Will wanted to do everything she did, because she was his big sister and he wanted to be just as grown up as she was. And because Darcy was spending all her time on football, Will was too. That’s why he’d taken her ball and tried to play with it. Then while she was shouting at him about it, their kitten had given up on them and gone to find somewhere nicer to live. Somewhere people actually wanted him around.
The tears spilled over and Darcy gasped out, “I don’t think he wants us any more!”