[Êàðòèíêà: img_37]
Which way? Flower huddled against the wall, trying to stay calm and ignore the instinct inside that told her to just run and run, to get away from the cars. But that wasn’t going to get her back to Abi and Ruby. After a few moments, she grew a little more used to the cars, and her fur began to lay flat again. She turned her head, trying to scent the way back home.
There wassomething… Flower grimaced, opening her mouth and curling her muzzle back over her teeth to smell better. She could smellherself. Her home– her territory. She bolted along the pavement, following the scent blowing on the wind. She was getting closer, the smell was stronger and she could feel it – she was nearly home.
At last– there it was! Her litter tray. But outside the house, not where it was meant to be. Flower padded into the front garden, sniffing at the litter tray cautiously. What was it doing out here? And how was she going to get into the house? She went over to sniff at the door – this was the way she had come out, carried in that bag. But now it was shut fast and it didn’t move even when she scrabbled and mewed.
Flower sat down on the doorstep feeling cold and even hungrier now that she was so close to her food bowl. She mewed again, even louder, but still no one came.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_38]
Was there another way she could get in? Wearily, she turned and walked back down the path, looking at the big pot of flowers by the front door and the window up above. She knew that window– it was where she sat to watch the street and the people passing by. Except now she was on the other side, looking in…
She sprang up on to the edge of the flowerpot and made a scrabbly jump on to the windowsill. Then she peered through the glass. There was the sofa… Flower mewed loudly in frustration and then pressed her nose closer towards the glass.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_39]
Abi was there! She was asleep, her head pillowed on the back of the sofa, on the other side of the glass.
Flower stood up on her back paws, mewing and mewing, batting at the glass with her front ones. She couldsee Abi– so why wouldn’t Abi wake up and notice her?
[Êàðòèíêà: img_5]
Abi was dreaming she was chasing down the road after her little white kitten, always just too far away to catch her before she disappeared. She was calling and calling, but all the time she knew it was useless– Flower couldn’t hear her. It was heartbreaking. Flower was so frightened. Abi could hear her mewing in the dream and the noise was frantic. Flower was racing so fast that her paws were thudding on the ground…
Abi blinked and sat up a little, dazed with sleep. She had been dreaming that Flower was lost. No… She swallowed miserably. That wasn’t a dream, her kitten reallywas lost.
She looked around, confused about where she was– and then she remembered. The litter tray outside. She had been trying to give Flower a scent to follow… Abi shook her head, trying to wake herself up properly. She hadn’t meant to go to sleep and she could still hear the mewing from her dream. It was even getting louder and she could hear the thumping paws too…
“Flower?” Abi stared. Her kitten was there on the other side of the window, paws scrabbling eagerly, her mouth wide open in a mew.
Abi jumped off the sofa, trailing her blanket, and raced for the front door, fumbling with the locks. At last she pulled it open and Flower darted in, purring. She stood up, patting at Abi’s knees with her little white paws until Abi picked her up and snuggled them both in the blanket.
Abi blinked as the landing light went on and the glow spread down the stairs.
“Mummy!” Ruby called from the top of the staircase. “Dad! Abi’s found Flower!” She stumbled down to hug Abi and stroke Flower’s nose.
[Êàðòèíêà: img_40]
“She came back,” Abi told her little sister. “She’s so clever – she followed her own smell. Oh, she must be hungry.” She tapped her mouth – the food sign they always used to show Flower it was time for a meal – and the white kitten stared back at her seriously. Then she lifted her paw and tapped it against her own mouth.
“She did the sign!” Ruby gasped.
“She can’t have done…” Abi looked at Flower and tapped her mouth again.
The kitten patted her own mouth with her paw and then wriggled out of Abi’s arms. She jumped to the floor and dashed into the kitchen to stand by her food bowl.
Abi grabbed one of the pouches from the cupboard and emptied it into the bowl and the two girls crouched by the food to watch Flower eat. Abi could hear Mum and Chris coming downstairs, and then Ruby dash out to tell them about Flower signing back.
“I’m so glad you found your way home,” she whispered to Flower as the kitten licked the last bits of food from round the edges of her bowl. “You’re so clever. But please don’t ever do that again. And we’ll be so careful too.”
Flower padded towards her and climbed up into Abi’s lap, licking lazily at one paw and sweeping it around her whiskers. Then she looked up at Abi with her huge blue eyes and began to purr.
43. THE LONELIEST KITTEN
“Take off your trainers!” Mum yelped as Darcy and Will reached the back door.
“Sorry, Mum.” Darcy kicked off her trainers and held on to Will’s arm so he could do the same. Even though it was the beginning of the summer holidays, the weather wasn’t very summery.
“The garden’s really wet and it’s all muddy in front of the football goal…”
[Êàðòèíêà: img_3]
“I can see that. Will looks like he’s been rolling in it.”
“I was the goalkeeper!” Will said enthusiastically.
Dad came into the kitchen and stared at Darcy and Will.“Wow. What happened to you two?”
“We were playing football.” Darcy frowned. “You’re home early.”
“That’s why I called you in,” said Mum. She had an ‘I’ve got a secret’ face on, Darcy thought. “You’d better go and get changed. And Will, I think you probably need a shower. We’re going on a trip, somewhere really exciting, but it’s a surprise.”
“I’m here so I can come too,” Dad added. “I wish I’d been here earlier, then I could have joined in your football game. I’m nearly as good a goalie as Will!”
“Nobody is better than me,” Will said smugly. “I saved almost all of Darcy’s shots.”
Darcy made a face over the top of Will’s head to say that he hadn’t really and Mum smiled. Will was actually very good for someone who was only six. He was tall too – not that much shorter than Darcy, and she was three years older.
“Go and get changed, Darcy,” said Mum. “And don’t worry, there’s no need to dress up. Shorts and a T-shirt are fine.”
“Come on, Will, I’ll turn the shower on for you,” Dad suggested.
Darcy could hear Will trying to quiz Dad as they went upstairs.“Where are we going? Will there be pizza? Can I wear my Batman outfit?” She was curious too. They did sometimes go on surprise days out in the summer holidays – the best one had been to the seaside, with fish and chips on the beach – but that was usually for the whole day, not in the middleof the afternoon.
She hurried into her bedroom and changed out of her muddy tracksuit bottoms and football shirt. Luckily Mum had put her hair in Dutch plaits that morning and it still looked OK, even after playing football. She just had to scrub away the mud from under her fingernails.
Will was back downstairs soon after, looking very clean and a bit damp.
“Where are we going?” he kept asking as Mum and Dad hurried them out to the car.
“Shh,” Darcy whispered. “It’s a surprise. Surprises are good. Don’t spoil it.”