6fa8fc9b1a3e399d35b7a3aa5ff3fde8

“Mum, they’ve found Cleo! Thank you so much!” Amber pulled open the latch and reached in to stroke the kitten. “I thought you’d never come home…” she murmured, lifting her out and snuggling Cleo against her shoulder. “Where was she?” she asked.

[Êàðòèíêà: _41.jpg]

“I found her in my garden,” George explained. “But I didn’t know she was yours. I, um, fed her my leftovers,” he admitted. “And then she got stuck on our garage roof, and Luke helped to get her down.” He couldn’t bring himself to tell Amber that he’d lured her kitten into his house and got her into a fight with Pirate.

But Amber beamed at him.“Thank you for feeding her. I was so worried she was going to be starving!”

“I reckon she went for a ride in the back of my van,” Luke put in. “I can’t see how else she turned up in our neighbourhood. It’s a good couple of miles away.”

“Goodness,” Amber’s mum said. “She stowed away! I’ll have to ring Sara and Dad and tell them. You don’t know how relieved they’ll be. We were imagining the worst things…”

“I’m glad I found her,” George said to Amber.

“Not as glad as I am,” Amber said, giggling as Cleo licked her chin. “You couldn’t be.”

[Êàðòèíêà: _4.jpg]

“You know a lot about cats,” Amber said admiringly, watching George tickle Cleo on just the right spot behind her ear. She’d invited George round to tea to say thank you – and to let him see how Cleo was. He’d asked Amber about her at school a few times, and she thought George must have really liked the kitten.

“Our cat’s called Pirate, because he looks like he has an eye patch. He’s my mum’s actually. She got him before I was born.”

“So he’s pretty old then?”

“Uh-huh. He’s a bit slow now – he doesn’t race around like this one does. But he’s still special,” George added firmly.

It was true. Pirate might be slow and not that good at chasing toys, but he almost always slept on George’s feet at night. Mum had told him the other night that Pirate had done that since George was a baby. She and Dad had tried to keep him away because they were worried that Pirate might hurt him by accident. But Pirate wouldn’t be shooed away – and he was the best one for stopping baby George crying. “In the end we gave up,” his mum had said, smiling down at Pirate, who was sitting between them. “He’d obviously decided you were his, you see.”

George watched Cleo clamber up into Amber’s lap and flop down, purring. He stroked her ears, and nodded to himself. Amber was Cleo’s, and he belonged to Pirate – and that was exactly the way it should be.

36. THE HOMELESS KITTEN

“You’re coming with me, Lily? Are you sure?” Dad grinned at her, widening his eyes and pretending to be shocked.

“I like the sound of a walk with you and Hugo in the woods. It’ll be nice and cool under the trees. Anyway –” Lily made a face back at him – “I’d come with you more often if you didn’t go so fast. You’ve both got really long legs and I haven’t.” Lily reached down to rub the dog’s soft creamy white ears. “Yes, you do, don’t you? Great big long legs.” She looked up at Dad. “You’re not planning on one of your five-mile hikes, are you?” she asked suspiciously.

Dad laughed.“No, not in this weather – it’s too hot for a long walk now. Anyway, I took Hugo out running with me early this morning.”

[Êàðòèíêà: _3.jpg]

Lily nodded. Hugo needed loads of exercise. Dad took him for at least two long walks every day and he usually went for a quick walk in the park with Mum when she stopped working to take a lunch break. At weekends Dad often took Hugo in the car to the hills just outside town for a really good run. Lily’s big sister, Carly, loved to go with them but Lily wasn’t so keen. It always seemed to rain when she went on one of Dad’s big days out.

Hugo was mostly German Shepherd– nobody was quite sure what else. Carly had told her that German Shepherds were originally bred from dogs trained to guard flocks of sheep from wolves and bears. They were used to working hard. Dad had wanted a really energetic dog and he’d fallen in love with Hugo at the animal shelter. He was so unusual with his white coat. The shelter staff said that Hugo had got too big for his elderly owner to look after properly – and at the time he hadn’t even stopped growing.

Mum and Dad had explained to Lily and Carly that they’d have to be really gentle with him as he was a rescue dog, and because white German Shepherds could be quite sensitive and nervous. They were no good as pets for people who were out at work all day – if they were left alone they could end up wrecking a house because they were so miserable! Luckily, Mum worked at home as a graphic designer so Hugo was never by himself for long.

“Is Carly coming?” Dad asked. “Shout up the stairs for her, Lily.”

“No, Mum’s taking her round to Maisie’s house in a minute. Maisie’s got one of those giant paddling pools in her garden.” Lily sighed enviously. It was the first week of the summer holidays and the weather was already so hot.