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“I do feel bad, though,” Anna continued. “I’ve a horrible feeling that Pixie’s been in here again. She bolted in through the cat flap at about midnight, in a bit of a state. She was soaking wet and all the fur that wasn’t plastered down with water was sticking up. And I heard a lot of barking, so I wondered if she’d climbed through Lily’s window again and had had a bit of a bust-up with Hugo… You mentioned she’d come in that way before.”

Anna looked between Mum and Dad as the whole family stared at her.“I really am sorry,” she added. “I know she’s a nightmare. My neighbours on the other side got quite cross with her the other day – they found her on the kitchen table licking the butter…” Her voice trailed away. “Oh no, what did she do?”

“It was Pixie!” Lily breathed, remembering her open bedroom window. “It was Pixie, not Stanley! Hugo was barking at Pixie!” And that meant Stanley didn’t need to go…

“Mum, do you think…?” Lily put her hand on Mum’s arm, trying to get her to listen, but Mum was looking at Anna and not paying attention.

“She was in here, then. Oh dear…” Anna looked around the kitchen. “I really hope she didn’t break anything.”

Dad laughed.“Actually, I think she broke a mug but don’t worry, Anna. That’s about the best news you could have given us. We came down last night because Hugo was barking his head off to find the kitchen in a bit of a mess and Hugo with a scratch on his nose. No, no, it’s OK!” he added, seeing Anna put a hand up to her mouth. “You see, we thought it was Stanley who’d done it. We were going to take him to the animal shelter this morning and now we don’t have to!”

“Pixie scratched Hugo?” Anna looked down at Hugo guiltily. “Poor Hugo. She’s a horror, she really is.”

“But you love her to bits,” Mum said, laughing.

“I’d better start locking the cat flap at night.” Anna sighed.

“Mum.” Lily pulled at her sleeve. “Mum, listen, please, it’s important. You need to call the shelter.”

Mum gave her a hug.“It’s OK, Lily, you don’t need to tell me. We’ll call them right now and let them know we don’t need to bring Stanley in after all.”

“I should have listened when you said that Hugo wouldn’t have been barking like that at Stanley,” Dad said, shaking his head. “I mean just look at them.”

Everyone looked down under the table. Stanley, worn out from his game, was collapsed over Hugo’s enormous paws. As they stared at him, he opened one eye lazily, just a slit of green peering up at them all.

“Please…” Lily whispered. “Couldn’t we keep him? I know we had Hugo first but Hugo loves him, too.”

“Can we?” Carly put in. “It would make Hugo sad if he had to go,” she admitted. “I think Stanley should stay.”

“Yes! Oh, Carly, thank you!” Lily hugged her sister tight.

Mum smiled.“I’d better go and ring the shelter, hadn’t I?”

“What are you going to say to them?” Lily asked anxiously.

“I’m going to ask them to take his photo off the website – he’s already got a home.”

Lily threw her arms round her mum and then her dad and even Anna– she wanted to hug everyone.

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Then she crouched down beside Stanley and Hugo.“You’re staying,” she said, stroking the fluffy white fur on Stanley’s tummy. You’re our kitten now!”

Stanley opened the other eye and stretched, rolling over on to his back and padding his front paws against Hugo’s nose. Hugo snorted, shifted his head and gently licked the little kitten.

Stanley uncurled himself from the big dog and stood up, stretching again and arching his back as he yawned. He padded deliberately over to Lily, and rubbed the side of his head lovingly up and down her shorts. He climbed on to her knees and stood up, nudging her chin with the top of his head and purring loudly. Then he jumped down and touched noses with Hugo.

“They’re perfect,” Lily whispered, crouching down to stroke Hugo. “They belong together, here with us.”

37. A KITTEN CALLED TIGER

“Ava! Come on, wake up. Look at this!” Mum held up her phone in front of Ava’s nose and Ava squinted at the photo on the screen sleepily. Then she sat bolt upright in bed and grabbed

the phone. Ever since her parents had agreed to getting a kitten, Ava had been scanning the local animal shelter’s website and checking the noticeboard in the supermarket. But no one seemed to have any kittens in need of homes – until now.

“Oh! They’re gorgeous! Mum, are they real? I mean, are they for sale? Can we go and see them?” The photo showed a litter of kittens snuggled up in a cardboard box – it wasn’t a very big one but they’d obviously all decided it was the best place to sleep ever. Ava was almost sure there were four but it was quite hard to count them…

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“Yes, they’re real and, yes, we can go and see them. Rosie, the lady who owns them, put their picture on Facebook and she said she’s free this weekend if people want to visit. I’ve sent her a message to see if we can go round today. Your auntie Jade sent me their picture – Rosie’s a friend of hers. Auntie Jade said she thought of you as soon as she saw them!”