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“They’re so little and fluffy…” Ava cooed, stroking the phone screen with her finger. Then she sighed as the picture disappeared. “Oops! Sorry, Mum, I’m still half asleep. I just wanted to stroke them!”

Mum smiled as she took back the phone.“I love the ginger and white one – but the stripey kitten’s gorgeous, too. I think we might have a really hard time choosing. Oh, look! Rosie’s messaged me back, asking if we can come round at about ten o’clock. Ooooh, I don’t know, Ava, what do you think? It’s a bit early for a Saturday, isn’t it?”

Mum laughed as Ava leaped out of bed, flinging off the duvet.“You think we can, then? We’ve got to get Lucy and Bel up, remember. And your dad’s still asleep.”

“We’ve only got two hours!” Ava squeaked. “Wake him up now, Mum! And tell Lucy and Bel we’re going to see some kittens. They’ll be out of bed the fastest you’ve ever seen, I promise!”

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“Hurry up,” Ava groaned. “There’s the house, look, number twenty-two. Lucy, you don’t need to bring your toy cat, we’re going to seereal kittens…”

“They will like my toy cat,” her sister said firmly, gathering up her toy cat and her handbag and all the cat’s clothes, and clambering down from her car seat. Lucy was only just three – Mum and Dad had said they’d think about getting a family pet once she was old enough to understand that a kitten wasn’t another toy for her to play with. Ava had been looking forward to Lucy’s birthday more than her own.

Ava’s middle sister, five-year-old Bel, had run on ahead and was trying to undo the latch of the garden gate.

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She was just as excited as Ava was. Neither of them had been able to eat any breakfast, and they’d watched Dad and Lucy ploughing through their Weetabix with disbelief.

“OK.” Dad locked the car and led Lucy over to the gate. “Let’s go!”

Bel finally managed to unlatch the gate and the front door opened as they walked up the path. A lady in a stripey T-shirt waved at them.“I saw you coming. I’m Rosie.” She scooped up a silvery tabby cat who was trying to escape round her legs. “And this is Moppet. She’s the kittens’ mum.”

“She’s beautiful,” Ava’s mum said.

“She really is,” Rosie agreed. “Come on in. Moppet’s too young to have kittens, to be honest. She was a stray. She kept coming into the garden and in the end I adopted her. I didn’t know I was getting five cats instead of one!”

“Oh, wow…” Ava sighed. It sounded like a dream come true to her.

“Anyway, come and see the kittens. They’re in the kitchen.”

Ava could feel her heart thumping with excitement as they walked through the hallway. The kitchen door was closed and Rosie opened it carefully, obviously trying not to bump into any kittens on the other side.

“Oh! Oh! A kitten!” Bel squealed as a little furry face popped round the edge of the door.

The kitten disappeared at once and Mum shushed Bel gently.“Sweetheart, remember what we talked about.

You’ve got to be quiet round the kittens. If you shout, you’ll scare them.”

Bel nodded but Ava could tell that she was so excited she wasn’t really listening. Ava swallowed hard as Rosie opened the door all the way. There seemed to be a bubble of nervousness stuck in the top of her throat. She had been daydreaming about this moment for so long!

The kittens seemed to have taken over Rosie’s kitchen. There were cat toys everywhere, a cosy basket sat next to the radiator, and a huge kitten climbing frame made of scratching posts and carpeted hidey-holes was squashed up next to the kitchen table. As they all went in, a small ginger kitten looked up from licking the butter off a piece of toast.

Rosie put Moppet down and sighed.“That was my breakfast,” she told the kitten, lifting it off the table. “You’ve had yours.” She looked round at Ava and her family. “They’re lovely but they get everywhere.” Then she frowned. “Hang on. How many kittens can you see?”

Ava laughed. Now that she could actually see the kittens, the strange feeling inside her had disappeared.“Three,” she told Rosie. “The one who was licking your toast…”

“There’s another ginger one over there on the climbing frame,” Bel said.

“And there’s a tabby kitten by the door,” Ava added, peering round the table to see properly. The tabby kitten was playing with a fluffy rabbit that was nearly as big as it was, rolling over and over on the floor.

“There ought to be four,” Rosie said, scanning the kitchen. “We’re missing one. There’s another tabby kitten – and honestly, it’s always him!”

Ava crouched down to check under the table but there was only the ginger kitten, still licking his buttery whiskers. Then, as she stood up, Ava spotted the tip of a stripey tail on top of the bookcase.“Is that him?” she asked Rosie, pointing. “Behind those photographs?”

“How did he get up there?” Dad laughed. “That’s a huge jump for such a small cat.”

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