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“Must be something exciting, you didn’t even hear me come in!” He leaned over to look. “Oh, where did this come from?” He looked around as if he expected to find a few more kittens scattered around the kitchen.

“I found her, Dad! Me and Layla rescued her! She was stuck on some barbed wire. She’s really little. Mum thinks she’s only about five weeks old.” Edie looked up at him excitedly and then frowned. Her mum and dad were giving each other a Look. Not a good look. “What?” she asked worriedly.

“She’s very tiny, Edie love.”

“I know. Mum said. But at least she’s eating.”

“Yeah…” Her dad sighed. “OK. Yes, that’s good. But … kittens do just fade sometimes, if they’ve had a bad start. Don’t look at me like that, Edie, I’m not trying to be mean. I just don’t want you falling in love with a gorgeous kitten and then being heartbroken.”

“Well, what else am I supposed to do?” Edie said, a bit crossly. It was all very well Mum and Dad both going on and on about how little and fragile the kitten was. Did they think she should have just left her stuck on that wire? “And I had to bring her home! Now isn’t this the best possiblehouse for a sick kitten to be in? She’s got two vets to help her!”

“OK, OK.” Edie’s mum hugged her carefully so as not to disturb the kitten. “Of course we’re not saying you shouldn’t have rescued her. We just don’t want you to be upset…”

“If something happens to her…” Edie’s voice wobbled a bit. “If something happens … of course I’ll be upset. But at least I’ll know I tried!”

Edie helped her mum weigh the kitten and work out exactly how much milk she ought to be having. Luckily the kitten was sleepy after the bottle she’d had so it wasn’t that hard to get her to sit in the kitchen scales. She was so little, she fitted perfectly into the bowl.

“In a couple of days, if she’s doing OK, we can introduce her to a bit of solid food,” Edie’s mum explained. “But for now, we’re going to need to feed her milk six times a day.”

“Six!” Edie squeaked.

“Yup. Every four hours. So, let’s say … at six, ten and two in the day and six, ten and two at night.”

“Two o’clock in the morning.” Edie’s dad sighed. “It’ll be like having you all over again, Edie.”

Because she’d already had a feed at five, Edie’s mum and dad reckoned that the kitten wouldn’t need another lot of milk at six. They’d feed her just before they went to bed and then get up again to feed her at two.

Edie called Layla to tell her how well the kitten was doing and that she was going to be given milk every four hours, including during the night. Layla agreed that she wouldn’t mind getting up at two in the morning either. She loved cats and she’d wanted one for ages, but her dad wasn’t all that keen on having a pet.

Edie peered into the kitten box as she got up to go to bed. She hadn’t wanted to leave the kitten on her own in the kitchen, so the box was on the sofa between her and her mum. They’d been watching TV together, with the kitten snoozing in the middle.

“I’ll set my alarm,” she said.

“You don’t need to get up at two in the morning!” Edie’s mum hugged her. “I’ll feed her, or your dad will. We can take turns doing the night feeds.”

Edie shook her head.“No, Mum! I rescued her.” She frowned, trying to think how to put it. “I can’t leave you to look after her – it’s important. I want to do it.”

Her mum sighed.“OK. You can help at two, if you go to bed and go to sleep now.”

Edie put her arms round her mum.“Thank you!”

Her dad laughed.“I bet you won’t feel like that at two in the morning.”

Actually, Edie felt surprisingly wide-awake. The beeping of her alarm clock broke into a dream about the kitten, where she wouldn’t stop mewing and Edie knew exactly why she had to get up. The kitten would be getting hungry. Perhaps she actually was mewing for real?

Edie pulled a jumper on over her pyjamas and hurried down the stairs. She could see a faint light from the kitchen– Mum or Dad must be down there already.

Her dad turned to her, smiling, as she came into the kitchen.“Wow, I wasn’t sure you’d make it.”

Edie made a face at him. Her dad was always teasing her about how long it took her to get up in the morning.“How is she? Did she mind being left alone?” Edie peered into the box and saw the kitten was staring back at her, green eyes round and worried. She looked a little bit less fragile than she had that afternoon – less floppy and exhausted – but the bandage around her paw made Edie’s stomachtwist. It was so sad to see the tiny kitten hurt and still frightened.

Edie’s dad handed her the bottle. “She’s fine – she was still fast asleep when I came down. Do you want to feed her? Do you think you can sit her on your knee and hold the bottle, too?”