Charlie the Kitten Who Saved a Life

I couldn’t stop eating to reply to her, and in any case what was I supposed to say? Now I was getting used to the cottage, I wouldn’t have minded being left alone so much if I’d had the run of the place. I’d be out in that garden for a start, sniffing out all the best places in the flowerbeds for my toilet, investigating any smells of mice, voles, rabbits and – always to be avoided of course – foxes. Chasing birds, climbing trees, playing in the bushes, to say nothing of facing any possible opposition from local cats, while I was establishing my position as territory holder. But no, I was apparently going to be a prisoner in this kitchen all day with just a litter tray for company. The only good thing about it was the fact that I couldn’t see the monstrous sea from in here. I was pleasantly surprised to find that we’d all survived the night without it getting into the cottage but from what I’d seen yesterday, it was unlikely to give up trying.

‘I’m sorry we can’t take you with us, Charlie,’ Caroline was saying as she poured herself a glass of milk. ‘But I don’t think you’d like it anyway. And I don’t suppose we’ll be staying long, because of Jessica obviously.’

In that case I was grateful to Jessica for once. I couldn’t think what I was going to do all day, apart from sleeping, which I supposed wasn’t such a bad idea.

Everyone was soon downstairs having their breakfasts, so after I’d finished eating and washing, I shot upstairs quickly. I had this idea that if I hid under one of the beds, they might not find me when it was time to leave, and wouldn’t be able to shut me in the kitchen. The big bedroom was nice and sunny so I trotted in there. There was a lovely clean-sheet smell coming from Jessica’s strange new cot. I walked round it, sniffing appreciatively, then jumped up on the big bed next to it and looked down insideS. There was a nice fluffy white blanket in there, and a pink toy rabbit with silky ears. It all looked very cosy and tempting. It couldn’t hurt for me to have a little lie down in there, could it, while the baby wasn’t using it? I jumped down into it from the bed. The sheet was soft, and still warm from Jessica. I purred happily to myself as I started turning round and round to make a nice little nest for myself out of the blanket, finally snuggling down with my nose tucked up under my tail. With a bit of luck, they wouldn’t think to look for me in here and I could spend the day in comfort while they were out. I closed my eyes, still purring, and started to drift off into a dream …

‘CHARLIE!’

The shriek was so loud and high-pitched, I nearly jumped out of my fur. Laura was standing next to the cot, staring down at me, a look of horror on her face.

‘What’s the matter? Where is he?’ I heard Julian shouting as he came up the stairs.

‘In the baby’s cot, for God’s sake! Look at him!’ She sounded close to tears. ‘You bad boy!’ she snapped at me. ‘Get out!’

‘Sorry,’ I meowed, getting up and stretching.

‘I said get out!’ she said again, reaching down and picking me up quite roughly. ‘Take him downstairs and shut him in the kitchen,’ she said to Julian, handing me over as if I was something disgusting she couldn’t bear the sight of. ‘I can’t have this, Julian – I’m going to have to strip the cot now and wash everything.’

‘Really?’ he said. ‘But surely—’

‘He was curled up on her sheet! In her blanket! With his head on her rabbit! There’ll be cat’s hairs and … and germs, and goodness knows what … on it all.’

‘He’s quite clean, Laura,’ Julian said gently. He gave me a little stroke as he said it, and I responded with a grateful meow. Of course I was clean! I’d only just washed myself that morning, hadn’t I! ‘It used to be you telling me cats were clean animals, remember? When I wouldn’t let Oliver get anywhere near Caroline, while she was ill?’

‘That was different,’ she said, although she didn’t explain why. She started taking the sheet and blanket out of the cot, inspecting them as if I might have put muddy paw prints on them.

‘Just give them a shake outside,’ Julian said. ‘It’ll only be a few hairs, if anything. He’s only been up here a few minutes.’

‘They’re going in the wash,’ she retorted, walking ahead of him out of the room. ‘And in future, keep this bedroom door shut, please.’

My world was shrinking. Pretty soon the only place I was going to be allowed to go was my own bed. I could see it coming!