Ginger the Stray Kitten

Rosie only got through school that day because Millie kept nudging her, reminding her that Mrs Wilkinson was watching. Rosie would manage to listen or concentrate on what she was supposed to be doing for about five minutes, before she started thinking about Ginger again.

Millie was coming back to Gran’s for tea today, and they were planning to look for Ginger together. Rosie was glad – Millie was so enthusiastic about looking for him. Rosie had been disappointed so many times, it was hard to keep her hopes up.

Millie jogged ahead as they came up to the farm. “Wow! It really is a building site. Oh, Rosie, poor Ginger. He must be really scared with all those people around, and those great big diggers. It’s so noisy!”

Rosie nodded sadly and looked wearily through the fence into the farmyard. It looked so different now, with the barn gone and the yard covered in piles of rubble. She wasn’t expecting to see anything. But what was that in the big tree over there? Rosie peered through the wire fence and grabbed Millie’s sleeve.

“Millie! Gran! Look! Is that a cat in the tree? On that branch, there. No, no, there, look!”

A flash of ginger fur showed among the yellowing leaves. It was hard to see if it was a cat, but something was moving.

“You could be right…” Millie murmured doubtfully. “I can’t quite see.”

Gran was squinting through the fence at the tree. “I can’t tell either…”

“I am right! I know I am!” Rosie looked at them eagerly. “He’s there, he really is. Yes, I can see his stripes! Oh, I can’t believe it, I’d almost given up. Ginger! Ginger! I don’t think he can hear me, with all this noise.” She frowned. “Oh, Gran, he must be so scared with all this going on. We have to get him out, we just have to!”

She dashed along the fence to the gate, with Millie racing after her, and shouted to one of the men walking by. “Hey! Excuse me! Over here, please listen!”

But the man just walked past, trundling a wheelbarrow. He didn’t even look at Rosie and Millie. Rosie rattled the gate, but no one seemed to hear her, the site was too noisy.

Gran came up, looking anxious. “Rosie, calm down!”

“I can’t make anyone listen!” Rosie looked at her wildly. “They have to let us in so we can go and get him!”

Gran pulled them gently away from the gate. “Girls, come back, it’s a building site, I don’t think they’ll let us go in. Sshh, look, that man’s coming out. We’ll ask him.” Gran smiled politely at the builder, who was giving them a curious look.

“Excuse me, but have you seen a ginger kitten around at all? He used to live on the farm, and he’s disappeared. We think we might have just seen him in that tree.”

The builder shook his head. He didn’t look very interested. “No cats, sorry,” he said, starting to shut the gate.

“He is there!” Rosie cried. “We’ve just seen him, we know he’s there. You’ve knocked down his home, you might’ve hurt him! You have to let us find him!”

The builder looked confused, and Gran hugged Rosie tight. “Calm down, Rosie. Look, I’m sorry, the girls are very worried about the kitten. We really do think we saw him a minute ago. Could you please just keep an eye out for him?” She pulled an old till receipt out of her bag and scribbled on it. “This is my phone number. If you could call us if you see him, we’d be so grateful.”

The man took the note and stuffed it into the pocket of his reflective vest. Then he locked the gate, and walked off. Rosie watched him go, tears running down her nose. She was pretty sure he’d never look at the note again.

Gran shepherded Rosie and Millie away from the gate. She was worried the builders might get annoyed and tell them to stop hanging around.

From high up in the tree, Ginger had heard the voices. It was the girl! The one with the food, who did the stroking. She’d come back for him. He was sure that was why she was there. He tried desperately to scrabble down the tree trunk.

But now she was going! She couldn’t have seen him. He mewed frantically, please wait! But no one heard him. He took a flying leap from halfway down the tree trunk, and raced over to the fence.

Come back! Come back! I’m here!

But it was too late.

Chapter Seven

When they got back to Gran’s house, she made Millie and Rosie sit down and have a glass of juice.

“You mustn’t get so het up, Rosie!” Gran said. “You can’t help that kitten if you’re shouting at people and getting into trouble, can you?”

Rosie sighed and shook her head. Gran was right. “I just don’t think he was even listening, Gran,” she said sadly. “That’s why I was so cross. That man just said no cats, without even thinking about it!”

“But you saw him, Rosie!” Millie put in. “He’s still there, that’s really good news! That was your ginger kitten, wasn’t it?”