She walked towards the cot, scowling, and I fled. David ran after me, clapping his hands and saying horrible things like “Shoo!” and “Go away!” He chased me right into the kitchen, where Nan was peeling potatoes.

  “Leave poor Callie alone, David,” she said.

  “She was in Sis’s cot,” said David. “Mum says she’ll leave mud from her paws there, or even fleas. Imagine if a flea bit Sis!”

  Every word he said felt to me like a kick. I was hurting somewhere deep inside my head and all through my body. The first time I’d seen David crying I didn’t understand why his face was so damp, and his nose was so wet, nor why he was wailing so loudly. I was frightened, but Liz had explained to me: “He’s crying, Callie, because he’s feeling unhappy. Sometimes it makes you feel better.”

  I remembered those words now, and wished that cats could cry. There are all sorts of other sounds I could have made: yowling or screeching or miaowing, but I felt too sad to say anything. I sat on the window-sill for a long time, looking out at the Square. The sky was a purply grey, and as I watched, more snowflakes drifted down to the ground like thousands of white moths. Blossom, Perkins and Geejay were nowhere to be seen. It was too cold. All sensible cats would be staying very close to the radiator on an evening like this. I thought:

  Nobody in this house loves me any more. Still, if someone had said something pleasant to me, anything at all, then I would never have decided to follow Geejay’s advice.

  Instead, Nick came into the kitchen for supper, and said to Liz: “We must lock Callie in the kitchen at night from now on. We can’t take the risk of her getting into Celia’s room.”

  I could hardly believe my ears. For the first time since coming to Cuckoo Square, I wouldn’t be able to sleep on David’s bed. That was when I made my mind up. I would be brave. I would run away.

  5. Adventures in the Dark

  I WAITED TILL the next afternoon. Everyone was in the lounge, watching the television. It was already dark and the snow had stopped falling. There was a bright moon in the sky. Don’t be scared, Callie, I said to myself. I would soon be back. And when I was, they’d be so pleased to see me that they would all start being nice to me straight away, and they’d never lock me in the kitchen overnight again. I had realized that there were many places where I could hide from the worst of the cold. Sometimes the shed in Perkins’s garden was open during the evening, and so was the garage belonging to Geejay’s family. Also, it wouldn’t be long before David began to wonder where I was, and then they would all come looking for me. I was certain of it.

  I pushed the cat-flap open, and slipped out as quietly as I could. I hadn’t realized quite how cold it was. Cuckoo Square was deserted. The ground under the rhododendron bushes had frozen hard, and the snow I’d walked across had made my paws wet and chilly. I went off to look for somewhere warm to hide, but nothing was open in any of the houses that were familiar to me. The moonlight made the shadows almost black, and things that looked quite ordinary in the daylight loomed over me like monsters. Cars had turned into enormous animals crouching in the snow, and wheelie bins towered over my head like mountains.

  I heard strange noises, too: the nearly dog-like barking of a fox, and the groaning of trees as they bent in the wind. There were no people anywhere.

  When I passed Blossom’s house, I jumped up on to the window-sill. The curtains in the front room were tightly closed, but there was a thin line of light showing, and when I pushed my nose right up against the glass, I found that I could see quite a lot of Blossom’s lounge. There she was, lying on the sofa next to Miles, her favourite person. Her back was touching his legs, and every now and then he stroked her and I could see the tips of her ears trembling in her sleep.

  “Blossom!” I miaowed. “Oh, my frosty fur! It’s me, Callie!”

  She couldn’t hear me, because the television was on and music was playing. I didn’t really want her to see me. I knew that if I went into her house, her people would take me home at once, and I wasn’t ready to go back yet. Never mind, Callie, I said to myself. It won’t be long now. David will be coming down for his tea, and he’ll notice that I’ve gone, and he’ll start to look for me, and when he can’t find me in any of our special places, he’ll start to cry. At first, I thought, no-one will pay much attention, because it’s Sis’s bathtime, and then it’ll be time to feed her and put her to bed, but after that, maybe even Liz and Nick will see I’m not in the house, and then they’ll open the back door and call my name, and when I don’t appear, that’s when they’ll start looking for me.

  I jumped down from the window-sill. Blossom had just started washing, licking her back paw and the end of her fluffy tail. She and Miles looked so warm and cosy that it made me feel sad to look at them. I went trotting along the pavement, trying to keep my feet warm. Find a shelter, Callie, I said to myself, or you’ll be frozen solid before anyone finds you.

  I made my way down Nightingale Close, one of the little roads leading off the Square. Most of the houses here had their curtains drawn, too, and there were hardly any comforting golden squares of light shining out on to the pavement. For the first time in many months, I was leaving my own territory. I sniffed. Something smelled good and I was very hungry. I followed my nose and went down an unfamiliar garden path towards a dustbin. It had been tipped over on its side, and alongside the delicious aroma of old chicken bones I could smell fox. This is where he was, I thought, and sniffed again, making sure that his odour was fading and he had gone. I started to eat, and even though I was damp and unhappy and my paws were aching from the cold, I think that chicken was one of the tastiest meals I’ve ever eaten. I looked around. The house had a garage, and the garage was open. I won’t have to stag here long, I thought. They’ll be calling me any minute now and coming to look for me.

  It was clear from the smells in the garage that there was a dog who spent a lot of time in it. I hoped he was safely indoors and wouldn’t come out. I didn’t feel like being chased, and I felt even less like chasing. There were some rags in the corner, and I made a nest in them and fell asleep.

  6. Going Home

  WHEN I WOKE up, I was stiff and chilly. I stretched myself and gave my paws a lick. How long had I been sleeping? I jumped up on to a shelf under the garage window to look at the moon. It had travelled so far across the sky that I knew it was the very middle of the night. David, I said to myself, must be fast asleep by now. So must Liz and Nick. It was hours and hours since I’d left the house, and not one single person had missed me. I’m going to leave this place, I thought to myself. I’m going to find a new home where everyone will love me properly and notice when I’m not there. I crept over to the garage door, but someone had closed it. How was I going to get out? I looked along the walls for a gap I could crawl through, but I couldn’t find one. “Oh, my clutching claws!” I said, and I shivered with dread. “This is terrible! It’s exactly like one of my nightmares. I’m in a dark place with no food and no way out.”

  I began to miaow as loudly as I could. “Help!” I said. “Please come and find me and I promise I’ll never run away again. And I’ll never jump into Sis’s cot! And I’ll only snuggle up to her if I’m allowed to. Please! Please come and let me out!”

  Nobody answered. Nobody came. I felt more miserable than I’d ever felt in my life. I crept back to my bed in the garage and stared at the darkness. They don’t love me, I thought. They don’t care about me. Nobody even notices if I’m there or not. I sat very still and quiet for a long time, thinking.

  “Don’t be a silly cat, Callie,” I said to myself after a while. “You might as well sleep till morning. Everyone’s in bed now, and no-one can hear you. You can try again in the morning when they’re all awake.”

  I put my head between my paws and fell asleep. I don’t know how long I slept. I was dreaming. I dreamed that someone was calling my name, somewhere very far away, so far away that I could hardly hear it. Then it grew louder in my dream, and I woke up. I could still hear it.

  “Callie! Callie!” someone was shouting. “Come back, Callie!” It was David.

  “Callie!” said another voice. “Where are you, Callie?” That was Nan.

  At last, I thought joyfully. They’re looking for me! And they sound really sad. But how can I make them hear me? Will they come this way? I ran to the door of the garage and miaowed and miaowed as loudly as I knew how. “David!” I said. “I’m here! Please come and find me. Please!”

  They were getting closer. I could hear them now, and David was weeping. I’d heard him crying many times, but this was different. He sounded so heartbroken that I suddenly felt ashamed that I was the one who’d made him feel like that. What an unkind cat I was to want to make him worried!

  “Oh, Nan,” David was sobbing, “what if we never find her? What if she’s lost and never comes back? I love my Callie. Where is she? She’s been out all night and it’s so cold . . . what if she’s frozen to death?”

  I couldn’t bear to hear him sounding so unhappy for one more second. “Here!” I cried. “Come here and find me – you’re so close. Please come here!”

  “Listen!” said Nan. “I can hear something. Callie? Callie, is that you?”

  “Yes, yes, it’s me,” I called. “I’m in this garage.”

  “She’s here, David,” Nan shouted. “Callie’s in here.”

  The door of the garage opened suddenly, and there was David. “Oh, Callie!” he said, and picked me up and squashed me against his coat. “Callie . . . oh, I’m so happy to see you! Don’t ever, ever run away again. Promise.” He pushed his face into my neck, and soon my fur was damp with his tears.

  “Come on, David. And Callie,” said Nan. “Let’s go in now. This cat will be needing some food and some nice warm milk, and I expect you could do with some hot chocolate, David. I know that’s what I fancy.”

  I began to purr. When we reached the kitchen, Liz and Nick jumped up from where they were sitting at the table.

  “Callie, darling,” said Liz, and she took me out of David’s arms and cuddled me as though I were her very own baby.

  “Look, Callie,” said Nan. “We’ve got some prawns for you and some nice fresh milk.”

  That was the best meal of my whole life. David sat beside me and stroked my back until I’d finished the last delicious pink morsel. He bent down and whispered in my ear. “Callie,” he said. “You must promise me never to run away again. Do you promise?”

  I was too full of food to say very much, but I purred at him and rubbed my head against his hand. He picked me up, and carried me up to his room, and put me on his bed to sleep. As I closed my eyes, I thought: They’re not going to close the kitchen door at night. Not any more. They’ll make a big fuss of me from now on. I’ll have lovely dreams tonight, I thought. I know I will.

  7. Buggins

  I SLEPT FOR so long that, by the time I woke up, it was a new day and a much warmer one. There was fresh food in my dish. I finished my breakfast and jumped up on to the window-sill. Most of the snow had melted away. I knew my friends would be out in the Square. I hadn’t seen Blossom for a long time, and besides, I wanted to tell them all about my adventures. Where was David? I went into every room in the house, but it was empty. They’ve gone, I thought. They’ve all gone and they’ve left me here all on my own. They NEVER all go out together. Why have they left me by myself? Even though I was in my own house, I was frightened. What if they never came back? What would I do? I must go and ask my friends’ advice, I thought.

  I pushed through the cat-flap, and ran into the garden. I found Perkins, Geejay and Blossom gathered in a small, sunny spot near one of the trees. They all listened politely as I told my story.

  “Well,” Blossom said when I had finished, “I think it was very brave of you. I would never dare to do such a thing. Mind you, I’m not as young as I was. Perhaps if I were your age . . . and I am sorry I didn’t see you on my window-sill. You must have felt so lonely. And how lucky that you were found! Imagine if they hadn’t walked down Nightingale Close. You could have been locked up for days.”

  “I know,” I said. “I was so happy to be home, but now my people have disappeared. What will I do if they never come back?”

  “They are back,” said Perkins. “That is their car coming into the Square, is it not?”

  “Oh, my succulent salmon!” I said. “It is! I shall go inside and wait for them.”

  They crowded into the hall. Nick was carrying a cardboard box. I recognized it at once and shivered. It had a handle at the top to make it easier to carry, and it was exactly like the one I had been put into when I was a tiny kitten. I thought:

  They’re going to shut me up in it and throw me away, and then I heard a tiny scrabbling noise from inside the box, and a thin voice crying and crying. Even though I’d never had a litter of my own, I knew at once that it was a kitten. Suddenly, I felt excited and I could feel my heart beating very loudly.

  “Don’t cry, little one,” I miaowed, as loudly as I could. “They’ll let you out soon.”

  “Here you are,” said Liz, and she opened the top of the box. “Callie, this is Buggins.”

  Buggins was the smallest, blackest kitten I’d ever seen. He was also very fast on his feet. He shot out of the box, skittered across the kitchen and disappeared behind the boiler.

  “His mother was run over,” David said to me. “All her kittens were taken to the Shelter. They’re only about four weeks old. I told the lady at the Shelter that you wanted a baby of your own. You do, don’t you, Callie? I think that was why you ran away, wasn’t it? I had a baby, so you wanted one as well. I could see that you wanted to help look after Sis and we never let you. Mum thinks I’m mad, but I said you needed a kitten to be your baby.”

  I sighed. David was being kind, I knew he was, but when I remembered how the Andersons had pampered me when I was younger, I felt sad all over again. They would look after Buggins and forget all about me. They’d grow to love him. What if they loved him best? Better than me? What then? I settled down on my favourite kitchen chair, and pretended to go to sleep. Let’s see them make him come out, I thought. I waited for the coaxing to begin. I waited for them to put out tasty morsels of this and that. To my amazement, however, they all left the room.

  I listened, with my ears pricked, for noises from behind the boiler. Nothing. Silence. I don’t care, I said to myself. Let the creature sulk if he wants to, and then I thought: He ran over there so fast that he may have hurt his little paws. It’s a new house for him. He’ll be frightened. He’s lost his mother. I jumped down from the chair.

  “Buggins?” I said.

  Silence.

  “Buggins? You can come out now, dear. There’s no-one here but me. I won’t hurt you. My name is Callie. Come out and I’ll give you a lick.”

  The smallest black nose I’d ever seen peeped out at me. Two big yellow eyes blinked at me. Buggins said: “Will you really lick me? My mother used to lick me, but I can’t find her.”

  I didn’t want Buggins to feel sad in his new home, so I just said: “Have some milk first, and then I’ll give you a good wash. I expect you’re hungry.”

  “I’m always hungry,” said Buggins. He followed me to my bowl, and finished every scrap of food in seconds.

  “They’ll give you your own bowl, I’m sure,” I said, “when they see what a good eater you are. I was a little fussy when I was a kitten.”

  When Buggins had finished, I began to lick him. It felt strange at first, grooming another cat, but it made me feel like a real mother. The more I licked Buggins, the more affectionate I felt towards him. The best thing of all was that he loved it, and began to purr.

  “Oh, my cuddlesome kitten,” I said, “you’ve got a very loud purr for one so young.”

  “Is that good?” he asked.

  “It’s excellent,” I told him. “You will grow up to be a fine cat.”

  “I’m going to be a hunter,” Buggins announced. “Can we go hunting now?”

  “Certainly not. You’re much too young to be allowed outside. Also, it’s far too cold. And there are all sorts of things I have to teach you. Do you know about litter trays?”

  “They had one at the Shelter,” said Buggins. “Can we go exploring? In the house?”

  “Yes,” I said. “We can go everywhere except in the baby’s room.”

  “What’s a baby?” Buggins asked.

  “You’ll see,” I said. “Now come along with me.”

  We left the kitchen together. Buggins managed to find his way into every tiny corner, sniffing at everything, rubbing his chin all over the furniture and learning his way around the house. When we got to David’s room, I picked Buggins up by the scruff of the neck and jumped up on the bed.

  “And now, my sleepy little scamp, it’s time to snooze,” I told him. “You’ll be able to explore again later.”

  Buggins yawned. “Will you be my mother?”

  “Would you like me to be?” I asked.

  “Yes, please.”

  “Then I will be. Close your eyes now.”

  He curled up into a furry black ball, and I licked the tips of his ears and went to sleep beside him. Looking after kittens was very tiring. During the next few days, I only managed to slip out and chat to my friends when Buggins was asleep.

  “We are all looking forward to meeting him,” said Perkins.

  “He’ll be out in a few weeks, after he’s had his vaccinations. And he wants to be a hunter. Geejay, I shall advise him to learn from you.”

 

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