Willow the lonely kitten

  This series is for my riding friend Shelley, who cares about all animals.

  CONTENTS

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Chapter Two

  Chapter Three

  Chapter Four

  Chapter Five

  Chapter Six

  Chapter Seven

  Chapter Eight

  Chapter Nine

  Chapter Ten

  Copyright

  Chapter One

  How do I look?” Eva Harrison asked her friend, Annie Brooks. She stood at Annie’s door, wearing her new Animal Magic sweatshirt. It was bright red, with a small white and gold logo on the front.

  “You look … magic!” Annie grinned.

  “They came in the post this morning,” Eva explained. “It was Jen’s idea – she had it after I’d been on the Tina O’Neill Show on TV. We’ve all got one!”

  “Cool,” Annie sighed.

  “Dad says we’re really popular at the moment, and our website is getting loads more hits than usual. We want to order more sweatshirts and sell them. It’ll help raise money for the rescue centre. Hey, Holly, stay down!” Eva turned to her lively Border collie puppy, who was jumping up at Annie. “Oops!”

  “Too late!” Annie glanced down at the muddy paw prints on her pink and white dressing gown. “Never mind – it’ll wash off. How are you, Holly? Have you been on a nice walk?” She stroked the lively pup.

  “Down by the river,” Eva explained. “I’m doing obedience training with her, so we go out early every morning, before school. Anyway, as today’s Saturday and Mum says we’ll be extra busy, I came to ask if you’d like to help out in Reception.”

  Annie’s eyes lit up. “I’ll be there in a flash,” she promised. “Oh, and Eva…”

  “Yep?” Already halfway down the Brookses’ driveway, Eva paused.

  “Order an Animal Magic sweatshirt for me. I’ll pay with my pocket money.”

  “Sure thing,” Eva replied, putting Holly on the lead and dashing off.

  Animal Magic Rescue Centre stood next door to Annie’s house on Main Street in Okeham village. It didn’t take long for Eva to settle Holly down in the house and make her way across the yard to Reception, where she found the room already crowded with customers.

  “I read about Becks the Yorkshire terrier on your website,” a woman was telling Heidi Harrison. “I’d like to offer her a home.”

  Eva’s mum smiled brightly. She was wearing her red sweatshirt under her white vet’s coat. “Can I take your name and a few other details? Becks is very popular – two possible owners have already visited her earlier this week.”

  “Here’s Suzi.” Jen, Heidi’s assistant, was showing another woman a black cat who had come into the centre only the day before. “You can see how she’s licked the fur off her tummy – that’s over-grooming due to stress, I’m afraid.”

  “Poor thing!” the woman murmured. “Will the fur grow back eventually?”

  “Oh yes –definitely,” Jen assured her.

  Quietly, Eva made her way behind the desk to find her brother, Karl, printing out an email.

  “Take a look at this,” he said, grinning.

  Eva picked up the printout. “Dear Animal Magic,” she read out loud, “Scott and I saw the New Year feature about you on the Tina O’Neill Show and we wanted to write and tell you how Honey, our retriever, is getting along. She’s now fully grown, and is much loved, with a silky-soft golden coat and gorgeous dark-brown eyes. She loves her walks with Scott in the park at the back of Beech Grove – all thanks to you! With very best wishes, Ruth Penny.”

  “What do you think of that?” Karl asked.

  “Cool.” Eva blushed and looked up from the email. She remembered Honey so well – how she’d been secretly dumped on their doorstep by the Pennys’ lodger, abandoned in a cardboard box. She put the printout down on the table. “Mum, what job shall I do first?” she asked, breaking into Heidi’s conversation.

  “Groom Dougal, please. His new owner is coming to collect him at ten o’clock.”

  Eva nodded. “Will you ask Annie to come to the kennels when she arrives?”

  “Will do,” Heidi replied.

  Escaping from the busy Reception, Eva picked up a dog comb and brush from the storeroom and hurried on to the kennels. “Hi, Becks, hi, Rocky!” she greeted the yappy Yorkshire terrier and a big, dark-grey dog with floppy ears and sad eyes. She went up to Rocky’s door. “Are you wondering how come nobody wants to adopt you?” she murmured. “Becks gets all the attention, doesn’t he? That’s because he’s little and cute.”

  Rocky lowered his head and gave a short whine.

  “I’m not saying you’re not cute!” Eva insisted. “You are – you’re totally beautiful. But not so many people want to give homes to dogs as big as you.”

  Rocky’s long tail wagged slowly. He stared longingly at Eva.

  Tearing herself away from him, Eva went along the row of kennels until she came to Dougal.

  The long-haired Labrador-cross came quietly to the door. All around, other dogs barked and yapped.

  “OK, Dougal, it’s your big day,” Eva explained. She went in and began brushing the soft, cream hair on Dougal’s chest. “We’ll make you look your very best – yes, I know the brush tickles, but you have to stand still and let me groom you!”

  “Can I help?” Annie asked, pushing open the door to the kennel unit. She was dressed in jeans, wellies and a sky-blue padded jacket.

  Eva nodded. “Dougal’s ticklish. Can you hold his collar while I brush him?”

  Together the two girls brushed out every tangle as Dougal wriggled and sighed. When they had finished, he stood up and shook himself.

  “You look gorgeous!” Annie laughed.

  “I have to take him to Reception,” Eva told her. “You can give Becks a quick brush if you like.”

  So Annie unlocked the Yorkie’s kennel and began a pamper session. When Eva came back it was time to take Rocky for his walk.

  “See how good he is on the lead.” Eva led Rocky out of a side door and across the yard. She handed him to Annie and slipped into the house, coming back out with an excited Holly. “I thought Rocky might like some company!” she grinned.

  They set off down the narrow footpath to the side of the rescue centre, letting the two dogs off the lead as soon as they reached the riverside. Rocky bounded ahead, with Holly scampering beside him. When they came to the old stone bridge they waited for Eva and Annie.

  “Good dogs!” Eva told them. She patted them, then drew a ball out of her jacket pocket. “Watch this, Annie. I’ve taught Holly to fetch.” She threw the ball back along the path.

  Holly raced after it and brought it back.

  “Woof!” Rocky’s deep bark begged the girls to throw again.

  This time Annie threw and it was Rocky who grabbed the ball.

  “Rocky’s gorgeous. How come he ended up at Animal Magic?” she asked.

  Eva shrugged. “The dog warden in Clifford found him. He was a stray, so they brought him to us.”

  There were more throws and chases on the way back, until the girls and the dogs were safely in the Animal Magic yard.

  “Do you fancy coming over after lunch and helping in the stables?” Eva asked.

  Again, Annie nodded eagerly. “I’ll see you in an hour.”

  “See you!” Eva replied, taking Holly inside to clean her paws on a towel and give her a nice dish of fresh, clean water.

  Chapter Two

  The afternoon turned out to be as busy as the morning. When Eva finally finished up at the computer in Reception, she was exhausted. She and Annie had mucked out the stables where they were housing two ponies, Peggy an
d Oliver, brought over by Cath Brown from Leebank Pony Sanctuary earlier that week. Then the girls had cleaned the litter trays in the cattery while Karl had stayed by the phone, leaving Jen and Heidi free to deal with two new admissions – a hamster called Maxwell, and Piper, a sleek white greyhound.

  Meanwhile, Mark Harrison and Holly were out in his parcel van making deliveries. Eva had waved them off and smiled at Holly perched cheekily on the passenger seat next to her dad.

  Now it had grown dark and all was quiet in the rescue centre. Jen had cycled home to Clifford. Annie had said goodbye and gone out with her mum and dad. And Karl and Heidi had gone over to the house to make tea, leaving Eva in charge of ordering more sweatshirts. “Animal Magic, Main Street, Okeham” – Eva typed the correct address on the order form, pressed Send, then turned off the computer. She was about to switch off the lights when the phone rang and she picked it up.

  “Hello, this is Cath Brown,” the voice said.

  “Hi, Cath. This is Eva. Do you want to speak to Mum about Oliver and Peggy?”

  “No, I just need you to pass on a message.” The owner of the pony sanctuary sounded as if she was in a hurry.

  “Go ahead,” Eva said.

  “I’m not sure, but I think I’ve just heard a kitten in distress.”

  “Whose kitten is it?” Eva asked, ready with pencil and paper. She planned to write down exactly what Cath told her.

  “That’s the problem – I’m not sure who it belongs to. I was out fixing the fence at the bottom of one of my fields and I heard it miaowing inside a cottage down the lane from me – there were no lights on in the house or any other sign of life.”

  “You’re sure the owners aren’t out at the supermarket or something?” Kitten, Eva wrote. Empty cottage.

  “I’m sure,” Cath replied. “In fact, I know that the people who lived there moved out earlier this week. That’s why I was surprised to hear a kitten crying, and why I thought I should let you know. I’m afraid I have to go out now – a work thing – otherwise I’d have taken a look myself.”

  “Can you give me the address?” Eva asked, writing again as Cath spoke. Willow Cottage, Leebank Lane.

  “Like I said, I might be wasting your time, but I’d rather be safe than sorry.”

  A kitten crying inside a lonely cottage down a dark lane, in the middle of winter – this certainly sounded worrying. “Thanks, Cath. I’ll tell Mum.” She hung up and ran across the yard to find Heidi.

  Her mum listened carefully, then nodded. She reached for her jacket. “Come on, Eva, let’s take a look!”

  The drive to Leebank took twenty minutes along narrow roads that curved and rose and twisted and turned. Heidi’s headlights drilled through the darkness, lighting up the stone walls to either side.

  “Cath did warn me that there might be nothing wrong,” Eva told her mum.

  Heidi indicated, then turned down Leebank Lane. “Let’s hope that’s the case,” she said quietly. “But meanwhile, we’ll check anyway. There’s Cath’s place on the right – see the sign by the gate?”

  Eva nodded. “She told me Willow Cottage is further down the lane. Slow down a bit, Mum, so I can take a proper look.”

  The car bumped and shuddered along the rough track. “I’ve never been down here before,” Heidi admitted.

  “There’s something up ahead!” Eva pointed out. “A gate on the left and a farm track. Hang on, Mum – this could be it!”

  Heidi braked and turned on to the track. Now their headlights revealed a low stone building and a sign on the gatepost that read “Willow Cottage”.

  “Come on!” Eager as ever, Eva jumped out. Heidi pulled a torch from her pocket and together they approached the house. “It looks deserted,” Eva whispered.

  Heidi listened then agreed. “I don’t hear a kitten, do you? Maybe Cath made a mistake.”

  They listened again. A strong wind blew through the trees behind the house.

  “Did you hear that?” Eva cried. Above the gusting wind she thought she heard a high, miaowing cry. It was muffled and faint, but definitely there.

  Heidi nodded. “Let’s go round the back.”

  Eva ran ahead, stumbling against a rusty tractor parked at the side of the cottage, then picking her way over a pile of rubble.

  “What a mess,” Heidi muttered as she followed. She flashed her torch beam around the overgrown garden and the twisted willows growing by a stream.

  “Over here, Mum – I’ve found the back door.” Eva’s eyes had grown used to the darkness and she could now make out an old wooden porch. Once more she stumbled in her hurry to reach the door.

  Miaow! Miaow! There was no mistaking it now – there was a kitten here in this lonely place, and it sounded as if the noise was coming from the porch itself.

  Eva found the door handle and pulled hard. “It’s locked!” she told Heidi.

  Heidi shone the torch on the lock, then rattled the handle. “We don’t want to break in if we can help it,” she pointed out.

  But the kitten’s cries were growing louder and more pitiful. “We can’t just leave it here with no one to look after it,” Eva insisted.

  Miaow! The kitten must have heard their voices. It seemed to be begging them to rescue it.

  “There’s a window in the side of the porch,” Heidi told Eva. “It’s not quite closed – let me see if I can slide my fingers in and lift the latch … yes, that’s it!”

  Slowly the window opened, and Heidi pushed aside a net curtain to shine her beam inside the porch.

  Eva made out some empty cardboard boxes and a pile of yellowing newspapers sitting on top of a bench. Empty milk bottles were scattered across the stone floor.

  Miaow! Miaow! Miaow! The kitten’s cries were urgent, but still Heidi’s torch beam couldn’t locate the poor creature.

  “Let me climb in!” Eva begged.

  Her mum nodded, then gave her a leg-up. Eva squeezed through the window and jumped to the floor, knocking a milk bottle and making it roll as she landed. She peered under the bench, then into a plastic washing-up bowl resting on top.

  A big pair of eyes stared back at her.

  Eva gasped. “There you are!” she whispered. “Mum, give me the torch!” She took the light and shaded it with her hand to give her just enough light to see. “It’s a little black and white kitten!” she reported. “There’s nothing in this bowl except soggy newspaper – there are some unopened cans of food under the bench, but nothing to drink. She must be so hungry and thirsty!”

  “Lift her out,” Heidi decided. “See if you can unlock the door from the inside. Quickly, Eva, we need to get her back to Animal Magic as soon as we can.”

  Chapter Three

  “Well, what do you think?” Mark asked Heidi, while Karl and Eva stood back from the examination table. “It must have been pretty cold back there at the cottage. Did you rescue her in time?”

  Please say yes! Eva crossed her fingers and held her breath. Her mum had tested the shivering kitten’s heartbeat and thoroughly examined the inside of her mouth. Now they were waiting anxiously for Heidi’s verdict.

  “She’s a tough little thing,” Heidi told them. “She seems surprisingly healthy after her ordeal.”

  “Cool!” Karl took a deep breath. “How old is she?”

  “Six to eight weeks – scarcely weaned from her mother.”

  “So sweet,” Eva murmured, venturing forward to stroke the rescue kitten.

  Back at Willow Cottage she’d lifted her out of the dirty plastic bowl and handed her through the porch window to Heidi. Together they’d taken her to the car, wrapped her in a blanket and put her safely in a pet carrier for the rough ride back to Okeham.

  “She’s lapped up the water from the dish so she won’t need a rehydration drip,” Heidi went on. “We’ll start her off on small amounts of kitten food – Karl, can you fetch some from the cattery store room? Thanks.”

  “Can I pick her up?” Eva asked.

  “Yes. Snuggle her up, keep her
nice and warm.”

  So Eva picked up the tiny kitten. She stroked between her ears, noticing the two black patches over her eyes. “She looks like a bandit wearing a mask!” she joked.

  “She’s definitely loving your cuddles.” Mark smiled as the kitten began to purr. “I don’t suppose she’s had many of those in her short life so far.”

  “I know. Someone moved out of the house and left her behind – how cruel is that!” Eva knew she shouldn’t be surprised by how unkind people could be to their pets, but she always was.

  “Well, she needs a name,” Heidi said calmly. “And since you did the actual rescuing, it’s your choice, Eva.”

  “Hmmm.” Eva stroked the kitten’s soft front paw and smiled at her little pink tongue as she opened her mouth to yawn. “How about Willow?”

  “From Willow Cottage – very apt,” her dad agreed. “It suits her.”

  “Meet Willow,” Eva announced to Karl, as he came back with the kitten food and put it on the table.

  Miaow! The kitten smelt the food and wriggled free. Soon she was at the dish, tail in the air, head down, eating happily.

  “Karl, make sure you take a really cute picture of Willow.” It was early Sunday morning and Eva and Karl were preparing the kitten’s details for the website.

  “I always take cute pictures!” Click-click – Karl pressed the shutter and looked at the result. He’d captured Willow with her head cocked to one side, staring straight at the lens. “See!” he grunted.

  Miaow! Willow cried.

  “Aah, look – she wants to be cuddled!” Eva sighed, picking the kitten up off the counter.

  “Right, I’m off to upload the picture on to the computer,” Karl said. “Then people can read the details and see how sweet she is.”

  As he dashed off, Eva stayed for a while with Animal Magic’s newest resident. “That’s our job,” she murmured, putting her lips against Willow’s soft, warm fur and explaining their next move. “We put your details on our website, and then we match the perfect pet with the perfect owner!”