The Homesick Kitten

Mum was looking out into the hallway too, frowning a little. “Do you think he’s hiding behind the boxes? He probably didn’t like us arguing.”

“I’ll check.” Harper put the food in Sammy’s bowl and then went out into the hallway, wondering if he was down the side of that basket again. But there was no sad kitten face peering back at her. Perhaps he was still in the living room?

There was no smell, Harper noticed when she went in, so that was good. Then suddenly, something cold seemed to squeeze Harper’s insides. The smell had gone because Mum had left the window open. It was still open now, letting in a nice fresh breeze. Harper ran over to it, hoping that somehow it was only just a crack, too narrow for Sammy to wriggle through – but she knew it wasn’t.

“Mum!” she yelled in panic. “Mum, the window’s open!”

“Yes, I know, I had to let some fresh air in,” her mum called back, and then there was a moment of horrified silence and Mum raced down the hall. “Oh no…” she muttered. “I didn’t even think. Sammy! Sammy!” She looked around frantically.

“He isn’t in here.” Harper gulped. “I think he’s gone out of the window, Mum!”

“It’ll be OK.” Mum patted Harper’s arm, but she didn’t sound very sure.

“What’s happened?” Gran came in and Ava hurried down the stairs to see what was going on.

“Sammy’s gone!” Harper turned round from the window. “We left the window open and we were supposed to be keeping him in. We have to go and find him!”

“He’s probably just exploring the front garden,” Gran said soothingly.

Harper dashed to open the front door and then ran out into the garden. “Sammy! Sammy!” she called. She was trying to keep her voice calm and friendly, but she could hear it squeaking with panic. They’d been going to let him out slowly, with someone there watching him and snacks to tempt him back. Now it had all gone wrong. “Sammy, where are you? Mum, can you see him?”

“Not yet,” Mum murmured. “Shhh a minute. Let’s listen for him…”

They stood frozen on the grass, hoping to hear the jingle of the tiny bell on Sammy’s collar or maybe a confused little mew. But there was no sound at all in the garden – only a car growling by on the road outside the fence.

Sammy had gone a good distance now, he thought. The kitten could tell he was getting much nearer to the flat and no one had tried to stop him making his way there. He would be back home soon and everything would be right again, he was sure. He would stretch out on the sofa by the window and watch the people and the cars passing, safely far away.

But which way next? Slowly, Sammy twitched his whiskers and then sniffed the air. Yes, he needed to head down here. He trotted briskly along the pavement, wondering if Harper would have a bowl of food ready for him when he got to the flat. He was starting to feel very empty, as if he hadn’t eaten for far too long.

The next road shocked him out of thoughts of dinner, though. It was far bigger than any of the small side roads he’d crossed so far – cars were speeding along in a steady stream, with hardly any gaps between them. The wild roaring frightened him and he couldn’t tell how fast they were moving – they seemed to be far away one moment and then screeching past him the next. How was he ever going to get across that?

It seemed a very long way to the far pavement, but he was almost certain that home was somewhere on the other side of the road. It felt so close, but he wasn’t sure he was brave enough to cross.

Mum and Ava and Harper searched for Sammy for what felt like hours. They went up and down the street calling for him, while Gran stood on the patio in the back garden shaking a packet of Sammy’s favourite treats. They stopped to grab a quick sandwich for tea, but Harper just tore hers into little bits and nibbled on them. Her throat felt too dry with worry to swallow. Sammy was only a kitten – he was so little! How could he manage out there on his own, when he didn’t even know where he was?

“He’ll probably pop back through the cat flap any minute, Harper,” Gran said. Harper knew that Gran was trying to be comforting, but it didn’t work. How could Sammy come back in through Gran’s cat flap when he’d never even been out of it? He didn’t know Gran’s garden! He didn’t know that this was his home to come back to, Harper thought, trying to sniff back tears. She wasn’t even sure he wanted to come back. He hadn’t liked it here – and he hadn’t loved them enough to want to stay. That was the worst thing of all.

Mum and Harper went searching for Sammy again after tea, while Gran helped Ava get ready for bed. It should have been interesting, getting to walk around the streets close to their new home, and have a look at the playground at the far end of the road, but it was horrible. Especially when every time they passed someone they had to say they’d lost their kitten, and he was very little, and please could they tell Mrs Allinson at number forty-four if they saw him?

“We should do posters,” Harper said miserably. “With your number on, Mum. Then people could just text you if they saw him.”

Mum looked uncertain. “Maybe… I’m hoping that your gran’s right, though, and he’ll come home by himself. He could be really close, just a bit scared and hiding out. Or he might be shut in someone’s garage. Let’s give it till tomorrow to start putting posters up. Your gran’s already rung all the neighbours to ask them to look out for him.” She sighed. “It’s getting dark, Harper. I think we need to get back home.”

Harper slipped her hand into Mum’s. Both their hands felt cold and Mum looked as worried and miserable as she did. If only they hadn’t argued!

I’d have noticed the open window if I hadn’t stomped off upstairs, Harper thought miserably, wishing she could go back and do everything differently. “Do you think he will come back by himself?” she asked, and Mum hugged her tight.

“I don’t know, sweetie. But I’m hoping. I’m really hoping.”

As the night darkened, the passing cars blinded the kitten with the glare of their lights and they seemed to roar louder than ever. Sammy stayed tucked away under a bush at the edge of the road. The hissing of the tyres left him feeling shaky and scared, and he didn’t dare face the road. He huddled down in the dust and dry leaves, flinching each time a car passed, until he fell into an uneasy sleep.

He woke up as the sky began to lighten early the next morning and peered cautiously out at the road. He hadn’t felt a car rumble by for a while and everything was very still. The air smelled fresher and he stretched out his paws, wincing at the stiffness after a night on the cold road. Home was very near now. If he could drag up the courage to dart across, he would be almost there.

Sammy edged forwards to the curb of the pavement and then out under a parked car. He couldn’t hear anything coming.

Go! Now!

He dashed out, racing faster than he ever had before, and flung himself to the pavement on the other side. He bounded under a thick hedge, breathing hard but delighted with himself. He’d done it! And now… He turned his head slowly. This way? Yes… He scampered along the pavement and round a corner, following that strange instinct inside him. His huge ears were held high with excitement. He would be home soon and Harper would be there, in the right place where she should be. She’d feed him his breakfast; he was really, really hungry. Then she’d let him sleep in her lap, or perhaps snuggled between her and Ava on the sofa… There it was! The flat and his front window.

Sammy galloped happily down the little path that led to the back of the house and nudged at his cat flap in the back door. It sprang open and he dived through, eager to find Harper and his breakfast.

But it wasn’t the same.

He knew it as soon as his paws hit the kitchen tiles – there was a strange smell in the air. Some of the furniture was still there, he remembered when he’d scratched that table leg. But there were new things too. That trolley full of vegetables just next to the back door – that hadn’t been there before.

It was the smell that was so wrong, though. The flat didn’t smell like Harper and Ava and Mum. It didn’t smell like him. Sammy edged backwards towards the cat flap as he realized. There was another cat here. His flat wasn’t his any more, he thought, looking around in horror – and then he saw her.

Perched on top of the fridge and glaring down at him. A massive black cat with bright golden eyes. Every hair of her was fluffed out in fury and Sammy thought she must be at least six times as big as he was. She was hissing now, a long, slow, angry hiss – and then she stretched out her fat black paws down the front of the fridge and leaped. Sammy cowered as she landed in front of him, still hissing, and then he turned and hurled himself at his old cat flap, scrabbling at it in a panic as he heard the black cat yowl behind him.

Sammy shot out into the garden, back arched and all his fur on end. He could see the other cat watching through the cat flap, but she didn’t seem to be chasing him. Not yet, anyway. He scurried back down the path to the street and raced along the road, too scared even to think. At last he spotted a big wheelie bin in an alley down the side of a shop and ducked underneath it to catch his breath. What was he going to do now?

Harper woke up that morning with an odd sense that something was wrong. It took her a moment to remember what it was, especially as her new room still felt strange. She reached down to stroke Sammy – and discovered that the warm lump next to her wasn’t Sammy, it was Ava.

Then she remembered everything. Ava was there because Harper had woken up in the middle of the night to find her little sister crying and pulling on the sleeve of her pyjamas. Harper hadn’t been able to make out what Ava was saying for a moment – she was too muffled up with tears – but then she’d realized that it was, “I want Sammy back!” She’d let Ava climb into bed with her and held her until she cried herself to sleep.

“Hey…” Mum had pushed the door open and was smiling at her. “I couldn’t find Ava and I guessed she’d be here. Sorry, Harper, I didn’t hear her wake up.”

“It’s OK.” Harper looked up at Mum hopefully. “Is Sammy back? Did you check his blanket?” Gran had suggested last night that they put Sammy’s favourite blanket out on to the doorstep, so he had something familiar to smell if he was trying to make his way back to the house. Harper had gone to sleep thinking about waking the next morning and seeing Sammy curled up there, waiting for them to find him.

Mum sighed. “No. I’m sorry, sweetheart. Not yet. I did look.”

Harper wriggled out of bed, trying not to wake Ava. “Shall we make posters?”

Mum nodded. “OK. You start making some. I’ll get breakfast ready.”

“Emma? Harper?”

That was Gran calling from her room. Harper glanced up at Mum in surprise. Both of them went to look round Gran’s door. “Are you OK, Gran? Did you want something?”

Gran was sitting up in bed, with a book in her hand. “I’m fine, don’t worry. But I had a thought. Before you put up posters, you should go and check the flat. Maybe Sammy went there? I’ve heard stories about cats being able to find their way back miles and miles, and it’s only ten minutes away, isn’t it?”

Harper’s eyes widened. “Yes!” she yelped, and then remembered Ava sleeping and put her hand over her mouth, whispering through her fingers. “Oh, yes! Gran, that’s got to be right! Can we go now, Mum?”

Mum shook her head. “Not yet. It’s too early, especially as it’s Saturday. We’ll have to give it a while. But that’s a great idea, Mum.”

Harper nodded, though the thought of waiting was horrible. “I’ll make the posters, just in case. But I bet he’ll be there and we won’t need them after all! When we come back with him I can tear them up into tiny little pieces.” She could see herself doing it – or screwing them up into a fat papery ball for Sammy to chase.

Harper had made six posters by the time Mum said they could go, with beautiful cats drawn on them, and a description of Sammy, and Mum’s phone number at the bottom. She kept looking between the kitchen clock and the front door, desperate to head back to the flat. At last Mum nodded at her and Harper flew to grab her jacket and her trainers. Ava was still asleep upstairs, but Gran said she’d listen out for her.

Harper wanted to run all the way back to the flat – she kept darting ahead and having to circle back to Mum. Every time she wanted to say, He will be there, won’t he?

Mum had brought the cat carrier with her, so she must think they were going to find him. But it was hard to imagine Sammy working his way back through the streets, especially crossing the main road. Harper wouldn’t want to cross it on her own, so how could Sammy do it? There were parked cars all the way along and it was so hard to see. They had to edge out between two cars, and look, and then hurry across.

Harper slowed down again after that, now they were really close and they were about to know. Suddenly she was scared.

“Come on,” Mum murmured, squeezing her hand. “It’s going to be OK, Harper. Even if they haven’t seen Sammy, we’ll go back and put your posters up. We’ll find him.”

Harper nodded, but she was holding her breath as Mum rang their old doorbell. It seemed ages before anyone came to the door and then a tall man stood there, smiling at them politely.

“Hi!” Mum said, her voice rather high and worried. “I wondered if you’d seen our kitten? We moved out last week – this was our flat – and he’s disappeared. We thought maybe he’d come back…”

“Oh, no, sorry.” The man shook his head and Harper felt tears suddenly burn at the backs of her eyes. “What’s he like? We’ll keep an eye out for him. You want to give me your number?”

Harper stood pressed tight against Mum’s side, watching a beautiful black cat stalk out of the kitchen towards them. She was huge and her fur was all fluffed up. Perhaps she didn’t like strangers, Harper thought. Or she didn’t like the flat, like Sammy didn’t like Gran’s house.

Harper looked back as they walked away and saw that the black cat was on the back of the sofa, watching them from the window, just like Sammy used to.

It made her want to howl and she had to hold her hand over her mouth. The black cat was in Sammy’s place and her little spotted kitten was out there somewhere all on his own.

Sammy peered out at the pavement and the feet passing by. What was he going to do now? He had been desperate to find home and now home wasn’t there. He’d expected that everything would be the same, the way it should be. Now he knew that it wasn’t. The flat belonged to another cat instead. He shivered at the thought of her angry hiss. Did that mean he didn’t have a home any more?

Sammy huddled himself smaller and tighter. Was he really all on his own? Or perhaps – had he been looking for the wrong thing?

It was Harper and Mum who put the food in his bowl. Ava who climbed up on the sofa to look out of the window with him. Harper who curled herself round him in the middle of the night and made him feel safe and loved.

He had to find them. His home was where they were; it wasn’t a place at all.

But how? He hadn’t got to know the new house. Did he even know how to get back?

Sammy wriggled slowly out from under the bin and set off along the pavement, trying to remember the way he’d come. He’d followed this wall just before he came to the flat, he was sure. But then – his ears flattened. At the end of the wall was that big road again and a car speeding by, the tyres screeching loudly on the tarmac.

Sammy stepped slowly out between two parked cars and stood there, listening. Was it safe to run? The road seemed quiet. He scurried out and then froze in panic for a moment as he saw a car bearing down on him. Sammy flung himself forwards, darting to safety just in time. The car sped on – had they even noticed what had almost happened?

He scrambled up on to a wall, shivering at the memory of the car’s hot breath ruffling his fur. He licked a paw and swiped it round his ears and whiskers, over and over again, trying to wash away the panic, until at last he felt a little calmer. Then he jumped down and set off again, slowly retracing his steps as well as he could.

It was as he turned a corner that he noticed a faint, familiar scent in the air. Something that smelled of home… Harper. He hurried on eagerly, hoping to see her any moment, but the street stretched on ahead of him, empty and strange.

Had he gone wrong? But … there was still that scent.

He was so busy trying to catch it again that he didn’t notice the dog until they were practically nose to nose – and the dog seemed just as surprised as he was. It jumped back, eyes wide and ears pricked, and whined. Then it crouched down, stretching out its front paws, and barked sharply at him. Sammy retreated, terrified. He’d never been so close to a dog and he didn’t know what to do.

The elderly woman holding the lead pulled the dog back. “What’s that, Petey? No, leave it alone!”

Sammy hissed faintly and turned tail, racing away through a clump of bushes nearby. He wasn’t going to give that huge dog the chance to get any closer.

At last he looked out on to an open stretch of grass, dotted with people. Away over on the other side of the grass, swings were moving through the air and children were calling. Sammy was sure he’d never seen it before. He retreated back under the bushes, feeling so tired. He had no idea where to go next.

“But where is he?” Ava demanded, staring at Mum and Harper over her bowl of cereal. She’d woken up while Harper and Mum were back at the flat and Gran had told her where they’d gone. Now she just couldn’t seem to understand why they didn’t have Sammy in the carrier.

“We don’t know at the moment,” Mum tried to explain. “We’ll keep on looking, though. Harper’s made posters. We’ll go and put them on all the lamp posts soon. If anyone sees Sammy they’ll know to call us.”

Ava only shook her head. “We have to find him. He’ll be hungry. He’s missed tea and breakfast.”

Harper pushed her cereal round her bowl, blinking back tears. Ava was right, of course. She was too little to know that it didn’t help to say it. “I’ve finished my cereal,” she told Ava. “Let’s go and put the posters up now.”

“Give me half an hour, Harper, OK?” Mum said. “I’ve got the numbers for all the local vets and the animal shelter. We should call them first, to see if anyone’s found Sammy and taken him in.”