The Kidnapped Kitten by Holly Webb Page B

ate his toast. “It says here about them being
very individual characters
. That sounds like the kind of thing teachers say when they don’t want to say
just plain naughty
.”
    Tia giggled. “Laura said Charlie’s a bit like that.”
    “Mmmm. But he’s so friendly with you and Christy,” Mum said. “Some cats aren’t that keen on children.”
    “Laura said Bengals can be naughty when they get bored and lonely,” Tia added. “But Mum’s around in the mornings, and we can play with the kitten after school.”
    “I suppose so,” Dad agreed. “Well, there’s no harm going to see this kitten, anyway. What time did she say we should come over?”
    “Any time from ten.” Mum looked at her watch. “We should probably get going, actually. It’s about half an hour away.”
    Tia jumped up from the table, nearlytipping over her cereal bowl. Even though it was the weekend, she’d been up since six.
    “Slow down,” Dad chuckled.
    “Sorry…” Tia said. “It’s just so exciting!”

    The car journey seemed to take far longer than half an hour. Tia was much too jittery to read a book or listen to music. They might actually be getting their kitten! She wriggled delightedly at the thought.
    The house they pulled up at looked surprisingly ordinary – apart from a small sign, with a drawing of a cat on it. Somehow Tia had expectedsomething different, although she wasn’t quite sure what. She followed her mum and dad up the path, feeling oddly disappointed.
    Then Christy clutched at her arm. “Tia, look!” She was pointing at the window on one side of the front door.
    The windowsill was lined with kittens. They were all sitting watching the girls walk up the path, their ears pricked up curiously.

    “So many of them!” Tia gasped. They seemed to be different ages, too – some of them were much bigger than the others. She tried to count them, but Dad had rung the doorbell, and the kittens clearly heard it. They hurried to jump down from the windowsill – there had to be a chair or something underneath it, as they were all queuing to get down. Except that they didn’t queue very nicely, they were all pushing and barging into each other.
    Someone had answered the door, but Tia and Christy hardly noticed – they were too busy watching the kittens.
    “If you come in, you’ll be able to see them even better!” A grey-haired lady looked round the door, smiling.
    Tia went pink and hurried in, hauling Christy after her.
    The door to the room with the window was closed, and Tia could hear squeaks and bumps from behind it. She stared at it hopefully, while Mum asked about the kitten Laura had mentioned.
    The grey-haired lady – Helen, Tia remembered she was called – nodded. “She’s a lovely little thing – she’ll make a very friendly pet.” She beamed at the girls. “So would you like to meet them all, then?”
    Tia just nodded, she couldn’t even speak. Christy jumped up and down as Helen carefully opened the door.
    “I have to open it slowly,” she explained. “They get so excited aboutpeople visiting, and they
will
stand there just behind the door. I’ll catch their paws if I’m not careful.” She bent down as the door opened and scooped up a small kitten with golden-brown fur and the most beautiful leopardy spots, who was making a run for it.
    “There’s always one,” she told Tia, “and actually this is the little lady you’ve come to see.”
    Tia gasped as the kitten peered down at her. She had enormous round eyes, not green or yellowy, like most cats, but a soft, turquoise blue. Her ears were massive, too, and she had a great long trail of white whiskers.
    “Come on in, and we’ll shut the door before they all try and escape,” Helen said.
    The room had been a dining room, Tia realized. It still had the table and chairs, but now there were soft, padded baskets, food bowls and litter trays everywhere.

    “It’s a kitten room,” Christy cried, looking round. “There’s so