Willow the lonely kitten (4 page)

“We’ve certainly had plenty of interest,” Heidi admitted.

But you’re our first choice!
Eva wanted to say. Instead she showed Annie her crossed fingers. “They seem really nice!” she whispered.

“So we do have to join the queue?” Jake frowned.

“Not necessarily,” Heidi reassured him. “I’ll ask you a few questions, and if the situation seems satisfactory, we can make our decision on the spot.”

Julie smiled and held Willow tight.

“So you live at number 22 Swallow Court?” Heidi checked.

Julie nodded. “Well away from Main Street, with open fields at the back of us.”

“And have either of you owned pets before?”

“I haven’t, but Jake has, haven’t you?” Julie turned to her husband. “You had three cats at home when you lived with your parents.”

“Yes, so I know the routines.” Jake took over from Julie. “Apart from needing feeding, cats come and go pretty much as they please. And I guess I’ll be the one who gets rid of the dead birds and mice.”

“Willow won’t chase birds,” Julie protested. “Look at her!”

Snuggled in Julie’s arms, Willow looked as if butter wouldn’t melt in her mouth.

“Oh yes she will, believe me,” Heidi smiled. “Dealing with dead offerings is part of the cat-owning deal, I’m afraid.”

In the background Eva grimaced. Julie Shannon had just shown she didn’t know much about having a cat as a pet. Would this worry her mum?

“Anyway, if there are any problems, come back to Animal Magic – we’re only round the corner and we’re always ready to help,” Heidi told the Shannons.

Good!
Eva liked the sound of this. It seemed as if her mum hadn’t been put off. And the more Eva saw of Julie and Jake, the more sure she was that they were Willow’s perfect owners – young, lively and loving.

Heidi smiled. “Do you have any questions?” she asked them.

“No, I don’t think so. Does this mean we
can have her?” Julie blew her nose again and waited for Heidi’s answer.

Please! Please!
Eva begged silently.

Nestled in Julie’s arms, Willow seemed perfectly content.

“Yes,” Heidi confirmed with a smile. “We can provide you with kitten food and a pet basket, and you can take her with you now if you like. And let me say we’re very grateful to you for offering Willow a home.”

Chapter Five

It was the start of a very good week for Animal Magic.

On Tuesday the new sweatshirts arrived before Eva left for school, so she set them out in a rack in Reception next to the leaflets on animal care. Then she ran next door to deliver Annie’s.

“They’re very bright,” Annie’s mum, Linda, said doubtfully as she hobbled into the hall. She was still on crutches from an accident earlier in the month.

“And really warm,” Eva told her. “You should have one for when you’re better and mucking out Gwinnie and Merlin.”

Linda nodded. “There’s a thought. Yes, Eva, you’re right – I’ll need a medium size. Can you ask Heidi to put one aside for me?”

Eva skipped back home with the order.

“We make a profit of six pounds twenty pence every time we sell one.” Karl had done the arithmetic. “At this rate, we’ll raise loads of money.”

Then on Tuesday evening, Jen managed to rehome Suzi, the worried black cat. “She’s calmed down a lot since she came
here,” she told the middle-aged man who came to collect her. “Stress is what led to her over-grooming in her last home, so she needs peace and quiet – no children and no other pets.”

“She’ll suit me very well,” Mr Howard told Jen. “I lead a quiet life now that I’m retired. And Suzi will be good company, I’m sure.”

Eva was pleased to see Mr Howard go off with Suzi. She headed quickly for the computer to take her off the website. “Oops!” she said to Jen as she browsed the pages. “We left Becks on here by mistake. Shall I take her off as well?”

Jen nodded. “And take Piper off while you’re at it, please.”

Eva hesitated. “Didn’t I just see Piper in the kennels?”

“Yes. But a couple came in to see him
this morning and decided they’d like to have him. They’ve already given homes to two other greyhounds. They plan to pay us a series of visits with their other dogs so that Piper can get to know them gradually before they take him home.”

“Good idea,” Eva agreed. She took the picture of Piper off the site, then shut down the computer and went to help Heidi in the small animals unit.

“Come and see Bowie and Star,” her mum invited. “They’re a lovely pair of harlequins. Your dad brought them in this afternoon.”

“Aah!” Eva smiled at the soft, cuddly rabbits hopping around their cage. “Where did Dad find them?”

“A girl at the supermarket checkout told him about them. Her neighbour wanted to sell them but couldn’t find a buyer, so he was planning to set them free in the park. Better to bring them here than leave them in the park, so Mark got there just in time.”

“My dad’s a hero!” Eva grinned. “I want to tell him. Where is he now?”

“In the house cooking dinner.”

Eva scooted off to praise her dad, but as she ran out of Reception she bumped straight into Julie Shannon. “Hi!” she said brightly. “How’s Willow getting on?”

“Fine.”

Julie’s answer seemed abrupt and Eva noticed that her eyes seemed a bit red and swollen, as if she’d been crying. “Mum’s in the small animals unit. Do you want to speak to her?”

“Maybe you can help,” Julie said with a frown. “I hadn’t realized that Willow isn’t house-trained yet. I was out at work today and when I came home I found she’d ignored the litter tray and left wet patches all over our new carpet.”

“She’s only young,” Eva pointed out as she led Julie into Reception. “It’ll take her a while for her to learn to use the tray.”

“I thought you might have some leaflets,” Julie explained.

“We’ve got loads of fact sheets and advice,” Eva said. She took four leaflets from the rack. “They tell you about the best type of cat litter, and keeping the tray clean – all that sort of stuff.”

Julie nodded. “Thanks. I’ll read them and follow their advice. Hopefully, tomorrow the carpets will stay dry.”

As Eva showed Julie out and said
goodbye, she had an uneasy feeling. “Otherwise, is everything OK?” she called after the visitor.

“Oh yes, absolutely fine,” Julie said again, hurrying away.

Chapter Six

“Still no new home for you, Rocky,” Eva said, as Karl brought the gentle giant back from his walk. It was late on Saturday afternoon – five days since Willow had been adopted by the Shannons – and everyone at Animal Magic was enjoying another busy weekend.

Rocky hung his head and patiently allowed Karl to unclip his lead.

“Someone will want you soon,” Eva promised, patting his broad head. “They
just have to set eyes on you to see what a gorgeous boy you are!”

“Right, that’s me finished for the day,” Jen announced, emerging from the cattery and collecting the keys to her bike lock from a drawer in Reception. “Your mum’s out in the stables, administering wormers to Oliver and Peggy. Tell her I’ll see her tomorrow.”

“Bye, Jen!” Eva and Karl called.

Karl took Rocky to the kennels while Eva decided to take down all the out-of-date notices from the noticeboard. As she was busy doing this, there was a knock on the door. “Come in!” she called.

It was Jake Shannon who poked his head round the door. “Are you still open?” he asked.

“We’re open twenty-four hours a day if it’s an emergency,” Heidi told him, appearing in the porch. “What can we do for you?”

“Well, it’s not an emergency,” Jake admitted. “It’s more of an ongoing problem.”

Uh-oh
, Eva thought.
I bet Willow’s still weeing everywhere
.

“To be honest, Julie’s really stressing about this one,” Jake confessed, “and she’s
developed a really bad cold, which is making her feel terrible.” He spoke quietly, in a shy voice, and his beige shirt and grey trousers seemed designed to make him fade into the background. “The fact is – Willow has started scratching the furniture while we’re out. She’s already made a mess of the table in the dining room and now she’s started on the kitchen door.”

Heidi listened then nodded. “That’s common with young cats, I’m afraid. Have you tried buying her a specially designed scratching post?”

Jake sighed. “No, but I’ll look for one on Monday morning. Will Willow grow out of scratching the furniture?”

“Some cats do,” Heidi replied. “But it’s something cats do in the wild as a way of exercising their claws and keeping them sharp.”

“So no guarantees?” Jake frowned.

“No, but try the scratching post. And make sure Willow has some toys to play with if she gets bored. That might take her mind off scratching the furniture.”

“OK, I’ll do that,” Jake promised, taking this as his cue to leave.

“And I hope Julie gets better soon,” Heidi added.

Jake nodded. “Thanks so much for your help – bye!”

“Zero degrees.” It was Sunday, and Jen read the thermometer out in the porch as she came into Reception, her face rosy from the bike ride into work. “It’s a lovely clear day, but freezing!”

“No need to tell us,” Karl groaned. “Eva and I took Rocky and Holly for a walk. We
could see our breath, the air was so cold.”

Mark grinned at them. “Stop complaining. I like this cold, crisp weather. With a bit of luck, we might even get snow.”

“Hmm.” Eva frowned. “I’d better remind Annie to make sure Gwinnie and Merlin are wearing their rugs tonight.” She was close to the phone when it rang. “Hello, this is Animal Magic Rescue Centre.”

“Hello, is that Eva? This is Miss Eliot from Swallow Court.”

“Hi, Miss Eliot.” Eva supposed that the old lady wanted to check up on the mare she’d once owned. “I was just talking about Guinevere. Mum’s around, would you like to speak to her?”

“No thank you, dear. It’s not Guinevere that I’m ringing about.” There was a pause before Miss Eliot decided to continue.
“I don’t want anyone to think that I’m a busybody, but I’ve just seen something that I find rather worrying.”

“To do with an animal?” Eva asked. Otherwise, why would Miss Eliot call Animal Magic?

“Yes. It’s the black and white kitten at number 22.”

“Willow!” Eva gasped.

Everyone in the room turned to Eva and waited to hear what the problem was.

“That’s the one,” Miss Eliot answered. “I can see the house from my front window, and I’m always up early – before it gets light, as a matter of fact. Well, I was drawing back my curtains first thing this morning, and I saw the kitten sitting on the front doorstep, miaowing to be let in.”

“Oh!” Eva cried. “Does that mean Willow had been out all night?”

“I think so, dear. That’s why I’m worried. The door was shut tight and there were no lights on. There was a deep frost everywhere.”

“Out all night,” Eva repeated. Willow was far too young to be out in such cold weather.

“She looked so lost and lonely,” Miss Eliot concluded. “Honestly, my dear, it was pitiful to see.”

“All right, let’s take this slowly.” As usual, Heidi wanted to think the problem through. “We mustn’t jump to the wrong conclusion.”

“What’s to think about?” Karl wanted to know, while Eva frowned and bit her lip. “The Shannons locked Willow out of the house when it was freezing. Then they went to bed. How bad is that!”

“On the face of it, very bad,” Heidi agreed. “But perhaps they didn’t mean to do it. Mistakes happen, you know.”

Jen agreed. “Or maybe Miss Eliot got it wrong. It’s possible that either Julie or Jake were up early and had let Willow out for five minutes.”

But Eva shook her head. “I don’t think so. But it just doesn’t make any sense.
They both seemed so keen on having her … maybe they got tired of her weeing and scratching. She’s so little – she could have frozen to death!” Eva looked at the evidence and rapidly changed her mind about the Shannons. Now she was certain that Animal Magic had sent Willow to the wrong home.

“It’s true that Julie and Jake have been asking for advice,” Jen acknowledged. “And Willow has been more work than they’d expected.”

“Which proves that they’re not used to owning a pet, but that they’re willing to learn,” Heidi pointed out. “I don’t think we can condemn them for making one mistake.”

“A big mistake!” Karl insisted.

Heidi nodded. “But still, I would rather keep an eye on things and not do
anything too hasty. If it turns out that the Shannons are deliberately leaving Willow out overnight, then I’m definitely prepared to have a word with them about how dangerous it could be.”

Eva and Karl knew that their mum had spoken her last word on the subject. As Heidi returned to the morning’s business, they went to the kennels and admitted how they felt.

“I know Mum wants to wait and see,” Karl muttered, “but one more night like last night could mean the end for Willow!”

“Don’t say that!” Eva cried. A picture of the beautiful little kitten shivering in the frosty night entered her head and refused to go away. “Karl, we were wrong about the Shannons. We made a terrible mistake!” Eva felt guilty and angry at the same time.

Leading Piper out of the kennels, Karl agreed. “So what are we going to do?”

Eva thought hard. On the one hand, do nothing, as her Mum had suggested. On the other, act in secret and save Willow before it was too late. “I’m going to Swallow Court,” she decided.

“Just be careful,” Karl warned as he set out with Piper. “Don’t rush over there and do something stupid.”

“OK, OK,” she muttered. “But I don’t care how I do it, I’m going to find out the truth!”