The Frightened Kitten

Maddy waved the foil packet. “It’s OK. Oh, look, Mum! She’s seen a butterfly!”

The orange butterfly was swooping carelessly past Biscuit’s nose, and she watched it in amazement. Maddy had dangled pieces of string for her, and feathery toys, but she had never seen anything like this. She reached out her paw and tried to bat at the butterfly, and then tried again with the other paw, but it flew behind her, and she almost fell over trying to chase after it.

“You can’t have it, Biscuit,” Maddy laughed. “I don’t think butterflies are very good for you. And they’re all legs and wings; I bet they don’t taste nice.”

Biscuit stared after the butterfly, which was flittering over the fence to next door’s garden. She thought it looked delicious. But there was no way she could get over the high fence to follow it.

Chapter Four

Maddy and Biscuit spent so much time playing in the garden that on Friday evening, Maddy’s dad came home with a surprise. He put the big box he was carrying down in front of Biscuit’s cat basket with a flourish.

“What is it?” Maddy asked, peering round to see the front of the box. Biscuit blinked at it sleepily. She was worn out from racing round the garden with Maddy after she had got back from school.

“Oh, a cat flap! Thanks, Dad!”

“We can put it in tomorrow. It’s over three weeks since Biscuit had her vaccinations now, so we can let her out on her own.”

Maddy nodded. “I suppose so. But she’s still not quite fourteen weeks old. She’s only little.”

“I think cats like to explore though,” Dad pointed out. “She’ll be able to climb trees. Chase more butterflies…”

Biscuit suddenly perked up, bouncing up in her basket and staring at him, ears pricked. Dad laughed. “You see!”

Maddy had been worried that Biscuit might find the cat flap hard to work, or that she just might not like it – Kate had told her that Ben had taken ages to get used to his. He preferred to have someone open the back door for him. But as soon as Biscuit understood what the cat flap did, she took to it immediately. She spent most of Saturday afternoon popping in and out of it, coming back into the kitchen every five minutes to make sure that Maddy was still there.

Maddy had been a bit anxious that Biscuit might try going into one of the next-door gardens, but even though she’d sniffed at the holes under the fence, she didn’t seem to want to crawl through them. There was plenty in Maddy’s garden to keep her busy.

Maddy was doing her homework at the kitchen table on Sunday morning, with Biscuit curled on her lap. Her science worksheet seemed to be taking ages. It was probably because she kept thinking about her science lesson on Friday. She’d had to pair up with Sara, a girl she didn’t really like, and Sara had kept on making mean little comments throughout the lesson. So now every time she tried to write about the differences between solids and liquids, she just started thinking about how much she missed having Kate to work with. Kate would have said something really funny about Sara, Maddy was sure.

At least she’d seen Becky, one of the girls who sat on the table behind her, making faces at Sara. She’d rolled her eyes at Maddy in an “Ignore her!” sort of way, and Maddy had smiled back.

Now Biscuit yawned and jumped lazily off Maddy’s lap, making for her cat flap. She was bored with sitting still, and Maddy didn’t seem to want to play. Biscuit had tried chasing her coloured pencils across the table, but Maddy had put them away instead of rolling the pencils for her to chase.

The garden was full of interesting smells, and some bees were buzzing around the lavender bushes. Biscuit watched them, fascinated, her tail tip twitching. She was watching so closely that she didn’t see Tiger and Tom sneaking under next door’s fence. It wasn’t until the two big ginger cats were right behind her that Biscuit heard them creeping through the grass, and whirled round. She was sure it was one of these cats who’d been staring in at her through the window.

The ginger cats had their ears laid back as they snuck towards her. Biscuit backed away from them into the lavender bush. She didn’t quite understand what was happening, but she knew the two cats weren’t friendly. Her tail bushed out, and she darted a nervous glance towards the door. Could she make a run for her cat flap? But one of the big ginger cats, the one with the torn ear, was between her and the house, his tail swishing from side to side.

Tiger, the one with the darker stripes, was almost nose to nose with her now, hissing and staring. Biscuit was practically squashed into the lavender bush – she couldn’t retreat any further.

Tiger cuffed her round the head with one enormous paw, sending her rolling, and Biscuit wailed miserably. What was she supposed to do? Why were they attacking her?

Inside the house, Maddy was still gloomily eyeing her homework. She glanced up as her mum came into the kitchen, looking confused.