The Secret Kitten

“Lucy, whatever’s the matter? Wasn’t that Sara, that nice girl who lives on Foxglove Way? Have you fallen out with her?”

“Yes.” Lucy sniffed. “She wanted to come to our house.”

“Well, why didn’t you let her? She could have had dinner with us.”

“It wasn’t that. I can’t explain. Please can we go home?” Lucy reached out and took Gran’s hand. “Please.”

“All right.” But Gran still sounded worried and she kept hold of Lucy’s hand as they walked on. Lucy could tell she hadn’t finished asking about what had happened. “Lucy, was Sara asking about a kitten?” she said at last, as they walked past the alleyway. “I thought I heard her say something about visiting a kitten…”

Lucy swallowed. “But we haven’t got a kitten,” she pointed out, trying to sound cheerful.

“Lucy…” Gran pulled her hand gently to make her stop. “Just go on ahead for a minute, William. Look, you can take my keys. Go and open the front door. We’ll follow you.” She watched as William walked on ahead and then she followed, walking along slowly with Lucy’s hand held tight in hers. “Lucy, did you tell Sara you had a kitten?”

Lucy didn’t say anything. How could she explain?

Gran went on thoughtfully. “Sometimes it’s hard, when you really want to make friends – you make up stories. Little stories to make yourself sound more interesting. Everyone does it sometimes, Lucy, it’s all right.”

Lucy gaped up at her. “How did you know?”

“Like I said, everyone does it. But almost everyone gets found out, too, Lucy love. You’re going to have to explain to Sara and say you’re sorry, you know.”

Lucy kicked at the pavement with her foot. “I know,” she muttered. But inside she was saying, I didn’t make it up. It wasn’t a lie. Well, it was when I first said it. But now I’m lying to you instead… I wish we’d told you about Catkin in the first place. What am I going to do?

“Are you that desperate for a kitten?” Gran asked suddenly.

Lucy blinked, shocked out of her worries. “Um. I would love one. But Dad said you didn’t like pets. Because they were dirty.”

Gran sniffed. “Well, I do like everything to be clean,” she agreed. “But a little cat… Maybe we could think about it.”

Lucy swallowed hard and tried to smile. Somehow she had to explain to Gran that they had a little cat already…

When they got back to the house, Gran made hot chocolate and she even put marshmallows on the top, as a treat. She let Lucy and William take it upstairs, though she did say they had to be careful not to spill any.

“Dinner will be in about an hour,” she reminded them. “Your dad’s working late tonight, so we’re not waiting for him today.”

Lucy and William carried the hot chocolate upstairs to Lucy’s room, with the sandwiches they’d both saved from lunch. At the top of the steps, outside the door, they stopped and looked at each other worriedly. Somehow Lucy felt convinced that the kitten wouldn’t be there. Perhaps they had imagined it all. She reached out and turned the handle, peering cautiously around the door.

Over in the wardrobe, the kitten lifted her head and yawned. Then she looked up at them and nosed at the empty plastic pot, clearly hoping for some tea.

“Hello,” Lucy whispered, starting to shred up her sandwich. “Did you miss us?”

Catkin yawned again and, very faintly, Lucy heard her purr.

“You’re pleased to see us! You’re actually purring. Oh, Catkin. If only we could show you to Gran right now, I’m sure she’d want to keep you.” She patted Catkin’s head, loving the feeling of the silky fur under her fingers. “This weekend, somehow, we’ll find a way to tell her. We have to.”

Chapter Seven

When Lucy and William’s dad got home late that night, he sat across the kitchen table from their gran, eating his dinner.

“What’s the matter?” he asked, as he wiped a bit of bread round his plate to mop up the gravy. “You’ve hardly said anything since I got home, Mum.”

Gran sighed and put down her mug of tea. “I’m just a bit worried about Lucy. I’m not sure she’s settling all that well with the other girls at school. She had a bit of an argument with one of them this afternoon, just as I was picking her up. She didn’t want to talk about it very much, but it seems as though she’d told this girl – Sara, her name is – that we had a kitten.”

Dad stared at her. “But why on earth would she say that?”

Gran shrugged. “To fit in? To make herself a bit more exciting? We’re asking a lot of them, you know, starting at a new school.”

Dad’s shoulders slumped. “I suppose so. But I thought it was the best thing to do…”

“I still think it is.” Gran reached over and patted his hand. “But I’m wondering if a pet would help Lucy settle.”

“You don’t like pets!”