The Saddest Kitten

“You got a cat!”

“Is that your cat, Isla?”

“No,” Isla whispered sadly. “She’s Hailey’s. Do you remember me telling you about her? She’s called Silky. I think she must have followed me home. I have to take her back in a minute.”

“I want to stroke her!” Sienna announced, and Chloe chimed in, “And me!”

Isla looked at them worriedly. Silky was so tiny … and Sienna and Chloe could be rough sometimes. But then Mum had said she thought they were maybe old enough to get a cat and Silky didn’t seem to be scared of them. She’d given up on sleeping and was now standing up in Isla’s lap, gazing curiously at the two small girls.

“You can stroke her,” Isla said. “But you have to be really, really gentle. You mustn’t hurt her or scare her, OK?”

“Yes!” Chloe said, bouncing on to the sofa beside Isla.

“I want to be next to the kitten,” Sienna demanded. “It was me said first!”

Isla wriggled so there was space either side of her, hoping that Silky wouldn’t get fed up and leap away. But she just balanced like a little kitten surfer. “There, now there’s room for you both,” Isla said. “You can stroke her but you have to take turns,” she added hurriedly. “And not too hard on her head.”

“She’s soft,” Chloe whispered.

“Softer than a teddy,” Sienna agreed. “So soft.”

Isla watched, surprised, as Chloe and Sienna took turns stroking, each one waiting patiently. She hadn’t expected them to be so good. “You can tickle her under the chin too,” she suggested, showing them what she meant. “She likes that. Listen, can you hear her purring?”

“Like a car!” Chloe said, giggling.

“Yeah, or the lawnmower,” Isla agreed. Then a tiny noise from the doorway made her look up and she realized that her dad was standing there, watching them. Isla looked down at the kitten in her lap, eyes closed and purring with delight, and wondered how she was going to explain.

“So why do we have a cat?” her dad asked, coming to sit down next to Chloe.

“She’s Hailey’s,” Chloe told him. “Her name’s Silky. Isn’t she nice, Daddy?”

“Very nice,” he agreed. “But why is she here?”

“I think she followed me home,” Isla said. “Honestly, Dad, I didn’t bring her with me on purpose. I was in here and then I just looked up and Silky was on the sofa staring at me! I don’t even know how she got in.” Then she sighed. “I was just about to take her back.”

“Aww, not yet. Can’t we stroke her a little bit more?” Sienna pleaded. “We’re being good like you said.”

“You really are,” their dad murmured, watching them with his eyebrows raised. “You’re being very good. Well done, Isla.” Then he added, “Can I have a go?”

“You have to take turns,” Chloe told him sternly. “Like we are. Tickle under her chin like this, Daddy.”

“Wow, she likes that, doesn’t she?” Their dad laughed as Silky suddenly began to purr louder. Then she stood up and gave a stretch that arched her back and made her almost twice as tall. She looked around thoughtfully and marched straight over Chloe’s lap and on to Dad’s. She sat down again, padded thoughtfully at his trousers and then collapsed over on to her side, showing off her white spotted tummy.

Dad shook his head. “Well, she knows which side her bread’s buttered,” he murmured, cautiously scratching Silky’s tummy fur with one finger.

Chloe and Sienna scrambled round him on the sofa so they could snuggle up close and pet the kitten too. Isla watched them, smiling sadly.

Mum had said that they needed to convince Dad about getting a cat. She reckoned Silky might just have done it for them.

Isla glanced up – was that a knocking on the door? It was very faint. Dad had told her that Mum had gone out for a run, so Isla decided she’d better answer it. When she opened the door, Hailey was standing on the step, her face blotchy and tear-stained.

“Oh!” Isla didn’t know what else to say. She just stared at Hailey, hoping that she wasn’t going to yell again. And how was she going to explain that Silky was in her living room?

“I came to say I’m sorry,” Hailey said. She sounded sniffly. “I should never have shouted at you and I know you were only worried about Silky.”

“It’s OK—” Isla started to say, but Hailey hadn’t finished.

“I think I only got upset because I knew you were right.” She glanced up at Isla. “My mum said the same thing in the car on the way home. That she was really worried about Pickle and she wasn’t sure he was ever going to be able to cope with another cat living in his house. That we have to take Silky back. She said Pickle seems sad all the time and she’s sure he isn’t eating as much. Mum thinks he’s even lost weight!”

“Oh wow…”

Hailey sighed. “At least the vet will be pleased. She said he was getting a bit fat. But Silky’s not happy either. I know that really. She hides all the time because she’s scared of Pickle. We can’t even find her right now. She’s so tiny she can squeeze herself into all these little spaces and we don’t have a clue where she’s got to.”

“Um, actually I was just about to come and see you.” Isla gave an apologetic shrug. “I know where Silky is.”

Hailey looked relieved. “Is she OK?”

“Come and see.” Isla led Hailey down the hallway to the living room. “You have to be quiet…” she whispered, pointing through the door.

There on the sofa were Dad, Chloe and Sienna, all fast asleep. Isla’s dad was slumped against the back of the sofa, making tiny snoring noises. Sienna and Chloe were curled up halfway across his lap, and between them was Silky, adding her own purry little snores to the mix. The tabby kitten was on her back, and she’d slumped slightly into the gap between Isla’s dad’s legs. All her paws were in the air and it made them look massive. She was so funny that Isla had to smile, even though she was worried about what Hailey was going to say.

“I was going to bring her back to you,” Isla whispered. “But then I realized they’d all gone to sleep, so I thought I’d wait till they woke up. My mum’s gone for a run and Dad’s supposed to be making dinner, so it wouldn’t have been much longer. Sorry… Hey, don’t cry!” She put her arm round Hailey’s shoulders. “It’s all right. Silky’s OK. I’m sorry, I should have brought her back straight away.”

“It isn’t that,” Hailey sniffed, and then pulled Isla gently out into the hallway. “I’m only crying because she looks so sweet.”

Isla shook her head, not understanding.

“She’s so lovely and I don’t want her to go back to the shelter,” Hailey explained. “She’ll be all on her own in one of those pens and she’ll hate it. I know they’re brilliant at looking after the animals but it’s not like having a real home.” More tears ran down her cheeks. “She might even like the shelter better than our house because she’s been so scared and that makes me feel awful!”

“She knows you love her,” Isla said, giving Hailey a hug. “It’s only Pickle she doesn’t like. Do you really have to take her back there?”

Hailey nodded. “I told Mum what happened yesterday and that made up her mind. We have to let Silky go because it’s not fair on either of them. There’s going to be times when there’s no one in the house to make sure they aren’t fighting and we can’t always keep them separated. It just won’t work so we have to send her back.” Hailey gave a shuddery sort of sigh. “I’m almost looking forward to it. Poor Pickle, he’s been so miserable. At least he’ll be happy again.”

“I know you’ll really miss her, but Silky won’t be at the shelter for long,” Isla said, trying to look on the bright side. “She’s so gorgeous, someone’s going to adopt her straight away.”

“Do you think so?” Hailey asked hopefully. “There were so many cats there, Isla. It was really sad.”

There was a rustling from inside the living room and Isla’s dad appeared at the door with a sleepy Silky cradled in his cupped hands. “I think this might be yours,” he said to Hailey, holding out the kitten. Silky gave a huge yawn and blinked at Hailey.

“Yeah…” Hailey took Silky and cuddled her close. “I’d better take her home.” She sighed. “For now, anyway.”

“What’s up?” Isla’s dad looked between the two girls, eyebrows raised.

“They’ve decided that Silky’s got to go back to the shelter,” Isla told him. “Pickle hates sharing his house.”

“Max is already asking if we can have a tortoise instead…” Hailey said, rolling her eyes. “He reckons Pickle won’t mind a tortoise. Max thinks he might even ride on it – he’s seen a video of a cat riding a tortoise.” She smiled at Isla and her dad. “Thanks for looking after Silky so well. I wish you could keep her instead.”

Isla caught her breath. She hadn’t thought of it – she couldn’t believe she hadn’t thought of it. Mum had said she’d like to have a cat if they could persuade Dad. And Dad had just told her and Sienna and Chloe how good they all were with Silky. He’d had Silky curled up on his lap asleep for ages, like a born cat owner! She stared at him pleadingly.

“Well…” Isla’s dad looked at Silky, who was climbing on to Hailey’s shoulder and sniffing at her hair. “I suppose we could think about it. I mean, we’d have to talk to your mum, Isla. Your parents too, Hailey. And I’m not sure what the shelter would say about Silky swapping owners…”

“They’d be glad Silky’s got a new home, Dad. I’m sure they would!” Isla felt like jumping up and down. Was he actually saying yes?

“Can we?” she whispered. “Please can we?”

“I’m not promising,” Isla’s dad said slowly. “But … I don’t see why she has to go back to the shelter to be honest. I should think it would be upsetting for her. She’d be better off staying with us.”

Hailey swallowed hard and carefully unwound Silky from her hair. She handed her over to Isla, and Isla could see that she was trying not to cry again.

“You’ll be able to see her all the time,” she said quietly. “She’ll still be a bit yours. We can share her.”

Silky was settling into the crook of Isla’s elbow, as though she was meant to be there. She yawned again and Isla leaned down and rubbed her chin over the top of Silky’s head, loving the velvet feel of her fur.

“I’ve got Pickle,” Hailey said. “I expect he’ll sleep on my bed tonight.”

Isla nodded and tried not to look too happy, but it was hard. She was imagining Silky sleeping on hers.

STRIPES PUBLISHING LIMITED

An imprint of the Little Tiger Group

1 Coda Studios, 189 Munster Road, London SW6 6AW

First published in Great Britain in 2020

Text copyright © Holly Webb, 2020

Illustrations copyright © Sophy Williams, 2020

Author photograph © Charlotte Knee Photography

eISBN: 978–1–78895–277–4

The right of Holly Webb and Sophy Williams to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work respectively has been asserted by them in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act, 1988.

All rights reserved.

This book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, resold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publisher’s prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed upon the subsequent purchaser.

A CIP catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library.