Free The Secret Kitten by Holly Webb Page A

snuggled into her. “I was playing football in the garden and then I brought the ball back in with me and I bounced it…”
    “Oh, William! Where?” Lucy demanded and he edged away from her a little, hunching his shoulders up.

    “In the living room.”
    “You didn’t break anything, did you?” Lucy asked anxiously. Dad had made them promise to be careful, but William was only six and sometimes he just forgot things like that.
    “No!” William protested indignantly. “But Gran was still really cross. She said I wasn’t to kick balls around in the house, but I hadn’t even kicked it! I was just bouncing it.” He sighed and leaned back on her shoulder again, peering around Lucy’s room at the cardboard boxes, already nearly all unpacked.
    “Do you like having your own bedroom?” he whispered seriously.
    Lucy nodded. “Yes… But last night I missed hearing you talking to yourLego people,” she added, to make him feel better.
    “I do like my bedroom.” William didn’t sound so sure. “But do you think I could keep all my things in my room, then sleep up here with you? I could bring my sleeping bag.”
    “Maybe sometimes,” Lucy said comfortingly. It had been strange going to bed last night without William snoring and snuffling on the other side of the room, but she was glad to have a place that was just her own.
    All her own, except that it would be so nice to share it with a cat. Any cat, Lucy thought, wondering if the big ginger cat from next door ever came to visit.

Chapter Two
    The black-and-white kitten peered around the pile of old boxes. Her ears were laid back flat and her tail was twitching. Out in the alleyway between the baker’s shop and newsagent, she could see her brother and sister frisking about, chasing each other and wrestling. Her paws itched to join in. She stepped out a little further.
    Then a car roared past on the main road and she darted back into her hiding place in the storage yard. Seconds later, her tabby brother and sister shot back in after her and they all huddled together in the dark little corner, hissing at the strange, frightening noise. The two tabby kittens wriggled and stamped their paws inside a broken packing case, making themselves comfy on the old rags and torn-up papers, trying to find the warmest, driest spot. The black-and-white kitten licked them both lovingly, hoping that they’d all curl up together and snooze, as they waited for their mother to come back from her foraging. But the tabby kittens didn’t want to hide for long. A minute or so later they were already nosing out into the alleyway again.

    Their little sister watched them anxiously, wondering about that loud noise and hoping that whatever it was wouldn’t come back. The alleyway was so open – she liked places where she could hide and still see everything. All that space made her nervous.
    “Oh, look! Kittens!”
    A little boy came running into the alleyway and the tabby kittens streaked back towards the old boxes, knocking their black-and-white sister sideways. She huddled at the back of their littleden, her heart thumping, but the bravest of the tabbies was too curious to stay hidden, even with the boy blundering around, his feet stamping and thudding. She scrambled out past the broken board on to the top of the box and gazed at him.
    “Mum, look…” the little boy whispered. “It really is a kitten! She’s tiny!”

    “Isn’t she? She’s gorgeous.”
    The black-and-white kitten squeaked worriedly. There was someone else out there, too. She wished her sister would come back, but now her brother was wriggling out to see what was going on.
    “Oh, there’s two! Look, Owen, the other one’s come out to see you. I wonder who they belong to? I suppose they’re strays, but they look very young. Their mother must be around somewhere.”
    The voices were soft and gentle, and the black-and-white kitten stretched her paws, shook her whiskers and began to creep towards the opening.