Free The Nine Lives of Montezuma by Michael Morpurgo Page B

and set him down by a saucer of creamy milk. Montezuma wasted no time, but lapped the saucer clean and then looked up for more.
    â€˜That animal will have to go, Lily,’ said her mother. ‘You know what your father thinks of cats. He won’t have them on the place. And your Aunt Bessie would be horrified. She can’t be in the same room with a cat without sneezing. And I will not become a rest home for battered animals. The cat must go.’
    â€˜But Reverend Mother . . .’ Lily pushed the tears away from her eyes.
    â€˜Mummy,’ said Lily’s mother. ‘I’m your Mummy, not your Mother Superior. This is a farmhouse, not a Convent. Now take off those ridiculous clothes and come to your senses. Your father has told you often enough not to dress up like that. It’s not right, not proper. You’re carrying this thing too far. Be kind to animals by all means, but remember there are people around as well.’
    â€˜More’s the pity,’ the girl mumbled quietly, as she pulled off her nun’s habit to reveal aSnoopy tee-shirt and blue jeans.
    Her mother spoke sharply. ‘What’s that?’
    â€˜I said it’s a pity, Mum. He’s a nice old cat, a gentle cat. We’ve never had a cat and I’ve always wanted one. Can’t we keep him, please? He won’t be a nuisance. I’ll look after him. It’ll be the last one, I promise, the very last one.’
    â€˜No.’ Her mother took her by the shoulders and shook her. ‘No, Lily. That cat either belongs to someone, or he’s a stray, and he looks more like a stray to me. Now the vet is coming here later on this evening to see Miranda; we’ll give it to him and he’ll know what to do for the best.’
    â€˜But you know what he’ll do,’ Lily said. ‘He’ll have him put to sleep. No-one wants an old cat like this, all battered and torn. He’ll have him killed, can’t you see?’
    â€˜If he’s not wanted, then that’s what’s best for him,’ said her mother, stroking Lily’s hair in an effort to console her.
    â€˜But he
is
wanted,’ cried Lily. ‘I want him.’
    At this moment Mr. Hildstock and Aunty Bessie came in. She sneezed once and ran out of the door and that was enough to settle the argument for good. Montezuma was wrenched away from his milk and deposited unceremoniously into the bottom of an old corn sack. Mr. Hildstock tied the top firmly, and dumped him out in the old cartshed to await the vet’s visit.
    Back in the house Mr. Hildstock blamed it all on the old tramp who had been trespassing on his land. ‘Every year he comes; he leaves dirt wherever he goes. You wash yourself properly, my girl. And don’t go round picking up mangy old cats. I’ve told you before, cats are dirty things. That old man, he steals my fish, steals my milk, infects my Miranda and now he leaves his filthy cat wandering around my farm.’
    â€˜He’s not filthy,’ shouted Lily. She turnedaround from the sink and screamed at her father, tears pouring down her face. ‘He’s a kind old cat and Syd’s a kind old man. Everyone says so. He’s never done you any harm. You sent for the police and you had Old Syd put in prison and now you’re sending away his old cat and he’ll be killed. I’ll pray for that cat every night till I die, and then God will look after him in Heaven and he’ll be there when I get there. Only you won’t see him – you’ll be in Hell with all the other murderers.’ Of course she was sent to her room where she flung herself on her bed and prayed. She prayed for the cat’s life to be spared and went on praying till the tears stopped flowing and she was left only with a terrible still anger against her father. It was while she was upstairs that the vet came, treated the cow and took away the cat. Lily never saw him again.
    Out in the yard