The Secret Kitten by Holly Webb Read Free Book Online

climb in, but not enough for us to see her!” Lucy said, her eyes wide.

    Sleepily, Catkin stared up at Lucy and Gran and let out a little purr. Perhaps there was going to be food. The bread seemed a long while ago and it had been a lot of effort to get up on to the counter and steal a slice. She was hungry again.
    “What a sweetheart,” Gran said, laughing as Catkin stepped carefully out of her nest in the drawer. She rubbed her furry face against Gran’s hand and purred even louder. “Just like my Catkin,” Gran said, petting her ears. “You’re staying now, are you?”
    Catkin jumped down to the floor and wove her way round Gran’s ankles and then Lucy’s, still purring.
    “That means yes,” Lucy whispered. “I know it does.”

    “You actually had her hidden in your wardrobe?” Sara asked Lucy again, as they followed Gran home from school on Monday afternoon. “You had a secret kitten?”
    “Yes. And I really wanted you to see her, but I couldn’t let Gran find out. Or I thought I couldn’t. It turns out we probably should have just told her to start with.”

    “That wouldn’t have been as exciting,” Sara said, shaking her head.
    “No.” Lucy smiled at her. “It was lovely, Catkin being our secret. But now we can play with her without worrying about Dad and Gran. And she still likes my bedroom best in all of the house.”
    “Shall we pop in and buy a cake for after tea, girls?” Gran suggested, stopping as they reached the baker’s. “Oh, William, come back!”
    Lucy and Sara giggled as William raced ahead, flinging open the door of the baker’s. When they caught up with him, he was already telling Emma behind the counter that he wanted a marshmallow ice cream.
    “You know the black-and-whitekitten, the one that was living in your yard?” Lucy said shyly to Emma, after they’d chosen their cakes. “She came into our garden and we’re going to keep her!”
    Emma smiled delightedly. “Oh, that’s such good news! I looked for her, after you two told me she was there, but I never saw her. I did wonder if you’d imagined her.”

    “No, she’s just a bit shy.” Lucy smiled to herself, remembering Catkin chasing madly round the kitchen after a ping-pong ball that morning and then collapsing in her lap, exhausted, with her paws in the air. She wasn’t shy with them, not any more.
    “I’ve got news for you, too,” Emma went on, as she put their chocolate doughnuts into a bag. “I called the cat shelter about the kittens’ mum, to ask them what the best thing was to do. They’re going to catch her and spay her so she doesn’t have more kittens. They said she probably won’t ever be tame enough to be a house cat, but if she’s not trying to feed kittens all the time she’ll be a lot less thin and worried, poor thing. So they’ll bringher back and she can live in the yard. We’ll put scraps out for her.”
    “Thank you!” Lucy forgot to be shy and gave Emma a hug. “You’re amazing. I never even thought of doing that!”
    “Maybe Catkin can come back and visit her,” William suggested, reaching into his bag and picking the hundreds and thousands off his marshmallow ice cream.
    “Maybe.” Lucy smiled, imagining the two cats nose to nose, sniffing hello. All of a sudden she couldn’t wait to get home and see Catkin and show her off to Sara, too.
    Her own kitten, not-so-secret any more…



Other titles by Holly Webb
    The Snow Bear
    The Reindeer Girl
    The Winter Wolf
Animal Stories:
    Lost in the Snow
    Alfie all Alone
    Lost in the Storm
    Sam the Stolen Puppy
    Max the Missing Puppy
    Sky the Unwanted Kitten
    Timmy in Trouble
    Ginger the Stray Kitten
    Harry the Homeless Puppy
    Buttons the Runaway Puppy
    Alone in the Night
    Ellie the Homesick Puppy
    Jess the Lonely Puppy
    Misty the Abandoned Kitten
    Oscar’s Lonely Christmas
    Lucy the Poorly Puppy
    Smudge the Stolen Kitten
    The Rescued Puppy
    The Kitten Nobody Wanted
    The Lost Puppy
    The Frightened Kitten
    The Secret