Grace peered into the bush. “There’s something in there.” She knelt down and gently pulled the branches apart. Grace gasped. “Oh, Jack! Look!” A tiny tortoiseshell kitten was crouching between the fallen leaves. It stared at Grace and Jack with wary blue eyes.
First published in the UK in 2020 by Nosy Crow Ltd The Crow’s Nest, 14 Baden Place Crosby Row, London SE1 1YW
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ISBN: 978 1 78800 945 4
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Text copyright © Linda Chapman and Julie Sykes, 2020 Illustrations © Sophy Williams, 2020
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To Simba, the most loyal and loving Golden Retriever in the world.
CHAPTER 1
“Tiny! Fetch!” Grace swung her arm back and threw the ball as hard as she could. It bounced across the frosty lawn and rolled under a bush. Tiny, the family’s large white dog, chased after it. Jack, Grace’s twin, laughed as Tiny
scrabbled under the bush for the ball. His bottom was stuck up in the air, his fluffy tail wagging hard.
“Where’s it gone, eh, Tiny?” Grace ran over to help as the dog wriggled further under the bush. She heard a loud hiss, then Tiny yelped and hurriedly backed out.
Jack came running. “What happened? Did he get stung?” he said, examining Tiny’s face. The big dog was pawing at a little scratch on his nose.
Grace peered into the bush. “There’s something in there.” She knelt down and gently pulled the branches apart.
“Careful, it might be a snake,” said Jack, squatting down next to Grace.
Grace gasped. “Oh, Jack! Look!” A tiny,
tortoiseshell kitten was crouching between the fallen leaves. It stared at Grace and Jack with wary blue eyes.
“It’s so cute! I wonder where it’s come from,” said Jack.
Grace crawled closer. The ginger, black and white kitten shrank away at first but after a few moments it edged forwards
to sniff Grace’s outstretched hand. Grace carefully caught hold of it.
“Ouch! Its claws are like pins,” she said, backing out of the hedge. “I think it’s scared of Tiny.” The kitten wriggled and twisted in her hands. It seemed to be trying to climb on to the top of Grace’s head.
“I’ll put him in the house,” said Jack.
“And I’ll take the kitten to our shed. Meet me there,” said Grace.
Grace and Jack had a shed at the bottom of the garden where they ran their animal rehoming service, Forever Homes. The nine-year-old twins made it their mission to find any dog or cat the perfect owner, and, until they did, the animal lived with them.
As Jack took Tiny back to the house, the kitten relaxed into Grace’s neck. “You’re tickling me!” she giggled.
Grace entered the shed and let out a happy sigh as she looked at the photos on the walls of all the pets she and Jack had rehomed. Carefully, she stepped round the crate of cat and dog toys and sat on a bean bag with the kitten in her lap.
“You’re so pretty!” Grace stroked the kitten’s soft head. The little cat had tiny black ears that pointed straight up like a pixie’s, a black and ginger face, and its tummy was like a half-moon of white fur. Its front paws were white and its tail was black and ginger. It purred as Grace stroked it.
“You like that, don’t you?” Grace said. The kitten rubbed its face against Grace’s hand.
Jack came in quietly, so as not to startle their little visitor. “Hello, pusscat. What were you doing in our garden?” He stroked her too. “She must be a girl, mustn’t she, because she’s a tortoiseshell?”
Grace nodded. She and Jack knew a
lot about animals and both knew that tortoiseshell cats were nearly always female. “She’s got an identity tag on.”
Grace found the fish-shaped name tag.
“She’s called Luna. That’s cute. Do you want to hold her, Jack? She seems to love being cuddled.”
“Hello, little pusskins,” said Jack, taking Luna from his sister. He stroked her gently and checked the back of her tag. “It says she belongs to Susan Peters. That’s Mum’s friend! She only lives four doors up. We should take her home.”
“Susan can’t have had her for long,” said Grace. “Luna is so tiny, she can’t be much more than eight weeks old.”
Jack reached into a cupboard. “I’ll get the pet carrier, just in case we meet any
dogs on the way.”
Luna didn’t like the look of the pet carrier. It took ages and lots of cat treats before they managed to coax her inside.
“We’d better tell Mum where we’re going,” said Grace as they walked towards the neat-looking building where their mother ran her doggy day care business, Top Dog.
“Hello, you two.” Mum smiled as they stamped their wellies on the mat. She looked in the pet carrier. “What have you got here? Another kitten to rehome? What a cutie!”
“She’s not a Forever Homes kitten. She belongs to Susan Peters. We think she might have got lost,” Grace explained. “We’re about to take her home.”
“Susan did say she was getting a new kitten,” Mum said. “OK, take her back, but don’t be long. Dad’s cooking dinner.”
Grace and Jack hurried along to Susan’s house. As they crossed her frozen front garden, they saw Susan’s other two cats watching them. One was a large tabby and the other was a fluffy tortoiseshell.
“They’re checking us out,” whispered
Grace as they waited for the front door to open.
Jack nodded. “They so are. The tabby hasn’t even blinked yet.”
The door opened and Susan Peters looked at Grace and Jack in surprise.
“Hello, twins, is that a kitten? I hope you’re not going to ask me to rehome it!
I’ve only just got a new cat. My daughter bought her for me as a surprise. She meant well,” she added with a sigh.
“Actually, this is your kitten,” said Grace, holding out the carrier. “We found her in our garden.”
“Oh, my goodness!” Susan peered into the carrier. The kitten mewed at her and Susan tickled her with one finger through the bars. “How did you escape from the
garden, Luna?” She smiled at the twins.
“Thanks for bringing her back. Please, do come in.” As Susan stood back to let them into the hall the tabby and the tortoiseshell rushed past her. They charged upstairs together, knocking over a box of Christmas decorations on the bottom step. Grace felt Luna shrink into a corner of the pet carrier.
Susan sighed as she put the decorations back in the box. “Poor Luna. She’s such a timid little thing. Teddy and Tabitha terrify her. They can get very boisterous when they play. I thought the garden was safe but I’d clearly better check the fence for gaps.”
“How old is Luna?” asked Jack. “Ten weeks. She’s adorable but
I don’t think this is the right home for her. She really needs to be the only cat.”
Grace and Jack exchanged a look. It wasn’t unusual for them to know what each other was thinking, but this time even Susan guessed too.
“Of course! Your pet rehoming business!” She looked at them. “Might you be able to find a new home and owner for her? Someone with no pets? I don’t think it’s fair to keep her here with my two terrors.”
“Yes, we definitely can,” said Grace and Jack together.
Susan smiled sadly. “I’ll miss her but I think it might be for the best. Should I ring your mum first?”
“Mum will be fine,” said Jack. “We’re
not looking after any other animals at the moment. We do need you to come round to sign the paperwork, though. You have to officially give Luna to us.”
“Of course! I can do that now, if you like. I’ll just get Luna’s things. She has a new bed and you can have her bowls and toys. Hopefully, it won’t be too difficult to find a lovely owner for her.”
Grace peeped inside the cat carrier.
Luna was hiding right at the back. “We’re going to find you somewhere quiet to live, Luna.”
“A home where there aren’t any scary big cats,” Jack
agreed.
Grace grinned. She couldn’t wait to start finding Luna the perfect new home!