‘I can’t believe she really ran all that way through the desert with you!’ he said, as he checked Gobi’s passport. Gobi preened at the attention, as usual.
‘She really did.’ Dad ruffled Gobi’s scruffy, sandy fur. As if mine wasn’t a hundred times softer and fluffier and overall much, much nicer to ruffle. ‘She’s a born adventurer, this one!’
I hunkered down in my soft carrier, waiting for someone to remember that I was there, more determined than ever to show my humans that I could have an adventure even better than Gobi’s. And I wouldn’t feel the need to brag about it on TV all the time, either. Although, if my public came calling, of course I wouldn’t want to disappoint them either. And a book deal would be nice …
Finally, we were through security, and Dad took Gobi out of her carrier and popped her lead on instead. Mum reached into the bag she had on her back and pulled out my harness – the one she uses when we go on long car journeys and I need to stretch my legs at the side of the road. My eyes widened with panic as I saw it in her hand.
We hadn’t planned for harnesses.
Just behind us, Cleo and Jennifer were exiting security, too, and I tried to catch Cleo’s eye through the door of her carrier. Once the harness was on, there was no way I could escape and still be mistaken for Cleo afterwards. My harness is, let’s say, distinctive. (It’s bright pink, with yellow and orange flowers on it. Dad chose it – for the record, he said it was a joke. Mum said it would definitely make it less likely that anyone would try to steal me, so she insists on using it every time we go anywhere in the car, now.)
Mum was still untangling the harness lead as Jennifer put Cleo’s carrier on the floor, just across from mine. Perfect! Catching her eye, I meowed my concerns across to her, but Cleo merely smiled.
‘Just wait for my signal,’ she said.
Her signal? How would I know what her signal was? We definitely hadn’t discussed signals when we were planning the night before. What if I screwed up my one chance at an adventure because I didn’t recognize the signal? Didn’t Cleo know I was new to all this?
But then, as I was quietly fretting, Mum knelt down to open my carrier. The moment the door clicked open, Cleo started making the most almighty racket, yowling and clawing at the material of her carrier.
Oh. That was probably the signal. It was kind of hard to miss.
I pushed my paw against the door to my carrier: Mum had left it open! And she was distracted – as was everyone in the immediate area – by Cleo’s crying and fussing. There was no one to spot what I was doing. I slipped out of the carrier easily, and crossed to where Jennifer was opening Cleo’s carrier to find out what the problem was. Nobody noticed me – as usual.
Cleo shot out the moment the door was opened, and raced across to me, blending our fur together as we wound around each other. From outside our cat spiral, it must have been nearly impossible to tell which fur belonged to which cat – we really were a perfect match. It made me think this whole adventure was meant to be.
‘Lara!’ Mum admonished, as she reached down to grab me. ‘You know better than to run away.’
Did I? I’d never even thought about running before this trip. But now adventure was calling. This was my last chance to change my mind. My heart pounding, I thought about not running – about staying, and being second-place pet to Gobi the adventurer for the rest of my life – and made my decision easily.
I threw myself out of the way at the last minute as Mum’s hands came down, and Cleo happily swung into my place. Mum wasn’t even really looking – she was listening to Jennifer, who was saying, ‘I’m so sorry! It’s all Cleo’s fault for upsetting her. I don’t know what she’s making such a fuss about!’
‘I don’t think we’ll risk Lara out of the carrier for now anyway,’ said Mum, holding Cleo tightly in both hands as she passed her to Dad. Then Mum tucked the harness away again in her bag, as Dad fastened the door on my carrier firmly – with Cleo inside.
I was right: I was so unimportant, they hadn’t even noticed they had the wrong cat.
Part of me, I realized suddenly, had been hoping this wouldn’t work. That Mum and Dad could never mistake another cat for their beloved Lara, however similar we looked.
But they had. And that made my adventure more important than ever.
‘Come on!’ I realized suddenly that Jennifer was trying to shoo me inside Cleo’s carrier, her hands pressing against the fur on my rump. With one last look at my family, I went docilely, and hoped my agreeable nature didn’t give me away too soon.
My little heart beat double time as the door closed. It was really happening, my adventure was here at last!
Outside, I could hear Gobi barking furiously. She was trying to warn them about the mistake they were making, I realized. Dad tried to calm her down, but nothing was working. She’d noticed our swap, even if none of the humans had. Our switch had gone flawlessly. And Gobi was probably just jealous that I was going on a bigger adventure than her.
Luckily, Gobi had never learned to communicate with humans properly either. They’d never figure out what she was saying in time to stop us.
And Gobi would get over it. She’d probably never even miss me when I was gone.
‘Well, thank you so much for the lift to the airport,’ Jennifer said, as she lifted me up. ‘I’m sorry for this little ruckus! I’d better get Cleo safely to our gate before she causes any more trouble. Have a lovely time in China.’
‘And enjoy Australia with your daughter,’ said Mum. Through the carrier door, I could see her leaning in to hug Jennifer. And then we were moving away, away from my family, and everything I’d ever known before.
I craned my neck back to watch them as best I could through the slits in the carrier, drinking in my last sight of Mum, Dad and Gobi.
Then I turned around to face my future.
The adventure was on!
My sister Lara is the best sister anyone could want. She lets me cuddle up to her at night if it’s cold, or I’m lonely. She even wraps her tail over me to keep me warm. She shares her prawns with me, every single day. (I let her have some of my biscuits in return, but they always make her sick.) Lara is lovely to nibble on, with all that fluffy fur, and I miss her when I go away. She’s always there waiting for me at the window when I get home again, though.
I never had anybody before I met Dion. He brought me home to meet Lucja and Lara and now I have more than three people.
I have a family. And that makes me the luckiest dog in the world.
Or it did.
I knew there was something wrong with Lara, something bothering her maybe, but I couldn’t understand what it could be. She seemed restless, unhappy even. But how could any animal be unhappy with a family as great as ours?
I was apprehensive when Dion said we were going back to China. Usually, I like going on book tours with him. I like the interviews and the meeting people and the seeing new places. But China wasn’t new, and the memories I had from my birthplace weren’t nice.
Apart from meeting Dion. That was one of the best memories I had.
But the others … My life in China hadn’t been kind. Even running the marathon with Dion, while I’d loved the company and the excitement, had been hard. And everything that came after … I tried very hard not to think about the time when Dion and I were separated, but sometimes I still got nightmares.