First published in Great Britain by HarperCollins Children’s Books 2016
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Text © Rachel Wells 2016
Illustrations © Katie May Green 2016
Rachel Wells and Katie May Green assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of this work.
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Source ISBN: 9780008172084
Ebook Edition © 2016 ISBN: 9780008172091
Version: 2016-03-17
For my wonderful son, Xavier
Contents
Sitting under a bush, I stared at a van, which two big men were unloading furniture from. I was about to move closer when my best cat friend, Tiger, appeared.
‘Alfie?’ she said.
I flicked my tail up in greeting. ‘Hello, Tiger. Look, people moving in!’ I was always excited by the sight of a removal van. You see, I am a doorstep cat. I visit more than one house and have lots of humans who think they own me. Of course, in reality I own them. But that is why removal vans have such a fascination for me. They mean new people, and new people need a cat.
I might make some new friends to play with and if I’m lucky they might even give me yummy food – pilchards are my favourite.
‘Alfie, this isn’t even our street, what are you doing here?’ Tiger was annoyed by my doorstep antics. She had one family and she liked it that way. But I loved my families – I had three altogether: one main home and two others, but I always say you can never have enough humans. Or pilchards for that matter.
‘It’s only round the corner.’ We were in the street next to mine, Edgar Road. ‘I’m in trouble again,’ I admitted.
‘What did you do?’ Tiger raised her whiskers.
‘Why do you always assume it’s my fault?’
‘Because it usually is, Alfie.’
I raised my whiskers back at her in protest, but Tiger was right. ‘It’s to do with baby Summer – she isn’t sleeping. She cries all the time. She sounds like you when someone steps on your tail.’
‘Thanks Alfie.’ She glared at me with her yellow eyes. ‘Anyway, what has that got to do with you being in trouble?’ She licked her brightly striped fur; it was clear why she had been named Tiger.
‘I’m just trying to explain,’ I huffed. ‘I’m tired, and Claire and Jonathan are tired and grumpy.’
‘And?’
‘And at breakfast I was half-asleep so I stumbled into my food bowl. My paws got covered in food so I panicked and somehow managed to tread it all into the carpet.’ I shuddered as I remembered how Claire and Jonathan, my normally lovely humans, had shouted at me and called me a ‘pest’.
‘So, they’re cross?’ Tiger asked, sounding sorry for me.
‘Yes, so I decided to lie low for a while. And in doing so I’ve found a new family, just to spend a bit of time with.’ I wasn’t planning on running away or anything like that.
‘I guess that’s fine but I know you. Don’t get too involved with them – don’t poke your whiskers into their business,’ Tiger said. I nuzzled her neck.
‘Don’t be silly, of course I won’t,’ I replied. Honestly, Tiger didn’t need to worry so much. After all what could possibly go wrong?
I made my way to the new house. It was easy to sneak in – the door was wide open, and the men were still carrying furniture so no one noticed me. I found myself in a big room that opened onto a kitchen.
There was a tall, thin man unpacking a lot of fruit onto the kitchen counter. There were more bananas, oranges and apples than I had ever seen. He seemed to be taking a great deal of care,