I was a lucky cat, and if I’d been a human, I’d have given Penny a box of Cadbury’s Roses like the one Max had given TammyLee for passing her exams.
The interior of the van was full of cat cages, and there was a cacophony of meowing and yowling. Black frightened eyes looked out, and most of the cats were extremely upset. I did a lot of work in the back of that van, showing them how to be calm and telling them about the work of Cats Protection. As Penny drove up the hill away from the flood, those traumatised cats were looking at me, their eyes hungry for reassurance. The worst was a Siamese with blue tormented eyes and the loudest voice I’d ever heard from a cat. ‘You’re upsetting everyone,’ I said, ‘and it’s no good wasting your energy on meowing. It won’t make any difference. Penny is a good and clever human. She’ll find your people for you.’
But the Siamese cat ignored me.
I thought Penny would take us to the farm with the cat pens, but she didn’t. When she pulled into a car park and turned off the engine, the yowling and meowing made eerie music ring through the night.
Where were we?
She opened the back door and outside was a big building like a school, with the lights on and people milling about inside. I wished I could read the tall red words on a board outside. Penny picked up my curiosity immediately and read them for me:
‘FLOOD DISASTER CENTRE.’
I could smell soup and bacon, and hear teacups clattering. From another part of the building came the smell of wet dogs, and the sound of barking. I listened for the particular bark I longed to hear … Amber! … but no, she wasn’t there, I was certain.
‘Is Amber in the spirit world?’ I asked my angel, fearing that her answer would be ‘yes’.
‘No,’ she said, ‘not yet.’
‘Then where is she?’
‘She is lost.’
I thought of my wonderful dog being lost out there in the flooded landscape, and sent her a message:‘Stay where you are, Amber, these kind people will find you.’ Somewhere she was shivering and alone, like I had been on the roof. I hoped the power of my thoughts would help her not to give up.
A group of smiling‘cat ladies’ came to the back of the van and carried our cat cages in a meowing procession in through brightly lit glass doors, and down a corridor. I was proud that Penny, the Queen of Cat Ladies had chosen ME to carry.
The building was warm and full of noise. People talking and children screaming and running about. We passed the kitchen and I sniffed the aromatic steam rising from massive cauldrons and trays of food. Beef, chicken and herby smells. I was absolutely starving.
‘Trust you to know where the kitchen is, Tallulah,’ said Penny when I meowed. ‘Don’t worry, you’ll get one of my nice sachets of rabbit in a minute.’
They took us into a shiny room with a high ceiling. It was full of bewildered cats, all in cages around the walls. Some were sitting, hunched up and staring miserably out. Others were cowering in the back of their cage, or weaving to and fro, trying hopelessly to escape. I wished the people would open the cages and let me sit in the middle and gather them round me for a communal purring session.
The promised sachet of rabbit arrived, and Penny popped it into my cage on a plastic dish. Nothing had ever tasted so scrumptious. I ate every bit, and cleaned the dish with my tongue. I sat calmly, washing, and waiting to see what would happen. The door opened, and an elderly man came in, his eyes searching the cat cages, and the Siamese cat yelled out at him. He stumbled across the room with tears glistening on his cheeks.
‘Judy! My Judy!’
He opened the cage and the Siamese cat’s blue eyes sparkled. She could talk, almost like a human, and the love radiated from her aura as she climbed into his arms, kissing his face and hugging him with her long paws. Then she dived inside his coat and nestled in there, her eyes half closed and blissful as she looked out at the restof us.
Through the evening there were more emotional reunions as people turned up to find their lost cats. It was a happy time, but not for me. My confidence was draining away. Every time the door opened, a tiny flame of hope started in my heart, and quickly died when I saw yet another sad and frightened cat being joyfully reclaimed, and it wasn’t me. I was tired, and the unfamiliar comings and goings resounded through the building. The effort of listening for a voice I knew was intense. Even Penny disappeared and a different cat lady took her place, but she didn’t know me. I was just another cat.
My eyes began to close. It didn’t feel right to be in that harshly lit noisy place late at night when I would normally have been curled up on TammyLee’s bed. The children’s voices changed from happy playing to screaming and crying, along with the raised voices of exasperated mothers trying to get them to sleep. Plates and pans were being crashed around in the kitchen, doors were banging, and people were shouting to each other. My head ached and my ears hurt with the noise. Sleep was impossible.