But deep down in the grass tunnel was a creature bigger than me with a pink snout of a nose and two beetle-black eyes. A rat! I turned into a ball of wire bristles and hissed at him. He lunged at me in a blaze of whiskers and a gleam of white fangs. I fled in terror, hearing his enraged squeak as he chased me. He would kill me. Where could I go?
I shot out of the tunnel and made for the doorstep. Leroy was sitting there laughing at me.‘What’s the matter, Timba?’ I dived inside his jacket, settling under his arm, where the slow beating of his heart calmed me down, made me feel safe again. When I peeped out there was no sign of the rat, and I was glad to let Leroy carry me indoors. Humans do have their uses, I thought, despite their bizarre behaviour.
Chapter Three
SURVIVING
Leroy’s bed was a chaotic heap of clothes, pillows and smelly old teddy bears. Without undressing or washing, he kicked off his shoes and got in, keeping me there on his shoulder as he dragged a duvet over himself. To my surprise, he went to sleep instantly, and then, in the stillness and the silence, I saw his angel.
She wasn’t hovering in the air. She was all around Leroy like a shining blanket, her beautiful face close to his head. I meowed, hoping she would notice me, and she did. We gazed into each other’s eyes and for me it was like drinking when you are thirsty. The radiance of an angel’s eyes is limitless and sustaining. I was thrilled when she spoke to me.
‘It was me who told you to purr, Timba,’ she said, while I soaked up every life-giving word. ‘You are a fabulous kitten, a messenger of love and fun.’
‘So why have I ended up with Leroy? It feels wrong,’ I said.
‘It isn’t wrong, Timba. You’ve done everything right and we are proud of you. Leroy is having a difficult childhood, like you, and he needs your love. You are a tiny kitten, I know, but your love is not tiny. Your love is huge and powerful. Your love is like an angel. Always remember that.’
As if I would forget! Her words were music to me.
‘You will mature into a strong and magnificent cat, Timba. You and Leroy have a special bond. There will be happy times. You can have one right now, while Leroy is sleeping!’
She closed her beautiful eyes and her light lingered around the sleeping boy. I got up and stretched my small body. It felt flexible and re-energised. In the dim orange glow from the street lights outside the window, I surveyed Leroy’s bedroom and felt excited. So many interesting things to play with. If only Vati was there with me.
Playing on my own made me use my imagination. I patted a silver bottle top and pretended it was a mouse. Even though I had never actually seen a mouse, my instinct told me how fast a mouse moved and how it dived into holes. There were plenty of‘holes’ around. Carrier bags, shoes and piles of clothes cluttered the floor, creating pockets of darkness. I practised chasing the bottle top into one, then stalking it like a grown-up cat. I found a toggle hanging from a coat and had a go at leaping and twisting to catch it, not always landing the right way up, and frightening myself a little, especially with the noise I was generating. Loudest was a paper carrier bag. It crackled like thunder when I was jumping around inside it, and the sound excited me. My tail bushed out and everything became too vivid, as if no barriers existed between imagination and reality. Tense with excitement, I stood looking up at Leroy’s football which seemed to be shivering all by itself. I patted it, and it moved. Was it alive? I pretended it was that dog’s face, and launched myself at it, digging my claws in and kicking. It rolled over on top of me, scaring me so much that I ran faster than ever before and skidded into the slot under Leroy’s bed.
Peering out at the football, I watched to see if it would move again, if it was really alive and planning to attack me, but it just sat there. The hiding and the watching made me feel lonely. What I needed was another kitten to share the experiences, someone to practise fighting and chasing with. A football was no good. It didn’t squeal and kick me back.
I needed my brother Vati. I needed him so much that the space around me seemed to be hurting my fur. Empty space, inanimate objects, dead-eyed teddy bears who refused to move. I crept out again, looked up at Leroy’s sleeping face and wanted to be close to the warmth of another living being. In my sadness I no longer saw the angel, only the troubled boy who slept with a frown on his face.
Perhaps I would never be happy without Vati. We were meant to be together, like our names. Something was wrong with the world if two kittens couldn’t grow up together as nature intended.