Leroy looked mortified.‘I didn’t know,’ he said, and began to cry, this time quietly. Silent tears of shame and fright.
‘Does your mother know what you are doing?’
Leroy shook his head. The owl woman had some power over him. Her sharp eyes pinned him to the pavement. He reached up and touched the top of my head with one finger.
‘I’m sorry, Timba,’ he said in the faintest of whispers.
‘I should think you are,’ thundered the owl woman. ‘I know where you live, Leroy McArthur, and you are going to turn that trolley round and wheel it home, nicely, in front of me, and I shall walk behind you and carry this darling kitten, and when we get to your house I shall want an explanation from that mother of yours.’
‘Mum’s in bed,’ said Leroy.
The owl woman tutted.‘In BED? Is she ill?’
‘No … and can I have my kitten back … please?’
‘Certainly not. You aren’t fit to keep a kitten and I shall tell your mother. Oh I won’t mince my words … and if she’s in bed at three o’clock on a lovely afternoon, I shall get her up.’
‘Mum might swear at you,’ Leroy warned.
‘I don’t care. Now … you turn that trolley round, and walk … go on. Walk slowly. This baby kitten is badly shaken.’
Lying in her healing hands on the long walk back was like floating in a golden bubble. I closed my eyes and purred. For the first time since we’d been abandoned, I actually felt safe.
‘And by the way … Leroy … let me look at you,’ she said, and Leroy paused and looked into her face. ‘What happened to your eye, child?’
There was a long silence.
‘Mum …’ began Leroy, then he hesitated. ‘I got hit by a football at school.’
Immediately his aura darkened. Why was he lying?
‘I see.’ The owl woman said no more but strutted behind Leroy, carrying me with such love, as if I was a baby bird that had fallen from the nest.
Leroy was trembling as he unlocked the front door.
‘I’ll take the trolley back to Tesco,’ he said, ‘but please … please let me have Timba back. He’s my kitten.’
‘No, you shall not have him back. You go and wake your mother and if she doesn’t come down here immediately, then I’ll go upstairs and see her.’ The owl woman wedged herself in the open door, and we waited together while Leroy trudged up the stairs. We heard fierce whispering and eventually Janine came down.
‘Mrs Lanbrow,’ she muttered, looking shocked. ‘What’s wrong?’
‘This is what’s wrong. This half-dead kitten being thrashed up and down the road in a shopping trolley. It’s terrified, and it’s badly bruised. I wouldn’t be surprised if it dies.’ The owl woman had power in her voice, but she spoke with a quiet that seemed to spook Janine. ‘And don’t blame the boy,’ she continued as Janine turned on Leroy. ‘He’s only a child and he doesn’t understand. How come he was allowed to treat a kitten like that? I want some answers … and they’d better be good.’ She lowered her voice an octave. ‘Because I’m taking this poor kitten down that road to the vet, and he will want to know what happened. This is animal cruelty, Mrs McArthur … animal cruelty … and it’s punishable by law.’
‘She means the police, Mum,’ Leroy whispered.
‘Shut up, you. You’re in enough trouble.’
‘I can see that,’ said the owl woman, and she put a kindly arm around Leroy. ‘That swollen eye looks very nasty.’
Janine opened her mouth to speak and shut it again, her face going white as the owl woman looked scathingly at her and said,‘And don’t even think about saying it’s none of my business. I make it my business to care about animals … and children … and I don’t care what people think of me. Now then …’ She looked down at me very still and quiet in her hands. ‘I’m taking the kitten down the roadto the vet, whether you like it or not.’
‘Can I come? He’s my kitten,’ Leroy said.
‘No you can’t,’ snapped Janine.
With a blend of contempt and compassion in her eyes, the owl woman left them arguing and swept out, billowing down the street with me now half asleep in her cupped hands. I was aware of Leroy’s running feet catching up and his anxious expression. Was I OK?
I wasn’t OK. In a haze of pain, I saw those I loved drifting towards me … my mum Jessica, my dad Solomon, and Vati’s elfin face with its knowing eyes. Vati was there with me. He didn’t want me to die. Vati and the owl woman were holding me in a glistening cradle, and the pain was leaving my body one sparkle at a time. I didn’t need the vet. All I needed was the owl woman’s huge coral-coloured aura, and Vati. Vati was wise. He would know what to do. I had to find him.
In my dream-like state, I saw myself being put gently on a soft rug under a warm light. I was limp and useless, and so sad. My self-esteem and my ambition to grow into a magnificent, independent cat seemed futile. I was now a pathetic scrap of fur.
‘Where did you get this kitten?’
Three people were looking at me … Rick, the vet, the owl woman and Leroy. I felt love from all of them, even from Leroy who was still crying silent tears. I heard him telling Rick where he had found me and how he had called me Timba.