I heard footsteps. Someone far away was pit-patting down the lane, coming closer, stopping. Someone had stopped to listen. I meowed even louder, trying to put hope into my voice. I heard heavy breathing and the thump of feet in the copse. Someone had scrambled over the wall and through the brambles.
I meowed faster to encourage the person.
‘Where are you?’ called a voice. ‘Pussy cat?’
Meow. Meow.
‘Are you up a tree? Down a tin mine? Come on where are you? I haven’t climbed over that hedge for nothing you know.’
I knew that kind voice. It was Karenza. Her black boots came scrunching through the copse and stopped. She was looking around for me. I managed to stand up on my wobbly legs, and I just remembered how to put my tail up.
‘Oh you poor, poor cat,’ she gasped when she saw me. She came gently towards me. ‘Will you let me pick you up?’
Would I let her! It was heaven to be in someone’s arms again and feel a warm coat and hear a heartbeat. I purred and purred as if I would never stop.
Inside Karenza’s cottage a bright fire was burning. She put me down on a sumptuous rug right next to it, and the warmth soaked into me. It was heavenly. Karenza seemed to know I was too weak to cope with the other cats and she shooed them into the kitchen and shut the door. She brought me a dish of Whiskas rabbit.
‘Nothing wrong with your appetite,’ she said as I tucked in. Afterwards I was too exhausted to wash. Feeling warm and safe, I stretched out by the fire to sleep. Before I drifted off, I heard Karenza talking on the phone.
‘I’ve found Solomon,’ she said and I heard a scream at the other end of the phone. ‘He’s here, and he’s safe, and I’ll take care of him until you come.’
My sleep was deep and blissful. Once in the night I awoke, surprised to find Karenza had put me in a round fluffy cat bed and taken me into her bedroom. She wasn’t asleep but lying close to me with her hand on my back. I was so thin that when she stroked me her fingers seemed to be touching my bones. She was talking to me gently and her hand was full of stars. Healing stars. I began to purr, and the rhythmic purring and the stars mingled together throughthe night.
Karenza was a cat healer. She lived alone in the cottage and all her love was poured into looking after her cats. I was so lucky, I felt ashamed of my angry thoughts and the way I’d turned my back on my angel. But the pain of losing Ellen, and then Jessica, was overwhelming. I shuddered, and Karenza was there for me instantly, stroking and soothing, and telling me to go back to sleep.
In the morning Abby the vet turned up to see me.
‘He’ll be fine,’ she said, after she’d given me a load of injections and told Karenza what they were. ‘Worms, fleas, mange, cat flu jab and a vitamin boost. Just keep him warm, keep him away from the other cats until he’s stronger, and feed him little and often.’
‘He’ll get lots of TLC,’ said Karenza. ‘And this afternoon he’s getting a surprise.’
A surprise? I thought that might be a catnip mouse, but I wouldn’t have the energy to play with it. All I wanted to do was sleep. Karenza carried my new fluffy bed to the fireside and I lay there gazing into the golden flames. I chose one flame that had a rim of sapphire blue, then orange, then white hot in the middle. In my mind I walked through that white-hot door into the land of pure light, and Jessica was there, washing her pink paws. She looked beautiful and perfect, but far away where I couldn’t reach her.
My angel came, and she said,‘You must heal in body and soul, Solomon. It will take a long time, so be patient with yourself. Now go back to sleep.’
I did, feeling like the warmest cat in the world.
In late afternoon when the winter sun was filling the cottage with beams of gold, I heard a car pull up outside. I heard feet running up the path.
‘You wait till you see who this is, Solomon.’ Karenza winked as she swept past me to answer the door.
She opened it, and there stood my Ellen.
If cats could cry, I’d have cried with happiness. I stepped out of the fluffy bed, and my legs felt stronger already. My tail went up by itself and I ran to greet my Ellen.
‘Solomon,’ she breathed, and picked me up. I licked the tears from her cheeks and purred.
‘You darling, darling cat. And you’re so thin. What have you been through?’
I wanted to tell her, but even if I’d had the words, I couldn’t have spoken. It was too big, too painful to tell her about Jessica dying in the cold woods, the old badger leading me home, and the Diary of a Desperate Cat.
‘Look at his fur,’ Ellen said, smoothing me.
‘The vet said it will grow back. She came out this morning, and gave him some injections. She said he’ll be fine.’
‘Thank you, Karenza.’
Ellen gave Karenza a hug with one arm. She sat down by the fire with me on her lap. I noticed she looked better, there was a glow on her cheeks and she was wearing a beautiful sparkly scarf.
‘I’ve left John with Pam,’ she said. ‘She’s bringing him down in a short while.’
‘So what’s been happening?’ said Karenza.