Gretel hadn’t meant to hurt me. She didn’t understand. I’d forgiven her, every time, but the pain had burrowed into my mind and made me depressed. Now this wonderful animal healer, Roxanne, had chosen me – FIRST – and she knew what to do, what to whisper into my twitching ears. She wasn’t in a hurry. She spent ages healing me, sending colours into every part of my body.
‘You take as much as you need, darling,’ she kept saying. And I did. I soaked up the colour and the healing energy like a starving soul. Gretel had stroked me and played with me, but no one had loved me like this. I felt I’d come home. I felt lighter and lighter, as if I were a thistle seedthat could blow for miles in the sunshine.
Then I heard purring, and it was me. I was purring.
‘And now – I’ll give you your name,’ said Roxanne. I looked attentively into her shiny dark eyes and waited. ‘You’re very beautiful,’ she said. ‘Your fur has the colours of a waterfall in the sunlight: silver and black with a tinge of gold and snowy white. And when you are well you will leap and dance and run fast like the mountain streams. So I’ll call you TALLULAH. It’s Native American for “Leaping water”.’ She whispered this to me so softly, the words were like gossamer, precious and strong. I wasn’t even sure whether I was hearing them or whether she was sending them by telepathy.
‘TALLULAH.’
I was thrilled. I had a name. A beautiful name that was full of music, a name that honoured my beauty and made me feel good.
A buzz of happiness started inside me, and I rolled over and managed to sit up and purr my gratitude to Roxanne. I was determined to touch noses with her, and I stretched up, wobbling a bit on my legs, and kissed her glowing face.
I was healed.
I was a new cat.
I had become Tallulah.
Chapter Six
BEING TALLULAH
On the day I left the animal hospital, I saw the mountains for the first time. They were peacock blue against the sky beyond the town and I wondered why I’d never noticed them before. I studied them as we travelled along, through familiar streets, past the common and the elderberry tree where I had found Rocky. Dark berries hung from it now. It was late summer, still hot, but the car I was travelling in was airy and quiet.
Being Tallulah made me feel proud and excited. Not knowing where I was going didn’t bother me. I couldn’t wait to arrive and start my search for TammyLee.
The car followed the river out of town, past its foamy places and waterfalls as it flowed down from the hills. I longed to get out and sit watching them, seeing the colours of my fur as Roxanne had described them. Silver, black, tinges of gold and snowy white. I longed to climb trees, and explore, chase leaves through the woods, hide in the long grass, and stalk mice in the moonlight. I was a free spirit now. I was Tallulah.
‘You must be patient for a while longer, Tallulah,’ said my angel as we turned into a farm gateway and down a track to a cottage. Immediately, I could hear the cats. There were other cats there, and all of them meowing. I hoped they would like me.
But when the car stopped, I was again carried out in the cat basket. There was a lovely house, but we didn’t go inside. Instead, we went round to a yard at the back, and along the wall was a line of wire enclosures, each with a cat inside. Cages. Prisons. What a let-down! I was put inside one, and it had double doors so that I couldn’t escape when someone came in.
‘Hello, my luvvy.’
A warm friendly woman welcomed me, and she smelled of cats. Her eyes sparkled at me. I meowed back.
‘I’m Penny,’ she told me, and I’m the cat lady, that’s what everyone calls me. I’m not adopting you, luvvy, but fostering you, and you can live in this lovely Cat Protection pen until we find a super home for you.’
She came into the pen with me, and opened the door of my travelling basket. I stepped out politely, with my tail up and my whiskers shining in the morning sun.
‘Tallulah,’ said Penny thoughtfully. ‘That’s a nice name, and aren’t you just BEAUTIFUL! We’ll have no trouble finding you a nice home. You won’t be here for long.’
She stayed in the pen with me, sitting on a chair while I explored my new home. It had some great perches I could climb up to and sit on. It had a little house with a window and a warm bed inside. There was a huge litter tray, and a post with rope wound round it and I spent some time smelling it. Judging by the claw marks, dozens of cats had used it as a claw-sharpener. In a box on the floor were some toys: a ball with a bell inside, a brand-new cat-nip mouse, a teddy bear and some other bits and pieces. I looked at them, but didn’t yet feel like playing. When I’d inspected every inch of the pen and found no way out, I jumped onto Penny’s lap and she stayed there for me, smoothing my long fur while I purred myself to sleep.
Eventually, she got up and tenderly put me on the chair.