And how was I going to get back across the river?
I meowed at TammyLee but she didn’t hear me. She had those little black earphones in her ears, listening to music. I started back the way I had come, wanting to go with her, but then a worse thought came to me. Even if I did go back along the bank and through the sheep field, I couldn’t possibly jump up onto that branch. I sat down to think, and my angel came again, hovering over the water.
‘You must go on, to the foot bridge,’ she said. ‘I’ve told you, there are no bad cats, Tallulah. You must cross the bridge and go to the elder tree, then you will know why. Go quickly now. Quickly.’
She whisked me along under the shimmering umbrella of her wings, and I felt protected. No one stopped me. No dogs barked at me. I reached the foot bridge and trotted over it, relieved to be back on my side of the river.
I looked for the elder tree, and it had gone. My fur began to prickle and I crouched down in the long grass to see what had changed. The tree, and the old wall, had been removed, and in its place was a new-looking patio with slabs of dark grey and gold, and in the middle was a bench of polished red wood. A new tree had been planted next to it and it wasn’t an elder. This one had thick clusters of pink flowers.
It felt strangely disappointing. I’d been looking forward to some magic time with TammyLee under that special elder tree. So why had my angel brought me here, hustling me along the riverbank, only to see a bench?
I watched and waited.
I could hear the river, and the traffic in the town. Then voices and footsteps. I sat up to see who was coming along the path and it was two women with pushchairs, one behind the other, talking in low voices that seemed to belong to the sleepy afternoon.
They stood looking at the bench, running their fingers over the polished wood, and touching the square of brass that reflected the sun. I could tell there were babies in the two pushchairs, even though they had their back to me, each had an angel of light like two splashes of gold in the air, not huge but intense and comforting. It made me purr as I lay hidden in the grass, watching. Since that night with Rocky, I loved babies and wanted to be close to them whenever I had the chance.
‘Wait, Tallulah,’ said my angel. ‘The right moment will come, if you listen.’
I listened, and there were grasshoppers zeet-zeeting in the hot grass, and pigeons coo-cooing, and the distant thump-thump of music from the town. My angel pointed at the two women with a finger that sliced through the air like a blade of turquoise light. So I focused on their faces and their conversation. Soon I knew their names– Maddie and Kaye – and Kaye was doing most of the talking.
‘Wasn’t it a lovely thing to do?’ she was saying. ‘To put a bench here. And such a posh one. Must have cost a fortune.’
‘Lovely,’ agreed Maddie.
‘Linda paid for it,’ said Kaye, ‘and she wouldn’t have her name on it. She’s like that.’
The name Linda tweaked my memory of the kind lady who had found Rocky and cried over him. The lady with the comfortable shoulders and the shivering dog.
Both women turned and looked at the square of brass again and were silent for a moment. I wondered what was on it. Pity I couldn’t read. I was getting twitchy, wanting to go out there with my tail up, and wanting to go home to TammyLee. Had she been here? Had she cried on this special day, and needed me to be with her, while I was messing about instead of coming here?
‘You’re getting negative again. Just listen,’ said my angel.
‘But what am I doing here?’ I asked.
‘Wait,’ she repeated patiently, ‘and soon you will know.’
One of the babies was waking up. I could see a plump little hand waving from the pushchair.
‘She’s too hot. Aren’t you, my darling?’ Maddie stood up, lifted the baby girl out and sat down again, nursing her.
Then the other baby started to scream and kick vigorously at the pushchair. Kaye was on her feet instantly.
‘What’s the matter, darling? Want to get out, do you? All right, all right. Wait a minute while Mummy undoes the straps.’
‘He’s a bruiser!’ said Maddie, laughing, and the baby cried even more furiously while Kaye struggled to lift him out. He was big and energetic, his face red with the crying, his arms and legs thrashing.
‘Here we go,’ said Kaye, heaving him onto her lap. ‘He’s in a strop.’
‘Go out there,’ said my angel, ‘and purr.’
I pulled up my tail, straightened my whiskers, and walked out into the sunshine.
‘Oh, look … a cat. A pretty pussycat,’ said Kaye.
The effect on the crying child was instant.
‘Tat!’ he shouted, and clapped his fat little hands. ‘Tat!’
I jumped up onto the warm bench between the two women and turned on the purring, rubbing my head against first one and then the other.
‘Oh, lovely … friendly cat. You stroke him, he’s soft,’ said Maddie, putting her baby girl’s tiny hand on my fur. It felt like a butterfly.
‘Tat!’ The baby boy was getting more and more excited. ‘Mine.’