The Clever Little Kitten

 

 

 

This book has been specially written and published for World Book Day 2012.

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Look out for more

MAGIC   MOLLY
books:

 

1.   The   Witch's   Kitten

2.   The   Wish   Puppy

3.   The   Invisible   Bunny

4.   The   Secret   Pony

5.   The   Shy   Piglet

 

and coming soon…

 

6.   The   Good   Luck   Duck
 

 

 

 

 

 

For Tom, Robin and William

 

 

Cover

World Book Day

Look out for more MAGIC MOLLY books

Title page

Dedication

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Holly Webb

World Book Day

Copyright

 

 

 

Molly sat at the kitchen table, staring sleepily into her cereal. She was tired, but she was smiling. She had a feeling that today was going to be a good day. She gave an enormous yawn, and giggled.

It was still dark outside. Molly really hadn't wanted to get out of bed, but Kitty, her little sister, had been riding an imaginary horse up
and down the landing, and the horse kept stopping to neigh loudly outside Molly's bedroom door. Kitty liked someone to play with.

“Why are you so sleepy, Moll?” Dad asked. He looked tired too, but that was because he'd been called out to one of the sheep farms in the middle of the night, for an early lambing.

 

 

“Kitty woke me up…” Molly yawned hugely again, and tried to remember the dream she'd been having. She couldn't remember exactly what it had been about. Just that it was special.

She leant her chin on one hand and nibbled some more cereal. Usually, when Molly had a dream that felt important, it meant that something exciting was going to happen.

Molly smiled to herself, licking her spoon thoughtfully. Perhaps she was going to meet another magical animal. It felt so long since she'd helped a shy little piglet called Mouse. She'd missed that wonderful feeling of magic swirling around her.

 

 

Molly closed her eyes, hunting for any wisps of her dream that might be floating around. What sort of animal had she been dreaming about? Did someone need her help?

“Moll-eee! Look!” Kitty demanded. “I made a dragon out of my toast!”

At the exact same time, the phone rang loudly.

Molly jumped, and just managed to catch her cereal bowl before it tipped into her lap. All the last little bits of her dream went straight out of her head. Except for something to do with whiskers…

Molly's mum got up to answer the phone and her dad gulped his tea in a hurry. At this time of the morning, it was probably an emergency vet call.

“Oh, hello, Janie. Oh no! Yes, you'd better bring her over, poor little thing. Yes, I'll tell Sam and he'll meet you at the surgery in a few minutes.” Molly's mum looked sad as she put the phone down. “That was Janie. You know William's
mum? They got a kitten just a couple of days ago, and she's had an accident. Janie's going to bring the kitten over to the surgery straight away.”

“What's happened?” Molly asked anxiously. She really hoped it wasn't a serious accident.

 

 

She loved living right next to her dad's surgery, and being able to visit all the animals, but sometimes it could be sad.

“She's trapped her tail, apparently. I'm not sure how it happened.”

Molly made a face. William was a friend of Kitty's from nursery. Kitty loved him, because exciting things always seemed to happen when he was there. Like the nursery's giant snails somehow escaping from their tank, and trailing slime all across the new whiteboard.

“William's got a kitten?” Kitty asked, wide-eyed. “I want a kitten!”

Molly sighed. She would love a kitten too. But Mum and Dad thought she and Kitty weren't old enough to be responsible for a pet. If William had accidentally hurt his new kitten, it would just make Dad even more sure he was right.

Molly's dad picked up his cereal
bowl and drank the milk out of it, while Kitty glared at him. Mum told her off for that. “Sorry. Got to rush!” he explained. “And only dads are allowed to do that, Kitty!”

Kitty was all set to argue, but Dad had gone, heading across the yard to the old barn that had been converted into Larkfield Farm Vets.

“I hope the kitten's OK,” Molly said, staring after him worriedly.

Her mum gave her a quick hug. “You can go over to the surgery after school to see. We need to get going now, though. We'd better hurry.”

Kitty picked up Molly's cereal bowl and drank the milk out of it,
then smiled sweetly at their mum. “I'm just hurrying like Daddy!”

 

 

Molly hurried home after school with Grandad. Molly's mum worked as a nurse at the vet's surgery too and did a lot of the office work, so Grandad quite often helped out with looking after Molly and Kitty. Mum had told them that she needed to do lots of work on the surgery website today.

“I really want to go and see how the kitten is,” Molly explained, as Grandad called after her to slow down. “Did Mum say anything about her? A kitten with a hurt tail, who came in this morning?”

Grandad shook his head. “Sorry, Molly, no one mentioned it. We're nearly home, just slow down for a bit. We can't keep up with you – my legs are too old and Kitty's are too short!”

But Molly wasn't listening. She
was wondering if the whiskers in her dream were kitten's whiskers…

 

“Hi, Molly!” Jenny, one of the nurses, glanced up from the computer. “Come to help out?”

Molly leaned on the counter, looking hopefully at Jenny.

 

 

“Jenny, is the kitten OK? Dad rushed off this morning because there was a kitten who'd been in an accident.”

Jenny smiled. “She's not too bad.
Mrs Warren was worried that her tail was broken, but it was just badly bruised. Your dad's kept her here today just to make sure she wasn't too shocked, but Mrs Warren's going to pick her up later.”

“Oh, good!” Molly felt her shoulders relax again – she hadn't realized how much she'd been worrying about the kitten. “What happened to her, anyway?”

“Believe it or not, she got her tail shut in the door of the washing machine!” Jenny shook her head.

“Do you think it was anything to do with William?” Molly asked, anxiously.

Molly's dad put his head round
the door of the surgery. “I thought I could hear you, Molly. Actually, I've a feeling it wasn't William's fault at all – his mum was very upset about it. Come and see the kitten. She's called Posy.”

 

 

He beckoned Molly after him, into the ward where they kept animals who needed to stay and be cared for.

The ward was almost empty, with little rustling noises coming from just
one cage. Molly moved over towards it quietly, not wanting to scare the kitten.

But as she came closer to the cage, Molly realized she needn't have worried. Most cats at the vet's looked miserable – either they were feeling ill, or they just hated being shut away somewhere that wasn't home and smelled all wrong.

This kitten was positively bouncy. She looked up at Molly with huge green eyes, and her silvery whiskers sparkled with excitement.

“Oh! Who are you? Do you belong here? Can you get me out of here, please? It's not very interesting in this cage, and I can hear people
talking outside. I'm sure it's much more fun out there. What's your name? Is that nice man your father? You smell the same, did you know? Why aren't you saying anything? You can hear me, can't you?”