Creative Writing - Kids on the Net

The Adventures of Jessie

By Eleanor, 10, Nottingham, UK

More writing from Eleanor

This story is the Editor's Award winner for March 2004

FINDING A NEW HOME

I stretched my paws and turned around to face my mum. I opened one eye and saw her furry face looking down at me and I saw a smile on her face approaching as she saw me look at her. I stuck my tongue out and leant into her warm, soft tummy. I yawned as I put my paw around her beautiful black and white coat. I wonder what I’ll do today? Maybe I’ll play with mum or make something out of the hay outside our house. I could dine on fishes and mice until I was sick. It was a hard decision. I closed my eyes. Just then, I heard voices in the distance; I tried to listen to them, to make out what they were saying. I could just make out a soft voice saying ‘we’re going to get a cat,’ A cat, I thought, it could be me! I opened my eyes, turned around, pulled myself up and stretched a huge stretch.
‘Mum!’ I purred. ‘Some people are going to get a cat! Maybe they’ll chose both of us!’
‘Don’t get your hopes up, now come back down and lie with me…’
‘But!’ I was so excited, yet annoyed about my mum’s behaviour. Really! She had often talked about the beautiful lives of pet cats with human families, as she had been one of those lucky cats, until she was abandoned. ‘Come on mum! Get up!’ I meowed. ‘I want you to come with me!’
‘No,’ whispered my mum.
I sighed and looked up and saw a huge green plant stare back at me, it’s huge leaves rustling in the cool breeze. Then I turned round and saw legs, lots of them.
‘Mum!’ I meowed.
‘No,’ she purred.
I clung on to the edges of our metal cage. A couple of friendly looking faces looked down at me and cooed.
‘Isn’t she cute!’ boomed a huge voice, belonging to a small girl, who was one of the people looking at me.
‘Yes,’ said the woman. ‘So, Tabitha, have you decided?’
‘Oh yes!’ replied Tabitha, ‘I’m going to have this cat!’
Soon after, the people walked away from me and to a large desk at the front of the house. They started talking. I turned to my mum.
‘I’m going!’ I whispered.
My mum sat up. ‘Are you sure?’ she asked.
‘Sure! Didn’t you hear them? They said I was cute and a girl said she wanted me so I’m going to live with them!’
‘With me?’ she asked.
I paused. The room was silent apart from the faint voices of the humans talking.
‘Well?’ she asked.
‘No,’ I purred.
She sighed a long sigh and turned around, with her back facing me.
‘It’s not my fault!’ I said.
‘I know,’ she sighed. ‘I know.’

‘Bye,’ I whispered as the small girl who had chosen me was picking me up. My mum did not answer. I whispered again. ‘Bye!’ No answer. I shook my legs in frustration, I was being taken away and my mum wasn’t saying a word to me.
‘Meow!’ I meowed.
‘What’s wrong?’ asked Tabitha to her mum.
‘Oh I don’t know, we’ll have a look at her when we get home.’
‘Jessie,’ said Tabitha.
Her mum looked puzzled.
‘I’m calling her Jessie,’ replied Tabitha.

I was put into a horrible cage away from my mum. As I was being carried away I cried. I didn’t see how this would be my lucky family. My mummy was the only proper family I had and we were being split up-we’d never see each other again…

JESSIE EXPLORES THE HOUSE

I opened my eyes and looked around me, looking for my mum. She wasn’t there. Then I remembered. I had a new family. A noisy family.
‘MUM!’ Screamed a voice from upstairs. ‘MUM WHERE’S MY SKIRT?’
‘On your desk!’ called a voice.
‘IT’S NOT THERE!’ It shouted. ‘I LOOKED!’
‘TABITHA!’ Screamed the woman. ‘Put on your trousers and get down here, you breakfast is going cold!’
‘Mum!’ moaned Tabitha.
‘GET HERE!’ Shrieked her mum.
I heard a huge thumping sound, turned and saw a huge face with a scowl on it. Tabitha.
When she saw me, the frown changed into a smile and she headed towards me, sat down and rubbed me behind the ears.
‘You won’t see me all day today,’ she said and pulled a face. ‘I’m going to school and mum and dad are going to work so you’ll have to stay in the porch-we’ve got you a new bed!’
‘Meow!’ I meowed.
‘What?’ asked Tabitha. ‘What’s wrong?’
She went off to tell her mum that something was wrong with me, which there was. I missed my mum. I missed her terribly. My heart felt weird now, in fact, my body felt hollow, as if I didn’t have a heart. I sniffed, swallowed and examined my new home. Everything was huge. There was a huge white glossy door next to me, on it were cards that said ‘happy birthday’, and inside I could see that it was to Tabitha. I looked to the right. The walls were green and gold; in the middle was a green flower border with gold in the middle of them. Towards the top was a huge white ceiling and in the middle was a gold lamp with green beads dangling down. Pretty. Further on the right was a fireplace-the fire wasn’t on. Next to it was a model and further on still was a huge green painted box-I wondered what was in there. Then there was a black leather sofa; it had little gold cats as a border. Next came the other door, this time it had no cards on. I tried to see what was in the next room but couldn’t see so I got up and padded into the dining room. It was small, it had a red carpet and in the corner was a huge white screen. Underneath it was a weird blob and coming out of it was lots of papers. I peered round the back and saw dozens of wires and plugs and one socket. At least, I think it was called a socket. The walls were scarlet and there were little silver blobs on the walls, it looked very effective. There was a table, on top it had a silver shiny cover on and there were red mats on the table. Tabitha was eating from one.
‘Jessie!’ she called.
I stared at her and carried on. There were these covering things, over the windows, which were bright red. Then there was a door carrying on, the kitchen! When I stepped on the floor, I realized that I was standing on cold black tiles. I looked around and saw a black and white square room. The walls were black and white. The pans were black. The cupboards were white. The towels were white and black. There were some more cover things over the windows, they had black and white squares on them. I shuddered for some reason and then went out of the dining room, into the lounge and noticed more coverings! Green and gold. I didn’t notice them before. I saw some stairs and went up them, it felt weird going up, and when I looked down, I realized I was very high up. Soon I got onto this yellow landing and there were four doors. I walked up to the closest one and head butted the door until it opened. I looked around. It was the strangest room that I had ever seen and believe me, I have seen quite a lot.
Anyway, on one side was this huge tub thing; it was white and wet when I touched it with my nose. Above it was a cabinet and on the knob was a purple cat, staring back at me! I moved my head and saw the window. This time there were blue coverings and they were on different sides. Underneath was another funny shaped white thing with a hollow bit in the middle. On the side it had two silver things. Across was an even weirder thing. It was white at the bottom, and brown at the top. The brown thing was hiding something. I didn’t know what it was.
I walked out of the room and headed into a different door, which was open. On the door it said ‘Tabitha’ in purple. I went in and saw this pink and purple wall. On the floor was a dark purple carpet and the coverings were pink tie die things, I think that is what it is called. On one side were these drawers with knobs and it had a mirror and a brush on top. On the other side were lots of thick papers with covers and they all had pictures on. I walked out.
The next room was orange. It had a big bed and two drawer things. There was a thing where you keep materials and there were boxes with papers in. Finally I saw a room, which was a peach colour. On one side was a huge yellow board with an (iron?) on top. There were white coverings and there was a camp bed. I jumped down the stairs and Tabitha put me in the porch. The humans left. What was I going to do?

JESSIE MAKES AN ENEMY

After wondering for approximately two hours about what I should do, I decided to explore my street. After all, from now on I will be living here. I jumped out of my orange bed and onto the cold carpet below. There was a big lump of orange on the floor. It smelt disgusting. I kept away from it and headed straight to the big brown door.
‘Meow!’ I meowed.
There was no one there. The house was silent, apart from me; I was scratching the door, hoping that it would open. It didn’t. I looked around me and spotted a smaller door, I padded towards the door and pushed it with my head, waiting for it to open. It did. I nearly jumped for joy, but instead, I made my way out into the cold and miserable morning. I stared out onto the street that lay before me. Come on, I thought to myself and I put one of my paws out and then the other and then the other and all of a sudden, I was walking! Walking out into the grey street with gravel on. When I got onto the other side of the road I had a good look round at the houses. On one of the walls on the front garden, was one cat. This cat was a ginger, black, brown, white colour. It was standing still like a stump, the only movements it made was the occasional twitching. I decided I would go up to the cat and say hello, after all, I needed some friends.
‘Hi!’ I mewed.
‘Eugh!’ said the cat. ‘New one is it? I guess we won’t be seeing much of you!’
‘Pardon?’ I asked politely.
‘Exactly what I said.’ It replied. ‘What’s your name?’
‘Jessie,’ I replied, a little shakily. ‘What’s yours?’
‘Lily,’ said Lily.
‘Nice name,’ I said. ‘Isn’t Lily a flower?’
‘Yes, and you have Lily’s at funerals. And I guess when you die, you won’t have one.’
‘Maybe,’ I said defensively. ‘And you.’
‘Whatever,’ purred Lily. ‘What do you want?’
‘Friends. I’m new here.’
‘I could tell,’ said Lily. ‘You won’t be making many friends, you’ll be too scared.’
‘Me?’ I said proudly. ‘I won’t be scared, I’m brave!’
‘No your not, you wimp!’
‘Oi!’
‘You’re gonna wish you hadn’t spoken to me!’ said Lily. She leapt off the wall and chased me. I ran back to my garden and straight through the door.
Lily stayed outside but she purred softly through the door.
‘I’m gonna make your life hell and your folks won’t be able to do anything about it cause they won’t know!’
‘Yes they will, they care!’
‘Care as they may, they won’t know what your saying. They don’t understand you.’
‘They do!’ I said.
I turned away and then looked back. Lily was gone.
Well, I thought, there must be more cats on the street, I could make friends with them and there could be a Lily group and we could be mean to her. Maybe, I thought. I yawned a huge yawn and went to sleep.

OFF TO THE VETS WE GO

Tabitha woke me up from a beautiful dream about little pink sugar mice who jumped in my mouth. Well, when I said Tabitha I forgot to mention her friends. There were about five of them. They all got their coats off and stood in the living room. I got out of my bed and followed them. Tabitha looked at me and sighed.
‘Jess,’ she said to me, I stared at her. She stared at me. ‘Meet my friends,’ she pointed to all the five girls as she said their names, ‘Sally, Harriet, Millie, Susan and Billie,’
‘Hi,’ they waved at me.
‘Meow!’ I meowed.
Susan shrieked and ran up the stairs.
‘Your scared!’ jeered Sally, I meowed again and she squealed.
‘So are you,’ said Tabitha, ‘come on, lets go up to my room.
‘I want to stay with pussie!’ moaned Millie.
‘Her name is Jessie,’ corrected Tabitha. ‘Stay with her if you want. Does anyone else want to stay with Jessie?’
Millie looked around. No one wanted too.
‘Oh please Billie. Harriet?’ asked Millie.
‘No,’ said Harriet. She folded her arms. ‘I want to stay with my friend Tabitha!’
Billie looked uneasily at Tabitha.
‘Stay if you want to,’ she said. ‘Come to my room when you’re done poking and stroking Jessie.’
She stormed upstairs with Harriet, Sally and a scared Susan.
‘Millie!’ said Billie. ’Next time, make sure I don’t get told off!’ she sighed and turned to me. ‘Here pussy, pussy, pussy.’ She sounded bored. I yawned.
‘She’s tired, see?’ said Billie. ‘We should leave her.’
‘No!’ said Millie. ‘We’re staying with Jessie!’
‘Whatever,’ mumbled Billie.
It was then that I realized that Billie sounded exactly liked Lily. I shuddered.
‘Aww, is pussy cold?’ asked Millie. She reached out and stroked me.
I bared my teeth and lay down.
Millie tickled my tummy. I moved over, and went to sleep.
‘We’re going to the vets!’ cried mum.
I woke up and looked around me. There were no more shrieking girls.
Tabitha moaned as she ran downstairs. ‘Why?’ she asked.
‘Jessie needs her injections,’ said her mum.
Injections! I thought. I hid under the sofa.
‘Go get Jess!’ called Tabitha’s mum.
‘OK!’ Called Tabitha. She spotted my little white legs and she headed towards me. ‘Come on!’ her voice soothed me a little. I don’t know why but I let her carry me into a cage. A horrible cage.
Tabitha, mum and me all got into the car; I was on Tabitha’s knee.
I shook and I shivered all the way on the bumpy ride to the vets. When I got there, I felt sick.
Tabitha got out of the car with me and as soon as I could say ‘meow’ the humans were sitting on blue plastic chairs in the waiting room.
I sniffed until I was called in to be checked up on and have the dreaded injections.
First of all I had a thermometer stuck up in my bum. Then the vet checked my eyes and ears and decided they were fine. Then I had to have a cat flu injection. It was terrible. The vet grabbed hold a chunk of my fur and pushed a needle in it. I screamed, the vet screamed as I scratched him as much as I could. We were sent out of the room and back into the car.
‘We won’t be going there again!’ sniffed mum as she backed out of the parking zone. I hoped we wouldn’t be going there, I hoped we would never ever go to the vets again. But then, I could only hope.

TOGETHER WE GET PAMPERED

After being put down back into my house, only then did I feel safe. I managed to lie down and go to sleep for the whole night. I was woken in the morning when Tabitha and mum came down the stairs saying it was breakfast time. I got out of my sleeping position, and padded towards the kitchen.
‘Meow!’ I meowed. ‘Meow!’
I managed to have my food, chicken and liver cat food placed in front of me; I wolfed it down and licked my bowl. I crept under the table and lay down for a while, waiting for Tabitha to finish her breakfast. I figured that she should play with me sometimes, instead of keeping myself to myself. I had to appreciate that I had a new family now. Anyway, I fell asleep and as soon as I woke up, I was being carried towards the car by…Tabitha!
I meowed and mewed and mewed and meowed and struggled about in her arms. Tabitha kept a tight hold of me.
‘Oh no you don’t!’ she whispered, ‘you’re going to be glammed up!’
I took out a paw and pushed my paw along her face.
‘Argh!’ screamed Tabitha as she felt sticky blood running down her cheek. She still did not let go of me.
‘What is it?’ bellowed mum to Tabitha.
‘I’m bleeding!’ she yelled.
Mum rushed to Tabitha and put a sticky plaster over her face. ‘Naughty cat!’ she said to me sternly. And I was put in the car. Just like that.
As the car was moving with me in it, I got a chance to look out of the window and see the view. Somehow, it looked like a different route than the vets. I cheered up a bit.
Soon we arrived at the destination. I was hauled out of the car and carried into this sweet strange smelling pink shop with pretty ladies everywhere. A woman with brown hair and green eye shadow came up to me and lifted me up. I rested against her chest. Then, I was parted from her chest as I was put in this big white tub thing like the one in the house. Next thing I knew was that I was being sprayed with this wet thing. Water. It was disgusting, I tried to jump out of the bath several times but never succeeded as their were millions of flowery ladies round the tub scratching and scrubbing me with smelly stuff and then I had bubbly stuff all over me. Then, these people pushed me under the water and then hauled me out and dried me with a huge furry towel. I was put into a seat alongside Tabitha.
‘You and me are having a makeover!’ she smiled.
‘Meow!’ I didn’t like the sound of that.
Five women surrounded me so I couldn’t see Tabitha. I could only hear. Another five women had surrounded her and as I listened I heard the women say,
‘Hi I’m Rachel,’
‘Hi I’m Mary Ann,’
‘Hi I’m Lisa,’
‘Hi I’m Holly,’
‘Hi I’m Vanessa.’
I turned back to look at the ladies surrounding me now. There were only three and they were cooing at me.
‘I’m Leanne,’
‘I’m Roxanne,’
‘I’m Heather,’
They spoke to me as if I were a child, I was glad that I understood what they were saying. I thought I would be able to make friends with them. How wrong I was.
Roxanne had a brush in her hand and she was brushing my beautiful coat, Leanne was trimming my whiskers and Heather was clipping my nails. The only nice thing that was happening to me was the brushing but that turned to worse as the brush turned into a comb and it kept stabbing me in the body. I meowed. They cried, as they were sad that they had upset me.
Soon, powder was on my face, I had pink ribbons tied to me and my teeth were white, but luckily, they were finished with me. Tabitha was done as well. She had green ribbons in her hair and a face caked with make up. She scooped me up into her arms and carried me to the cage into the car and mum drove us home. As soon as I got back, I shook myself so the ribbons and the powder came off. Good, I thought, I will never let that happen to me again…

I LEAVE HOME

As I woke up, I thought about my real cat mum and about what we did together. Then I thought about now. All the things I’d done here were terrible. I decided to go back to my proper mum.
I walked towards the front glossy door leading to the porch and meowed.
‘Meow!’ No one came.
‘Meow Tabitha!’ I called again.
No one came.
I jumped up, trying to catch the door handle with my teeth, but failed.
I saw this toy cat and stood on it, but I couldn’t open the door.
So, I jumped up again and put my arms in the air and…opened the door! I went into the porch and went through the cat flap into the world that lay before me. I took one last look at my human house, held my breath and walked away, ready to face the dangers of the world…or was I?

I MEET A DOG

I walked towards a small path that led to the main road; I went on the path and started heading north. I looked around me, taking in all the natural things, like the birds twittering and the flowers growing. I started to walk faster, almost like a run, I skipped along the grass and rolled on the pavement, so I had lots of dust on me. I spotted a dead mouse on the path and ate it. It was a wonderful experience. I passed a big building, painted at the top in huge letters were the words “Nottingham country-side school” I stopped and looked at the impressive building. No, impressive wasn’t the word. Fascinating. I started walking again; there were bushes, followed by trees.
Then, across the road was a glittering lake! I sighed at the beauty of it all. Then, I turned round again and carried on walking. I came to a small path and a busy path next to a road. I padded down the small quiet path, I began to see houses on either sides, I smiled as best as I could and carried on, trying not to stare. Suddenly, I turned round to look at this huge house with a red garage and window boxes when I saw right behind me, a big bull dog. This dog was little and fat. This dog had a collar with spikes on. This dog looked mad.
‘Ooh are you?’ he asked in his gruff voice.
‘J-J-J-Jessie,’ I stammered, taking in all of this.
‘Wha’ a stupid name!’ the dog laughed.
‘No,’ I whispered.
‘Eh? You a back chattin’ cat, eh? Fancy a party?’
‘No thanks, I’ve got to go.’
‘Never!’ he shouted, ‘no! You’re a stayin’ ‘ere and partyin’ with me!’
‘No,’ I said, in a high squeaky voice. ‘I’m not a friend of yours, I’ve know you for five minutes and besides, you don’t want me as a friend.’
‘I do ya git! I say what I mean!’
‘I do!’ I whispered.
‘Neh! Anyway, you wanna be killed. Cause I’m an expert at murderering.’
‘You wouldn’t dare,’ I hissed.
He jumped towards me, I ran, ran to where there were two different roads only this time, I ran down towards the busy road with people walking on it. I thought to myself, someone will bound to see me and the dog and they’ll stop the dog but then they’ll get me, so I’ll have to go down the first quiet road I see! I carried on running, dodging in and out of people’s legs. People started shouting and running and stamping. I carried on dodging. I could hear the dog behind me, panting because I was going to fast. I spotted a road and ducked down and crawled to it, I ran faster than the speed of light and hid behind a tree, waiting to see the dog. Soon I saw him, he was walking slowly, panting and he carried on walking down the busy road not knowing that I was here. Good, I thought. Now I’ll just have to prepare myself for the other dangers that
I might meet.

PEOPLE WANT TO TAKE ME HOME

I started walking again, looking everywhere around me, I couldn’t help looking at the mega huge fields as well, as they were so eye-catching. I licked myself down and made sure that I didn’t smell of dog. I yawned one huge yawn and stretched my paws. I was so tired. I needed to rest. I spotted a bit of soft green patch by the trees and went to lie there. I bit a piece of grass and ate it. It was wet. Dew, I thought. I sighed again and breathed in some of that lovely fresh air that my human mum kept talking about. It was good. I closed my eyes and imagined myself with my real mum; we were snuggled up together, sleeping. Then we were rolling round in the hay outside the house. Then we swapped stories in our cage…

‘Aww, look at the cat!’ someone yelled.
I woke up and saw a little blonde haired girl with her mum.
‘Can I have her?’ she asked.
‘I don’t know Hannah…’ began her mother. ‘It might have fleas.’
Hannah sucked her thumb and scowled at her mother. ‘She won’t!’
‘Hannah, darling,’ the mum said. ‘Leave the cat there, besides, she’s probably already owned to somebody else down there in one of those houses,’ she pointed down the hill. I twitched.
‘See,’ the mum said. ‘She knows we’re talking about her and she just jerked her head towards her house. Come on, we’re going to buy you some ear rings.’
‘Don’t want ear- rings! I want pussy!’ she cried.
‘Hannah, come along, you’re making a fool of yourself,’ Hannah’s mum dragged Hannah up the path and onto the busy one.
‘Pussy doesn’t like you!’ I heard Hannah say in the distance. ‘She hates you and wants to kill you!’
The mum said in the background, ‘no she doesn’t, and now you’re not getting anything. We are going to walk home, the long way!’
I meowed in delight and got up, I tried to remember my beautiful dream but could only remember it faintly. I yawned again and began to feel hungry. What should I get? I thought, I can’t fly and catch a bird and there are no mice here. I could think of only one thing. Grass. I knew I was probably going to sick it up again but at least it would fill me for a while. I ate and ate and ate until I felt like I would burst. I wanted a drink. There were some puddles here and there on the path so I went up to one and drank it. It was lovely dirty water. The human mum had always told me only to drink clean water or milk. Dirty water was better. I set off again. I walked down the steep hill and saw cows and sheep. I looked around me and saw a muddy path; I squeezed under the gate and carried on walking. I slipped a few times but picked myself up. Things were all right so far; I just wish that those two things were the only things that would happen to me. Some wish!

STOP CAR!

The path led to the main road but further down. I turned left and walked further away from my temporary home. I passed petrol stations and people and buildings and cars. The cars were very noisy, especially the trucks. I stopped by the gutter and threw up; the grass came up so I was very hungry. But I better not eat too soon because I won’t feel like I was full. There were some foul smells, especially the backside of a car.

There was this smoky stuff as well, which made me cough. For once in my life, I wished I were in my bed with Tabitha screaming at me. I sighed and moaned and hung my head in shame. I shouldn’t have run off like that. I turned off and headed home. And then I stopped and thought about the dangers that I’d met, no, I’ll carry on. So I turned round again and walked further away from Tabitha and her mum. I looked across the road and spotted another petrol station with a food bar outside. Maybe I could get some food! I thought. I walked forwards onto the dangerous road. It was all right walking across but when I got halfway I saw a monster coming towards me! I froze, help! I thought. Would this be the end off me.
A horn beeped and I looked upwards.
‘Move out of the way cat!’ a man yelled.
I didn’t move as I was frozen. A woman saw me in the road.
‘Good grief!’ she cried and ran into the road. All the cars stopped and stared but the car, which was about to run into me, didn’t. It carried on going.
‘Stop the car!’ she shouted. She walked in front of it but it carried on going.
‘My breaks aren’t working!’ he cried. ‘Grab the cat!’
‘She bent down and picked me up and ran back to the path. Soon there was a big bang as two cars crashed. I stared at the damage and was glad that I wasn’t in the middle of two cars.
The woman drove me to a café and bought a sausage, which I tucked into. What was good about me was that, she had driven me closer to my actual mummy! I ate the sausages down so quickly that I nearly choked. I was just so happy that the woman had found me. She patted me on the back and cuddled me close, and when we were about to part, she kissed me and asked me if I was all right left here. I purred and she took that as a yes, especially when she saw me heading to the left, which was even further away from my temporary home. She, unlike other people didn’t want to take me home and that is good. Anyway, I waited until she had driven off in her car and then I carried on my way. I wonder if I’ll meet any other nice ladies like that, I thought. Oh well, I’ll just have to hope.

ONE AND ONE MAKES TWO

Further on in my journey I made an emergency stop to wee. I hid behind the bush and did my business. I ran down the countryside path I saw until I was out of breath and panting. Again, I rolled on the floor so all the dust was on me and then I shook it all off remembering the encounter with the dog. It was awful. I carried on shuddering, making sure that I had no dust on me whatsoever so no dog could trace me. I meowed and meowed as I spotted some barbed wire round a nice bit of land. Inside the land were these huge animals, I think they were horses and they were charging around, jumping over posts.
I watched them for a bit and then carried on, remembering my poor cat mum, waiting for me to return. Then I thought of Tabitha and the other mum sticking up wanted posters everywhere and Tabitha crying all day. I sighed and felt guilty. But, I have to carry on and then when Tabby finds me, she can take me and my rightful owner, in other words my own mum home with her and we will stay there permanently. We will dine on the freshest pieces of fish and mice in the land and both of us will have little lilac silk cushions with a nice cream trimming on the edges. I sat down on the stony path and started dreaming, daydreaming luckily.
Soon I know longer knew what was happening around me but my head was telling me to move on and that there was no use dreaming all the lovely things because none of those things would actually happen. So, I started walking right this time, and then took a left turning so I faced a big conker tree. I walked around the tree, looking high up into the sky and wondering what it would be like to be a little conker high up there. Gently going to and fro, to and fro.
I swayed along happily, keeping with the beat. I swayed forwards, backwards, left and right. Suddenly, I banged into a soft furry something. I ran round the tree ten times before looking at the something, which had been standing still the whole time. The first thing I saw where some gingery legs, a bit like mine except mine where black and white. And then a ginger/blonde tail moving around. And then a ginger/blonde/gold stripy body and then finally a ginger/blonde head with the most amazing gold whiskers and almond eyes.
‘Who are you?’ I squeaked.
‘Who are you?’ she asked. Somehow, I knew it was a she.
‘Jessie,’ I said.
‘I’m Almond,’ purred Almond. ‘Jessie is a nice name.’
‘Thanks,’ I said, ‘So is Almond.’
‘Are you lost?’ she asked.
‘Well. I’m looking for my mum, the cat who lives in this home, could you help me?’
‘Sure,’ she replied. ‘I got kicked out of my home, I’ll help you forever.’
‘And then you can live with us!’
‘Thank you!’ she said. ‘Thank you very much!’

WE FIND A HOME/NOT THE RIGHT ONE

Almond and me wondered round the countryside and came to a lake. We ran down to the edge and lapped up the beautiful fresh water. Then we went up again and chased round a cherry tree until a couple of cherries came off. We ate them up and then carried on our journey to our mum. We came across lots off spare land and we played on it. It was fun. But then it was dark and we had to plan carefully where we would go.
‘We don’t want any dogs eating us in the night,’ Almond pointed out.
‘Like the one that tried to attack me!’ I said.
Almond nodded and we walked down to the end of the countryside feeling pleased with ourselves about how far we had got.
‘May I write a letter in your book you’re keeping?’ asked Almond.
‘Sure!’ I said and handed her the book but before I did that, I wrote,
And Almond wrote this,

Nowhere in particular,
Woods,
Countryside

Dear Jessie and readers,

I am in the woods with Jessie and it is fun. Jessie is my best friend and I want it to stay that way. Jess, thanks for saying that I can stay with you and I will stay by you forever. Thank you again and you are the kindest cat ever.
Anyway, I can’t wait for me and Jessie to find her home where she used to live and I can’t wait to meet her mum. She sounds brilliant.

Yours truly, to everyone,
Almond,
PS. Like the name?

She handed it back to me with great care.
‘Read it please,’ she practically begged.
When I’d finished, a huge smile spread across my face and I was so happy that now I had a proper friend that would stick by me the way that I would stick by her. It was a truly touching day for all of us.
We crossed a road that was next to the countryside and on the other side was a home, actually there were two homes. We tried the closest home and inside there was an unusual change. But maybe they had changed it while I had been gone. Maybe. I looked in the cages on the left and Almond looked on the right. It was the wrong house. One house left. Is it the right one?

I have a feeling that it is…

YAY!
It was. Finally, we were reunited and this time, we were a threesome. Almond and I crept through the bars of the cage and there we were. Together at last.

More writing from Eleanor

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