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- Herausgeber: Little Tiger Press
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Serie: Holly Webb Animal Stories
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
When Lola's mum gets a job at a fire station in a different town, it means moving away from all her friends. Lola is proud of her mum, but she's really worried about starting a new school. There is one good thing, though – her parents have promised that they can think about getting a cat! Then one day Lola and her new neighbour Noah spot a kitten high up in a tree. It looks scared and soggy from the rain. A worried crowd forms and the fire brigade are called – including Lola's mum. Can they rescue the stray kitten and help find him a new home?
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123
For Martha
Contents
Chapter One
Lola sat on the stairs, looking down at the piles and piles of boxes all over the hallway. Somewhere in that pile was her bedroom – or at least, all the special things that would make the new room at the top of the stairs hers. Right now, that room was empty and painted a horrid, sickly pink. But Mum and Dad had promised they’d repaint 6it soon – once they were unpacked and “organized”, as Mum put it. Looking at the sea of boxes, Lola thought organized might be a long time coming.
“Are you OK up there?” Dad called, smiling up at her. “It’s all a bit strange, isn’t it? I know it doesn’t feel 7like our house yet, Lola, but I promise it will soon.”
“Can I come and help?” Lola asked hopefully. “Mum said to stay here for a bit because the movers were putting boxes in the living room but they’ve finished now, haven’t they?”
“Yes, I think they’ll be gone soon,” Dad agreed. “I was just putting your mum’s flower pots out in the back garden. There’s a couple more to carry.”
Lola jumped up eagerly. There were lots of things worrying her about their new house, things that were more important than the weird pink paint – like being further away from Gran and Grandad, and not having a park anywhere close and, worst of all, starting a new school in a couple of days where she didn’t know a single person. But there was one very good thing.
Now they had a garden. 8
At their old house, they’d lived in a flat, on the top floor. It had a little balcony where Mum kept all those flower pots, but the garden had belonged to the people on the ground floor. Now they had a garden all of their own.
A couple of months ago, Mum and Dad sat down with Lola and explained to her that Mum had got a new job – a really good new posting where she’d be a crew manager, but at a different fire station, which was a long way away. They told her that they needed to move house but Mum was going to be earning more, so they could have a house all to themselves and their own garden.
“We’ve found a lovely place,” Mum said, showing Lola a photo on her 9phone. It just looked like an ordinary house, Lola thought, staring blankly back at her. “It’s on a really quiet road. So…” She smiled, but Lola couldn’t understand what she was trying to say. “You know we’ve always said we couldn’t have a cat, not with the road here being so busy. The new house will be perfect for a cat, once we’ve settled in…”
Lola had the feeling they wanted her to be more excited. And she was excited, she really was. But it was hard to balance an imaginary cat that they might get one day, with a new school she was definitely going to. With new people. Away from all the friends she already had.
Still. It was nice to have a garden, 10she thought, as she carried the pot with Mum’s mint plant through the kitchen and set it carefully outside on the little patio. There was a huge lavender bush in the flower bed and the flowers were spilling over on to the sun-warmed bricks. They smelled sharp and sweet at the same time, and slow furry bees were buzzing all around. It was a beautiful place.
“I can just imagine working out here on a nice day,” Dad said, slumping on to the garden bench with a happy sigh.
“Isn’t it great?” Mum agreed, stepping outside behind them. “I’ve just found the kettle!” she added, handing Dad a cup of tea and taking a big sip from her own mug. “And the bag we packed with 11everything you need for Monday, Lola.”
Lola nodded. She supposed that was good. She definitely didn’t want to turn up for her first day at her new school in jeans. But at least she was starting at the beginning of term, even if she was going into Year Five. They’d been lucky they were able to move here just in time – for a while Mum had thought they might need to stay in a hotel for a couple of weeks.
Mum went back inside and brought out a glass of apple juice. Lola perched on the arm of the bench and leaned against Mum, slowly sipping her drink. She was so proud of her mum, getting her big new job. That was the important thing. School would be fine. Everything was going to be fine. 12
“Hey! Hello! Are you new?”
Lola shot a panicky look up at Dad and turned around slowly. They’d only got halfway down the road – she hadn’t expected anyone to ask her that just yet. 13
A boy with curly dark hair was waving and running after them. “Hi!” he panted. “Are you from number twenty-seven? We saw your moving lorry on Saturday!”
“Yes…” Lola said, her voice just above a whisper. The boy seemed really friendly. She tried to smile at him but she couldn’t think of anything else to say.
“What year are you in? You’ve got a Lark Lane jumper on. I’m in Year Five.”
“Oh! Yes, me too.” Lola nodded. “My teacher’s Mrs Tarrant? But I haven’t met her yet…”
“She’s nice, we had a day with her at the end of last year,” the boy explained. “I’m Noah.” 14
“Lola. And this is my dad,” Lola added, suddenly realizing that Dad was watching them both, grinning.
“It’s nice to meet you, Noah,” Dad said. He glanced at his watch. “We’d better keep walking, Lola. You don’t want to be late on your first day.”
“I’ll show you a shortcut, if you like,” Noah said, walking on ahead and nodding towards a little path. “Then we’ll be there in loads of time. Oh look, it’s Trevor!” He crouched down next to an enormous, fluffy ginger cat who was sitting in the middle of the path, guarding the way.
“Trevor!” Lola couldn’t help grinning.
“Don’t you think he looks like a Trevor?” Noah tickled the huge cat 15under his chin. “He belongs to the people in the house next to the path but he’s really friendly and he’s always hanging out here.”
Trevor stood up and paced slowly over to Lola and Dad. He sniffed Lola’s shoes and then stood in front of her, his fluffy tail standing up like a flag.
16“Hello…” Lola whispered. “Will he let me stroke him?” she asked Noah.
“I don’t think you’ll get past him if you don’t,” Noah said, shaking his head. “It’s definitely his path and I think he likes you.”
“You’re so lovely,” Lola told the huge cat as she ran her hand over his ginger-striped back and then tickled his creamy chin. “Such a beautiful big boy.”
“Trevor’s so big, he’s about the same size as all three of our cats put together,” Noah said.
“You’ve got three cats?” Lola looked at him in surprise. “Wow, you’re so lucky. We might be getting a cat, once we’ve got everything unpacked. Mum said there was a shelter not far away.”
“Yeah, that’s where we got our cats 17
