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- Herausgeber: Little Tiger Press
- Kategorie: Für Kinder und Jugendliche
- Serie: Holly Webb Animal Stories
- Sprache: Englisch
- Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2022
When twins Zara and Amina move to a new town and adopt a tiny kitten, they can't wait to spoil her and play with her all the time. But the sisters have different ideas about the best way to look after Pixie and as they start at a new school, the divide between them only grows.Then at their joint birthday party, an argument between the girls sends Pixie running off, scared. She's so small, she could be anywhere! Will Zara and Amina be able to work together to find her?A new story from best-selling author Holly Webb, perfect for animal-loving children, and fans of ZOE'S RESCUE ZOO and MAGIC ANIMAL FRIENDS.
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Contents
For twins – and parents of twins – everywhere!
Chapter One
Amina raced up the steps at the front of the animal shelter and twirled round and round in front of the door. “Come on!” she called to the rest of the family. “Zara! Hurry up! Don’t you want to see the kittens?”
Zara didn’t dash after her twin sister. She pushed her hand into Dad’s instead, holding on to him tight. She wanted to 6go and meet the kittens, of course she did. It was just that she was excited in a different way. She didn’t do dancing about like Amina did. Her excitement was all inside, but it was definitely there. She and Amina had been talking about this moment for so long – imagining meeting their very own kitten for the first time.
7Zara slipped the hand that wasn’t holding Dad’s into her pocket, closing it around the folded printout that she’d been carrying about for days, ever since Mum had emailed the animal shelter to say they were interested in the kittens. Zara had got her to print one of the photos, so she could keep looking at it. It showed all three kittens snuggled up in a soft cat bed, two tabby ones mostly on top of a little black-and-white one. She didn’t seem to mind though. She looked quite comfy with a warm blanket of kitten on top of her.
“Excited?” Mum leaned over to look at Zara, smiling. “I know how much you’ve been looking forward to this.”
Zara nodded hard and smiled back, but she still didn’t say anything. 8
Up at the top of the steps, Amina was tugging open the heavy glass door…
When Mum and Dad had told the girls they would be able to go and see the kittens and choose which one they wanted to adopt, Zara had thought they’d only be allowed to look at them, maybe through a door into their pen. But instead they were taken to a special meeting room and James, the man who worked at the shelter, explained to them that they just needed to wait while he went to fetch the kittens.
“Do you think we’ll get to hold them?” Zara asked Mum hopefully as James hurried off. 9
Amina nodded. “Look! There are cat toys in that basket. I think we can play with the kittens.”
Zara looked round and saw a basket full of all different sorts of toys – balls, feathery birds, squishy mice… Just the kind of things she’d been thinking of buying with her pocket money, ever since Mum and Dad had said they could get a kitten when they’d moved to their new house.
Zara and Amina’s mum had recently changed jobs. She now worked at a hospital that was too far away for her to commute. It was a huge change for everyone – Amina and Zara would have to start at a different school too. But there were some good things about moving. Mum and Dad had always 10said their old house was too small for pets, and it was by a busy road. The new house had a garden and it was really quiet. Perfect for a cat. Amina and Zara were going to be ten soon – ten was definitely old enough to look after a pet, and they’d promised to help lots. Mum and Dad had promised they would contact the animal shelter as soon as they’d settled in. Even though it had only been a couple of weeks, it felt like a very long wait…
“Is he coming back yet?” Amina asked, bouncing up from her chair.
“It won’t be long,” Mum said, laughing at her.
Dad turned to the door. “I think I can hear them, actually.”
The girls stared hopefully at the 11door – and Dad was right. James eased it open and stepped through with a cat carrier. Tiny, squeaky, cross little mews echoed from inside, until James set the carrier down and opened the wire door, and then there was a curious silence. Amina and Zara exchanged a wide-eyed look and Amina slipped her hand into Zara’s. After all the waiting…
Two small tabby faces appeared at the door of the carrier and Zara caught her breath. Even Amina was too excited to speak – or perhaps she’d realized she needed to be quiet and let the kittens work up the courage to come out. The two kittens watched the room for a moment, their whiskers twitching. Then one of them padded out of the carrier – he was small 12enough that it was a big step down to the floor. He stumbled across the tiles to sniff at Amina’s sandals.
“Mum!” Amina breathed, her eyes shining. “Look! He’s tickling me!” She giggled and twitched, and the kitten play-pounced on the fabric flowers on her shoes. The second tabby kitten tumbled after the first one, eager to see what this exciting new game was.
James laughed and handed Amina a feathery toy. “Try this instead, otherwise your sandals might never be the same again.” He smiled at Zara and offered her the basket of toys.
Zara took out a squishy toy fish and sat holding it, wondering if the kittens would come and investigate her too. But they were too interested in the 13feather wand that Amina was bouncing up and down. The two kittens looked like wind-up toys, turning their heads every time she wobbled the feathers. Mum and Dad and Amina were laughing delightedly, and Zara laughed too, even though she felt just a tiny bit jealous. She didn’t want to take the kittens away from Amina – she only wished they’d play with her as well.
14Then Zara glanced round, her attention caught by the smallest movement over by the carrier. Of course! There was another kitten! Zara had been so caught up watching the two tabby kittens that she’d forgotten about the little black-and-white girl. She was just stepping cautiously out of the carrier, trying to get down over the edge of the door.
15Zara bit her lip as the kitten padded around with one paw, trying to work out how far down the floor was. She was definitely smaller than the tabbies and Zara was worried she might not be able to get out. But eventually the kitten bumped down on to the tiles and stopped to look around again. Zara didn’t know very much about cats – not yet – but she could tell the kitten wasn’t nearly as confident and bouncy as her brother and sister. Maybe she was shy?
Zara was quite used to people talking about her as “the shy twin”, or “the quiet one”. People said it all the time, even though Mum and Dad tried to tell them not to. Only a couple of days ago, Dad had persuaded Amina to walk down to the shops with him, while Mum kept Zara behind to have a “little chat”. Mum wanted to talk to her about the new school they were going to after the summer holidays, and about trying to make friends, and not letting Amina do all the talking. Zara had 16
