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Mia hardly paid attention to the film at all. She was watching Whiskers, snuggled up on her sleeping bag and stroking him gently. His fur was so soft– and he was such a little cat, so different from Sandy.

As the film went on, the other kittens padded back to the kitchen, looking for Silky and their pen. But Whiskers curled up on top of Mia, and fell fast asleep– and he was still there the next morning.

Chapter Six [Êàðòèíêà: i_012.jpg]

“Oh, Mia!” Dad laughed. “How did you get him to do that?” He’d just arrived to pick Mia up from the sleepover. Libby and Poppy had already gone; they had to hurry off to a dance class.

Mia shook her head, very, very carefully.“I didn’t, Dad. He just climbed up there. I think he’s eyeing my toast.”

From his place on her shoulder, Whiskers purred loudly, and Mia giggled as his long whiskers tickled her cheek.“I wish I didn’t have to go home and say goodbye to you!”

Her dad exchanged a thoughtful glance with Emily’s mum. “When will the kittens be ready to go to new homes?”

“Well, I was looking it up, and it seems that about ten or twelve weeks old would be best. Ours are four weeks now, so they’ll be ten weeks old about halfway through December. So I thought around then. It’s a bit close to Christmas, that’s the only problem. Everyone’s so busy, and I don’t want to be encouraging people to give kittens as presents.”

“Why not?” Mia asked. She thought a kitten would be a lovely Christmas present. Emily was having Satin for her birthday, after all.

“Well, people sometimes get a kitten for their children at Christmas, and don’t really think about them growing up into big cats who need looking after. Then sometimes they’re abandoned,” Emily’s mum added sadly. “Luckily, most kittens get born in the spring or summertime. Silky was a bit late!”

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Mia reached up and tickled Whiskers under the chin. She could feel his purrs buzzing against her neck.

I could take you home, she thought to herself, just for a second. But then she remembered. She didn’t want another cat – not after Sandy. Very gently, she reached up, and lifted Whiskers off her shoulder, and took him over to the pen. “Sorry, sweetheart, I have to go.”

Whiskers stared after her in surprise. Had Mia not liked him sitting on her shoulder? Why was she going? He wailed– a loud, sad kitten wail that made Mia flinch as she scuttled into the hallway to grab her stuff.

She said goodbye to Emily quickly. She felt bad, rushing off, but she just couldn’t stay any longer. She was almost silent on the walk home, even though Dad kept trying to ask about the party.

“Mia, have you thought…?” Dad started, as they carried her things into the house. “Emily’s mum talking about homes for the kittens made me wonder. You seem to get on so well with Whiskers…”

He trailed off when Mia looked up at him with her eyes full of tears.

“I can’t,” she whispered. “I thought I could, but what about Sandy? I’m not going to forget him! I never, ever want another cat again!”

“You don’t have to forget him, Mia…” Dad tried to say, but Mia raced off upstairs to her room and slammed the door behind her.

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Over the next few weeks, Emily kept Mia updated as they started to look for new homes for the kittens. Her mum had put an ad in the newsagent’s, and the other local shops that had noticeboards. A couple of people had rung about coming to see them already.

“Someone called Maria is coming over on Saturday to see them all,” she told Mia, as they ate their packed lunches. “I’m sort of half-excited, half-sad. I really want them all to have nice homes.” Emily shook her head. “And at least we’re keeping Satin.”

Mia nodded. She wanted them to have good homes, too. Especially Whiskers. He needed a home with somebody who could love him properly, without always remembering another cat. It was no use Emily and Mum and Dad giving her all those hopeful looks. Sandy was her forever cat. She couldn’t replace him, not even with Whiskers.

[Êàðòèíêà: i_004.jpg]

Emily’s mum showed Maria into the kitchen, where Emily and Leah were playing with the kittens.

“Oh, aren’t they sweet! How many are there?” Maria asked, laughing as one of the tabbies sniffed her boots.

“Four, but we’re keeping Satin – the black kitten. There are two female tabbies, and the little white boy. Did you want just one kitten?” Emily’s mum asked. “We’re thinking that the tabby girls might want to stay together – they’re such a team.”

“I was only planning on getting one,” Maria said. “I can’t see a white kitten…”

“He was here a minute ago!” Leah looked around the kitchen. “Now that they can climb out of their pen they’re all over the place.”