Molly and the Cat Cafe

‘I know, love, I’m only teasing,’ Debbie laughed, placing a hand on her daughter’s knee. ‘And yes, it was the greatest thing that ever happened to me. You were the greatest thing that ever happened to me. You still are.’

Without taking her eyes off me, Debbie took Sophie’s hand and gave it a squeeze. Sophie pulled a face, but they stayed that way, hand-in-hand, watching as I lay listlessly on the cushion. Before long I began to twist and squirm in pain once more.

‘Oh, here we go,’ Debbie said excitedly, putting her mug on the table and leaning forward in her chair. The third kitten emerged swiftly. I washed it and then Debbie rubbed it briskly with a towel and checked it over. ‘We’re like a well-oiled machine now, aren’t we, girls?’ Debbie joked, as she placed number three next to its siblings. There was no time to linger, however, as I was seized almost immediately by the urge to push again, and soon kitten number four had arrived. ‘Look at that,’ Debbie said, when all four were lying in a row, suckling happily. ‘Four matching tabbies. How are we going to tell them apart, Molls?’

I wanted to purr, but could not muster the energy. Delivering the last two in such quick succession had left me exhausted, as if all the strength had been sucked from me. I could feel tiredness like I had never known creeping over me, so I lowered my head onto the cushion and closed my eyes.

‘I think she’s gone to sleep, Mum. Do you think that’s all of them?’ Sophie whispered.

‘I don’t know,’ Debbie replied. I felt her hand lightly press my abdomen. ‘Oh, hang on,’ and she pressed more firmly. ‘Sorry, girls, it’s not time for sleep yet. There’s another one in there!’

I knew that Debbie was right, but the tiredness was so overwhelming that I was powerless to fight it. When I felt the familiar tightening in my belly I had no strength to respond.

‘Come on, girl – you know the drill. Push the pain away,’ Debbie urged, but I was too weak to lift my head, let alone push another kitten out.

I let out a long yowl of pain as a searing sensation pierced me from the inside. My body convulsed with an agony that seemed to fill my entire being, from my nose to the tip of my tail. I felt like I was being consumed from within and could do nothing except succumb helplessly. I collapsed, breathless, my head lolling over the cushion’s edge.

‘Mum, what’s wrong, why is she just lying there?’ I heard Sophie ask nervously.

‘Come on, girl, you’re nearly there.’ Debbie was rubbing my cheek in an effort to wake me up.

‘She’s gone to sleep, look!’ Sophie lifted one of my eyelids, but my eye had rolled up into my head as I began to drift out of consciousness. ‘How will we get the kitten out, if she won’t push?’

I didn’t hear Debbie’s response. Everything fell silent as I gratefully sank into a blissful blackness. I don’t know how long I remained that way, but the next thing I knew I was jolted awake by a searing pain. Debbie was on the floor by the windowsill, her face close to mine.

‘Come on, Molly, you can do it!’ Her voice was loud and commanding.

Pain pulled and tugged at every fibre of my being, and I wanted nothing more than to fall back into the delicious darkness of sleep. But Debbie seemed determined not to let me, rubbing me between the ears every time I closed my eyes. Buoyed up by her dedication, I summoned the energy for one final push. In my exhausted state it took longer than before, and I was aware of Debbie and Sophie holding their breath as I bore down one last time.

They both gasped as my fifth kitten emerged. I collapsed back onto the cushion and panted for a few moments, ecstatic relief mixed with exhaustion flooding through me. I was too weak to prop myself up, so Debbie tended to the kitten, then held it in front of my face for me to see. ‘A bit of a bruiser, this one. Must have smarted a bit. Good on you, girl!’ she said in admiration. I looked at the kitten. He was twice the size of the others and, unlike his siblings, jet-black with a white blob on his chest. Just like his dad, I thought with a smile.

Before long all five kittens were feeding contentedly. Debbie ran upstairs to find a bottle of champagne, surprising Sophie by giving her a small serving of her own. They clinked glasses but, before taking a sip, Debbie shouted, ‘Hang on a minute, we mustn’t forget the proud mummy!’

A couple of minutes later she placed a saucer of cream on the windowsill next to me. I purred my appreciation but, before I could even take a lick, I fell fast asleep.

24

The following morning Debbie carried me, and my five sleeping kittens, upstairs to the flat. She placed our cushion carefully inside a wide cardboard box next to the living-room fireplace. ‘There you go, Molls,’ she said when I lifted my head drowsily to look around. ‘I thought you might want a bit of peace and quiet.’