Willow the lonely kitten Read Online Free PDF Page B

wondered. Pets equal stray hairs and muddy feet. Pets are messy, full stop.
    “We’ll try harder from now on, I promise,” Jake said.
    She wanted to believe him. “And you won’t leave her out again?”
    “No,” he said, before firmly closing the door.

    So Eva went home and worried all day. She worried about Willow all that evening, and after she went to bed she lay awake, worrying.
    “Where are you now, Willow?” she whispered, staring out of her bedroom window at the starlit sky.

    She thought back over the day. By lunchtime the snow clouds had cleared and Karl had spent the afternoon with George, building the giant snowman at the top of Earlswood Avenue. Eva had stayed at home and missed all the fun.
    “Are you all right?” her dad had asked. “Or is something bothering you?”
    “I’m fine,” Eva had lied.
    But now she couldn’t sleep. She sat up in bed, pulled back the curtains and gazed out of the window. She saw the pale full moon shining on a white world of snow-covered hills and a sleeping village. And she hoped with all her heart that Willow wasn’t out in the white wilderness, but safely snuggled up in a soft bed in the warm kitchen of 22 Swallow Court.

Chapter Eight
    At school the next day, Eva tried hard to concentrate. But every time her teacher told her to do something, her mind drifted off to the problem of Willow.
    At least it’s not snowing , she told herself, looking out at a clear blue sky.
    “Eva, did you hear me?” Miss Jennings asked from the front of the class. “I asked you to take this message to the school secretary’s office.”
    It’s sunny but it’s still freezing , shethought, standing out in the playground with Annie during lunch break.
    “Hello? Do you want me to help with the ponies when we get home?” Annie asked. “Honestly, Eva, I’ve said it three times. What’s wrong with you today?”
    The day dragged until at last Eva sat on the bus, still in a world of her own.
    “So tell me!” Annie insisted, sitting next to her with her arms crossed, refusing to let Eva off the hook.
    “It’s Willow,” Eva confessed. The story tumbled out. “New home … the Shannons … out all night … a terrible mistake!”
    Annie listened carefully. “I get it,” she muttered. “You think that if you wait too long before your mum decides to step in, it might be too late.”
    Eva gulped then nodded. “But I messedup yesterday. Jake and Julie caught me trespassing in their back garden. I’m scared they’ll tell Mum.”
    “And she’d be really cross.” Annie understood the problem. She thought for a while. “Maybe we should go undercover?”
    “You mean like spies, rescuing Willow in secret?” Eva’s glum face began to light up. “You think we should kidnap her?”
    “Catnap!” Annie said. The bus drew into Okeham and the village kids filed off. “We could go to Swallow Court and start right now.”
    Without stopping to think, Eva agreed and she and Annie clambered off the bus. “If the house is empty and Willow has been left outside all day, it means that Jake didn’t keep his promise,” she said. “Which means we have to do something!”

    “Catnap her,” Annie said again. “Act casual, Eva, as if we’re just coming down here for a stroll.”
    They paused outside Miss Eliot’s house, pretending to gossip but really taking a sneaky look at number 22. There was no sign of life, until all of a sudden a car turned off Main Street into the cul-de-sac.
    “It’s the Shannons’ car! Quick, follow me,” Eva hissed, bolting through Miss Eliot’s gate and hurriedly knocking at her door.
    The old lady soon appeared. “Eva, Annie, how nice to see you!” she exclaimed. “Come in out of the cold.”

    “Good thinking,” Annie muttered to Eva, as, five minutes later, they sat in Miss Eliot’s sitting room with orange juice and biscuits. From here they’d had a good view of Julie Shannon getting out of her car and going into the house.
    Eva nodded.