The Ditch Dog The Hedge Cat

Chapter Five The Owls and Pussycat It was sometime later when Giggles found she was higher up the tree on a wide branch with no one attacking her, that she stopped to survey her situation. The branch was wide and comfortable and very far from the ground, each time Giggles looked down she felt strange inside so she soon stopped looking down altogether. Dusk had wrapped around her as the night hurriedly chased away the last of the day. For the hundredth time, Giggles wished she were safely home in front of the fireplace even if the fire had long since gone out. She wished she was eagerly awaiting the sound of the car pulling into the driveway, the engine stopping, hearing Suzy’s soft footsteps and Mummy and Daddy’s, also. Nevertheless, she could only imagine, as Giggles was, for the first time in her life, lost, hungry, cold and frightened. She didn’t know where she was, how to get home or even how to get down the tree. The only good thing about right now was that the branch she was on was wide and flat; and as cats always do when they’re thinking or bored, she curled up in a tight, fuzzy, white ball and thought deeply about her situation. ‘Whoooooo, whooooo do you think it is on our branch....whoooo, whoooo can it be?’ ‘Why, it really doesn’t matter anyway, Alfie. The white fluffy thing is nowhere near our end of the branch. We have plenty of room – whooo, whoooo!’ came the reply. ‘But Ollie, do you suspect it’s alive?’ ‘I don’t know and don’t care. It’s just a thing, but its coat is much whiter than ours. I thought we had the whitest feathers around....’ replied Alfie Owl, his eyes wide as his head moved in all directions. ‘Well, maybe we haven’t. Most of our feathers are pale grey and it doesn’t matter anyway. We’ll just leave it alone and maybe it won’t notice us. If we don’t bother the thing, the thing probably won’t bother us....whoooo, whoooo,’ said Ollie Owl, taking a few steps closer to get a better look. ‘Come on Ollie, come back down this end of the branch. Let’s do what us owls do best...watch, listen and wait,’ said Alfie, turning his head almost all the way round and then back again. ‘I think we should prod it or something, just to see what it is....whoooo, whoooo.’ ‘Leave it alone and it will leave us alone.’ ‘But maybe we can eat it or something, whooooo, whoooooooo,’ ‘Don’t be silly, it has way too much fluff or feathers or whatever, whooooooo. We’ll just wait and watch.’ Ollie and Alfie Owl had only just taken their places at the farthest end of the branch when Giggles awoke from a short but deep nap. She had tried to think but ended up falling asleep. She slowly stretched a long, lazy stretch almost losing her balance as one of her back feet slid over the edge of the tree branch. Suddenly, a frightened expression came over her face as she remembered just where she was; she had been hoping it was only a dream but she felt too cold and hungry for it to be a dream. Looking around, it was also much too dark. Above her, she could see all the stars twinkling brightly in the clear night sky and had she been safely home it might have been a pretty sight but up here in this tall tree, it was frightening to a young house pussycat like Giggles. Gingerly she curled her tail around her feet and sat back down on her branch moving as close as she could get towards the tree trunk as the slight night breeze felt chilly on her nose. It was very dark and Giggles was aware of the many new and strange night noises all about her. Her white, fluffy ears flicked this way and that as she tried to locate each sound but before she could yet another sound grabbed her attention. Her green eyes were wide in the darkness and even though cats are suppose to have great night vision Giggles had spent most of her nights curled up asleep safely on the end of Suzy’s bed. As she sat and watched, her eyes gradually became accustomed to the night. Very slowly, she moved her face this way and that, until she got the fright of her life as two huge light brown pairs of eyes stared directly at her. They were only about six feet away and they were huge! Giggles was so frightened she almost fell. Her back feet jumped backwards, so she now needed to climb back down securely onto her branch again. Giggles shook uncontrollably. She was unable to stop shaking; she moved hard up against the trunk. Her eyes almost as wide as theirs, she stared, her tail twitched and she waited. She was quite unable to move even if she wanted to. The first noise the huge eyes made scared her beyond words. ‘Whooooooooooooooo, whoooooooooooooooooooo,’ came loud the noise. Giggles said nothing; frightened she waited and watched. Gradually, she was able to make out the rest of the shape attached to the noise. It seemed to be large and square and feathery. She couldn’t see any feet or wings but up here in the tree she thought it must be some kind of a bird. Do birds have eyes in the front of their heads, Giggles asked herself. Thinking briefly of Paisley she thought not, but just then came another noise. ‘Whoooooo, whooo are you? Whoooooooo,’ the voice asked. It didn’t seem to be angry, it didn’t seem to be scared and it didn’t seem to be threatening. But Giggles didn’t know what to do. She couldn’t move any further up the tree trunk. Her back feet were already horizontal. ‘Whooooooooo are you and why are you so far up our tree?’ asked Ollie kindly. She could clearly tell she was much more scared then they were. Slowly Giggles found her small voice from somewhere deep inside. ‘I’m lost. My name is Giggles. I’m a house cat and I’m lost...I just want to go home....’ Giggles’ tiny voice said as she burst into tears. She had been trying hard not to, but she was so frightened she couldn’t help it. Giggles sobbed softly as large round tears rolled down her fluffy fur dripping onto the tree branch and her paws. ‘But surely with those green paws, socks and underbelly and with all those twigs and leaves in your fur, you’re a hedge cat who just happened to climb too high. Yes, that’s what you are. You’ll just have to sleep here until morning. It’s too dangerous now to go back to your hedge. Whoooooooooooo,’ said Alfie kindly as they both stared at the small, frightened creature sobbing. ‘Whoooooooooo, I thought it might have been a cat, Alfie, it’s really fluffy....’ ‘Yes my dear, of course you’re right. Whoooooooooooooooo or rather what are we going to do with it? It seems harmless enough and as you say, rather white,’ Alfie finished, as both owls stood very still and stared as only owls can do. Every so often they turned their heads almost all the way round before again becoming very still. ‘I just want to go home! I want Suzy and my milk dish and my place in front of the fire. I’m lost and I don’t know how to get home...’ Giggles sobbed as both owls looked on feeling sad for the small white cat, but not knowing what to do. After a while Alfie asked, ‘But if you really are a loved house cat, just how did you get out of the house and get all the way here, there’s no cottages for miles, you really are very lost, Whooooooooooo?’ ‘House cats don’t just live inside a house; I have my own cat door...’ Giggles paused as a loud sob escaped her before she continued, ‘...Anyway, it was the butterflies! I thought I loved them but now I hate them!’ Giggles said as her sobs slowed but didn’t quite stop. ‘But surely, if you really are a loved house cat, you wouldn’t want to run away. It sounds to me like you had lots of friends and people who loved and cared about you. Why, it is very special to be loved and cared about. In fact, those are the most precious things in the world. Love and friendship make you real inside. We know, as we owls are the wisest things in the whole world, aren’t we, Alfie?’ ‘Yes my dear, we certainly are. We have respect for every living thing and we never judge without clearing our mind and listening carefully.