by s fowler

The moon was bright and lighting up Sam’s favourite football mug on his bedside table. Sam was dreaming he had just scored a most brilliant goal and the crowds were cheering and clapping so loudly that they woke him up. In fact, in reality, the clapping noise was a tapping on the bedroom window by the beak of an owl that was frantically flapping his enormous wings and staring with his large eyes through the glass.

Sam opened the window gradually to let the owl settle safely on the window ledge whereupon it explained, in owl language which Sam could understand, that there was a dangerous situation occurring in the river which required human help as soon as possible. Sam immediately rushed to his brothers’ bedroom and urged them to wake up and quickly get dressed over their pyjamas. At the back door they grabbed their life jackets and pulled on their wellington boots.

They could see that the owl was panicking, flapping its wings and hooting loudly. The boys rushed to the end of the garden and pulled the raft out of the bushes. ‘Quickly, quickly!’ hooted the owl as they paddled down the stream towards the fast-flowing river at the end of the road. They paddled furiously; around the corner of the garden, under the low bridge which once was a ford, passed the almshouses and across the allotments until they reached the river.

The moonlight aided their journey by lighting up the dark patches under the trees and gradually, as they got used to the rushing sound of water ahead of them, they could hear a loud meowing. They managed to make out, in the glistening waves, two sodden furry paws waving high above the water and a small furry head with pointed ears just poking above the current. The owl flapped and squawked until the boys reached the drowning kitten.

As Tom paddled and Sam steadied the raft, Will was able to reach out and grab the kitten and pull it onto the raft. The owl perched on the end while Will wrapped the poor soaked little cat in a picnic rug.  As we know, cats do not like water, and it was pitiful to see the young creature so miserable and uncomfortable. Will dried the fur gently and cradled the kitten until it stopped its mewing and settled down in his arms.

The owl pointed with its beak to further up the river where in the side of the bank there was a large hollow. He indicated that they were to go into this hollow and left them to continue their journey without him as he stayed hovering at the entrance. The boys ventured along a dark tunnel lit on both sides with yellow, glowing cat-shaped eyes which blinked as they passed. Suddenly they were outside in a strange country with a flat plain rising to a towering hill in the distance, and on the top of the hill stood a huge castle shaped like a cat’s head with pointed ears for towers.

Leaving the raft by the side of a long road the three of them started to trek towards the castle, with Will still cradling the young cat in his arms. Behind them they heard the approach of a vehicle and found that a large cat basket on wheels was being driven by a tall Siamese cat dressed in a uniform, which included a cap with a claw badge on the front.

The cat indicated to them to hop in and they were driven at great speed to the castle. Over a wooden drawbridge they clattered and into a courtyard, whereupon they were escorted by a great line of uniformed Siamese cats into a huge room, which, to be honest, smelt very fishy. On a magnificent throne made of fish bones sat a huge fat tabby cat dressed in a cape made up of mouse tails and wearing a crown of birds’ feathers. A small grey cat came rushing towards them offering them a bowl of sardines on sticks and glasses of milk. To be polite they each took a glass of milk but avoided the sardines.

A purring sound issued from the cat king who thanked them for finding their lost kitten and when the boys explained what had happened in the river, the king beckoned forward a beautiful and fluffy ginger cat. She must have been the cat’s mother because she immediately snatched the kitten from Will’s arms, bowing again and again to the brothers as she purred and stroked her forlorn offspring.

The boys returned in the cat basket to their raft and soon found the owl at the end of the dark tunnel.  The owl explained that birds and cats do not generally get along so he was unable to accompany them to the Cat Kingdom, but that all animals and birds assisted each other when their need was great.

The weary youngsters returned to their garden, said goodbye to the owl and climbed back into their beds, extremely tired but satisfied they had been able to save a drowning kitten. No one would ever believe them of course so their night time adventures would always have to remain secret.