Cat's Paw (34 page)

‘Jim!’ It
was
him. Ben went and stroked his head. He got a mild electric shock, which he was used to, and in return Jim took a corner of his Cornish pasty. He looked
half-starved.

How could this cat be here? There was only one explanation. When his owner never came home, Jim had started to wander. And his homing instinct – his Oshtian Compass – had guided him
off the moors, through the fields, lanes, villages and towns, all the way back to east London, his old home. He was trying to find the flat he had shared with Mrs Powell. A wave of pity caught Ben
off guard. He wished he could tell this animal that his journey had been in vain, that his old home wouldn’t have him back, and that his friend was dead.

Abruptly Jim sprang from the motorbike’s seat and onto a garden wall. Ben made up his mind. He couldn’t let this orphan roam the city streets. Back at home he had a real family now.
What better way to make it complete?

‘Puss-puss!’ he said. ‘C’mon, Jim. Come with me.’ Jim turned his stare upon him. For a moment gratitude glinted in those gemstone eyes. Then his tail swished and he
trotted along the wall – the wrong way.

‘Jim!’ Ben called. ‘Here, kitty. Cornish pasty! Nice pasty!’

The cat glanced back and gave a funny sort of blink. Almost, unless Ben imagined it, a wink. Then in one bound Jim crossed to a fence, flowed over it and dropped out of sight.

Ben ran behind the terrace and saw an empty alley. He called Jim’s name, over and over, until he felt like a twit and stopped. He bit into the remains of his lunch.

That had looked like a cat who knew precisely where he was going.

Ben chewed, brushing away crumbs, while one car passed after another. He ought to tell Tiffany. What, though, could he tell her? It might not mean very much.

Fingering his phone, he saw the time. Afternoon classes would start in fifteen minutes and he still had homework to finish. Ben tossed the pasty wrapper into a rubbish bin and hurried back to
school.

THE END

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