The Kingdom Of Carbonel Part 13

*I believe there's quite a big one in the new building in the market square. Mr Featherstone was telling me about it the other day. Come on! What are we waiting for?'

*Me, to finish my cake!' said John obstinately. *It's all very well for you with steak and kidney pie inside you as well. I think that invisible insides need more food than other people's.'

*Your visible one seemed to think much the same thing,' said Rosemary.

*Oh well, if you imagine I'm just greedy,' said John, and trailed off into huffy silence. It was broken by the sound of voices behind them. Two cats were trotting down the steps.

*Well, I'll do my best, Fuggins,' said one of them, a sleek, rangy tabby. *A lot of Broomhurst fellows have slipped in quietly already. The Fallowhithe animals don't seem to suspect. Simple creatures they are. Fish heads for us and tails for them when it's over, I think her Royal Greyness said?'

His huffiness forgotten, John whispered, *Don't let on you understand!'

*And the pick of the best hearthrugs for Broomhurst animals!' said Fuggins. *Only a few days to wait now, my boy! There's a gang of alley cats down here that I want to enroll. See you ona the night!'

Fuggins trotted purposefully away along the path, and the tabby, by means of a dustbin and a broken-down fence, leaped on to the wall and went along the top until he was out of sight.

*There were cats running along the warehouse wall all the time you were talking to Mrs Flackett,' said John. *Dozens of them.'

*Don't you remember? Carbonel told us that wall tops are the main roads of Cat Country.'

*Things seem to be moving,' said John.

Rosemary guessed that he had got up because of the shower of crumbs which suddenly fell at her feet.

*Well, get on, girl!' he said impatiently.

*I like that!' said Rosemary hotly.

*That's a good thing,' said John maddeningly. *This way!' and Rosemary swallowed her crossness and hurried after the sound of his retreating footsteps.

The pet shop was not difficult to find. It was in the new block of shops next to Mrs Flackett's offices. They looked up as they pa.s.sed. It was difficult by daylight to imagine its roof top was the same as the high place they had flown to with moon-flooded trees and milky stream. The shop they were looking for called itself *Chez Poodles'.

*Oh, look! The whole of the window is full of kittens!' said Rosemary.

They stared through the window. On the floor, which was covered with shavings, were kittens sleeping, kittens fighting, kittens playing. There were drifts and heaps of kittens, black, grey, tabby and tortoise-sh.e.l.l. From the roof hung a mobile, and as it swung, they jumped and patted the bells and b.a.l.l.s that hung from the moving arms, to the delight of the little knot of people in the street outside.

*But I can't see Pergamond or Calidor!' whispered John.

*Look over there!' said Rosemary.

Two kittens had begun a tussle in a corner, a black with white paws and a grey. It was not easy to distinguish them clearly as they rolled and tumbled, but there was something about the jaunty way in which the black one hurled himself on the grey which seemed familiar. By the time that John was looking in the right direction, half a dozen more kittens had thrown themselves into the fight, and the black cat was hidden beneath a pile of thrusting noses and kicking legs.

*I'm sure it was Calidor!' said Rosemary.

As she spoke, the black kitten crawled out from the bottom of the pile, and shaking each paw in turn, looked with interest at the mound of cats, still milling on top of one another.

*Go in and buy him, now!' said John, hurriedly pushing a handful of small change into Rosemary's hand. *I'll wait outside.'

But as he spoke a white-overalled arm leaned over the wire barrier at the back of the window, and a hand picked up the black kitten by the scruff of his neck, and lifted him out of sight.

*Quick!' said John.

Rosemary dashed into the shop. By the window stood the a.s.sistant still holding Calidor by the scruff of his neck, while on the other hand she rested his hind legs through which curled his short tail.

*The three royal white hairs!' said Rosemary to herself. *Calidor!' she said softly. *It's me, Rosemary!'

The kitten gave a little soundless mew, and the two people who had been examining him, looked round. One was a small plump woman in a very fashionable but extremely unbecoming hat, and very high heels. The other was a girl of about Rosemary's age. But there the likeness ended, for she looked as though she had never been dirty in her life, and not one of the pale hairs of her ponytail was out of place. It must be admitted that one of Rosemary's plaits was in the knotted condition that results from pushing up the bow when it gets loose, instead of re-tying it, and there was a smudge on her cheek.

*Now do make up your mind, Dossy darling! First you want a grey kitten, and then a ginger, and now you want a black! Daddy said you could have one if you were good at the dentist's, and really you weren't very good so you shouldn't have one at all. But I do so hate to see her little face cloud over!' the woman went on to the a.s.sistant. But even with the prospect of a kitten that she did not deserve, Dossy's *little face' seemed clouded. Rosemary thought she looked down-right cross.

*I want a white kitten!' announced Dossy.

*I'm afraid it just happens that we haven't one in the shop,' said the a.s.sistant with weary politeness. *Not one.'

*Oh, please!' said Rosemary, who felt she could not wait a minute longer. *May I have the black kitten? How much is it?'

But this was all that was needed to get Dossy to make up her mind.

*You can't have it!' she said. *I'm buying it.'

*But you said you wanted a white one, and I must have it for a special reason!' said Rosemary desperately. *It's a very special kitten!'

*Well then, if it's so very special, it's all the more reason why I should have it,' said Dossy tartly.

*I think my little girl must have first choice,' said the woman. *We'll take the little black fellow after all!' She turned to the a.s.sistant and paid over the money.

*Please, may I hold him, just one minute?' said Rosemary unhappily. She took the little animal in both hands and held him to her cheek. He felt very small beneath his fluff of coal black fur.

*You'll have to go with her,' she whispered.

*I don't want to, I don't like her!' said Calidor.

*We'll rescue you somehow. John is outside. You won't be able to see him because he is invisible. But I know he'll think of something.'

Calidor gave a sad little mew.

*Cheer up,' said Rosemary. *Remember you are a royal kitten and you must be brave. Couldn't you manage a little purr? That's better! Where is Pergamond?'

*In a cage at the back of the shop by herself. I'm so glad to see you, Rosie!' he said. Calidor gave her cheek a little lick.

Dossy was looking on curiously.

*Mother!' she said in an aggrieved voice. *That girl's talking to my kitten!'

*Take him to the car, darling, and show him to Daddy. I shan't be a minute.'

Rosemary handed Calidor over and followed Dossy's beautifully tailored but irritating back out of the shop.

*All right, I'm here!' whispered John's voice beside her.

*She's bought him!' said Rosemary. *And now they're going off in a car and we don't know where to!'

*We'll soon find out!' said John.

*But how?'

*I'm going too! No one will see me! What a gorgeous car! I've always wanted to go in one of those high-powered things, and now's my chance!'

*I must stay here,' said Rosemary. *Pergamond's at the back of the shop. Good luck, John!'

*Good luck, Rosie!'

The plump woman was getting into the front seat of the car. There was plenty of room for three. Rosemary saw the door at the back open and close noiselessly. She waved as the car slid smoothly into the traffic.

*Miss Dibdin was right. Being invisible has got its uses,' said Rosemary, and turned and went back into the pet shop.

19.

The Pet Shop

At any other time Rosemary felt she could have spent a long while quite happily looking round the shop. She went past the tanks of tropical fish which lined the side opposite the counter. Out of the corner of her eye she could see their jewelled shapes dart and hover in each small, watery world, but she walked resolutely by and pushed through the bead curtain which divided the shop from the animal cages. The noise here was deafening. It reminded her of Fairfax Market on Sat.u.r.day night with all the stall-holders shouting their wares: only here each animal was trying to sell itself. Only the birds sang and gossiped to each other. It mattered little to them in what house their cages stood.

*Buy me! Buy me!' shouted a corgi puppy.

*Only ten shillings! Come along, come along!' called a pair of guinea pigs.

A case of hamsters squeaked, *Buy! Buy! Buy!' and a large, buck rabbit wrinkled its nose in disdain at having to announce that it was going for fifteen and six.

A c.o.c.katoo whistled shrilly, *All hands to the pump! How de do! How de do! How de do!' and rocked himself violently from side to side.

*Very well, thank you!' said Rosemary politely.

*Put a sock in it!' said the c.o.c.katoo rudely, and made clicking noises with its tongue.

Rosemary ignored him and searched the cages anxiously for Pergamond. She asked two Siamese cats if they had seen her. They stared insolently, and said something which she could not understand, presumably in Siamese. The few people who were looking at the animals as well, were unlikely to hear her whispered inquiries in the general hubbub.

Next she asked a tortoise. He looked up heavily from a lettuce leaf and said in a slow, deep voice, *I don't know nothing about no kittens. But if it's tortoise-sh.e.l.l you want, why not have a tortoise in it? Have me!' And she realized by the curious jerking of its sh.e.l.l that the creature was laughing at what it thought was a joke. Rosemary shook her head.

*Pity,' said the tortoise, and went on eating lettuce.

She turned to a cage of white mice. But at the word *kitten' there was a flick of tails and whiskers, and they all disappeared into a round hole in a wooden box at the back of the cage.

*Polly put the kettle on,' shrieked the c.o.c.katoo, and rattled its beak on the perch.

*A tortoise-sh.e.l.l kitten!' yapped a fox terrier puppy. *Kittens? Yah! You want a puppy!' and he turned to bowl over his companion who had nipped him in the leg.

*But I keep telling you!' said Rosemary desperately. *All I want is a kitten, and you won't listen!'

For a moment she was alone in the shop.

*Second from the left, top row!' said a voice. It was the c.o.c.katoo. He was standing motionless, his yellow crest thrust forward. Rosemary went up to his perch. When she first saw him she had thought he was rather like a clown at a circus. Now he looked suddenly very wise and very dignified.

*If I'd known you were a hearing human I should never have tried that "Polly-put-the-kettle-on" stuff on you. That's just in the way of business. I must give my public what it wants, you know. They put a tortoise-sh.e.l.l kitten up there in a cage by herself, because of her markings. Quite rare, apparently.'

*Oh, thank you!' said Rosemary gratefully and ran to look.

*Don't mention it!' said the c.o.c.katoo, and as an old lady with a small boy came in through the bead curtain he shrieked, *All hands to the pump! How de do! How de do! How de do!' to the small boy's delight.

At the back of the second cage from the left, in the top row, was a small, furry, tortoise-sh.e.l.l ball.

*Pergamond! It's me, Rosemary! Do wake up, Pergamond!'

The kitten uncurled herself, and yawned so wide that Rosemary could see the little pink wrinkles on the roof of her mouth.

*What a long time you've been,' she said sleepily. *But I knew you'd come!' and she got up and rubbed herself against the cage door. Rosemary stroked her with a single finger, which was all she could poke through.

*How much are you, Pergamond dear?'

*Six shillings,' she said proudly.

*Oh no!' said Rosemary in dismay. *I've only got four and elevenpence and an Irish halfpenny!'

*Well, you can't expect me to go for tuppence,' said the kitten grandly. *Not rare markings and royalty!'

*Ssh!' said Rosemary, looking around nervously. *Don't let anyone know who you are!'

*Well, I don't see a"' began Pergamond, and broke off as the corgi puppy next door hurled himself at the dividing wire netting, yapping defiance at all kittens. Undaunted, Pergamond advanced on him, spitting and swearing.

*Pergamond!' said Rosemary in a shocked voice. *What would Woppit say?'

*You can't expect anything else,' said the c.o.c.katoo. *A very mixed lot here! They pick up all sorts of expressions. I suppose,' he went on, sidling toward her, *as well as a kitten you wouldn't be wanting a c.o.c.katoo? Thirty pounds and cheap at the price.'

*Thirty pounds! Why I haven't even six shillings to buy my kitten. What can I do?'

*Oh well!' said the c.o.c.katoo, and sighed deeply. Then he went on, *You might consult the boss, Bodkin is the name. Not a bad sort as a rule! But you're out of luck today, he's got toothache.'

Rosemary returned to the comparative quiet of the shop where a large man in a white overall was selling a guinea pig to a girl. She waited until the girl had gone and then she said, *Excuse me, but what do your customers usually do when they find they haven't got quite enough money to buy something?'