Big Day Out Read online

  ‘What about a big cat? A tiger or a leopard or a panther,’ I said, leaping around the bathroom and pouncing on Melissa.

  ‘Ow! Stop it, you idiot. No, a little cat with fluffy fur – one that will sit on my lap and purr,’ said Melissa.

  ‘You just like cute and cuddly animals. I want a really exciting pet,’ I said.

  My head felt like a Noah’s Ark as animals of all shapes and sizes trumpeted and roared and whinnied in my mind. I dressed hurriedly in my comfy jeans and my Pow! T-shirt and my tartan Converse boots. Melissa dressed in her pink glittery heart top and her shortest skirt and her silly shoes with tiny heels. These are our favourite outfits.

  Dad pretended to be dazzled by our gorgeousness when we came down for breakfast. Mum was less enthusiastic, but didn’t make either of us go and change. She was in an unusually good mood.

  ‘Can we really really really have a pet, Mum?’ I asked.

  ‘We’re not making any promises. Your dad has twisted my arm about going to this Pet Show. We’ll see. But I do know just how much it would mean to you, Martina – and if you had a real animal it might help you grow out of all those tatty toys you trail around.’

  ‘See!’ said Melissa. ‘I was right. Mum, can we have a cat?’

  ‘We’re going to have a good look at all the pets at the Show – I just think a cat would be a very sensible choice,’ said Mum. ‘They’re very clean and you don’t have to take them for walks.’

  ‘Couldn’t we have a tiger, Mum, just a baby one, and then I could train it so it wouldn’t be too fierce and would only bite people I don’t like? Or what about a tarantula? They’re fluffy, Melissa, and I’m sure it would sit on your lap,’ I said.

  ‘Try not to be silly, Martina, or I might just change my mind altogether,’ said Mum.

  I sometimes find it very hard not to be silly when I’m all excited, but I managed to keep my lips buttoned on the tube to Olympia. There were crowds and crowds all flocking into the big exhibition centre. It took ages to queue up and get inside – and then there we were, in this absolutely enormous hall, chock full of animals.

  ‘Oh, brilliant!’ I said, rushing off headlong – but Dad caught hold of me by the back of my T-shirt.

  ‘Calm down now, Marty! Don’t you dare go charging off like that – we’ll lose you in this crowd,’ he said.

  ‘Good idea!’ said Melissa, who can never resist a wise-crack. ‘Let’s go and see the cats!’

  ‘We’d better do this methodically, aisle by aisle,’ said Mum – but the cats happened to be on the nearest aisle.

  I was all set to find them boring, simply because they were Melissa’s choice – but the moment I stood in front of the first big padded cage I fell totally in love with the most beautiful Russian Blue cat called Anastasia. She wasn’t really blue, just a soft grey colour, but her eyes were a bright sapphire blue. She was clearly a very special cat, because her cage was covered with red and yellow rosettes. She lay back modestly enough, her paws neatly crossed, her great blue eyes staring at me.

  ‘Oh, I want this one! Oh, please, she’s so beautiful!’ I said. ‘Can we have her?’

  ‘Oh, yes, I love her! She’s just so cute!’ said Melissa. ‘Let’s have her, please!’

  The lady sitting beside her cage smiled. ‘Yes, she is very beautiful and very cute,’ she said proudly. ‘I’m afraid she’s my cat though, and I wouldn’t part with her for the world.’

  ‘The animals here aren’t for sale, girls. This is just to show you all these different pets, so you can see which sort you want,’ said Dad.

  ‘We know already, Dad! We want a Russian Blue cat!’ we said.

  ‘If you like, I’ll get Anastasia out of her cage and you can stroke her,’ said the lady.

  ‘Oh, yes please!’

  Melissa and I washed our hands with this special liquid and then very carefully stroked Anastasia. She stretched out luxuriously, and purred when I gently tickled under her chin.

  ‘Could we have a cat like this one?’ I asked.

  ‘Well, we have another Russian Blue at home who’s going to have kittens soon,’ said her owner. ‘You can give us your name and address if you like, and we’ll put you on our waiting list.’

  ‘Oh, WOW! Mum, Dad, can we have a Russian Blue kitten?’ we begged.

  ‘Well, maybe,’ said Dad.

  ‘Could you give us some idea how much it would cost?’ said Mum.

  ‘About five hundred,’ said the lady.

  Five hundred pounds for one tiny kitten! ‘Maybe not,’ said Dad.

  ‘Perhaps dogs are cheaper,’ I said.

  We went to look at all the dogs next. We even saw a lady in a fancy costume doing a dance with her black and white collie.

  ‘Oh, how cool! I want a dog that can dance!’ I said. ‘I could train it to do all sorts of tricks!’

  We looked along aisle after aisle, and saw tiny lapdogs and great big butch Rottweilers and fabulous snowy white huskies.

  ‘Oh, let’s have a husky! Let’s have lots of huskies, and then we can have a sledge and they can pull us along the road when it snows!’ I said.

  ‘We haven’t even got room for one dog in the house, let alone a team of huskies,’ said Mum. ‘Why don’t we go and look at the rabbits?’

  So we cooed at the rabbits and stroked the guinea pigs and tickled the mice – but I loved the great big rats the most. Mum and Melissa went a bit squeaky themselves and backed away, but a nice man let me carry his best white rat on my shoulder. The rat peeped round at me and wriggled his little pink nose adorably.

  ‘Oh, he’s so lovely! Can we have a rat just like this one?’ I begged, but sadly Mum said absolutely no way.

  She was a bit strange when we got to the snake section too, but I thought the snakes were beautiful. I couldn’t find a boa constrictor, but I held a very pretty red and white snake just like a great big living necklace.

  ‘What does he like to eat?’ I asked.

  ‘Mice, mostly,’ said the snake’s owner.

  ‘Oh dear,’ I said.

  ‘I think it’s time we had something to eat,’ said Dad.

  We bought a big takeaway pizza and shared it between us.

  ‘Well, girls, what’s the verdict?’ said Dad. ‘What sort of pet would you like?’

  ‘I’d like a Russian Blue cat, and a dog that can dance, and a husky, and a rabbit with floppy ears, and a guinea pig that squeaks, and a white rat that’ll sit on my shoulder, and a whole cageful of mice – but I’d never ever feed them to anyone – and a vegetarian snake,’ I said.

  ‘I’d like a cat,’ said Melissa. ‘But they cost far too much money.’

  ‘These are mostly special pedigree cats at this show, and they do cost a fortune,’ said Dad. ‘But maybe we could get an ordinary moggy from a special rescue home? I don’t think a little rescue cat would cost too much money.’

  ‘Can we have a rescue husky too, Dad? And a rescue rabbit and a rescue guinea pig and a rescue white rat and rescue mice and a rescue snake?’

  ‘What did I say about being silly, Martina?’ said Mum. But she didn’t sound really cross. She was looking at Dad. ‘Have you got your tube map handy? Perhaps we could go to Battersea this afternoon?’

  So we went to Battersea Dogs & Cats Home. We walked round their special cattery and saw many many many cats desperate for their own special homes. Some were big and some were small, some were fierce and hissed, some cowered and looked sad. There were black cats and ginger cats and white cats and tortoiseshell cats, and we dithered in front of each one.

  ‘I want them all!’ I said. ‘Couldn’t we at least have a cat each – one for me and one for Melissa and one for Dad and one for Mum?’

  ‘One cat for all of us!’ said Mum.

  And then I saw him. He was in a cage right at the end. He was much smaller than the others, just a little kitten. He was a soft grey like the Russian Blue, but he had a beautiful white face and chest and neat white paws. He had the prettiest little anxious face with a