Read Willow the lonely kitten for Free Online

“Let’s stay as long as we can,” she mumbled.
    Miss Eliot’s cat, Tigger, rubbed against her legs, then jumped on to her lap.
    “Is there any more news about the kitten?” Miss Eliot asked, noticing that Evawas studying the goings-on at number 22.
    “Not today,” Eva replied, seeing Julie come out to unload some shopping from the car. There was no sign of Willow. Another five minutes went by before the front door flew open again. This time Julie appeared carrying the little kitten at arm’s length. Willow hung like a scrap of fur from her hands, legs dangling as Julie dumped her on the doorstep and closed the door.
    Eva jumped up, sending Tigger sliding to the floor. “It’s happening again!”
    Miss Eliot, Annie and Eva rushed to the window to see Willow miaowing to be let back in.
    “Poor thing!” Miss Eliot murmured with a shake of her head. “I’d adopt her myself, but Tigger wouldn’t like it. He’s been an only cat for far too long.”

    “Watch out, here comes Mr Shannon!” Annie warned as she spotted Jake walking towards the house, briefcase in hand.
    He immediately spotted Willow, and bent down to stroke the top of her head. Then he scooped her up and took her inside. But a few moments later hereappeared with a cat basket.
    “What’s he doing now?” Eva demanded, so mad that she was ready to rush out and confront Jake Shannon.
    Miss Eliot tried to calm her. “Wait. Now Mrs Shannon has joined them. Her eyes are red. She looks upset. Oh dear!”
    Jake and Julie seemed to be arguing. Jake had Willow in the basket and was opening the car door. Julie was in the driving seat, wiping her eyes.
    “He’s getting in – they’re driving away!” Annie cried.
    “Where to? What are they doing?” Eva couldn’t wait any longer. She rushed to Miss Eliot’s front door and ran into the garden – just in time to see Julie reverse out of their drive and pull away.

Chapter Nine
    “Oh no, what now?” Eva felt rooted to the spot. In her mind’s eye she saw Jake and Julie Shannon driving out of the village into the countryside, choosing a deserted place and stopping the car to dump their unwanted kitten.
    “This is awful,” Annie groaned as she joined Eva on the pavement. “If only we had a car, we could follow them.”
    Miss Eliot had stopped to put on her coat. Now she came out of the house,shaking her head.
    Annie turned to Eva, flustered. “What do we do?”
    “We have to get back to Animal Magic,” Eva decided. “I’ll look up the Shannons’ mobile phone number. Jen or Mum can try to call them.”
    So the girls said goodbye to Miss Eliot and sprinted to Main Street. “Please don’t let us be too late!” Eva gasped as she and Annie ran on until they came to the rescue centre. She was so worried that at first she didn’t notice the car parked in the yard.
    “Eva, wait!” Annie grabbed hold of her arm and pointed to the Shannons’ car. “They didn’t drive off with Willow – they brought her back here!”

    In Reception, Heidi and Jen listened patiently to Julie’s tearful account.
    “I’m so sorry,” she wept. “I’ve brought Willow back. I love her dearly, but I can’t keep her.”
    Eva and Annie were quiet as they came through the door. Jake Shannon glanced over his shoulder and gave them an apologetic smile.
    “I’m so, so sorry, Willow!” Julie cried.

    “And in spite of what you might think, it hasn’t got anything to do with her weeing on the carpets and scratching the furniture.” Jake stood up for Julie.
    “It turns out that I have a severe cat allergy,” Julie explained through her tears. “I got up this morning and I could hardly breathe. My eyes were streaming. So I went to see my GP. He confirmed that I didn’t have a cold, but was having a serious allergic reaction to Willow.”
    Jake put his arm around his wife and took up the explanation. “Obviously we didn’t want to leave Willow outside on Saturday, but Julie was finding it so hard to breathe –