Trip to Fame

Chapter 4 - Henry

We sat silently on the bench as we ate our sandwiches that mum had packed for us. They were ham, cheese and mustard all inside a brown roll.

The silence broke when Cathy said, "You know what?"
"No I don't know what." I answered.
"I think that we should buy something here. To remember the time we shared our dreams."
"Great idea, Cathy!" I smiled. "How much money do we have left?"
"Well we paid six pounds for one ticket, and didn't pay anything for the theatre." She said. She paused and smiled a cheeky smile after she said the theatre. It was our little secret, and we were proud of it.

"No we didn't pay." I said, rolling my eyes. "So how much do we have left?"
"Four pounds." She replied. It was lucky that she could do math. I couldn't.

"What could we buy with four pounds?" I asked.
"I don't know." She said, chewing her last bit of sandwich. "Let's look around the shops."

And so we did. We looked at almost every shop. One was selling glass art, one was selling food, one was selling toys, another was selling woman's products. There were lots more, but none of the things we special enough. All the things were nice, but not special...

An hour went by and the fair ground was closing up.
"Cathy? What time is it?"
"Almost two o'clock."
"We haven't bought anything yet."
"Well let's just go and buy something random then." She said, pulling me behind.
"No, Cathy. It needs to be something really special!"
"Okay then what do you suggest?"

I looked around for inspiration for the second time today. It worked the first time maybe it would work the second.
Suddenly I see and old lady sitting at a stall, surrounded by big cardboard boxes.

"Look over there, Cathy!" I say, pointing towards the stall. "We haven't seen that stall yet."
"Ugh, fine. But if they don't have anything we want, we go home. Mum's interview will be done by now and the fair's closing up."
"Oh, alright. But let's go and take a look."

So Cathy and I walked over to the old lady. As we approached, we could hear muffled squeals coming from the boxes. The old lady looked very sweet and she was knitting. When Cathy and me got to the stall, we faced the lady.

"Good afternoon." Cathy said.
"Good afternoon dear." The lady replied.
"What do you happen to sell?"
"Well, take a look." The lady said and gestured with her hand toward the boxes. Cathy and I looked down.

I gasped. I gasped a sweet little girly gasp. Cathy gasped too.

"Cathy, please please please can we get one?"
"I don't know, Cleo."
"Please! Mum had loads of them as a young girl! She'd like one."

They were kittens.

"How much for a kitten?" Cathy asked.
"Well I don't set the prices. The customers can offer a price." The lady answered.
"Four pounds?" Cathy offered.
"I usually only accept at least five quid, but you know what, you girls are young and delightful. You should have a kitten. Take one. Four pounds."
"Oh really?! Thank you so much!" Cathy beamed, handing over our last money. "Okay Cleo, you can pick."

I looked into the cardboard box. Four kittens huddled up together inside. They were all so adorable!

There was one that was completely black. I picked it up. "That ones a girl." Said the lady. I wanted a boy. I kissed the black kitten and put it back down.

I picked up another. This one had three colours. Red, white and black. It looked like a tortoise shell cat. They are quite rare. I thought it looked adorable! I was going to pick it until the cat got out its claw and scratched my lip. "That's ones very fierce." Said the lady. "Not so good with kids." So I kissed it carefully and hastily, and put it back down.

I picked up the third. It was so fluffy! It was white, small, chubby and really fluffy. It had very long hair. It also had the bluest of eyes. I wanted this one.
"White and blue." The lady said.
"Pardon?" I asked.
"White and blue. Their the unlucky ones."
"What do you mean? Do they bring bad luck?"
"No, no. They just aren't very lucky. You see the white hair?"
"Yes."
"You see the blue eyes?"
"Yes."
"White hair and blue eyes means their deaf. They need very good care. Have you had a cat before?"
"No."
"Then this is best not the one for you."

I kissed it and put it back in the box. Then I picked out the last one. "Oh he's perfect." The lady said.

He was perfect! The lady said he was a boy, good with kids, never scratches or bites, not deaf and so adorable!

He was orange and white. He wasn't bold orange, just faint, light orange. He was orange with white stripes, but it looked like they had been smudged into each other. He looked like he had been painted by Leonardo DiVinci. He was so beautiful, while his cute little pink nose resembled total cuteness!

"This one!" I said. I could tell that the twinkle in Cathy's eyes meant she approved and agreed that he was definitely the cutest.

"What do you want to call him?" The lady asked. I took a long stare in the cats eyes. He stared right back at me with love.

"I think... I think I'm going to call him... Henry."