Max’s Adventures with His Loyal Friends

I told her about not washing, and how I’d lied to my mother, and Miss Fanny believed me straight away.

“I know what we can do about this. Come with me.”

I dragged along after her, and soon we came to a barber’s shop. The barber looked and me and shook his head doubtfully.

“I’ve never seen such a coat of fur. I don’t know if I can even get a comb through it…”

“Then what can we do? The poor thing’s own mother doesn’t recognise him. Please, think of something!”

“Right you are. I’ll just have to clip off the whole lot. You’ll have to be brave though, Hunter – it won’t be very nice.”

And for what seemed like forever he cut away at my fur – the same fur that used to be as smooth as silk. When I looked in the mirror I got a horrible fright: the creature staring back at me was so gaunt and bony. And I started to cry – because now there wasn’t a hope of my mother recognising me! But Miss Fanny said:

“Be brave for just a little while longer, my dear: your fur will grow back, and it will be quite as beautiful as before. And in the meantime you can stay with me.”

But I didn’t need to go and stay with our kindly next-door neighbour: we met my mother on the street that very day and she took me home. Somehow she immediately recognised me! Hmm… you know, I’ve never understood how she was able to. I won’t tell you how ashamed I was, how my brothers and sisters made fun of me, how I shivered with the cold and had to stay by my mother’s side just to keep warm – forget playing and chasing about! A sad tale indeed. But before long I’d grown back my fur, and I was the same old happy kitten with a silky coat – only now I’d groom myself as often as I could, getting washed not just in the morning and before bed, but any time I could find a spare minute…

“And that,” smiled Hunter, making a little circle with his tail, “is what happened when I didn’t want to get washed at bedtime. I hope it serves as a lesson for you too. Sienna, I’ve noticed how you take good care of your tail, but you need to groom every inch of your coat – and yes, you need to get washed and clean your teeth every night. And now, my young friends, it’s off to bed. You’re tired and you need your rest.”

Chapter 3. The Fancy Dress Parade

With the arrival of the house’s new residents, life became a lot more fun – and a lot more chaotic. Max was delighted with the kittens, and they grew so fond of him that sometimes they’d fight over who would get stroked first. Tom and Sienna loved to tear up and down the old house’s narrow, creaking flights of stairs – and they were prone to getting under the feet of Auntie Jane, who’d shriek from fright, clutching her hand to her chest: “Oh, it’s you two, you little tearaways! Play carefully, don’t run so fast up and down the stairs. It’s dangerous – you could break your legs!”

But it was Max, in the end, who broke his leg. Running away from Tom and Sienna as they played, he didn’t notice Hunter’s walking stick – after taking his walk that day, Hunter had left it by the door to the basement. Poor Max tripped on the cane and went head over heels down the stairs. He tried to stand but couldn’t get up – the pain was unbearable! Max started to cry.

“Help me, I can’t stand up! Ouch, it hurts!” Through the tears, he managed to cry out for help. His leg had already swollen up and turned a vivid blue, and all of the cats – who’d come running in fright when they heard Max’s cries – burst into tears themselves. “Whatever’s the matter? What’s happened to you?” – at last Auntie Jane followed them down into the basement, and she could tell in an instant what had happened.

“How terrible! Well, what’s done is done. Hold onto me, my dear – we need to get you to hospital without delay and get that leg seen to. Oh, and I’ll need some furry helpers if I’m going to carry Max up these stairs – he’s not as light as all that.” His auntie held Max under the arms while Hunter and Tom lifted his legs. This meant standing up on their hind legs, but Hunter had long been in the habit of walking like a human, and Tom learned from him in a moment. The cats carried the injured leg with the greatest of care, but Max still suffered terribly and cried out with the pain. Matilda ran ahead of them to bring Max’s warm hat and mittens. Sienna wanted to help too somehow, so she started wiping away his tears with her fluffy tail.

“My lovely friends,” said Max to the cats, “thank you! Don’t let yourselves worry on my account – soon all this will be over and we’ll be playing and tearing around just like before.” In truth he was trying to rally his own spirits as much as theirs. He tried to be strong and brave, but the wretched tears kept trickling from his eyes and his voice was shaken by sobs.

The cats helped Max get dressed as Auntie Jane called for an ambulance. The doctors came and laid Max on a special wheeled stretcher, then took him and Auntie Jane off to the hospital in the big white ambulance. Instantly the house felt empty and lonely. The cats, quiet and miserable, went to sit by the fire in the sitting room, but without any human company it seemed so bleak and cheerless that they left at once and headed to Tom and Sienna’s corner in the pantry.

“Let’s think of what we can do to help Auntie Jane and Max,” said Matilda. “If we can do something to cheer them up then Max will be on the mend that much sooner.”

“I say we organise a fancy dress parade!” Hunter chimed in.

“A fancy dress marade? What’s that?” asked Sienna, wide-eyed.

“Parade, not ‘marade’, ” laughed Hunter. “A fancy dress parade is when everyone puts on a fancy dress and has fun. I think we should all get dressed up as mice, and we can think of a song to sing.”

“Where will we get the costumes from?”

“We can make them out of paper. Max has got all sorts of coloured paper on his desk – I’m sure he won’t be angry if we use it.”

“It’s a brilliant idea,” said Matilda. “Let’s get to work!”

The cats ran to Max’s room and got started with the multi-coloured paper: cutting out mouse ears, rolling up mouse noses – with little balls of plasticine on the end – and curling up long strips to make mouse tails. They hid their own beautiful tails under coats made from the paper. And when they’d finished they all looked so funny! Even if you wouldn’t say there was much resemblance to mice. Sienna was resplendent in pink, Matilda was all in baby blue, while Tom’s costume was the most striking of all: with his white ears and nose, red cape and green tail, he looked like the Italian flag! And as for Hunter, well, he naturally chose orange – the colour of happiness and positivity.

Their paper costumes rustling, the cats made their way downstairs – and just in time to find Max and Auntie Jane returning to the house from the hospital! Poor Max’s leg was tightly bandaged up, right to the knee. He wasn’t crying now, but he looked very pale and very grave. He hopped into the hall, leaning on his auntie, then sat down at once on the big trunk by the door. Auntie Jane was just starting to help him off with his coat when she noticed the strange parade coming down the stairs. She gasped. She was so surprised, she had to sit down.

“Goodness, what’s this? Who have we got here? Look, Max – how about this for a spectacle!” She was wiping away tears of laughter. And Max couldn’t keep from laughing either. But the best was still to come – the cats all got in line and started to sing:

“We’ve come as jolly paper mice

To visit Max, our dearest friend

And a gift is no great sacrifice

If it helps to get him on the mend!”

They might not have sung perfectly in time – there’d been no time to practise, and their voices were all as different as could be – but they put so much heart into it that Max thought the funny little ditty was better than any other song in the world! Hunter pulled out a big cracker and presented it to Max with a bow. Max pulled both ends of the cracker until it went bang – and out flew a whole world of treasures! There were little caramels, stamps of every colour, stickers with his favourite story-book characters, even a few tiny blue butterflies! Max was so happy that he jumped up onto his feet – though he had to sit straight back down again, as his bad leg simply couldn’t take the weight.

“Hunter, Matilda, Sienna, Tom, you’re incredible! You’ve cheered me up no end, thank you. Of all the mice I’ve ever seen, in picture books or anywhere, none have been as funny as you!”

The cats shook off their paper costumes, jumped up on top of the big trunk next to Max and started to rub themselves against him – and purr like they’d never purred before. Max threw his arms around them all and smothered them with kisses. Then Auntie Jane and the cats helped him up to his room and put him to bed. That night Auntie Jane let the cats sleep on Max’s bed – and what a picture they all made! Matilda was above Max’s head, snuggled up against him, Tom and Sienna were rolled up into balls at his shoulders, while Hunter stretched out alongside his bad leg, guarding it.

And Max’s bad leg really did get better quite fast: in two weeks’ time he was back at school – though he had to use crutches – and a month later he was skipping around as if nothing had happened. But back at the house there was no more running up and down the stairs – when you’ve broken your leg once, you don’t want to try it again!

Chapter 4. The Treehouse

Spring had arrived. In Auntie Jane’s garden the new grass was a rich emerald green and the crocuses were in bloom. This year, they’d come through in numbers untold and formed a beautiful carpet of violet and yellow on the ground. Whenever the cats were playing in the garden, they had to take extra care not to tread on the flowers – one sudden move and those fragile stalks could break! Auntie Jane would walk out through the tall glass doors to the garden to watch Max and the cats playing – and would get very cross indeed if she caught them spoiling her garden’s perfect order!

One day Jane went out into the garden as usual – and was horrified by what she saw. Nearly all her beloved crocuses had been broken, the grass had been trampled and several ugly holes had been dug out on the lawn.

“All of you come here at once! Who’s responsible for this?!” Auntie Jane was quite beside herself. Her face was flushed with anger, her hands trembling.

Max and the cats had only just woken up, but came running as soon as they heard her voice – and they looked at the garden with such astonishment that anyone could tell they were seeing the damage for the first time. Deep down Auntie Jane knew they’d had nothing to do with it, but she was still struggling to come to terms with the destruction – and decided to ask Max and Hunter a few questions just in case.

“Who was out in the garden last night and left this disgraceful scene? Was it you playing hide-and-seek? Or playing soldiers?”

Max was hurt. “Of course not! How could you even think we’d do something like this? Hunter, Matilda, Tom, Sienna – tell Auntie it wasn’t us!”

The cats lifted their tails in unison, then shook the tips ever so slightly to confirm what Max had said.

Feeling terribly upset, Auntie Jane started to collect the flowers that were scattered on the ground – while Max, along with his team of furry helpers, brought fresh earth to fill the holes and spread seeds to grow new grass.

Sadly, despite all their efforts the garden didn’t really look much better – the dark bare patches glaring in the bright green lawn made it a sorry sight.

“Well, we can’t let ourselves get downhearted – we’ll just have to wait until the new grass comes through. And we mustn’t forget to water, that’s crucial – we can’t let the seeds dry out.”

After a few days the first tiny blades of grass started to show, and the crocuses bloomed thicker and brighter than before, as if to make up for the ones that were lost. The garden’s old beauty and harmony returned. But one morning the house woke up to find the flowers broken and trampled again, and in the middle of their beautiful lawn… an enormous black hole.

This time Auntie Jane couldn’t hold back the tears. She ran into the house in despair and threw herself onto her bed, stricken with a terrible migraine.

“Poor Auntie Jane!” said Hunter. “That does it, we have to help her – and that means catching the louts who’ve been wrecking our garden! Well, I’ve got a plan, and I’d like to hear what you think of it.”

Gathered by the fire in the sitting room, the friends had a meeting.