The Keeper. Part 1. An Invitation - страница 24

‘Yes.’

The general stared at them both in stony silence. ‘Go and get the animal!’ he instructed the doctor.

‘I can go,’ offered Arthur.

‘No, you’ll stay here. I am sure at the very least, the doctor can manage to get this right!’

‘Stay here, please,’ said the doctor, looking extremely put out by what the general had just said.

‘You know, I’m curious. What made you want to bring the cat?’ asked his father, when the general had become distracted by a colleague.

‘I’m not really sure. It was kind of a feeling that he needed to be here too…’

‘A feeling. Wow. You realise how strange that sounds, don’t you?’

‘I guess.’ And for a moment, Arthur wondered if it might not also be a good time to reveal that he and the cat were able to talk to each other.

‘Something on your mind?’ asked his father, raising an eyebrow expectantly.

‘Um, no, no, everything’s fine,’ he replied, changing his mind.

The doctor returned about forty-five minutes later holding the cursing, wriggling cat tightly under one arm.

‘Let go of me, you big elephant! You’re holding me too tight! Where are we going? Where’s Arthur? What’s this place? I don’t like it. You smell funny!’

Handing him over as quickly as he could, the doctor took out a tissue and began to wipe the bloody scratches on his hands.

‘I was manhandled, I tell you! No pleasantries—they just came in and grabbed me as if I were a common mouse or something!’

‘Cat, calm down,’ whispered Arthur, putting him down and then picking him up.

‘Oh, no, don’t you start!’

The cat wasn’t used to being picked up by anyone.

‘Shh, listen. It’s going to be hard for me to talk to you here. I can hear you fine, so I’ll nod or shake my head if you ask me a yes or no question, but if you want to talk more, then I’ll have to pick you up like this. Do you understand?’

‘Yes, yes, now put me down… No, wait! What are we doing here?’

And after filling him in on what had happened, Arthur placed the cat onto the chair.

‘So, go on, tell me, they think I’m like your lucky charm don’t they?’ he purred.

‘Lucky charm? You didn’t really just call yourself that, did you?’

‘Sure. How else do you explain my needing me to be here?’

‘Honestly, Cat, the things you come out with.’

‘Arthur, are we ready to do this again?’ asked the voice across the tannoy system.

‘Yes.’ He nodded.

‘Okay, everyone, clear the room, please. Dimming the lights now.’

Having already decided to sit on the floor again, Arthur cupped the box in both hands and slowly raised it into the air.

‘Arthur?’ said the voice, after he appeared to just be staring at it.

‘What? Yes, sorry, I’m ready,’ he replied. ‘Open! Open!Open!’

This time, the box flew straight out of his hands and froze several metres above him. Snapping open, just like it had done at the cottage, it filled the room with light before plunging it into darkness seconds later.

‘Yes! We did it,’ he cried, turning to congratulate the cat. ‘Hey! What are you doing over there?’

He could just make out a pair of ears poking over the edge of the platform.

‘What do you mean what am I doing over here? Honestly, I would have thought that it was obvious. I was finding a better place to study the map.’

‘Yeh, right, sure you were.’ He grinned.

‘Listen, buster, you can grin as much as you like, but as of this exact moment, I’ve just officially become a lucky charm, hero, eighth wonder of the world. Feel free to pick any or all of the above, because whatever you think, that box ain’t gonna open without me!’