A Second Chance by Shayne Parkinson Page B

poured a little milk into a saucer and put it on the table.
‘Get kitty to lick it off your finger if you can,’ she told David.
‘It’s a bit like teaching calves, only you’ve got to be ever so
gentle.’
    The kitten licked David’s finger with
surprising energy for so tiny a creature. ‘It’s got a tickly
tongue,’ David said, smiling at the gentle rasping. ‘Shall I try
him with the saucer?’
    ‘Have a go. Mind he doesn’t fall right in,
though.’
    David balanced the saucer on his knee and
carefully persuaded the kitten to transfer its attentions from his
finger to the saucer. Beth had already had some success with the
same lesson, so she was not surprised when the kitten began lapping
greedily. ‘He’s doing it,’ David said, his face lighting up. ‘Gee,
look at him go for that milk!’
    The kitten lapped busily for a few seconds
while Beth stacked dishes on the bench, then it abandoned the milk
to wash its face with its paw. ‘He didn’t have very much,’ David
said.
    ‘He’s only got a tiny tummy. He’s growing
fast, though—he was like a baby rat a couple of weeks ago.’ Beth
paused in her work to run a finger gently down the kitten’s back.
‘Kitty’s going to be all right, I’m sure he is. I think I might
call him Pip—he’s little and black, like an apple pip.’
    The kitten curled into a tight ball on
David’s lap. David lowered his head to catch the tiny rumbling
noise emerging from the warm bundle. ‘He’s purring. You can only
just hear it, but he’s purring all right. You’re good with animals,
you know.’
    ‘So are you. See how the kitten likes you?
He’s scared of most people, especially boys. Animals can tell when
you like them—I think they know when they can trust someone.’
    Beth carried a handful of washed carrots to
the table and sat down beside David. ‘You know what you said about
Aunt Amy before?’ she said, slicing the carrots as she spoke.
‘About how she probably isn’t missing the farm or anything, because
she’s having such a good time?’
    ‘I don’t mind if she’s not missing it,’
David said quickly. ‘I want her to have a good time. She deserves
to have something nice happen to her.’
    ‘Of course she does. She must like Miss
Millish an awful lot, too, to go all that way. But it made me think
of when Maudie got married. I cried when she went away, but she
wasn’t upset to be leaving. It sort of seemed funny, you know? I
mean, she was really lucky to get Richard, but I still thought
she’d be sad to be going away from home. I know I would be, even if
I did get someone like Richard. I won’t, though,’ she added, not
bitterly but with the calm resignation of one who had lived her
whole life in the shadow of a self-assured older sister. ‘Not like
Maudie did.
    ‘I suppose it made a bit more room, anyway,
with Maudie going,’ she said, determinedly bright. ‘Except then
Maisie came to live, and then we got Benjy. It’s always full of
kids at our place, eh? It’s a shame you can’t come and stay with
us, you know—you can’t get lonely there. I don’t know where we’d
put you, though.’
    ‘No, there’s enough people at your place
without me turning up. Maybe you should stay here of an evening
instead.’
    He spoke lightly, but Beth frowned,
pondering just why the notion seemed so unlikely. ‘I don’t think I
could,’ she said slowly. ‘Not at night. Not on my own.’
    David’s grin faded, to be replaced by a
thoughtful expression. ‘No, I suppose not.’ His eyes met hers, and
they exchanged a look that sent an unfamiliar fluttering through
Beth.
    She broke the moment by returning her
attention to the carrots, finishing the job with a few rapid
slices. ‘That’s the vegies done—I should have time for a bit of
baking if I get on with it. I think I’d better make some more
biscuits, with you gobbling the last lot up like that.’ She stood
and piled the sliced carrots on to a plate.
    ‘Mmm, make some of those ones