BAD CAT, GOOD CAT

BAD CAT, GOOD CAT
Lynne Reid Banks

The stellar partnership who brought you Harry the Poisonous Centipede are back together. This is the funny story of a very naughty cat, from bestselling author Lynne Reid Banks and award winning illustrator Tony RossCats aren't there for people, people are there for cats. At least that's how Turk believes things should be. He takes every liberty with his family, while Peony is a model of good-catliness – until she falls under Turk's spell. Should cats be good or bad? They find out when they are left to fend for themselves after their humans are tricked into going on holiday without them.A wonderful animal adventure.

For Paloma and David.

Naturally.

Contents

1. Cat-Crazy (#ulink_0efa3c35-3c60-5a8d-810f-1b19ba3536c6)

2. A Bad Cat Arrives (#ulink_8c32cf18-2e60-5691-a2f0-6b48c46b6743)

3. Paloma Feels Funny (#ulink_4f2790c4-5481-5fcd-9d60-aa9e0fd5d488)

4. More Badness (#ulink_c8e7d768-e6e3-556a-8bb9-4b2eaf4bdb8b)

5. From Bad to Worse (#ulink_2a2d5893-db00-527b-a712-7d41488db94a)

6. A Good Wash (#ulink_d114a81f-11df-5f76-9c2f-0ccc9e9460ec)

7. A Good Cat Arrives (#litres_trial_promo)

8. White Cat? Black Cat! (#litres_trial_promo)

9. The Second Peony (#litres_trial_promo)

10. Turk Does Himself No Good (#litres_trial_promo)

11. The Night Party (#litres_trial_promo)

12. A Brave Little Cat (#litres_trial_promo)

13. David and Paloma Have a Row (#litres_trial_promo)

14. Peony and Turk Make it Up (#litres_trial_promo)

15. Parents With a Problem (#litres_trial_promo)

16. Abandoned (#litres_trial_promo)

17. Going Feral (#litres_trial_promo)

18. The Lie is Discovered (#litres_trial_promo)

19. Where Are They? (#litres_trial_promo)

20. Peony in a Mess (#litres_trial_promo)

21. Turk To The Rescue (#litres_trial_promo)

22. Peony Springs a Surprise (#litres_trial_promo)

Copyright

About the Publisher

1. Cat-Crazy

This is the story of two families, two children and two cats. Of course, the cats are by far the most important.

As you’ll know, if you happen to have a cat in your family, every cat behaves as if he or she were the king or queen of the house. Cats aren’t there for people, people are there for cats. And the first cat in my story definitely believed that that was the way things should be.

The first thing to say about this cat is that he was bad. I can’t easily tell you what a bad, bad cat he was. But I’m going to try. Because, although he was bad, I like him. And so did David. He was David’s cat. Well… David was his person.

A word about David.

David was crazy about cats. He’d always watched movies about cats, starting with Tom and Jerry. He’d seen The Aristocats too many times to count, and more recently he’d been given a DVD of a Japanese film with warrior cats who wore armour and fought with swords. The film was all in Japanese but David didn’t care. He made up what they were saying to each other, and dreamed of having a Wii of it so he could practise sword-fighting, cat-hero-style.

He shared all this with Paloma, the girl who lived next door to him. Paloma was the same age as him. They were friends for one main reason: they were both cat-crazy. Her favourite books were Slinky Malinki and Orlando the Marmalade Cat.

David was more into serious books about cats. He really knew a lot about them; about where different kinds of cat came from, and how in Egypt people thought they were gods while in England some people thought they weren’t gods at all, but devils and witches’ helpers.

He found all this wonderfully exciting, and it was very good for his reading. These books were quite grown-up and had long words in them. But that was good too, because David and Paloma collected words, and especially cat-words. His favourite at the moment was ‘cat-aclysm’, but he also liked ‘catacomb’. He knew what they meant, too (something very bad happening to a cat, and an underground place for dead cats).

On birthdays he often got given books about cats. But as his next birthday came close, his parents asked him an important question.

“You can choose between two big presents,” his dad said. “One is a Wii.”

A Wii! His dream! He couldn’t imagine anything he’d like better.

“Oh, yes, please!” he said excitedly.

“Well, but wait. The other thing you might want is a cat.”

David stood there, his mouth open. He’d asked for a cat so often, and the answer had always been No.

“A real cat?”

“Yes. We think you’re old enough now to take care of it.”

David was speechless. A cat was something he felt he didn’t just want. He needed it. The Wii of his dreams just floated away. From then till his birthday, all he dreamed about was his cat that was coming.

2. A Bad Cat Arrives

The cat arrived on his birthday.

When David first saw him, he was so happy he couldn’t move or speak. He just stood there gazing. Out of the carry-box came a snow-white cat with long, silky fur. He stalked out of the little gate, his tail unfolded and stuck up straight. When he saw David, he stood still and gazed back. He had blue eyes.