Lara The Runaway Cat: One cat’s journey to discover home is where the heart is

But Cleo just shrugged. ‘I’ll hang out with your people long enough for you to make your getaway, then I’ll lose them before we get on the plane.’

‘Lose them? How? You’ll be in my carrier.’ And I had tried opening that door from the inside before, usually when they were using it to take me to the vet. It didn’t work.

But Cleo looked unconcerned by the difficulties ahead. ‘Yowl loud enough and someone will open the door eventually. Then I just need to slip past them and make a run for it.’

‘What if you get caught? And, actually, what if you don’t? What will you do?’ It sounded to me like Cleo had her own adventure planned.

‘If I can stay free, I’ll just hide out around the airport as long as it’s fun and entertaining. Then, when I’m ready for humans again, I’ll let myself get caught by the airport staff. They’ll just check my microchip, then put me up in some pet hotel or another until Jennifer gets back in the country. Hopefully, losing me will put her off flying for a while.’

For someone planning an audacious escape, Cleo seemed remarkably calm and unruffled. Were her nerves jangling like mine were, inside? If she hated flying as much as she said, she must be a bit nervous, right? I wished she’d show it – it would make me feel better.

And there was something else Cleo hadn’t considered, either.

‘Unless Jennifer decides she likes me better, and wants to keep me.’ I was hoping to ruffle her, just a little bit. But Cleo just laughed, which was rather insulting.

I got the feeling that Cleo wasn’t really that nice a cat. But she was helping me, so I’d need to put up with her, for now at least.

Later, once Jennifer had whisked Cleo back into her carrier to take her next door, and Mum and Dad were ready for bed, Gobi settled down next to me and asked, ‘What were you and your lookalike whispering about earlier?’

I allowed myself a small, smug smile. ‘You’ll have to wait and see.’

‘I didn’t like her,’ Gobi said. ‘She seemed sly. Sneaky. Not like you.’

If only Gobi knew how sneaky I could be, when I needed to. But it was better that she didn’t. Mum and Dad and Gobi were all so convinced that I was a boring, homebody cat, they’d never even dream I could plan an adventure like this, so they’d never see it coming. I’d be halfway to Australia before they even realized what had happened.

It was the perfect plan.

I smiled to myself, and curled up, my paws under my chin and my tail wrapped over Gobi’s back to try to sleep. But without the distractions of Cleo and Jennifer, or making plans, I was very aware that I was on the giant ship in the middle of more water than I’d ever imagined could exist, even when Dad pointed out the oceans on his map.

Gobi was already snoring, so I hopped off the bed and over to the little table under the window, almost knocking over Mum’s bottle of water. Pressing my paws against the window, I looked outside again.

The waves rose and fell around us, making even the huge ferry sway from side to side. The moon glowed in the sky, and again in the water. I knew from Dad’s documentaries that it was the same moon that looked down on our house in Edinburgh, the same moon my family would see in China, and the same moon I’d be looking at in Australia.

The whole wide world to explore, but only one moon. That made me feel a little better about everything, somehow.

After a while, watching the waves started to make my stomach feel odd, so I settled down again next to Gobi, listening to her gentle snores, and Mum and Dad’s breathing as they slept. This might be the last night I heard those sounds for a while, so I drank them all in, storing the memory away for other nights, away from my family. After a while, they merged with the other sounds I could hear – creaks and clanks from the ferry, the voices of some of the other passengers passing our door, the waves outside lapping against the boat.

Eventually, I fell asleep to the sound of the waves rocking the boat, still picturing Gobi’s face when she realized I was having a much bigger adventure than she ever could.

Airports turned out to be a lot bigger than I expected. And noisier.

There were so many people, everywhere, that I could see instantly how easy it would be for Cleo to lose herself among them, after I was gone. Once she’d escaped from the carrier, anyway.

So far, everything had gone perfectly to plan.

The ferry had docked early in the morning, and we’d all had breakfast together in our little cabin before we headed out to find our car again. Dad helped Jennifer with her cases too, taking her with us down to the car. We sat in the giant car park on the boat, and I peered out from my carrier through a sliver of window I could see, waiting to see the new country we’d arrived in – France.

Jennifer and Cleo travelled with us on the drive to the airport, Cleo in her carrier beside mine. We’d exchanged knowing looks, but hadn’t risked discussing our plan with Gobi there to listen in. I wasn’t sure how she’d stop us, but I was pretty sure she’d try, if she knew what we were planning. I reckoned Gobi liked being the only pet to have the big adventures.

My whole body buzzed with anticipation throughout the long drive to the airport – and for once, I didn’t even fall asleep in the car! I was far too excited for that.

At the airport, Jennifer stuck with us, just as Cleo and I had hoped she would. I’d tried to imagine what we’d do if she decided to go her own way once we got there, but without being able to picture an airport, it was impossible.

Now I could see exactly what one looked like, it only seemed more so.

It helped that Cleo had talked me through what would happen – and that, actually, it wasn’t very much different to the systems we’d been through at the ferry port the day before. Now, though, I realized that the papers Dad handed over to the man in the uniform were probably mine and Gobi’s passports – for all they looked different to his and Mum’s.

Nobody seemed all that interested in us, except to scan our microchips and glance at our papers. Except, of course, for the overly chatty security man, who recognized Gobi from the telly.

‘I can’t believe she really ran all that way through the desert with you!’ he said, as he checked Gobi’s passport. Gobi preened at the attention, as usual.

‘She really did.’ Dad ruffled Gobi’s scruffy, sandy fur. As if mine wasn’t a hundred times softer and fluffier and overall much, much nicer to ruffle. ‘She’s a born adventurer, this one!’

I hunkered down in my soft carrier, waiting for someone to remember that I was there, more determined than ever to show my humans that I could have an adventure even better than Gobi’s. And I wouldn’t feel the need to brag about it on TV all the time, either. Although, if my public came calling, of course I wouldn’t want to disappoint them either. And a book deal would be nice …

Finally, we were through security, and Dad took Gobi out of her carrier and popped her lead on instead. Mum reached into the bag she had on her back and pulled out my harness – the one she uses when we go on long car journeys and I need to stretch my legs at the side of the road. My eyes widened with panic as I saw it in her hand.

We hadn’t planned for harnesses.

Just behind us, Cleo and Jennifer were exiting security, too, and I tried to catch Cleo’s eye through the door of her carrier. Once the harness was on, there was no way I could escape and still be mistaken for Cleo afterwards. My harness is, let’s say, distinctive. (It’s bright pink, with yellow and orange flowers on it. Dad chose it – for the record, he said it was a joke. Mum said it would definitely make it less likely that anyone would try to steal me, so she insists on using it every time we go anywhere in the car, now.)

Mum was still untangling the harness lead as Jennifer put Cleo’s carrier on the floor, just across from mine. Perfect! Catching her eye, I meowed my concerns across to her, but Cleo merely smiled.

‘Just wait for my signal,’ she said.

Her signal? How would I know what her signal was? We definitely hadn’t discussed signals when we were planning the night before. What if I screwed up my one chance at an adventure because I didn’t recognize the signal? Didn’t Cleo know I was new to all this?

But then, as I was quietly fretting, Mum knelt down to open my carrier. The moment the door clicked open, Cleo started making the most almighty racket, yowling and clawing at the material of her carrier.

Oh. That was probably the signal. It was kind of hard to miss.

I pushed my paw against the door to my carrier: Mum had left it open! And she was distracted – as was everyone in the immediate area – by Cleo’s crying and fussing. There was no one to spot what I was doing. I slipped out of the carrier easily, and crossed to where Jennifer was opening Cleo’s carrier to find out what the problem was. Nobody noticed me – as usual.

Cleo shot out the moment the door was opened, and raced across to me, blending our fur together as we wound around each other. From outside our cat spiral, it must have been nearly impossible to tell which fur belonged to which cat – we really were a perfect match. It made me think this whole adventure was meant to be.

‘Lara!’ Mum admonished, as she reached down to grab me. ‘You know better than to run away.’

Did I? I’d never even thought about running before this trip. But now adventure was calling. This was my last chance to change my mind. My heart pounding, I thought about not running – about staying, and being second-place pet to Gobi the adventurer for the rest of my life – and made my decision easily.

I threw myself out of the way at the last minute as Mum’s hands came down, and Cleo happily swung into my place. Mum wasn’t even really looking – she was listening to Jennifer, who was saying, ‘I’m so sorry! It’s all Cleo’s fault for upsetting her. I don’t know what she’s making such a fuss about!’

‘I don’t think we’ll risk Lara out of the carrier for now anyway,’ said Mum, holding Cleo tightly in both hands as she passed her to Dad. Then Mum tucked the harness away again in her bag, as Dad fastened the door on my carrier firmly – with Cleo inside.

I was right: I was so unimportant, they hadn’t even noticed they had the wrong cat.

Part of me, I realized suddenly, had been hoping this wouldn’t work. That Mum and Dad could never mistake another cat for their beloved Lara, however similar we looked.

But they had. And that made my adventure more important than ever.