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

My heart sank as I realized the full implications of that.

They’d know that I’d failed.

That I had lost Lara. Even if it wasn’t really her to begin with.

I rested my head on my paws and whined.

How could Dion and Lucja forgive me?

And how would we ever get Lara back now? Who would keep me safe in China, without my sister there to protect me?

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Cleo hadn’t been exaggerating when she said that Jennifer was a terrible flyer. No wonder she hadn’t wanted to fly all the way to Australia with her.

Not having been on a plane before, I didn’t have too many expectations of what flying would be like. And, to be honest, I’d been too busy focussing on how Cleo and I would effect our switch to concentrate on what would happen next. Even the flight to China with Mum and Dad and Gobi had been too far away to think about, when there were ferries and other adventures to experience first.

But now it was time to fly. And suddenly I realized that maybe I should have given a little more thought to this part of the plan earlier in the proceedings.

After sitting for ages in a row of chairs around many other rows of chairs somewhere that was called a ‘gate’ (but didn’t have any metal doors, unlike the gate to our garden back home), there was some sort of tinny announcement that rang out around the area. I couldn’t see who was talking, and it was hard to even make out the words that they were saying, but Jennifer leapt to her feet, the handle of my carrier in her hand. I lurched upwards too as she moved.

She joined a queue of other people, and I tried to look around me and take in my surroundings. There were plenty of windows here at the gate, too. Glass seemed to make up an entire wall of the building, at least on this level, and I could see out over a field of concrete – with large, white crafts with wings dotted around it.

Planes. Airplanes. That I’d be flying on. Very soon.

Birds flew, I knew that much. I’d seen them in the sky back home, and even chased one or two when I was exploring the garden – although I always had to give up when they escaped over the garden wall.

But now it was my turn. I wondered if there’d be any birds up there to catch …

Flying was an adventure, I was sure of that. But it was one Gobi had done lots of times before, so somehow it didn’t really seem to count, yet. I kept remembering all the things she had told me about planes and flying, none of it particularly useful right now.

I couldn’t wait to have an adventure Gobi had never experienced at all. To be the one who knew something about the wide world outside the window that Gobi didn’t.

‘Us next, Cleo.’ Jennifer hoisted me up again, as the queue moved forwards. ‘I hope Jeremy appreciates all I’m doing for him,’ she muttered.

I wondered who Jeremy was, and why he wanted Jennifer to travel the world when she hated flying. Then I remembered what Cleo had said about Jennifer’s dead husband, and finding a place for him to spend eternity. His name was Jeremy.

I hoped for Cleo’s sake that Jennifer found the perfect place for his ashes on this trip. Otherwise Cleo would have more flights in her future, I was sure.

‘Animals are required to remain in their carriers during the flight, Madam,’ the flight attendant standing by the tall desk told us, as Jennifer showed her boarding card.

‘Of course,’ Jennifer replied, pleasantly. But the moment we were out of earshot she murmured, ‘Don’t listen to her, Cleo. You’ll be on my lap, like always. You know I can’t fly without you! Goodness, I think my hands might be shaking already.’

There was no ‘might’ about it. My carrier was jiggling around like blossom blowing past our window in Edinburgh as we walked down a long corridor towards another door.

I almost didn’t notice when we boarded the plane. It was just like going through another door – like the one between the hallway and the bedroom at home, even. Except suddenly the windows were much, much smaller, and the chairs were all fixed in place, in narrow rows. I wondered if I got my own seat – there wasn’t going to be much room for me otherwise, in my carrier.

One thing I could tell for certain, as we made our way down the path in the middle of the plane, behind the seats – there were plenty of small places for a fluffy cat like me to hide, if I wanted to. I probably couldn’t get off the plane once it was in the air, I supposed, but if Jennifer proved too annoyingly clingy, at least I could escape and hide somewhere else for a while, supposing she let me go long enough for me to run.

Our seat was almost halfway down the plane, next to a window. I liked that. I understood windows, and I liked to look out. Hopefully, once I was out of my carrier, like Jennifer had promised, I’d be able to take a good look around.

Really, it wasn’t all that much different to home yet.

Jennifer settled into her seat comfortably, pulling out a magazine, a small pillow that tucked around her neck and a small bag of treats that I hoped were for me. Clearly, she knew just what a journey like this required – as Cleo had told me, she’d been doing this for a while.

I supposed Jennifer herself was another clue as to why people went on adventures. She was searching for something, the perfect place to scatter Jeremy’s ashes. A bit like how Dad had adventured to China to find Gobi again, when she went missing.

I wondered what I was looking for, besides an actual adventure. Whatever it was, I hoped I would figure it out before I found it.

Another woman sat down beside Jennifer. A tall, thin woman with kind eyes, she smiled down at me, where I sat in my carrier, on the floor at Jennifer’s feet.

Jennifer obviously noticed, because she said, ‘Hello! This is Cleo, she’s my Emotional Support Animal.’

I didn’t correct her, obviously.

‘She’s beautiful,’ the woman said, peering through the slits in my carrier. I preened, just a little bit. Ragdoll cats really are the most beautiful animals. ‘Hello Cleo, I’m Caitlin.’

‘And I’m Jennifer.’ Jennifer leant in closer to Caitlin, and whispered, ‘As soon as those stewardesses are sat down, I’ll get her out to sit on my lap. Then you can get a proper look at her. She’s a purebred Ragdoll, you know. A very special cat.’

‘I’m sure she is.’ The other woman didn’t sound completely convinced that I was anything more special than a pretty cat, but then she hadn’t met me properly yet. She’d understand in time.

Over the next few minutes, more and more people sat down in their seats, as the plane filled up. There were women and men in suits, with small, hard cases on wheels that they crammed into the boxes above the seats. There were families, with rucksacks and bags full of toys. There was at least one screaming baby that I hoped would go to sleep soon. And there were couples, holding hands and smiling as they found their seats.

And with every person who boarded the plane, Jennifer grew more and more agitated. I wasn’t sure why, nothing had even happened yet. What was there to be afraid of?

Gobi had told me, before we left Edinburgh, that take-off and landing were the scariest parts of flying. But we hadn’t taken off anywhere yet.

Jennifer was obviously panicking in anticipation, though. First, she pulled my carrier up fully onto her lap, instead of letting it sit at her feet. Then she started hugging it – her arms wrapped around and squashing the soft material. I could smell her sweat through her clothes.

Not a new favourite scent.

‘Are you okay?’ Caitlin asked, leaning forward with concern. ‘Do you need me to call someone?’

‘I’ll be fine,’ said Jennifer, unconvincingly. ‘I’ve got Cleo, she makes it all bearable.’

‘You don’t like flying,’ the woman realized. ‘That’s why you have your cat with you.’

‘Of course! Why else?’

I caught a glimpse of the woman’s face through the slits of my carrier. She looked vaguely uncomfortable, and I guessed she wasn’t going to answer that question. I wondered what she’d assumed was wrong with Jennifer that she needed Cleo to go everywhere with her.

‘Are you sure I can’t get anything for you?’ she persisted. ‘Some water? A mint to suck on take-off?’

Clearly feeling guilty for whatever assumptions she’d jumped to.

‘No, thank you,’ Jennifer replied. ‘I’ll be fine once we get going. It’s just this waiting, I do hate the waiting.’

But just then, the pilot’s voice came over the intercom – just like Gobi had told me it would, when she’d been lecturing me about everything that would happen on our trip, since she’d done it all before. She’d just been lording it over me, of course. Making it clear that anything I did, she’d already experienced.