How it all began

ADVENTURES AT THREE SAINTS

(1)

HOW IT ALL BEGAN.

Laura is nine years old, has long dark hair and blue eyes. She is tall
and hates wearing skirts and dresses. She spends at lot of time out of
doors. Laura has always been called a 'tom-boy' at school. She loves
chicken, apples, chocolate and ice cream but hates oranges and
parsnips. Whenever Laura has nothing to do she sits and reads. She
loves reading. Especially adventure stories.
Laura lives in a small village called Three Saints. The village is
high on a hill, about 300 metres above sea level, surrounded by misty
valleys and high mountains. The village has a church, a Post-Office, a
Library, a Hairdressers, a vegetable shop, a small supermarket and two
pubs. Everybody walks to the village to get their shopping, that's hard
work! The streets are very narrow and cobbled and it's difficult to
park cars anywhere.
Laura has two sisters. Jane is the eldest. She lives with her husband
Don and their daughter Anna, on a farm in the village. Their farm is
very close to the house that Laura and her parents live in. Louise,who
is also married, lives in a village about 200 miles away. She's an
engineer and has, as Laura is so fond of telling everyone, something to
do with Computers and chips!!

Laura had no brother or sisters of her own age to grow up with.
Because of this she made the animals around her - her little cat Liner,
Marmaduke and Frank - the farm cats and Jane's pony Delta, her best
friends. Delta is a grey Welsh mountain pony. She is twenty five years
old and very wise. Delta lived with her family and friends on the
mountains in Wales until she was 14. When she was 9 she had a son.
Delta called him Dandy. He was the same colour as his mother and very
handsome. Delta has not seen Dandy since he was four, when he left the
mountains.
Laura has one very special friend whose name is Bernadette, Bernie as
Laura always calls her.
Laura and Bernie spend a lot of time on the telephone to each other.
Bernie lives half-way down one of the valleys and has some small pets
of her own. Her favourite pet is a hamster called Treacle.
Laura never feels lonely as she always has the animals to talk to.
Although she didn't understand what they said, she was sure she
understood how they felt.
When Laura was quite small her mother used to tell her special
stories. Many were about her Grandfather's animals and how he seemed to
understand them so well that Mum was sure that he understood what they
were saying. It was just that Grandad wouldn't say so!!
Laura's Grandparents live in the South-west and have a large riding
school where there are lots of horses and other animals.

On Laura's eighth birthday, her Grandparents gave her a pretty little
tabby and white kitten that had been rescued by some friends of theirs.
Laura fell in love with the little kitten when she saw her. Because of
the stripes on her coat Laura decided she'd call her Liner! Liner was
10 weeks old when she was rescued from a large deep puddle. She was so
wet that it took Grandad 20 minutes to get her dry. When she was dry
she looked very thin so Grandad took her to the Vet. The Vet said she'd
probably been taken away from her mother when she was too young and
then hadn't had proper kitten food.
Grandad thought she had been abandoned. No-one could find out whom she
belonged to. Advertisements were put in all the shops in the village
and also in the local paper but no-one had claimed her. Liner had not
grown to be very big. She hadn't grown bigger than a six month old
kitten, but Laura and the other animals loved her very much.
Sometimes Liner could be very mischievous and got into all sorts of
trouble! One day she came home with a very badly cut paw. Mum looked at
it and then washed it with some salt and water to stop any
infection.
Mum asked Liner how she'd managed to get a cut on her paw. "I trod on
a piece of glass in the field", whimpered the cat. Laura blinked in
surprise. She looked around to see who had spoken. There was no-one
else in the room!
"Have you been fighting?" asked Mum suspiciously.
"No!" cried Laura. "She just said that she stood on a piece of glass
in the field, didn't you hear her?"

Mum looked at Laura with an astonished look on her face. "Perhaps
you're right," she said, "it does look like that sort of cut, it's very
straight. What do you mean 'didn't you hear her?'. I heard Liner cry a
little bit when I bathed her foot, but that's because cats don't like
having their paws held. I had to hold it fairly tight to keep it still.
It didn't really hurt."
"No, no," said Laura, shaking her head. "Someone definitely said
they'd cut their paw on some glass in the field."
Mum looked at Laura for a long time. She said, "Why do you think Liner
said that?"
"Well, who else could have said it. You, me and Liner are the only
people here," continued Laura, feeling very confused.
Mum shook her head smiling; then she said, "Do you really think you
heard what Liner was saying?"
"Oh I'm sure. It must have been Liner", said Laura excitedly.
"Perhaps, at last I can understand animal language like Grandad. Do you
really think I can Mum?"
When Liner's foot had stopped bleeding and was clean and dry, Laura
sat on the comfortable chair in the kitchen with a nice cup of tea.
Liner came and sat on her lap, holding her sore paw in the air. Laura
asked what had happened and how she had cut her paw.

Liner looked at Laura with her head on one side. "Can you really hear
what I'm saying? It's taken a long time! Delta always said she was sure
that one day you'd understand us."
Laura laughed, pulling her long hair back from her face. "Well I just
heard that", she said. "Do you mean that the animals have been talking
to me just hoping that I'd understand them?"
Liner pushed her face against Laura's, giving her a kiss. "Oh, not
just because they wanted you to understand them. They talk to you
because they love you, but yes, they seemed to know that one day you
would. I'm just glad it's me you understood first."
Liner settled down on Laura's lap curling herself into a small ball.
Laura sipped her tea, thinking of all the questions that she could ask
Liner.
Liner started purring, a deep throaty sound that made her whole body
vibrate. "Why are you purring so loudly?" asked Laura. "I've always
wondered why cats make that noise."
Liner looked at Laura through half closed eyes and between purrs she
said, "that's another thing Delta said MIGHT be a problem!"
Laura put her arms around the little cat, "What might be a problem?"
she asked, frowning. "Well, all the questions", replied Liner. "We
could be here for days!"
"I promise I won't ask too many questions now, after all now that we
can talk to each other I have all the time in the world, don't I?" said
Laura.

Liner suddenly sat up saying, "Can the questions wait. When I cut my
foot I wasn't looking where I was going. I heard kittens in trouble. I
was trying to see where they were when I put my foot on the glass
instead of stepping over it. Would you come with me and see if we can
find them - ple-ee-ease!"
Liner looked so distressed that Laura got up as fast as she could.
Picking Liner up she carried her to the back door. "Which way", asked
Laura urgently. "Can you walk, or would you like me to carry
you?"
"Please carry me, my paw's still very sore", said Liner. "We need to
go to the field behind the house. I always go through the hole in the
hedge, but you might be too big."
Laura looked at the hole and decided that it was too small for her to
go through. "We'll go through the gate beside the garage, Liner, it
goes to the gate into the field, hang on I'm going to run, O.K?" asked
Laura. Holding Liner snugly under her arm, she started to run.
They soon reached the field. Laura opened the gate making sure that
she closed it behind her. Liner looked at the gate and said, "Why did
you shut the gate. When I go through the hole I don't have to stop to
shut anything."
Laura explained that she always shut gates, just in case there were
any animals, like cows or sheep, in the field. If the gate was left
open they might escape onto the road and get hurt.
The field was large and rectangular in shape. it sloped away from the
top so that the bottom of the field wasn't visible from the gate.

When they got to the middle of the field Laura said, "Where did you
hear the noise?" She looked around the field and was unable to see
anything.
Liner looked around. "I was down at the bottom - over there," she
said, pointing to the high hedge in the left hand corner.
"O.K lets go and see if we can hear anything," said Laura, walking
rapidly towards the hedge.
As they approached the hedge Liner suddenly said, "I can hear them,
can't you, they're in the hedge - just there." She pointed to the
hedge, underneath a large tree.
Laura listened, "No, I can't hear anything." "I forgot that humans'
hearing isn't as good as ours," said Liner, "please can you put me down
so that I can go and see."
Laura put Liner down noticing that she didn't put her sore paw down,
but held it up. She hopped towards the hedge, with Laura following
closely behind.
As they approached the tree, Laura heard a rustle. She stood still and
listened. There was a pitiful sound coming from somewhere in the
leaves. Liner heard it before Laura. She ran as fast as she could and
stood by a gap in the bank, under the tree.
"Laura," she called, "quick help me, I've found the kittens."
Laura knelt down and saw, in the hole in the bank, two tiny kittens.
"Liner," she said, "can you get them to come out. Ask them where their
Mum is, I can't understand what they're saying."

Liner sat down by the hole talking to the kittens. In a few minutes,
two tiny black kittens came slowly out of the hole. "They're very
hungry", said Liner. "They wandered away from home when their mother
was out getting their lunch, they don't know which way home is and are
afraid that their Mum will be very cross with them. Their names are Ben
and Little Bear."
Laura thought she recognised the kittens. She was sure she'd seen them
before. Suddenly she remembered. "I think they're Shadow's kittens,"
she said, "I haven't seem Shadow today. I bet she's worried about
them." Shadow is a black cat who lives with Colin, one of Laura's
friend, on the farm next door to Don and Jane.
"My kitten language isn't very good, Liner," said Laura, bending to
stroke the kittens. "Ask them if their Mum's name is Shadow."
Liner spoke to the kittens and told Laura that Shadow was their
Mother. "They're desperate to go home. I bet Shadow will be pleased to
see them!"
"OK," said Laura, putting the kittens inside her sweatshirt. "Lets get
them home quickly."

When the little group reached Colin's farm, twenty minutes later, they
were greeted by a very unhappy looking Colin. "What's wrong Colin?",
asked Laura. Colin looked as though he had been crying. "Oh Laura,"
sobbed Colin, "Shadows ill, she won't eat and she's crying all the
time. She looks awful and her kittens have disappeared. I just don't
know what to do, we've been looking for them all day."
"Stop crying Colin, go and fetch Shadow, I've got a surprise for her",
smiled Laura.
"She won't be interested," said Colin very quietly.
"Oh I think she will," said Laura, producing the now sleeping kittens
from inside her sweatshirt.
Colin jumped up from the crate he was sitting on, clapped his hands
together and cried, "Where did you find them? Shadow will be over the
moon, but I bet she'll tell them off!"
"Don't say anything, just bring her here, carry her if you have to",
suggested Laura. Colin ran off and returned within a few minutes
carrying Shadow who looked so sad that Laura felt really sorry for her.
Colin put Shadow on the ground where she sat in a small heap. Laura
gently put the kittens down in front of her. The change was amazing.
Shadow looked at the kittens, shook her head and put her paws around
them, purring loudly.
Liner looked at Laura and Colin saying. "It's OK, she's just very
pleased to see them."

Shadow washed both the kittens thoroughly. Then they kissed their Mum
so many times it was hard to count. Soon Shadow picked them up, one by
one and carried them to the barn.
Liner winked at Laura and said, "I bet they're going to get a really
good telling off now!"
Laura suddenly realised how tired she was. "I'm glad they're safe and
Shadow is happy. I'm going home for tea Liner," she said wearily,
"You'd better come, we need to keep an eye on your paw for a little
while."
It had been a long, exciting day. Walking home, Laura realised she
hadn't told Delta she could understand Liner. She wondered if it meant
she'd now understand the other animals.
What Laura didn't know was that today's adventure was the first of
many.