The Great Escape Read Online Free Page B

expect. That’s what the protesters’ signs all say.’
    ‘I thought you hadn’t seen any protesters? That man said they came quite late in the morning.’
    ‘Well’ – her dad looked a bit shame-faced – ‘I saw them earlier, actually. I was looking out for them after you mentioned them the other day, and from the third
floor you can just make out the main road, over the trees. I could see their banners, and a couple of them were big enough to read.’
    ‘What did they say?’ asked Millie curiously. Maybe this was a chance to find out more about who had been kidnapping Max and the other cats.
    ‘They were both the same – “The drugs don’t work, and it’s too high a price to pay”.’
    ‘It is, isn’t it?’ Millie was disappointed – she thought there would have been the name of a company at least.
    ‘I can’t answer that, sweetheart. We’ve been very lucky – it’s easy for us to moralise. If you were ill, and needed new drugs to keep you alive and healthy, God
forbid, all I know is that I prefer you to some rats in a cage.’
    ‘What if it’s not rats, though? What if it’s a cat, or a dog, or a monkey?’
    ‘Well, I wouldn’t feel any differently. I still prefer you. But all animals are the same to me, love – I like them. I wouldn’t hurt any of them by choice. You know that.
I mean, I’d call a man in if we had mice running around the place, because they could start a fire, chewing through the wiring behind the walls. But a dog, a cat, a monkey, a guinea pig
– none of them should live in a cage. That’s why we don’t keep a pet. Animals are wild creatures, they’re not meant to be kept locked up.’
    Even though she couldn’t see him, Millie could feel Max nodding fervently.
    ‘I know. But’ – Millie had a sudden flash of brilliance – ‘you wouldn’t mind if I fed that cat that’s been hanging around outside, would you?’
    ‘Which cat?’
    ‘The stray one I told you about.’ This was a lie, but in such a good cause, she couldn’t help herself. It was like telling someone they looked nice in a new but horrible dress
to which they were irretrievably and inexplicably attached. Sometimes you had to lie for the greater good. After all, they wouldn’t take the dress back if you said you didn’t like it.
They’d just like you slightly less for not lying to them.
    ‘I don’t remember,’ her dad said, frowning slightly.
    ‘I knew you weren’t listening.’
    ‘Well, don’t get too attached to this cat – it almost certainly has a home somewhere else. Cats are pretty resourceful, you know. They don’t often end up in a
scrape.’
    ‘He looks a bit skinny, Dad. Can I get him some cat food?’
    ‘Well, I should think so. But cats can usually find their own food, you know. They don’t very often go hungry.’
    ‘Well, maybe this one’s not been well. He looks a bit raggedy.’ She heard a tiny, huffy hiss, which she hoped her dad wouldn’t notice. ‘I’ll get some
tomorrow. Thanks, Dad.’
    ‘What are you up to now? Do you want to come and watch a film?’
    ‘I’ll be down in a minute.’
    Her dad recognised his cue to leave. ‘OK. I’ll just go and make a couple of calls – I’ve been meaning to do them all week. Come down when you’re done up
here.’
    The door shut behind him. Millie went and opened the wardrobe secondary defence again. Max appeared from under the bed.
    ‘I hope he’s not ringing that woman,’ Millie said thoughtfully. Max didn’t hear.
    ‘
Raggedy?
’ was all he could say, almost spitting.
    ‘Not really,’ she said quickly. Cats’ feelings were obviously more easily wounded than she had imagined.
    ‘I just needed to have a reason to buy you some food,’ she explained.
    ‘Well, that was pretty quick thinking, I suppose,’ he congratulated her.
    ‘Thanks. You’re going to have to try and look a bit scrawnier, though.’
    ‘Scrawnier?’
    ‘Thinner.’
    ‘What are you saying? I am a very handsome cat. I am a