Oreo

Five: The Explanation

I leapt on the handle with such force I nearly tore it off, then flung the door open. I didn’t even pay attention to the expressions of pure shock in their faces before I bounded out and threw my arms around them. It was so comforting to feel them again... wait – what!?

‘What!?' I cried, recoiling. 'How did you get here?’

‘We, I-I don’t... know.’ my father stuttered.

‘Come in, I think I need to explain.’ I told them, leading the way back through the hallway. ‘Even if I don’t really understand myself...’ I added.

‘I just thought you’d gone to the shops or something!’ I cried, shocked to learn why my parents weren’t in the house when I returned from the pet store.

‘Oh no, we’d never go somewhere without telling you.’ Dad said. My mother’s thoughts were elsewhere. ‘Why is that boy licking himself?’

‘Uhh, OK, I would say you wouldn’t believe me but you did just get teleported back in time, so... I found this kitten at the park, and he followed me home. He could nod and communicate with me, and he told me his name was Oreo by painting it on the ground. So I took him home, went to the pet shop, and then once I’d returned I tripped on my floorboard and fell here. He turned from a cat to a boy, but he still has some of his cat traits.’ I explained, before adding, ‘but his tree-climbing is a pretty cool party trick.’

Both my parents were now staring at him.

I sighed happily. ‘I’m so glad you came to Mary-Anne’s house – I might not have found you! What if I had gone home without you, huh?’

‘You know how to get home?’ asked Mum.

‘Well, no, it’s just a guess...’ I now realised how stupid it would sound if I told everyone, "I have found a dodgy floorboard, it must lead home!" so I briskly changed the subject. ‘You look starving!’ I said. At my remark, Rosalie leapt up and whizzed off to the tiny room we’d come to know as the kitchen. A moment later she returned with bowls of last night’s stew which my parents gratefully wolfed down whilst I introduced Axel and the others.

‘And the odd boy?’ asked Mum.

Reo sprung up and put his hand in hers, like he had as a cat. ‘I’m ‘Reo, it’s nice to meet you!’ he said.

My mother looked confused, probably disapproving of my friendship with such a ‘weirdo’.

‘So this child-’

‘Reo,’ I inserted.

‘Reo,’ Dad said, ‘is a cat?’

Reo bounded back across the room and splayed out on the sofa next to me, taking up all the room and propping his head on my lap. ‘Was, baby, was.’ he grinned. If he was wearing sunglasses his cool act would have been even more amusing. A tiny bit of cheer in our day, either way. My parents had gained a bit of colour in their hollow cheeks, not that you could tell under all that grime.

‘What have you been doing, rolling around in the mud?’ I said, standing up. I led them to the bathroom and gave them Mary-Anne’s spare clothes, and some mens things for my father. Once Mary-Anne had gone up to her bedroom for a nap, I asked Reo, ‘Whose are these men’s clothes?’

‘Maybe Mary-Anne had a husband.’ he suggested.

‘Nein. Ze shoes in ze hallvay are only one.’ Rosalie objected.

‘If she did not get rid of his clothes, vhy vould she get rid of his boots?’ Axel elaborated, clearly on the same track as his sister.

‘She wouldn’t own his childhood clothes – which are what I’m wearing.’ I pointed out.