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‘Oh, you wouldn’t hurt me, would you?’ Katie picked Dickens up and gave him a cuddle. ‘Is he staying with Callum in that yellow campervan?’
‘Well, sometimes. He seems to like the bookshop, though. Spends most of his time here.’
Katie held him up, turning him this way and that. ‘Why does he look familiar?’
‘Um, careful.’
Dickens just hung there in mid-air, paws and claws hanging limply by his side before she put him on her lap. ‘I was going through some old family photos.’
‘You were?’
‘Yeah. We’re doing a project at school, genealogy and family history.’
‘Sounds interesting.’ Thea noticed Callum’s head pop out again from behind the bookshelves. He was listening to their conversation. She said light-heartedly, ‘Callum, would you like to join us?’
‘No, no. Still busy, busy.’
Katie continued. ‘So, we’re using a website where you can do some research on your family history to construct a family tree. It’s kind of fun, because the teacher asked us if we can add photos of our relatives too, from when they were children, if we can find any.’
‘Would you like a photo of me when I was a child?’
‘No thanks. I’ve got a photo of you and mum when you were children. I found it in an old photo album in Grandma’s stuff.’
Thea raised her eyebrows. ‘So, it was you who—’
‘No, I did not open those boxes – I swear. But Mum and Dad aren’t around to ask where they might keep old photo albums. I suspect they’re stored up in the loft. So when you mentioned those boxes in the garage were open …’ she trailed off. ‘Are you cross with me?’
‘No, no not at all, Katie. In fact, it would be kind of nice to have a look at some of those old photo albums from my childhood. We could go through them together.’
‘Do you know that when you were a child, you had a cat that looked just like Dickens?’
A loud bang, followed by a doggy whimper, suddenly interrupted them.
‘What the hell was that?’ explained Katie, looking at the bookshelves.
‘Callum, is everything okay?’
Winston came scampering out from the behind the bookshelf. He ran straight up to Thea and offered her his paw. ‘Aww, what happened? Did you hurt your paw?’
‘Yeah, er, sorry … I dropped a load of books,’ said Callum.
‘On Winston’s paw,’ commented Thea. ‘Do you need a hand?’
‘No, no … er, I’ve got this. I’ll just put them back.’
Thea rubbed Winston’s paw. She turned to Katie. ‘You were saying?’
Katie looked at the cat on her lap. His tail was swaying from side to side as he eyed Winston. ‘Yes, I found a photo of you with a black and white cat.’
Thea looked at Dickens. ‘You know, he looked familiar to me too. I did have a cat when I was little. You must show me the photo.’
‘I will.’
‘If you’d like some help with your school project, you only have to ask.’
‘Well, that’s the thing. I don’t really know anything about Grandpa’s side of the family. It’s hard because it’s, like, blank.’
‘Oh, I see.’
