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  Dedication

  For dearest Tricia,

  with love

  Contents

  Title Page

  Dedication

  Chapter One

  Morris was ginger and white and very fat.

  Chapter Two

  After Morris had cleaned his whiskers he licked his paws.

  Chapter Three

  Mother Cat ate her breakfast and slid through the cat…

  Chapter Four

  Morris stopped thinking and sniffed. What was that? He sat…

  Other Books by Vivian French

  Credits

  Copyright

  About the Publisher

  Chapter One

  Morris was ginger and white and very fat.

  “Morris!” said his big sister Rose.

  “Look what we’ve got!”

  Morris gazed round the kitchen.

  Everything looked much the same as usual.

  “What is it?” he asked.

  Rose sighed. “Look at the door!”

  Rose was right. Something very strange had happened to the back door. Morris sat in the middle of the kitchen floor and stared.

  “What’s it for?” he asked. “Why is there a window in the door? We’ve got windows already. Big ones.”

  “It’s not a window,” said Rose. “It’s a cat flap.”

  “But what’s it FOR?” Morris asked again.

  “It’s for us,” said Rose. “We can go outside whenever we like.” She bounced outside.

  The cat flap shut behind her with a SNAP. Morris jumped.

  “And,” said Rose as she bounced back, “we can come inside whenever we like. See?”

  Morris didn’t see. His eyes were closed.

  “Why are you sitting with your eyes closed?” asked Rose.

  “I’m waiting for the SNAP,” said Morris.

  “It won’t hurt you,” said Rose. “Come and try!”

  “No, thank you,” said Morris.

  “Suit yourself,” said Rose, and she bounced out again.

  Morris went to see if there was anything to eat.

  Mother Cat yawned, stretched, and sat up on the big chair.

  “Morris,” she said. “What are you doing?”

  “Eating,” said Morris.

  His mother leapt down. “Has Rose shown you how to use the cat flap?”

  Morris nodded. His mouth was full.

  “Good,” said his mother. “It’s getting too cold to leave the window open all the time.” She slid gracefully through the cat flap.

  Morris shut his eyes and waited for the SNAP. Nothing happened, so he opened them again. His mother had disappeared.

  “Morris!” Mother Cat’s head was pushing the flap open. “Come outside!”

  Morris licked the last crumbs from his bowl. “I’m busy,” he said.

  “Nonsense,” said his mother. “You need some fresh air.”

  Morris inspected the door. “I can’t,” he said. “The door’s shut.” He looked up at the window. “And the window’s shut too.”

  “Use the cat flap!” said his mother.

  Morris sat down. “I think I’ll just clean my whiskers. You always tell us to clean our whiskers after eating.”

  “Hmm,” said his mother, and she vanished.

  Morris’s little brother Tom came skipping in to the kitchen.

  “Hello, Morris!” he said. “Have you seen our new door?”

  “It’s not a door,” Morris said. “It’s a flap. And it snaps.”

  “It doesn’t snap at ME,” Tom said, and he skipped through it.

  A moment later he peered back in.

  “Did it snap?” he asked.

  Morris went on cleaning his whiskers. “I didn’t notice,” he said. “I’m busy.”

  “Come and play!” invited Tom.

  “No thank you,” Morris said. “I told you. I’m busy.”

  “You’ll get fatter if you don’t get any exercise,” said Tom. He sniggered. “Too fat to go through the cat flap! You’ll get stuck!”

  “Go away!” said Morris.

  Tom went.

  Chapter Two

  After Morris had cleaned his whiskers he licked his paws. Then he walked slowly and carefully to the cat flap. It didn’t look very big. In fact, the longer Morris looked at it the smaller it seemed to be. He stood and thought about it.

  What if Tom was right? What if he was too fat?

  What if he got stuck, half in and half out?

  Morris shuddered, and went for a stroll round the house. He was careful to look at all the windows, but not one was open.

  Morris began to feel uncomfortable. He went back to the kitchen.

  “Morris!” said Rose, appearing through the cat flap like a jack-in-the-box. “Come outside!”

  Morris shook his head.

  “You haven’t been out all day!” said Rose.

  Morris shrugged.

  Rose looked at him. “You’re frightened!” she said. “You’re frightened of going through the cat flap!”

  “No I’m not!” said Morris.

  “You think it’ll snap on your tail and chop it off!” said Rose.

  “No I don’t,” said Morris.

  Rose yawned. “Oh well. It’s nearly supper time.”

  Morris brightened. “Is it?”

  “I’ll see you soon,” said Rose, and she jack-in-the-boxed out.

  Morris waited until Rose had disappeared. He tiptoed to the cat flap and patted it. It swung to and fro before snapping shut. Morris sat down and thought about it.

  What if Rose was right? What if it did snap on his tail? What if it chopped his beautiful tail right off?

  Morris shivered, and went to sit by the front door. It stayed firmly shut.

  Morris didn’t eat as much supper as he usually did.

  “Morris!” said his mother. “Are you all right?”

  Tom skipped round Morris. “Morris didn’t have any exercise. Morris is a fatty!”

  “He hasn’t been out all day!” said Rose.

  Mother Cat looked worried.

  “I’m quite all right!” said Morris.

  “You’d better go to bed early,” said Mother Cat.

  Morris nodded. He was feeling very uncomfortable.

  That night Morris had an accident.

  “MORRIS!” said his mother, looking at the little pool by the door.

  Morris looked embarrassed. “I couldn’t find my way outside,” he said. “The window was shut.”

  Rose glared at him. “You’re MUCH too old to have accidents,” she said.

  Morris drooped. “It was only a very little one.”

  Tom pranced up and pulled Morris’s tail. “I NEVER have accidents,” he boasted, “and I’m younger than you.”

  “Why didn’t you use the cat flap?” asked his mother.

  “I forgot,” he said.

  Rose sniffed loudly. “I think you’re a big baby,” she said. “And I don’t think you deserve any breakfast!”

  Morris went to sit in the corner of the kitchen.

  Chapter Three

  Mother Cat ate her breakfast and slid through the cat flap to see about a strange rustling under the tool shed.

  Rose ate her breakfast and bounced through the cat flap to sharpen her claws on the garden fence.

  Tom ate his breakfast and skipped through the cat flap to play with the butterflies under the apple tree.

  Morris wa
s all alone in the kitchen. For the first time in his life he didn’t feel hungry. He heaved himself up on to the window ledge and looked out. It was a fine, sunny day. Morris sighed heavily. He wondered if he would ever be able to go outside again. Feeling extremely sorry for himself he curled up and went to sleep.

  Morris was woken by the flapping of the curtains. He looked up in surprise.

  THE WINDOW WAS OPEN!

  With a loud MERRRUP! of delight Morris leapt outside.

  The garden had never smelt so wonderful. Morris set off down the path purring loudly.

  Tom was crouching by the apple tree. He was staring at a large white butterfly that was trying to make up its mind whether to settle or not.

  Morris arrived in a large furry heap. The butterfly flew off.

  “MORRIS!” said Tom. “I was just going to catch that butterfly!”

  “I’ve come to play,” Morris said.

  Tom shook his head. “I don’t want to play now.” He stalked off towards the house.

  “Oh,” said Morris. “Then I’ll play by myself.”

  Morris skipped up and down once or twice, but it wasn’t much fun.

  He hid behind the apple tree, but nothing came flying or fluttering past. He patted at a large and shiny beetle with his paw, but it turned round and gave him such a glare that Morris coughed and pretended that he was just stretching.

  The beetle sniffed and disappeared down a hole.

  Morris went to see what Rose was doing.

  “Can I sharpen my claws too?” he asked.

  “If you like,” said Rose. “I’ve finished. I’m going home for a snooze.” And she strolled away.

  “Oh,” said Morris. “Well, I’ll sharpen my claws on my own.”

  Morris scritched at the fence with his front claws. Then he sat down to have a look.

  “Hmm,” he said to himself. “They don’t look any sharper. In fact, I think they look blunter. I wonder if I’m doing it right?”

  Morris scritched with his back claws. The fence wobbled, and Morris fell over.

  “Bother,” said Morris. He picked himself up and stared crossly at the fence.

  “I think,” he decided, “it’s the wrong sort of fence. It’s the right sort of fence for Rose, but the wrong sort of fence for me. I’ll go and tell Mother.”

  Mother was nowhere to be seen.

  Morris peered under the tool shed, but she wasn’t there.

  She wasn’t curled up in the catmint.

  She wasn’t asleep in the seed boxes in the greenhouse.

  “Meeeeow!” called Morris.

  A robin hopped up on to the wall and chattered angrily, but there was no sign of Mother Cat.

  “MEEEEEOW!”

  There was still no answer. Morris sat down and dusted his whiskers.

  Nobody seemed very pleased to see him at the moment – not even the robin. Maybe they were still cross about his accident. Morris sniffed. They were very mean. Besides, it wasn’t his fault. Someone should have left the window open.

  Chapter Four

  Morris stopped thinking and sniffed. What was that? He sat bolt upright, his whiskers quivering.

  FISH!

  Morris galloped up the path to the house. He gathered himself for the spring up to the kitchen window, took a deep breath and jumped.

  SPLATTTT!!!!!

  Morris saw stars. Hundreds and hundreds of stars. Whirling and twirling around his head.

  Twinkling. Sparkling.

  “Morris,” said a voice in his ear, “Why didn’t you use the cat flap?”

  “He’s too fat!” said another voice. “Morris is a fatty!”

  And a third voice said, “Morris is frightened of the cat flap! That’s why he had an accident!”

  “Meeow!” said Morris feebly. “Meeeow, meeeow, meeeow!”

  Mother Cat stood up. “Nonsense!” she said. “Of COURSE Morris isn’t frightened of the cat flap. And he’s certainly not too fat! The very idea. Morris, come here at once and show Rose and Tom how you hop through the cat flap.”

  Morris looked at the back door. His head was still spinning. The stars had faded, but there were strange popping noises in his ears. All he could see was the cat flap. From this side it looked different. It looked like a little door. A special door. A cat-sized door that led to home and comfort and snoozes and – Morris sat up – FISH!

  Without any hesitation at all Morris hopped through the cat flap. Rose bounced and Tom skipped after him.

  Mother Cat heaved a sigh of relief and followed them.

  Morris was already half way through his fish when Rose said, “Morris! How did you get out into the garden this afternoon?”

  Morris waved a paw. His mouth was too full to speak.

  Mother Cat looked at him, and then looked at Rose. “I expect he hopped out through the cat flap. Didn’t you, Morris?”

  Morris stared at his mother. Did she wink at him? He was so surprised he choked on his fish and began to cough.

  “There!” said Mother Cat. “You see? Morris can hop in AND out.”

  “Oh,” said Rose. She looked sideways at Morris. “I’m sorry I said you were frightened.”

  Morris beamed.

  “And me,” said Tom. “I’m sorry I said you were too fat.”

  Morris purred loudly.

  “So now,” Mother Cat said, “Morris will show you. Just watch him hop out and in.”

  Morris gulped. He opened his mouth to say he hadn’t finished his fish, and then closed it again.

  Mother Cat was no longer winking at him. She was glaring.

  Morris took a deep breath. “Oops!” he said, and he hopped out and in the cat flap. Then, because he was more surprised than anyone at how easy it was, he did it again.

  “Good boy, Morris,” said Mother Cat.

  “No problem!” said Morris, and went back to eating his fish.

  Other Books by Vivian French

  Morris the Mouse Hunter

  Morris in the Apple Tree

  Guinea Pigs on the Go

  Guinea Pigs go to Sea

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  Credits

  Cover Illustration by Olivia Villet

  Copyright

  First published in Great Britain by CollinsChildren’sBooks in 1996

  This edition published in Great Britain by Collins in 2002

  Collins is an imprint of HarperCollinsPublishers Ltd

  77–85 Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, London W6 8JB

  The HarperCollinsChildren’sBooks website address is www.harpercollinschildrensbooks.co.uk

  Illustrations © Olivia Villet 2002

  The author and illustrator assert the moral right to be identified as the author and illustrator of the work.

  MORRIS AND THE CAT FLAP. Text copyright © Vivian French 1996. Illustrations © Olivia Villet 2002. All rights reserved under International and Pan-American Copyright Conventions. By payment of the required fees, you have been granted the non-exclusive, non-transferable right to access and read the text of this ebook on-screen. No part of this text may be reproduced, transmitted, down-loaded, decompiled, reverse engineered, or stored in or introduced into any information storage and retrieval system, in any form or by any means, whether electronic or mechanical, now known or hereinafter invented, without the express written permission of HarperCollins ebooks.

  HarperCollinsPublishers has made every reasonable effort to ensure that any picture content and written content in this e-book has been included or remove
d in accordance with the contractual and technological constraints in operation at the time of publication.

  EPub Edition © JULY 2012 ISBN: 9780007494880

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