CHAPTER THREE
The Dark
It was a week since Celene had first found Mosaic Street and the Apothecary. As it was half term, every day she walked down the cobble street before going through the door with the jingling bell. Every time she arrived, Marmaduke the Sun Cat smiled down on her and waggled his whiskers.
Celene spent all her time talking to Mister Mishkins. He was a cat who listened and never judged. She kept her visits short, so she could be there for her mum as much as possible, but Celene enjoyed talking to Mister Mishkins. Sometimes, the other cats, especially Cosmo, would leave their drawers and come to sit next to her. Cosmo would purr and wave his tail in her face until she giggled.
Celene hadn’t thought to ask what the Apothecary was for, or why it was there. She stoically accepted it as being perfectly natural, and she would often talk to Mister Mishkins about the things she had seen that others hadn’t noticed. This didn’t just include mice on the moon and cats in the sun, but a girl two years below her in school being bullied, and a boy having his lunch money stolen. She had told the teachers about what she saw, but she often felt as though they looked upon her as trouble, so she tried to keep herself to herself as much as possible, although she would always smile at the other children who were left out of games.
One sunny day – for the sun always shone inside the Apothecary, putting rainbow patterns on the floor, regardless of the actual weather – Celene was talking to Mister Mishkins about her love for the moon when the door of the Apothecary swung back violently, banging against the wall.
A young boy burst in, with wild curly brown hair and dark brown eyes that were hidden behind thick glasses. He had a smattering of freckles scattered across his nose as though someone had tapped a paintbrush above his face. He was dressed in dark jeans and a navy sweatshirt with the word STILL written across it in big white letters – a curious word, thought Mister Mishkins, as there was nothing still about this boy, who was filling the shop with his energy.
‘Where am I?’ he asked Celene sharply.
‘In the Apothecary,’ she replied, as though it were the most natural place in the world to be.
‘Hmmm,’ said the boy as he thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans and began to pace the floor, looking out of the window every few steps as he did so.
‘Excuse me, but are you okay?’ asked Mister Mishkins, who was sitting on his favourite cushion on the stool in the corner of the room.
The boy stopped in his pacing and stared at the ginger cat.
‘What? You’re a cat! You can’t speak!’
Looking at Celene, he added: ‘You must be putting on funny voices! That’s not nice, you know.’
Celene shook her head, her mouth turning up slightly as she looked at Mister Mishkins, curious to see what would happen next.
‘Oh, but young sir. Cats can speak. All animals can, if only you know how to stop and listen.’
The boy stared at Mister Mishkins, hardly believing what was happening.
‘But… That’s crazy!’
The ginger cat laughed. ‘No crazier than anything else in the world. You hear the bird’s song, don’t you? The buzz of the bumblebee, the bark of the dog, and yes, the cat’s miaow. They are all ways we use to communicate, but only those who are special can truly hear the words that we say. Now you are here on Mosaic Street, surrounded by the magic of cats, you can hear us clearly.’
The boy didn’t respond. Instead, he just stared, although Mister Mishkins could see a range of emotions, plus many questions, behind the boy’s eyes. Eventually, the boy stopped staring and began to look around the Apothecary. Having walked a small circle, his attention was drawn to the drawers behind Mister Mishkins, each one with a different word written on it.
‘There! That one! What’s behind there?’
Mister Mishkins turned around and looked to see where this young boy was pointing. The drawer read Dark.
‘Ah… The Dark. Is that why you are here, Master..?’
‘Thomas,’ shrugged the boy, pushing his hands deep into his pockets, eyes cast down to the floor.
Mister Mishkins smiled kindly. ‘Does the dark bother you, young Master Thomas?’
Scuffing the floor with his trainer, Thomas nodded, eyes still cast down.
‘Well, I may just be able to help you with that.’
In one fluid movement, Mister Mishkins leapt from the cushion to the floor and straightened his emerald-green waistcoat. When he drew himself up to his full height, Mister Mishkins was a whisker over three feet tall, plus a little bit more once you took into account the top of his tail and the tiny tufts of pale caramel fur on the tips of his ears. Despite being shorter than Celene and Thomas, when Mister Mishkins walked down the row of the Apothecary drawers, he seemed taller than his three feet.
Thomas gasped and looked at Celene, who just smiled wisely. She was already beginning to understand the magic of the shop – and of the cats within.
Mister Mishkins stopped at the drawer with Dark written in gold ornate lettering on the outside. Resting his paw on the handle, he looked at Thomas and smiled gently.
‘Are you ready?’
Thomas stepped back, not sure what to expect when the drawer was opened. What he most certainly did not expect was for a very fluffy mink grey cat to sit up and blink a hello!
‘This is Waffles,’ smiled Mister Mishkins, rubbing the grey cat’s ears.
Waffles waved his tail at Thomas, his dandelion yellow eyes shining as he smiled.
‘Afraid of the dark, are you?’ Waffles asked. Without waiting for a reply, he bounced out of the drawer in one giant leap, grabbed Thomas’s hand, and then bounced again.
‘Where did they go?’ asked Celene, eyes searching everywhere for the boy and the cat.
Mister Mishkins just purred.
‘Off on an adventure.’
Thomas found himself sitting on the top of a hill with Waffles. The sun was setting, and behind them were tall trees, their leaves gently rustling in the breeze.
‘Why have you brought me here? It will be dark soon,’ cried Thomas, quickly standing up and looking around him for a way back to the Apothecary.
Waffles purred.
‘Why are you scared of the dark? Come and sit down and tell me.’
Thomas hesitated, and then carefully sat down next to the grey cat.
‘You can’t see in the dark. It’s all black and horrible. There could be scary things in there, like monsters or dragons. I don’t like it.’
Again, Waffles smiled, his eyes glowing gold as the setting sun reflected on them.
‘The thing about the dark is that it isn’t really black. It is a very dark blue – and it is only when the sky darkens that you can see the beauty around you.”
Thomas wasn’t sure, but he sat next to Waffles in a companionable silence. He noticed that, as the sun set, the birds stopped singing as they went to bed for the night. Slowly, the moon began to glow bright gold as it reflected the just-set sun.
‘Do you like space, Master Thomas?’ asked Waffles, as he leaned back until his body was lying flat on the ground, his whiskers all pushed up as though reaching for the skies.
‘Of course I do! I love watching films about space and I read comics about aliens…’
Waffles just smiled.
‘Then, we wait.’
Thomas sat next to the cat, checking every now and then to see whether he was still awake. As the moon began to rise in the sky, Thomas pulled his sweatshirt closer to him. His eyes kept darting to the sides, and every so often, he looked over his shoulders towards the trees.
Waffles sensed the boy’s anxiety and began to gently purr. Slowly, Thomas relaxed.
As he did so, he noticed that Waffles was right – the night wasn’t black! It was almost the same dark blue as his sweatshirt. And, as he looked up, he slowly began to see the stars and planets come out.
‘Wow…’ he breathed.
Waffles smiled.
‘Why not lie back so you can see it all the more easily?’
Thomas did as the cat suggested and lay down on the grass. It had been a sunny day, so the ground still felt warm. Looking up, it seemed that with every blink, another cluster of stars appeared.
Waffles pointed to the sky and began to tell Thomas about the different constellations, showing him how to find Apothecary favourites such as the Great Bear, the Little Bear, the swan, and Pegasus, the winged horse.
Waffles also showed Thomas where Leo, the lion was, one of the largest constellations in the sky. ‘We all love Leo,’ he explained. ‘You must remember where he is so, when you are feeling scared, you can look up at his stars and be as brave as he is.’
Thomas nodded, before gasping.
‘Is that a…’
Waffles glanced over towards the trees and smiled.
‘Yes, that’s a badger. They only come out at night, and they are very shy creatures. You are so lucky to see him.’
Thomas watched the badger for a moment, as he sniffed for bulbs in the ground.
‘The dark is so cool,’ he said – and before he had even finished his sentence, he was back in the Apothecary.
‘Well, Mister Mishkins, my work is done,’ laughed Waffles as he leapt into his drawer with a flourish.
Mister Mishkins pushed a warming cup of hot chocolate towards Thomas and put a saucer of cream into Waffles’ drawer.
Celene smiled at the boy, who was grinning and looking out through the Apothecary windows to see whether he could see the stars.
‘I can’t wait to get home and tell my little brother all about this!’ he cried.
Mister Mishkins laughed and pointed to the back wall of the Apothecary, where a rainbow-beaded curtain hung in front of a door. Still holding his cup, Thomas ran towards the curtain and vanished back to his world outside. Following him down the road as he ran was a brilliant violet butterfly.
Celene looked at the swinging beaded curtain thoughtfully.
‘I think I’ll go this way. Goodnight, Mister Mishkins.’
The Dark
It was a week since Celene had first found Mosaic Street and the Apothecary. As it was half term, every day she walked down the cobble street before going through the door with the jingling bell. Every time she arrived, Marmaduke the Sun Cat smiled down on her and waggled his whiskers.
Celene spent all her time talking to Mister Mishkins. He was a cat who listened and never judged. She kept her visits short, so she could be there for her mum as much as possible, but Celene enjoyed talking to Mister Mishkins. Sometimes, the other cats, especially Cosmo, would leave their drawers and come to sit next to her. Cosmo would purr and wave his tail in her face until she giggled.
Celene hadn’t thought to ask what the Apothecary was for, or why it was there. She stoically accepted it as being perfectly natural, and she would often talk to Mister Mishkins about the things she had seen that others hadn’t noticed. This didn’t just include mice on the moon and cats in the sun, but a girl two years below her in school being bullied, and a boy having his lunch money stolen. She had told the teachers about what she saw, but she often felt as though they looked upon her as trouble, so she tried to keep herself to herself as much as possible, although she would always smile at the other children who were left out of games.
One sunny day – for the sun always shone inside the Apothecary, putting rainbow patterns on the floor, regardless of the actual weather – Celene was talking to Mister Mishkins about her love for the moon when the door of the Apothecary swung back violently, banging against the wall.
A young boy burst in, with wild curly brown hair and dark brown eyes that were hidden behind thick glasses. He had a smattering of freckles scattered across his nose as though someone had tapped a paintbrush above his face. He was dressed in dark jeans and a navy sweatshirt with the word STILL written across it in big white letters – a curious word, thought Mister Mishkins, as there was nothing still about this boy, who was filling the shop with his energy.
‘Where am I?’ he asked Celene sharply.
‘In the Apothecary,’ she replied, as though it were the most natural place in the world to be.
‘Hmmm,’ said the boy as he thrust his hands into the pockets of his jeans and began to pace the floor, looking out of the window every few steps as he did so.
‘Excuse me, but are you okay?’ asked Mister Mishkins, who was sitting on his favourite cushion on the stool in the corner of the room.
The boy stopped in his pacing and stared at the ginger cat.
‘What? You’re a cat! You can’t speak!’
Looking at Celene, he added: ‘You must be putting on funny voices! That’s not nice, you know.’
Celene shook her head, her mouth turning up slightly as she looked at Mister Mishkins, curious to see what would happen next.
‘Oh, but young sir. Cats can speak. All animals can, if only you know how to stop and listen.’
The boy stared at Mister Mishkins, hardly believing what was happening.
‘But… That’s crazy!’
The ginger cat laughed. ‘No crazier than anything else in the world. You hear the bird’s song, don’t you? The buzz of the bumblebee, the bark of the dog, and yes, the cat’s miaow. They are all ways we use to communicate, but only those who are special can truly hear the words that we say. Now you are here on Mosaic Street, surrounded by the magic of cats, you can hear us clearly.’
The boy didn’t respond. Instead, he just stared, although Mister Mishkins could see a range of emotions, plus many questions, behind the boy’s eyes. Eventually, the boy stopped staring and began to look around the Apothecary. Having walked a small circle, his attention was drawn to the drawers behind Mister Mishkins, each one with a different word written on it.
‘There! That one! What’s behind there?’
Mister Mishkins turned around and looked to see where this young boy was pointing. The drawer read Dark.
‘Ah… The Dark. Is that why you are here, Master..?’
‘Thomas,’ shrugged the boy, pushing his hands deep into his pockets, eyes cast down to the floor.
Mister Mishkins smiled kindly. ‘Does the dark bother you, young Master Thomas?’
Scuffing the floor with his trainer, Thomas nodded, eyes still cast down.
‘Well, I may just be able to help you with that.’
In one fluid movement, Mister Mishkins leapt from the cushion to the floor and straightened his emerald-green waistcoat. When he drew himself up to his full height, Mister Mishkins was a whisker over three feet tall, plus a little bit more once you took into account the top of his tail and the tiny tufts of pale caramel fur on the tips of his ears. Despite being shorter than Celene and Thomas, when Mister Mishkins walked down the row of the Apothecary drawers, he seemed taller than his three feet.
Thomas gasped and looked at Celene, who just smiled wisely. She was already beginning to understand the magic of the shop – and of the cats within.
Mister Mishkins stopped at the drawer with Dark written in gold ornate lettering on the outside. Resting his paw on the handle, he looked at Thomas and smiled gently.
‘Are you ready?’
Thomas stepped back, not sure what to expect when the drawer was opened. What he most certainly did not expect was for a very fluffy mink grey cat to sit up and blink a hello!
‘This is Waffles,’ smiled Mister Mishkins, rubbing the grey cat’s ears.
Waffles waved his tail at Thomas, his dandelion yellow eyes shining as he smiled.
‘Afraid of the dark, are you?’ Waffles asked. Without waiting for a reply, he bounced out of the drawer in one giant leap, grabbed Thomas’s hand, and then bounced again.
‘Where did they go?’ asked Celene, eyes searching everywhere for the boy and the cat.
Mister Mishkins just purred.
‘Off on an adventure.’
Thomas found himself sitting on the top of a hill with Waffles. The sun was setting, and behind them were tall trees, their leaves gently rustling in the breeze.
‘Why have you brought me here? It will be dark soon,’ cried Thomas, quickly standing up and looking around him for a way back to the Apothecary.
Waffles purred.
‘Why are you scared of the dark? Come and sit down and tell me.’
Thomas hesitated, and then carefully sat down next to the grey cat.
‘You can’t see in the dark. It’s all black and horrible. There could be scary things in there, like monsters or dragons. I don’t like it.’
Again, Waffles smiled, his eyes glowing gold as the setting sun reflected on them.
‘The thing about the dark is that it isn’t really black. It is a very dark blue – and it is only when the sky darkens that you can see the beauty around you.”
Thomas wasn’t sure, but he sat next to Waffles in a companionable silence. He noticed that, as the sun set, the birds stopped singing as they went to bed for the night. Slowly, the moon began to glow bright gold as it reflected the just-set sun.
‘Do you like space, Master Thomas?’ asked Waffles, as he leaned back until his body was lying flat on the ground, his whiskers all pushed up as though reaching for the skies.
‘Of course I do! I love watching films about space and I read comics about aliens…’
Waffles just smiled.
‘Then, we wait.’
Thomas sat next to the cat, checking every now and then to see whether he was still awake. As the moon began to rise in the sky, Thomas pulled his sweatshirt closer to him. His eyes kept darting to the sides, and every so often, he looked over his shoulders towards the trees.
Waffles sensed the boy’s anxiety and began to gently purr. Slowly, Thomas relaxed.
As he did so, he noticed that Waffles was right – the night wasn’t black! It was almost the same dark blue as his sweatshirt. And, as he looked up, he slowly began to see the stars and planets come out.
‘Wow…’ he breathed.
Waffles smiled.
‘Why not lie back so you can see it all the more easily?’
Thomas did as the cat suggested and lay down on the grass. It had been a sunny day, so the ground still felt warm. Looking up, it seemed that with every blink, another cluster of stars appeared.
Waffles pointed to the sky and began to tell Thomas about the different constellations, showing him how to find Apothecary favourites such as the Great Bear, the Little Bear, the swan, and Pegasus, the winged horse.
Waffles also showed Thomas where Leo, the lion was, one of the largest constellations in the sky. ‘We all love Leo,’ he explained. ‘You must remember where he is so, when you are feeling scared, you can look up at his stars and be as brave as he is.’
Thomas nodded, before gasping.
‘Is that a…’
Waffles glanced over towards the trees and smiled.
‘Yes, that’s a badger. They only come out at night, and they are very shy creatures. You are so lucky to see him.’
Thomas watched the badger for a moment, as he sniffed for bulbs in the ground.
‘The dark is so cool,’ he said – and before he had even finished his sentence, he was back in the Apothecary.
‘Well, Mister Mishkins, my work is done,’ laughed Waffles as he leapt into his drawer with a flourish.
Mister Mishkins pushed a warming cup of hot chocolate towards Thomas and put a saucer of cream into Waffles’ drawer.
Celene smiled at the boy, who was grinning and looking out through the Apothecary windows to see whether he could see the stars.
‘I can’t wait to get home and tell my little brother all about this!’ he cried.
Mister Mishkins laughed and pointed to the back wall of the Apothecary, where a rainbow-beaded curtain hung in front of a door. Still holding his cup, Thomas ran towards the curtain and vanished back to his world outside. Following him down the road as he ran was a brilliant violet butterfly.
Celene looked at the swinging beaded curtain thoughtfully.
‘I think I’ll go this way. Goodnight, Mister Mishkins.’
Chapter FOUR
Spiders
Mister Mishkins was playing hopscotch inside the Apothecary. It was one of his favourite things to do, and he loved to jump upon the rainbow colours on the floor. Marmaduke was Mosaic Street’s own personal sunshine cat, and he always ensured that the sun shone inside the Apothecary, even if it was raining outside. That was part of the magic of Mister Mishkins and Mosaic Street.
As Mister Mishkins turned around to jump back down the rainbow colours, he noticed a boy standing outside the shop. He was staring intently at a point just above the door and, as Mister Mishkins looked, he saw a small black spider slowly descending down near the Apothecary sign, the spider’s silver thread steady in the breeze.
Looking again at the boy, Mister Mishkins realised he was terrified. It was as though he had been turned into a statue and couldn’t move. Immediately, Mister Mishkins went to the Apothecary drawers and opened up the one with Spiders written on it, calling out, ‘Come on Henry, you’re needed!’
Out leapt Henry, a black cat so athletic that, should you only glance at him, you could easily mistake him for a panther. He had short thick black fur, orange eyes with big black pupils, a thick black nose, and there was a tiny bit missing from the tip of his right ear: if you asked Henry about it, he would just smile and purr, ‘A minor scrap from one of my adventures…,’ leaving you none the wiser. This all added to Henry’s allure and poise.
‘Mister Mishkins, what is it? I was just about to go through the back of the drawer to…’
‘Never mind that,’ interrupted Mister Mishkins, putting his paw on Henry’s arm. ‘Look!’
Henry looked outside the Apothecary to where the ginger cat was pointing and immediately drew himself up to his full height.
‘I see the problem. Be right back.’
With that, Henry opened the door, the faded red bell above his head jingling as the door moved, and he stood before the startled boy. He gave a deep bow and smiled at him.
‘Fear not, Henry is here. Now, dear, what is your name and why do spiders scare you so much?’
‘Cat? Talking? Adi. Spiders! What?’ the boy mumbled, clearly confused about what was happening but unwilling to lose sight of the spider above him, which was starting to spin a web, moving on invisible strands of silk.
Adi had fine black hair, brushed off his forehead and shaped like an upside down V shape, and he had dark, dark brown eyes. He was wearing a black polo shirt and smart black jogging trousers, with bright multicoloured trainers on his feet. He looked sporty and bright, ready to take on anything – yet the quiver in his voice and slight tremble in his legs showed that he really was scared of this little spider.
Henry put a reassuring paw on his arm. ‘Come on, time to go…’
Adi spun around, his brown eyes fixing on Henry’s orange ones.
‘Go? Go where?’
Mister Mishkins waved at them from the door of the Apothecary. ‘You’ll see!’ he smiled – and then slowly faded from view…
Adi felt a slight tug inside his belly button, as though that scary spider had spun some thread right through him, and it was pulling him backwards. He found himself standing behind Henry in a barn filled with stables. Here, he could hear a horse gently blowing and snorting as it munched on its hay. Slowly, Adi took in the bales of straw, the sun streaming in through the windows, the view outside to lush green paddocks with bay, grey, and chestnut horses grazing – and a great swath of cobwebs strung across the beams and in the corners of the stables.
His eyes widened in horror.
‘Why have you brought me here?’
Henry just smiled at him and jumped onto a stable door and walked across it, his tail held high, balancing him.
‘Listen… What can you hear?’
Adi closed his eyes and focused on the different noises all around him. As well as the horses in the stables, he could hear the low hum of a tractor in the fields somewhere in the distance. He could hear the sound of the birds, maybe crows, cawing in the trees. And he could hear the hum of the bees, taking nectar from the flowers adorning the entrance to the barn.
‘Lots of things outside,’ he said, firmly.
‘Very good,’ purred Henry. ‘What about in here?’
Adi concentrated, straining to catch any sound, however faint. Finally, he heard a faint buzzing.
‘A fly?’
Henry nodded. In one elegant leap, he went from the stable door to the floor and led Adi towards a perfect spider’s web spread across two walls, making up one corner of the barn.
‘We are in the middle of the countryside and without spiders, we would be overrun with flies and other insects. We need spiders to catch the flies in their webs to make sure they don’t spread disease. They are great in places such as stables as they can help keep the bad insects away, which could harm the beautiful horses.’
Adi looked up at the spider’s web, noticing the flies and midges caught in it, and nodded thoughtfully.
‘That’s fine, but what about in my house? I don’t want spiders in my bedroom. They look like monsters! They are small and black with small creepy legs, and they look menacing. With their webs and everything, they scare me. It’s the way they move so quickly and run across the floor. You never know where they are going next. And then, they appear from the ceiling, dangling right in front of you!’
Adi began to breathe more quickly, his eyes widening at the thought of spiders in his bedroom. Noticing Adi’s anxiety, Henry blinked his eyes firmly together, and Adi suddenly found himself inside his bedroom. His bed was neatly made and there was a chess set on a table in the corner next to an easel with plain paper on it, all ready to be filled with ideas.
‘Look up…,’ said Henry.
Adi did so, and he saw a long-legged spider with a small body right up high on the ceiling in the corner of his room. His whole body shuddered.
‘I hate them!’
‘Ah, but these spiders are your friends. Yes, yes, they are,’ Henry added, as Adi’s eyebrows disappeared into his hair.
‘These are cellar spiders, and they won’t do you any harm. But what they will do is chase away other spiders that come into the house – those big black ones that move across the carpet quickly and scare you so much – stand no chance against the cellar spider. You need to think of them as your protector, not something to be frightened of. They will live in the same corner of the room, rarely moving, and they will stop other spiders that scare you from coming in.’
Adi listened to Henry’s words, never taking his eyes off the spider above him. Slowly, he turned around on the spot, looking in all the corners of his bedroom, both above him and on the floor below.
‘There’s nothing else here… Maybe you’re right.’
Henry laughed, the sound coming out like a hiccupping purr.
‘Of course I’m right! I’m a cat – and cats are never wrong! Now, do you want to name the spider to make him seem even less scary for you?’
Adi nodded and smiled brightly. ‘Henry. I will name him after you.’
Henry’s orange eyes blinked appreciatively.
‘Thank you. That is a very great honour. Now, shall we go back to the stables and pet a horse before we go back to the Apothecary?’
Adi nodded. ‘I’d like that. Especially now I know that spiders are our friends and here to protect us from other things.’
It was much later in the day when Henry and Adi returned to Mosaic Street. Mister Mishkins was already waiting for them, with a cup of cream for Henry and a cream-topped hot chocolate for Adi.
‘Adi has been very brave,’ purred Henry. ‘He even touched a cobweb!’
‘Yes, as the spider doesn’t live there anymore, I thought I would. It was sticky and silky at the same time. I didn’t want to touch the spider’s web though, not with the spider living in it.’
Mister Mishkins nodded. ‘A wise decision. I don’t think I’d like someone prodding my home if I was still living in it.’
Adi snorted into his hot chocolate, sending bubbles of cream floating across the room.
‘Oops, sorry!’ he giggled, as Henry licked cream off his fur.
‘That’s okay, young sir. Now, when you’ve finished your drink, you just go through those beautiful, beaded rainbow curtains at the back of the Apothecary. Mister Mishkins will show you the way. I need to get back to my drawer as I was heading to…’
‘Thank you, Henry,’ said Mister Mishkins quickly, stopping the black cat from saying anymore. There were many secrets about the Apothecary, some that needed to be kept longer than others.
‘Yes, thank you,’ said Adi, stroking Henry’s head. ‘You’ve been amazing.’
Henry jumped back into his drawer and Adi watched, smiling as the black cat vanished from view and the drawer closed silently. He then looked up at the spider outside, sitting proudly in the centre of its web, and waved at it.
Putting his cup down, Adi tickled Mister Mishkins under his chin before running to the rainbow curtain. He paused just before he went through, turning to wave to the ginger cat and then he was back outside, a small indigo butterfly following him down the street as he headed home. Glancing back, Adi saw that there was no sign of the Apothecary. Sighing happily, he looked up at the skies and was sure he saw some cat whiskers in the sun. Shaking his head, thinking he must be dreaming, Adi broke into a jog to head home to Henry the spider, with the indigo butterfly dancing on the breeze behind him.
Spiders
Mister Mishkins was playing hopscotch inside the Apothecary. It was one of his favourite things to do, and he loved to jump upon the rainbow colours on the floor. Marmaduke was Mosaic Street’s own personal sunshine cat, and he always ensured that the sun shone inside the Apothecary, even if it was raining outside. That was part of the magic of Mister Mishkins and Mosaic Street.
As Mister Mishkins turned around to jump back down the rainbow colours, he noticed a boy standing outside the shop. He was staring intently at a point just above the door and, as Mister Mishkins looked, he saw a small black spider slowly descending down near the Apothecary sign, the spider’s silver thread steady in the breeze.
Looking again at the boy, Mister Mishkins realised he was terrified. It was as though he had been turned into a statue and couldn’t move. Immediately, Mister Mishkins went to the Apothecary drawers and opened up the one with Spiders written on it, calling out, ‘Come on Henry, you’re needed!’
Out leapt Henry, a black cat so athletic that, should you only glance at him, you could easily mistake him for a panther. He had short thick black fur, orange eyes with big black pupils, a thick black nose, and there was a tiny bit missing from the tip of his right ear: if you asked Henry about it, he would just smile and purr, ‘A minor scrap from one of my adventures…,’ leaving you none the wiser. This all added to Henry’s allure and poise.
‘Mister Mishkins, what is it? I was just about to go through the back of the drawer to…’
‘Never mind that,’ interrupted Mister Mishkins, putting his paw on Henry’s arm. ‘Look!’
Henry looked outside the Apothecary to where the ginger cat was pointing and immediately drew himself up to his full height.
‘I see the problem. Be right back.’
With that, Henry opened the door, the faded red bell above his head jingling as the door moved, and he stood before the startled boy. He gave a deep bow and smiled at him.
‘Fear not, Henry is here. Now, dear, what is your name and why do spiders scare you so much?’
‘Cat? Talking? Adi. Spiders! What?’ the boy mumbled, clearly confused about what was happening but unwilling to lose sight of the spider above him, which was starting to spin a web, moving on invisible strands of silk.
Adi had fine black hair, brushed off his forehead and shaped like an upside down V shape, and he had dark, dark brown eyes. He was wearing a black polo shirt and smart black jogging trousers, with bright multicoloured trainers on his feet. He looked sporty and bright, ready to take on anything – yet the quiver in his voice and slight tremble in his legs showed that he really was scared of this little spider.
Henry put a reassuring paw on his arm. ‘Come on, time to go…’
Adi spun around, his brown eyes fixing on Henry’s orange ones.
‘Go? Go where?’
Mister Mishkins waved at them from the door of the Apothecary. ‘You’ll see!’ he smiled – and then slowly faded from view…
Adi felt a slight tug inside his belly button, as though that scary spider had spun some thread right through him, and it was pulling him backwards. He found himself standing behind Henry in a barn filled with stables. Here, he could hear a horse gently blowing and snorting as it munched on its hay. Slowly, Adi took in the bales of straw, the sun streaming in through the windows, the view outside to lush green paddocks with bay, grey, and chestnut horses grazing – and a great swath of cobwebs strung across the beams and in the corners of the stables.
His eyes widened in horror.
‘Why have you brought me here?’
Henry just smiled at him and jumped onto a stable door and walked across it, his tail held high, balancing him.
‘Listen… What can you hear?’
Adi closed his eyes and focused on the different noises all around him. As well as the horses in the stables, he could hear the low hum of a tractor in the fields somewhere in the distance. He could hear the sound of the birds, maybe crows, cawing in the trees. And he could hear the hum of the bees, taking nectar from the flowers adorning the entrance to the barn.
‘Lots of things outside,’ he said, firmly.
‘Very good,’ purred Henry. ‘What about in here?’
Adi concentrated, straining to catch any sound, however faint. Finally, he heard a faint buzzing.
‘A fly?’
Henry nodded. In one elegant leap, he went from the stable door to the floor and led Adi towards a perfect spider’s web spread across two walls, making up one corner of the barn.
‘We are in the middle of the countryside and without spiders, we would be overrun with flies and other insects. We need spiders to catch the flies in their webs to make sure they don’t spread disease. They are great in places such as stables as they can help keep the bad insects away, which could harm the beautiful horses.’
Adi looked up at the spider’s web, noticing the flies and midges caught in it, and nodded thoughtfully.
‘That’s fine, but what about in my house? I don’t want spiders in my bedroom. They look like monsters! They are small and black with small creepy legs, and they look menacing. With their webs and everything, they scare me. It’s the way they move so quickly and run across the floor. You never know where they are going next. And then, they appear from the ceiling, dangling right in front of you!’
Adi began to breathe more quickly, his eyes widening at the thought of spiders in his bedroom. Noticing Adi’s anxiety, Henry blinked his eyes firmly together, and Adi suddenly found himself inside his bedroom. His bed was neatly made and there was a chess set on a table in the corner next to an easel with plain paper on it, all ready to be filled with ideas.
‘Look up…,’ said Henry.
Adi did so, and he saw a long-legged spider with a small body right up high on the ceiling in the corner of his room. His whole body shuddered.
‘I hate them!’
‘Ah, but these spiders are your friends. Yes, yes, they are,’ Henry added, as Adi’s eyebrows disappeared into his hair.
‘These are cellar spiders, and they won’t do you any harm. But what they will do is chase away other spiders that come into the house – those big black ones that move across the carpet quickly and scare you so much – stand no chance against the cellar spider. You need to think of them as your protector, not something to be frightened of. They will live in the same corner of the room, rarely moving, and they will stop other spiders that scare you from coming in.’
Adi listened to Henry’s words, never taking his eyes off the spider above him. Slowly, he turned around on the spot, looking in all the corners of his bedroom, both above him and on the floor below.
‘There’s nothing else here… Maybe you’re right.’
Henry laughed, the sound coming out like a hiccupping purr.
‘Of course I’m right! I’m a cat – and cats are never wrong! Now, do you want to name the spider to make him seem even less scary for you?’
Adi nodded and smiled brightly. ‘Henry. I will name him after you.’
Henry’s orange eyes blinked appreciatively.
‘Thank you. That is a very great honour. Now, shall we go back to the stables and pet a horse before we go back to the Apothecary?’
Adi nodded. ‘I’d like that. Especially now I know that spiders are our friends and here to protect us from other things.’
It was much later in the day when Henry and Adi returned to Mosaic Street. Mister Mishkins was already waiting for them, with a cup of cream for Henry and a cream-topped hot chocolate for Adi.
‘Adi has been very brave,’ purred Henry. ‘He even touched a cobweb!’
‘Yes, as the spider doesn’t live there anymore, I thought I would. It was sticky and silky at the same time. I didn’t want to touch the spider’s web though, not with the spider living in it.’
Mister Mishkins nodded. ‘A wise decision. I don’t think I’d like someone prodding my home if I was still living in it.’
Adi snorted into his hot chocolate, sending bubbles of cream floating across the room.
‘Oops, sorry!’ he giggled, as Henry licked cream off his fur.
‘That’s okay, young sir. Now, when you’ve finished your drink, you just go through those beautiful, beaded rainbow curtains at the back of the Apothecary. Mister Mishkins will show you the way. I need to get back to my drawer as I was heading to…’
‘Thank you, Henry,’ said Mister Mishkins quickly, stopping the black cat from saying anymore. There were many secrets about the Apothecary, some that needed to be kept longer than others.
‘Yes, thank you,’ said Adi, stroking Henry’s head. ‘You’ve been amazing.’
Henry jumped back into his drawer and Adi watched, smiling as the black cat vanished from view and the drawer closed silently. He then looked up at the spider outside, sitting proudly in the centre of its web, and waved at it.
Putting his cup down, Adi tickled Mister Mishkins under his chin before running to the rainbow curtain. He paused just before he went through, turning to wave to the ginger cat and then he was back outside, a small indigo butterfly following him down the street as he headed home. Glancing back, Adi saw that there was no sign of the Apothecary. Sighing happily, he looked up at the skies and was sure he saw some cat whiskers in the sun. Shaking his head, thinking he must be dreaming, Adi broke into a jog to head home to Henry the spider, with the indigo butterfly dancing on the breeze behind him.