Ula looked around the room, trying to find something that might distract Catvinkle from telling Ula she would have to leave. Ula really wanted to stay in front of the fire at least a little longer. What could she talk about?

She noticed a pair of tiny baby shoes lying on the floor near Catvinkle’s basket. They were crocheted light blue, with a dark blue zig-zag pattern and one brown button on each shoe the colour of a tortoise’s shell.

‘Are they baby shoes? They sure are beautiful,’ Ula said.

As Catvinkle took her eyes off Ula to look at the baby shoes, the cold dog took the opportunity to move her whole body again just a bit closer to the fire.

‘Yes, they are beautiful,’ said Catvinkle with pride. ‘But they’re not really baby shoes, they’re my shoes.’

‘I’ve seen babies wearing shoes just like that,’ said Ula.

‘Well, yes, a baby came in with his mother to have his first haircut. Mr Sabatini gave the baby boy just one snip for the haircut but that was all the time the baby needed to decide he wanted me to have his shoes. You see, he patted me and I even let him touch my whiskers, and he was so grateful that he gave me his baby shoes.’

‘Could he talk, this baby?’ asked Ula.

‘No, not really. He was just a tiny baby.’

‘Then how do you know he wanted you to have his baby shoes?’

‘Well,’ answered Catvinkle, ‘he left them behind for me.’

‘Maybe they fell off and his mother didn’t notice and they left them here by mistake?’ suggested Ula.

‘No, no, that’s not what happened at all!’

‘But how do you know?’

‘There are a few ways that I know he wanted me to have them,’ Catvinkle said. ‘First, while Mr Sabatini made his mother’s hair look all soft, shiny and manageable after he’d finished the baby boy’s haircut, the baby boy pushed one of his shoes towards me with his nose.’

‘I’m trying to picture it,’ said Ula. ‘Do you mean he was crawling on his tummy like this?’ Ula crawled on her tummy towards the fire. ‘Or,’ Ula continued, ‘was he crawling on his knees more like this?’ Then Ula crawled on her knees closer and closer to the warmth of the fire.

‘Well,’ said Catvinkle, ‘let’s see now. From memory, it was a crawl with a bit of tummy and a bit of knees – or elbows, I should say, since he was a baby human. Then he pushed one of his shoes towards me with his nose. Please don’t try to act that out. I wouldn’t want you to burn your snout by getting too close to the fire.’

‘Sorry,’ said Ula.

‘So then I thanked the baby and he blew a bubble out of his mouth which, if you know anything about human babies, was his way of saying, “You’re welcome, Catvinkle. They’ll look great on you. Wear them in good health!” Do you know anything about baby humans?’

‘A little,’ said Ula.

‘A little, how lovely. Sounds like I know more. So then I said to him, “Baby boy, are you sure you want me to have them? If you don’t really want me to have these beautiful blue baby shoes forever, hop up and down on one leg. But if you think that you’re going to grow out of them and that they’d get much better use from me, do anything else but don’t hop up and down on one leg.” And guess what? He just lay there on his tummy looking at the floor.’

‘He didn’t hop?’

‘Not one hop.’

‘Had he learned to walk yet?’

‘He didn’t say. But however you look at it, they’re clearly my baby shoes. I think I’ve proven it beyond a shadow of a doubt,’ said Catvinkle.

‘I see,’ said Ula. ‘But what exactly do you do with baby shoes?’

Catvinkle jumped up out of her basket and her tail stood tall, pointing to the ceiling. ‘I can’t tell you that!’

‘Why not?’ Ula said, surprised at the cat’s prickly reaction.

‘It’s one of my secrets,’ said Catvinkle. Ula’s question had Catvinkle up and moving like nothing else had. She was now out of her basket and swinging both front paws from right to left as though doing some strange sort of exercise.

‘One of your secrets!’ said Ula. ‘How many secrets do you have?’

‘I’m not sure if I should tell you that either.’

Catvinkle continued with her exercises. Ula watched as the cat tried a different stretch. She was standing on her hind paws like a human walking on legs, her top paws in the air. Ula wanted to ask her what she was doing but she was still trying to learn all she could about Catvinkle’s secrets.

‘Why can’t you tell me how many secrets you have? Is it a secret?’

‘It used to be, but I told a certain kitten at Kittens Anonymous and now all the cats there know.’

‘Do you talk about your secrets at Kittens Anonymous?’

‘Oh yes, all the time. There’s no point having secrets unless some cats know and other cats don’t. All the cats who don’t know want to know and all the cats who do know are constantly in danger of telling the cats who don’t know. We have a lot of fun at Kittens Anonymous telling and not telling each other’s secrets.’

‘Do any dogs know your secrets?’

‘I don’t know any dogs.’

‘Then you could tell me safely because cats don’t talk to me on account of how I’m a dog.’

Ula was very interested in secrets, because dogs didn’t often have secrets – and if they ever did, they tended to lose them quite quickly. Once, Ula had found a big juicy bone on her way to Puppies Anonymous. She knew that if the other dogs found out about the bone they’d want her to share it, or they’d even want to take it from her and have it all to themselves. So she buried it in the park. The trouble was, she was so excited about the bone that she couldn’t stop thinking about it. So when her friends had asked her how she was, she said with much excitement, ‘I’m great! I just found a big juicy bone and I’ve hidden it over there!’

Ula remembered that bone fondly for a moment in silence and then continued. ‘You’ve never told your secrets to a dog before. You might find the suspense exciting. Will I tell other dogs your secrets or will I keep them a secret from everyone? Just a thought.’

‘Hmmm … I’m not sure,’ Catvinkle said. ‘To tell you my secrets I would have to trust you and know that you’re very special.’

‘Well, I am very special. I can sit, fetch, come when my name is called, lay down, beg and heel.’

‘What’s heel?’

‘I was hoping you wouldn’t ask me that. I’ve forgotten. Not much call for it these days.’

Now Catvinkle thought for a moment. ‘Well, I suppose if I did tell you about a secret, you wouldn’t tell any cats, because they wouldn’t be caught dead talking to a dog. No offence.’

‘None taken,’ Ula replied, and waited eagerly to hear more.