By Rachel H Grant

The sun sparkled like a precious jewel in the sky. A feather landed at the chip shop door, a tiny hello from heaven. The sea shushed weary woes, seagulls playing in its waves like children who knew tomorrow, living for the unwinding wonder of today. Seagull cries punctuated the peace all around, a song of the soul.

Tommy hid behind a bin. The heat brushed his grey and white fur like a rough feather. His ten-week-old heart drummed inside. His shining kitten eyes saw so much … yet understood so little.

One thing however he did understand, a feather flying in between his thoughts, impossible to brush away.

He was lost.

A family had taken him to their home, where he had chased a ball to their cries of delight, and learnt to purr on demand. Then he found the open window and a new game! Tommy had not been prepared for the noise of the outside world. At first he ran and ran, until he realised the noise was everywhere. And he was suddenly nowhere, home a mirage on a distant horizon. Fear frolicked in his heart like a feather in freefall.

Hunger tickled his stomach, a teasing feather. Then he heard it. Like a poem of feathers, or the hymn of your heart, a cry that spoke to you, louder than a cat mother’s purr but just as soothing …

The seagull cried again. Tommy ventured out from behind the bin. The bird above regarded him with eyes like black suns.

Then the bird dropped down, cawing gently, feathers shining in the sun. Tommy closed his eyes and purred, a fearful feather in his throat.

“I am Sam,” said the bird in his head. “You look hungry. Follow me.”

The bird flew above as Tommy walked timidly down the street, his heart crying like a seagull in a storm.

Then one of Sam’s feathers fell at his feet, a white portent of purrs to come. Tommy collected it in his mouth, comforted by its sun-kissed beauty.

Seagull Sam landed on top of a small building with tables outside. If Tommy were able to read the sign, he would know that this was Feather Fish and Chips Takeaway and Café. His nostrils were tickled by the smell of fish, an alluring aroma that gave him the confidence to edge ever closer to the open door …

“What a cute kitten!” The words scratched his ears like tiny feathers. “Here, Smoky, have some fish!”

Tommy could not believe it, food for his somersaulting stomach. Sam flew down and joined him. “You’ll likely get food every day,” he advised. “This is THE place to hang out, trust me.”

So a seagull and a kitten came to spend days together at the fish and chip shop, two stray feathers brought together by a winning wind.

Most of the chip shop customers incorrectly concluded that the kitten belonged to its owners; this did not stop them taking multiple photographs. Images of a kitten sleeping against a seagull went viral on social media, gaining national attention. Hashtag FeatherPair trended on all platforms.

It did not take long for Tommy’s adopted family to see the photographs. Mrs Finch stormed to the chip shop, how dare they steal her kitten? Tommy was thrust in to a cat carrier, like a feather torn from a bird. He cried piteously, a feather thrown to the skies by a winter wind.

Then he was back home. Tommy spied Sam in the garden. He had followed them! Perhaps it was good to be back … now that Sam was here too.

Sam tapped at the window. Tommy leapt up to the windowsill, desperate to include his friend in his happy homecoming.

Mrs Finch however had other ideas. No seagull was welcome in her garden! She ran outside brandishing a pan, banging it with a spoon. “Begone!” she cried, dark feathers falling from her eyes.

Seagull Sam flew to a neighbouring house rooftop, sad but unsurprised by Mrs Finch’s reaction to him. Tommy was horrified. Taking a fleeting chance like a feather in the wind, he dashed out of the open door, and raced down the street. Sam flew above him. Eventually, they stopped next to a different fish and chip shop.

“We are safe now,” said Sam.

“I never wish to lose you,” confided Tommy with feather tears in his eyes.

And so Tommy and Sam wandered from chip shop to chip shop, never staying in one place too long. Tommy jumped in vans and Sam followed, town after town, village after village, they flew along the coast like feathers on the wind.

And like two feathers, they knew they would drift forever. Life was a feather too soon gone … life was for being together. The feather of fate sung in the seagull’s haunting cry, and the kitten’s mysterious meow. And the feathers of the future beckoned them ever onwards, the sun of all their tomorrows shining bright in their hearts.