A Cat Called Kat

Chapter Sixteen - Life with Slimeball

I was woken the next morning by somebody knocking at my door. I asked who it was and, when Giulia answered, I hurried over to let her in. She had a cappuccino for me... and most of it was still in the cup.

So I hopped back into bed and enjoyed it for a bit. It wasn't quite as good as Zi'Anna's but it wasn't bad.

"You're here early," I said as she started bustling around - basically pretending to tidy up even though there wasn't really anything that needed doing.

"I am living in one of the upstairs rooms," she explained, "so I am not travelling far to get here."

"Have you had a cup of coffee yet?"

She shook her head shyly.

"Then come here and you can share mine!" I said. I hodged over and made room for her and she sat down. I mean... she was a bit hesitant at first but she soon started to relax and we chatted and giggled together as we shared the coffee which was kind of fun.

She told me that she was the daughter of one of the guard captains and that she had only been working in the house for a couple of weeks.

"How old are you?" I asked. She looked too young to be working.

"I'm sixteen," she answered.

"Shouldn't you still be in school?"

Just for a moment, this little flash of regret sort of flashed across her eyes. "Anna and Enrica are fifteen," she told me, "and Ottavia is only fourteen."

'That,' I sort of silently promised her, 'is going to be one of the first things we put right when my sister is back in control.'

"When the old Mr Andretti was killed by those horrible English people, and his nephew became in charge..." so that was the way it was being presented... "he decided that they needed more maids here, so he asked some guard captains, like my Papa, to send their daughters."

She carried on burbling away but I'd pretty much stopped listening to her as I worked out that these girls were basically being kept here as hostages. I suppose it's quite an effective way of guaranteeing the cooperation of their fathers, the guard captains.

As long as you don't have any sort of moral scruples.

And with a bit more chatting, I managed to work out that Giulia's father was the captain who had been with us when I had my silly 'small crocodiles' panic. That was interesting... maybe even significant. I'd got to know him quite well... and I knew Terri got on really well with him.

We chatted for a while longer then we both suddenly froze when we heard Slimeball shouting in the corridor outside my door. This was followed by the sound of a couple of punches.

Poor Giulia looked completely terrified so I reached out and took her hand. I mean... I was pretty scared too but I tried not to let it show.

"What was that all about?" I whispered to Giulia once the footsteps had faded away. It wasn't a 'hiding the fact I spoke Italian' thing - with him shouting and being on the other side of a door, I really couldn't work out what he was saying.

"The guard outside Mr Andretti's door... he sleeping," she explained. "Mr Andretti get angry!"

Another hint that discipline really was starting to break down.

I gave Slimeball a couple of seconds to get out of the way then I peeped out of the door. The guard was back in his chair but jumped to his feet when he saw me. His face was a mess with bruises and he had a cut above his eye from which blood was running down his face.

"Sit down," I told him. "Let me have a look."

He still hesitated.

"I said sit down. That wasn't a request. It was an order!" I turned to Giulia to translate for me.