In seconds the only evidence that the rats were there at all were the restless lumps under the man’s clothes, forever sliding from place to place across him; and there was still the largest rat, who stared down, with glittering red eyes, at Coraline from the man’s head.
The old man put his hat on, and the last rat was gone.
‘Hello, Coraline,’ said the other old man upstairs. ‘I heard you were here. It is time for the rats to have their dinner. But you can come up with me, if you like, and watch them feed.’
There was something hungry in the old man’s button eyes that made Coraline feel uncomfortable. ‘No, thank you,’ she said. ‘I’m going outside to explore.’
The old man nodded, very slowly. Coraline could hear the rats whispering to each other, although she couldn’t tell what they were saying.
She was not certain that she wanted to know what they were saying.
Her other parents stood in the kitchen doorway as she walked down the corridor, smiling identical smiles, and waving slowly. ‘Have a nice time outside,’ said her other mother.
‘We’ll just wait here for you to come back,’ said her other father.
When Coraline got to the front door, she turned back and looked at them. They were still watching her, and waving, and smiling.
Coraline walked outside, and down the steps.
Miss Spink and Miss Forcible came on to the stage.
Chapter 4
The house looked exactly the same from the outside. Or almost exactly the same; around Miss Spink and Miss Forcible’s door were blue and red light bulbs that flashed on and off spelling out words, the lights chasing each other around the door. On and off, around and around. ASTOUNDING! was followed by A THEATRICAL and then TRIUMPH!!!
It was a sunny, cold day, exactly like the one she’d left.
There was a polite noise from behind her.
She turned round. Standing on the wall next to her was a large black cat, identical to the large black cat she’d seen in the grounds at home.
‘Good afternoon,’ said the cat.
Its voice sounded like the voice at the back of Coraline’s head, the voice she thought words in, but a man’s voice, not a girl’s.
‘Hello,’ said Coraline. ‘I saw a cat like you in the garden at home. You must be the other cat.’
The cat shook its head. ‘No,’ it said. ‘I’m not the other anything. I’m me.’ It tipped its head on one side; green eyes glinted. ‘You people are spread all over the place. Cats, on the other hand, keep ourselves together. If you see what I mean.’
‘I suppose. But if you’re the same cat I saw at home, how can you talk?’
Cats don’t have shoulders, not like people do. But the cat shrugged, in one smooth movement that started at the tip of its tail and ended in a raised movement of its whiskers. ‘I can talk.’
‘Cats don’t talk at home.’
‘No?’ said the cat.
‘No,’ said Coraline.
The cat leapt smoothly from the wall to the grass, near Coraline’s feet. It stared up at her.
‘Well, you’re the expert on these things,’ said the cat drily. ‘After all, what would I know? I’m only a cat.’
It began to walk away, head and tail held high and proud.
‘Come back,’ said Coraline. ‘Please. I’m sorry. I really am.’
The cat stopped walking, and sat down, and began to wash itself, thoughtfully, apparently unaware of Coraline’s existence.
‘We . . . we could be friends, you know,’ said Coraline.
‘We could be rare specimens of an exotic breed of African dancing elephants,’ said the cat. ‘But we’re not. At least,’ it added cattily, after darting a brief look at Coraline, ‘I’m not.’
Coraline sighed.
‘Please. What’s your name?’ Coraline asked the cat. ‘Look, I’m Coraline. OK?’
The cat yawned slowly, carefully, revealing a mouth and tongue of astounding pinkness. ‘Cats don’t have names,’ it said.
‘No?’ said Coraline.
‘No,’ said the cat. ‘Now, you people have names. That’s because you don’t know who you are. We know who we are, so we don’t need names.’
There was something irritatingly self-centred about the cat, Coraline decided. As if it were, in its opinion, the only thing in any world or place that could possibly be of any importance.
Half of her wanted to be very rude to it; the other half of her wanted to be polite and deferential. The polite half won.
‘Please, what is this place?’
The cat glanced around briefly. ‘It’s here,’ said the cat.
‘I can see that. Well, how did you get here?’
‘Like you did. I walked,’ said the cat. ‘Like this.’
Coraline watched as the cat walked slowly across the lawn. It walked behind a tree, but didn’t come out the other side. Coraline went over to the tree and looked behind it. The cat was gone.
She walked back towards the house. There was another polite noise from behind her. It was the cat.
‘By the by,’ it said. ‘It was sensible of you to bring protection. I’d hang on to it, if I were you.’
‘Protection?’
‘That’s what I said,’ said the cat. ‘And anyway – ’
It paused, and stared intently at something that wasn’t there.
Then it went down into a low crouch and moved slowly forward, two or three steps. It seemed to be stalking an invisible mouse. Abruptly, it turned tail and dashed for the woods.
It vanished among the trees.
Coraline wondered what the cat had meant.
She also wondered whether cats could all talk where she came from and just chose not to, or whether they could only talk when they were here – wherever here was.
She walked down the brick steps to the Misses Spink and Forcible’s front door. The blue and red lights flashed on and off.
The door was open, just slightly. She knocked on it, but her first knock made the door swing open, and Coraline went in.
She was in a dark room that smelled of dust and velvet. The door swung shut behind her, and the room was black. Coraline edged forward into a small anteroom. Her face brushed against something soft. It was cloth. She reached up her hand and pushed at the cloth. It parted.
She stood blinking on the other side of the velvet curtains, in a poorly lit theatre. Far away, at the edge of the room, was a high wooden stage, empty and bare, a dim spotlight shining on to it from above.
There were seats between Coraline and the stage. Rows and rows of seats. She heard a shuffling noise, and a light came towards her, swinging from side to side. When it was closer she saw the light was coming from a torch being carried in the mouth of a large black Scottie dog, its muzzle grey with age.
‘Hello,’ said Coraline.
The dog put the torch down on the floor and looked up at her. ‘Right. Let’s see your ticket,’ it said gruffly.
‘Ticket?’
‘That’s what I said. Ticket. I haven’t got all day, you know. You can’t watch the show without a ticket.’
Coraline sighed. ‘I don’t have a ticket,’ she admitted.
‘Another one,’ said the dog gloomily. ‘Come in here, bold as anything, “Where’s your ticket?” “Haven’t got one.” I don’t know . . .’ It shook its head, then shrugged. ‘Come on, then.’