you have hatched...
Phelim is fourteen years old. His father won't get a job at the local power station; he refuses to work there, and it's the only work available.
Phelim's sister has yelled and yelled at their father until her throat is hoarse. She says he must be mad, and throws him out of the house.
The night he goes, Phelim puts a bowl of milk on the kitchen floor for the cat. Even though they haven't got a cat. He wants something like a normal family, with a cat.
In the morning, the bowl is empty.
He does this every night, and even though the cat is an imaginary one, by morning the milk has gone.
Phelim doesn't tell his sister that they've got a ghost cat. Nor does he mention that he finds some comfort in the feeding of a ghost cat.
She might think he was mad and throw him out.
Phelim's sister goes away for a few days to sell her toy soldiers at a fair in a nearby town. She warns Phelim of the many things he must and must not do while she's gone.
Finally, he's alone. Phelim puts milk out for the ghost cat and wonders if he might actually be mad after all.
