A Cat Called Alfie

Chapter Twenty-Four

I slept uneasily which wasn’t a surprise. I made my way downstairs where Claire and Jonathan were already sat at the breakfast table.

‘Polly texted me to say she’d called in at the Snells’ and there was still no sign.’

‘God, I remember how worried I was when Alfie was missing, when he’d been hurt and taken to the vet’s that time.’ I shuddered as I made my presence felt. I hated hearing that word.

‘Oh there you are, I wonder if you’ve seen Snowball?’ He went to feed me. I miaowed to tell him I hadn’t seen her.

‘They’re making more posters. Polly said she would take the kids out and put them up a bit further afield. I can’t get out of work but I’ve offered for us both to help when we get back.’

‘OK, darling, cool. I’ll try not to be late.’

After I’d breakfasted, groomed myself and made my way out, I saw Polly and Karen and I wanted to cry as I saw Snowball’s beautiful face smiling down at me again and wondered if I would ever see her again. You heard about cats going missing a lot and many of them were never found. Terrible things could happen, and it was unfortunately more common than it should be. I felt as if my heart was going to break. It seemed Karen felt the same because she stood with Polly, sobbing as Polly put her arm around her and the children looked on.

‘I’m sorry,’ Karen said. ‘But she’s family. Daisy adores her and we’ve had her since she was a kitten. I can’t bear to lose her after everything else we’ve lost.’

‘Hey, love, come on, we’ll find her. After work me, Matt, Claire and Jonathan are going to look. We’ve put these posters up everywhere and I’m sure we’ll have her home safe in no time.’ I hoped that Polly was more confident than she sounded.

I left them, as Tim joined his wife and for the first time I saw affection pass between them. They clung to each other and when Tim suggested driving around looking for Snowball, Karen said she wanted to go with him.

I had to find that cat. As I started walking I saw Tiger engaged in some kind of conversation with Salmon. I quickened my pace. Maybe he would know where Snowball was.

‘Hi, Tiger,’ I said.

‘Ah, here’s your partner. I’ve just discovered your ruse, Alfie,’ Salmon said unkindly.

‘What?’ I asked.

‘Sorry, Alfie, I felt I had to tell him we were just pretending to be on his side the other day, as we’re doing all we can to find Snowball.’

‘Oh, I’d forgotten that.’

‘Well who cares. The cat is done for.’

‘What do you mean?’ I hissed angrily.

‘It’s obvious. She’s been kidnapped by the criminals that the Snells are involved with. They’ve probably double-crossed them or something and so they’ve taken the cat.’

‘I’ve never heard such nonsense,’ Tiger said.

‘We’ll see,’ Salmon replied before stalking off.

‘Ignore him, Alfie, I’m sure she’ll be all right,’ Tiger said, trying to cheer me up. I smiled, gratefully, at her but even I was losing hope as no one had seen her. We had looked everywhere we could think of and were quickly running out of ideas.

That evening, I felt the love in Edgar Road, for the first time in ages, as Polly, Matt, Claire and Jonathan and all the Snells came out together to look for Snowball. I had cat tears in my eyes as I saw them all working together. I had wanted to bring them together, to help them, but not at the expense of Snowball. As her face looked at me from every lamp-post I tried to strengthen my resolve to find her but even I was struggling to stay positive.

‘I just can’t think of where else to look,’ Tim said as they all converged outside our house. My families exchanged anxious glances.

‘But, Dad, we can’t give up,’ Daisy said, tears streaming. Her father put his arm around her.

‘We’ll never give up, princess.’ He hugged her.

‘Hey, I know,’ Matt said, trying to sound optimistic. ‘Why don’t we try another search but this time split up? I know we’ve looked but she might have got lost and be trying to find her way back. Tim and Christopher, come with me and Jonathan and we’ll head east, you ladies go west and we’ll meet back at ours where I’ll get our babysitter to make us some hot drinks.’

Everyone agreed but I couldn’t help but feel that it was because they didn’t know what else to do. The only silver lining, I thought glumly, was that at least we were showing the Snells what a nice street we were, with the exception of the Goodwins of course.

‘What now?’ Tiger asked me. The other cats were all still searching but like the humans, we were running out of places to look. I began to feel despondent but then I remembered who I was.

‘Remember when I went to stay at Franceska’s?’ I asked. Tiger nodded. ‘I met this outdoor cat, Dustbin, he works the yard outside big Tomasz’s restaurant, keeping it clean from vermin.’

‘Nice job,’ Tiger said. ‘But I don’t follow.’

‘He’s an expert on being outside. I know it’s a bit further but maybe he can help us find Snowball!’ I just had a feeling that he would be better at this than we were.

‘Alfie, it’s getting dark and it’s quite far away. Are you sure about this?’ Tiger asked. She was right, this was out of my comfort zone, and I didn’t relish the idea.

‘I have to find Snowball and this is the only idea I’ve got,’ I explained.

‘You must really love her,’ Tiger said, sounding a bit sad.

‘I’d do the same for you,’ I replied and I meant it. I loved her in a different way but I would.

‘I know, come on, let’s find this Dustbin.’

We walked as briskly as we could, with an urgency that we didn’t feel the last time we came here, and also with more confidence. We both knew we could find our way back easily. The only difficult part was when we got to the restaurant finding our way out the back, after all I had only been through the flat before. But we found an alley and after a couple of wrong turns we found the yard.

‘Dustbin,’ I called. A head emerged from under a bin. He had clearly been having his dinner.

‘Alfie? Is that you?’ He crawled out.

‘Hi, yes, and this is my friend Tiger. Dustbin, we really need your help.’ I noticed Tiger looking a bit scared as I filled him in. She was a brave cat but she had never had to rough it like this in her life. Not like me. Or Dustbin.

I realized quickly that I had done exactly the right thing as Dustbin seemed to round up quite a few dirty, feral cats who looked terrifying but were all incredibly kind and willing to help. I described Snowball to them — cats don’t need missing posters I can tell you — and I even managed to explain how she smelt, although Tiger said I went too far when I went on about garden roses, fresh dew on grass, and summer breezes. You can’t help being in love I tried to tell her as the other cats laughed at us. Tiger then shot out a more practical description, also saying that Snowball might not be overjoyed or even remotely friendly if found. She made a good point.

Dustbin said we had to wait for them in the yard, which horrified Tiger; and when they left, I could see she was more nervous than I was.

‘What was that?’ she said, jumping.

‘Your shadow.’ I rolled my eyes and flicked my tail. I had been homeless of course, for a short time, and although I hated to be reminded of those days, I knew this yard and it didn’t scare me. I was glad the mice and rats were keeping away from us though as we settled down to wait.

I was fighting sleep, but Tiger’s jitters kept me awake. She was tougher than me normally but I had found her Achilles paw. It was dawn by the time Dustbin returned with one of his friends and by some miracle they had Snowball with them. At first I wondered if I was so exhausted I was seeing things but as they approached, I saw it was definitely her and I wanted to leap for joy.

‘You did right coming to get me,’ Dustbin said. I looked at Snowball, who didn’t look well. She was thin, as if she hadn’t eaten for the whole time she’d been missing — coming up to four days — and she wasn’t very white anymore. But still the sight of her made my heart beat that bit faster, although I was also full of anxiety at the state she was in. Would she be all right?

‘Dustbin … how?’ I was almost lost for words.

‘Word got out very quickly, and she was found about two miles north of Edgar Road. She’d got lost, and was hiding out in a park, but near a big estate, so it was fraught with danger. It was lucky one of my mates remembered seeing her and found her when he did, he called me and we managed to get her back to you.’ Dustbin looked proud and I went over and thanked him by nuzzling him, although he was filthy.

‘Dustbin, I don’t know how to thank you,’ I said.

‘No worries, Alfie, happy to help. But she doesn’t look too good. How are you going to get her back to Edgar Road?’

‘I’m not sure.’ I couldn’t quite believe they’d found her so quickly, I certainly hadn’t got a clue how to get her home. She didn’t look as if she would be able to walk.

‘Franceska and Tomasz?’ I said. It was almost morning, but I would have to wait until they got up. ‘But how can I get their attention?’ I said.

‘Ah, well, you might be in luck. Franceska comes down here every morning to clean the restaurant, she does it before the boys get up.’

‘Thank goodness.’ I was relieved, and Tiger looked as if she could finally relax.

‘And until then, we need to all snuggle up to keep warm.’

Tiger looked horrified at the idea but she moved close to me. Snowball still hadn’t spoken and she looked as if she was in shock as she lay down next to Dustbin, I snuggled up to her other side, so she would be warm between us, and because I wanted to be close to her as the relief of finding her was seeping in. I hoped she wasn’t too ill, but I couldn’t be sure, as we all fell into an uneasy sleep.

‘What on earth?’ I heard Franceska shout, which woke us with a start. She ran back upstairs and came down again with big Tomasz, who was wearing his pyjamas.

‘Alfie?’ he said.

‘Yes is Alfie, but with the cat who went missing and this cat from his street also.’ Franceska obviously recognized Tiger. ‘And Dustbin. What is going on?’ We all miaowed in chorus, apart from Snowball who was still silent.

‘The cat looks sick.’ Tomasz picked Snowball up and she lifted her head and looked at him, which gave us all hope.

‘But what are they doing here?’ Franceska asked.

‘No idea, but we need to get them home. You stay with the boys, I’ll get dressed and then drive them back.’

‘But we don’t have cat carriers.’

‘Kochanie, we don’t have time to worry about that.’

Tomasz placed us in the car, all on the back seat. Snowball had managed to say thank you to Dustbin before we left and then she said the same to me and Tiger. It was the sweetest sound ever to my ears, like flapping butterfly wings. I tried to enjoy the journey but I was too full of emotion. We had done it, or Dustbin had; my plan had worked out. It was amazing and I couldn’t wait to get home, so that Snowball could get better. I had a horrid feeling that she was going to have to visit the vet though.

Tomasz pulled up outside Jonathan and Claire’s house, and rang the bell. He was carrying Snowball and I was at his feet. Tiger bade us goodbye and went home to eat, sleep and get clean, something I was also desperate to do. Finally Jonathan appeared, looking grumpy and wearing his dressing gown.

‘What on earth are you doing here, Tomasz?’ he asked before he saw that Snowball was in his arms. ‘You found Snowball? How on earth?’ He looked at me.

‘I have no idea, Jonathan. I found Alfie, with the missing cat, in the yard behind the restaurant, along with the restaurant cat.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Jonathan said.

‘I don’t either,’ Tomasz concurred. ‘It seems that Alfie strikes again.’

Claire appeared and took in the scene. ‘What’s going on?’

‘He’s got Snowball! It seems that, yet again, Alfie is somehow linked to a success story and we will never know what happened.’ Jonathan stood aside as if to let Tomasz in.

‘She is not good, I think we need to get her home now,’ Tomasz said, staying on the doorstep.

‘Oh, I’ll come round with you,’ Jonathan offered.

The Snells cried tears of joy when they saw Snowball, but the celebration was short-lived as they noticed how unwell she seemed.

‘Do you need a lift to the vet?’ Tomasz asked, introducing himself.

‘No, we can’t thank you enough for bringing her back but we’ll take it from here.’ As the Snells shut the door, Jonathan and Tomasz exchanged a glance; it seemed as if the Snells were keen to get rid of them and me.

‘They seem a bit strange,’ Tomasz said. ‘They didn’t even ask me where the cat was found or anything.’

‘I know, and I thought we all bonded yesterday when we were looking for her. I mean they didn’t tell us their life story but they joined us for tea and cake, and although they were upset they were friendly then.’

Both men shrugged and I wondered what this meant. Would the Snells return to their old ways or were they going to continue being part of the street? I fervently hoped it was the former but I was afraid it was the latter.