A Friend Called Alfie

Winter had settled in, and the frosty atmosphere in the house was even thicker than the frost outside. And, it was all my fault. Pickles couldn’t be held responsible because he was a baby – however I was not. In the days following our hospital visit, George wasn’t talking to me, he was going off to see Hana, but I knew he hadn’t risked going back to the hospital, because he was never gone long enough. He was blaming me for the fact he had lost his job, and not only that but the people he cheered up in hospital were missing out. I felt as if I might drown with guilt.

Claire kept telling me off, I mean if I heard ‘anything could have happened to Pickles and it would have been all your fault, Alfie,’ one more time, then I would go mad.

Polly and Matt were upset when they were told, and Claire felt awful, when she spoke to them she blamed herself rather than me, but Polly said she couldn’t be responsible for Pickles following George and I. Tomasz came round and fixed bolts to the gate, so it wouldn’t blow open again. There were a lot of factors involved in Pickles following us to the hospital, but the upshot; I had well and truly messed up in so many ways.

When they weren’t angry, they were all astounded about how we managed to get to the hospital. I couldn’t tell them, of course, at least they didn’t know George had been going for ages. Harold had kept that quiet from what I could tell. The only person, other than the children, who wasn’t angry with me was Pickles. But then he had no idea why everyone was making such a fuss, he kept saying it was his best day ever. At least one of us was happy. I didn’t have the heart to be cross with him, although I did tell him again that he mustn’t try to get out with us.

I knew I had to come up with a plan to make it up to George. He avoided me at home, and he missed Harold. I tried to talk to him but he wouldn’t have any of it. While Claire took Pickles and the children on the school run, I headed out to seek the advice of my friends. Because I had to put this right.

It was so cold outside, the wind was ruffling my fur as I made my way to our recreation space. I saw Nellie first, then Elvis and Rocky, but with them was Oliver, the Barkers’ rescue cat. I stopped a short distance away and took a breath. I knew I would meet him at some point but I hadn’t thought about that properly – not with everything going on. It looked as if the time was now. I braced myself and told myself that I could do this.

‘Alfie,’ Nellie said, coming up to me and giving me a nuzzle; as my friends greeted me they realised how hard this was for me. I was so grateful.

‘Hi, everyone,’ I said. Then I turned to the new cat. ‘Hi, Oliver, I’m Alfie, I’ve seen you at the window, but welcome to Edgar Road.’

‘Thanks, Alfie, I’ve heard all about you, from the Barkers as well as these guys.’ He was warm in his greeting and I immediately liked him. I couldn’t help but think of him in Tiger’s bed, or in her garden, but didn’t matter, not really.

‘Really? The Barkers talk about me?’

‘They told me about Tiger and how she had cat friends in the neighbourhood, and how you and George were her closest friends.’

‘That’s nice to hear,’ I said, a little choked with emotion. ‘So tell us about yourself?’ I was determined to make an effort. It’s what Tiger would have wanted.

‘I love food in jelly, especially fish. I like to play and my favourite toy is a padded fish which I keep with me, and I love nothing more than to curl up in a good box. I had a best friend, Copper, and I miss him a bit. It’s so nice to have friends here as I’ve been at the shelter a while. In fact, I couldn’t be happier to have arrived here on Edgar Road – especially at my age.’

‘How old are you, if you don’t mind me asking?’ I said.

‘I’m twelve years old, Alfie, still a few lives left in me yet.’

‘You’ve got plenty of friends here,’ I said. Oliver grinned. He’d fit right in, I was a very good judge of cat.

‘Where is George?’ Rocky asked. ‘I haven’t seen him in a while.’

‘Ah, well that’s something I could do with advice on.’

‘Oh is this still about his job?’ Elvis asked.

‘No, I actually found out about his job, but it went a bit wrong.’ I explained what happened.

‘Are you telling me that you, George and the puppy ended up at the hospital?’ Rocky sounded incredulous, I realised it did sound more than a little bizarre.

‘And you went on a bus?’ Nellie narrowed her eyes.

‘I’ve never been on a bus,’ Oliver said. ‘In all my days.’

‘Most cats haven’t,’ Elvis added. ‘Although I did go on a bus once with my owner a long time ago—’

‘Guys, I get this is a strange story but the fact is we all got home safely, I know that we got caught and Claire had to be called … Anyway, the thing is that George’s job is visiting Harold and his friends in hospital and now he’s furious with me because he can’t go anymore. He said I have made him lose his job.’

‘You have messed it up for him a bit,’ Nellie pointed out.

‘I know, I know, and I feel like the worst father in the world but I was worried about him. And actually, if you’d seen the journey and the risks he took, you wouldn’t be happy with him going either.’

‘And I guess it wasn’t exactly your fault that Pickles followed you,’ Rocky said.

‘But, now everyone’s mad at me and I need to put things right. But I need to put it right with George first.’

‘Alfie,’ Nellie said, gently. ‘He’s been through enough lately, not just losing Tiger but also with Harold in hospital.’ Her tone was gentle, but she was right.

‘I know, I’ve got an idea. How about you get him his job back,’ Oliver said.

‘That’s a lovely suggestion but how can I do that?’ I asked, feeling panicked. If only Tiger were here, I thought suddenly and with a pang, she always knew what to do. Or if she didn’t she would at least keep me calm. At the moment I was anything but calm.

‘Right, let’s think about this logically,’ Rocky suggested, putting a paw on me, he was doing his best, they all were and I was grateful for my friends. Remember, how lucky I am, I kept telling myself. I might be in the dog house right now but I was still lucky.

‘Have I got this right?’ Elvis said. ‘George’s job was visiting Harold in hospital?’ he said proudly.

‘Chip off the old block,’ I said.

‘Yes, Alfie, what would you do if you could do anything to put this right?’ Elvis said.

‘I would make it so George could visit Harold in hospital again,’ I said. ‘Like Oliver suggested.’

‘So that’s what you have to do,’ Nellie said.

‘But how? The humans will be so cross if he sneaks off again … Maybe I could get one of them to take George when they visit Harold.’

‘But I thought the hospital said that cats weren’t allowed?’ Oliver pointed out. He was a clever cat, I could see Nellie blushing a little when he spoke.

‘Maybe the hospital would change their mind if they saw how happy the patients are when he’s there? Now who would be the best person to take him?’ I started thinking carefully, running through all my humans in my head. Not Claire, she was too angry, Jonathan only went straight from work, as did Polly and Matt. Sylvie was unlikely to be convinced either … It only left Marcus, and he was a bit of a pushover – perfect.

‘OK, so how do I get Marcus to take George?’ I asked.

‘When you want a human to take you somewhere, you just follow them,’ Nellie reminded me.

‘Yes but that’s what got George into this mess in the first place – unless, Nellie, you’re a genius! If I get George to follow Marcus, but make it clear he’s following him, Marcus will have no choice but to take George with him. Of course that’s it!’

‘All in a day’s work for us, Alfie,’ Rocky said.

‘Now all you have to do is to sell the plan to George,’ Nellie pointed out.

‘That’ll be a breeze, well if I get him to listen to me long enough to tell him.’

‘Goodness me, you are an interesting bunch of cats,’ Oliver said. ‘I’ve barely been here for a minute and already it’s more exciting than my old life.’ He looked quite thrilled.

‘So, Oliver, how did you get to be in a shelter?’ I asked.

‘I was telling your friends earlier, my old family had a problem and couldn’t look after me anymore. I’m not sure exactly what happened but it was very sad.’

‘I’m sorry to hear that,’ I said, he needed good friends.

‘The shelter was very kind to us, and the staff were wonderful, they took good care of us. When the Barkers came in to adopt me, well, I felt like the luckiest cat in the world. I’m not young, or cute like a kitten but I am a nice cat.’

‘I can see that,’ I said, feeling emotional. ‘And I’m so happy that the Barkers have you now as well.’

‘Not so keen on you though, Alfie,’ Rocky joked.

‘No, I got chased out of their house a fair few times when I broke in to see Tiger,’ I said. I felt like I had a new friend, and a new plan to get back into my George’s good books. Life was looking up.

Now I just had to get George to agree to the plan, and before that I had to get him to get close enough to me so I could tell him the plan. Which wasn’t easy.

‘Go away,’ he hissed later that evening as I approached him.

‘George, I really need to talk to you, I need to put this right.’

‘Too late, I’m going out,’ he said and off he ran. I thought about following him but that was what got me into this mess in the first place. Hana might be able to relay my plan to George if he refused to listen to me? I crossed my paws that I would be able to make this plan work.