Alfie And George

Chapter Twelve

The first storm came not from my main families but from someone else I was very close to. Though all my families were a bit rocky, there was nothing that was an immediate concern to me. After the girls’ night, Claire and Jonathan had had a bit of a row, but that wasn’t anything new. When Jonathan went over to his house, Matt had been upset about his job loss, understandably, but Claire commented on how lucky they were that Polly had been offered something. Jonathan said she didn’t understand how unsettling it would be for Matt to have to slip into a housewife role and then Claire accused him of being sexist, which Jonathan quite happily admitted he was … It was just one of their usual annoying bickers. But it unsettled little George, who still had a long way to go before he understood.

‘I don’t understand why they shout,’ he said, his voice quivering.

‘Humans do that sometimes. It’s very complicated and it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other.’

‘But why?’

‘Well, sometimes people — and cats, for that matter — don’t agree.’

‘But why?’ he asked. And on and on he went, until I had to cover my ears with my paws, because I couldn’t hear ‘why’ one more time. Again, I knew how the human parents felt; Martha was going through a ‘why’ phase right now and Polly said it made her want to tear her hair out. Parenting this kitten was almost harder than taking care of my grown-up humans. But of course this cat had to do it all.

The next day, Claire and Jonathan had made up and were doing that yucky thing they do when they keep kissing and being soppy. Poor George looked at me, eyes full of confusion, and I wondered how on earth I was supposed to teach him about life when it made so little sense sometimes.

‘Yuck,’ Summer proclaimed, watching her dad kiss her mum as they made breakfast. ‘Yuck, yuck, yuck.’ Claire and Jonathan laughed but I had to agree with her — it was pretty embarrassing to see them put on such a public display!

George was stationed underneath Summer’s high chair, where he was enjoying licking off the yoghurt she kept dropping onto him. It was his new favourite thing to do. I was eating my breakfast, having ensured George had eaten enough of his by telling him he wouldn’t grow up as strong as me unless he did. I had heard many a human parent saying this so I knew it was true. But we were having lovely family time together and it made my heart swell with love, a feeling that had been lacking since the loss of Snowball. Don’t get me wrong, I still missed her when I had time, but I was also happily counting my blessings too.

The doorbell dinged, interrupted our lazy Saturday morning. Jonathan and Claire looked at each other, and Claire went to open the door. I gave George the ‘stay there’ look I had mastered and followed her.

‘Oh God.’ Claire and I stood back as she opened the door. Tasha, her best friend and one of mine too, stood on the doorstep, holding her son, Elijah, who was only a bit older than Summer. She was crying with such force, it suggested she might fall over.

‘Tash, come in,’ Claire said. She grabbed Elijah, almost dropping him; he was only a few months older than Summer but he was about two children heavier. She shouted for Jonathan, who came running, thrust Elijah at him and told him to take him into the kitchen with Summer. Jonathan looked shocked but didn’t argue as Claire led Tash into the living room with me at their heels, where Tash immediately collapsed onto the sofa.

‘Tash, darling, what on earth is it?’ Claire wrapped her arms around her friend as she sobbed. Not quite knowing what to do, I curled up next to her. At least she would know I was there for her.

Tasha and I had met when I started living with Claire on Edgar Road, a long time ago. I had loved her straight away. She was a good friend to Claire and had seen us both through some tough times. Claire and Tasha used to work together and had quickly become best friends. Now, with the children so close in age, they spent loads of time together and she remained one of my favourite humans. I didn’t go to her house, as it was too far away, but she was nevertheless part of my family.

‘It’s Dave, he’s gone!’

Dave was her partner. They had never married, and although he seemed an all right kind of bloke, he was allergic to cats, so we always had a bit of an issue between us. He used to take pills when he was around me but he still never touched me, so our relationship was far from close.

‘Gone? Gone where?’

‘He’s, he’s …’ She hiccupped.‘He’s left us. Moved out.’

‘What? Tash! What on earth?’ Claire took hold of her friend’s hands, looking as shocked as I felt. I might not have been Dave’s biggest fan but I thought they were solid in their relationship. Immediately, I felt a kinship with Tash — we both were suffering heartbreak, after all.

‘He said last night he couldn’t do this, this relationship with me. He said he loved Elijah but this wasn’t how he thought family life would be and he wasn’t cut out for it. I tried to ask him for reasons, he just kept saying that he didn’t love me anymore. I tried to talk him out of it, but he, he didn’t change his mind. I cried, I begged, I didn’t sleep all night and this morning he packed a few bags and went. What am I going to do?’

‘Oh, Tash, I can’t believe it.’ As Tash sobbed in Claire’s arms I came to the sad realisation that I had been right all along not to trust a man who was allergic to cats.

Claire was good in a crisis, a bit like myself. She mobilised the troops. She told Jonathan to look after the children while she took Tash into a different room. She ordered Jonathan to call Dave and try to get to the bottom of it, then she said that Tash and Elijah had to move in with us for now. She drove Tash home to get some of their belongings so they could stay for a few days at least. Basically she did exactly what I would have done, if I were a human. I had taught her well.

I felt sad for my lovely friend. Why did humans continue to hurt each other? It was something I didn’t understand. I knew how Tash felt, a little bit, having lost Snowball. But at least Snowball hadn’t abandoned me — she didn’t have a choice but to leave.

I knew I needed to be there for Tasha; I had to help her heal and let her know I understood how she felt. As I pondered how I would do that I heard George miaowing urgently from the kitchen. I had only taken my eyes off him for a second but I ran in to find him standing in my food bowl. In the crisis, Claire and Jonathan had obviously forgotten to put our food away as they usually did.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked, exasperated. He had flakes of tuna on his head.

‘I wanted to try your food, then I thought how much bigger your bowl was than mine, so I thought I’d see if it was bigger than me. I got in but I can’t get out again.’

‘George, if the humans find you they’ll be cross,’ I admonished as I helped him get out.‘Quick, clean yourself up before they get back.’ I supervised his clean-up and tried not to be annoyed that he had used up the rest of my breakfast with his experiment. After all, I had more important things than food on my mind right now.

‘Yum, I liked that,’ George said, licking his lips when he was clean again.

‘But that was my breakfast. You have special food because you’re little. Like Summer,’ I explained.

‘I’m going to get big now so I can eat like you,’ George declared before scampering off. I checked that there was definitely no food left — there wasn’t, George had either eaten what I had left or worn it — before chasing after him.

I found him running round in circles.

‘What are you doing?’ I asked, mildly amused.

‘I’m trying to catch my tail but it keeps running away from me.’

Oh, how I laughed as he determinedly ran round in circles. I didn’t have the heart to tell him he’d never catch it. In the midst of all the doom my kitten was cheering me up. He had this magical power and I wondered now if it was time for me to pass the baton. Should I train George up to help people the way I always did? It seemed like a good idea, and perhaps George could help me help Tash. I was already teaching George what I knew, so when it came to my families, and being a doorstep cat, George would be my apprentice. I grinned — what a nice thought that was.

I looked around the living room. Tash was lying on the sofa, cuddling Elijah, who was asleep. George was curled up at her feet, which was sweet. I had asked him to spend time with Tasha and, actually, when he did the chasing-his-tail thing she had laughed for the first time, so it had worked. My gorgeous kitten was a tonic for us all, it seemed.

Summer was napping in her bedroom, so I joined Claire and Jonathan in the kitchen, where they were talking quietly.

‘So he’s not going to change his mind?’ Claire asked.

‘No, the idiot’s met someone else. I suspected it already, so I tripped him up and he admitted it. Typical story, she’s younger, no kids and he probably thinks she’ll never make the demands of him that Tash does. Anyway, he was too cowardly to tell Tash. I’m afraid he’s moved on. He’s even talking about selling their place and splitting the money. It’s only been five minutes!’ Jonathan looked incredulous — angry and red faced. What made me most proud of Jonathan was how honourable he was as a person. He would never do that to Claire; I would put all the pilchards in the world on it.

‘Oh God, what are we going to tell Tash?’ Claire asked.

Jonathan shook his head. ‘He really doesn’t care that she’s in pieces. He just seems to ignore that he’s hurt her, and when I tried to talk about Elijah he said that plenty of kids grow up with parents who aren’t together. He doesn’t seem to think he’s done anything wrong. I wanted to punch him — it was lucky he was on the other end of the phone.’

Jonathan and Dave had never really been friends. They spent time together because of Tash and Claire but I heard Jonathan say he thought he was missing a few brain cells, and apparently he had committed an even worse crime than being allergic to cats: he supported Arsenal. Jonathan could never forgive that but I didn’t really understand why.

‘So what do we do?’ Claire was distraught. Jonathan held her.

‘Well, she can stay here as long as she needs to. I’ll tell Dave to get the rest of this stuff out of the house. And I know she might not be ready, but I’m going to get her a solicitor for when she is. He’s not going to do the right thing, so I’m going to take him on.’ Jonathan sounded pretty certain.

‘Oh, Jon, thanks, we have to help her. I can’t imagine how it must feel …’

‘Hey, you know I’d never leave you and Sum, don’t you?’ He looked at her as he spoke and, as I said before, I knew with certainty in my heart that, no matter what, he wouldn’t leave them. He was nothing like Dave.

‘I do, and I love you. But for now we need to get Tasha back in one piece. She did the same for me when I first moved here, and I didn’t have a child to think about like she does.’

‘Hey, baby, we’ll do whatever it takes to sort her out. Don’t worry.’

I nuzzled against both their legs. I was going to help too, of course.

‘Oh, Alfie, I forgot how much you love Tash too. Well, between us all we’ll get her back on her feet,’ Claire declared, sounding determined.

Satisfied, I miaowed and then went to the back door.

‘OK, Alfie, you can go out, but come to the windowsill when you want to come in,’ Claire said.

‘Miaow,’ I agreed.

I found Tiger under a bush in her front garden.

‘Hi, Tiger, what’s going on?’ I asked. It had been a couple of days since I’d last seen her, and I realised that I’d missed her. I was so used to seeing Tiger almost every day, I wondered if I took her for granted a bit.

‘Well, hello, stranger. I’d almost forgotten what you looked like.’

‘This not going out lark isn’t easy. Nor is having a kitten to take care of. I can’t wait for you to meet him though, he’s so cute.’

‘Oh, Alfie, you keep saying that, you proud father. Stroll?’

‘Yes, I’d love to. I haven’t had nearly enough exercise lately.’ We rubbed noses and set off. We hadn’t gone far when a big cat shadow loomed over us.

‘Great,’ I said.‘First time out in ages and we have to bump into him.’

‘Well, fancy seeing you two here,’ Salmon said, baring his teeth at us.

‘We do live here,’ Tiger replied, flicking her tail angrily.

‘Well, I’m patrolling to check everything is OK. Can’t be too careful you know.’

‘Right, Salmon, and what trouble have you happened upon?’ I said, humouring him. Salmon’s owners ran the local Neighbourhood Watch; they were real busybodies and Salmon was cut from the same cloth.

‘Well, like my owners have noted, number twenty have put so much rubbish in their garden that they’re attracting vermin. They’re holding a meeting about it, you know.’

‘Great, and what about the cat pictures, do you know anything about that yet?’

‘I do,’ Salmon replied. ‘But unfortunately it’s classified information.’

‘What? What on earth does that mean?’ Tiger asked.

‘I am not at liberty to discuss it with you.’

‘Which, once again, means you don’t know anything,’ I retorted.

‘I see your girlfriend left you,’ he said, unkindly.

‘She didn’t leave him, she moved away,’ Tiger hissed. She glared at Salmon in her most aggressive way. Tiger was my best friend and also my self-appointed bodyguard.

‘Yes, well, same difference,’ said Salmon, hissing back at us before walking off.

‘That cat does not get any nicer,’ I said, fuming.

‘But he’s not important. Look at him, he has no friends, and you have loads. Speaking of which, let’s go and find them.’

We made our way to a strip of grass surrounded by bushes at the end of Edgar Road, where our little cat community would sometimes converge. I was lucky: Elvis, Nellie and Rocky, three of my favourite cats, were hanging out there when we arrived. They all stood up to greet us.

‘Alfie, it’s been ages,’ Nellie said, yawning and raising her whiskers.‘Is there any news?’ Nellie loved drama.

‘I’m sure Tiger told you, I’ve been preoccupied with a kitten.’

‘I know, fancy you having a real kitten and not a human to worry about,’ said Rocky. He was an older cat, well-meaning but sometimes a tad interfering.

‘Oh, I still have plenty of humans to worry about, but the kitten can’t go out yet so I’m restricted as to what I can do at the moment,’ I explained.

‘How are you, Alfie?’ Elvis asked kindly. ‘You know, after Snowball leaving?’

‘I miss her, of course I do. You don’t just get over someone that quickly.’ I felt emotional as I thought of her beautiful white fur and blue eyes.‘But George, my kitten, he’s keeping me busy.’ I smiled sadly, tilting my head to one side.

‘Well, we’re all looking forward to meeting him when he’s allowed out,’ Nellie said. ‘But try to come here more often, now the weather’s nice. There are some new neighbourhood cats you should meet.’

‘Really?’ I hadn’t even noticed any new families. I had obviously been neglecting my doorstep cat duties with everything going on.

‘Oh, not new families, just new cats. Two, actually, and nice they are, as well. One is so pretty we think she’ll probably get a picture up there soon,’ Elvis said.

‘Elvis, do you really believe there’s some kind of cat beauty competition going on?’ I asked.

‘Can’t see why not,’ he replied.‘And as I said, I’m guessing at least one of the new cats will be entered soon.’ He sounded sure but it made no sense to me.

‘Have you met them?’ I asked Tiger.

‘Yes,’ she answered shortly, slowly blinking her eyes to indicate the subject was closed.‘Right, I want to sunbathe while it’s still hot.’ She found the best spot and lay down. I had time to stay for a little while, so I settled down, stretching out next to her, and enjoyed the feeling of the sun warming my fur. I thought about the new cats and how Tiger had been so keen to change the subject. She could be a funny one, I thought, but it would be nice to meet new cats, it was something else to look forward to. After all, I always say, you could never have too many friends.

As I left the others and walked back on my own, I saw some of the posters. I had seen four in total now. I looked at the pictures of the cats and had to admit that, yes, they were all nice looking cats. But still I was annoyed with myself — I knew somewhere deep down that I had the answer. As I reached the front door, I experienced a sudden flashback. My memory suddenly fell into place. When my families had thought I was missing, they’d put a picture of me on the lampposts (I wasn’t missing at all, I was ill at the vet, but that’s another story). Yes, I had figured it out. These cats were missing for some reason and their owners were trying to find out if anyone had seen them. Of course, it all made sense now. I remembered Aleksy showing me the picture he drew of me and telling me how he had put that up. That was what the lamppost cats were — missing cats! I would have to tell the other cats my discovery, but first I had to go and check on George.