Alfie And George

Chapter Twenty

‘Oh, Mama, look, George is playing with the sardine!’ little Tomasz exclaimed with joy. I had told George that food was not to be played with, but he loved how slippery it felt between his paws and he was chasing it around the kitchen — although of course it wasn’t alive — and pouncing on it. The boys thought it was hilarious. Aleksy was laughing so hard he couldn’t speak.

‘George, eat the fish, is not a toy,’ Franceska chastised, winking at me. She then grabbed it, chopped it up and put it back in his bowl. He obediently ate. We had arrived a little while ago, just after the boys had got back from school. They were excited, not only because we were staying with them but also because it was the start of the summer holidays. They were leaving next week for their holiday in Poland, which I felt sad about, but I didn’t want that to tarnish this weekend. I wanted us to have as much fun as possible.

We ate tea and then the boys put on a film, Star Wars, which I couldn’t quite figure out, but it was quite exuberant. There were lots of flashes of colour across the screen. George jumped up onto the TV stand and tried to chase the flashes before Aleksy moved him away.

‘You’ll be in trouble if you break it,’ he said, echoing my thoughts. George looked at me, and I tried to give him a stern look but he just smiled that adorable smile of his. I think he was enjoying his first holiday.

Just as the film finished, big Tomasz arrived home.

‘Ah, the cats, my boys, how lovely to come home to you all.’ He smiled broadly and kissed everyone, and then he kissed his wife.

‘Kochanie, I have bought some champagne home from the restaurant for us tonight.’

‘What are we celebrating?’ Franceska asked. Big Tomasz looked a bit sad, but didn’t say anything. It was yet another ‘not in front of the children’ moment.

‘Right, boys, bedtime,’ Franceska said.

‘Oh, Mum,’ Aleksy said. He sounded like an English boy now, although I knew big Tomasz and Franceska were teaching their sons Polish. ‘Can we stay up a bit, with Alfie and George?’ he begged.

‘Half an hour,’ she conceded. ‘Tomasz, I’ll put supper on, you spend time with the boys.’ I noticed that Franceska didn’t exactly sound happy, but I was distracted as Aleksy picked me up while both big and little Tomasz started playing ball with George. Aleksy carried me into his bedroom. As my first child friend, Aleksy and I had been through a lot together. I had been his first friend in England and I’d also helped him when he was being bullied at school a couple of years ago. He confided in me, and as he placed me on his bed I knew we were going to have a chat.

‘I’m worried, Alfie. Mum and Dad aren’t really speaking and now we’re going to Poland for the whole holiday without him. I’m going to miss you, and home, but I’m going to miss Dad the most.’ He looked sad as he stroked me. I snuggled into him and purred my understanding.

‘I’m worried we won’t come home. I mean, Mum said we will when I asked her, but what if we don’t? Or what if our parents split up like Elijah’s and my school friend Justin’s did? I love Mum and Dad, and I get we don’t see enough of Dad at the moment because he’s too busy but they have to fix it.’ He thumped his hand down on his bed and looked so sad. I really felt for him. Aleksy was ten but very sensitive and mature, I thought, a little like me. I tickled him with my tail, which normally made him laugh and then I put my paw up in a high five.‘You’ll make sure that they’re OK, won’t you, Alfie?’

‘Miaow.’ Of course I would. I had no idea how, but I would. I was giving Aleksy my cat promise.

‘I’m excited to go to Poland. I don’t really remember much about it and Tommy has no memory at all. We’ll get to see family and Mum says it’ll be really cool but I want to come home to both my parents, Alfie. I’m relying on you.’

‘Miaow.’ Oh goodness, I had just been given even more responsibility.

After the boys had gone to bed, Tomasz let us out the back. He and Franceska were speaking to each other using only one word at a time, which I knew wasn’t good, and he was going back to the restaurant downstairs to quickly check everything was fine. He promised Franceska he wouldn’t be long, but she just grunted in response.

‘It’s dark,’ George said as he tentatively stepped into the yard.‘Yowl!’ he shrieked.‘What was that?’

‘Your shadow, George. Don’t worry, I’m here.’ I felt brave. After all, I’d been in this yard loads of times, and yes, it was a bit scary, and there were some nasty creatures around, but Dustbin would be here somewhere and he’d take care of us.

‘Yowl!’ he shrieked again. ‘What’s that?’ A figure loomed towards us.

‘George, that’s my friend, Dustbin.’ Dustbin emerged from behind a bin, licking his whiskers.

‘Nice surprise, Alfie.’ He looked at George. ‘And who’s this?’

‘This is George, he’s my kitten.’

‘I heard the boys talking about someone called George when they were down here the other day. I didn’t know you were a kitten. Nice to meet you, George.’ Dustbin’s voice softened as he spoke; even he wasn’t immune to George’s charm.

‘We aren’t allowed out for very long,’ I explained.‘But it’s safe, isn’t it?’

‘Don’t worry, Alfie, I won’t let anything happen to your lad. Will you come to see me tomorrow?’

‘Yes, I’ll miaow to be let out after breakfast and we can have a proper catch up.’

‘Looking forward to it, and getting to know the little lad a bit better too!’

Big Tomasz came out again, leaving a big plate of food for Dustbin, before taking us back upstairs. I noticed George was still shaking.

‘It’s OK, Dustbin is really nice,’ I said.

‘I know but it was so dark and it smelled funny in the yard. Dustbin smelled funny too.’ I couldn’t argue with that. He was a little fragrant, but he had a heart of gold.

George and I settled down in my bed in the living room as Tomasz and Franceska drank the champagne that Tomasz had brought from the restaurant, but neither of them looked as if they were enjoying it. They barely said a word, until finally they both started speaking really quickly in Polish, which meant that I couldn’t understand what they were saying. They didn’t sound very happy, I had to admit. I went to sleep worrying about them and feeling bad for Aleksy. And for myself — after all, I had promised to fix it.

The following morning, the sun was shining brightly as George and I waited to go out into the yard. In the daylight, George felt more confident, and ran straight up to Dustbin.

‘MIAOW!’ he screamed, as Dustbin, taken by surprise, dropped what he had in his mouth. It was a very fat mouse, or perhaps even a rat. George jumped back, the rodent jumped towards him, and before I knew what to do, Dustbin had grabbed it and flung it out of the way.

‘Oh dear, that was a bit close,’ Dustbin said as I went to comfort George.

‘What was that?’ George asked, wide-eyed.

‘It was a small rat, not very nice, but my job is to keep them away from the restaurant.’

‘But what do they do?’ George said.

‘Good question. All they seem to do is eat rubbish and spread disease.’

‘Are they worse than dogs then?’ George asked.

‘Not exactly, but as bad as.’ Dustbin was very patient with him; it was gratifying to see.

‘But you know what, Dustbin, Dad, I wanted to leap on it, I had this feeling inside me.’

‘That’s your cat instinct,’ Dustbin explained.‘Cats are natural hunters, it’s in your nature and that’s why you felt that urge to do that.’

‘Dad, do you hunt too?’ asked George.

Dustbin exchanged a look with me.

‘Well, George, I’m not so keen on hunting. There was a point in my life when I had to, and I’ll tell you all about that later, but now, well, I try not to get involved.’ I saw Dustbin smirk but he didn’t contradict me.

‘But I can do it?’ he asked.

‘Look, George, come with me and I’ll give you a lesson. But honestly, I do this as a job, it’s not something you domestic cats need to worry about too much.’

‘Thank you! Can I, Dad?’ he asked, looking at me hopefully.

‘Of course, George.’ I sat back on the doorstep as I watched my boy go hunting with Dustbin. And I have to admit he was already much better at it than me. My boy, a total natural.

‘So, Alfie,’ Dustbin said, when we were all sitting in the sun by the restaurant back step.‘How’s your broken heart?’

‘Oh, well, now you come to mention it, it’s still a bit sore.’ I gestured to George.‘He keeps me busy, which may have been Claire’s idea, but there are moments when I feel pangs of loss. I still wonder what Snowball’s doing …’ I looked wistfully at the sky, although I wasn’t sure why.

‘You know, I thought about it after you left last time,’ Dustbin said.‘It’s as if you give a bit of your heart to everyone you love, and sometimes they stay around and sometimes they don’t. The point is, Alfie, that you have a very big heart, with enough pieces for everyone.’ I felt emotional as he said this, thinking of those I’d loved who had taken pieces of my heart with them: Margaret, Agnes and Snowball. I knew Dustbin was right.

‘For such a feral cat you’re very wise,’ I said, touched and full of love for him.

‘That’s what friends are for.’

‘But I don’t understand,’ George said, looking bewildered at both of us.

‘You’re far too young,’ we both said at the same time.

We had a lovely time with Dustbin and I filled him in on the lamppost cats. I did it while George was distracted, as I didn’t like talking about them in front of him. I didn’t want to scare him.

‘Interesting,’ Dustbin said after a while. ‘I wonder what’s going on? They can’t all have decided to leave home.’

‘That’s what I think. My humans have been all preoccupying me as usual with their own problems, but this is beginning to make me worry. What if the worst is right and there’s some kind of threat to all the cats in the neighbourhood? No one from Edgar Road has gone missing, but still, it seems a bit close to home to be comfortable.’

‘Look, Alfie, I can ask around.’ Dustbin had this amazing network of cats who generally knew or could find out anything; they had helped me in the past.

‘I’d be really grateful if you could.’ I still wasn’t sure what the lamppost cat issue really was, or if I should be worried about it, but having Dustbin dig around for me wouldn’t hurt at all.

When we went back inside, big Tomasz took the boys out for lunch so Franceska could pack. George and I followed her into her room where there were two suitcases on the bed, one big and one small.

‘So much easier to pack for the boys than for me,’ she sighed as she started putting clothes into the bigger case.

‘Miaow,’ I said, staying close to her. I followed her to her wardrobe and then, when she had an armful of clothes, back to the bed.

‘Where’s George?’ she asked. I looked around; he was nowhere to be seen. Oh no, not hide and seek again. I started looking round the room as Franceska put the clothes in the suitcase. Suddenly they all flew up in the air.

‘Ahhh!’ Franceska screamed as George jumped out from the suitcase. ‘You gave me such a fright!’ Then she started laughing. George purred with joy, and I felt relieved he was all right, although he’d made a mess. After that, he kept climbing into the suitcase as if it was a new game. In the end, Franceska shut us both in the living room, saying if she let us stay she’d never get packed before the boys got back. I told George off; although of course he had just been playing, I had hoped to spend some time with Franceska.

‘Right, I’m done,’ she said a while later, coming into the living room, closing the door behind her, and flopping down on the sofa. ‘Having a kitten is like having a baby, you can’t take any chances,’ she said. I purred in agreement as I jumped onto her lap. ‘I’ll miss you, Alfie. I know it’s only for a few weeks but it will be the longest I haven’t seen you since we met,’ she said, stroking my fur and scratching my head — which I loved. I snuggled further into her lap, hoping she would miss her husband too.‘I’ll miss Tomasz of course,’ she said, as though reading my mind.‘But he works so much, I hardly ever see him anyway. I tell him he needs to spend more time with his family. The boys, they grow up so fast.’ I miaowed: yes, they did, all the children did, even George seemed to be growing at an alarming rate. I often found myself asking where my tiny kitten had gone.‘I guess we’ll be back before you know it but, just in case we don’t get time alone again this weekend, take care and be good.’ Franceska kissed my head. She often talked to me a lot when it was just the two of us. I liked to think I was one of her best friends — I almost had too many to count.

‘Mama, Mama, look what we got, a Happy Meal!’ little Tomasz ran into the living room carrying a box.‘It has a toy in it!’

‘You took them to McDonald’s?’ Franceska asked, sounding surprised.

‘Mum, we begged Dad to take us, we never get to go and all our friends do,’ Aleksy said. He looked worried — being such a sensitive child, he didn’t like arguments.

‘It’s fine, your dad is soft. It’s not good for you, but it won’t hurt. Tomasz, I guess it was a special treat.’

‘It was, kochanie, and I would have taken them wherever they wanted to go. I’m going to miss you all, you know.’ He sounded a bit down.

‘I know, and we’ll miss you too.’ Franceska sounded warmer towards her husband than she had done in a while. I wondered if she meant it or if it was for the boys’ sake.‘But later we eat healthy food, no more junk,’ she smiled.

‘Pizza?’ little Tomasz asked.

‘I said healthy,’ Franceska laughed.

‘Pizza with vegetables on it?’ Aleksy suggested, and everyone laughed.

The rest of our weekend whizzed by. Aleksy and little Tomasz made an assault course for George, which he loved. It had tunnels, jumps, balls and toy cars, and George enjoyed being the centre of attention — which he usually was anyway — as they timed him going round it. It wasn’t without incident: at one point he got stuck in one of the tunnels, which was made out of cardboard and a bit small. But after much pushing, prodding and coaxing, he was freed at last, no worse off for his experience. Franceska was in a better mood too, and Tomasz stayed with us, which seemed to prove to me that he didn’t need to be in the restaurant all the time.

As we said goodbye later that evening, I was sad. I would miss them all, including Dustbin, who had really helped me yet again. It was good to know he was going to try to get to the bottom of the lamppost cat mystery. Aleksy, of course, I would miss so much, but little Tomasz and Franceska too. When they all went to Poland they would each take a piece of my heart with them. I just hoped — really, truly hoped — that they would return with their pieces before too long.