Alfie And George

Chapter Twenty-two

Franceska had gone and Tomasz had been round to have a beer with Jonathan and see us. He seemed very lost without her. Matt was no closer to getting a job and he was feeling useless. Polly was settling into a routine now; she was juggling the job and the children quite well, I thought, but she still didn’t talk to Matt properly about work because she was afraid how he would react. Claire and Jonathan had had lots of meetings with a social worker and were told that they would hear if they were approved for adoption soon. This seemed to create an even bigger gulf between them and they were still very distant with each other. I heard all of this, and yet I still had no idea what to do.

Tonight, Tash was coming over for dinner with all of them and one of Jonathan’s friends or colleagues I hadn’t met, and I was hoping the dinner might give me some inspiration. When little George kept asking if things were going to get better, I kept fobbing him off, saying that soon they would and that I was working on it. But really I had no idea.

‘Tiger, this is different,’ I said.

‘It’s always different, Alfie. Remember what you’ve done so far — you’ve been in more scrapes than I can count, from getting yourself stuck up trees to almost being killed. Don’t you think that now, with George to think about, you’d be better off keeping out of it and letting the humans sort themselves out?’ Tiger made a good point but she wasn’t going to deter me. That wasn’t the sort of cat I was.

‘The reason I’m doing this is for George. Well, for him and all the children. The adults need to see what they’re in danger of losing. It seems to be only when I put myself in danger that I manage to bring people together, you know that.’

‘Yes, but what are you going to do this time? Set fire to yourself? There’s only so much danger you can get away with and I think you’ve probably reached your limit.’ Tiger looked stern.

She had a point. I had been through a lot in my life and perhaps there wasn’t much more I could do. How many more of my nine lives could I afford to lose? I might have to come up with a less dangerous way of fixing things.

‘OK, look, I know you’re right, so I’ll give it some time, and maybe, just maybe, they’ll all sort themselves out. But if they don’t … then we’ll have to come up with a plan.’

‘Deal,’ Tiger said. ‘But what about the missing cats?’ She knew me too well.

‘I’ve asked Dustbin to ask around about them. I’m still hoping it’s just something weird rather than something serious. But all we can do on that one is wait and see.’

‘Mew, mew, mew.’ I looked up to see George clinging to a branch by his front paws.

‘I tried to catch a bird,’ he said,‘but now I’m going to fall.’

Oh my goodness, my poor little boy. ‘Just stay where you are, George, I’m coming,’ I shouted, starting to panic. Tiger shot me a look.

‘It’s OK,’ she said calmly,‘George, you can jump from there. Look it’s grass here, and if you let go, you’ll land on your legs.’ George looked at us uncertainly and I realised that, actually, Tiger was right — he wasn’t far from the ground. I must learn not to panic so much.

‘Tiger’s right, George, you’ll be fine and we’re right here.’ Eventually George let go and landed on all fours.

‘Wow, that was fun, can I do it again?’ he asked, giggling.

‘Another day,’ Tiger and I said in unison. I smiled at her and she grinned back; we were getting good at this parenting lark, I thought, as a flash of affection for Tiger flooded me. But I couldn’t think about that, I had bigger fish to fry.

Talking of fish, a little while later, George and I made our way home to eat our supper of sardines. I told him to make sure he bathed thoroughly: we had company coming so we both needed to look our best. Claire looked very pretty as she started to cook the food that she’d prepared earlier in the day. She was wearing a dress and high heels and her hair was swept back off her face. She had put on some make-up but still looked natural. She hummed to herself while she worked. I heard Jonathan upstairs. He was bathing Summer and getting her ready for bed, and seemed in a slightly better mood as he laughed with his daughter. We heard splashes and shrieks of joy coming from her. I was always excited when we had friends coming round. Being a sociable cat, I enjoyed people, and I also guessed that no one would argue tonight, because they tended not to in public. So we were in for a nice, harmonious evening with friends and I for one felt it was just what the vet ordered.

Tash arrived first. She was wearing jeans, a sparkly top and heels. George jumped up at her, and she scooped him into her arms after handing a bottle of wine to Claire.

‘Easy, George,’ she said, smiling. He was mesmerised by her top. It was like lots of tiny mirrors and I knew he was trying hard to look at his reflection in it! She petted him before carefully putting him down and accepting a glass of wine from Claire.

‘Are you OK?’

‘I’m nervous. Not only because of tonight and you trying to set me up with some bloke I’ve never met, but because Elijah’s with him.’

‘I know, honey, but he’s also with Dave’s mum.’ The stipulation to an overnight visit had been that it had to be at his mum’s house, because Tash seemed to think that Dave would expose Elijah to danger if his mum wasn’t there. I didn’t know much about it but the situation seemed to be good for Dave’s mum, who adored her only grandchild.

‘I know, thank God for Pat. Poor woman feels so guilty on her son’s behalf but I keep telling her that it’s important she feels she can see Elijah whenever she wants. Anyway, I need to stop being so silly about it.’

‘And as for tonight, it’s just dinner with friends. Yes, there happens to be a single man you’ve never met coming but what’s the worst that can happen?’

‘I get drunk and make a fool of myself?’

‘Tash, you don’t do that, it’s more likely to be me, now sit down and relax.’

I went to sit on Tash’s lap, and as she stroked me I could feel her calming down. I purred ‘you’re welcome’ to her as she smiled at me. Jonathan entered the kitchen. He looked very handsome in his jeans and a clean, pressed shirt.

‘Hi, Tasha,’ he said, kissing her cheek. He then kissed Claire before grabbing a beer from the fridge and hovering. ‘Can I do anything, darling?’ he asked.

‘No, it’s all under control.’ And it was, but then Claire was pretty organised when it came to things like this. The table was set with candles and cutlery, but it wasn’t too cluttered; wine glasses gleamed and the food smelled delicious, although I could tell there was no fish.

‘So, tell me about this guy,’ Tash said.‘I know I’m supposedly not being set up, but I certainly feel like I am!’

‘Tash, you are being set up, my beautiful wife knows what she’s doing!’ Jonathan laughed. I saw Claire smile, which was rare lately, but tonight was a great example of how united they could actually be. ‘Anyway, Max is forty-four, divorced, one child who’s at university — so he started young by the way — and he was married for twenty years. No big drama, he and his wife just drifted apart apparently.’

‘And he works with you?’

‘Yes, he trades the same stocks as me. Good job, nice guy and actually quite fun, although he does like to play golf but I try not to hold that against him.’ I didn’t know what golf was but Jonathan was a strictly football guy, and whether he watched it at home or in the pub it always involved beer. Maybe golf was like that?

‘He sounds great, but I’m just not sure how I feel about dating again, it might be too soon,’ Tash said.

‘Oh, nonsense,’ Claire cut in.‘I’m not saying marry the guy, but it doesn’t hurt to meet new people and maybe even have the odd date. After all, a girl’s got to eat.’

‘Anyway, aren’t you ladies forgetting something? Tash might not fancy him,’ Jonathan teased.

‘Oh, she will, he’s really good-looking,’ Claire said. Jonathan shot her a look of mock hurt.

George was grinning as I joined him on a soft chair in the corner of the dining area. I knew what he was thinking, that it was lovely to see everyone laughing and relaxed for once. We were interrupted by the doorbell, and as George and I settled down to watch the evening’s events unfold, I began to feel positive. Maybe Tiger was right and everything would sort itself out after all?

Well, Claire turned out to be right. Max was very good-looking: he was tall, with greying hair, and he had a lovely smile. I immediately liked him as he made a huge fuss of both me and George. I could see that Tash was quite taken with him too, she kept blushing and twiddling with her hair. Polly and Matt were on good form, and were even being affectionate to each other. They were usually the most touchy-feely of my couples, always holding hands or hugging or doing that kissing that you see in films, but lately they hadn’t been doing that so much. So to see them back to their old selves was heart-warming. They weren’t doing film kissing but Polly kept putting her hand on Matt’s arm and he had his hand on her leg when he wasn’t holding a fork. There was more laughter and fun than we’d had in a long time and I think, for George, ever in the time he’d lived with us.

I couldn’t help marvelling that even though he’d only been with us for such a short time, I almost couldn’t remember life without him. I hadn’t forgotten my time with Snowball, but it was as if George belonged in my life more than anyone or anything else ever had. The time before him felt like it had happened to a different cat. Did that sound crazy?

‘So, Claire, we have to go to this dinner with my bosses next week, can you babysit?’ Polly asked.

‘Sure, what night? I’d be happy to if Jon can stay home.’

‘Thursday.’

‘No problem,’ Jonathan said.

‘It’ll be funny, Polly often had to endure dinners when I was working, but now I’m the spouse who has to charm her bosses. Not sure I’ll be as good at it as she was,’ Matt said, but he didn’t sound bitter.

‘They’ll love you, but I agree it will be odd. Gosh, over the years I’ve been to so many of these corporate dinners with you.’

‘I know, and you’ve always dazzled. Never mind, I’ll just have to do my best,’ said Matt, kissing her cheek.

‘Well, you are charming all the school mums I used to hang out with,’ Polly teased.

‘Charming?’ Matt replied, ‘I spend most of my time running the gauntlet so I don’t get cornered by them. Not only are they scary but they keep wanting me to join them for skinny lattes and Pilates.’ Matt laughed and everyone else joined in.

‘What do you do, Matt?’ Max asked. I held my breath.

‘At the moment, nothing. Well not nothing, I’m a househusband. I worked for a digital design agency, which went belly-up. And despite numerous applications there aren’t any posts senior enough for me at the moment.’

‘Oh God, you’ll have to take up Pilates, mate,’ Jonathan teased.

George had fallen asleep beside me, but I was concentrating on the conversation. It seemed that Max’s brother co-owned a company like the one Matt used to work for, and Matt had heard of it. And although Max didn’t know if he had any vacancies, he said he’d be happy to ask. Matt seemed very pleased and I thought about what a small world it could be. As Tash flirted, Claire and Jonathan looked happy and Matt and Polly were affectionate; I wondered if they would sort everything out without my help. For once. With that lovely thought swimming around my head, I fell asleep.

I woke as Tash and Polly came to say goodbye to us. George didn’t stir, but I decided to follow them out, just to make sure that everything was all right. I don’t think anyone noticed as I went out the front door, they were all so effervescent and excited. As I stood by our gate, I saw Matt and Polly head off in one direction holding hands, which made me feel warm in my fur. Then Max offered to walk Tash home before getting into the taxi that was waiting for him. I hung back slightly as Max spoke to the driver and then he and Tash set off the short walk to her flat, the opposite way to Matt and Polly.

‘I know things are raw but I had fun tonight. So if you fancy going to dinner sometime …’ I heard Max say. I decided I really liked him: not only was he handsome, he was kind.

‘I would like that,’ Tash said. She could barely keep the smile from her face and she looked so pretty in the moonlight. Max stopped and pulled out his phone as Tash gave him her number. Satisfied, I made my way home.

I went to jump through the cat flap.

‘Yowl!’ I flew backwards. Yet again, I had forgotten that the cat flap was still locked at night. When would I learn? I panicked slightly; what if I was locked out for the night? What if George woke and I wasn’t there? I jumped on to the kitchen windowsill and was relieved to find myself looking at Jonathan. He was holding a glass and seemed to be staring at the sink.

‘Miaow!’ I shouted as loudly as I could, tapping the glass with my sore head.

‘What the?’ Jonathan jumped and dropped the glass. I ran to the back door. ‘You gave me the fright of my life, Alfie!’ Jonathan shouted. I walked past, giving him my sternest look. Take away your freedom and then see how you feel, I wanted to say, but of course I couldn’t, being a cat.