Alfie And George

Chapter Twenty-eight

I was yet again facing a sleepless night. I was so worried about tomorrow. George slept soundly at least, which was good. Despite the lack of danger involved in this plan, I was still worried that George would be spending his first night away from me, and although he’d be with Tiger — she had promised to sleep in the shed overnight with him — I wouldn’t feel comfortable without him. I knew that I would feel as if something was missing, being apart from him. But at least I would be busy. I would have to rally all my families to look for George and make sure they bonded over it. I did have quite a big part to play in the plan — the biggest, in fact. All George and Tiger had to do was lay low, I actually had to mobilise the humans and somehow ensure that they actually came together over this, rather than falling apart. I had to admit that I was a ball of nerves: from the tips of my claws to the ends of my whiskers, I felt like jelly.

Oh, life was so hard and so complicated. It was a lot to cope with. Not just for me either. As I watched my kitten sleeping, I hoped that I could protect him from the worst that life had to offer, but failing that, I hoped that I could at least equip him to deal with it. Being a parent was just so fretful, and I didn’t think that I would ever stop fretting about George.

I must have drifted off, because I woke with George tickling my nose with his whiskers.

‘Dad, it’s the day!’ he squealed.

‘Shush,’ I said. ‘Let’s not draw too much attention to ourselves. We need to go before the others wake up.’

George was an early riser, waking at dawn most days, so our plan was that we would leave the house, I’d deliver him to Tiger and then come back to bed. I’d pretend to be asleep and when everyone else woke up they would find me alone in the bed. I could make lots of noise to show them I was worried and then our search would begin. Part one of the plan was simple.

I made George drink some water before we left. There was no food as Claire still didn’t leave food down for us overnight, but hopefully Tiger would get him into her house for breakfast. We then left, as quietly as we could. I walked George to Tiger’s house and we stood by her back door. I pushed the cat flap to let Tiger know we were there.

‘Good luck, my little boy,’ I said, feeling affectionate, emotional and a little bit terrified all at once.

‘Thanks, Dad, and don’t leave me too long.’

I nuzzled up to him.‘I won’t, but you know Tiger will be there for you. There’s nothing to worry about. But, George, listen, it’s important that you do what you’re told. Do you understand?’

‘Yes.’ He looked serious. I hoped Tiger had woken up. She had said she would get up when the birds started singing. After a short while, she appeared.

‘Here we are,’ I said, shaking.

‘It’s OK, Alfie, it’ll be fine, and I’ll take it from here. Right, George, wait there, I have to go and make sure the coast is clear — my family are early risers — and then I’ll come back and sneak you in for breakfast. I’ll be really quick,’ Tiger said.

‘Do you understand, George?’ I asked. He looked a bit like he hadn’t been listening as he stared at the emerging sun and then a bird flying overhead. Tiger disappeared round the back of her house.

‘Yes, of course. Wait. Breakfast.’

‘Right, I have to go. Remember, do whatever Tiger says.’ I touched my nose to his and then, before I got more emotional, I left to go home. George would wait, Tiger would be right out and then the plan would begin to unfurl.

‘I’ll listen to Tiger-Mum,’ were his parting words for me. I felt so proud.

I rushed home and luckily made it back to my bed before anyone in the house woke up. Because I was so tired, before I knew it I’d actually fallen asleep.

‘Where’s George?’ I woke up to see Claire and Summer standing over my basket. I looked around and then yawned.

‘Miaow?’ I said.

‘Jon, Jon,’ I heard Claire shout. She then went into the bedroom. A sleeping Jonathan emerged.

‘Alfie, is George downstairs?’ he asked me, rubbing his eyes.

‘MIAOW!’ I don’t know, I tried to tell them.

‘Oh God.’ Claire practically flew downstairs and Jonathan picked Summer up and followed her. I went after them. Of course, after looking everywhere we didn’t find him.

‘I told you it was too soon to leave the cat flap open at night,’ Claire snapped.

‘Um, Claire, everyone said it was OK and anyway, Alfie nearly got locked out the other night. I mean, you can’t keep them in forever.’

‘Oh, Alfie, why did you let him out of your sight!’ Claire stormed back upstairs to check again.

So at the moment she was blaming Jonathan and me — a bit unfair, but it was early days and it was early in the morning. Neither of them had had coffee and that said a lot. I normally avoided them in this state.

I stood by the back door and made a lot of noise. While Jonathan strapped Summer into her highchair, made coffee and gave Summer a drink of milk, Claire could be heard slamming doors upstairs.

‘He’s definitely not up there,’ Claire said, coming back into the kitchen. ‘Jonathan, where on earth is he? He’s never out without Alfie and he’s always here first thing in the morning.’ She had searched the whole house by now and of course found nothing.

‘Look, darling.’ Jonathan gave her a hug.‘You sort Summer out and I’ll throw on my tracksuit and go out and look.’

‘Can you get Matt to help you?’ Claire asked.

‘Of course, don’t worry.’ He kissed her and I felt a little tiny moment of triumph. See, it was working already.

I went out with Jonathan, and followed him to Matt’s house. Luckily they were already up and dressed and Matt came straight out when he heard what had happened.

‘Oh God,’ Polly said as she came to the front door.‘Let me know what I can do. I’d go to yours, Jon, but then George might come here, so maybe I should stay?’

‘Babe, I think you should stay put. I’ve got my mobile so we’ll keep in touch.’ Matt kissed Polly and she hugged him tightly.‘I’m sure he’s fine, you know what kittens are like, they get into all sorts of trouble.’

As the guys decided to go and check the street, I followed them. But I heard a hiss by Tiger’s front gate and I turned to see her, trying to get my attention. I waited until the men were at a safe distance.

‘Tiger, it’s working already!’ I exclaimed.

‘But where’s George?’ Tiger asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, I told you I’d check the coast was clear at home, but when I came back out, George was gone. I looked everywhere and couldn’t find him, so I assumed there’d been a change of plan and he was with you.’ Tiger sounded slightly panicked.

‘You mean he’s not with you?’ I felt fear bubble up in the pit of my stomach.

‘No, he wasn’t there when I came out of the house, nowhere to be seen. So I assumed he was still with you and the plan had somehow changed! I was literally gone for a flap of a butterfly wing!’

‘Oh God, Tiger, no. I left him on the doorstep so I could get home before everyone woke up, and that was the last I saw of him. I thought he was with you! I told him to wait and he said he understood.’ Now I sounded hysterical.

‘Right, OK, let’s stay calm. He’s definitely not in my house, so shall we check yours?’

‘We can pop back there but Claire’s there and she checked everywhere.’ I was finding it hard to catch my breath.‘When I got home, I went straight to bed. I dropped off, but it wasn’t for long, and that’s all I can tell you.’

‘So George really is missing?’

‘Oh no, my boy is missing!’ It dawned on me. ‘Jonathan and Matt are looking for him and now we’re going to have to really look for him.’ I felt terrified; I couldn’t quite comprehend what had happened.

‘Oh no, Alfie, this plan has gone wrong before it’s even started.’

‘And I never even saw it coming.’

As we quickly ran to my house to see if he’d gone home, I felt increasingly worried — but also a bit angry with George. I had explicitly told him to wait for Tiger, he had only been left alone for a matter of minutes, and he knew not to go off. But I was angrier with myself. I should have waited with him, or told Tiger to risk taking him into her house. We had specifically chosen the back of the house in case there was a lamppost cat snatcher — after all, they wouldn’t have known George was there would they? Unless they’d been watching us. No, it couldn’t be that, that made no sense.

Oh goodness, all he’d had to do was stand there, why couldn’t he have done that? Where could he be? I felt as if my mind was running round in those circles George was so fond of. Oh, little George. I tried to breathe calmly, despite feeling as though my life was spiralling out of control. I wanted my boy back!

He wasn’t back at ours and I heard Claire on the phone to Tash. She sounded as upset as me. The plan was so simple, but it had fallen apart from the moment it started and I only had myself to blame.

‘Alfie,’ Tiger said, as we checked every inch of our back garden. ‘Beating yourself up really isn’t helpful. We need to think about this. Let’s round up all the cats and get them to spread out. We need to check his favourite places.’

‘He’s not at our house, if he was at Polly’s we’d know and Tash is looking out for him. So the park, or the end of the street? But then if he goes there the other cats will see him …’ I couldn’t think of anywhere else.

‘Right, I think you need to stay central and also keep an eye on the humans, and I’ll keep checking my house, because he might remember he’s supposed to be there. How does that sound?’

‘I have no better ideas. I wish I did.’ I felt like lying down and yowling but then that wouldn’t find my boy, would it?

‘Look, come with me to find the others and you can help me organise them. Oh, Alfie, we have to find him, where on earth could he have gone? Why did I take my eyes off him?’ Tiger seemed to feel the same as me.

‘I just don’t know where he’d have gone. And, Tiger, it’s not your fault — you had to check the coast was clear. I mean, I know I keep saying it, but he was supposed to sit on the step and wait for you! Why didn’t he do that? I was sure he understood.’

‘I didn’t take long, Alfie, I promise I just ran in, checked downstairs and was out again.’

‘I know. I mean it, Tiger, it’s not your fault. I should have waited with him.’

‘But then you might not have been home before your family woke up and that was a crucial part of the plan.’

‘OK, let’s stop going round in circles and just find him then.’ I turned to run off and saw Dustbin appear. I’d never been so pleased to see him.

‘Oh, thank goodness you’re here. George is missing,’ I said.

‘What? Not the lad?’

‘Yes.’ I explained the plan to Dustbin.‘It was still dark when I left him in Tiger’s back garden. Oh, what have we done? What if I’ve lost him for good?’ I yowled.

‘Right, Mr B is on the case, honestly he’s the best cat in the business. I’ll go to him right now and tell him of this latest development. Don’t worry, Alfie, if I’ve got anything to do with it, he’ll be found safe and well.’ I tried but failed to feel reassured.

Rocky was the first cat we saw. He went to get Elvis, who went to find Nellie, who rounded up Tinkerbell, and we all met at the end of the street. I outlined the situation.

‘So you want us to pretend to find him?’ Nellie said. Honestly!

‘No, contrary to our plan he is actually missing.’

‘Oh my word, the gorgeous little baby is actually missing?’ Nellie started yowling and Elvis had to calm her down. Although I could see all my friends had panic in their eyes.

Once roles had been allocated, Tiger headed back to hers. I went with her to check but there was still no sign of George. I felt as if I had a paw missing, I missed him so much. I hoped he wasn’t scared or in danger.

I went back home and slipped through the cat flap.

‘Have you found him?’ Claire, who was still not dressed, rushed up to me. I just looked at her, my eyes full of sorrow. She picked me up.‘Don’t worry, Jon and Matt will find him. Oh, Alfie, I’m sorry I shouted at you.’ She hugged me close before putting me down. I purred sadly. The doorbell went and Claire opened it to Tash.

‘Where’s Elijah?’ Claire asked.

‘With Granny today. She picked him up really early, so it means I can help. What should I do?’

‘No sign of him on the way here?’ Claire asked without hope.

‘No, I looked the whole way, on both sides of the road. I read somewhere kittens like to hide though, so he could just be hiding.’

We had checked all the usual places more than once, so I knew that he wasn’t hiding.

‘Has Summer had her breakfast?’ Tash asked.

‘NO!’ Summer shouted. Tash grinned.

‘Claire, go and get dressed and I’ll make Summer some toast.’

‘Oh, thank you, Tash.’ Claire had tears glistening in her eyes as she made her way upstairs.

By lunchtime everyone was in our kitchen. Claire, Jonathan, Polly and Matt sat at the table. Tash had set up a sort of playgroup in the living room for the children. The doorbell went again and I hoped it was someone with George, but we opened it to find Tomasz standing there.

‘Right, I am here now, so let’s make a plan,’ Tomasz said, sitting down.

‘Aren’t you supposed to be at work?’ Claire said.

‘Some things are more important. Don’t worry, my Alfie, we will find him.’ As he stroked me, I felt reassured, Tomasz was so big and comforting. I felt a slight sliver of hope.

‘I don’t know what we’ll do if we don’t find him.’ Claire started crying and Jonathan wrapped his arms around her.

‘We will find him,’ he said, but I heard his voice crack. He was such a softy underneath the bluster, but he sounded determined.

‘We have to,’ Polly said, her beautiful face ashen. Matt hugged her. Somehow the fact that everyone was being brought together didn’t make me feel any better.

‘I think I’ll call Max,’ Tash said, her cheeks reddening. The others looked at her. ‘He might be able to help, he’s quite practical.’

‘Good idea, Tash,’ Jonathan said, and I saw Tash brighten. I followed her into the other room, and when I heard her speak to him, I knew that she was letting him in. By asking for his help she was trusting him, and although I felt as bad as I ever had in my life, I felt a little better for that.

It was decided that Tash would stay with the children and Claire and Jonathan would go on foot to the park at the end of the street, stopping at the Goodwins first — if anyone could find George it would be those nosey parkers, Jonathan said. Matt and Polly would go to the other end of the street and Tomasz and Max would drive around looking at the surrounding area. The plan was that if we hadn’t found him by nightfall they would put alerts on the local Facebook and then maybe even make posters … My baby might become a lamppost cat! But we all hoped it wouldn’t come to that. I prayed and prayed it wouldn’t come to that.

I did actually see the flaw in my plan then. Even if it had worked, I had planned on George staying away overnight, but the amount of worry that that would have caused was unfair. No matter how much my humans needed to have their eyes opened, it wasn’t worth this distress. But now he really was missing, and it was all my fault.

If anything happened to my kitten, I would never, ever forgive myself.