Alfie Far From Home

Chapter 6

I was growing fond of Mrs Green. That morning when I found Humphrey, she was there. She gave me some scrambled egg, which I liked; I’d accidentally tried a few of Mr Clover’s eggs before. We sat outside their caravan while I ate.

‘How are things today?’ he asked.

‘Better. But not great. Viola’s still sad.’

‘That’s bad.’

‘I know, she was so upset at being left out of the midnight feast.’

‘Oh, by the way.’ Humphrey scratched behind his ears. ‘I heard Mrs Green telling Mr Green that instead of throwing all the children out, they should give them a project to do. My suggestion is you keep an eye on them, and look for opportunities.’

‘I like your thinking. What about you?’

‘I need to do my campsite rounds and then take a nap. Alfie, remember Mr Green doesn’t like you being here, so try to keep a low profile.’

‘Thanks, Humphrey, you are being great about all this.’

‘Yes, but don’t forget—’

‘I know – it’s not for me, it’s for Viola.’

‘Exactly.’ But as he grinned, I knew I was cracking this cat.

Mr Green rounded everyone up. ‘We’re having a big picnic on your last day.’

The children cheered. ‘Yes, well, no need for that. Rule 244 states no unwarranted overexcitement.’

‘What does that mean?’ Jack asked; Emily gave him a gentle kick.

‘As I was saying, we have a picnic for the whole campsite which we hold over there at the edge of the woods.’ He pointed to the clearing that Humphrey and I explored yesterday.

‘So what can we do?’ Mrs Clover asked.

‘Well, my wife suggested that the children could make some decorations for the picnic. In the clubhouse we have materials to make bunting for the trees, and we have lots of baskets to decorate. What do you think?’

‘I think it’s an excellent idea, Mr Green, and will definitely keep them out of trouble,’ Mr Clover laughed.

‘Right, well, good. I’ll leave you all to go directly to the clubhouse and get creative.’ Mr Green blew his whistle.

I felt pleased by the turn of events as I followed the children to the clubhouse. Stanley and Nathan ran in and straight up to the table where Mr Green had put the craft supplies; Jack tried to keep up with them. Poppy, Emily and Viola followed.

‘I know all about bunting so I should be in charge of that,’ Poppy said.

‘What’s bunting?’ Nathan asked.

‘Sort of like flags, tied together, that you hang up,’ Poppy explained. ‘Anyway, I’ll make it.’

‘I can help you,’ Jack said eagerly. Poppy nodded.

‘What shall we do?’ Stanley said. Nathan shrugged.

‘I know, why don’t you paint a sign saying Curly Wood’s Picnic 2016,’ Viola suggested quietly.

‘Hey, not a bad idea,’ Nathan said. I felt a tingling in my fur again.

This was what I needed. Viola was really creative, so I just needed to nudge her forward a bit. I jumped on her lap to give her confidence.

‘Miaow,’ I said loudly. Viola giggled.

‘Viola is so good at stuff like this,’ Stanley said; she blushed.

It worked, Viola was gaining confidence as ideas flowing. She helped Poppy and Jack make different-coloured bunting and even suggested painting the American flag on some of them in honour of Nathan. Then she and Emily started decorating baskets with flowers and ribbons. They started talking more; I was beside myself with happiness as they giggled and chatted happily.

‘We live in Bristol. It’s nice there but I have been to London once,’ Emily said.

‘We’ve just moved there – I have to go to music school,’ Viola explained.

‘Well, you are brilliant.’

‘Thanks, but it’s scary starting a new school and I was sad to leave my friends. I miss them.’ Viola smiled sadly.

‘You can always make new friends, though,’ Emily said.

Just then there was a commotion; we all looked over to where Nathan and Stanley were flicking paint at each other.

‘Yelp!’ I went over to them crossly; this was not a time for getting into trouble. Emily and Viola exchanged a look.

‘YOWL.’ I felt my legs slip beneath me as I skidded on some paint. BUMP! I landed on my bottom and flew head-first into a table. Then I could only watch in horror as a pot of paint jumped from the table. SPLAT! The sticky green paint slowly rolled down my fur.

‘Whoops, sorry, I didn’t mean to make Alfie slip over,’ Nathan looked upset.

‘Oh, Alfie!’ Viola shouted, rushing over, although she didn’t touch me.

‘What have you done?’ Poppy shouted. ‘Now we’ll be in trouble again.’

‘It was an accident,’ Stanley said.

‘Alfie’s green!’ Jack exclaimed.

I ran round in circles. It seemed I was in for a bath and I really hated baths.

‘I know – there’s a sink in the back room,’ Nathan suggested. ‘If we clean him in there, maybe no one will know?’

‘But it’s paint. It doesn’t just come off easily and it’s all in his fur!’ Poppy sounded more distressed than I was.

‘Dad has that stuff that cleans paint off his hands. It must be safe to use on fur if you can use it on skin,’ Viola said.

‘But is it safe for cats?’ Emily asked.

‘It doesn’t say so on the bottle, but then they probably don’t have to get paint off many cats,’ Stanley pointed out.

‘It’ll be fine, said Viola. Look, Stanley, take Alfie into the sink. Nathan, you go with him. Poppy and Jack, keep watch for Mr Green and if he appears, distract him, and Emily, we can go to the van and get the cleaner.’

I was impressed, if not still annoyed, as Viola mobilised the troops. I realised that this girl had so much going for her – she was talented, creative and clever so why didn’t she see what I saw?

I went to find Humphrey. Yet again, I needed help. It was as if we took a paw forward and then a paw backwards when it came to solving problems. At least I was no longer green, although the scrubbing took a bit more effort than I would have liked and I smelt funny. Humphrey was eating some fine-looking sardines outside a holidaymaker’s tent. No wonder he didn’t want me around.

‘Hi,’ I said sadly.

‘Oh boy, what now?’

‘It was all going so well, Viola was brilliant at making the decorations for the picnic, but then …’ I told him about the paint incident.

‘I wish I’d seen that,’ he chortled.

‘Well, anyway, back to the problem.’ I gave him a look. ‘The thing is that they cleaned me up, and they were laughing and all getting along but then Mrs Clover arrived and said she was organising the children to decorate the picnic baskets to keep them out of trouble.’

‘Get to the point, Alfie, I’ve got fish to finish.’

‘They were all excited, but then Mrs Clover told Viola that she had to practise her piano.’

‘Oh.’

‘And Viola begged her to let her do it later, but Mrs Clover said it was impossible because Mr Green had to set up for Bingo, and that she could do picnic baskets later.’

‘Viola’s feeling left out again?’

‘Yes, just as she and Emily were getting close.’

‘Poor kid.’

‘So what am I going to do?’

‘I’m not sure Alfie, but hey, look, we will come up with something, and in the meantime why don’t you share some of my sardines. You look like you need cheering up.’

Maybe Humphrey was my friend after all.