Alfie in the Snow

‘Summer, you are in big trouble,’ Claire said as we got home to find Toby, Summer, Jonathan and Claire all in the living room. We had hung out with Dustbin until it began to get dark and then I said we better go straight home so that they didn’t worry. George accepted it all with his usual good grace and I felt guilty, but at least he had one last night before he knew the horrible truth. George and I both watched from the doorway of the living room.

‘Why?’ Summer asked, crossing her arms defiantly. Claire sounded cross, Jonathan was scratching his head and Toby seemed a bit nervous, but then he didn’t like conflict and I can’t say I blamed him. Claire had tried to protect him from it when he first came to live with us but she and Jonathan then realised that he needed to understand some arguing was normal and it would be best for him to learn to cope with it. It was a work in progress.

‘Sum,’ Jonathan said. ‘You cannot go around trying to kiss boys against their will.’ Ah, that was what she’d done.

‘I didn’t. I only did it with one boy. Zack.’

‘That doesn’t make it better,’ Claire said. ‘You know he shut himself in the toilet and refused to come out, even for lunch. It took your teacher ages to calm him down and he’s still terrified of you.’

I glanced at George. We knew Summer well; when she wanted something she didn’t let anything stand in her way.

‘He’s a big baby,’ Summer continued. She wasn’t going to back down.

‘He is a bit,’ Toby supported her. ‘I mean, he just had to tell Summer to get off him and be stern with her, and I’m sure she would have stopped.’

‘Yes I would.’ No, she wouldn’t.

‘The point is that you shouldn’t have done it in the first place. You have been told to leave Zack alone before, Summer, and your teacher is really cross. And I have to phone up Zack’s mum and apologise to her, which is just embarrassing.’ Claire was pacing up and down, she was agitated. Jonathan seemed more amused, actually.

‘He must really not like you,’ Jonathan said finally.

‘Not helpful, Jon, a bit of support please.’ Claire said that a lot. Jonathan sighed.

‘OK. Firstly, Summer, you will apologise to Zack tomorrow in front of your teacher. Then you will apologise to your teacher for disrupting her lesson by her having to get this kid out of the toilet. And you will not go around trying to make boys kiss you. In fact, you shouldn’t be kissing boys at your age anyway, what has got into you?’ Jonathan used his best parental voice. Summer was six, but she was going on sixteen, Claire often said.

‘Hormones,’ she said. ‘I just can’t help it.’

‘Where the he— I mean, where on earth did you get that from?’ Jonathan asked, totally aghast.

‘Mum and Polly say it about Aleksy.’

‘Aleksy is a teenager and you’re not,’ Claire pointed out. ‘So really that doesn’t wash with us, young lady. You’ll do as Daddy said, and then you will stop trying to kiss Zack once and for all.’

‘Well, I was going to stop anyway,’ she said.

‘Why?’ Toby asked.

‘I need a man not a boy,’ Summer said.

‘Right, go to your room now,’ Claire shouted, and Summer stamped her foot but scurried off. As soon as she did both Claire and Jonathan burst out laughing.

‘Oh my goodness, hormones? I mean, really, I have to watch what I say in front of her from now on.’

‘She’s needs a man not a boy. Hey, Toby, you better warn Henry. Or even Tommy!’ Jonathan had tears running down his cheeks he was laughing so much.

‘So it’s OK?’ Poor Toby’s voice was full of confusion.

‘Yes, I mean, no she is still in trouble, but I’m sorry Tobe, your sister is quite bonkers.’ Claire hugged him.

‘She’s funny though, everyone at school thinks she is.’ Toby looked thoughtful. ‘Apart from Zack, that is.’

‘Yes, and thank goodness she’s got an older brother like you to help keep her out of trouble.’ Claire gave him another hug.

‘Should I go and check she’s alright?’ he asked, sounding very serious.

‘Good idea, but don’t tell her we were laughing, it’ll only make her worse,’ Jonathan said.

‘Right, got it, come on George,’ he said and George and Toby trotted upstairs.

It took ages before Claire and Jonathan stopped laughing and I was cheered up too. Laughter was a tonic, they all said that, and I really did believe it. For a few minutes anyway it helped.

Claire calmed down enough to give Summer a bit of a chat as she was tucking her into bed.

‘Darling, I know your intentions were innocent but you really shouldn’t kiss boys, Daddy was right.’

‘I’ll stop, but you know it is just so funny when they scream and run away.’

‘One day, which will come far too soon for me and Daddy, they won’t scream and run away, and then you’ll be stuck with them.’

‘Is that what happened with you and Daddy?’ Summer asked.

‘Something like that,’ Claire replied and kissed her daughter.

I nose-kissed George goodnight as he settled in with Toby. I checked on Summer who was sleeping, her breathing so sweet, and I remembered when she was a baby, which didn’t seem so long ago, and I would watch her sleep a lot. It was sort of hypnotic watching her, and I also felt that I was protecting her somehow.

I padded back downstairs where Claire and Jonathan were snuggled up together on the sofa, watching something on TV, and giggling together. They were happy. I then went out, quietly, to Polly and Matt’s house. I let myself in through the cat flap, which they’d had put in years ago just for me. I didn’t spend as much time there as I used to any more, because of George, but I did go and see them when I could. I made my way upstairs, and checked on Martha who was sleeping, and sounded a bit like Summer, then Henry who had kicked the covers off but was also fast asleep, clutching a toy spaceman.

‘Hello, Alfie,’ Polly said as she emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. She had come out of the bath, I guessed – each to their own. I hated water but humans seemed to like it. Matt shouted up asking if she wanted a cup of tea and when she put her pyjamas on I followed her downstairs to where he was waiting with tea and biscuits laid out on a tray.

‘Fancy watching Game of Thrones?’ he asked, giving me a fuss. ‘Nice to see you, Alfie.’

‘Perfect,’ she said and gave him a kiss. They went into the living room, and sat together on the sofa. I spent a bit of time on Polly’s lap, enjoying her affection. Just as I was beginning to feel sleepy, I decided to leave.

‘Meow,’ I said, quietly, and bid them goodnight.

I had an urgent need to check on everyone I loved, but it wasn’t possible to go back to Franceska’s house. It was too late now to go so far from home, but knowing Dustbin was keeping an eye on things was reassuring. I was glad my Edgar Road families were all happy, and peaceful. How I wished I could be.

I went to see if there was any movement from Tiger’s house before I returned home. There wasn’t. The house was shrouded in darkness and I knew her family normally went to bed early, so I wasn’t surprised. I quickly popped to the back of Sylvie’s house and saw that Connie was at the kitchen table, with her computer in front of her, and it looked as if Sylvie was helping her with her homework while Hana sat next to the computer. They looked more harmonious and I wondered how Sylvie would react when she found out about Aleksy. But that was a worry for another day.

I went home and curled into my bed and thought about Tiger. I replayed certain scenes with her in my head. How she was protective of me since we first met on Edgar Road. How she was always the more aggressive of the two of us and had got me out of trouble a few times. She was unafraid, she seemed so fearless. How she teased me about my vanity and conceit but still liked me for it. How she’d been jealous of me and Snowball, and I’d felt our friendship was really under threat, but she had been so mature about it and we had worked through. How she was the one who helped me when I was broken-hearted after Snowball left and how quickly she took to helping me parent George and never complained. She didn’t complain about much. And when I told her I loved her, which was a long time coming, she was so happy, but she also would never have pushed me into it. She was the best friend a cat could ever have, and as I finally let myself fall apart, when no one could see me, I realised I had no idea how I was going to cope with her loss. For an ideas cat, I literally had no idea how I would carry on without her.