Alfie In The Snow

I could tell that Christmas was creeping closer, because there was an excitement in the air that wasn’t there before. It was only a few weeks into November but Claire always started making lists early. Polly also started talking about ordering things from the internet to get ahead of the game. Jonathan, of course, moaned about money and Matt, who loved Christmas, talked about how he was going to decorate the house, for the kids, and how Jonathan should do the same. Jonathan didn’t share his enthusiasm and wasn’t keen, saying the houses looked tacky when they were all done up. He could be so miserable but I knew, deep down, he loved Christmas.

Tomasz and Frankie were gearing up for the restaurants’ pre-Christmas rush. For most of December they spread themselves very thinly, as Christmas menus started to be served, office parties booked, and with a few restaurants to run, they were kept busy.

But the most important event, according to the adults, more important than the letters to Santa and the arguments about when to decorate the house, was the nativity play. This play was only taking place in the younger children’s school, but it was a big deal. Claire and Polly were chatting excitedly about it when they got a letter saying that the school was holding auditions and the children were all enthusiastic about their potential parts.

‘Right, kids, what are you going to do for your audition?’ Claire asked as she, Jonathan, Toby and Summer were in the living room after tea. George and I were also in attendance.

‘I’m going to sing,’ Summer announced before launching into a rendition of ‘Jingle Bells’. It wasn’t great, more shouting than singing, but Jonathan and Claire clapped enthusiastically as she finished. Parents were a little biased. I knew this as I could be too, but not when it came to that sort of noise.

‘Great, Summer. And Toby?’ Jonathan asked.

Toby cleared his throat, then got down on all fours. ‘Hee-haw,’ he said.

‘Right, is that it?’ Jonathan had his hands ready to applaud but then he scratched his head.

‘I want to be the donkey,’ Toby explained.

‘Oh, in that case, it was excellent,’ Claire announced and they all clapped loudly, before getting the kids to do it over again. I raised my whiskers; in my opinion, once was more than enough.

‘You are going to kill these auditions,’ Jonathan said, enthusiastically.

‘Jon, it’s the school nativity not the West End,’ Claire pointed out but she looked pretty excited about it too.

Despite being heart-broken about Tiger, I decided to focus on the Aleksy situation. I needed Franceska, who was worried about him, to know the truth, because I knew she would be relieved. Aleksy wasn’t ill, he wasn’t miserable, there was nothing wrong with him, apart from first love. And I knew that if Franceska saw that she would be reassured. And, anyway, it was not good for them to sneak around together. I had learnt that the best way to deal with things was to be open about them.

I had a foolproof plan. I went to see Dustbin, and chatted it through with him. We knew that Aleksy usually walked Connie home from school – I’d seen him – and I also knew from Franceska that she was letting him have a bit more freedom as long as he was home for his tea. So, all I needed to do was to get Franceska to our street so she could see them together. Simple. Although, from past experience, I knew that getting humans to do as I told them wasn’t always easy. It could be quite exhausting, in fact.

I waited until Franceska and Tomasz came out of the restaurant and were about to head inside the house. Then I started behaving oddly. I yowled, meowed, yelped, hopped around in circles and almost cried myself hoarse. I scratched at Franceska’s trousers, careful not to hurt her, and just as I almost felt as I was going to pass out, they seemed to get it. I tried not to catch Dustbin’s eyes, he was rolling around with laughter behind a dumpster.

‘I think he wants us to do something,’ Tomasz said, scratching his head.

‘MEOW!’ Yes.

‘I go with him, you stay home because the boys will be back any minute,’ Franceska said, glancing at her watch.

Tomasz nodded. ‘But call me, to let me know everything is OK.’

‘MEOW,’ I shouted again. Finally. Although I was exhausted, I set off round the side of the yard to the main road. I managed to get Franceska to follow me, although she seemed very confused as she did so.

‘Is something wrong?’ she asked. I tried to tell her it wasn’t but I don’t think she understood. I managed to dodge a chubby dog who tried to leap at me, luckily his owner pulled his lead back. He snarled at me as I grinned back at him. Dogs were no match for me, even when I was tired and emotional. We made it to our street without further incident, but of course I am a cat and I wasn’t sure about the timing. Had they come home? Were they on their way? I had no idea. I led Franceska to Connie’s front door, hoping that somehow this was going to work.

‘Is something wrong with Sylvie?’ Franceska asked, looking at me with concern. ‘But why didn’t you get Claire or Polly?’

‘Yowl.’ Honestly, did she understand nothing? She shrugged at me and then she rang the doorbell. There was no answer. I wondered how I would come up with a plan B, because let’s face it, this one had really taken it out of me. We stood on the doorstep, poor Franceska looking totally bemused, and me so tired I thought I might pass out. Instead I sat down.

‘Alfie, what on earth is going on?’ she asked. I put my head in my paws. She turned to leave, and then she stopped. ‘Oh my,’ she said. I looked up. Bingo. Walking towards us, holding hands, were Aleksy and Connie.

‘Aleksy and Connie?’ she asked.

‘You’re welcome,’ I thought as I lay down and tried to get my breath back, relief flooding my poor, tired body.

They both stopped short as soon as they spotted Franceska, and they untangled their hands, as if we hadn’t already noticed. I wondered whether those suffering from ‘teenagerness’ temporarily lost a few brain cells as I’d always thought of Aleksy as being quite clever.

‘Hi Mum,’ Aleksy said, trying to sound casual. ‘I was just walking Connie home from school because …’

‘He’s borrowing a book from me for English,’ Connie quickly added, sounding as if butter wouldn’t melt but looking embarrassed, and a little awkward.

‘Is that what they call it these days?’ Franceska arched an eyebrow.

‘What?’ Aleksy asked.

‘It’s fine, I was hoping to see your mum, but she’s not here.’

‘No, she’ll be home in about an hour,’ Connie said, still red-faced.

‘No problem. Right, Aleksy, go and get your book and then you can walk home with me,’ Franceska said.

‘Sure, Mum,’ Aleksy said.

When they went inside, Franceska bent down and gave me a tickle. Then she lifted me up for a cuddle.

‘Is that what you wanted me to know?’ she asked.

‘Meow,’ I said, quietly.

‘Oh Alfie, you are such a good, clever cat. I can’t believe my Aleksy has a girlfriend. Oh, I am so not ready for him to grow up, but at least it’s nothing bad, thank you.’ She kissed my fur and put me back down.