Alfie In The Snow

Claire was having one of her ‘girls’ nights’, although why they called it that I had no idea, they were hardly girls after all. Polly and Franceska were coming round and Sylvie would be joining them; they were so determined to make her feel welcome that they included her now. I was so proud of my women, their friendship had been built over a number of years but they never excluded people and I believed that I might have had a paw in that.

Polly and Franceska arrived first, both brimming with excitement.

‘Quick, tell Claire what you told me,’ Polly said, shoving Franceska into the kitchen.

‘What?’ Claire looked bemused.

‘My Aleksy, he told me. OK, he didn’t exactly volunteer the information, but when I caught him, he came clean. I mean, Alfie led me there, so because of Alfie I know everything now.’

‘You’re making no sense,’ Claire said. ‘Take a deep breath.’

‘I found him at Connie’s house and reluctantly he told me he liked her.’

‘Oh wow, you mean Aleksy has a crush?’ Claire grinned. ‘Now this calls for wine.’ I didn’t like to say anything but really these women would use any excuse for wine. If I was like that with catnip, I would never get anything done.

‘No, it’s not a crush, it seems that she likes him too. He has a girlfriend.’

‘Aleksy’s first love,’ Polly sighed. ‘Gosh, I remember my first boyfriend, Peter Spencer. I was twelve, he was in the year above and we held hands every lunchtime until he dumped me for an older girl. I was devastated.’

‘Oh God, I was much older than that, at least fifteen,’ Claire said. ‘Unfortunately I ended up marrying him.’

I raised my whiskers, this was news to me.

‘Really, he was your first husband?’

‘Yes, but we broke up for about two years, got back together at nineteen, and well, the rest is part of my pitiful history.’

‘Not sure these stories are helping,’ Franceska pointed out. ‘But I was a late starter. I didn’t have a boyfriend until I was seventeen. And no, it wasn’t Tomasz.’

‘That is so sweet,’ Claire said.

‘Ah, young love.’ Polly looked dreamy. Probably because we were all way past that.

‘And is Sylvie alright with all of this?’ Claire asked.

Franceska shrugged.

‘I don’t know, Connie hasn’t told her yet. Because apparently she’s so overprotective, that Connie is scared to tell her – which explains all the secretive behaviour – but of course I told Aleksy that she needed to tell her mum, as it was wrong to keep things from her, especially now I know.’

‘Did he know you were seeing Sylvie tonight?’ Polly asked.

‘Yes, and I said I wouldn’t lie to her, so he is going to speak to Connie about it.’ Franceska now looked worried. ‘It’s not fair that she doesn’t know and we all do. Aleksy wasn’t happy when I said that but us mums need to stick together. And then I made Tomasz give him “the talk”.’

‘You mean he hasn’t already?’ Claire asked.

‘Yes, we did do that, or Tomasz did, years ago, but he was so awkward that he kept swearing in Polish, and after he blustered through it Aleksy said they already did it in school. But this time I made Tomasz give him a talk about respecting women and not rushing into anything.’ I was slightly disappointed I hadn’t been there for that one.

Claire’s phone beeped with a text.

‘Sylvie’s on her way.’

‘That’s good, isn’t it?’ Franceska said.

‘Hopefully.’ Claire didn’t sound so sure.

Our nice relaxed girls’ night had taken a bit of a stressful turn, however I had to have faith. Sylvie was a lovely woman, sensible, and she fitted right in on Edgar Road, so what could go wrong?

I cowered under the kitchen table next to Polly’s legs. I felt as if she might like to dive under it with me. Franceska looked as if she was ready to cry and Claire’s eyes were as big as saucers. Basically, Sylvie hadn’t taken the news well. And that might be one of my biggest understatements.

I had gone with Claire to open the front door when Sylvie pushed past us both with barely a glance. I had to practically run after her, and when she got to the kitchen, she really lost it.

‘My daughter has just informed me that she’s got a boyfriend. And it’s your son.’ She glared at Franceska, who looked surprised and then a little afraid.

‘Well yes, we just found out—’ Polly started.

‘And you are all sitting here as if the most normal thing in the world is that my fourteen year old, who has never really been around boys much in her whole life, now after only a short time in London thinks it’s OK to have a boyfriend.’ Her eyes were on stalks. She was clearly distressed, and slightly unhinged.

‘Hey, it kind of is normal,’ Polly pointed out, then flinched because Sylvie’s eyes were blazing with anger.

‘Not for my daughter. She’s a good girl. She works hard, she gets straight As, she doesn’t care about boys and make-up and clothes. Well, she didn’t until your son corrupted her.’

‘God, Aleksy couldn’t corrupt Donald Trump,’ Polly tried to point out. I had to admire her insistence on not backing down; both Claire and Franceska seemed to have become mute.

‘Not the point,’ Sylvie shouted. But I thought it was the point.

‘Meow,’ I said, trying to convey that Aleksy was a lovely boy and any parent should be pleased it was him spending time with Connie.

But she ignored me; she was angry and started pacing up and down the kitchen. ‘We’ve had a huge upheaval and I knew it was a mistake letting her go to the local school. She begged me, said it would be a way for her to make friends who lived nearby, but somehow I am going to have to get the money for her to go to an all-girls’ school. Maybe if I tell her dad what she’s been up to he’ll cough up.’ She was muttering now as if she was talking to herself. She was definitely unhinged.

‘Sylvie, Connie seems like a sensible girl and Aleksy is one of the sweetest, most sensitive boys I’ve ever met,’ Claire said, her voice gentle. She tried to offer her a glass of wine, but Sylvie ignored it. ‘You know, it’s very innocent between them, just a bit of hand-holding, and if Summer had to have a boyfriend, which I know is a terrible thing for us mums to get our heads round, I would like it to be someone like Aleksy.’

Franceska looked at her gratefully.

‘I brought him up properly, to respect women, he won’t do anything bad, he doesn’t do anything bad. Oh, and by the way, Aleksy is a straight-A student too.’ It was the first time since Sylvie had lost her temper that Franceska had spoken.

‘That is not the point. The point is, Connie is too young for a boyfriend, no matter what. If her father was here, he would go mad.’ I could feel Sylvie’s frustration vibrating in her voice. ‘I forbid them to see each other.’ Her voice was angry, but also I could hear sadness in it. Because she was suddenly having to parent her daughter alone and she clearly didn’t know how to do so.

‘Sylvie, I say this out of friendship,’ Polly started. ‘Doing that will just make them want to see each other more, and they go to the same school.’

‘I do not need any of you telling me how to raise my daughter,’ she almost spat the words. ‘I’ll tell Connie that she has to come straight home from school, and if she sees Aleksy in school I can’t control that but I can forbid her to see him otherwise. And I’ll take her phone, so she can’t contact him. Yes, Polly, she might be mad at me initially but in the long run she’ll thank me. She is too young and too naive to be exposed to boys like Aleksy.’

‘How dare you!’ Franceska now stood up. I jumped onto Polly’s lap. ‘Boys like Aleksy? My son is a good boy. They are both fourteen, it’s normal, there is nothing wrong with it. I will not tell you how to bring up your daughter but I will not have you speaking bad about my son.’ I could feel Franceska’s anger.

‘I’ll say what I want, and you women, well you can keep your friendship, you obviously don’t care about me or my daughter. And I wish I’d never met you or moved to Edgar Road.’

Leaving all three women gaping, Sylvie stormed out of the house.

‘Well, that went well,’ Polly said, but no one laughed.

‘I really didn’t see that coming.’ Claire finished the rest of her wine quickly.

‘Oh no, poor Aleksy,’ Franceska said as she burst into tears. Claire and Polly tried to reassure her that it would be fine, and I tried to think but I had no idea what to do next. They all seemed to think that Sylvie would calm down and they would be able to sort things out. I felt they were being a little optimistic, but of course I couldn’t say that.

Then I had an idea. I left my women, reluctantly as I didn’t like to leave when they were still upset, and I headed next door. I wondered if I would be able to see how it was playing out. At least if I knew what was going on, I might begin to get an idea of how to fix things. Because I knew Aleksy was good, as was Connie, but I also could see how scared Sylvie was, probably because of what she’d been through. I could see both sides, although of course Sylvie was wrong. Connie was lucky to have someone like Aleksy in her life, but I couldn’t tell Sylvie that, and even if I could have she wasn’t going to listen.

I made my way to the back garden and when I peered through the darkness into the lit kitchen my worst fears were confirmed.

I couldn’t hear what was being said, but the muffled sound of raised voices came through the door. Sylvie was running her hands through her hair, Connie was shouting; her face was red and I could see tears beginning to fall from her eyes. Hana was cowering, and my heart went out to her. Us cats always got caught up in the crossfire but, because of Hana’s sheltered life, she probably had no idea what to do. I watched, slightly mesmerised as Connie, crying properly now, handed her phone over to her mum who was pointing at her. Connie turned on her heels and stormed out of the room. Sylvie sat down at the kitchen table, put her head in her hands and sobbed.

So much unhappiness, I thought, when it could have been a happy time. Aleksy would have been good for Connie, he would have helped her adjust to life here. I knew that, because I knew him. But Sylvie didn’t and I had no idea how I would fix this one.