Alfie In The Snow

The excitement of Christmas Day was something I would never tire of, despite being incredibly worn out. But we had rallied, when woken by the kids at ‘silly o’clock’, as Jonathan called it. George was excited by the prospect of his wrapping paper and so was encouraging the children to rip open their presents, hopping around them as they did so. As he blew a stray piece off his head, I looked on affectionately. Happy Christmas.

Everyone was fizzing around, a bit like the drink that Claire and Jonathan had. Although it was champagne, it had orange juice in it which made it suitable for breakfast apparently, although not for children or cats it seemed.

The presents were soon opened. Toby was so happy he was beside himself, and Jonathan who had to help him with some very complicated Lego, was beside himself but not with happiness as he struggled. He kept scratching his head and looking pleadingly at Claire. Summer had added even more dolls to her collection and apparently Santa was the cleverest person in the world, as he had got everything right. George was in wrapping-paper heaven although we did have to untangle him at one point when he got himself stuck with Sellotape, but everyone was cheerful. Including me. Because seeing everyone I loved having such a nice time warmed my heart. I knew how lucky we all were: we were warm, fed, loved and it made me sad for anyone who wasn’t as lucky as us. But I couldn’t dwell on that today, I had a kitten to unwrap from the tinsel he’d liberated from the windowsill.

I hoped Tiger could see us, she would have enjoyed this scene, and although I missed her with every piece of fur on my body, I couldn’t help but smile as I heard her voice wishing us, ‘Happy Christmas.’ It was a happy Christmas, but a sad one too. But then life was all about balances and contrasts in feelings after all.

‘Right, I’ve showered and now I better start cooking,’ Claire said. She was wearing a bright red jumper with a Christmas tree on it. Jonathan was supposed to wear a matching one but he claimed to have lost it. I knew that it was hidden as I heard him say it was ‘ridiculous’ and that he wouldn’t ‘be seen dead wearing it’. Which was a phrase I didn’t understand. But anyway, Claire looked quite Christmassy as she tied on an apron. I was not only excited for lunch but also the knowledge that my other families would be here soon.

‘Do you want a hand?’ Jonathan asked, looking pleadingly at her as he studied the Lego instructions. Jonathan didn’t like cooking but it was clearly easier than putting a Lego spaceship together.

‘No, you carry on with Toby.’ Claire grinned.

‘Yay!’ Toby said, and then stared very intently at Jonathan, who was still scratching his head.

‘Mummy, can you help me with my car?’ Summer asked. She’d been given a pink car which spun around when operated with a remote control. She wasn’t the best driver, though, my tail had already been run over and George had had a few close calls.

‘Darling, I have to start cooking. Toby, can you help her for a moment?’

Toby looked thoughtful, as if weighing up the Lego or his sister.

‘OK, but only for a minute,’ he said, as suddenly and without warning the Christmas tree lights went off.

‘Oh no, they must have fused,’ Jonathan said, jumping up and trying the living room lights. But they didn’t come on either. ‘Strange, I wonder if it’s tripped?’ he said, going to the hallway where the fuse box was. ‘No, it’s not tripped,’ he said, sounding confused just as the phone rang.

‘Oh my goodness. The power in the whole of Edgar Road is out,’ Claire screamed, as she lowered the phone from her ear.

‘What do you mean?’ Jonathan asked.

‘No power. None at all. How am I supposed to cook Christmas lunch?’ She looked at the handset, which she was still holding. ‘Sorry, Pol, I’m just in shock, I’ll call you back,’ she said, hanging up.

‘What are we going to do?’ Jonathan said. We all stood in the semi-darkness in horror. What was Christmas without food? For me, that was the best bit. I was so looking forward to my Christmas dinner. George looked horrified, Toby concerned and Summer played with her dolls as if nothing was wrong.

As panic continued all around me, I tried to calm myself and think. I had saved Christmas once already this year and now I needed to do it again. And I was still sleep-deprived from a long, long day yesterday, an early morning today and not even any turkey to show for it. No, we couldn’t have that. As they say, a cat’s work is never done.

I listened as Summer suggested they eat sandwiches for lunch and Toby chocolate coins – although he had already put a fair few of those away, as far as I could tell. He even offered to share round his selection box. Which was all well and good, but what about us cats? We didn’t eat chocolate and as for sandwiches, unless they had pilchards in them, or some other kind of fish, I simply wasn’t interested. No, I wanted my traditional Christmas lunch and by the look of horror on Jonathan’s face, so did he. And what about all the people who were having lunch with us? What about the rest of the street? This was a disaster.

The phone rang again and Claire snatched it up. After a few moments she replaced the receiver.

‘That was Marcus. Apparently there’s a fault and it’s down as an emergency but they don’t expect it to be fixed until tonight at the earliest,’ she explained.

‘Oh no, Christmas is ruined,’ Jonathan moaned.

‘Shush, of course it’s not. We just need to think,’ Claire said sensibly but she had panic in her eyes too.

Of course, as soon as it went quiet, it came to me. They said the fault was with Edgar Road, so Tomasz and Franceska’s road might be fine and their restaurant was closed today, so we could all decamp to their place with our food, cook and eat it there. Brilliant and simple. Now, how to convey that? I looked at them, licked my lips. I mewed and then ran to the front door.

‘Now what?’ Jonathan said as he glared at me. OK, so that wasn’t clear. I took George aside and told him my idea.

‘Such a good idea,’ my boy said. ‘But how are we going to tell them?’ I thought and thought.

On the table by the front door were leaflets for take-aways that Claire and Jonathan sometimes had; would that give them a clue? I jumped on the console table and knocked them to the floor.

‘What the hell is he doing?’ Jonathan asked.

‘Yowl,’ I said. This wasn’t easy. Then I saw it. Aleksy had left his backpack here in his rush to get home last night, and Claire had put it by the front door. This had to work, I thought as George and I climbed on it, mewing loudly.

Claire and Jonathan looked at each other.

‘I’ll call Tomasz,’ Jonathan said. Finally. ‘Oh of course, the restaurant is closed today and they probably haven’t lost power!’ He sounded jubilant, as if it was his idea.

I was feeling a little smug, as George nuzzled me.

‘I miss Tiger mum, but I am lucky to have the cleverest dad in the world,’ he said and I couldn’t be any happier at that moment, or sadder, because I really missed Tiger mum as well.

It was all organised. Well, in a very disorganised way. While Franceska stayed to organise the restaurant, Tomasz drove over with the boys to pick up the food that needed cooking to take back. Jonathan and Matt went along the street inviting any of the neighbours who were stuck to come and join us. I went with them and was delighted when Tiger’s family agreed to come. They were fretting about being without power, and on top of missing Tiger, I was glad they would be with us.

Marcus and Harold were on board, although Marcus was going to drive his dad there, as it was too far for him to walk, and he offered to take anyone else who needed a lift. I wondered if that meant me? The busybody Goodwins also agreed to come and Jonathan didn’t even complain about that, in the interest of it being the day of goodwill to all men – and cats. And in that vein, I invited Salmon who said he would love to come with us, as it was the only way to guarantee any Christmas dinner. There was no sign of my other friends, though, and I could only hope that they would be alright.

‘This reminds me of the Blitz spirit,’ Vic Goodwin said, as he and his wife, in matching Christmas jumpers, started to gather their food to contribute.

‘I’m far too young to remember that,’ Jonathan replied.

‘Well, so am I,’ Vic said, and we were all uncertain how he knew if that was the case. But Vic did say something useful, he said they should all get torches to take with them in case we all had to come back to houses still without light, so they rounded up all they had to ensure that every family who needed one had one.

Luckily many of the families had either gone away or had somewhere else to go, but there were a fair few of us as we organised getting everyone to the restaurant. Jonathan and Matt led the way and Polly, Claire and the children got ready to bring up the rear, along with me and George.

‘I wish Hana was coming,’ George said, and I realised there was still something left to do. No one had gone to see Sylvie, probably because she had told them that they already had plans, but I didn’t believe her.

I stood on the doorstep and meowed loudly.

‘Oh goodness, look, Claire, we didn’t think about Sylvie,’ Polly said. Everyone stood at the front gate, but George sat beside me at the front door.

‘Last night she was really adamant that she had plans but we thought she might be too embarrassed to face us all.’ Claire had told Matt and Polly what had happened with Aleksy last night, so they were up to speed with the situation.

‘But she probably hasn’t, has she?’ Polly said, as she opened the gate. ‘Look, it’s Christmas and if Connie and Sylvie are on their own, we need to persuade them to come with us. No one should spend Christmas in the dark, for goodness sake.’

‘Of course,’ Claire said, uncertainly, as they unlatched the gate and came to join me at the door. Henry reached up and rang the doorbell as we all huddled like a group of carol singers on the doorstep. After a while we heard footsteps and the door opened. Connie, looking very sweet in a jumper with a reindeer on it, stood before us. She looked a little relieved to see us.

‘Hi, is your mum in? Oh, and Happy Christmas,’ Polly said before pushing past her into the house. We all followed. Sylvie was in the kitchen, where George ran up to Hana and they nuzzled like the old friends they were.

Claire seemed a little taken aback. ‘How are they friends? She never goes out?’ she said. No one answered.

‘Hello, and Happy Christmas,’ Sylvie said but she was a little red-faced.

‘Look, I know you said you had plans but it doesn’t look like it, and you can’t spend Christmas with no power. We and a few of the neighbours are taking our food and drink to Tomasz and Franceska’s restaurant where we are going to have a lovely, if slightly unconventional Christmas lunch together,’ Polly said.

‘That sounds like fun,’ Connie said, hopefully.

‘We can’t, I just can’t.’ Sylvie burst into tears.

‘Connie, take the children to see your tree in the living room,’ Polly commanded, and Connie, although looking shocked, did as she was told.

‘Right, now what’s this about?’ Polly said.

‘Apart from the fact that my daughter ran away last night because I’m a terrible mum, I’ve been horrible to all of you who have done nothing but be nice to me, my ex-husband is spending Christmas with his pregnant girlfriend, who he has moved into my house in Japan, what else could there be?’ she sobbed.

Put like that, it didn’t sound good.

‘Listen, your ex, I can’t do anything about. But you and your daughter seem to have built bridges by the looks of it,’ Polly said. Sylvie nodded. ‘And you are not a terrible mum, you were trying hard to protect your daughter, we all understand that, but she doesn’t need protecting from Aleksy, by the way, he’s about as harmful as a houseplant.’

‘Well, I’m not sure I’d compare him to a houseplant,’ Claire said.

‘First thing that came into my mind. You know I mean a flower … he’s as dangerous as a delicate flower.’ I really had no idea where they were going with this. ‘Anyway, that’s beside the point.’ Even Polly looked as if she’d forgotten what the point was.

‘No, the point is that we are all fine, we understand, you’ve had a terrible time and it really hasn’t been easy. We all still want your friendship and want you to have ours, and today of all days we can’t let you two be alone, in the dark,’ Claire said, and we were back on track. ‘So, come with us today and you can start building those bridges.’

‘But Franceska must hate me. I was so horrible to her, and her son,’ Sylvie said. Her eyes were full of tears. ‘It’d be so insensitive of me to swan into her restaurant, when I’ve no right.’

‘Oh, Frankie couldn’t hate you. All you have to do is apologise and it’ll be forgotten. I mean, she’s about as good at holding grudges as …’ Polly narrowed her eyes as if she was thinking.

‘A houseplant?’ Claire suggested. They all laughed. ‘Honestly, Sylvie, she’ll be so happy you’ve come and you know whose Christmas you will really make?’

‘Connie and Aleksy’s,’ Polly finished as if there was any doubt. And mine, and George’s, I silently added.

‘OK, give me five minutes to clean myself up and put some make-up on.’ Sylvie smiled. ‘I really am so sorry for behaving so badly and I really do hope you can forgive me.’

‘Already done,’ Polly said as she went to give Connie the good news.

‘I am so glad that everyone’s happy again,’ Hana said. ‘And George says it’s down to you, Alfie.’

‘Not entirely,’ I started modestly.

‘It really is down to us,’ George countered, immodestly. ‘But now, your family are coming with us, and you will be here on your own. In the dark.’ He raised his whiskers, hopefully.

‘Hana, come with us,’ I said.

‘But I’ve never been out and it’s been snowing and I didn’t know what snow was until Connie told me last night.’

‘Yes, your paws will be cold and it might be a bit slippery but only like a polished floor,’ I pointed out. ‘Listen, Hana, you have to come with us, you need to start going outside. Honestly, you’ll like it, trust me.’ I hoped I was right.

‘But I’m scared,’ Hana said.

‘But I’ll be right by your side and nothing will happen to you,’ George said.

‘Come on, your family need to know that you are still a family and that includes you,’ I stated, nudging her with my nose towards the front door. ‘Not to mention the food we’re about to eat, no self-respecting cat would pass up this opportunity,’ I pointed out.

‘Hana?’ Sylvie asked as they came to the front door to see Hana sitting by it.

‘She should come with us.’ Claire looked worriedly at the three of us and I nudged Hana again. She couldn’t have been any closer to the door.

‘But she doesn’t go out,’ Sylvie said.

‘Meow,’ Hana said. It seemed she was learning.

‘Maybe she wants to come with us,’ Connie said.

‘She definitely does. I can tell, I know a lot about cats,’ Toby said.

‘Me too, and yes she absolutely does,’ Summer, not to be outdone, added.

‘Right, well you’ll have to carry her then, Con, darling, I don’t want her to get cold paws,’ Sylvie said, uncertainly, as Connie scooped her up. It wasn’t quite what I had in mind but, as I blinked at George and he blinked back, it would have to do for now.

‘I am so full I don’t think I can move,’ I said later, as we all rested after our meal.

‘Me either, Dad,’ George said.

‘Being outside is quite nice,’ Hana said, although she was currently inside.

‘Right, well I better get back to work,’ Dustbin said. ‘Those pesky rodents will have taken advantage of my absence.’

‘Can I help you?’ Salmon, who was on his best behaviour, asked.

‘Nah, no offence but you don’t look like the sort of cat who gets his paws dirty,’ Dustbin replied, but without malice. Salmon wasn’t, he could probably talk the rodents to death, but that was it. Like cat, like owner, in that respect.

Although in fairness the Goodwins had been on pretty good form. Seeing them play charades was a sight to behold. Although not as good as Harold, who guessed every single one incorrectly and then accused the person acting the charade of being wrong. All the adults were laughing so much they were nearly crying.

It had turned out to be a wonderful Christmas Day. The food was delicious – and there was plenty of it as everyone had pooled their resources. The children had a table set up on their own and were behaving beautifully. The younger ones had brought some of their new toys with them. The older ones were supervising, well Tommy was but Aleksy and Connie were staring at each other with dopey expressions on their faces. Tommy despaired, but no amount of teasing would stop them. I even noticed they were holding hands under the table whenever they could. Ah, young love.

As I’d weaved in between everyone’s legs I felt a warmth in the atmosphere that I relished. The adults were all behaving pretty well. Sylvie had apologised to Franceska, and cried a bit, and Franceska, who was just too lovely, had hugged her and told her that they should forget it. She told her she would never let Aleksy take advantage of Connie or hurt her, and Sylvie had said she did believe her, but that after her husband had hurt her she was so scared of her daughter going through anything like that. It all made sense in a way, because of course heart-break wasn’t rational. I knew that better than most. Sylvie was back to being the woman we’d first met when she moved here and somehow Claire had manoeuvred it so she and Marcus were sitting next to each other at lunch. I had hope they might fall in love, but I didn’t think either of them looked as if they’d be jumping into anything anytime soon. Harold was on good form, though he and Vic Goodwin had a slight disagreement about the reason for the rise in crime, which Jonathan had to diffuse. But other than that, everyone was getting on well.

I’d felt choked when the Barkers raised a toast to Tiger, and I nuzzled close to George who shook, when they talked about how much they missed her. We both went over to them and rubbed their legs to let them know we felt the same, which they seemed to appreciate. However, I was alarmed when they said they were going to the shelter in the new year to adopt a cat, but an older cat, as the house didn’t feel right without one.

Replace Tiger? How could they?

‘We’re never going to be able to replace Tiger,’ Mrs Barker said. Phew. ‘We had her from a kitten and as we never had children she was our child. We miss her so much but we have a good, warm and kind home and I know Tiger would want us to help a cat who needed a home.’

They were right, she would. She would have been proud of them, and I would just have to get used to seeing another cat come out of that cat flap. And, as hard as it would be, I would welcome them with open paws. Again, it’s what Tiger would have wanted.

It was getting late when Marcus, who hadn’t had a drink, drove his dad and the Barkers back to Edgar Road. The clearing-up had been shared by everyone – although Franceska had tried to get them to leave it, the Goodwins insisted and they loved bossing everyone about and giving them jobs to do. I went out to the yard to say goodbye to Dustbin who was busy working.

‘It’s been a grand Christmas,’ he said.

‘It has. I wish Tiger was here but, apart from that, it’s worked out wonderfully,’ I replied, with a sad grin. ‘And of course I am still tired from the incident last night.’ I was pleased and a little surprised that no one had talked about that today, but that was Christmas for you, it wasn’t a time to speak of anything bad.

‘She’d be proud of all you’ve done,’ he said, and I really hoped she would.

‘Mewwwww!’ We turned to see Hana tentatively putting her paws outside, with George encouraging her. The snow was slushy now and not deep but she still found it cold. Well, of course it was cold.

‘You did it,’ George cheered. ‘You’ve officially stepped outside now!’

‘Well, so I have. What a Christmas,’ Hana said. ‘But is it always this cold?’

‘No, one day soon it will be warmer and I will insist you try coming out more often,’ George said. ‘So we can hang out.’

‘I’d really like that.’ She waved her tail before jumping back inside.

‘Incoming,’ Dustbin shouted and dived to catch a mouse behind one of the bins.

‘Happy Christmas, Tiger, wherever you may be,’ I whispered, staring up at the brightest star in the sky, and then I turned to go home.