Alfie The Christmas Cat

7. ALFIE THE CHRISTMAS CAT

Chapter One

We prepared for noise and chaos to fill our house on what can only be described as one of my favourite days. It was family lunch day, and we have a big family. What I have learnt, as a doorstep cat, is that family isn’t just about blood. As George and I groomed ourselves, ready to greet all our favourite people, we were more than a little bit excited.

I’m Alfie, if you haven’t met me before, and George is my kitten, although he’s not exactly a kitten anymore. As most parents know, there is a reluctance to acknowledge that our children are growing up, getting older and more independent. I have to admit, looking back, I miss when George was younger and needed me more than he does now. Thinking about how I used to moan about lack of sleep, no time to myself, constantly being on guard for danger … But I’d turn the clocks back in a heartbeat. Of course, George still needs me at times, but he is so independent, with his own life and even a girlfriend, Hana. Oh how he’s grown into a fine tom. But I digress.

I am a doorstep cat, which means I have more than one home, more than one family that I spend time with. George and I have our main home with Claire, Jonathan, and our children, Toby and Summer. We live on Edgar Road. It’s a big street with lots of different types of houses. We often gather at ours as it is one of the bigger houses, and we have a lot of people, pets and children to fit in.

‘Hey guys!’ Matt, who is one of the most laid back of our adults, approached the doorstep with his wife Polly, and their children, Henry and Martha. Oh, and on the lead was a very excited Pickles, their pug who spends a lot of time with us. I am not only a cat who looks after humans, but also dogs, it seems.

Pickles tries to eat everything in sight, and likes to lick whatever he can’t eat. He’s still a puppy, albeit quite a chubby one! I am often charged with Pickles sitting; have been since he was tiny. Now, as I said, he’s far from tiny – as the time he got stuck in the cat flap proved – but he’s part of the family. He might have taken a bit of getting used to, us cats and dogs aren’t natural friends after all, but we love him very much. Although … George took longer than me to come around to having him in our lives, and he can still sometimes be a bit cutting with him.

‘Meow,’ George and I greeted them, along with a friendly nuzzle. As they stepped inside, Pickles licked us both then licked Jonathan’s feet. Thankfully, he was wearing slippers. The children shrieked as they all went upstairs to play. Toby, Summer, Henry, and Martha are the best of friends, which is lucky as we all spend so much time together. As Polly and Matt went off to help with drinks and food, we waited to see who our next arrivals would be.

The doorbell rang again and Sylvie, Marcus, their teenager Connie, and their baby Theo were there. They’d also brought their cat, George’s girlfriend Hana. They made such a cute couple.

Claire practically trampled us to get hold of Theo, before they even set foot inside. Theo was our latest addition; he was only a few months old and ever so popular. It was the same when George was a kitten and Pickles a puppy. People liked babies.

‘Come in out of the cold,’ Jonathan said as Claire walked into the living room cuddling Theo.

‘I’m just going to pick Dad up,’ Marcus said, before leaving to get his dad, Harold, who lived at the end of the street.

It was largely down to George that Harold became part of our group and, in turn, his son Marcus and Sylvie– our next door neighbour – fell in love. We can actually pretty much take credit for baby Theo, thinking about it.

I grinned and raised my whiskers at George and Hana. We could hear the children laughing upstairs, the adults in the kitchen– Jonathan and Claire were cooking, and Polly now had hold of baby Theo. Pickles was running around in circles, Sylvie was enjoying a much-needed sit down and Connie hovered anxiously. We all knew who she was waiting for.

The sound of the doorbell heralded our final guests. As well as Harold, who brought his cat Snowball, my girlfriend and first love– it’s a long story so I’ll tell you about it later – Tomasz, Franceska, and their teenagers Aleksy and Tommy stood on the doorstep.

There were more hugs and kisses and nuzzles and strokes before we were all finally in one place. Our family lunch was about to start. And I couldn’t have been happier.

George, Hana, Snowball and I snuck into the garden. We should have known that Pickles wouldn’t like to be left out and watched as he emerged through the cat flap, which was actually a doggy door. He got stuck in the cat flap so it had had to be replaced with a bigger door.

‘What are you doing?’ Pickles asked. He might not be tiny anymore but he was only a year old, so still a baby. He’d also spent most of the first year of his life trying to be a cat. It’s a hard lesson every non-cat has to learn, that not just anyone can be a cat. It takes a lot of skill.

‘Just getting a bit of fresh air and a bit of quiet,’ I said.

‘It is so noisy in there, isn’t it?’ he said.

‘I love it when we’re all together but we are a lot aren’t we?’ George stated. There was no arguing with that. We were a lot.

Lunch was in full swing. We didn’t have a dining table big enough for everyone, so the children sat at one table and the grown-ups at another. I, obviously, was with the grown-ups, but I hovered by the chairs – it was frowned upon for cats to be on the table, although sometimes that didn’t stop me. George and Hana were withthe children and Pickles was under the table, trying to catch any food that had been discarded. He really liked his food. Snowball was curled up in my bed, taking a rest. I noticed that Connie and Aleksy were sat with the adults, but Tommy, Aleksy’s younger brother, was at the children’s table and he didn’t look happy as he pushed his food around his plate. I made a note of that. If people were unhappy, it was my job to sort them out.

I padded over to him and tried to get his attention, but he ignored me. I was put out– I’m not used to being ignored – but then, Tommy really did look thunderous. I made my way back to the safety of the adults.

‘We have this school project; it’s about homelessness,’ Aleksy said.

‘God, that’s heavy, in my day we just did Geometry,’ Jonathan said with a laugh.

‘Showing your age, Jon,’ Matt teased.

‘In my day we wrote with quills not pens,’ Harold added, then laughed loudly. I had no idea what he meant but as Harold was quite fond of being grumpy, it was nice he was laughing.

‘So, what is the project?’ Marcus asked.

‘We’re learning about awareness campaigns. We have to design a campaign to highlight the problems facing homeless people today and make people aware that it’s a problem,’ Connie explained.

‘Goodness, that sounds very serious,’ Claire said.

‘We wanted to go to the local shelter and meet people who are actually homeless to find out what it’s like,’ Aleksy said. ‘So that when we do our project we will have direct experience to draw on.’

‘And then we thought we might come up with ways to raise money for them,’ Connie added with a blush.

‘You are very good and kind, Aleksy and Connie,’ Franceska said. ‘I’m proud of you both.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ Tomasz said. ‘We give food from the restaurant to the local place so I know them; I can take you both.’

‘Oh that would be great!’ Connie’s eyes lit up.

‘But it will be hard,’ Sylvie said. She was very overprotective and I knew she would be worried about Connie.

‘Yes, but these two will be fine,’ Polly cut in. ‘They are tough and have big hearts. I think it’s wonderful that you’re learning about these things at school.’

‘In my day—’ Jonathan started, but then laughed.

‘So, we’ll visit the shelter and then think of a way to raise money and awareness,’ Aleksy said. I nuzzled him. I was very proud of him too.

After lunch, the children all went to play again and Connie and Aleksy snuck away, which just left Tommy.

‘Can we go home now?’ Tommy – who had barely said two words to anyone – asked.

‘No, if you don’t want to go and set up games for the little ones, then you can just sit there on your own,’ Franceska snapped. It wasn’t like her. But then, Tommy wasn’t normally so unpleasant either.

‘Go into the living room and put the TV on,’ Jonathan suggested.

Tommy scowled but he went. I glanced at Snowball; we knew all about teenagers. They could be problematic but Tommy was also fun, and he loved setting up assault courses and competitions for the others. I knew he felt left out when Aleksy and Connie started going out together but he normally invited one of his friends to come to our family events. I wondered why he hadn’t today.

‘He’s been nothing but trouble, lately,’ Tomasz said quietly once Tommy was out of earshot.

‘He’s grounded and I said he couldn’t have a friend here today, because of his behaviour,’ Franceska added. Ah, that explained it.

‘What’s he done, Frankie?’ Claire asked.

‘Being rude, answering back, not doing his homework. He even took money from my purse the other day. It’s like my lovely little boy’s been taken and replaced by someone else.’ She sounded upset so I went to nuzzle her.

‘Oh God, teenagers; I am not looking forward to that,’ Matt said, shaking his head. ‘But it’s not like Tommy,’ he added.

‘Do you want me to have a word with Connie? Ask her if she and Aleksy could be more inclusive?’ Sylvie suggested.

‘No, thank you. He and Aleksy are at odds all the time – they can barely stand to be in the same room at the moment. Aleksy said that Tommy is acting like a jerk, Tommy says Aleksy is a goody-goody. Honestly, we are hoping it’s just a phase, because otherwise …’

‘I could give him a good whack with my walking stick. That’ll soon sort him out,’ Harold offered. I wasn’t sure if he was joking; he didn’t look as if he was.

‘Dad, we don’t do that anymore,’ Marcus replied.

‘National service, that’s the answer. He should go into the army.’

‘Um, he’s only fourteen,’ Claire pointed out.

‘Make a man of him it would,’ Harold began one of his favourite tirades, and there would be no stopping him now.

If they really needed to punish Tommy they should make him listen to one of Harold’s lectures.

Chapter Two

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It was another one of my favourite days of the week– Sunday – and George and I were patrolling Edgar Road. It was freezing, and winter was definitely knocking on the door, but that didn’t stop us from popping into homes where the Sunday Lunch Club was in full swing. To explain, the idea of the club was that people opened their homes to someone who would otherwise be on their own, and gave them a lovely Sunday lunch. Simple but brilliant.

And, it was a doorstep cat’s dream.

Harold wasn’t being grumpy for once and came up with the idea to help ease loneliness by setting up The Sunday Lunch Club. George thinks it was his idea initially, which it probably was. George and I are known for our brilliant ideas – he gets it from me. A chip off the old paws. The club helps lonely people feel less lonely and it also means a lot to those who host the lunches, so it helps the community as a whole. A wonderful idea and one which has now grown beyond Edgar Road. I am very proud of George and Harold. They did have my help, of course, but I’m not one to boast … Although they couldnot have done it without me.

Anyway, I digress. Today we popped in to see all our neighbours who were hosting lunch on our street– and not just to get treats, although both George and I had very happy tummies by the end of it. But most importantly, it warmed our hearts to see people who would otherwise be on their own enjoying food and company. The host families got to meet new people and widen their social group as well. It was a winning situation for all. Harold was at Marcus and Sylvie’s house with a couple of other people. Snowball was there and I had popped in to see her briefly. I would love to see more of her, but we are always surrounded by people these days – it’s hard to get time alone. We’re lucky that we’re older and not in that teenage kind of love that George and Hana have where they want to spend every moment together.

‘It was such a brilliant idea that me and Harold had, wasn’t it?’ George said. He said this every time.

‘Yes, son, such a wonderful idea and getting to see how happy people are is such a huge credit to you.’ I was proud of him, despite the fact that he liked to inflate his little ego at times. But who could blame him? He deserved it. And I had often been accused of the same thing, although I’m pretty sure my ego is fully in check … most of the time.

‘And Harold and I really are genius, aren’t we?’

‘You are.’

‘And I might be the cleverest cat who ever lived.’

Hang on, that was my title.‘Well, maybe the second cleverest cat,’ I purred with a smile. We both grinned. ‘Right, son we better head home.’

The days were becoming darker as well as colder. I could feel the chill in my fur, announcing we would soon be facing the coldest part of the year. We had to brace ourselves for it. I loved to go out, and was reluctant to become a fair weather cat like some of the others, but I still preferred the warm.

We went through the cat flap of our house. Today, we had hosted our lunch with Doris, a lady who always knitted, even while eating, and Clive, a very smart ex-teacher who liked to debate politics and scared Jonathan by asking him questions he had no clue how to answer. They were both lonely, and having that in common was enough, but they still bickered with each other. Jonathan said they should just get married, as they were like an old married couple, but Claire told him that wasn’t funny. Claire and Jonathan were still young but had been married for ages now, and they did bicker quite a bit, but they also laughed a lot too. We didn’t see Clive and Doris laughing, so I was pretty sure even my matchmaking skills would be pushed to the limit trying to get them together. Didn’t mean I wouldn’t try though! I put that thought on my ‘save for later’ list.

I had got many couples together in my time, Claire and Jonathan being my biggest and first success. But there was always so much to do keeping my cats and my families under control, I had little time for much else these days. I certainly had my paws full.

‘Look,’ Summer said when we went into the living room, where all the family, along with Doris and Clive, were sat drinking tea. ‘Doris knitted a cat bonnet.’

‘Meow?’ What on earth is a cat bonnet?

Doris proudly held out a knitted red hat, which she then proceeded to put on George’s head. He tried to squirm away but he was too slow. He looked furious – us cats do not like being dressed up, thank you very much; we have lovely fur and that’s enough for us. As he tried to pull it off with his paw, the others admired him.

‘Oh Doris, it’s so cute,’ Claire said, beaming.

‘Perfect fit,’ Clive said.

‘It’s adorable. Doris, will you teach me to do knitting?’ Summer asked.

‘Of course I will, my dear.’ Doris’s cheeks flushed with pleasure.

My eyes widened. I couldn’t believe it. It was terrible. It made his head look like a tomato. Thank goodness I didn’t have one.

‘Don’t worry, Alfie, I’ll have one for you next time I’m here, but your head is a bit bigger, so I need to get more wool. And thinking about it, green might be your colour.’

I had no words as I slunk off to see if there were any more leftovers.

That night, when George and I took our last steps outside before bed– without his cat hat, I may add – we looked at the dark sky and saw the brightest star blinking at us.

‘There’s Tiger mum,’ George said, lifting his paw.

‘Yes.’ I gulped. Despite the fact that it had been quite a while since we’d lost Tiger – George’s adopted mum and my last partner – it still floored me whenever I thought of her not being here anymore. We have both moved on in many ways, the way life forces you to, but although I am happy and with Snowball now, I will always have a place in my heart reserved for Tiger. She was my best cat friend on Edgar Road before we fell in love.

I’ve loved and lost a lot in my life, both humans and cats, and you never stop missing them, a lesson I have learnt the hard way. But on the flip side, a heart is a wonderful thing. It’s big and has the capacity to love many people and many cats. I even managed to love Pickles, who is a dog, andI never thought I’d hear myself saying that. Despite the fact I’m now reunited with Snowball – who was my first love, before Tiger – I miss Tiger. And that’s fine, because as I said, the heart is a miracle and it’s big enough for all it needs to be big enough for. It allows you to miss those you’ve lost and still love those who are with you.

‘She’d be so proud of you, son,’ I said, because it was true. She would.

‘I know, Dad,’ George replied.

I think he gets his modesty from me.

‘Right, lad, let’s go to bed.’ I started to make my way inside, giving the star one last glance. It seemed to blink at me. I blinked back.

We probably had a big week ahead of us, we had a lot of people and cats to check on so there was always a list of things to do. Especially as I worried about Tommy; I had to be on alert.

‘Before we go to bed, Dad, what am I going to do with that awful bonnet that Doris gave me?’

‘Well the polite thing would be to wear it when she is here, at least for a bit.’

‘But it’s scratchy. I was thinking I could bury it in the garden, blame it on Pickles.’

‘George, that’s not nice.’

‘But the hat isn’t nice.’

‘I know, but we do these things to make people happy and if you have to wear it for a short time, every now and then to make Doris smile, is that so terrible?’

He glared at me and then he raised his whiskers.

‘I guess not, especially as you’ll have one as well next time.’ I could hear him laughing as I followed him into the house.

Chapter Three

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Humans will never cease to amaze me. In the morning, our house springs to life in a very dramatic way. There’s shouting, jostling, arguments, and occasionally tears. Jonathan gets ready for work – normally with maximum fuss as he seems unable to find anything. Claire rouses the children from their beds (the tears are usually theirs), then she feeds us cats and prepares breakfast for everyone before going to get dressed. Toby rushes downstairs as if there’s a fire, and Summer sulks as she hates mornings these days. Claire fires questions at everyone: ‘Have you got much on at work today? Have you done your homework? Do you need your PE kit? Why won’t you eat your toast …’ You get the idea. George and I eat our breakfast and then attempt to escape before the madness of trying to get everyone out of the house begins. Trust me, it’s chaos. Jonathan leaves first, rushing out, often moaning about where his keys are even though they are always in the same place. Summer takes forever getting her shoes on, Claire gets exasperated as she repeats the same thing over and over, and Toby gets cross about being late, because he hates being late. The thing is, this happened every single weekday morning. Every single one. You would think they would learn, but no. Humans! Who’d have them?

If only they could be more like us. George and I get up, have a good stretch and a quick wash before we have our breakfast, then we have a more thorough clean up and we’re ready for the day. Totally fuss free.

I know that our house isn’t unique. Polly and Matt, with Henry and Martha, have the same situation. George says that our next door neighbours, including Hana, are far more organised than our family, and definitely not as shouty. But Sylvie has just had baby Theo, so she doesn’t go to work, and her partner Marcus is actually very calm. As for Connie, she’s more sensible than any of the grown-ups put together, so she manages to get herself to school. The main noise is caused by Theo, who basically ensures none of them get enough sleep – I can vouch for that as I remember when Summer was a baby. We were all sleep deprived and grumpy in the mornings as a result. But like Summer, Theo will grow out of it and start sleeping at some point. When George was a tiny kitten it took him a while to learn to sleep at night as well, actually, thinking about it.

Back to ours. George and I gave them a wide berth until they were all safely out of the house. After snatching a few moments’ peace and quiet after they were gone, our day could begin.

‘I’m going to Hana’s,’ George said. Since the baby, Hana had been happier to go for walks than normal. Hana was from Japan, and she was a house cat when she moved with Sylvie and Connie next door to us on Edgar Road. After trying for ages, we managed to get her to go outside but she only liked it when it was warm. However, since Theo’s arrival, she seemed to prefer the cold to staying at home all day long. I didn’t go with George and Hana on their morning walks because it was the cat equivalent of a date for them and who wanted their parents to go on a date with them? No one, that’s who.

Despite the fact it was a cold and breezy day, I decided to go and visit Tomasz, Franceska, Aleksy and Tommy. They lived in Edgar Road when I first moved there, but for a few years now, they’d lived next door to one of the restaurants they’d opened. They had come over from Poland, worked hard, and now had a number of popular restaurants, which provided great food. And I should know, as I am sometimes one of their chief tasters.

I assumed that Aleksy and Tommy would be at school, and Tomasz and Franceska would probably be working in the restaurant, so I hoped I might get a snack, and could see my cat friend Dustbin who worked for them. He was a bit of a feral cat, with a big heart and we had been friends for years. He kept the rodent population by the restaurant under control– not a job I would like by the way, but he loved his work. He was totally dedicated. I was still a bit worried about Tommy. He wasn’t himself on family day – understatement – and Franceska and Tomasz were obviously upset, so I wanted to see if I could gather as much information as possibleabout the situation, before I came up with a plan to sort it out.

I felt the wind in my fur as I ran through the back alley to the yard. Dustbin was there, licking his paws– probably after another successful rodent control – with his friend Ally, whom he was loath to call his girlfriend, although she was.

‘Hey Alfie,’ he said as he spotted me. His whiskers were raised and he sounded pleased to see me.

‘Dustbin, Ally,’ I said in greeting.

‘What brings you here in the cold?’ Ally said. She always teased me, calling me a spoilt cat with my warm homes and numerous humans to pamper me. Who was I to argue? I loved my life. But I wasn’t that fair weather, as I’ve already said. I even went out in snow. I felt my fur shiver at the thought of snow, but it might not be too far away now. Snow made me think of Christmas, and Snowball, who was as white as snow – hence her name.

‘I thought I’d brave it in order to see my two good friends,’ I replied, with a grin. I liked Ally, but she had taken a bit of winning over. She wasn’t used to being friends with ‘pampered’ cats.

‘Good to see you, Alfie. Here to catch up on the news?’ Dustbin asked. He kept me abreast of the goings on with my third family, as he saw them far more often than I did.

‘Is there news about Tommy?’ I raised my whiskers.

‘Well, yes, I’m afraid there is,’ Dustbin said, sounding serious.

‘Oh no.’ I felt my heart sink. Whereas Aleksy – who happened to be my first ever human child friend – was sensitive, serious, and a hard worker, his younger brother Tommy was the opposite. He was a good kid but he did get into trouble. Once, when George was a kitten, he sneaked him to church with the family, another time he snuck him into the younger children’s Nativity play and put him in the manger, replacing the doll that was supposed to be the baby Jesus. That even made the local newspaper. But you get the idea. He was mischievous rather than bad, I liked to think. Although, if family lunch had been anything to go by, he was now transitioning to bad.

‘He’s still not doing his homework, he’s had so many detentions, he’s getting bad grades, and being rude to his teachers. He stays up late – we see his light on, playing games and he even fell asleep in class the other day. The school have called in his parents this week to have a serioustalk about him, I’m sorry to say,’ Dustbin explained.

‘Oh dear.’ I knew that this would be very stressful for Tomasz and Franceska. And, although I adore Tommy, he can be his own worst enemy. His parents work so hard and are such good people, I wasn’t happy at the idea of him worrying them so much. I didn’t want him in trouble either, it neverended well. I realised that I would need to get involved.

‘Franceska said he’s still grounded and he’s mad because you know how he likes to go hang out with his friends. Aleksy is trying to keep the peace but he can’t really say anything to his brother right now, and Tomasz even said that Tommy was going off the rails and needed taking in hand.’

‘What are they going to do?’ I asked. I had taught Dustbin well. When we first met he was more interested in rodents than people. Look how far he’d come.

‘They don’t know. Tomasz has said Tommy has to start working in the restaurant, washing dishes to keep him out of trouble, and Tommy said that is unfair, but I have a feeling it might get worse before it gets better, Alfie.’

‘Poor Aleksy is trying,’ Ally added. She had also become an asset. ‘But he doesn’t know how to get through to Tommy either. You hear the two of them arguing quite a lot. Tomasz was supposed to take him and Connie to the homeless shelter yesterday after school, but because they got called into see Tommy’s teacher, Tomasz was late. They went in the end, but Aleksy accused Tommy of ruining things for everyone. Tommy said Aleksy was a “goody-goody” and Aleksy said Tommy will end up in jail if he carries on this way.’ My eyes widened. Surely it couldn’t be that bad?

‘I’ll have to think of something.’ I knew it would come down to me to try to find a way to fix this – most things did. I didn’t mind, it was my job. Dustbin kept the rodents under control, I kept the humans under control. I have to admit I think his job is easier though, even though I’mnot keen on rodents.

‘I know you’ll come up with something,’ Dustbin said. ‘I hate to see Franceska so worried, Tomasz helpless … They think that if he doesn’t shape up he’s going to be in real trouble.’

‘Hmm. I get it. He’s always been a bit wild and he’s never liked school work the way Aleksy did … I’ll think about it, talk it over with Snowball maybe, see what we can come up with.’

‘Speaking of Snowball, how is she?’

‘Yes, she’s good. Harold has had a bad cold so she’s stayed in quite a lot to keep him company; she’s got such a good heart. I know sometimes she still misses her old family too but she and Harold are pretty close. And of course George is there a lot – and me – so she’s never really allowed to be down for long.’ Snowball used to live next door to us many years ago. Her family had moved away, which was sad for me, but just last year they had to go overseas and couldn’t take her with them, so she moved in with Harold. It was a wonderful surprise.

‘Life can throw a lot of changes at us, can’t it?’ Dustbin asked. He wasn’t wrong.

‘Goodness, if we went through all of them we’d be here all week. Right, shall we go and scratch at the door and see if they have any treats for us?’ I suggested. I had to think of a way to sort Tommy out, but before I even thought about coming up with an idea, I knew that it would be easier to do so once I had a full tummy.

I always managed to think better after food.

After a little bit more time spent with Dustbin and Ally and some delicious plump sardines, I headed back to Edgar Road. As I entered through the cat flap I could tell the house was empty, and I wondered if George was still next door. After taking a quick rest, I went to see Snowball, who lived near the end of the road. Edgar Road is quite a big street, with different types of houses on it, and that means we have a lovely mix of people and cats. As I walked past Tiger’s old house – would I ever stop thinking of it like that, I wondered – I saw Oliver, the Barkers’ new cat in the window, though he was not so new now. I felt a pang and, as if sensing this, he raised a paw at me. I greeted him and walked on. I was happy the Barkers had got a cat after Tiger, but I also found it hard – the dichotomy of life. I knew they gave Oliver a good home and he was a splendid cat. And, of course, every cat deserved a loving home, but it was still hard to have a reminder of Tiger being gone every time I passed.

I walked on, past the recreation ground where us cats met up, but no one was there. But then, the weather had turned quite horrible so my sensible cat friends were probably warm and cosy at home. I would see them soon though, I knew. We Edgar Road cats were quite the gang. I made it to Harold’s house, went round the back, and let myself in through the cat flap.

Harold wasn’t a fan when he first met us, but George saved his life and now he liked cats more than people. Especially now he had Snowball. It hadn’t been easy for us at first, me and Snowball. Not only were we trying to see where our feelings were – she was my first love, after all – but also I had been with Tiger in between and, on top of that, George took against her because he felt she was trying to replace his mum. It took us a while for us all to figure out our relationship but we did, eventually, and we were all happy together now.

This was illustrated by my finding George and Snowball together in the living room at Harold’s house. Harold sat in his favourite chair, watching some kind of war programme on the TV. Snowball was sat on one arm of the chair, George on Harold’s lap. They all looked so comfortable, I felt a pang. I stood and watched them for a moment, the two cats I loved so much together, and then Harold spotted me.

‘Ah Alfie, now I have a full house!’ He laughed. I jumped onto the other arm of his chair and lay down. None of us moved for a moment. We were there together and that was enough for now. More than enough, in fact, as we all purred with contentment.

Chapter Four

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By the time George and I returned home, the house was full again. I hadn’t had the chance to tell Snowball about Tommy yet; George was present, and I didn’t want to worry him until I had a chance to think it through a bit more – that was parenting for you. You tried to protect your children, although I had learnt you can’t protect them from everything.

We went through the cat flap and into the hallway where Pickles, Polly and Matt’s pug, waddled up and licked us both.

‘Oh, hey Pickles,’ George said, as he used his paw to wipe where Pickles had licked. I followed suit. Pickles licked everything and you could never be sure quite where that tongue had been.

‘How are you?’ I asked. My role with Pickles was like an uncle; he didn’t have dog parents, so I took the responsibility of being the non-human figure of authority very seriously. I’d known him since he was tiny, and often been in charge of looking after him, and I really was very fond of him. As was George, even though he didn’t always like to admit it. George saw him as an annoying younger sibling, I think. Pickles got me in a lot of trouble, but then most people and cats in my life did, so I was certainly used to it.

‘I’m so good,’ Pickles said, snuffling around to see if there was any stray food. I liked my food but I had nothing on Pickles. Polly was always putting him on a diet so he had to come up with more and more ways to sneak food. When it came to eating, there was no stopping him. ‘George, the kids are playing upstairs, will you come with me?’ Pickles asked, waggling his bottom with excitement. We could hear Toby, Summer, Henry, and Martha, laughing and shrieking.

‘OK.’ George tried to sound reluctant. He was so grown up now that he said the games they played with the younger kids were beneath him! However, I knew he secretly still loved it. I watched them both rush off then went into the living room where, to my delight, Polly, Franceska, Claire, and Sylvie were. Claire was clutching baby Theo, who seemed to be asleep.

‘I can’t believe he’s sleeping,’ Sylvie said, as if reading my mind. ‘He’s been terrible lately; I think it’s a growth spurt. Feeding all the time, not sleeping, it’s exhausting. If I knew that having a baby at my age would be so tough …’

‘You wouldn’t be without him though, would you?’ Polly asked.

‘No, of course not – I adore him. But Connie’s so much older, so I really had forgotten what it was like to have a newborn. Thankfully Marcus is great and supportive, but I’m conscious that he has to work.’

‘It’s a tough time, the first year,’ Claire said. ‘But also amazing. I sometimes look at Toby, who feels as if he’s been with us forever, and I feel guilty that I wasn’t the one to comfort him when he was this age.’ Claire sounded emotional. Toby was adopted by us when he was five. Wedon’t talk about his life before and neitherdoes he anymore. Now he’s been with us, such a huge part of our family for years, it’s as if he was always here. I kind of know what Claire means though.

‘Theo’s only three months old, remember,’ Franceska said. ‘Soon enough he will find his routine; babies do it in their own time. Goodness, not that I remember, my two are so growing fast.’ I glanced at Franceska and jumped onto her lap. She got her words a little bit mixed up when she wasworried. Perhaps I would hear more about the Tommy situation now. Franceska sighed.

‘Things still bad with Tommy?’ Polly asked.

‘Ah, yes. He’s always been such a naughty boy but mostly harmless. You know, so physical, unlike Aleksy, but sports seemed to keep him under control. But now he’s really playing up at school and we don’t know why. He doesn’t do his homework, he’s been in detention so many times and his head of year even called me and Tomasz in. He said he is not doing well in lessons and he’s becoming known as a trouble maker by the teachers. He has broken so many rules, I don’t think there’s many he hasn’t broken. Thankfully he hasn’t been fighting, but that seems to be the only thing he hasn’t done.’

‘Oh Frankie,’ Claire said. ‘Tommy’s a bright boy but he’s always been a little bit of a live wire. Do you think this might just be a phase?’

‘I hope so, but as Tomasz said, if he starts being in trouble all the time, how do we stop it? It’s hard, you know? Tommy’s always been a leader and he is being seen as the bad influence on his friends now; Aleksy told me this. He didn’t want to say too much because it would betray his brother. He also said he would try to talk to Tommy but I don’t think it’s done any good. They just argue about it all. Tommy says Aleksy is a “suck up” and Aleksy gets quite upset by him.’

‘You’ve already grounded him?’ Sylvie said.

‘Yes, and we took his phone and his iPad, and now he just says he hates us! I just don’t want my lovely boy to go off the rails.’

‘I’m sure he won’t – he’s got a good heart at the end of the day – but you know, maybe he still feels a little bit out of place … with us. He’s older than our lot, and Aleksy has Connie …’ Polly pointed out. This was true. Poor Tommy was a little bit on his own. We noticed this and I somehow managed to draw attention to it. He sometimes had a friend come with him, when we had family day, but not now, not when he was in trouble. He wasn’t allowed.

‘That is why we told him to invite a friend, but now he is grounded we said he had to improve his behaviour before his friends can visit again,’ Franceska said. ‘We really don’t know what to do for the best.’

‘Keep an eye on the situation, that’s all you can do. And if you need any help, we’re all here,’ Claire said.

‘Meow.’ I seconded that.

‘I know. I’m hoping that the next family day we have, maybe Jonathan can have a word. For some reason he seems to take to Jonathan.’ Yeah, I didn’t know why either.

‘I think it’s because they’re similar.’ Claire laughed. ‘But I have an idea. Tommy said he wants to work in the city, which he can only do if he does well at school. Maybe Jonathan could say that if he improves his grades he can do some work experience for him.’

‘That’s a genius idea, Claire,’ Franceska said. ‘I would be so grateful.’

You see, I had taught my humans well. Claire had almost as many good ideas as I did. Although, knowing Jonathan as I did, I wasn’t sure he’d be thrilled. He often found himself having to do things that he had no say in. But, I also knew that even if he objected there would be no point. When Claire made up her mind there was absolutely no changing it.

Tommy being in trouble was something I would have to ponder. He was a good boy. He was fun as well, always laughing and joking, and yes he didn’t love school the way Aleksy did and he didn’t find lessons easy either, but he had great potential. And I would not let Tommy ruin his life – not that he was going to, but if Franceska and his school were right, he was in danger of going down the wrong path and it would take a cat like me to get him back on the right one. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to do it alone, but I had my family, my cat friends, and I was determined. All I needed now was a plan, and I was very, very experienced when it came to making plans.

Theo woke up with a quite startling cry soon after, and Sylvie took him home in order to make Connie’s tea. Franceska reluctantly left us to go and deal with her family. I could see in the way her shoulders were slumped that she was seriously worried about her younger son. I nuzzled into her, giving her a bit of extra fuss so she knew that I was here for her.

‘Shall I do tea for the kids here?’ Claire offered.

‘Oh that would be fantastic. I’ll pour us a glass of wine shall I?’ Polly replied. The kids all got on pretty well most of the time. There was the odd squabble, but that was only to be expected. They all had tea together a few times a week, especially as Claire looked after Henry and Martha when Polly had to work late, and Matt couldn’t get home either. I loved how lively the house was, but it was also quite exhausting.

As George and Pickles and the children descended on the kitchen I watched my family with a mixture of love, pride and worry. We never stopped worrying about those we loved, that was for sure. As the children ate their tea with all the usual chatter and laughter, George and I sat in our basket in the kitchen, enjoying our family. Pickles lurked under the kitchen table, trying to pick up any scraps that were dropped, and Polly and Claire sipped glasses of wine. I wished I could press pause on our lives. Keep this snapshot for a bit longer, because it was truly lovely. And because sometimes life moved far too quickly.

George and the children were growing up fast, the adults trying to keep everything balanced– and I include myself in that by the way – and even Pickles wasn’t technically a baby anymore. At least we had baby Theo to keep us young, I guessed, but then we’d blink and he’d be a teenager. Oh listen to me, getting all maudlin. It was only because I was worried about Tommy, and once I started fretting I generally started worrying about everyone I loved.

That was the sort of cat I was.

I went out the front to take a bit of thinking time in the fresh, albeit damp and cold, air. I saw Aleksy and Connie standing at Connie’s front gate. I went to greet them.

‘Ah Alfie, I was just going home. I don’t want to give my parents any more grief,’ Aleksy said, petting me.

‘No, your brother’s doing quite enough,’ Connie added.

‘Meow.’ I’ve heard, I said.

‘At least we did get to the homeless shelter. Oh Alfie, it was so sad, so many people without homes,’ Aleksy said, still stroking my fur. I nuzzled. I had been homeless once, which seems like another life now, but, I understood.

‘Yes, we want to raise money for it. Not because of the school project but because Christmas is coming up and it’s tough enough being homeless at any time but imagine at Christmas,’ Connie added, sounding passionate.

‘Mew, mew, mew.’ I thought that sounded like a very good idea. Not that I had experience of raising money.

‘I knew you’d agree. Now we just have to think of an idea, because we don’t have one yet. But I better go. As I said, I don’t want Mum to worry about anything else.’ Aleksy bid me and Connie goodbye. He was a good kid, as was Connie. And they wanted an idea.

Well, they had come to the right cat.

Chapter Five

[Êàðòèíêà: img_6]

It was another family day, an unscheduled one actually. Sylvie wanted to host a lunch, which she hadn’t done since Theo was born, to sort of officially welcome Theo into our extended family. As far as I was concerned we already had, but if it kept Sylvie happy … Hana told George that Sylvie felt as if she had received so much support from us all since Theo was born, she wanted to thank everyone, so a Japanese feast it was. And I wasn’t too upset about that because the Japanese were huge fans of fish, just like me.

Sylvie’s house, which used to be very minimalistic, was full of baby stuff now. By the way, for something so small, babies seemed to need a lot of stuff. Not like kittens, kittens were easy by comparison. We cats are so self-sufficient, it’s a shame that humans can’t learn from us; believe me, I have tried to teach them. Dogs can’t learn that much either by the way. Trust me, we tried with Pickles.

I was hoping I might get a bit more information about the Tommy situation. Having reviewed all I knew so far, I had a number of conclusions. Tommy was a teenager and he was misbehaving at school and home. I loved Tommy as I loved all my children, and therefore I could not allow that to happen. However, at this point in time I had no idea what to do. The problem was I could feel trouble brewing. I could feel it in my fur.

Hana, George and I stand poised by the front door of Hana’s house to greet the families. George and I snuck over early, entering through the cat flap, because we were so excited. Hana’s house used to be a quiet and immaculate place but hurricane Theo had changed things somewhat. Now, there was baby paraphernalia all over the place, and it was also pretty noisy. Theo was a beautiful baby but he had a strong set of lungs on him.

On the upside, it was also a happier home now. They had had challenges when they first moved in. Sylvie and Connie arrived from Japan after an upsetting time– divorce. Connie struggled to settle in England, and worried about her mum, but then Sylvie met Marcus, and now they’re a family, which baby Theo helped to complete.

Hana took a bit of time to get used to life in Edgar Road too. In Japan her life was very ordered but in Edgar Road, well, let’s just say order isn’t something that we do very well.

Claire, Jonathan, Toby and Summer arrived first as they only had to come from next door. Claire made a beeline for baby Theo, practically grabbing him out of Sylvie’s arms, and Summer, who was fascinated by babies, and played with dolls a lot, attached herself to her mum’s side, begging for a hold. Sylvie, who is usually quite uptight, sat Summer on the sofa and said she could give Theo his bottle. Polly, Matt, Henry and Martha arrived next with Pickles, who was allowed to join us as long as he behaved himself. He never behaved himself, though, as he set about licking everyone. Martha immediately wanted a turn with Theo; this baby was in demand. Just as a row threatened to break out, Sylvie said there would be enough time for everyone to hold Theo. Poor thing, he was going to spend the day getting passed around like a parcel. It reminded me of when George was a tiny kitten. Everyone wanted him then, too. They lose interest when you get bigger. It’s a fact of life; I can tell you that from personal experience. Not a terrible one, I might add.There are benefits to not being manhandled all the time. Theo could look forward to learning that when he got a bit bigger.

‘Where’s my grandson?’ Harold boomed as he arrived with Marcus, carrying Snowball. I raised my whiskers at her, I was pleased to see her but we would wait to greet each other properly when she was on the floor. Harold treated Snowball as if she was his baby sometimes, even though she was a fully grown cat, like me.

Years ago now, Snowball and I had a rocky start to our relationship– for some reason she was immune to my charms – but I won her round eventually. And yes, I do have a few charms, I’ll have you know.

Harold put Snowball on the floor, and we rubbed noses.

‘Here, Dad, sit down and I’ll pass Theo to you,’ Marcus said. See, just like a parcel.

The doorbell went again and Franceska, Tomasz, Aleksy and Tommy were on the doorstep.

‘Sorry we’re late,’ Franceska sounded stressed.

‘It was this one’s fault.’ Tomasz gave Tommy a gentle push into the house.

‘I wanted to hang out with my friends, not be here,’ Tommy said, sounding surly.

‘Yowl!’ I chastised him. He rolled his eyes at me. Where was my fun Tommy? He went into the living room, sat in the corner and folded his arms. Goodness, he looked sulky, even worse than Summer did when she didn’t get her own way, and that was saying something.

‘I am so sorry,’ Franceska said to the other adults as they made their way into the kitchen. ‘But he’s impossible. He wanted his phone back but we had to stand our ground, so he won’t be good company today.’

Even the kids knew to give Tommy a wide berth as they looked at him suspiciously. Aleksy and Connie shrugged, but didn’t even try to speak to him. Only Pickles seemed oblivious as he went up and licked him. Tommy didn’t even acknowledge the poor dog, as he sat with a scowl on his face. Eventually Pickles got the hint and slunk away.

I noticed Franceska nudge Aleksy.

‘Tommy, why don’t you come with us, Connie’s got a new Xbox game.’ Aleksy was trying. He was being kind, just how I’d taught him.

‘Nah.’

Aleksy rolled his eyes at his mum and he and Connie went upstairs.

Apart from Tommy, it was a lovely, busy, cheerful family day. The kids played nicely, baby Theo seemed to enjoy the noise and the chaos, which was lucky as he would have to get used to it. The food was certainly delicious; Snowball, Hana, George and I had a feast. Poor Pickles was rationed though because, as usual, he was on a diet.

‘You know, it’s time to start thinking about Christmas,’ Claire said, as lunch finished and the kids went off to play. My ears pricked up at the word Christmas – it really was a wonderful time of the year.

‘Oh God, Claire, not yet, surely we get a few weeks more of normality before we mention the C-word,’ Jonathan retorted.

‘Bah humbug,’ Claire shot back. ‘And it’s practically November, or it will be next week.’

‘Claire is right, we need to be organised. Last year, there were lots of us, and this year there are even more to invite, because we have our Sunday Lunch Club,’ Franceska pointed out.

‘And, that’s a lot to cater for, so we need to plan it,’ Polly agreed. ‘Not just the food, but transport, presents … Wow, we do have a lot to think about.’

‘We can open up the restaurant for a big lunch,’ Tomasz offered.

‘But we should divide tasks, so that there’s not too much for anyone,’ Matt said, being sensible.

‘And as I’m at home at the moment, I’m happy to pitch in,’ Sylvie said. ‘Theo and I can do some baking or something like that.’

‘Right, so it’s settled,’ Marcus said. ‘We’ll have a big Edgar Road Christmas again, and as it’s Theo’s first Christmas, we’ll make it perfect.’

‘If we’re having it at the restaurant it won’t be on Edgar Road,’ Harold pointed out. Normally Harold didn’t like Christmas, but since meeting us, and having Snowball, he actually seemed to be changing his tune. If only Jonathan would do the same. ‘I can be in charge of the guest list, if you’d like. To make sure that no one we know is on their own on Christmas Day,’ he offered, a little bashfully. Harold wasn’t used to being helpful – even Marcus, his own son, said that, so this was new for him. I believed George could take credit for that change in him. With my help of course.

‘Great, so if we can only sort out that son of mine, we’ll be all good,’ Tomasz said, scratching his head. I felt sorry for him. Tommy and he had always been so close, both being into the same things, and having similar personalities. Aleksy was more like his mum, sensitive and serious.

‘I’ll have a word,’ Jonathan offered. ‘I’m not an expert at teenagers but it’s worth a go.’ I purred and rubbed his legs to show him I approved, although we all know that he was doing it because Claire had told him to.

I sneaked out to find Jonathan and Tommy in the back garden. Jonathan was clutching a bottle of beer, Tommy looked sulky.

‘Listen, mate, I don’t know what’s up with you but trust me, if you keep getting in trouble at school there won’t be a job in finance for you when you leave.’

‘I just don’t like school. They tell us what to do all the time and don’t even give us a chance to have any thoughts of our own,’ Tommy replied, looking at the ground. The most he’d said all day.

‘Mate, that’s life sometimes. If you want things you have to play the game.’

‘But why?’ Tommy asked.

‘You want a job like mine, right?’ Jonathan asked.

‘Yeah, I want to make loads of money and I really like the idea of working with stocks and shares, I even read about it,’ he mumbled.

‘So why the hell are you behaving like a jerk then?’ Jonathan asked. Not one to mince words was Jonathan, but in this instance I agreed with him.

‘I dunno,’ Tommy looked at the ground. ‘I guess I just get fed up with everyone telling me what to do like I’m some dumb kid.’

‘You’re behaving like a dumb kid,’ Jonathan pointed out. ‘Sort out your grades, sort out school and get your parents back onside and maybe, just maybe, I’ll get you some work experience in my office.’

Tommy’s eyes lit up. He looked really pleased and he even almost smiled.

‘Really?’

‘But you need to sort your act out first. Because I’m not going to help you until you start behaving yourself. Deal?’

‘Deal,’ Tommy said.

‘And if there’s more to it than just being a bit fed up with school or being a teenager, then you tell me. Don’t mess up your future, Tommy; honestly, it’s not worth it.’ Jonathan ruffled Tommy’s hair and then went back into the house. He looked relieved as he did so.

I felt, perhaps, that Tommy needed some support, rather than more telling off, so I went up to him, gently pawing him.

‘Ah, Alfie, sorry I didn’t make a fuss of you. I’m just so annoyed all the time. I don’t know why half the time either.’

‘Meow.’ I rubbed his legs. He was still my Tommy, but he was also a teenager and I knew, from experience, how terrible being a teenager could be. Not only for humans, by the way. When George had his teenage phase I despaired as he refused to tell me anything. Thankfully, it passed eventually, and I hoped that with Tommy it would do the same.

‘I just feel so angry and then I feel sad that I’m angry. I don’t like to push everyone away but I don’t know how to stop. Does it make sense?’

‘Meow.’ I let him scratch my head – I do love a head scratch. I understood poor Tommy didn’t mean to be horrible, but that was a teenage thing too. It might even be a medical condition – ‘being a teenager’ – but I didn’t know for sure. I’m a cat not a doctor after all.

‘I promise I’ll try harder,’ Tommy said, but his shoulders were slumped and he sounded sad. I cuddled into him as much as I could. He needed me, and I would be there for him. I tried to convey to him that he wasn’t alone because I could feel his loneliness. It might not have made any sense as he had lovely family and friends surrounding him, but then, life didn’t always make sense and feelings certainly didn’t either.

Chapter Six

[Êàðòèíêà: img_7]

Snowball and I were enjoying a bit of alone time in her back garden. It was quite rare, because Harold was a very needy human. He was quite old and had suffered ill health in the past, so it was understandable, and also George would often be around, or one of our other friends. But today Harold was at his senior centre, playing chess or cards, and George was with Hana, so we took advantage of a bit of time and space for ourselves. We appreciated it more because it was so unusual, I guessed.

‘Isn’t life funny?’ Snowball asked as she played with a pile of leaves. Like me, she was quite a philosophical cat. I think becoming a parent to George had made me think about things more deeply, for sure.

‘I know. When you left and moved away I thought I’d never see you again. And yet, here you are and I see you every day.’

‘Exactly. And although I will always miss my family a bit, I have grown very fond of Harold – even his snoring doesn’t bother me anymore – and I adore George. It’s also nice to be back with my other cat friends.’

‘It is. We never stop missing those we love,’ I added. I was speaking from experience here.

‘I know.’ We were both silent. ‘Hey, let’s be more cheerful. Race you to the rec ground,’ she shouted as she bounded off.

I chased after her, and was pleased to see our other friends there as we approached, slightly out of breath from our run. Nellie was playing in a bush, Elvis was licking his paws and Rocky was lying in a very rare sunny spot. We cats of Edgar Road tried to catch up regularly but with winter and the frequent rain, we didn’t always see each other as much as we’d have liked. No one liked having damp fur.

‘Snowball, Alfie,’ they greeted us.

‘What’s going on?’ I asked as I caught my breath.

‘Nothing much, it’s been so cold lately I feel that I’ve barely been out,’ Rocky said.

‘But, I have news. There’s a new woman moved in to one of the flats at the end of the road. I think where your families used to live,’ Elvis said, stretching his legs out.

When I first moved to Edgar Road, Tomasz and Franceska lived in the upstairs flat of one of the houses and Polly and Matt lived in the downstairs. They had separate front doors but it was a house split in two.

‘Does she have a cat?’ Always my first question.

‘No, it’s just her on her own. I thought I might take an interest as she would possibly be a candidate for your lonely club,’ Elvis explained.

‘It’s the Sunday Lunch Club,’ Snowball corrected.

‘Well, anyway, she looks about the right age, although maybe a bit younger than your Harold, I would guess, and she’s definitely on her own.’ Goodness, Elvis had done his homework.

‘Has Salmon’s family met her yet?’ I asked. Salmon was the neighbourhood watch cat, he knew everything that was going on. As did his family. Heather and Vic Goodwin ruled Edgar Road in many ways. They wore matching jumpers and were the busybodies (Jonathan’s word) of the street. Salmon usedto be our nemesis but we had all softened towards each other and found a way to be cordial nowadays.

‘Probably,’ Nellie said. ‘But I haven’t seen Salmon for a few days. If I do, I’ll see what I can find out, and you do the same,’ she suggested.

Salmon was useful for knowing all the comings and goings of Edgar Road– nothing seemed to escape his notice. We sometimes had to butter him up a bit to get the real gossip but I wasn’t averse to that.

We all spent some companionable time together, watching the world of Edgar Road go by. Snowball climbed a tree, Nellie chatting to her from the safety of the ground as she did so. Rocky closed his eyes and Elvis and I watched people go about their business. It was a pleasant time, but of course, it was soon time to leave. We had to before our fur froze. We spotted Sylvie pushing Theo in his pram up the road towards her house and I knew that was probably a sign that the humans would be returning from school, or work, or their chores, soon. Snowball and I took some privacy to say goodbye, because she wanted to make sure she was home to greet Harold when he got back, and then we took our leave.

When I first met Snowball I used to hate it when I wasn’t with her but then I was a very young cat in love. Now I’m grown up. I’ve lived through losing her, becoming a parent, falling for Tiger, losing Tiger, finding Snowball again … I’m far more realistic these days, steady and sensible in our relationship, because when I first met her it was all about the two of us – and the humans, of course – but now it’s about so many more people and cats, and we know that is part of our relationship. It’s funny how you change and evolve as you grow up.

I headed home and arrived to see George at the front door. He was waiting for the children to come home from school. They loved it when we greeted them on the doorstep for some reason. Today, Claire arrived with Pickles– Toby holding his lead, and Martha, Henry and Summer trailing him. It was one of Polly’s busy work days and Claire often picked the children up from school. She also dog sat Pickles a lot. In fairness, I had to dog sit quite a lot too. Dogs aren’t like cats; they hate to be on their own, andif left alone for too long Pickles managed to get up to all sorts. Only the other day Claire had to leave him here when she went to the supermarket and because George and I were out, he managed to chew one of Jonathan’s favourite loafers. Claire hid it at the back of the wardrobe, so I’m not sure Jonathan has noticed yet, but the rule now was that either a responsible adult or a responsible cat has to be with Pickles at all times.

‘George, can we play?’ Pickles asked as he was let off the lead once inside the house. The children, having made a fuss of us, had moved on to getting snacks.

‘OK, you hide.’ George loved playing hide and seek with Pickles, because he always won, which I don’t believe is in the spirit of the game, but there was no telling George that. I tried to suggest he let Pickles win sometimes but he refused, saying that Pickles needed to learn. It’s been over a year and he hasn’t got it yet so I’m not sure he ever will, but George is resolute. Hide and seek hasn’t always been a success – in fact, it has been quite treacherous in the past. Pickles once got stuck on the top bunk of Toby’s bed with no idea how to get down and he’s also been trapped in a cereal box, the cat flap, and once he even almost buried himself in the garden. But as long as he’s supervised when playing it’s normally OK.

Pickles went to hide behind the armchair (his favourite place), and George humoured him by looking everywhere else before he finally found him. George, when it was his turn, hid behind the living room curtain. I could barely watch as Pickles ran around the room trying to find him, and failed. George hid there nearly every time they played, but the poor dog just couldn’t get it. I never knew whether to laugh or cry. Instead, I gave up and went in search of adult company.

‘Hi Alfie,’ Claire said, picking me up and giving me a cuddle. ‘I’ve started making lists for Christmas. We both love Christmas don’t we?’ She set me down.

We do both love Christmas, the most wonderful time of the year. It’s a time for family, friends, happiness, and good food. I am partial to a bit of Christmas dinner, I cannot lie. I could feel Claire’s excitement, which was contagious. It wouldn’t be too long before the children were writing letters to Santa, the man who delivered presents, asking for whatever it was they would want this year. George and I were happy enough with the food but we always got a few cat toys and treats as well. But the fact we were all together as a family, the fact that we had each other, always struck me as the most important thing about Christmas. It was a time of year when I would definitely count my lucky stars – and there were a lot.

It was always welcome when we could start planning for Christmas. Normally it was December when the excitement really got going with trees, decorations, advent calendars, and events at school, but I was happy to get a bit of early Christmas spirit. What cat wouldn’t be?

Polly arrived after tea, taking her two reluctant children and an exhausted Pickles with her. I went to find George.

‘I heard that a new woman moved onto Edgar Road,’ I told him now we were alone. I didn’t want to mention it in front of Pickles, because I was going to suggest that George and I go and check her out and as Pickles absolutely couldn’t come with us, it didn’t seem fair to talk about it in front of him. Also, he had been known to follow us out and get us into trouble so possibly a good idea to avoid that.

But, I was suddenly nostalgic for the days when I visited Franceska and Polly’s flats, it seemed so long ago now. ‘Apparently she doesn’t have a cat, so maybe we should go and introduce ourselves?’ I was curious and, being a doorstep cat, I couldn’t help but be excited every time someone new moved onto the street. The first thing I would need to know was if they had a cat, and if they didn’t I would go and charm them. You never knew if they would have need of a cat or not. Most people did though.

‘Dad, it’s been a long day and I’m tired, but if you can wait I promise I’ll come with you in the morning, even before I go to see Hana.’

‘OK, it’s a deal.’ I tried to hide the disappointment I felt. But then George had pretty much always lived in this one house, and although he visited the others with me, he didn’t quite have the doorstep cat gene, so I tried to be understanding. And the morning would be fine because he was right, it had been a long day and we were all tired. But I was still feeling a little bit disappointed. I wasn’t known for my patience.

Later that evening, Claire and I were catching a few minutes’ peace and quiet and I was trying not to be too impatient, waiting for the following day. Jonathan was working late, the children were upstairs, ready but not in bed, and George was with them.

The doorbell went, startling me, and I ran to wait by it, because as far as I knew we weren’t expecting anyone. Claire opened it and Aleksy and Connie stood on the doorstep. I immediately jumped into Aleksy’s arms; it was just what I needed, another cuddle from someone who loved me. He also gave me a very nice head scratch.

‘Come in you two. Did I ask you to babysit?’ Claire asked, sounding confused. Aleksy and Connie were now old enough to babysit for Summer and Toby when Claire and Jonathan went out. They also did the same for Polly, and it was quite the money maker, according to Aleksy.

‘No,’ Aleksy said. ‘We wanted to talk to you about something.’

Claire led them into the kitchen, and I for one was eager to hear what they had to say.

‘So,’ Connie started. ‘We were wondering if we could ask your advice?’

‘Of course, on what?’ Claire’s eyes darted between the two of them.

‘So, you know how we were doing our school project on homelessness and we went to the local shelter? It gave us a real wake-up call about how bad the homeless situation in London is.’

‘It’s terrible, Aleksy, you’re right,’ Claire said.

‘And with Christmas coming up they need even more help,’ Connie said. ‘I mean now, even, as it’s winter. But Christmas makes having a home so much more important and not having one seem even more cruel. We wanted to get warm clothes, blankets, food, anything we could to help, you see.’

‘That’s so great of you. Homelessness is a huge problem in this country, not just in London.’ Claire looked concerned. It was hard enough being homeless as a cat, at least we have some survival skills, but imagine being a homeless human? I shuddered; it was a terrible thought.

‘But we can do something more to help as well, I think,’ Aleksy said. ‘We want to raise money.’

‘Like a big Christmas fundraiser to do something for the local shelter,’ Connie added.

‘That’s a wonderful idea. Where do I come in?’ Claire asked.

‘Meow.’ Where do I come in, I added.

‘Well out of all the adults you have the most time on your hands …’ Aleksy started. Claire narrowed her eyes. Oh boy. Because Claire didn’t technically have a job, a paying job, sometimes she felt undervalued. But she looked after two children, a house, two cats, a husband, Polly and Matt’s children part-time, and Pickles. She also shopped and made lunch for Harold some days, she coordinated most of the Sunday Lunch Club … She was incredibly busy and she worked very hard.

‘What Aleksy meant was that you used to work in marketing so we thought you might have the right expertise to help us.’ Connie managed to rescue things, phew. I noticed that she kicked Aleksy under the table. He turned a little bit red.

‘Yes, but Aleksy I don’t have much spare time, I’m so busy with the Sunday Lunch Club, the family, Pickles even, and we’ve got Christmas to organise … Anyway, of course I’ll help, it’s a great cause. What were you thinking?’

‘That’s the problem, we don’t have a good idea yet,’ Aleksy said. ‘We thought we could do a sponsored thing, maybe a sleep out, but then our parents wouldn’t like that.’

‘My mum would worry,’ Connie said.

‘Yes, she would,’ Claire agreed. Sylvie could be very overprotective.

‘Then we thought we could do something at school, but what?’ Aleksy added.

‘Yes, you see, we want to involve the community, really,’ Connie said. ‘But we don’t have many ideas that seem good enough.’

So, their big idea was that they needed a big idea, it seemed.

‘Meow,’ I said. They had come to the right place. Only I needed a bit of time to think about it. Although I had heard them talking about this the other day, with all that was going on, I’d forgotten, so now I needed to put my thinking cap on. Not literally. Not unless Doris knitted me one, anyway.

‘OK, why don’t you let me think about it for a bit, because I think it’d be great if you could do something,’ Claire offered.

‘The project at school was to raise awareness but we thought what if we do something that raises both awareness and money,’ Connie said.

‘I know, we really want to come up with something amazing,’ Aleksy said. I was so proud of these two, I purred at him to show him that.

‘Let’s brainstorm,’ Claire said, grabbing a pad and pen. She did love making lists.

‘Our first idea was doing something sponsored,’ Connie suggested.

‘But that’s not exactly exciting or different is it?’ Aleksy said. ‘I mean it’s not really very original.’

‘Meow.’ I didn’t exactly know what sponsored something was but it certainly didn’t sound as if it was quite good enough.

‘People do love a charity song,’ Claire said. ‘Remember Band Aid?’

We all shook our heads.

‘No of course not, before your time. But pop stars made this amazing song to raise money for famine in Africa. I’m sure there’ve been others, but that’s the one that springs to mind.’

‘Like the Children in Need songs,’ Aleksy said.

‘Yes, we could do a song.’ Claire nodded.

‘I actually can’t sing, or write music,’ Connie said. ‘I did learn the piano in Japan but I gave it up after coming here.’

‘No, I’m not exactly Beethoven either,’ Claire said.

‘And if we did a song, then how would we make it into a record and get people to buy it?’ Aleksy asked.

‘Yowl.’ I knew they weren’t quite on the right track. But it did get me thinking. Raising money for charity, the homeless, Christmas. There had to be something that would do all they wanted to do.

‘It’s impossible, we’ll never think of something that’s good enough,’ Aleksy said.

‘We will if we think about Christmas, how to raise money, and something we can all get involved in,’ Connie summed it up.

‘Of course we will,’ Claire reassured. ‘Look, let’s mull it over tonight and then get together after school tomorrow to see what we’ve come up with.’

‘Meow.’ That was fine, I had twenty-four hours to come up with the best idea ever.

While George and I paid our pre-bed visit to the garden I filled him in.

‘So, they want to raise money for charity?’ he asked.

‘Yes and it’s Christmas so I think we should have a Christmas theme,’ I explained.

‘And involve the community, like the Sunday Lunch Club has done?’ he said.

‘Yes. Oh what about we have homeless people come to lunch as well as our regulars?’

‘But Dad, you said that they’re raising money for the local shelter, which already feeds people,’ George pointed out. I was glad he’d been paying attention. ‘And they all go there for help already so we need to give them the money we raise.’

‘Oh yes, of course. Um, right, it’s harder than I thought.’

‘I know, Dad, but you’ll come up with something, you always do.’

‘Thanks son.’ I was so touched he had faith in me and I was determined not to let him down. I hoped that I would have a very good night’s sleep and then wake up full of inspiration. I was going to come up with the best ever idea, of that I was determined.

Chapter Seven

[Êàðòèíêà: img_8]

Iwoke early with excitement rippling through my fur, and as I opened my eyes and stretched, I remembered that we had a new friend to meet. I hoped that she had good taste in food, and also, as she was on her own, I hoped she wasn’t too lonely. But if she was she had come to the right road. We specialised in helping lonely people. I had been thinking about Aleksy and Connie and their idea for raising money, but I had to put it aside to make a new friend. I told myself I would go back to it later.

George actually saw it as his job. Last year I caught him visiting Harold when he was ill in hospital, and it turned out that whilst there he had managed to cheer up people who didn’t have any visitors and were feeling very down. He said it was his career. I managed to get him fired, with Pickles’ help – accidentally of course, as I was just worried about him, but that’s another story. The point was that George, who was very much my son, liked to reach out a helping paw to those who needed it and this woman, newly moved into our street and on her own, would probably be one of those people.

I was impatient as I waited for George to get up. He slept in Toby’s room, something he’d established when Toby first came to live with us and didn’t sleep well. Now, although Toby slept better than anyone else in the family, George still always slept in there, curled up at the end of his bed. It was very sweet.

I did my ablutions as I waited, tempted to wake George, but knowing it was too early for us to go anyway. You see, I might be a grown-up but I still got overexcited at times. There was a kitten in all of us, I believed. Finally, George emerged with Toby, who was rubbing his eyes. The house was about to spring to life, and the morning routine would begin.

‘Why can’t I find any socks?’ Jonathan shouted as he emerged from the shower.

‘They are all in your sock drawer,’ Claire replied, far more patiently than he deserved.

‘Mummy, I don’t feel well I think I better stay home from school,’ Summer groaned, as she did most mornings.

‘If you have all your limbs then you’re going to school,’ Claire replied. ‘Now both of you get dressed and then come down for breakfast.’

‘I can’t find my pants,’ Toby said.

‘They’re where they always are, Tobe,’ Claire replied. I honestly don’t know how she managed to keep so calm.

George and I headed downstairs for breakfast.

‘Right, can we go now?’ I asked after we’d eaten. I was bouncing around like a kitten. Not only did I want to avoid the chaos of the morning, which seemed to be ramped up today for some reason, but I was eager to go and check this new person out. I could barely contain myself.

‘She might not be up yet, it’s still early. Look, it’s even dark outside, Dad,’ George said. For once he was trying to contain me, rather than vice versa.

‘But we can stake the flat out, and then at least we’ll be ready for when she does emerge.’ I was pretty much an expert on people and knew that if, for example, the curtains were open or a light was on, she would be up. And even if she didn’t have a job, she would have to go out at some point. I was happy to wait for as long as it took.

‘Fine, but don’t expect me to hang around all day waiting for someone we don’t even know,’ George said. He was grumpy this morning, but I hoped he’d cheer up when we set off.

‘George, everyone is someone we don’t know until we meet them,’ I pointed out, but he just flicked his tail at me and stalked over to the cat flap.

It didn’t help matters that it was a particularly cold day as we made our way along Edgar Road. The cold wind was whipping our fur, and it was damp and dark. I couldn’t exactly use the weather as a good reason for us to be out this early. Even I was having trouble keeping my spirits up. I just hoped this new woman was worth it, otherwise I was pretty sure George would sulk with me for at least the rest of the day, if not the week.

‘If this woman turns out to be anything but wonderful, you know I’ll blame you,’ George said, echoing my thoughts.

The street was deserted, and although I could see lights on in some houses, people hadn’t yet emerged. Maybe I should have been a little more patient, I thought, as we reached the flat in question. I felt a pang of nostalgia as I always did when I saw it, thinking back to when I first met Franceska, and Aleksy, who was just a small child then, younger than Summer is now, and Tommy,who was still a toddler. And then Polly and Matt with Henry, who was a baby, not much older than Theo is now, I don’t think. Goodness, so much had happened between then and now, it struck me how full and wonderful my life had been and still was. In fact with each year it seemed to get fuller and more wonderful. I wasn’t a young cat anymore but there was plenty more lives left in me. Just look at Elvis; he was much older than me and still going strong.

‘What are you thinking about?’ George asked, clearly bored of sulking.

‘Just how much has happened since I first visited this flat, when Franceska and family lived here.’

‘Are you getting all soppy?’ George asked.

‘You know me so well, son. I know I always tell you stories about the past and you say that I go on and on, but it’s such a part of me, of all of us, and that’s probably why I do it so much.’

‘I understand. Now I’m a big cat I do, anyway. I remember when I first came to live with you and how much I loved it, and then when Toby came, and going on holiday and meeting Hana, Harold and the others. There is a lot in our lives to be grateful for …’

‘But?’ I asked, I could sense the sadness behind his words.

‘I still miss Tiger mum and I always will. When Harold was ill last year and I thought I would lose him too, I didn’t know how I would bear it. I was so happy when he got better. I’m so happy we have each other, you know – all of us – but I miss Tiger mum with every beat of my heart.’

‘Oh George, so do I. But we were so lucky to have had her in our lives.’

‘I know, but it doesn’t make missing her any easier, does it?’

‘No, I’m afraid it doesn’t.’ As much as we could say the right things about loss – you know, how it’s better to have loved and lost than never loved at all and that sort of stuff people always say – it doesn’t make it any better for the ones left behind. There are people and cats that I have had to say goodbye to in my life that I will never stop missing. I felt quite emotional as I gave George a nuzzle.

‘On a more cheerful note, we are here,’ George said, as we found a bush in the front garden of the flat to shelter in.

We staked the flat out for quite a while, before George nudged me and we looked at the front door opening. I sat up straight as a woman with short grey hair walked out. The evaluation of her seemed about right. She was fairly old, but not quite as old as Harold, it seemed, and she was wearing a big jumper, and trousers. She was also carrying a bin bag, which explained why she had emerged. George and I looked at each other. It was our cue.

‘Meow,’ I said approaching her.

‘What on earth?’ She spun round, almost bashing me with the bin bag. Lucky I ducked out of the way. I felt bad, I had obviously startled her.

‘Meow,’ George said, joining us, turning on his charm.

She looked at us as if she wasn’t quite sure what we were. George and I exchanged glances as the woman stood still, staring at us. What was going on?

‘Get out of my garden,’ she shouted, eventually, putting the bin bag down on the ground, precariously close to my tail. George took a step back but I stayed where I was. When George first met Harold he kept telling him to go away, but George won him round in the end, so I wasn’t too worried. Instead of moving, I purred at her.

‘You horrible stray cats, what are you doing here, clawing around my bins? I’m going to call animal control and have you taken away.’ She didn’t look or sound very friendly. The opposite, in fact.

‘Yowl!’ I objected. How on earth could she mistake us for strays? Me with my fine grey fur and George with his lovely, bright ginger-ish coat? We were absolutely nothing like stray cats. Not that I have anything against strays, I might add – I was homeless myself for a while, if you remember.However, I certainly didn’t look my best then, and the point was that I was affronted by this woman. How dare she criticise us like that.

‘Meow,’ George said, putting his head to one side, and looking his cutest. Surely she couldn’t resist us now?

She picked the bin bag up and before we knew what was happening, she started swinging it at us.

‘Yowl!’ I said as it caught my tail. I looked at George, telling him, with my eyes, to run. He didn’t need to be told twice.

We both turned to escape. The woman was chasing us, swinging the bag at us and shouting. We got to the kerb, where would we go now? She was gaining on us, looming over us. All I could see was a big shadow. I was terrified of what might happen if she caught us.

‘We have to try to cross the road,’ I managed to say, my breath shallow. We looked – there was a car not far away – and I hoped we could make it. We had no choice. ‘As fast as you can,’ I added.

‘I’ll get you for trespassing,’ the woman screeched and we both took off across the road. I let George go ahead, I was his father, so I had to protect him, but as George ran as fast as he could, I stayed pretty much on his tail. A horn beeped as the car swerved, narrowly avoiding us. I could hear the roar of the engine and the pitch of the beep in my ears as we kept going.

Finally, we made it to the safety of the pavement on the other side of the road. I stopped and looked back across. She was waving her fist angrily at us, but thankfully she didn’t attempt to follow as there were more cars around.

We both lay on the pavement, panting. I couldn’t get the sound of the car out of my head, or the sound of her shouting. George lay still for quite a while. It had been a very close call.

‘Not a cat fan then?’ George said, when he finally got his breath back.

‘Seems not. Home?’ I said, dejectedly. I was filled with disappointment. I was pretty annoyed about being chased with a bin bag, and almost being hit by a car, but I didn’t want to upset George anymore, so I thought I would play the incident down.

‘I think I’ll go and see Hana, if that’s OK?’ George said. ‘After being attacked by a mad woman, then almost getting run over, I need cheering up.’

‘’Course.’ I felt guilty, it was my fault that that had happened at all. I tried to keep George away from danger but I had unwittingly led him to it yet again. ‘And remember when we’re walking down the street to give that flat a wide berth,’ I added seriously.

‘So you don’t think it’s worth trying to win her round?’ George asked. I wasn’t sure if he was being sarcastic or not. I wasn’t taking any chances though.

‘George, when Harold was telling you to go away he never threatened you with the cat warden or a bin bag did he?’

‘No.’

‘Right, so let’s not try to win her round, we might not come out of it in one piece. It’s not worth the risk, son.’

I was a very persistent cat, but, I had enough people in my life not to need one like that. I wasn’t going to take any risks with that woman. Oh no, she was definitely off my Christmas card list. Not that I had one, of course.

Chapter Eight

[Êàðòèíêà: img_9]

Iwas still fretting about our encounter when I got home, leaving George to go next door. I felt a bit unsettled still– one of those moods where you don’t exactly know what to do with yourself. Do you go visit friends who might cheer you up, do you spend the time pondering why it is you feel so fed up? Or do you take a nap? I stretched. I decided to take a nap. I had been up very early after all. A nap it was.

I was shaken from my nap some time later with an almighty thud. I opened my eyes to find Pickles had jumped into my basket and was almost squishing me. He was quite a weight, let me tell you.

‘Pickles, it’s lovely to see you but please get off,’ I asked, as nicely as I could. He shuffled a bit so he was no longer crushing me but we were both still squashed up. He licked me.

‘Claire’s going shopping and she said you were in charge of me.’

‘Oh I must have been sound asleep because I didn’t hear her leave, or you arrive,’ I said.

‘You were snoring,’ Pickles said.

‘I don’t snore,’ I replied.

‘Well it sounded like it. Anyway, where’s George?’

‘I think he’s with Hana.’

‘Boring. So you’ll have to play with me.’

‘Right.’ I tried not to sigh. ‘So what are we playing?’

‘Ball.’

I was pleased with this. One of Pickles’ easiest activities – by that I mean one where he can rarely get into trouble – was ball. I would push a ball with my paw in the hallway, he would run after it, fetch it, and bring it back to me. He could play this for hours and although it was a little boring for me, I didn’t mind. It would give me time to think about the horrible lady at the end of the street, to think about Tommy, and to think about what I was going to do about it all. At the moment, I had nothing. Just hope that the talk Tommy had with Jonathan the other day would have an effect. That the woman at the end of the street wouldn’t be a problem if we kept out of her way. That Pickles would get fed up with playing ball before my paw really began to ache … Why on earth didn’t I hold out much hope for any of that? While Pickles was distracted with the ball, I jumped up onto the hall table, for a break. I noticed that there were various flyers with pictures of food on, and one which I knew was for a Christmas pantomime because Claire had put it there, saying that she needed to book. I wasn’t sure exactly what it was, but I did know it was some kind of show that happened every Christmas and the kids loved it. I wished for a moment we could go, but we were never invited.

‘Alfie, ball,’ Pickles said. And I jumped down. Sore paw or no sore paw, Pickles wasn’t going to let me off the hook for long.

Claire took Pickles out for a walk, and Snowball came to surprise me. Clearly I wasn’t going to get much rest today, not that I minded one bit.

‘I wasn’t expecting you,’ I said, nuzzling her.

‘Harold had some appointment and Sylvie’s taking him so I thought I’d visit.’

I filled her in about our near miss and also about Aleksy and Connie’s idea.

‘You need to keep away from that woman,’ she said.

‘I will and also when I have some energy I’ll warn everyone else about her,’ I added. ‘But let’s focus on Aleksy and Connie. They’re coming over later and they’ll probably be expecting an idea.’

‘Think about it, Alfie. Christmas, what does it mean to you?’

‘Ah, you are doing that thing Claire does. You know, brainstorming,’ I said.

‘Yes, I certainly am,’ she replied.

‘OK. It means nice food, family, friends, happiness, keeping George and Pickles away from the Christmas tree and the tinsel, presents, Santa, and everyone being together.’ I think I’d done a pretty good job of summing it up.

‘Right, so let’s try to get those into an idea. Being together is a good one.’

‘Oh I see, like if you get loads of people into one place to raise money.’ I suddenly felt excited as the ideas began to trickle into my brain. Everyone together. The community as a whole. Of course, that was what was needed. ‘Do you mean an event?’ I asked.

‘Oh yes, an event. Like the Christmas Nativity at school – everyone goes to that. In fact, the children love it and the adults do too,’ Snowball pointed out. ‘Although it’s usually done by the younger children isn’t it?’

How she was an expert on the Nativity, I didn’t know.

‘George told me about how the other year Tommy put him in a manger at the kids’ school Nativity and how he and you have been banned from going since,’ she explained.

Ah, that was how. But she was right, it was for younger children. But it didn’t have to be, did it? It wouldn’t even have to be at the school at all.

‘I’ve got it,’ I said. ‘How about a Christmas show for the community to raise money for the homeless shelter? What a brilliant idea.’ If I did say so myself. Although my fur fizzed with excitement at the idea, I was unsure how we would actually do it.

‘Wow, it is, although we might need a few more details,’ Snowball said.

‘No, what we need is to pass this idea to the humans and once we’ve done that they can come up with details. I mean, details are not what this cat should be concerned with. Gosh I still have it! I’m still an ideas genius.’ I did a little spin, I was pretty pleased with myself.

‘And as modest as ever,’ Snowball replied. ‘But you have to convey the idea to the humans now and you know that’s a whole other problem.’

‘Leave it with me, I’ll come up with something.’ I wasn’t going to tell her that I didn’t have a clue how to do that. I had got a bit carried away with talk of the show, and Christmas songs and someone being Santa and a part for me and George and even Pickles, Hana, and Snowball …

Now for the logistics. I needed to give them the idea of putting on a show but how? I started thinking, then had a flash of inspiration. I remembered seeing the flyer for the Christmas pantomime on the hall table, when I was playing with Pickles. And although I didn’t know what it was, I did know it was a show that happened at Christmas. So if I could somehow get her to link that to an idea for a show, it might just work. All I had to do was push the leaflet under Claire, Aleksy and Connie’s noses somehow. I hoped they didn’t think I meant for them to do an actual pantomime, because clearly someone was already doing that.

‘Aha, I’ve got an idea.’ I explained it. It didn’t sound like my strongest one when I said it out loud but, again, it was all I had.

‘It might work but it’s a long shot,’ Snowball said.

‘Honestly, you have no faith in me. I will make it work. It’s the best idea I’ve got anyway.’

‘Alfie, it’s the only one you’ve got,’ Snowball pointed out.

Ready to put my plan into action, I jumped up onto the hall table and meowed loudly, hoping that Claire would come to see what was going on. But when she finally came into the hall she was on the phone and she shushed me, walked into the living room and closed the door. I knew from experience that getting the attention of humans, when you wanted to show them something they needed to see, wasn’t always easy. I pushed it with my paw onto the floor and decided to stay with it, one paw on the bottom of the leaflet until she reappeared and noticed. But when she came out of the living room, she barely gave me a second glance before she dashed out of the house, saying she was late for Harold. So, was I going to wait there with the leaflet until she came back? No, I was not. I needed a new idea.

I was lying in my basket in the kitchen when George appeared. I told him of my plan.

‘I love the idea of the Christmas show but do you think if you shove the flyer in front of her she’ll get it?’

‘’Course, Claire’s clever.’ I began to have doubts, but still, I had nothing better.

‘Well, you said that Aleksy and Connie are coming over after tea to come up with ideas, wouldn’t it be better if you got them all to see it?’ George said. ‘Then it’s more likely that one of them might understand.’

‘Clever, just like your dad. Yes, of course, if they all see it someone will definitely get it. But how? I’ll have to pounce as soon as they come in.’

‘Or you could find a way to get the leaflet to them – you know, when they sit around the kitchen table,’ George suggested. He was examining his paws. I got the feeling that he was trying to teach this old cat new tricks.

‘But how? Pushing it all the way from here to the kitchen with my paw will be quite exhausting.’ I had done this before, but it wasn’t easy. You see we cats did have our limitations. ‘And how would I even pick it up?’ My mind was whirring, trying to figure out the logistics.

‘Can’t you try carrying it in your mouth the way Pickles carries his ball, or Dustbin carries a mouse?’

I considered it. I had once carried some of Polly’s best flowers in my mouth when trying to woo Snowball. That hadn’t gone well, but I had managed and for a lot further than the hall to the kitchen. It wasn’t the worst idea, I decided, but then …

‘How will I pick it up from the floor?’ I asked George. I felt as if I should have all the answers but I didn’t. My kitten, it seemed, did.

‘Slide your paw under it like this.’ He demonstrated. His paw lifted up a bit of the piece of paper, and he bent down and picked it up in his mouth.

‘I’d have figured it out eventually,’ I muttered.

‘’Course you would have, Dad,’ he said. ‘But I do have youth on my side.’

I tried not to take offence. I also tried to copy what he’d done, but it wasn’t anywhere near as easy as he made it look. I was getting frustrated and George was trying not to laugh at me. First the flyer kept sliding away from me, and then when I did manage to elevate it slightly I couldn’t grip with my mouth. I even managed to bang my head on thefloor, which hurt.

‘I just can’t seem to do it,’ I said.

‘Dad, you never give up. Look, I’ll talk you through it.’

After a bit more (annoying) coaching from George, I used my tongue and ta dah! I did it. The leaflet was a little bit soggy from all my attempts, and my head was a bit sore, but I felt confident that when the time came I would be able to do this again.

‘Teamwork,’ I said to George. Although I wasn’t sure that it was, actually. More of an old cat struggling to learn new tricks. But if it worked, it would be worth it, I kept having to tell myself that.

‘Teamwork, Dad,’ he replied. ‘And now I’m going to see if I can get a snack. Trying to teach you has made me very hungry. And after I’ve eaten, I’m going to see Harold.’ I lay down on top of the leaflet. I was exhausted, too tired to try to get to my basket, so I just shut my eyes.

I heard the door open, which woke me, and I sat up to see Claire come in alone.

‘Hi Alfie,’ she said. ‘Polly and Matt are taking the kids out for tea tonight, to give me a bit of a break, and also as a treat for them.’ She smiled. I could see sometimes that Claire got tired, and as she worked at home, she didn’t have much time to herself. Claire might be the only onewho didn’t have an official ‘job’ but she worked harder than anyone, as far as I could see.

‘Meow.’ You deserve it.

‘And Connie and Aleksy will be over soon to talk about their fundraiser. I hope they’ve come up with some ideas, because I have to admit I haven’t really got any. Goodness, there’s so much to do, but I really don’t want to let them down.’

‘Meow.’ Don’t worry, I had it all in paw.

My plan now ready, I stayed in the hall to wait for the right time. It felt like ages, but then I was impatient, so it probably wasn’t. I really wanted to get going with this, not only because I was a little nervous about making it work, but also because the more I thought about it the better it sounded to my ears. I shuffled around, unable to sit still, willing them to hurry up.

Eventually, the doorbell rang and I started to get ready. Aleksy and Connie walked in, gave me a quick fuss before following Claire into the kitchen. It was my cue. I managed to get the leaflet into my mouth on the third try– definite improvement – and I walked slowly to the kitchen with it in my mouth. I had to be careful not to drop it, and although it was a bit bigger than I would have liked and meant I could barely see over it, I finally made it. As I approached the table, I misjudged and banged into the tableleg, and I nearly dropped the leaflet, but managed to keep hold of it. My poor head would have two bumps on it, possibly.

‘So, you haven’t got any ideas?’ Claire was asking, as I turned myself and got ready to jump up.

‘No, we’ve been thinking and thinking. We don’t want to do anything sponsored, as that’s normal, and we want to get people involved. Our aim is to raise money so they can have a nice Christmas dinner and get some warm clothes and sleeping bags maybe … We need something good to raise enough money and get many people involved.’ Poor Aleksy sounded dejected.

‘Yes, we want everyone at the shelter to have proper treats at Christmas, to give them something to look forward to, or as much as they can when they’re homeless,’ Connie added. ‘Also, we thought we could help raise awareness at the same time.’

‘Of course, it’s such a lovely idea. I feel terrible that I haven’t got a good idea for you, but I’ll keep thinking about it.’ Claire sounded a little upset now. It was my cue. I steadied myself and jumped on the table, nearly but not quite dropping the leaflet. When I reached the middle of the table, I let the leaflet go and it fluttered down looking a bit worse for wear. I hoped it would still work. The best thing was that finally I could feel my tongue again as I licked my lips, and rubbed my head with my paw.

‘What is this?’ Claire asked, picking it up. ‘The flyer for the pantomime? Why on earth have you brought this here, Alfie?’

‘Oh, maybe Alfie is trying to tell us something,’ Aleksy said, stroking me.

‘Meow.’ Of course I am. Even after all these years my humans could be a little slow on the uptake.

‘You want to go to the pantomime?’ Claire asked. See what I mean?

‘Yowl.’ No.

‘You want us to do a panto?’ Aleksy asked. I tried to move my head a bit, but it still smarted.

‘It would be far too hard,’ Connie said. ‘And anyway there’s loads of them around, so why would anyone come to ours?’

‘Meow, meow, meow.’ Honestly, I couldn’t spell it out any more than this. I did a spin on the table, not sure why but I was frustrated.

‘What about a show?’ Claire said.

‘Purr. Purr.’ Yes!

‘You mean a Christmas show?’ Aleksy said.

‘Purr.’ Now we were talking.

‘For the local community, with everyone involved?’ Connie added.

‘MEOW.’ Finally.

‘Oh what a fabulous idea,’ Claire said. ‘We could have Christmas songs …’

‘And what about a grown-up Nativity, that could be a good idea?’ Aleksy chipped in.

‘And maybe carols, and all the children can be involved, and we can ask at school …’ Connie sounded excited.

‘We could sell tickets, and make posters advertising it.’

‘I think it’s a brilliant idea. Of course it should be a Christmas show.’ Claire sounded excited. ‘It’s perfect, in fact.’

‘But where would we have it?’ Aleksy asked. ‘And what about the cost?’

‘Leave that to me,’ Claire said. I lay down, relieved. They had got the idea, they liked it and now it was going to hopefully come to life. I wondered what part I would play, and George and Snowball, too, of course. And maybe Hana would be involved. It would be a real family affair and I loved the idea that we’d get to all work together on it. After all, we were a big part of this community. I could see it bringing everyone together in the most wonderful way.

I listened with one ear open as they chatted around some ideas, it seemed they were really getting it now.

‘Yes there’s a lot to do,’ Aleksy said, after they’d chatted for a while. ‘But maybe if we make a list we can do it.’

‘How about you and Connie be the directors?’ Claire suggested. ‘And if you want to do the Nativity you could even write a script so it will be new and original?’

‘Good idea,’ Connie said.

‘We could ask the school to support us as well,’ Aleksy suggested.

‘Now that is a good idea,’ Claire said. I agreed.

‘And we could hold auditions, which would be really fun!’ Connie added, excitement audible in her voice.

I loved the way they were all thinking and coming up with ideas, and I was so proud of Aleksy and Connie. Teenagers get a bad rap (and yes I am guilty of that), but Aleksy and Connie were doing something good, rather than just worrying about themselves. They were being so unselfish, helping others. I had taught them well.

‘We’ll need to do lots of social media,’ Connie said. I climbed onto Aleksy and nuzzled into his neck. As they continued to chat away about the show, I could see it in my mind. I lay down in Aleksy’s lap. My work was done and yet another plan was now underway.

Chapter Nine

[Êàðòèíêà: img_10]

The next few days proved a whirlwind for my humans and me. As the show was my idea, I felt as if I had to be involved in everything. And as Claire pointed out, we didn’t have any time to lose. As it was a Christmas show, it really only gave us just less than a month to hold auditions, build sets, and get everything ready. If we were able to pull it off, it would mean a lot of hard work for everyone involved. And of course, that meant very hard work for me.

It seemed that there were a lot of issues we needed to address. Firstly, my idea might have seemed simple, but it was not. As soon as they understood my vision, they then began questioning everything, which in turn made me question everything.

‘Do you think we have enough time?’ Claire said, when she told Jonathan. ‘It’s nearly November, and we’ll need the show to be on just before Christmas so that doesn’t give us a lot of time to find a hall, write the show, rehearse, sell tickets …’ She chewed her lip anxiously.

‘It is ambitious. But there are a lot of us,’ Jonathan said supportively, which I was pleased about. He wasn’t always so keen to take on our projects. ‘We can all muck in and help. Write a list – you’re really good at them – and we can take it from there.’

Claire made a list, which she talked about to me a lot. The first thing we needed to do was to find a venue. We needed a hall which could accommodate a lot of people, had a stage, and was free, because we couldn’t spend money when the aim was to raise it. I didn’t understand everything but as Connie, Claire, Aleksy and I sat around our kitchen table trying to come up with something, I had to admit it made me a bit nervous.

Claire called a number of people, but there was always a problem. Aleksy asked at school but they weren’t allowed to let him use their hall for anything which wasn’t related to school. There were insurance problems, apparently.

Franceska offered the use of the restaurant but then realised that it was busy so how would they rehearse there, even if they closed it off for the show. Tomasz asked everyone who came to dine at the restaurant but it seemed there was nowhere we could use. I had a terrible feeling in my fur that the show might be over before it even began. I hated the thought that one of my ideas might fail. They never did. Or almost never, anyway.

We were all feeling a bit dejected when Matt turned up at our house with Pickles and started babbling.

‘Slow down, Matt,’ Claire said. ‘I can’t understand a word you are saying.’

‘There’s a hall, I just found it. Edgar Road Parish Hall, it’s tucked behind the end of the road not far from here. It’s a bit neglected but come on, come look.’ He was breathless but excited. Could this be it?

‘How did you find it?’ Claire asked as she grabbed a coat and left the house, shouting to Jonathan to mind the kids. Of course I followed her.

‘Polly is making me take Pickles for longer walks to try to get him to lose some weight, and I was just doing that really. I managed to look through one of the windows and it’s a bit dusty but it looks as if it might fit the bill.’

‘Oh Matt, if you’re right then you’re the hero of the hour.’

I wondered how I had never noticed the hall before; it wasn’t a long walk to get there, and it was tucked away past the park we used to go to a lot when the children were younger. And George too actually. We went there sometimes still, but to be honest, not as much as we used to. I remember when Summer was a baby we would go with Henry and Martha, hauling prams and pushchairs, and have picnics with Claire and Polly. Those were the days before George of course, and goodness how it felt like a long time ago. George was right, I was a pretty nostalgic cat these days. In my early days in Edgar Road I had even fallen into the pond at the park – I was admiring my reflection – and Matt had to save me. Goodness, I’d almost forgotten about that.

The building was near the church and Matt said that as it was a parish hall it probably belonged to the church, which was a good thing, as churches were known for charity.

We had a good look around and I was able to jump onto one of the lower window sills and look through a very big window. It was dirty, though, as Matt had said, so we were limited in what we could see. Inside was big, there were chairs stacked up and I thought I could make out a stage. It was dark as well, and clearly needed a good clean.

Claire had gone from despondent about the show to buoyed up, as had I. She said she didn’t want to speak about it to Aleksy and Connie though until she had tracked down the vicar. That necessitated a trip to the church the following day, but if he agreed it looked as if the show might be a go after all. I had my paws firmly crossed.

Being an optimistic cat, I decided to get George, Hana and Snowball on board now. Although they knew about my idea, and had agreed to be part of it in theory, they, like everyone else, weren’t sure it would actually happen. Our other Edgar Road friends were shyer than us and didn’t want to be part of a show, and of course Dustbin and Ally would rather be in the yard, but the four of us were willing to take centre stage. I knew we wouldn’t have talking parts – I did accept I was a cat after all – but we could definitely be very important members of the cast. However, first we needed to secure that venue.

I woke up feeling tense the following day. Claire was going to find the vicar after she dropped the children off at school, and I didn’t go with her because it was pouring with rain, which meant she had to take the car. All I could do was wait and pace the floor until she returned.

It felt like hours before I heard the key in the lock. Claire rushed in, picked me up and spun me around.

‘We can use the hall! Matt is a genius, and you’re a genius, Alfie, and I can’t wait to tell Aleksy and Connie.’

I purred my delight. This was turning out to be a very good day.

Claire arranged to visit the hall with Aleksy and Connie after school. It did have a stage, as I suspected, but it wasn’t really used much nowadays. Ralph, the local vicar, told Claire that with dwindling congregation numbers and lack of funds, the hall was used less and less. But, not only was he keen for the hall to be used for something big like this, he also was a keen supporter of the shelter. Claire said that, in a way, us having a show there might put it back on the map, and make it a very valuable community asset. Not that I quite knew what that was. Ralph and Claire agreed to work together to make the show a possibility. And Ralph said he would not only ask for volunteers to help clean the hall up – after all, it desperately needed it – but also he and his church goers would get involved in the show.

Today we were going to have a look at the hall. When I say we, I mean Claire, Connie, Aleksy and myself. I invited George and Snowball along but it was cold, so they passed and said they would be just as happy with me telling them about it. Honestly, it was lucky that I wasn’t a fair weather cat like them, we would never get anything done.

We met Ralph, who wore a collar around his neck– a bit like a cat collar. I recognised this as a sign he was a vicar. I had seen one before, after all, having been to church for Claire and Jonathan’s wedding, a long time ago.

‘Hi, this is Aleksy and Connie,’ Claire said.

‘Meow.’

‘Oh yes, and Alfie.’

Ralph didn’t seem to notice me.

‘We don’t get many requests for the hall these days, as I said,’ he explained. ‘It’s a shame that it’s going to waste. We used to have some local groups come here and the school used to use it but now they’ve got a new school hall, they don’t anymore.’

‘It’s amazing,’ Claire said. ‘Such a waste of a great space, maybe after the show there’ll be more events on here.’

‘That would be great,’ Ralph said. We were still standing at the door, freezing and getting wet.

Claire shivered.‘Can we go in?’

‘But that’s a cat,’ he said, pointing at me.

‘Yes, that’s Alfie, he likes to come with us.’ Aleksy said it as if it was perfectly normal, which it was, of course.

‘I don’t think we normally have cats in here,’ Ralph said, narrowing his eyes at me. ‘But OK, then, come on in.’ He bent down to give me a stroke, so I decided I did like Ralph the vicar.

As he opened the door we all gasped. The big hall was still a bit dusty and gloomy, but we could see where they had started cleaning it and the stage at the front would be perfect.

‘Wow, this will be perfect,’ Aleksy said, echoing my thoughts.

‘Look at all the chairs stacked,’ Connie pointed them out. ‘We can have loads of people come and watch.’

It was much bigger than it looked from outside as Ralph gave us a tour. There was a small kitchen where Claire said they could sell mince pies and mulled wine, which would also raise money. I snuck behind the stage where there was an enormous cupboard layered with dust and cobwebs, which held all sorts of things. I started to explore and startled as I came eye to eye with a person lying on the ground. I stopped, and backed away as quietly as possible.

‘Yowl!’ Something fell on me. It wasn’t heavy but as I wriggled out from under it, I could taste dust in my mouth. It wasn’t the nicest taste ever.

‘Meow!’ I shouted, and Aleksy and Connie came running.

‘Oh God, Alfie, you are covered in cobwebs and dust,’ they said, as I tried desperately to get the worst of it off me with my paw.

‘Oh look, it’s a dummy,’ Connie said, picking up the ‘person’ who scared me. Well, obviously now I could see it wasn’t real.

‘Look Claire,’ Aleksy shouted and Claire came to join us.

‘Amazing’ she said. ‘It looks like there might be things we can use for the sets here. Would that be OK, Ralph?’

‘As far as I’m concerned, you can use anything here. So this show, what exactly is it about?’ he asked.

‘We don’t know just yet but we thought we’d have Christmas songs, maybe the Nativity – but with adults – and carols of course. As long as it fits the Christmas theme we could have a variety of acts; a real family show,’ Connie said, looking at her feet and blushing. She could be shy around people she didn’t know.

‘And who’s going to be in it?’ Ralph asked.

‘Meow.’ Me, of course.

‘Um, well, we are going to hold auditions,’ Aleksy said. ‘If you’re interested?’

‘I might well be. We have a small but pretty good choir at our church, I’m sure they would all love to get involved.’

‘Great, when we’ve got the posters and the date for the audition we’ll let you know,’ Claire said.

‘We’d love that. And here’s two sets of keys for you. You can use the hall whenever you like, as no one else uses it at the moment.’

‘We’d love you to be involved,’ Claire added. ‘We’re so grateful for this, by the way. Thank you again.’

There was still no mention of what I would be doing but I knew it was only a matter of time.

After we’d finished at the hall I went home with Connie to see George and Hana, and fill them in on the day’s events.

‘I’ll be in the show,’ Hana said. ‘I said no at first because I’m a bit shy but as it is Connie’s show, I feel that I should get involved.’

‘Great, I’m sure the four of us will get some kind of starring role,’ I said. ‘I don’t know what, but we are bound to steal the show.’

‘Well, Hana, Dad, remember I have the only stage experience among us.’

‘What?’ I asked.

‘I was the baby Jesus in the school Nativity a few years ago so I can give you advice on stage presence and how to get over stage fright. I am something of an expert after all.’

‘Wow, that’s impressive George,’ Hana said.

I shook my tail. Tommy put George in the manger of the school Nativity where he fell asleep and woke up, forgetting where he was, and jumped out, making a racket. That was the sum of his experience. It hardly made him Oscar-worthy but, then, I wasn’t going to tell him that. I would let him have his moment as Hana was hanging on his every word.

‘I guess I’m too old to be baby Jesus this time?’ George said, sounding disappointed.

‘They’ll probably use Theo, seeing as he’s a real baby,’ I pointed out.

‘Yes, I’ll have a more grown-up part then. But, don’t worry Hana and Dad. As I said, I’ll help you both.’

‘Thanks son,’ I said. Honestly, was he ever going to let up with this stage business? Knowing George, probably not.

Theo let out a loud cry just then and Sylvie brought him to where we were chatting.

‘Ah, all the cats. Right, well, guys I am going to take Theo round to Claire’s. Being at home all day is sending me crazy.’

‘We might as well stay here then,’ George said, after she’d gone. ‘Our house will be really noisy now,’ he finished.

‘I better go,’ I said. ‘I promised Snowball I’d let her know how we got on today.’ As much as I was disappointed to miss George’s acting lesson …

‘Don’t worry, Hana, I can give you plenty of acting tips.’

I got soaked to the skin again as I made my way to Snowball’s house. Honestly, the things I did for love. But thankfully, when I got to Harold and Snowball, the living room was warm and cosy so I lay by the fire and soon dried out. We waited until Harold nodded off and then made for the kitchen to chat.

‘I’ve already heard about the venue. Claire popped in to see Harold and told him all about it. He said he was even going to audition for it! As Connie is his granddaughter now, he felt it only fair he support her.’

‘How wonderful, although not sure what talent Harold has?’ Harold was much softer now but he was still a bit of a grumpy old man.

‘Claire said they could get him to be Santa,’ Snowball said.

‘But he’d have to smile and be nice,’ I said and laughed. Imagine Harold dressing up as Santa. It would be almost as bad as Jonathan.

‘He is so much more cheerful now he’s got his family around him, especially me and baby Theo, so maybe he could do it.’

‘Yeah, perhaps.’ Snowball always saw the best in people. ‘I’m more concerned with what parts we’ll have. George thinks he’s some kind of acting expert but I think we’ll probably have to dress up as other animals for the Nativity.’

‘That will stretch our acting abilities,’ Snowball pointed out. Us cats were superior to all other animals, so I knew exactly what she meant.

Chapter Ten

[Êàðòèíêà: img_11]

Something rained on our parade, both literally and figuratively, and the excitement of the show, and having found the perfect venue, was suddenly overshadowed. Our families were incredibly tight knit, so when something happened we all heard about it, we all felt a part of it. The good and the bad. And this was bad.

Tommy had been excluded from school for a week for cheating on an exam. He had written some answers on his arm and of course, because it was possibly the most stupid thing in the world, he got caught. Honestly, where did that boy get it from? Aleksy told Connie, and Connie told Sylvie, and Hana overheard so she came round to tell me and George. At the same time, Claire was on the phone to Franceska who, by the sounds of it, was crying. Then Matt, who had been to see Tomasz, told Polly and everyone ended up at our house to discuss it and what they were going to do about it. Everyone apart from Tommy, of course, and Aleksy, who had been asked to keep an eye on his troublesome brother. I didn’t envy him that job.

They had called a meeting of the adults, and I sat along with Claire, Jonathan, Matt, Polly, Sylvie, Marcus and Tomasz and Franceska in our living room. Connie was babysitting Theo, who would probably be much easier to look after than Tommy.

‘We don’t know what to do,’ Tomasz said. ‘I’m so angry.’

‘You had to go to the headmaster’s office again?’ Matt asked.

‘Yes, I felt like I was in trouble too as their headmaster is quite scary. Tommy had been warned already about his behaviour and now here he was, acting up again, and he wouldn’t say anything. Just kept mumbling. They even asked if there were problems at home,’ Franceska was tearful as she explained. Tomasz put his arm around her.

‘What did Tommy say when you left the school?’ Polly asked.

‘He actually was upset and said he was sorry. He said he was trying to do better, but he was worried he’d fail the test and he wanted to work with Jonathan, so he needed to make sure he did well in the exam.’

‘Oh God, I told him he had to get good grades if he wanted work experience. I hope it’s not my fault.’ Even Jonathan sounded upset.

‘No, of course not,’ Tomasz said. ‘I think he’s just a bit lost as he’s at that age where it can go either way. But of course, now he’s been excluded, we need to get him on the straight and narrow. We thought rather than keep shouting at him we’d come and ask for advice.’

‘He’s been grounded for so long, he’ll be fifty before he can go out at this rate,’ Franceska added with a sad smile.

‘Rather than punish him, maybe give him tasks to do, to keep him busy,’ Claire said.

‘Look, I meant what I said,’ Jonathan added. ‘He can do some work experience with me, at some point, but let’s make sure he gets his act together first, as it would seem like too much of a reward for bad behaviour now.’

‘Hey what about this Christmas show?’ Marcus said suddenly.

‘We can’t talk about that now, we need to focus on Tommy,’ Sylvie pointed out.

‘No, I mean get him involved with that. It’s such a great thing that Aleksy and Connie are doing. It will keep him busy, and because we’re all involved we can all keep an eye on him,’ Marcus explained.

‘He doesn’t like being on stage, he refuses to be in any school plays,’ Franceska said.

‘But we need so much more than just people to be in it. Posters, for starters, then help building props. Tomasz, you said you’d be in charge of that so he could help you!’ Claire sounded excited.

‘He loves social media and making videos,’ Franceska added helpfully.

‘Yes and we’ll need all that to help raise awareness,’ Polly added.

‘So we tell him he has to help with the show to prove to us that he really is trying to change things around?’ Franceska still sounded doubtful.

‘I think it’s great. It also means that he can work with Aleksy, which would help re-build their relationship. We can all do our bit to help him, great idea, Marcus,’ Matt sounded excited.

‘Yes, nice one, Marcus,’ Jonathan said. ‘Can we also get him to work with the little ones? He used to be so good with them.’

‘Great idea,’ Claire replied. ‘I know Toby and Summer miss playing with him. He can make posters with them.’

‘That’s sort of a punishment,’ Jonathan said with a laugh.

‘Jonathan, our kids are great, so of course it’s not a punishment,’ Claire chastised, but with a giggle.

‘Well, it might be. I mean, Summer will probably try to boss him around something chronic.’ Jonathan laughed.

‘So we keep him busy, we get him involved with the good cause, he’s forced to spend time with the family, and it’s sort of a punishment but not a terrible one?’ Franceska summed it up.

‘Exactly.’

I beamed with pride at my humans. Look, they had come up with this all by themselves and they were all going to play their part. I couldn’t have come up with a better plan myself. Well, I possibly could have done, but not much better, in any case.

I didn’t get to see how Tommy took the news because Tomasz and Franceska went home and it really was too cold and too late for me to follow them, so instead I filled George in. George and I both decided to visit Dustbin the following day to see if he’d heard anything and also it meant we could check on Tommy ourselves as he wasn’t allowed to go to school. I’d heard about him from the adults but I wanted to see him for myself. After all, he was my responsibility too.

With this in mind I went to bed early, and tried to ensure I got a good night’s sleep. Of course I was worried about Tommy and thinking about the Christmas show – I had a lot on my mind still – so I was slightly restless. But in the morning I was raring to go again and hurried George along.

‘What’s the rush? It’s not like Tommy will be going anywhere.’

‘I’m just impatient to see what’s going on,’ I said. ‘If you don’t want to come with me, you don’t have to.’

‘No, I do. I want to see Dustbin and of course Tommy. Just hate being rushed in the morning. I wish you’d chill out a bit.’

Goodness, my son could be cheeky. I tried to‘chill out’ by examining my paws but I really wanted to go. I wasn’t a ‘chill out’ kind of cat.

It seemed like hours before George declared himself ready and we set off. Thankfully it wasn’t raining but it was cold. The streets were quite busy as we took our usual route, people going to work, school, or shopping. We strode with purpose ourselves, as we had much to do; I set the pace and George was happy to keep up.

‘Goodness I feel like I’ve seen loads of you lately,’ Dustbin said in greeting.

‘I know. Where’s Ally?’ I asked as we made it into the yard.

‘She’s off having a bit of a stalk today. Felt like a change of scene and you know me, I hate leaving the yard except for emergencies.’

I grinned. Dustbin had left the yard to help us over the years, but that was about the only time he did.

‘So, Dustbin, have you seen or heard anything about Tommy?’ George asked.

‘Oh yes, there was a bit of a row last night as it happens. Franceska and Tomasz told Tommy he had to be involved in Aleksy’s Christmas show and both Tommy and Aleksy objected to that.’

‘Really? Why?’ I asked, I thought it was a good idea.

‘Well Tommy said it was dumb, but you know what he’s like lately, and Aleksy said that it was so important he didn’t want Tommy to mess it up. So Tomasz got really angry, more than I’ve ever heard him and he said that Tommy better get involved and do a great job or he could forget Christmas, and Aleksy should support his brother by giving him a fair chance. No one, not even Franceska, spoke for a while after that.’

Tomasz was a big man but so, so gentle, so it took a lot to make him lose his temper. This was a lot.

‘So Tommy’s still not really behaving himself?’ I had hoped Jonathan’s talk, along with the exclusion from school, would be enough to get him to turn things around. But no. My only hope now was that the Christmas show would do the trick.

‘I really think this Christmas show is going to bring everyone closer together again,’ I said, optimistically.

‘You know it was Dad’s idea, don’t you?’ George said, puffing his chest out and sounding proud of me. I was touched.

‘I know. It has Alfie written all over it,’ Dustbin said. We all grinned.

Tommy came downstairs with Franceska and they fussed over us.

‘Nice to see you here, Alfie, George,’ Franceska said.

‘Mum, do I have to come to the restaurant? Can’t I stay at home?’ Tommy asked as he gave George a cuddle.

‘No. You have school work and I need to make sure you’re doing it.’

‘It’s not fair,’ Tommy whined.

‘I think it’s very fair. You’ve put me and your dad through a lot and the school said you are not going to pass any exams if you go on the way you are doing.’

‘Not another lecture,’ he said, rolling his eyes.

‘Meow.’ He was being really rude. And poor Franceska looked as if she didn’t know whether to shout at him or cry. I nuzzled her and ignored Tommy. He really was being a brat but I knew, deep down, my Tommy was there somewhere. I just had to figure out a way to get him out.

George and I hung out with Dustbin for a while, enjoying our snacks, and then took our leave. I hoped Tommy being part of the show would finally bring him back to us. I thought that if everyone got involved it would be the best show ever and as Dustbin said, a way of bringing everyone I loved together. Thinking about it, it might have been one of my best ideas yet.

George left to go and see Hana and I made my way to the recreation ground, hoping that some of our other cat friends would be around. I was buoyed up from a good morning’s work and I felt confident that although Tommy had got into a lot of trouble, it was the wake-up call he needed to start being better. He had even been doing his school work when we left, so that was definitely a good sign. Nellie and Elvis were there as I approached and I filled them in on my latest news. Just as I finished, Salmon joined us.

‘Ah, glad you’re here, Alfie, I thought you might like to know that I have news.’

‘What news?’ I asked. Damn Salmon; that cat knew I couldn’t resist gossip but he was circling around, taking his time with it.

‘That woman who was horrible to you, the new one? She came to visit us last evening. Her name is Barbara and my humans went to see her the other day but she wasn’t in, so they left a card with our address and neighbourhood watch details on …’ He stopped to examine his paw.

‘Get on with it, Salmon,’ Nellie said. She didn’t have any patience with Salmon at all and so said what the rest of us were thinking.

‘All in good time. Her husband died, so she’s on her own and she said that she was forced to sell her house and move here, into the flat which is smaller than she’s used to. She also said she was very lonely.’

Ah, that was interesting. As you know, I’m an expert in lonely people, and I had thought that that might be the case when she was horrible to George and I. But then, I didn’t understand – if she was lonely, why she was so horrible to us and polite to the Goodwins?

‘She didn’t pay me any attention though,’ Salmon added. ‘So I still don’t think she’s a fan of cats, but she told my owners that she would be happy to help out with any neighbourhood watch businesses, so that’s interesting.’

‘Thanks for telling us,’ I said kindly. I knew the way to keep getting information was to ensure Salmon was onside. ‘I really appreciate it.’

Nellie shot me a look, maybe I was overdoing it a bit.

‘Anyway, that’s all I have to say about that. So I’ll be on my way.’

Salmon was really a strange cat but I was actually very fond of him, in my own way.

I was mulling over what he’d told me when George arrived.

‘Oh George,’ Nellie said, immediately fussing over him. She was like an aunt to him and had taken a more maternal role with him since Tiger’s death.

‘Nellie, let’s go climb the tree,’ he said, jumping around. Nellie also climbed with him, something I was unable to do, due to a fear of heights.

‘I thought you were with Hana,’ I said.

‘She’s not feeling too good. She was sick earlier, she thinks it was something she ate.’

‘Oh no, I hope she’s OK. Is Sylvie or Marcus going to take her to the vet?’ I asked.

‘Nah, she says she’s better now, just tired. I think she must have had a bit of dodgy fish or something and you know how busy they are with Theo. She doesn’t like to make a fuss.’

‘But you will go and check on her later, make sure she’s OK?’ I didn’t like vets, they weren’t bad people but it’s just not nice being prodded and poked, to be honest. However, even I knew they were valuable if you were ill. And I was a cat who liked to make a fuss.

‘’Course I will, but she’s fine. Honestly, you are so dramatic.’ George bounded off to the tree with Nellie right behind him. I took umbrage with his remark; after all, I was just being concerned for her. I was the sort of cat who wanted to make sure everyone was alright.

Elvis and I both lay shaded by the bush, watching George and Nellie enjoy the tree climbing, and savouring a few minutes of peace and quiet.

‘Do you think I’m a drama cat?’ I asked Elvis.

‘Oh Alfie, you know you are. But we wouldn’t have you any other way.’

‘Don’t go too high,’ I shouted to George who waved his paw at me dismissively.

‘I rest my case,’ Elvis said as he raised his whiskers.

Chapter Eleven

[Êàðòèíêà: img_12]

Even I thought it was a bit of a harsh punishment as Tommy sat around our kitchen table with Summer, Toby, Henry, and Martha, and an array of colouring pens, charged with making the audition posters for the Christmas show.

‘Right,’ Aleksy said, in his stern voice. ‘I need at least ten posters, because we can photocopy if we need more, and I’ve written out what each one needs to say. Tommy, you are in charge of writing – maybe do capital letters as you are neater with those. The rest of you, I want you to draw Christmas things around the writing so it looks enticing.’

‘What does enticing mean?’ Martha asked.

‘You know, really good so people will want to join in,’ Aleksy said. ‘I’m going out, to look again at the hall, so I’ll be back in an hour to check your progress.’ He was taking being in charge very seriously.

Tommy groaned and I saw Claire, who was babysitting baby Theo, stifle a giggle. Aleksy left, and Claire went to the living room with Theo. Pickles followed her, and George said he was going to go next door because Theo was here, so it would probably be nice and quiet. That left me as really the only adult left supervising the poster making.

‘Right, let’s get on with this because the sooner it’s done the better,’ Tommy moaned.

‘What should I draw?’ Henry asked.

‘Whatever,’ Tommy replied with a sigh.

‘Why are you so mean now? You used to be our friend,’ Henry said, sounding sad.

‘Yeah,’ Toby agreed. ‘You used to be fun.’

‘Oh, boys, he’s still our friend, he’s just going through some stuff,’ Summer said. We all turned to look at her, including Tommy.

‘What stuff?’ Martha asked.

‘You know, teenage stuff. We’ll be like that one day, although I don’t think I will, because I am far too nice to become like him,’ Summer explained. I jumped on the table, and nuzzled Summer. I mean, she was a genius sometimes. Even Tommy’s lips twitched.

‘And how do you know I am “going through some stuff”?’ he asked, but more kindly.

‘I heard Mummy and Daddy talk and they said you were a good kid underneath it all, so it would probably be OK. Although Daddy said if it wasn’t then we’d have to visit you in jail.’

Tommy burst out laughing. The others looked at him a little hesitantly and then they joined in. I’m not sure they understood why they were laughing. Neither did I. I had heard about jail and it didn’t sound fun. You were kept in cages, like cats were when they were in the shelter, but at least in a shelter lovely caring people looked after you; in jail they did not.

‘OK guys, you’re right. I am your friend and I have been a bit unhappy lately but I’m fine. I know, let’s make these the best posters ever and then Aleksy will be so pleased with us he’ll stop bossing us around.’

‘He won’t,’ Martha said. ‘Because we are going to audition and he said he and Connie are in charge of choosing the talent.’

‘Does that mean he might not choose us?’ Toby sounded worried.

‘Of course he will,’ Henry reassured him.

‘Yes, because we’re brilliant,’ Summer finished.

‘What are you going to do?’

‘The four of us are going to sing “Rudolph the Red-Nosed Reindeer”,’ Toby said. ‘We wanted to do something cooler, like rapping, but Mum said it had to be Christmas songs.’

‘You could write a rap to go in the song,’ Tommy suggested.

‘But we don’t exactly know how to write a rap,’ Henry pointed out.

‘OK, how about we do the posters and then before the audition I can help you write a rap for the song? Are you all going to dress as reindeers?’

‘If we have to,’ Henry muttered.

‘We do,’ Summer declared.

‘And Pickles is going to be Rudolph, we have to figure out how to make his nose red and I’ve got antlers to put on him, but Mum’s worried he’ll eat them,’ Martha said.

‘He probably will,’ Tommy said with a laugh. Every time he laughed I saw my old Tommy again. I went to give him a fuss, to reward him. He was still there, I was right.

‘So you’ll really help us?’ Toby asked, still not convinced. Toby wasn’t as easily persuaded as the others.

‘Yeah, we can write a rap, like “Rudolph’s nose was so red, he couldn’t play with others, had to go to bed, but one night it was dark and stormy and Rudolph was the hero of the story.” Wow, I just did that off the top of my head, I’m pretty good at this.’ Tommy laughed again.

‘It’s brilliant,’ Martha said, sweetly. ‘The boys can do the rap and we can all do the singing.’

‘And Pickles will be so cute as Rudolph,’ Summer finished. That was all well and good but what about me, George, Snowball and Hana? No one had given any hint as to what our parts would be yet.

Aleksy was amazed when he came back and found a neat pile of posters all stacked.

‘We’ve done twenty for you,’ Tommy said, but he’d gone back to using his sulky voice.

‘Wow, and they are really good.’ The children all beamed at him.

CHARITY CHRISTMAS SHOW

AUDITION FOR A CHARITY

CHRISTMAS SHOW

IN AID OF HELEN STREET SHELTER– A

BRILLIANT AND WORTHWHILE CAUSE

ALL WELCOME– SINGERS, DANCERS,

ACTORS

JOIN US ON SATURDAY 1ST NOVEMBER AT

EDGAR COMMUNITY HALL

SUPPORT A GREAT CAUSE BY HELPING US

TO PUT TOGETHER A GREAT

COMMUNITY EVENT

BRINGING CHRISTMASSPIRIT TO ALL AND

HELPING PEOPLE WHO AREN’T LUCKY

ENOUGH TO HAVE HOMES THIS CHRISTMAS

WHAT ARE YOU WAITING FOR?

YOU WILL NOT WANT TO MISS OUT!!

There were drawings of stars, Christmas trees, and even Santa on the posters. Aleksy was right, they were really good.

‘And we’ve been practising for our audition too,’ Toby informed him.

‘Nice one, Tommy,’ Aleksy said, patting him on the back. Tommy scowled. ‘The hall is looking good now, but we need to hold the auditions and then cast the show before we can start rehearsing and then we need to look at sets and selling tickets and wow, there’s so much to do.’ He sounded abit dejected.

‘Where’s Connie?’ Martha asked.

‘She had to go out with her mum. Because of the baby taking up so much time, Sylvie wanted to spend some time alone with Connie while Claire babysat.’

‘It’ll be fine, Aleksy,’ Summer said, sweetly.

‘Tommy, will you come and help me put the posters up?’ Aleksy asked.

‘If I say no you’ll tell Mum, won’t you?’

‘Yup, but because I need help, not because I’m a snitch. Anyway, it’ll keep you out of trouble,’ Aleksy said.

‘Meow,’ I said. Tommy could always get into trouble, there were no two ways about it.

I followed Aleksy and Tommy as they went to put some of the posters up. Tommy was dragging his feet and acting as if he didn’t want to be there but Aleksy persisted. They had put the posters in plastic sleeves that Claire had pinched from Jonathan. They put a couple on lamp posts on Edgar Road, which brought back memories. A few years ago there was a spate of catnapping going on around here and posters kept going up on lamp posts looking for cats. I foiled the plan, but not without danger – I put my son George at risk and I have never quite forgiven myself for that. That was another story, and thankfully had a happy ending, but I had to say it was nice to see good news going up on the lamp posts for once.

‘We should put one in the restaurant, and some up in school, although I’ll have to do that as you’re excluded,’ Aleksy said.

‘Thanks for reminding me. I never thought I would say I miss school, but I do,’ Tommy said.

‘Really?’

‘I miss my mates, I miss football and, yeah, it’s a bit boring being on my own working at home all day. Plus I have to do a load of washing up in the restaurant. That sucks.’

‘You should tell Mum that, it’ll make her very happy.’

‘Whatever.’ Ah, there he was again.

‘Maybe I will. How about we take a poster to the neighbourhood watch people? The ones who wear matching jumpers and always carry binoculars wherever they go?’ Aleksy suggested. I meowed my approval, it was a very good idea. The Goodwins knew everyone and would soon spread the word.

I stood on the doorstep between Aleksy and Tommy as they rang the bell. Heather and Vic Goodwin came to the door at the same time. I don’t think they ever did anything without each other. I had never seen either of them on their own, in all my years on Edgar Road. Salmon was behind them. We raised our whiskers at each other.

‘Hello, are you here to report a crime?’ Vic Goodwin asked.

‘Please don’t tell me you’re here to commit one? I mean, you don’t look like criminals,’ Heather added.

‘You know us. We’re Aleksy and Tommy … from the restaurant?’ Aleksy explained, looking confused. They had seen the boys a lot, especially as they watched the street nearly all the time, and they had met them when we had the big Edgar Road power cut a couple of years ago and we all had to have Christmas lunch at the restaurant.

‘Well I know that, but that doesn’t exclude you from criminal behaviour,’ Heather said. I shook my tail. Honestly, these people!

‘We are trying to put on a show for charity,’ Aleksy said. ‘And we made posters to ask people to audition.’

Tommy stared at his feet.

‘And as you are so important on the street we thought if we gave you a poster you might …’ Aleksy said, cleverly. Flattery would get him what he wanted.

‘Audition ourselves? Oh yes, and we could also spread the word to everyone else on the street. In fact, we could rally the troops, so to speak.’

Tommy and Aleksy exchanged glances.

‘That would be amazing,’ Aleksy said. They were being very polite, but I could sense they were both trying not to laugh a bit.

‘What do you think you might audition with?’ Tommy asked.

‘As you can see from the poster, it’s a Christmas show,’ Aleksy added quickly.

‘Well, we could maybe try to form an Edgar Road singing group? And do some Christmas songs?’ Vic suggested.

‘We both have lovely voices, if I do say so myself,’ Heather added.

‘That would be awesome,’ Aleksy said. ‘The vicar said the church choir would probably audition but they are probably more into carols. We are also going to do a grown-up Nativity play, which we thought would be fun, and then the children want to sing, but it would be great to have your group involved.’

‘It sounds like a terribly good idea.’ Vic took the poster that Aleksy was holding. ‘Leave it with us, young men, and as I said, we’ll rally the troops.’

‘Thank you.’

‘Meow,’ I bid Salmon goodbye. It seemed my idea for a Christmas show was coming together really very nicely.

Chapter Twelve

[Êàðòèíêà: img_13]

Iwent to find George at Hana’s and saw that all hell had broken loose. Marcus was jiggling around Theo, who was screaming, his poor face all red, Sylvie was on the phone and Connie was hovering around, trying to help but without knowing what to do.

‘What’s wrong?’ I was immediately worried.

‘Oh, it’s fine,’ George said. ‘He’s growing teeth and it hurts him a lot, hence all the screaming. Sylvie is asking Claire what to do to help him, and Polly’s going to the pharmacy for them because Theo’s been screaming for a long time and no one in this house can think straight. Not even me and Hana.’

‘So, it’s nothing to worry about?’ I was concerned. Poor Theo sounded as if he was definitely in pain.

‘No, apparently this is a normal baby occurrence,’ Hana said. She looked tired, but then, listening to that noise would make anyone tired.

‘It was good you didn’t both leave,’ I said, whilst wondering why they hadn’t. After all, they were only a cat flap away from freedom and peace and quiet.

‘I wanted to be here, just in case,’ Hana said.

‘And I couldn’t leave her here alone,’ George added.

‘No, of course not.’ I wondered if I could leave but before I could, the door opened and in walked Polly, Harold and Snowball.

‘Oh Dad, sorry, I forgot about supper. It’s just … Theo’s been screaming for an hour straight.’ Marcus sounded harassed. He was the calmest man I knew, apart from Matt actually, but he was definitely stressed out now.

‘Don’t worry. Give Theo to me, I got these powders, they worked wonders with mine and Claire’s. Also got you some gel in case that doesn’t help.’ Polly took Theo and then she gave Sylvie the bag. Sylvie got the powder out and Polly rubbed it on Theo’s gums. It was very interesting to watch, despite the ear splitting noise. After a while, Theo stopped crying and the adults were all relieved as he closed his eyes, having exhausted himself as well as everyone else.

‘I’ll put the kettle on,’ Polly said as Sylvie and Marcus slumped onto the sofa. Harold was cuddling Theo in the chair.

‘I don’t have to stay, if it’s a bad time,’ Harold said.

‘Don’t be silly, you’re not going anywhere,’ Marcus said. ‘After all, you have the magic touch with Theo.’

‘He’s the spit of your mum you know. I thought he looked like you, which he does, but then you looked like her when you were a baby.’ Harold sounded emotional. His wife died a long time ago but he was still sad about it. I understood that only too well.

‘She’d be so proud of what a wonderful granddad you are,’ Marcus said. We were all emotional. Maybe we’d caught it from Theo.

Now that things had calmed down, Connie went to do her homework and I greeted Snowball properly.

‘I’m going home,’ George announced. ‘It’s probably supper time.’

‘I’ll be along in a bit,’ I said. I was thinking how nice it would be to spend a bit of time with Snowball. Calm, quiet time. Goodness knows I’d earned it.

I filled her in on the latest news, and I was surprised to realise there was so much. We were rushing towards the Christmas show now, everyone was preoccupied with it. I just hoped it didn’t stop anyone from remembering to order the turkey and our treats.

‘No word on what us cats are going to do in the show?’ Snowball asked. She had also been treated to a lesson from George on stage craft. We tried not to laugh about it but honestly, he really took the (cat) biscuit.

‘No, the auditions are next week and then they’ll allocate our parts. I am expecting we will be central to the show, of course.’

‘Do we have to audition?’

‘No, I don’t suppose so,’ I said. ‘I mean, they all know how talented and important we are so I’m pretty sure we’ll just get given our roles. But we’ll all go to the auditions anyway, because we need to keep an eye on things. We can’t trust these guys not to need help after all.’

‘Too true, Alfie. We’ll all make sure we’re there – us, George, and Hana. Are the others sure they don’t want to be in it?’

‘No, they don’t fancy it. You know how some cats will just be cats.’

‘Never mind, we’ll have such a ball. I’m actually looking forward to it, we need some excitement.’

‘Don’t say that, Snowball. Our lives often have far too much excitement in them!’ I wasn’t joking.

When I finally tore myself away from Snowball, leaving her with Hana– Snowball was like an aunt to her, as she spent so much time at her house – I went home to find it was bedlam there too. Honestly, calm had barely been restored at Sylvie’s house; it was as if it was catching.

Summer and Toby were fighting over the Rudolph song.

‘Why can’t I sing a bit on my own?’ Summer was asking.

‘Because it’s a team effort,’ Toby replied.

‘But you and Henry get to do your rap yourselves.’

‘But only because you didn’t want to.’

‘That’s not the point.’

I wondered why Claire wasn’t intervening but then I heard raised voices from the bedroom. Claire and Jonathan always went to their room when they argued, but of course we could all hear them.

I told George to keep an eye on the kids while I went to sort out the grown-ups.

‘I am not auditioning and that’s final,’ Jonathan said.

‘But you have to. It’s important to Aleksy, Connie, Tommy now, and me. We all need to be involved,’ Claire pushed.

‘Claire I can’t sing, dance, or act. I certainly don’t want to be in a grown-up Nativity play. It’s not my thing, and it’s just not happening.’

‘But you have to.’

‘No, I don’t.’

Honestly they were as bad as the children sometimes. I jumped on the bed and tried to stare at them to tell them to stop, but they were too far into the silly argument to pay me any attention.

‘This is for such a good cause, and you know it’s not easy. I’m helping them as much as I can but there’s so much to do, and that’s why I need you involved. We’ve to do the auditions, then the running list for the show, sort out the props and get rehearsals underway and we have to sell tickets, organise refreshments … We have to make this a success because they are doing this for such a good cause. If it’s anything but a huge success it’ll be heartbreaking.’ Claire sounded upset and I knew why. There was such a lot to do and hearing Claire say it out loud, it really struckme just how much. My idea might have been genius but it also meant a huge amount of work.

‘I’ll do anything to help, Claire, but I can’t audition, please.’ Jonathan was softening but I knew that being on stage wasn’t his thing.

‘Oh God, I don’t know, there’s just so much. Maybe I’ve taken on a bittoo much because I also have Christmas to organise… But I promised Aleksy and I have to make sure it’s a great show. And we need to find some money to put the show on as well. I forgot to put that on the list.’ Claire ran her hands through her hair. I looked at her and then I looked at Jonathan. Surely that was what Jonathan could do. His job was about making money as far as I could tell, so couldn’t they give some to the show?

‘Meow, Meow, Meow, Meow,’ I said at the top of my voice.

‘Even Alfie thinks you should audition,’ Claire said.

‘Yowl.’ No, that wasn’t what I meant. I tried again. ‘Mew, mew, mew, mew.’ I said this directly to Jonathan, then I did a few circles in order to try to get him to fully understand.

‘He’s trying to say something, but not that. Alfie wouldn’t betray me like that.’

‘Purr,’ I had to let him know he was right.

‘Oh Claire, why didn’t we think of it sooner, how about I get my company to sponsor the show? We have a charity pot and they’re always looking to help local charities out as well as national ones. So we can sponsor the show, get our name on posters and the tickets and we’ll ensure you have enough money to put the show on and hopefully a big donation at the end of it too.’

I lay down, a little worn out. Thank you, you’ve got it. Honestly, at times I did wish my humans were a bit quicker on the uptake.

‘Can you ask them tomorrow?’ Claire said, excited.

‘Of course, don’t say anything to Aleksy just yet, but I’m pretty sure I can persuade them. This is right up their street and such a good cause. But there is a condition.’

‘OK, let’s hear it.’

‘I don’t have to audition.’

‘Fine.’

It seemed we had all got what we wanted, although not quite me because now I wanted my supper.

‘Did the children sort it out?’ I asked George as we were about to tuck in.

‘Yes, with a bit of help from me. Summer and Martha are going to do the opening bit where they list all the reindeer and Toby and Henry will rap, the rest of the song they will all do.’

‘Honestly, George, what would these humans do without us?’

We both shuddered. It wasn’t worth thinking about.

Chapter Thirteen

[Êàðòèíêà: img_14]

The day of the auditions was here. I was both excited and relieved. Excited because we cats would find out what our part in the show was– besides being the masterminds behind it, of course. Relieved because Aleksy, Connie, and Claire had all been quite uptight for the last few days. They were driving me round the bend.

‘What if no one comes?’ they all said – more than once, I might add. But we knew that loads of people had said they were going to come, so it was just nerves. We arrived at the hall and found Ralph waiting for us at the door. He was looking pretty pleased with himself as he opened the door and let us in. As he put on the lights, I marvelled at how much cleaner it was than when we were last here.

‘Wow, you’ve done a great job,’ Claire said. It even smelt clean. To get us in the mood, Ralph had also put Christmas music on. I swayed along to ‘White Christmas’ as they inspected the hall.

‘It’s such a good cause, and I had a few parishioners help. We’re auditioning – the choir, that is – and everyone’s quite excited. We needed a new lease of life and it seems that this might do the trick.’ He smiled. I wasn’t sure how old Ralph was – older than Claire and Jonathan but much younger than Harold. He had grey hair, glasses, and was very well turned out. I nuzzled him, he was being supportive and needed rewarding for that.

‘Great!’ Aleksy sounded relieved.

‘Shall we set up a table for us to sit behind, like onBritain’s Got Talent?’ Connie suggested.

‘Ha, it will be like Edgar Road Church Hall’s got Christmas talent!’ Aleksy laughed.

‘Right, let’s do it,’ Claire said as she set about moving a table to the centre of the room.

It was only us here for now. Jonathan was looking after Summer and Toby, but would be bringing them, along with Matt, Polly, Henry, and Martha later. Even Sylvie and Marcus were coming with Harold and Theo. I didn’t like to point out that Theo was probably going to be the star of the Nativity show, because I wasn’t sure if they hadn’t come up with that idea yet. George was going to come with them, along with Hana and Snowball. And the Goodwins had been true to their word and had rallied lots of other people who would be joining us. Oliver, the cat who lived in Tiger’s old house, told me that even his owners, the Barkers, were joining Vic and Heather’s singing group. Franceska, Tomasz, and Tommy were coming along with his friend, Charlie, who was helping him with social media. Tommy still wasn’t keen but had reluctantly accepted that his involvement in the show was his punishment. I was hoping they would take videos of us, because cats were the most popular thing on social media, I was pretty sure. It seemed there was no end to our usefulness.

The audition panel– as Claire called it – was set up. They all had notepads and pens and I was going to sit on the table, so I could watch too, as they clearly needed my help. Ralph had left us so he could go and get changed into his ‘audition outfit’ and also meet his choir mates, so we were alone for a bitto reflect before the madness started.

‘What if no one comes?’ Connie asked for the millionth time.

‘Meow.’ They will, I reassured her. But I could feel their nerves as the reality began to get closer and closer. I was relieved when Jonathan, Polly, and Matt arrived with the children.

‘We nearly got mobbed for queue jumping,’ he said. ‘Thankfully Vic, Heather and their band of merry followers said I was one of the organisers.’

‘So there are people here to audition?’ Aleksy asked.

‘Quite a few, actually,’ Summer said as she climbed onto the stage and started spinning.

‘Right, well we better get started soon,’ Claire said. ‘Jonathan, can you keep the kids in order while we begin?’

I very much doubted it. As Summer started dancing across the stage with Martha, and Toby climbed on some stacked chairs with Henry, Polly took charge. I hoped George, Snowball, and Hana would arrive soon so they could help them out.‘We can’t start without Tommy, he needs to set up to do some filming and he’s going to post on Instagram and Twitter as we go.’ Aleksy sounded panicked but just then we heard a commotion and in walked Tommy and Charlie, followed by Franceska and Tomasz.

‘I told them I was in charge of filming and then they wanted me to start filming them, which I did because, like the TV talent shows, we can post a video of the queue of people,’ Tommy said, almost forgetting to sulk.

‘Yeah, it’s not as long as those on TV obviously, but we have tricks to make it look longer. Look, guys, we got them to wave and cheer,’ Charlie added.

We all crowded round Charlie’s screen – it did look as if there were a load of people and noise. There were more people than even I had expected.

‘Great job,’ Claire said. ‘Tommy, Charlie, thank you so much for helping.’

‘I am proud of both my boys today,’ Franceska said, a little emotionally.

‘Hey there’s a few kids from school here too, Aleksy, Connie,’ Charlie said. He sounded excited, which made us all feel raring to go. ‘I thought that they wouldn’t want to be in it, but they do!’

‘Right, let’s begin,’ Claire clapped her hands together and as the rest of our family arrived, the auditions began.

It really was nothing like the TV competition, or it was, but mainly the bit when you got those really bad people that made everyone laugh. Claire, Jonathan, Toby, Summer and us cats usually watched those shows on a Saturday night. I didn’t always get it, and would often fall asleep, but George loved them and would tell me everything – he really was quite a showbiz cat, thinking about it.

In fairness, our auditions were not all bad. Although, there was a man who tried to juggle– which, as far as I knew, had nothing to do with Christmas, and he wasn’t even dressed up as anything – and as he threw the balls around he kept dropping them.

‘Thank you,’ Claire said as he picked the balls up for what felt like the millionth time. ‘Next.’

An old man wearing a suit and top hat walked on the stage with an old woman who seemed to be wearing a long evening dress and carrying a lot of stuff. They not only looked old but walked quite slowly.

‘I am Magic Marvin and this is my beautiful assistant, Dolly.’ He spoke with a flourish and a wave of his wand.

‘Hello,’ Claire said. ‘Clearly we don’t need to ask you what you do.’

What this had to do with Christmas, again, no idea.

‘First I will make this rabbit disappear,’ Magic Marvin said. Dolly put a table on the stage and out of a big bag she pulled a rabbit, luckily it was a toy one. Marvin placed it on the table, took his top hat off his head and put it over the rabbit.

‘I thought they were meant to take rabbits out of hats not put them in,’ Aleksy whispered. Connie shushed him.

‘Abracadabra,’ Marvin said, waving his wand over the hat. He pulled it up with a flourish; the rabbit was still there.

‘Dolly, did you set up the trick?’ he asked, his face turning red.

‘Well, I thought I did,’ Dolly sounded confused. ‘Do the next one, quickly.’

I tried not to notice Jonathan, Matt, and Tomasz shaking with laughter.

‘Right, well, now I shall turn the rabbit into a bunch of flowers.’

We all watched but the rabbit remained a rabbit. He was getting a little red faced and flustered. I really had no idea what was going on and nor did Magic Marvin, by the look of him.

‘For my final trick, I shall saw my beautiful assistant Dolly in half.’

We all looked horrified as Dolly handed him a saw.

‘No,’ Claire screeched. ‘I mean, honestly thank you. We probably won’t have magic in the show, because it is a Christmas show, but hopefully you can be involved in some way.’

‘I could make Santa disappear?’ Marvin offered.

I was pretty sure he really couldn’t do that.

Aleksy and Connie looked relieved as a group of about five children from their school came on the stage.

‘Hey,’ Aleksy said.

‘Aleksy, Connie, other lady,’ one of the lads stepped forward. ‘We are going to sing “Drummer Boy”, but the Justin Bieber, Busta Rhymes version.’ He coughed, and then pressed his phone and music rang out. They all sang and were actually really good. I saw Aleksy and Connie grin at each other and Claire smiled at me.

‘This helps make the show modern,’ Aleksy whispered to Claire, who nodded. They were followed by a dancing crew who were quite well known locally, apparently; a big group of boys and girls who filled the stage and were really amazing. One even spun on his head, which I thought looked painful but he seemed alright.

‘This is getting better and better,’ Connie hissed.

Vic and Heather’s singing group were up next, mostly people I recognised from Edgar Road, and they sang ‘The Twelve Days of Christmas’, which was actually really good.

‘Thank you so much,’ Claire said as they finished.

‘Well, you are welcome. We didn’t have time to get our costumes together but we will all be dressed the same if we get a part in the show of course, ha, ha.’ Actually he and Heather were wearing the same clothes, but the others looked normal. Not for long, it seemed.

Ralph’s choir followed with a very beautiful rendition of ‘Silent Night’. They could really sing very well, and the show began to take shape, it seemed.

Everyone cheered when Summer, Toby, Henry, Martha, and Pickles went on stage to do their Rudolph song, which was pretty good. The rap made it even more fun, although Pickles kept wandering off and sniffing things; he didn’t fall off the stage, which was something.

‘Sylvie, Marcus, and baby Theo,’ Connie said, when they’d finished.

‘We’re not auditioning, love,’ Sylvie said, sounding a little panicked. ‘We’re just here for moral support.’

‘But Mum, you have to,’ Connie said.

‘Well, the thing is, we thought Theo could be the baby Jesus … since he’s a baby,’ Aleksy explained.

‘Right, but how can he audition for that?’ Marcus asked. ‘I mean, he’s a baby.’

‘He won’t be as good as me,’ I heard George whisper to Hana.

‘He can’t, he’s got the part. We just need to cast the rest of the Nativity now,’ Aleksy said.

‘Yeah, we’re going to write the script, so it’s a bit more modern,’ Connie added.

‘You can’t really mess with the Nativity,’ Franceska pointed out.

‘No, but we can make it meaningful and fun and with the singing around it, it’ll be lovely,’ Connie said.

Claire called for anyone who wanted to audition for an acting part to line up. I was surprised how full the hall was still, even those who had already auditioned were staying to watch. It seemed that already everyone felt the spirit of the show. And as we’d listened to Christmas music, I was really beginning to feel full of festive spirit.

Because the auditions now focused on the Nativity, it was the actors that were taking to the stage. I wasn’t sure how many lines were in the Nativity, but everyone had their own ideas. One man even brought a toy sheep with him.

‘Hi, I’m Fred and I want to try out for the part of shepherd.’

‘Great Fred, so go ahead,’ I could see Claire trying not to laugh.

‘Good sheep, good sheep,’ he kept saying. No one knew quite how to respond to that.

Person after person took to the stage. All the while, Claire, Aleksy, and Connie were making notes. I had no idea what they said, although I was part of the panel– or I liked to think I was. I couldn’t read but I could give them a nudge when I thought someone was particularly good. There weren’t a lot of nudges going on right now though.

I was surprised as Harold walked onto the stage. He moved slowly as he shuffled to the middle. Harold wasn’t one for putting himself forward – we’d had an awful job trying to persuade him to tell Claire about the Sunday Lunch Club. He wasn’t full of confidence, that was for sure, but even he wanted to be a part of it all.

‘Hello, what’s your name and what are you auditioning for?’ Aleksy asked.

‘You know my name.’

‘Well, yes, but there are others here who might not,’ Claire pointed out.

‘Right, well, I’m Harold, I’m Connie there’s step-grandfather in fact, and I’m auditioning for the part of Santa.’

‘Oh, we didn’t have Santa down on our list, did we?’ Connie asked.

‘It’s a blooming Christmas show. How can you not have Santa?’ Harold boomed.

‘Good point,’ Claire said. ‘How about we close the show with Santa? We could do a song at the end like “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”, and Santa could give out sweets to the audience, like they do in the panto?’

‘I’m not singing,’ Harold said.

‘OK then, but we could get the children on to sing and you could throw sweets or something into the audience,’ Aleksy said. ‘The grand finale.’

‘Oh I like the idea of being the grand finale.’ Harold preened.

‘Right, can you say, Ho, Ho, Ho?’ Connie asked.

‘Ho, Ho, Ho.’ Harold boomed as if he had been practising.

‘Great, thanks. We’ll let you know,’ Aleksy said.

‘Is that it?’ Harold asked.

‘Yes, you were great,’ Claire said, as Harold looked confused and then shuffled off stage.

I had to admit it was getting a bit tedious as I lay on the table. The auditions seemed to be going on forever, and I knew it was important but honestly, there was only so much‘there’s no room at the inn’ I could hear. I thought about taking forty winks, but my eyes widened in horror as the woman who threatened George and I walked onto the stage.

‘My name is Barbara and I am very experienced in stage work. I was part of my old local amateur dramatics society for years. I also used to be a drama teacher,’ she said.

‘Right, well great, thank you. Off you go,’ Claire said.

‘To be or not to be? That is the question …’

‘What is happening?’ Aleksy whispered.

‘It’sHamlet,’ Connie replied.

‘I know that butHamlet is a man and has nothing to do with the Nativity,’ Aleksy added.

Claire shushed them as Barbara was pacing the stage, saying words that I didn’t even begin to understand. Was this a foreign language?

At the end of a very long speech where I really did have trouble keeping my eyes open, she fell down onto the stage and there was silence. Claire, Aleksy, and Connie’s mouths were open wide.

‘Is she dead?’ someone asked from the audience.

‘Make way,’ Vic Goodman said, Heather on his heels. ‘I am trained in first aid.’ He ran onto the stage and started poking Barbara.

‘Get off me. I’m still acting,’ she said, sitting up. I saw Jonathan, Matt, and Tomasz start laughing yet again. Franceska nudged them and told them to stop. Barbara stood up, refusing to let Vic or Heather help her, and then she took a bow.

‘Wow,’ Claire said. ‘That was, well … that was something I have never seen before.’

‘Thank you,’ Barbara said, but I wasn’t sure that it had been a compliment.

‘Right, well, I think we’re done,’ Aleksy said. ‘It’s been great, thank you all for coming and we will make sure everyone has a role in the show because it’s for the community and also to raise money for the Helen Street Shelter. So spread the word.’ Everyone cheered and clapped. Aleksy was really taking charge as he asked everyone to leave numbers and names so he could get in touch and Claire asked anyone who wanted to help backstage to let them know before they left.

Hang on, this wasn’t right. I jumped from the table and went to find Snowball, George, and Hana.

‘Um, do you realise that no one has mentioned us?’ I said.

‘Maybe because you were a judge?’ Hana suggested.

‘I mean, what if they think we don’t want to be in the show?’ George said. ‘After all, I am probably the most experienced here, so they must want us.’

‘I know, maybe we need to show them that we do want to be part of the show,’ I said.

‘How?’ Snowball asked.

‘Quick, on stage before everyone leaves,’ I said. The four of us made our way onto the stage.

‘Meow, meow, come on guys,’ I hissed. ‘Make as much noise as you can.’

‘MEW, MEW, MEW.’ We were a bit like a cats’ choir. The hall fell silent.

‘What is going on?’ Barbara shouted.

‘Well, it seems that the cats want in on the show,’ Jonathan said, and then he, Matt, and Tomasz laughed loudly. I hoped they were laughing with us, not at us.

‘Of course they need to be in the show, Aleksy,’ Franceska said.

‘Oh no, you’re right, Mum. We forgot about them,’ Aleksy said to Claire.

Yes, you did, how could you?

‘Keep going we’re filming this,’ Tommy said, and nudged Charlie. ‘This will be YouTube gold,’ he said. Again, as much as he complained about doing this, it seemed that Tommy was forgetting to be obnoxious at times, so this really might work.

We started moving around the stage, mewing and stalking, George did a few jumps and Hana looked a little embarrassed, and stayed very close to Snowball, but I think we got the idea across. We carried on until we were all a little worn out. When we stopped, someone led a huge round of applause.

‘The cats are auditioning, that is so funny,’ a voice said.

‘That is the coolest thing ever,’ another person said.

‘Who ever heard of actual cats being in a show?’ Barbara snapped, but she was soon shot down.

‘Of course the cats have to be in the show,’ Connie said.

‘I can’t believe we didn’t think of it.’ Aleksy was shaking his head.

I couldn’t believe it either. George did a sort of jig, Hana swooshed her tail and Snowball rolled around the floor – which I wasn’t sure was a good idea as it was a bit mucky from everyone’s shoes. I walked to the centre of the stage, sat down and lowered my head in an attempt at a bow. I was soonjoined by the others as we sat in a line on the stage, having finished.

‘You know, suddenly I think this is going to be the best Christmas show ever,’ Tommy said with the biggest smile.

‘Meow.’ You’re welcome, I replied.

Chapter Fourteen

[Êàðòèíêà: img_15]

Post audition, everyone was buoyed up that the show was taking shape. Claire called a meeting at our house the following day, and while the children went upstairs to practise their singing– I had a feeling I would be subjected to a lot of this in the coming weeks – us adults sat around the living room, with Claire, Aleksy, and Connie, who were clearly in charge.

Tommy sat in the corner. He was wearing his sulky face again.

‘This looks as if it’s going to be bigger than ever,’ Claire said. ‘We were overwhelmed by the amount of support we received, so I think we owe it to everyone to try to get them into the show.’

‘I know there will be some people who will be disappointed though,’ Aleksy said. ‘But that’s show business for you.’ Honestly, had he caught it from George?

‘Do I still have to be involved if you’ve got so many people?’ Tommy said.

‘Yes, you do,’ Franceska snapped. ‘Now stop that and get involved in something good for once.’

Tomasz put a hand on her arm, in a husbandly way I thought.

‘What about the awful magician?’ Jonathan asked.

‘We are going to give Marvin and Dolly parts in the Nativity, and the juggler,’ Connie explained.

‘We researched it and there can be a lot of shepherds, so we thought that we’d have any extra people as shepherds, that way everyone can be involved,’ Aleksy said.

‘Our thinking is that the running list will be as follows: we open with the dancers who are going to try to dance to something Christmassy, but we’ll work on that. They’ll be followed by the school singing group, the Edgar Road singers, then Rudolph with the children and Pickles. We thought then we would put the Nativity play on – Aleksy and I are going to write the scripts to make it a bit different, but we won’t offend anyone – then, after the first half of the Nativity, Ralph’s choir will sing “Silent Night”. Then we’ll have the second half of Nativity, all with singingas well. We finish with Santa coming on stage with the children and he will maybe throw sweets into the audience, or something – obviously nothing that can hurt anyone – and then everyone will sing “We Wish You a Merry Christmas”.’ Connie had a list in front of her as she spoke and I had never heard her sound so sure of herself.

‘Sounds amazing; you guys have done a great job,’ Matt said.

‘Can’t wait to hear what my part is,’ Polly added.

‘Meow!’ No one mentioned us cats again.

Claire, Aleksy, and Connie exchanged glances.

‘We really need you cats to play sheep,’ Claire said, carefully.

‘Yes, we thought the four of you could be sheep for the Nativity and come on with the shepherds. It’s quite an important part of the play,’ Aleksy explained.

‘Crucial, some would say,’ Claire added.

They had to be kidding. A sheep? Really?

Ages ago, George and I were at our holiday home in Devon and we nearly got trampled by a flock of sheep, so I really wasn’t keen. Wasn’t there anything more appropriate that we could do?

‘And, of course, you can do a sort of sheep dance,’ Connie suggested.

‘What’s a sheep dance?’ Aleksy asked. I had the same question.

‘You know like they did today, a bit of rolling and jigging, it’ll be great for the film, then the shepherds can herd them up and it’ll look more authentic. Of course you will have to train them to be herded, that might not be easy,’ Connie said.

Cheek of it, if we couldn’t take direction then no one could. Honestly, how people kept underestimating us I had no idea. The show was my idea, after all.

‘And we can make them white fluffy coats to put on, so they’ll look like sheep,’ Sylvie said.

Oh boy, really? Dressing up wasn’t my favourite thing, or George’s, but then it looked as if we had no choice. Snowball was the only one of us that even remotely resembled a sheep and that was only because she was white.

‘Doris will help with costumes, she’s always knitting or making things,’ Claire said, making a note.

I was far from convinced, but we would have to accept it for now if we wanted to be in the show. When I spoke to the others– none of whom were here – I’d see what they said. I mean, sheep may not be as cool as cats but we were bound to be able to do something with it. At least we would be doing it for a good cause. I was desperately trying to talk myself into it, but I wasn’t sure I was succeeding.

‘Anyway, we’ll work on the parts and the running list later but we need other things,’ Claire explained.

‘Like what? I’ve given you sponsorship,’ Jonathan said.

‘Yes, which is great because we can now afford to put the show on properly and also make sure we raise money,’ Claire replied, giving him a hug.

‘We are going to do online tickets, which are easy to set up and also a donation page, which we need to advertise on the posters, and on social media as well,’ Aleksy said. ‘I’ve written all the details down.’

‘Tommy’s doing social media,’ Connie said.

‘You better not muck it up,’ Aleksy warned.

‘As if,’ Tommy said. But we weren’t so sure.

‘As lovely as the posters the kids did for the auditions were, we need something a bit more professional for the actual show,’ Claire pointed out.

‘And my company logo needs to be on there – on everything, if they’re sponsoring it – as they do expect to get a bit of recognition,’ Jonathan pointed out. Now his company was sponsoring the show he was mentioning it at every turn. No modesty, Jonathan. And it had been my idea in the first place …

‘No problem,’ Matt said. ‘I can design the posters. We can have digital copies to put all over social media and physical copies we can put up wherever we can. Now, I did have one suggestion, can we put the show on for people who go to the shelter? So they can enjoy what really is their show, without buying a ticket?’

‘Oh Matt, that’s a great idea. Why don’t you make it the dress rehearsal? Also I volunteer to design the set. It’s kind of my job, after all,’ Polly added. She was an interior designer. ‘I’m thinking we have a sort of Christmas tree forest, with fake snow and stars on the walls, then for the Nativity we need to build some kind of stable, or shed thing, for that, and the final bit with Santa I thought we could do a living room, and have him putting presents round a big tree before the kids come in and find him and it’s a great moment before the final song?’

‘Isn’t three sets a bit ambitious?’ Marcus asked.

‘Well, I looked at the stage and there’s already a curtain, so as long as we have enough people to help shift them around and control the curtains, because it won’t be sophisticated like a proper theatre of course, then I don’t see why not?’ Polly said.

‘I think that sounds great,’ Sylvie said. ‘And we’ll help with everything.’

‘Ah, well, we wanted to talk about that. We kind of need you two to be Mary and Joseph, Mum, Marcus,’ Connie said.

‘What?’ Marcus looked horrified.

‘It’s because of Theo.’ Theo was sleeping in Harold’s arms, oblivious to the fact he was one of the stars of the show.

‘Yes, Mum, what if he starts crying in the show? We can’t control that, and if some strange man or woman picks him up, that could be a disaster.’

‘Imagine if it was the juggler, he’d probably drop him.’ Jonathan laughed, but Claire shot him one of her ‘looks’.

‘But, what if Mum is Mary and someone else is Joseph. I was going to volunteer to help Tomasz with sets.’ Marcus sounded panicked.

‘You can help me too,’ Tomasz said, his lips twitching. ‘You can do both.’

Marcus scowled at him.

‘Great idea,’ Jonathan added. ‘You’d make a great Joseph. What about costumes?’ Matt, Jonathan, and Tomasz could be so immature at times like this, as they all tried not to laugh.

‘We are going to do a modern twist on the costumes to make it more fun, no tea towels on anyone’s head … Mum’s going to be in charge because she knows about fashion,’ Connie said.

‘Well, I don’t know about that, but I’ll do my best,’ Sylvie said modestly.

‘I can sew,’ Franceska added. ‘So I’d be happy to help.’

‘Tomasz and Matt, you will be shepherds because, a bit like with Theo, the cats know you and we’re going to have quite a few shepherds in total. Polly, I know you’re doing sets but you can also be the innkeeper we thought – you know “there’s no room at the inn” – although I think it’ll be something more modern than an inn,’ Aleksy continued.

‘A Travelodge?’ Jonathan laughed.

I listened with my eyes widening. There was so much to be done for this show. I thought it would be as simple as a couple of songs and a bit of a play but it was getting very complex. Costumes, sets, running lists, it was all going to take a lot of time and effort, and I was incredibly proud to see how much my families were all banding together to do it. It was warming my little heart. And I was almost happy to be a sheep if it helped. Almost but not quite.

I was woken by George and as I blinked I saw that everyone had gone. I must have dropped off.

‘Oh, the meeting’s over?’ I said with a yawn.

‘Did you sleep through it?’

‘No, of course not. I listened to the most important parts.’ At least I hoped I had. ‘It just got very tiring with everyone chipping in ideas. Anyway, I do know what our part is going to be.’

‘Tell me, tell me, tell me!’ George sounded so young when he was excited.

‘Sheep.’ I didn’t quite know if I could look him in the eyes.

‘Sheep?’

‘I’m afraid so. In the Nativity there are going to be a few shepherds, and we are going to be their sheep, who go with them when they visit the baby Jesus.’

‘I’ve never understood why there weren’t any cats in the Nativity scene,’ George said. ‘Can’t we persuade them to let us be cats?’

‘How would that show your acting prowess?’ I teased.

‘Oh, yes, of course you’re right. But it’s not me I’m worried about. With my stage experience and natural talent I’ll easily be able to be a sheep but you, Snowball, and Hana might not find it quite so. I guess I’ll just have to help you all.’

I had no words. But it seemed that George had many as he started lecturing me about characterisation and how to make myself believable. How on earth I was going to be believable as a sheep? I couldn’t even make the right noise. And neither could George, to be honest, but I wasn’t going to be the one to tell him that. Neither of us had much of a ‘bleat’.

We spent the rest of the evening at home because it really was cold and miserable outside, and also we were both tired. George had to be the standin for Pickles (which he did not appreciate) when the children showed Claire and Jonathan how well their Rudolph song was going. Even though he’s clearly a brilliant actor – if he does say so himself – George sat there looking annoyed through the whole song.

Claire and Jonathan chatted through logistics– how much money they would spend and how much they hoped to raise, what the ticket price should be, and how they would advertise it beyond social media and putting a few posters up. Claire said she would contact the local paper and see if they would write a piece, Jonathan said he would ask someof the people who worked for him to buy tickets. And they also discussed having a gift donation bank at the show so people could bring a present for the homeless shelter people … There were a lot of good ideas going on and I could only feel proud and delighted. Not only because it was for such a good cause and would help so many people, but also because it was all my idea.

Had I mentioned that?

Chapter Fifteen

[Êàðòèíêà: img_16]

Snowball was laughing, and I didn’t think it was funny. I had just told her about the sheep thing, which she thought was hilarious – even the fact we would be dressing up. I thought she would be as affronted as me, but no, she was amused.

‘Oh come on, Alfie, where’s your sense of adventure?’ she said.

‘But a sheep? We could have been the wise men, because goodness knows we are wise. Or even angels, because everyone knows angels are good. But sheep? They don’t do anything except run around and eat grass.’

‘You’re an expert on sheep now?’

‘I told you about the sheep when we were on holiday in Lynstow—’

‘Yes, you did and you don’t need to tell me again,’ Snowball said, stopping me in my tracks. ‘Alfie, where’s your Christmas spirit?’

‘Goodness, if I had known, I might not have come up with the idea in the first place,’ I huffed. I wasn’t sure why I was so annoyed, but I think that after all the work we’d done I had expected more of a starring role. I felt that the sheep were just extras really. The more I had time to think about it, the more I wasn’t keen.

‘You need to get over yourself. I heard Harold talking about how the homeless people will really benefit from this and that’s why we’re doing it. It raises awareness and money for the problem, and it means that more people at the Helen Street Shelter can have a lovely dinner for Christmas, and hopefully warm clothes and also even gifts. It’s more than they normally get, which is sad, and we need to remember how lucky we are.’ She gave me one of her stern looks. I was suitably chastised.

‘You’re right, sometimes I do think about myself too much.’ I felt bad.

‘Well, I heard Harold on the phone and he said they are all going to the shelter later, not the younger ones because they are too little, so they’re staying with Sylvie, but the rest of them are going to help out, meet some of the people who our show is going to help and give everyone an idea as to why we’re doing this,’ Snowball said.

‘We’re all going to go to the shelter?’ I asked. ‘They said us cats would be going?’

‘No, Alfie, what have I just said? Sometimes things are more important than us.’

‘I do know that,’ I huffed again. ‘But, surely we’ll be going to the shelter.’ How could they even think about going without us?

‘I’m not sure we’re invited,’ Snowball said.

‘When has that ever stopped us?’ I asked.

George didn’t take much persuading to come with us to the shelter but Hana said she was tired and would prefer to stay at home.

‘Is she alright?’ I asked George when we were at our house.

‘She’s just more exhausted than usual but I think that’s because of the baby. No one gets much sleep in that house at the moment.’

‘That makes sense. Hopefully he’ll start sleeping more soon and they’ll all get better rest,’ I said.

‘Anyway, I’m excited to go to the shelter and I said I’d tell her all about it. It’s good for us to meet the people we’re trying to help, so we understand more,’ he said.

‘You’re a good lad,’ I said, and gave him a pat with my paw. I was moved. Snowball was right, I had been too busy thinking about myself, and not spent enough time thinking about why we were doing this show. It wasn’t for us to be stars, it was to raise money for a very good cause, to show how a community can be when it behaves like a proper community, and also – as an added bonus for us – a chance to spend more time with our loved ones. That was what was important. Not me being a sheep. No, Snowball was right, I needed to get over myself. Not that I would tell her that, of course.She loved being right, and when she was right I never heard the end of it.

Because Sylvie was staying with the children, Marcus offered to help as it was too much for one person. So when Harold arrived at our house with Snowball following him, we were ready to go. Aleksy, Tommy, Franceska, and Tomasz, along with Connie, were meeting us there as it was nearer to their house than ours. Jonathan was going to drive, as was Matt, but no one mentioned us.

‘What if they don’t think we’re going with them?’ George asked.

‘We go and wait by Jonathan’s car and when he opens the door we jump in,’ I said.

‘Good plan, Alfie.’ It seemed that Snowball had forgiven me for my earlier selfishness.

As they got into the cars, we jumped in too.

‘Claire, the cats cannot come with us,’ Jonathan said.

‘Meow.’ Why not?

‘Look, if they can’t go in the shelter, then we’ll leave them in the car but if we try to get them out now we’ll be late to meet Frankie and the others,’ Claire replied, which I knew meant we could go. She indulged us a bit more when it came to outings.

‘Why is everything such a drama?’ Jonathan said, but as we sat with Harold in the back, he chuckled and stroked us. He was clearly pleased we were going with him. At least someone was.

I had never been in a shelter before. In fact, I hadn’t heard of a human shelter before now, only animal ones, but Helen Street Shelter was a massive building, or so it looked from outside. We parked and got out of the car. There was no way they were leaving us out so we practically attached ourselves to one of the humans’ legs. I was attached toJonathan, who didn’t look best pleased but what could you do?

‘Hey, the cats have joined us?’ Franceska looked confused.

‘You know what they’re like, they come everywhere if they can, but we need to ask the shelter workers if it’s OK.’

‘Meow.’ Of course it will be; they will be delighted to see us.

‘Maybe it’ll be better if we carry them?’ Jonathan conceded, picking me up. Harold picked up Snowball and Claire took hold of George.

‘We all have to be brave,’ Aleksy said. ‘I’ve been before, and it’s hard to see, but remember they are human beings and need to be treated as such.’ He sounded so authoritative and grown up. I was proud of him.

‘What else would we treat them as?’ Jonathan asked.

I hoped the answer wasn’t sheep.

I saw Tomasz give Tommy a warning to behave himself, and Tommy actually looked a little contrite as we made our way in. We followed Aleksy– our self-appointed leader of this particular expedition – into a massive room. There were long tables with chairs laid out for people to eat at. Some were already full, others still empty. A feeding station was set up at the front, with people standing organising food and serving. I tried to take it all in but it was vast. There was a part where they advertised clothing, and another one for bedding, a third for toiletries. This shelter was drop in only, Aleksy explained. You couldn’t sleep here. They tried to get people beds, of course, and there was an office where people could go tofor advice and help round the back.

‘Hi, I’m Greg, the manager,’ a man said, greeting us. ‘And we are all so pleased you’re helping us. Really, it means the world.’ He was a nice man I decided, with messy blond hair and kind eyes.

Aleksy made all the introductions.

‘Meow,’ I said, to make myself known.

‘Ah, yes you see these are our cats Alfie, George, and Snowball; they like to go everywhere,’ Aleksy explained.

‘And they are in the show so they really should be here,’ Tommy added. I felt relieved, it seemed he was going to do as his dad asked him.

‘OK, well not sure if it’s a good idea while we serve food but we can make an exception as long as you keep carrying them.’

‘Meow,’ I reached out and touched Greg’s arm with my paw.

‘Alfie was homeless when we first met him,’ Claire said.

‘Mew.’ Yes, I was telling him I understood a bit, and although I was now clearly a pampered pet, it hadn’t always been this way.

‘Well, Alfie, great to have you onboard then. You’ll understand how hard it is for some of our guys,’ Greg said, sounding ever so slightly bemused.

‘Mew.’ Of course I understood, but I felt as if I needed to know more.

As we were given the tour, we met some of the people who used the shelter, and those who worked there– all volunteers giving up their time to do good. It was immediately humbling.

I felt choked up as I met some of the homeless people; some were old, and should have been looked after, others too young to be in such a predicament. There was an array of ages, and a mix of females and males. It seemed that homelessness didn’t discriminate. But they were all so nice and friendly, some shyer than others. Most wanted to pet us, which of course we didn’t mind one bit.

‘It’s still a bit quiet,’ Greg said. ‘It’ll start getting busier soon as people arrive for an evening meal. And we always need more clothes, toiletries, tents, and sleeping bags, which, if we get extra money, we can buy in, but we still always welcome donations of course.’

‘I’m going to get everyone in my office to bring something in for the shelter – I’ll call it our Christmas project,’ Jonathan said. He was quiet, as if the reality of what went on in the shelter was sinking in, and he kept petting my head, as if for reassurance. I wasn’t shocked – I knew from when I was homeless that it can happen to anyone – but I was definitely sad.

Everyone here had a story, you could see it in their faces, their eyes, their tattered clothes. I was so surprised that they were all trying to be cheerful. Despite having so little, they still managed a smile. It was heartbreaking and I realised being a sheep was a tiny, tiny price to pay… I was definitely humbled. And I needed to be. We needed to make this the biggest, best show ever, and I knew we would. I could feel it in my fur.

‘Oh, I’ll get some of the companies I work for to donate as well,’ Polly said. Matt agreed that he would get people he worked with involved, and they also asked for ideas for what the shelter could use for Christmas gifts. It was decided that gloves, scarves, and hats would be the most useful, so Claire said if Greg could get her a list of roughly how many women and men he expected for Christmas, she would organise that each got a parcel with that in. She said that they would all be gift wrapped because everyone deserved to get a nice gift wrapped present at Christmas. I felt so emotional as they discussed ways they could help, although I could hear in their voices they all wished they could do more.

‘We are so grateful, I can’t tell you,’ Greg said. ‘And of course, we’re looking forward to the show.’

‘Well, I hope that you can join us for the dress rehearsal, and we’ll put on some food afterwards too,’ Claire said. ‘We’d love for the cast to meet the people they are doing this for. We can discuss numbers nearer the time, but we’d like to accommodate as many as possible.’

‘Thank you,’ Greg said, sounding a little stunned. ‘You don’t know how much this means to us.’

‘You’re doing a wonderful job,’ Polly said. ‘This place is amazing.’ She had tears in her eyes.

Harold surprised me the most; he was going around carrying Snowball and introducing himself to people, telling them he was being Santa in the show, shaking hands as if he really was Santa. It was funny because he wasn’t normally this sociable … or this cheerful, for that matter.

‘Meow,’ I said loudly from my place in Matt’s arm, who had taken me from Jonathan. I was thinking of ways to make this even bigger.

‘I’ve got an idea,’ Aleksy said. ‘How about one evening we get the cast from the show to come here and help out, and we can get the local paper to come to that? Can we do that, Mum?’

‘Sure we can.’ Franceska put her arm around her son.

‘Wonderful idea, Aleksy,’ Greg said. ‘And, it’ll be a real treat for them to see the show, they don’t get many invitations.’

‘Don’t bank on it being that good,’ Jonathan said, but he was joking. At least, I hope he was.

‘Not funny,’ Claire said. She was right; so often his jokes weren’t.

‘Hi, I’m Lisa,’ a young-ish lady said as she came up to us. She was wearing a thick coat, which I was pleased to see looked quite warm, because goodness knew how people were supposed to survive in this weather. ‘Can I stroke your cat? I used to have a cat but I lost her and I miss her so much.’ Lisa sounded emotional. ‘I love cats.’

Matt placed me in her arms and she stroked me. I purred to her to give her reassurance. I was pleased to make a new friend and I nuzzled into her, trying to show her that I cared.

‘Hey, you are gorgeous,’ she said. ‘And the others too. I hope you’ll come back again.’ She stroked me one last time and gave me back to Matt.

‘Meow.’ I’d be delighted to.

‘Lisa is one of our hopeful cases, we’re hoping to get her into some accommodation before Christmas, and then she said she would get a cat as soon as she was able,’ Greg explained.

‘Yowl.’ Lisa was clearly a very clever young woman.

George jumped down and jumped onto one of the empty tables. Before anyone could get him, people lined up to fuss over him. He did a bit of showing off; he jumped a bit, rolled around and then sat looking adorable as they took it in turns to stroke him.

‘Honestly,’ Jonathan said. ‘He’s such an attention seeker.’ But at least everyone was laughing. The shelter became full of life as George entertained, meeting the people who we were doing the show for. It was wonderful. I had no other words – I felt warm and fuzzy, sad, but hopeful, allat the very same time.

Before we left, I noticed that Jonathan took his wallet out and gave Greg a bundle of notes. I puffed my chest. I was so proud of everyone; we were all working together to do something good. And as we left them enjoying a hot meal and company, chatter filled the hall, and cheers and waves followed us out. I hoped we would get to go again. We couldn’t do much but at times doing anything was much better than doing nothing.

My ego was firmly put in its place as we made our way home. I was so lucky and it was time to count my blessings. Even if being a sheep was one of them.

Chapter Sixteen

[Êàðòèíêà: img_17]

The shelter visit had made us all see the show as even more important, and so we all upped our game. We knew that if we could raise money, get the gifts and also extra clothes donated, then at least the people there would have a better Christmas than they would otherwise. Everyone was roped in to make it happen. The show was the focus but helping these people was more than just the show, if that makes sense.