Alfie The Doorstep Cat

Chapter Twenty-Nine

Joe had returned home late that night, waking both Claire and me. He was being nice to Claire in a very horrible way, pawing at her and kissing her and I left the room before they kicked me out.

I headed back to Jonathan’s for the night. I was greeted by an empty house, and, once again, Jonathan didn’t come home at all. What a bunch of humans I had chosen!

I felt like a ping pong ball as I padded back over to Claire’s for breakfast. Surprisingly, she and Joe were all smiles as they had breakfast together. Claire even ate a little bit, although it was only a very small amount. I saw Claire chewing her lip nervously.

‘Joe, can I ask you something?’ she said, sounding timid. He nodded. ‘It’s just that you’ve been here over a month now and, well, you seem to have moved in, but we haven’t talked about it.’ I saw his eyes darken.

‘Are you saying you don’t want me here?’ he asked.

‘No, of course not. But, well, we don’t talk about your job or your flat or what’s happened. Are you living with me properly?’ She looked unsure and scared.

‘Claire, I wanted to ask, but I was too worried you would say no. I was so ashamed, but I lost my flat. Work have messed me around with money and the lawyer who is helping me demanded payment up front. I couldn’t afford the rent.’ He put his head in his hands. ‘I was just too afraid to tell you.’ Claire looked as if she didn’t understand and I could see she had no grip on this situation at all.

‘If you need somewhere to live, you can move in. You only had to say. Joe, I would never judge you, I love you.’

‘Oh Claire, I would love to move in here properly. I’ll go and get the rest of my stuff this week!’ He looked like the cat that got the cream. ‘It’s going to be great, and as soon as I sort work and everything out, we’ll put it on a more official footing. You know, with bills and stuff.’ I narrowed my eyes in confusion. How on earth had he managed to do this? I knew he was lying. He had given his flat up a couple of weeks ago and asked a friend to keep his stuff for now – I had heard the phone calls. I hoped Claire would tell him to sling his hook, like Jonathan had to Philippa. But although she looked a bit unsure, she smiled.

‘Of course I want you to move in. I just wasn’t sure if you already had.’

‘Oh no, I’d never do that without asking you. Right, today, let’s celebrate by doing something amazing.’

‘There’s an exhibition at The National Gallery I’m dying to see,’ Claire said, tentatively.

‘Then we shall go. Today is all about you, my love, so whatever you want to do, I want to do.’ Joe leant over and kissed her. I hadn’t seen him being like this for ages and I wondered what had brought it on. I wondered if he had noticed how bad she looked, or felt, or if he actually did care after all, although I was still highly suspicious.

‘You don’t know how happy that makes me,’ she giggled, looking pleased.

‘That’s all that matters,’ he replied, tightly, and I knew, deep down, that he wasn’t genuine.

I took a leisurely stroll over to the number 22 flats. The sun was back again, it was a lovely day, and I felt a little bit of a spring in my step, despite the drama. When I got to the flats, both families were congregated out the front, with lots of bags. Both Franceska and Polly were in summer dresses; the men and boys wore shorts and T-shirts, and they all looked animated and happy.

‘Alfie,’ Aleksy shouted, coming over to me. ‘We have picnics.’

‘Hi Alfie,’ Thomasz the man said, coming over to stroke me.

‘Alfie can come too?’ Aleksy asked, hopefully.

‘No, we go on train, cats no go on train.’

‘We go to sea,’ Aleksy explained, but he looked sad that I couldn’t come.

I felt disappointed too. I could have done with a change of scene. As they chatted excitedly, and organised their many bags, I smelt something very exciting. It was tuna. I loved tuna! I followed my nose and found that the biggest bag contained a blanket and some wrapped packages, which I was pretty sure contained tuna of some sort. I put my head in for a closer look and, before I knew it, I had climbed right into the bag. It was comfortable and soft and smelt so good. I breathed in the heady scent of fish, but before I had a chance to climb out again, I saw a hand – Thomasz’s – pick the bag up, and put it in the car. I didn’t know what to do as I felt the car start moving, so I did nothing. My first instinct was to panic, and so I nearly called out, but then I remembered I was with my families. It seemed I could go to the seaside after all.

I knew I had to keep quiet, but in the end I fell asleep anyway when we got on the train. As they put me on the floor, I curled up and the motion rocked me off to dreamland. I was vaguely aware of the train stopping, then being picked up again. There was a lot of noise as I was put down on the ground. I tentatively poked my head out but all I could see was a lot of legs. I spotted a dog sniffing around so I hid again.

After being carried, and driven, and carried again, we finally stopped. I could feel warmth overhead, and hear seagulls squawking hungrily and lots of human chatter. I heard the men talk about arranging deck chairs and Franceska said she would lay out the picnic. She opened the bag and I jumped out. I would have shouted ‘surprise’ if I could have. Everyone went quiet for a minute, but then Aleksy shrieked with laughter, little Thomasz joined in and even Henry giggled as I went to say ‘hello’ to him in his pushchair. Franceska picked me up.

‘Our little stowaway.’ Everyone laughed and I suddenly felt a joy that had been absent from so many of our lives lately. Yet again, I felt as if I had done the right thing for my families.

‘Don’t wander off, Alfie,’ Matt said, quite sternly, when the laughter died down. ‘We’re a long way from home, so stay with us.’ I looked at him indignantly. What kind of cat did he think I was?

The picnic was such fun. I sat on the edge of the blanket, blinking at the bright sun, being fed bits of food, and watching. Other people seemed to point at me a lot. Perhaps cats didn’t really go to the seaside after all. I certainly didn’t want to go to the water with some of the others as they went to paddle in the sea. Still remembering my pond experience, I decided to stay well away from the sea. I sat with Polly as the others went, even Henry.

Although she had seemed happy, the sadness returned to Polly’s eyes when she was alone. She let me sit next to her and stroked me absently, but I wondered where she was; she wasn’t sitting on the beach with me. I wondered what I could do to help her. Until I knew, I curled up into her side and tried to convey my love.

We stayed like that for a while until the others returned, dripping wet.

‘Alfie!’ Aleksy shook himself near me. I yelped and jumped out of the way.

‘Cat’s don’t like water,’ Matt explained, and he winked at me.

‘Sorry,’ Aleksy said, and I purred in forgiveness.

We passed a wonderful afternoon. Both families were happier than I had seen them. There was so much laughter and joy that my heart swelled. I could hear the birds squawking overhead. The sun was quite hot but I managed to find some shade near Henry’s pushchair when it got too fierce. Aleksy and Thomasz collected stones, there was a beachful to choose from. At one point, the men went to get ice cream, and they even got one for me!

Oh, it was heavenly, as I licked my first ice cream ever. I balked at bit at how cold it was at first, wrinkling my nose and shivering, which made everyone laugh, but then I tried again and it was delicious. Really creamy! Suddenly a big seagull swooped down in front of us and looked menacingly at me. Thomasz, the little one, screamed in fright, but I stood myself up on all fours as big as I could be (although he was still bigger than me) and hissed at him fiercely. He gave me a look as if he was weighing up an attack, but I hissed again and spat and he flew off.

‘Alfie very brave,’ Aleksy said, and he petted me as I returned to my ice cream. I might have seemed brave to him, but I was shaking inside. I wasn’t sure that I would have survived if it had descended into a fight!

‘It’s OK, Alfie, we would have saved you,’ Thomasz the man said, although I wasn’t sure if even he would have been a match for an angry, hungry seagull; they had a reputation for ruthlessness among our community.

When the sun started to sink, Franceska said it was time to go home, so the children changed into clean clothes, the rubbish was collected and the bags packed. I was told this time to travel in a bag that sat underneath Henry’s pushchair. It was actually quite a comfortable way to be transported home, so I didn’t mind at all. I slept most of the way dreaming of ice cream.

Bags were unloaded at the number 22 flats. I bid everyone goodbye and wearily made my way down the street back to Claire’s.

‘I wonder where he goes to when he leaves us? Where does he really live?’ Matt said, and they all looked at me as if I should provide the answer.