Alfie The Doorstep Cat

Epilogue

I was visiting Tiger. She was trying to exercise more with me, having acknowledged that she needed to lose some weight. She said that when I’d been away she had eaten and not moved much, pining for me, which was nice, although I think she was just being a bit lazy as she was prone to.

Many months had passed since the incident, such as it had now become known. I hadn’t realised that although my plan was dangerous and had nearly caused my death – I wasn’t quite aware of how near death I’d been – the outcome had been better than I could ever have envisaged. But, as the seasons passed, my strength had returned. It was now summer again. The sun was out, the evenings light and warm. I had survived it all; the attack by Joe, and the cold winter that followed, which made me loath to go out. I had eventually forced myself to set foot outside the front door, returning to my old life of visiting all the houses; Jonathan’s, the flats at number 22, and of course, Claire’s. After my recovery I had returned to being a doorstep cat but with a difference, because everything was different. And now things had changed more than ever.

Franceska and Thomasz and the boys had moved and left Edgar Road. Luckily they had only gone round the corner though, and lived in a bigger flat. I didn’t visit often, as it was quite a walk, but they came to Polly and Matt’s or Jonathan and Claire’s all the time. It seemed that I had brought about a friendship for all of my families, which made me so happy; they liked each other, just as I had wanted.

Thomasz had a partnership in his restaurant and was doing very well. Aleksy loved his school and his English was now better than his parents’. Thomasz the boy was talking more and almost sounding English. Franceska worked in a shop and she often brought gifts of fish. She said she was less and less homesick now.

Polly was better and enjoying being a mum. She had a growing stomach, which they told me meant there was another baby coming, another playmate for me! She, Matt and Henry were very happy. Henry was walking now and pulled my tail a lot, but in a fun, not mean way, so I tried not to mind too much. The biggest change was that they lived in a new house now, which happened to be right opposite Jonathan’s. They were so much closer and the house they lived in wasn’t as big as Jonathan’s, but it was a lovely family home.

Claire and I both lived full time in 46 Edgar Road, with Jonathan. My idea to get them together had worked (although it took a while). It was the best plan ever, although they seemed to do it all by themselves, needing only a little help from me. They were so happy together, although Jonathan could still be grumpy and Claire would tease him. She wasn’t scared of him and he treated her – and me – like royalty. Tasha visited all the time and they had other friends over, as well as Franceska’s family and Polly and Matt. The house was busy and full, the way I had always thought it should be.

Claire and Jonathan called me their miracle cat because apparently I had done so much. I was growing quite an ego; the way they talked, you would think I had saved the world, not just helped four families. But apparently I had, and my life was all the better and richer for it.

As we settled into a routine which worked for us all, I had much to be thankful for: my friendships, my family, the love that surrounded me. My days of wandering the streets in fear, dodging cars and dogs and feral cats, scrabbling for food and shelter, were so far behind me that sometimes it felt as if that life had happened to another cat. But I knew it had happened to me, because my past was always with me. The tears and the fear, and the way my families had needed me, had become a part of me. I would never forget Joe and what he had done to me because, although it had cost me a lot, it had given me so much more. I would never forget when Aleksy came back from school with a certificate because he had written about his best friend, which was me. I would never forget Franceska saying that being in England had been so hard at first but that I had made it easier. I would never forget Claire saying I had saved her, and Polly saying the same. I would never forget that Jonathan teased me for turning him into a cat lover and telling Claire that I had saved him from the awful Philippa. I would never forget my long journey here, and I just hoped that the hard bit of it was now over and my relaxation could begin.

Because I was still happiest being a lap cat, and I now had the perfect number of laps to sit on. At night, I would sometimes go out and look at the stars. I would look at the sky and hope that Agnes and Margaret were up there somewhere, winking at me, because although I had apparently done a lot of good things since I lost them, I had only done it because of the love and lessons they had taught me. And I was a better cat for them and for everything I’d been through. And that, I had learnt, was how life worked.