Alfie The Doorstep Cat. A Cat Called Alfie. Alfie Cat In Trouble. Alfie Far From Home. Alfie And George

‘Finally, it seems that life is good. So let’s drink to that.’ They clinked beer bottles. ‘Oh and by the way, mate, can you and Claire babysit for us on Saturday? I want to surprise Pol with a nice meal out.’

‘Sure, I don’t think we’ve got plans and anyway, it’s good practice.’

‘She’s not is she?’

‘No, well I don’t think so, not yet, but hopefully soon.’ Jonathan sounded unperturbed, unlike Claire, as he discussed the wanted pregnancy.

Our cosy boys’ night was soon interrupted by the doorbell again. Jonathan groaned as he got up, and I followed him to the front door. He opened the door, coming face-to-face with Heather and Vic Goodwin, who stood smiling — or rather, grimacing — at him from the doorstep.

‘Jonathan, is Claire here?’ Vic asked. I looked behind Vic and Heather and saw that Salmon was with them, standing atmy front gate. He aggressively flicked his tail up, I narrowed my eyes but decided to ignore him. Irritating cat. Mind you, irritating owners. They were older than my owners, both with grey hair. They lived in a smaller house, a bit like Matt and Polly’s, on the opposite side of the road to us. They always dressed in a similar way, and today they were both wearing navy blue jumpers with white shirt collars poking out from underneath. Vic was wearing corduroy trousers, Heather a corduroy skirt. I wondered if they were a certain species of humans — none of the couples I knew wore matching clothes.

‘Um no, she’s at her book club,’ Jonathan mumbled nervously, as I saw him move forward to block the door. I knew he didn’t want to let them in but I also knew he shouldn’t underestimate Vic and Heather.

‘Not to worry, we’ve got you.’ Heather grinned and before I knew it, they had managed to get themselves inside the house. My fur stood on end. As they walked into the living room, Jonathan shut the door, looking confused. I stayed at Jonathan’s feet as we followed them in.

‘Ah, Matt, you’re here,’ Vic said. ‘Good, good. Saves us visiting your house.’

‘Hello.’ Matt looked at Jonathan with panic in his eyes.

‘We are—’ Heather paused, sitting down on the sofa. I cowered under a chair and put my paws over my eyes. This wasn’t good. She continued, ‘Here on Neighbourhood Watch business, of course.’

‘Of course.’ Jonathan and Matt exchanged another glance. Jonathan was standing up, Matt was on the chair in the corner and Vic and Heather sat together on the sofa.

‘So what can we do for you?’ Jonathan asked, politely.

‘Well, as you know there’s been a few changes in the street lately. And now number forty-eight has been let we thought it would be a good time to strategize,’ Vic started. I pricked my ears up at the mention of the new house.

‘Right, strategize how?’ Matt asked.

‘Well, as you know, dear, Edgar Road has become quite a community and we want to keep it that way. So we thought that when the new people come into number forty-eight we should hold a meeting, explain to them that it’s a community here and how we all look out for each other,’ Heather explained.

‘Sort of a welcome party?’ Matt asked, eyebrow raised.

‘Exactly, Matt, exactly,’ Vic concurred. ‘Start as we mean to go on.’

‘I didn’t get a welcome party,’ Jonathan said grumpily.

‘Well you didn’t act suspiciously when you moved in, did you?’ Vic pointed out.

‘What are you talking about?’ Matt asked.

‘Moving boxes in at night, unpacking at night, it’s not exactly normal behaviour is it?’ Heather smiled, almost in the same way that Salmon does, baring her teeth. I promptly recovered my eyes.

‘And, I have a friend who lives in a nearby neighbourhood, and a house in their street was let recently,’ Vic continued. ‘Well about twenty of thoseforeign people moved into the house, and well, we can’t have that here.’

Jonathan looked shocked, his brows knotted in confusion.

‘What on earth are you talking about? What does that have to do with number forty-eight?’ Jonathan asked, sounding horrified.

‘The letting agent wouldn’t disclose to us who would be moving in, but so far the new occupants have acted suspiciously so we’ve put two and two together. And this is happening all over London, so we need to be on top of it. You know, as Neighbourhood Watch coordinators and concerned residents.’

‘So hang on, we don’t even know who’s moving in, and yet you’re already planning to interrogate them?’ Matt sounded annoyed.

‘No, that’s not what we said. But whoever it is, we thought if we invited them to a meeting immediately they would know how our street works. And, we would like them to explain their nocturnal activities. We have a duty to the residents here to ensure our street stays safe,’ Heather explained.

‘God, you make it sound like a lynch mob.’ Jonathan looked aghast.

‘No, absolutely not, of course we don’t mean that. But anyway, we wanted to inform you and of course we know that you and your good lady wives will attend and offer the neighbourhood your support.’ Vic smiled, but his smile was as sinister as his wife’s and his cat’s.

‘It’s just that if there are going to be lots of immigrants moving onto the street we need to show them we won’t be messed with. And if it’s a normal middle-class family we will welcome them,’ Heather explained. ‘So we can count on you?’

Jonathan and Matt were speechless as I came out from under the chair, and went and sat on the windowsill. Salmon still sat at the gate, and I flicked my tail up at him through the safety of the window. I saw him hiss at me; I smirked, he couldn’t come near me, as I continued to taunt him.

‘When is this meeting?’ Matt asked.

‘We are going to schedule it when the residents of number forty-eight move in. So you’ll attend I take it?’ Vic said.

‘I don’t know—’ Matt began.

‘The thing is—’ Jonathan said at the same time.

‘Dear boys,’ Heather started, sounding even scarier than normal. ‘I hope that you care enough about this street to come. I would hate to think that you have no interest in where you live, as would the other residents, I’m sure.’

‘Absolutely, dear.’ Vic put his arm around Heather. ‘Until now we have thought of you as being very good members of our community. We wouldn’t want to have to revise that opinion.’

Matt looked terrified as he seemed to shrink back into the chair.

‘Of course we’ll be there,’ Jonathan said. Matt shot him a surprised look. ‘To welcome our new neighbours, which is, what I hope that this meeting will be about.’ Jonathan sounded firm and I was proud of him.

‘Absolutely,’ Vic said. ‘Right, we have lots of people to visit so we’d best get on. Glad we can count on you.’ In the whole scheme of Heather and Vic, they’d got off lightly.

‘Well good, I’ll show you out.’ As Jonathan herded them to the door, he spoke again. ‘You know our good friends, Franceska and Tomasz are from Poland and they lived here for a while. They weren’t trouble makers,’ he said. We all stood at the front door; I took the opportunity to give Salmon one last dirty look.

‘Absolutely not. We got lucky with them, but not all foreigners are like that,’ Heather said, seriously. I could hear Matt in the living room choking on his beer.

‘They are unbelievable,’ Jonathan said, as he returned to the living room. His face was a bit red, the way it was when he was angry.

‘I find them quite amusing. Well apart from the racism of course. You know whenever I walk down the street, I see them over the road, curtains twitching.’

‘This will be the lowest crime street ever with those two. Imagine, if they caught you doing anything wrong you’d get talked to death,’ Jonathan laughed. ‘Or they’d make a citizen’s arrest in their matching jumpers.’

‘Well, I don’t know if it’s a family or a hundred immigrants but I already feel sorry for the people moving into number forty-eight,’ Matt agreed.

‘You’re not wrong there. Right, let’s forget the Goodwins and put on the football.’

Chapter Five

Despite developing a new sleeping habit since Claire and Jonathan moved in together, I had adjusted well to it. Before they were together, when they normally slept alone, they often let me in their room but now, they put my basket on the landing and shut their bedroom door. I wasn’t offended; I had since learnt about the human need for privacy when there was more than one of them. And although I didn’t understand why I couldn’t be in their bedroom, I accepted it. However, I knew instinctively when the alarm clock would go off and as soon as it did I would be waiting to scratch at the door. This delighted Claire who declared me incredibly clever, as I never disturbed them even a minute before the alarm roused them. I have often said that if humans had inbuilt clocks as us cats did, then the world would be a far more efficient place.

Today, I scratched at the door right on cue. It was Jonathan who came to the door first.

‘Morning, Alfie,’ he said absently, wearing his navy dressing gown. He made straight for the kitchen and his coffee machine. I had learnt that he was a bit of a nightmare in the mornings before he had a cup of coffee. He pulled out cups and I miaowed hopefully.

‘OK, hang on, I’ll get you some more smoked salmon, but don’t tell Claire.’ I purred in agreement.

‘What are you doing here?’ I asked, as Tiger appeared in the kitchen just as I was cleaning myself. ‘Claire and Jonathan are getting ready for work, they’ll be down any minute,’ I hissed.

‘Quick, Alfie, I have something to show you.’ She looked very pleased with herself; smug even.

‘What?’

‘Come with me, and you’ll see. I have a present for you, a very special present.’

‘Wow,’ I said as I sat outside number 48 with Tiger. We crept into the front garden, to see if we could get a closer look. Lights were on in the house, we could hear footsteps and when we looked through the window furtively, we saw even more boxes had been unpacked. They had finally moved in. And I fleetingly wondered if our nosey neighbours had been right; they had moved in when no one was around to see them. What was that about?

‘I told you, Alfie. They weren’t here when I went to bed last night, but when I got up this morning and went for a stroll they were!’ She sounded excited.

‘They must have come in the night like the boxes,’ I mused.

‘I guess. Anyway, look.’ Tiger led me round the back. We found a bush to hide in, to survey the situation. Through the back patio doors into the kitchen I could see a woman, a bit older than Claire, her hair greying slightly. She was thin and looked harassed as, hair tied back, she was still busily unpacking. After a while she was joined by a man we had seen before; the thin almost bald man. He kissed her and she smiled sadly at him. He was wearing jeans and a shirt and he didn’t look as if he was exactly happy either.

‘So there’s two people?’ I asked.

‘No, I think there’s more. When I came by this morning, I saw someone younger.’

‘I’m surprised Salmon isn’t here, spying.’

‘Thank goodness he isn’t. Look!’

I saw a teenage boy enter the kitchen. He was wearing jeans and a hoody and he looked a bit moody. He sat down at the kitchen table, but didn’t appear to speak. His mother (I guessed), went over to him and planted a kiss on his head but he acted as if he didn’t even notice.

‘He doesn’t look very nice,’ I observed.

‘He’s a teenager. I think in general they aren’t very nice. Well my owners say they aren’t. Apparently they are mainly what is wrong with this country.’

‘Really?’ I hadn’t had much experience of teenagers, so I found this fascinating.

‘Yes, they are lazy and slovenly and don’t care about the world. That’s what they say anyway.’

‘But you’ve never had a teenager?’ I asked her.

‘No, but my family have a couple of friends who have teenage children. They grunt rather than speak and they never say thank you, apparently.’

‘Sounds horrible.’

‘Yes, but then they grow up and get better, or some of them do.’

‘Well that’s something, but I’m already dreading the day that Aleksy becomes one.’

‘I know, imagine if he’s just like that boy there.’ We both grimaced.

As we looked, a very pretty blonde girl walked into the kitchen. We retreated slightly as she came over to the floor length windows we were looking through. She looked older than the surly boy, so perhaps she had outgrown this teenage thing. She was tall, taller than her mum, but shorter than her dad. She had beautiful blue eyes but when I looked properly there was something missing from them; she looked distant as she stood in her new home and I had seen that look before. More than once.

What was it with Edgar Road?

After a little while, Tiger got bored and started trying to pull leaves off a bush, but I was mesmerized by the house. People called houses homes but I also thought they were places that contained stories, both happy and sad, and that was what drew me to them.

‘Can we go now?’ she asked having resorted to looking at her own paw.

‘Not yet,’ I hissed. ‘I just want to see a bit more.’

‘Alfie, you and this obsession with humans. Really!’ She rolled her eyes as a leaf came loose and landed on her head.

‘It’s more sensible than your obsession with leaves,’ I shot back, staring pointedly at the pile of leaves she’d collected at her feet.

‘Is not,’ Tiger replied, looking sulky.

‘Anyway, we can go soon, I just want to see if it’s just the four of them. If it is, then it might not be a bad bet. Another house for me to visit. They might like having a cat around, in any case and there’s a nice big kitchen for me to eat in.’

‘Oh Alfie, you have enough families who love and take care of you, when will you accept that? And besides, that teenage boy might not like you.’ Tiger looked exasperated from having to repeat herself so much.

‘My first owner, Margaret, always used to say this thing, Tiger.’ I paused as I pictured the kind old lady that I had loved with my whole heart. ‘She used to say “We must never rest on our laurels.” Now I don’t exactly know what it means but I think it means that I shouldn’t takeanythingfor granted. I once said I would never do that again. And it wouldn’t hurt you to take a lesson from me.’

‘I’m too lazy. If anything happens to my humans I know you’ll sort it out.’ She smiled, and of course she was right. It was the sort of cat I was.

A noise startled us.

‘Oh my, we hadn’t even noticed that,’ Tiger said as a cat flap slowly lifted up from the other back door.

‘And bang goes my idea of being their doorstep cat,’ I murmured, disappointment flooding me. We both stood, stock still as we watched a cat emerge.

‘Wow,’ I said, unable to contain myself.

‘Well,’ Tiger said, instantly lost for words.

‘Who are you and what are you doing in my garden?’ an unfriendly voice hissed and I felt myself glued to the spot as I found myself staring at the most beautiful cat I had ever seen in my life.

Chapter Six

‘Who are you?’ the beauty hissed angrily at us. I wanted to move, or speak or something but I was rooted to the spot and struck dumb.

‘We,’ Tiger replied, feistily, ‘are your neighbours. I’m Tiger and that’s Alfie and we are here to welcome you to Edgar Road.’

I glanced sideways at Tiger, she neither looked nor sounded very welcoming.

‘Right, well now you’ve welcomed me, you may leave.’ The exquisite creature stood in front of us. I had never seen such soft fur, bluer eyes or a whiter coat. Her face was like a work of art. She was truly gorgeous, although, admittedly, not at all friendly.

‘But we … we … we could show you round,’ I stammered, feeling my legs trembling, in an alien sensation.

‘Thank you but I think I’ll find my own way round. I don’t care to ask you again, but would you please get out of my garden.’

‘No need to be so rude, whitey,’ Tiger hissed. ‘We were trying to be friends, but I can see we’re wasting our time.’

‘Yes you are,’ the white cat replied, turning her beautiful back on us and heading back into her house.

‘Well, I’ve never met such a rude cat,’ Tiger said as we made to leave.

‘I’ve never met a more beautiful one,’ I sighed, stretching my legs out, to try to regain my composure. I had to admit I felt flummoxed. On the one hand, my original idea to become their doorstep cat had been scuppered, but then how could I mind when it had been scuppered by such a beautiful creature? For some reason, the idea of the white cat made me happy and not at all disappointed. In that moment, my aim had changed, rather than be their doorstep cat, I wanted to be the white cat’s friend. I was determined to be so.

‘Really? You thought she was beautiful? She was horrible, Alfie!’ Tiger was angry.

‘I didn’t think she was nice, just pretty,’ I defended myself, but it fell upon deaf ears and Tiger shot me a withering look and stalked off. I followed her but I couldn’t get the white cat’s image out of my mind.

I trailed behind Tiger as we headed to our little recreation area, where we found four other cats. Elvis, Nellie, Rocky, and mean Tom were all lolling around. Tiger forgot her earlier animosity, eager to tell the others about the new cat. When she had filled them in they turned to me.

‘What do you think?’ Tom asked, licking his whiskers.

‘She’s stunning,’ I began, but quickly had to duck as Tiger tried to swipe me. ‘But yes, definitely rude,’ I quickly added. A memory of how Jonathan first was when I met him sprang into my head; he threw me out of his house but he loves me now.

‘Well, I wonder if she’ll hang out with us.’ Nellie interrupted my thoughts.

‘I expect, from what we saw she’ll keep close to home,’ Tiger said, diplomatically.

‘I wishhe’d stay close to home,’ Rocky added as Salmon approached.

‘I expected to find you here, you are all so boringly predictable. Have you met the new cat?’ Salmon asked, in his sneering voice. As much as he disliked us and we disliked him, he couldn’t resist trying to find out any gossip.

‘Yes,’ Tiger replied, refusing to give him more.

‘And you think you’re so great, but I have met her too,’ Salmon said.

‘And I bet she wouldn’t speak to you,’ I added narrowing my eyes at him and feeling braver for some reason.

‘Well, no she wouldn’t. The silly girl ran away as soon as she saw me.’ He sounded annoyed.

‘I don’t actually blame her for that,’ Tiger said. We all laughed. Salmon hissed at her and looked as if he was about to pounce.

‘Don’t be a silly cat,’ Tom said, standing next to Tiger. ‘Are you really going to take us all on?’ he added.

‘You aren’t worth it,’ Salmon hissed again before turning and stalking off.

‘I really dislike that cat,’ Rocky stated, echoing all our thoughts.

Wanting to think, I took myself to the little park at the end of the street, leaving Tiger to go home. She said she was tired but I could tell she was still annoyed with me, and off for one of her customary sulks. I tried to give her a friendly nuzzle as we parted but she brushed me off. I thought I would do something nice for her later, even though I wasn’t sure exactly what I had done.

When I got to the park I was delighted to see Polly there with the kids. Henry was on the slide and Martha was trying to walk but she kept falling over. I marvelled at her persistence as she kept getting up, with Polly encouraging her.

‘Alfie,’ Henry shouted, spotting me and running up to me. He knelt down and stroked me and I enjoyed the fuss. I followed him over to where Polly was now carrying a crying Martha.

‘Martha, feeling sad?’ Henry asked, eyes brimming with concern.

‘She bumped herself when she fell over, sweetie,’ Polly replied. ‘Hi, Alfie.’ She smiled at me and I miaowed and put my tail up in greeting.

‘Right, well we are going to Franceska’s for lunch, although, Alfie, it might be a bit far for you,’ she added as she strapped Martha into the buggy and then tried to coax Henry in.

‘I walking,’ Henry said. And suddenly I had a great idea. I had never been to Franceska’s new flat, largely due to my fear of going far from home. When I was forced to leave my first home after Margaret died, I walked for weeks before I got to Edgar Road. I nearly died on a number of occasions — the big roads I had to cross were more dangerous than I could have ever imagined — and so I was fearful, but I did want to see where my third family lived and now, if Henry didn’t want to go into the double pushchair then that meant there was a spare seat. I jumped into it.

‘Alfie,’ Polly admonished. Henry laughed, as did Martha. ‘OK, you can come to lunch with us but if Henry needs to go in the buggy you’ll have to sit on his lap.’ Shaking her head she started pushing us. I looked at Martha who was giving me lots of smiles. I happily flicked my tail; I knewwhat she meant, this wasn’t a bad way to travel.

It seemed quite a long way, and halfway through Henry wanted to get into the pushchair, so Polly put me on his lap.

As we left the quiet of Edgar Road behind, the streets started to get busier, with more shops springing up, more traffic and definitely a lot more people, as Polly manoeuvred the double buggy round them. I soon put my doubts aside and took notice of our route, just in case. We reached Franceska and Tomasz’s restaurant,Ognisko, where Polly stopped so we could look through the big square window. It looked inviting, I thought, the woodwork on the outside was painted blue, and inside it was full of people, sitting at rustic wooden tables, all looking as if they were enjoying the food that sat on crisp looking linen tablecloths. I was excited to see it for the first time.

We stood next to a different door and Polly rang the buzzer. Franceska opened it with a huge smile, Polly folded the buggy and left it in the entrance as we made our way upstairs to their flat.

‘My goodness, you brought Alfie!’ Franceska beamed and I grinned back as only a cat can do.

‘He jumped into the buggy and so I thought, why not? Although pushing a cat down the road made me feel like a crazy woman.’ They both laughed.

‘Tomasz?’ Henry said, looking for his friend. It always confused me how both father and the younger son of the family were called Tomasz. I called them big Tomasz and little Tomasz to avoid confusion, but it wasn’t the most sensible way to name people who lived in the same house.

‘Sorry, munchkin, he is at school today and Aleksy too. Come though, you can play with his toys.’ Franceska led Henry through to the living room. They had a dining table in the same room as their sofa; it was a big room, warm and inviting and larger than theirs on Edgar Road. The table was laidout with food and I could smell that she had sardines. As if she knew I was coming, my treat awaited. I walked to the table hopefully and miaowed loudly.

‘OK, Alfie, you can have your fish. Lucky I had some, although I had no idea you would be here.’ She laughed as she picked me up and gave me a lovely hug.

We spent a lovely afternoon together. I got to explore the flat— it was wonderful to see where they lived. Big Tomasz, Franceska’s husband, came up to see us after his lunchtime rush and made a huge fuss of me. Big Tomasz suited the name I gave him; he was a big man who was so much softer than he looked. I always wished I knew him better, but as he worked so much I saw the least of him out of everybody. When we had to leave I felt sad, but on the way back Martha and Henry slept so I curled up on Henry’s lap for my lift home, struggling to stay awake after my unexpected excitement.

I jumped out at Claire and Jonathan’s and rubbed Polly’s legs in thanks for my outing. It was time for me to have a nap but I couldn’t resist going to number 48, for one last look. They had already put curtains up at all the windows at the front and the downstairs ones were closed. This was yet another thing that was odd as itwas middle of the day. One of the rooms upstairs also had closed curtains.

There was no activity to be seen and no sign of the beautiful white cat. I thought about going round the back but I didn’t want to have another run-in until I thought about how best to approach her. For now, I would sleep on it. It was the best solution, I decided, as I made my way round to my back garden. I was about to go through the cat flap when I remembered something. I went over to our garden fence, the one that divided our house from number 48. When I first moved into Jonathan’s house, I discovered that one of the panels was a bit loose at the bottom. It allowed me to look through to next door’s garden but I hadn’t bothered; I had no need to. Until now.

I nudged the panel with my nose and was overjoyed to see that it still moved ever so slightly. It wasn’t enough for me to squeeze through but I could see a bit of the garden, I could see the back door too. I could keep an eye on the cat next door, I thought, as I resolved that I would do whatever it took to befriend the white cat. And, as I stepped away from the fence, I knew I wouldn’t stop until I succeeded.

Chapter Seven

‘I don’t mind cooking,’ Jonathan offered, as he stood staring at his prized possession, the coffee machine, which was whirring away. When I’d first heard the chrome thing gurgling and spluttering I thought it was alive and would eat me, but now I was used to it. Jonathan liked shiny gadgetsthat cost a lot of money and made a lot of noise, it seemed.

‘Darling, no offence, but when you cook, I have to clean up and it normally takes weeks. Anyway you know what Tasha and Dave are like, they’re happy with anything.’

‘OK, but if you cook do I have to clear up?’

‘Jonathan, stop being an idiot, you know that I clean up as I go along. You can go and get some nice wine, buy some flowers for the house, and treat me to a new dress.’

‘Really, all that?’ Looking bemused he took his coffee and sat at the kitchen table.

‘OK, I don’t need a dress but you can get flowers and wine.’

‘I would buy you all the dresses in the world if you wanted, you know that.’

‘I do and that’s why I love you.’

Once again, I had to put my paws over my eyes as they started smooching. I was glad they were happy but I didn’t necessarily want to see it. Tasha teased Claire and called it the ‘honeymoon period’. I didn’t know exactly what it meant but I had guessed that it meant it wouldn’t last forever. Hopefully. I was all for affection but people could take it too far — it was almost enough to put me offmy breakfast.

It was time for me to leave. I had said I would call on Tiger, so we could hang out. Maybe with some of the others, depending on who was around. For the past few days I had not had a sighting of the beautiful white cat. Or its owners for that matter. And I had spent a fair bit of time at the fence. Not only had I not seen her but I didn’t even know her name yet. And I desperately wanted to find out what it was.

I had heard Claire telling Jonathan she had popped round to say welcome, but there had been no answer, although she was sure she’d heard movement in the house. They were certainly mysterious and I wondered if Vic and Heather had managed to get to them yet. They probably had their binoculars trained on the house as it was.

I still hadn’t come up with a plan on how to meet the white cat again, but I was working on it. My little brain was always whirring and perhaps today would be the day that I caught sight of her again.

As I made my way out of the back garden— quickly checking the fence for activity — and round to Tiger’s house, she was waiting for me, giving herself a clean before we set off for our morning walk.

Exercise was important to me, particularly because of my injury, as I had to keep fit and my limbs moving. So I had taken to going to the park most days, sometimes with Polly, other times with Tiger, as well as strolling up and around Edgar Road.

‘Park?’ she asked.

‘You read my mind,’ I replied. The park at the end of our road was small but we loved it. Full of bushes, creatures to chase and, of course, children; we found plenty to entertain us there.

There was also a pond but I didn’t like to think about that after a near-death experience I had falling into it once. Matt rescued me but it taught me to keep away from water. I even avoided puddles if I could.

On the way, we sneaked a look at number 48, to see if there had been any developments but nothing had changed. The curtains were drawn, although lights were glimmering through them. I wasn’t a judgemental cat but it was most odd.

‘Salmon’s family said that there might be twenty people living there,’ I told Tiger. ‘But we only saw four.’

‘Yesterday they came round to ours and were ranting on about criminals to my humans. Saying that no one has seen them, they keep the curtains drawn and so they are definitely up to something. They said something about a drugs den but I have no idea what that is.’

‘Me neither.’ I tried to think about why they might be so secretive. ‘But I guess we’ll find out soon — they’ll have to show their faces at some point.’ I was agitated, my excitement at the idea of seeing the white cat again was off the scale. Just then we were rewarded as the front door opened and the surly boy walked out. He looked furtively around and then pulled his hood up as he started walking down the path. I felt all of a quiver as I saw that the cat was at his feet.

‘Look, Tiger,’ I said, nudging her with my head. We both stood still and looked. When the boy got to the street, he leant down and petted the cat.

‘Bye, Snowball,’ he said, sounding cross. ‘Wish me luck.’ Snowball purred and rubbed up against his legs in a most affectionate way. She seemed like a completely different cat from when we met her. And I knew her name!

As the boy walked off she looked directly at us. I gave her my most charming look but she immediately narrowed her eyes, turned and, with her tail flapping aggressively, stalked back to the front door, where I noticed the woman was standing. She smiled grimly at the cat, picked her up and shut the door.

‘Well, I hate to agree with Salmon but they are acting very strangely,’ Tiger stated.

‘They are, but at least now we know the beautiful cat is called Snowball.’

‘Alfie, she’s mean! And whilst you may think she’s beautiful, I think she’s cold.’ I raised my whiskers — Tiger sounded cold herself.

‘Yes but, Tiger, remember how Jonathan was when I first met him. He was horrid and angry towards me, and now he loves me. I think there’s more to this than meets the eye and I intend to find out what’s going on.’

‘Here we go again,’ Tiger said, giving me a stern stare.

I squirmed as I tried to avoid her glaring eyes, but I knew what she meant. I had always meddled and tried to help people; it had been my role since moving to Edgar Road and although things had been calm lately, this little cat couldn’t change its fur. Humans often say that curiosity killed the cat but, actually, it was this that kept me going. Part of our intelligence is our interest in everything; that’s what I fully believe.

Blip over, we eventually strolled on in companionable silence. Every now and then we’d stop to chase a flying insect, or play with an inviting looking leaf that dangled over the street. I tried to placate Tiger by catching a fly, and I ended up spinning round in circles chasing it, which made her laugh. Soon I was forgiven, although I couldn’t help but wonder why she was so grumpy with me recently.

When we got to the park, it was almost deserted. I led Tiger to our favourite area, which had some of the bushiest bushes, as well as lots of colourful flowers and a couple of inviting trees. We played a new favourite game of hiding and then jumping out at each other. Although we were pretty silly, it was enjoyable.

And it was then I saw him.

‘Incoming!’ I shouted to Tiger, and we scrambled up the nearest tree. A small, rotund dog, with short legs but long hair, yapped up at us as we teased it. When we came here at this time of day we often ran into this particular dog and it had become part of our exercise routine — I had to hidefrom him when my leg was bad though. The dog was always followed by its screaming owner.

‘Roly, come here! Roly, stop, ROLY,’ a grey haired woman cried out as she made her way, huffing and puffing over, brandishing a lead as if it was a whip. It made us laugh as she finally clipped the lead on the dog and chastised him.

‘Bad dog. We do not chase cats,’ she shouted. ‘How many times do I have to tell you?’

‘Many more, I hope,’ Tiger laughed. We weren’t in any real danger after all, and it certainly livened up our afternoon.

‘Honestly, humans spend all this time and money going to the gym whereas all we have to do is get a dog to chase us,’ I observed to Tiger.

‘And those humans think they’re the smart ones,’ she replied with a wry smile.

When we got back to Edgar Road, Tiger went off for her nap and I went to Polly and Matt’s. I suspected Matt would be at work but the children might be there. I let myself in through the cat flap and to my delight found Polly and Franceska in the kitchen.

‘Alfie,’ Franceska said, getting up to give me a stroke. ‘I’ve seen so much of you this week.’

‘I bet you want some lunch.’ Polly smiled and got up. She opened a can of salmon and put it in a special bowl she kept just for me. She poured water into my water bowl too, which I was grateful for. Exercise left me thirsty. There was no sign of the children; I realized the boys were at nurseryand school respectively and Martha was probably asleep. I curled up by the kitchen window and took a well-deserved rest as I listened to the chatter of the two women.

‘The thing is, Aleksy doesn’t talk to me,’ Franceska said. ‘I mean I ask him how is school and he just says “OK, Mama.” But nothing else.’

‘But you think something is wrong?’ Polly looked concerned, as did I. I remembered the other day when he’d been a bit quiet, I thought he was about to tell me something when we were interrupted.

‘He has some tears in his clothes, and he loses his things, like his pencil case. He seems quieter than normal and suddenly less keen on school.’

‘Have you spoken to the school?’

‘I’ve got an appointment with the head later, but you know you hear about bullying and how hard it is for children to talk about it. I can’t bear it if someone hurts my Aleksy.’

‘Of course you can’t, Frankie, being a mum means we worry about them constantly. I get upset at playgroup when I see someone pushing one of mine, but the thought that we don’t know what they are going through …’

‘I know. Motherhood is wonderful but worry is the price.’

‘And guilt.’ Polly’s eyes clouded over, briefly. ‘Well, let me know what the school says and if there’s anything we can do. Aleksy and Matt are close, so maybe he can take him out for football and talk to him.’

‘I would so very appreciate that.’ Franceska’s English was so much better than it had been when we first met but when she was upset, mistakes started to come through. ‘His dad tries to talk to him but he’s clammed up with him too.’

I felt a flutter in my chest. Things had been calm for so long that there was bound to be something else coming up. But Aleksy? I never expected that. I knew I would need to keep a close eye on this situation, as well as the new family. I had a feeling things were going to get busy again.

‘What about the weekend? Why don’t we meet up on Sunday?’

‘Ah that would be great, we could all go to the park and maybe Matt could try to talk to Aleksy then. We’ve both tried but he won’t …’

‘Frankie, it’s common for children not to want to worry their parents; they don’t understand by not talking they worry us more. But we’ll get to the bottom of it, I promise.’ Polly reached over and grabbed Franceska’s hands. I purred gently, happy to see another friendship that was so solid and knowing that I had been its foundation. It reminded me that I wanted to help people, both Aleksy and the new family. It was what I did.

I miaowed loudly and went to rub against Franceska’s legs. Yes we would get to the bottom of it, I was determined. My to-do list was growing again.

Chapter Eight

I fell asleep at some point after they left to pick up the boys and when I woke it was almost dark. I stretched out languidly; I had no idea how long I’d been asleep but it seemed like ages. I made my way back to Claire and Jonathan’s. I was excited because Tasha, one of my other favourite humans was coming over for dinner with her partner Dave. Annoyingly, he was allergic to cats but when he came over he took some sort of pill to stop him sneezing. Everyone found it amusing but not me, I was affronted; it was no joking matter, having to take anti-cat pills. I used to say I would never trust a man who was allergic to cats but Dave seems OK and I love Tasha, so I have to accept him.

As I let myself back into the house, Claire was cooking and Jonathan was humming as he read the newspaper at the table. They both had drinks and they looked happy. As I sat by the door, head cocked to one side, watching them, I felt lucky yet again.

‘Alfie,’ they both said in unison as they greeted me. Jonathan and Claire smiled broadly at me. I nudged my bowl to tell them I was hungry.

‘I’m on it, Alfie,’ Jonathan said, going to the enormous fridge.

‘Jonathan, he doesn’t need to have smoked salmon. That’s for breakfast tomorrow and I’ve got lots of cat food,’ Claire stated, sounding cross.

I miaowed in protest.

‘Hey, before I knew you existed, my darling, I gave him lots of fish. I can’t stop that and just give him the rubbish you feed him.’

‘He’s spoilt.’

‘He should be, he’s an extraordinary cat.’ Jonathan sliced the salmon and laid it in my bowl as if it was a five star restaurant. I licked my lips.

‘He most definitely is.’ Claire smiled indulgently.

By the time Tasha and Dave arrived, some very appealing smells were coming from the kitchen. I loved Tasha and when she visited, it reminded me of the days when it was just me and Claire and she was our first real friend. I rushed to greet them as Jonathan opened the door, getting gently scolded for getting in the way.

‘Alfie, you’re going to trip me up if you insist on getting under my feet,’ he admonished as he opened the door. I was too eager, I know, but I was one excited cat.

‘Hi,’ Jonathan said, smiling and standing back to let Tasha and Dave in. Tasha immediately picked me up and Dave handed Jonathan some drinks and looked at me warily.

‘Hi, Alfie,’ he said, but I noticed he didn’t get too close. I toyed with the idea of rubbing up against him to say hello, but realized that I just had to accept our arm’s-length relationship and that I shouldn’t be offended.

‘Missed you, Alfie,’ Tasha said as she carried me through to the kitchen. I revelled in her hug, she was so warm and caring, but there was something different about her tonight. I immediately sensed it. Something good, not bad, although I had no idea exactly what it was.

‘Hi, Tash, oh you’ve got Alfie.’ Claire leant in to kiss Tasha’s cheek then Dave’s who was close behind her.

‘Right,’ Jonathan said, ‘drinks.’ Tasha put me on the floor.

‘Beer please, mate,’ Dave asked.

‘Tash?’ Jonathan asked. ‘We’ve got wine of every description.’

Tasha and Dave exchanged a look.

‘Well, the thing is that I’m off alcohol,’ she started.

‘Why, what’s wrong?’ Claire asked. Her back was turned and she was emptying some posh crisps into a bowl.

‘Well, actually nothing’s wrong, it’s just that I’m, well, we are pregnant!’ Tasha laughed, happiness written all over her face. Dave beamed too, and Jonathan went and slapped him on his back.

‘Great news, guys, congratulations.’ He kissed Tasha’s cheek. Claire froze for a moment, her face a picture of anxiety as she gripped onto the counter. I could see her struggle and then her fear. I willed her to say something; thankfully she turned around, plastering a smile to her face, composure resumed. My lovely Claire was instantly back.

‘Wonderful news, Tash, Dave. Oh how brilliant.’ She smiled, kissed and hugged her friends. I was able to exhale.

Over the evening, as there was chatter of babies between the women, I could sense Claire’s underlying tension.

Although she was behaving naturally and they talked about all sorts of things, the evening had definitely become about Tasha.

‘So do you think the acupuncture worked?’ Claire asked.

‘I don’t know for sure, but it might have done. It certainly didn’t do any harm.’ Tasha smiled. ‘I cannot believe how excited I am. I mean I know it’s early days but, wow, it just all feels so amazing.’

‘No sickness?’

‘Oh yes, all day, not sure why they call it morning. But by evening I’m hungry, so thank you for doing dinner.’ She laughed, her face was alive with joy.

‘It’s nothing special, if I’d known I might have produced something more suited to a special occasion,’ Claire said.

‘No shellfish or liver luckily,’ Jonathan laughed.

‘Oh get you,’ Claire teased. ‘Pregnancy expert.’

‘Hopefully you guys won’t be far behind us,’ Dave offered. Claire concentrated on her food and didn’t reply to that.

As the evening wore on, I noticed that Claire had drunk quite a lot; it was as if she had consumed Tasha’s share of wine too.

‘I’m so happy for you,’ she kept saying over and over. I saw that Jonathan kept his arm protectively round his wife as they sat at the table and he didn’t normally do that. Claire wasn’t an alcoholic but when she was stressed she often drank quite a bit. She used to when she was unhappy and I didn’t want her to go back to those days. But Tasha and Dave were so happy, radiantly, that they didn’t seem to notice. They left shortly after polishing off their pudding, Tasha explaining that she was so tired she could barely keep her eyes open. As she kissed me goodbye I could only hopethis baby didn’t take after Dave in the cat allergy stakes.

When it was just the three of us once again, Jonathan cleared up while Claire nursed another drink. I set myself onto her lap, and she idly stroked me.

‘Are you all right?’ Jonathan asked, tension lining his face.

‘I am, I mean I should be, but I’m worried, Jon. What if it doesn’t happen for us?’

‘OK, darling.’ He put down the tea towel and sat beside her. ‘Why are you thinking like this?’

‘I should be happy when my best friend is pregnant but all I could think was that I wished it was me. That’s not how I want to react.’

‘Darling, we haven’t been trying for as long as they have; it’s only been a few months, so you can’t start worrying about it.’

‘Deep down I know that, but you know my history with anxiety. I’m not sure I can help it. I just worry about it all the time. I mean, everywhere I look, experts are all saying you should have your first baby in your early thirties and I’m not anymore.’ She looked so upset I wanted to cry for her.

‘OK, well why don’t you go and see Tasha’s acupuncturist; that can’t hurt, and it’s all natural. And you know anything you need to do to relax, we’ll do, go for long walks, have massages, give up work if you want to.’

‘Jonathan, I think that might be a bit extreme.’ Claire laughed, sadly. ‘And you hate walking.’

‘I didn’t exactly mean me. But I will do whatever it takes to make you happy. As long as you don’t put my boxers in the freezer.’

‘Why on earth would I do that?’ Claire asked, echoing my thoughts.

‘Pretend I didn’t say that. I know, we’ll go away for the weekend, somewhere romantic.’ I narrowed my sleepy eyes. I instinctively knew that offer didn’t include me. ‘Claire, I know you want a baby but you can’t let it get to you, not before we’ve even got a problem.’

‘I know, Jon, I’ll be OK, it’s just I don’t want to be the woman who is jealous of everyone else’s baby news.’

‘No, soon you’ll be the womanwith the baby news. I’m sure of it.’ He stood up, took her hand, and kissed her. I jumped off her lap, as he led her to bed, and I went to my basket. I needed to curl up, think and sleep.

Chapter Nine

I was up very early after being woken in the small hours by Jonathan who had to go to Germany for work. I didn’t know where Germany was but I had gathered it was a different country. He had to go on a plane, which was a way that humans travelled, sort of on a giant bird that I had often watched flying overhead, and he would be gone for two days. He often went away for work and Claire said she liked it asshe didn’t have to pick up his dirty socks and she could read uninterrupted. I took this to mean she missed him terribly. I certainly did. I had two days of cat ready meals to look forward to.

Jonathan didn’t even try to be quiet as he got ready to leave, banging doors, swearing as he stubbed his foot and waking me and Claire.

‘Guten tag,’ he said, while Claire groaned loudly. I followed him downstairs, trying to look my most charming, because I was hoping for my last nice breakfast. I was rewarded with tuna. I rubbed against Jonathan’s legs to convey that I would miss him, and although he kept telling me to get off him in case I left fur on his smart trousers, I knew he appreciated it. I ate as he made coffee and munched a piece of toast before grabbing his overnight bag, and as Claire emerged from upstairs, he kissed her goodbye and was gone.

‘He can be such a whirlwind, can’t he?’ Claire said, putting the kettle on and smiling warmly at me. I miaowed in agreement; Jonathan was like a ball of energy and that was one of the reasons we loved him, but the house was always calmer without him. We missed him but we also liked having a bit of peace and quiet, not that I would ever tell Jonathan that.

As Claire got ready for work I decided to go and see my new next door neighbours. I had hardly glimpsed Snowball or any of her family in the month that they’d been here. I’d taken to hanging out quite a bit by the loose fence panel but to no avail. My curiosity was reaching new heights and, not that I would admit it to anyone, I couldn’t get Snowball’s angelic face out of my head. I thought about her almost constantly, and I was in turmoil. I wanted so desperately to see her but I didn’t know why, or even what I would do when I did. As I reached their back garden I crept forward to look into the house. I could see through the patio doors that the family were all at the kitchen table. The woman was wearing some kind of blue uniform, andshe looked tired. The boy was slumped over a computer and was also wearing a uniform, but not like the mother. As I watched, the girl entered the room wearing an outfit similar to the boy but with a skirt rather than trousers. I gathered this was a school thing, like Aleksy only for older children.The man was making breakfast but sadly there was no sign of Snowball.

I was mesmerized, watching the scene from a well-placed bush. I wondered if I was a bit like a cat version of a stalker but then stalkers were bad and I had only good intentions. After a while the woman kissed everyone goodbye and made her way out of the room. Then the father passed two boxes to the children and looked as if he was hurrying them out. I couldn’t make out what anyone was saying but suddenly the room was totally empty. I saw my chance.

It might not have been the most sensible thing ever, but before I knew it, certainly before I thought it through, I found myself at the other back door, creeping gently through the cat flap and into the house. As I stood in the kitchen, I wondered what to do next, but then I heard footsteps coming back towards the room. I quickly looked around and spotted an open cupboard. I leapt in it. The cupboard was full of cat food; pouches and boxes of biscuits, the sort Claire favoured.

‘Come on, Snowball,’ I heard the man say. ‘I’ve laid your breakfast out.’ I held my breath as I saw the man’s legs. He walked towards the cupboard I was in so I quickly nestled behind a box, and before I knew what was happening, he pushed the door closed.

I blinked and adjusted to the darkness as I tried not to panic. I was trapped. I had no idea what would happen to me if the family found me in their cupboard and the thought made my heart beat loudly. I could almost hear it jumping out of my chest. I would be amazed if the cupboard wasn’t shaking as much as I was. I crouched, trying to calm myself down, breathing slowly and trying to think positively.

‘That’s a good cat, Snowy, eat your breakfast,’ the man said. I heard her purr, which sounded almost musical. ‘Right then, I’m going to look for work again.’ He paused. ‘Not sure it’s worth it, but I’m going to go upstairs and shut myself in my study, looking for jobs that don’texist and hoping something comes along to save us.’ I heard his voice, laden with sadness, and wished I could see him, to see what was reflected on his face. ‘Oh, Snowball, why do I feel that you’re the only one who doesn’t blame me?’

Snowball miaowed, gently. She was saying that she supported him.

‘Well, talking to you, as lovely as it is, isn’t going to get my family fixed. I’d better go.’ After a few more moments I heard his footsteps moving away. I breathed again and thought about calling out. I was pretty sure Snowball would be able to open the cupboard, after all I could open them at home if I needed to. I weighed up the risks. On the one hand I would have to face Snowball’s wrath, if she rescued me. On the other hand, I would have to stay in the cupboard and risk being discovered — and as she’d just been fed it could be hours. I decided to risk Snowball as it meant that at least I would get to see her. I miaowed as loudly as I dared.

‘What on earth?’ I heard her say, before I heard her paws padding outside the cupboard. I miaowed again. I could hear her scratching at the door and finally, after what seemed like an eternity, it opened a crack. She put her slender paw in and opened it fully. Finally we were face to face.

‘Thank you,’ I breathed, relief overtaking my fear.

‘You again,’ she hissed. Her beautiful eyes were full of anger.

‘I’m sorry, Snowball. I’m Alfie, in case you’d forgotten. I just wanted to welcome you to the neighbourhood properly and … well … I …’ I really hadn’t thought this through.

‘So you decided to break into my house and crawl into my food cupboard? What kind of maniac are you?’ She looked so angry but so gorgeous at the same time. I almost swooned. I tried to muster all my charm.

‘I just wanted to say hello, as I haven’t seen you since you moved in. I’m just a friendly neighbour and want us to be friends.’

‘I don’t need friends, thank you very much,’ she replied.

‘We all need friends,’ I replied. ‘And from what I can tell, things aren’t easy here.’

‘That is none of your business,’ she replied. This was one frosty cat.

‘I just want to help. Why did you move here?’

‘Alfie, I cannot decide if you are stupid orvery stupid. I do not want you to be a friend. I do not want you here. Any problems my family have are our own and we don’t need anyone else interfering.’ She bared her teeth aggressively.

‘I’m not trying to interfere, I just want to be supportive.’

‘You are very stupid, I see. Now leave me in peace before I get really angry.’ Her eyes flashed and she looked as if she might actually attack me. I knew I was beaten. For now.

‘OK, I’ll leave, but you know everyone needs friends, even you, and you know where I am when you need me.’

‘Preferably never in my house again,’ she hissed as I left.

I left her garden straight away and went to find Tiger. Snowball was all miaow and no bite I decided. She might not be welcoming me with open paws now, but I knew she would. I wasn’t a cat to give up easily after all. It suddenly came to me. I would take her a house-warming gift, just like I did for Jonathan. A mouse. No, a bird. A bird was much more of a thoughtful gift, being harder to chase for us cats, and generally prettier. As I spotted Tiger outside her house I grinned. She was a better hunter, so I’d need to get her to help. Now I had a plan, it was only a matter of time before Snowball liked me; and with that wonderful thought, I left to put my plan into action, feeling as if I were floating on air.

Chapter Ten

I left the bird for Snowball by her cat flap later that day. I waited for ages to give it to her in person, but there was no sign of her around and so I had no choice but to leave it. Tiger had helped me chase it, but I felt bad as I fibbed a bit and told her it was for one of my humans. You see, I was going to tell her who it was for but then when I told her I had been in the cupboard, and had a conversation with Snowball she had been really short with me. Especially when I mentioned again how beautiful I found her. If I didn’t know better I would say that Tiger was jealous … but that made no sense. I tried to tell her that Snowball and her family needed help, but Tiger wouldn’t listen to me. Instead she told me that, for once, perhaps I should stop being such an interfering cat and concentrate on those who actually cared about me. I didn’t fully understand her hostility.

I was still pondering on the fact that two female cats in my life were less than pleased with me— although I knew I could get round Tiger easily enough — as I returned home. The house was empty although I knew that Claire was due back any minute. I gave myself a quick wash and waited for her by the front door. When I heard the key in the lock and the door open I miaowed. After the day I’d had, I needed someone to be nice to me.

‘Hi, Alfie, it’s not often you greet me at the door. Is it because you’re worried I’m missing Jonathan?’ She rubbed my neck which was one of my favourite things ever. I purred with delight.

After Claire showered and dressed, she fed me and poured herself a glass of wine. I ate quickly then we both sat together in the living room. Her with her book and me with my thoughts of Snowball. I was totally enchanted with her. The doorbell interrupted us and I rushed to see who it was.

‘Polly,’ Claire said, opening the door, ‘come in quick, and have a glass of wine, we’ve just got time.’

I cocked my head to one side, puzzled. Time before what?

‘Do you think we can sneak a bottle in? It might make it more bearable.’

‘Pol, even a litre of Vodka wouldn’t make this more bearable.’ I wondered what they were talking about.

‘I can’t believe I have to go,’ Polly moaned.

‘Why do you?’

‘We tossed a coin. Three times. I lost,’ she replied.

‘Yeah, well at least that’s a bit fair. I’m convinced that Jonathan booked his business trip so he would miss the Neighbourhood Watch meeting.’

Ahh, I suddenly understood. It was the night of Heather and Vic’s big gathering and no one looked forward to that. I decided I would go and see Matt, otherwise I’d be on my own all night and, as I was still a bit bruised from my day, I didn’t fancy being alone.

‘I guess you’ll make him pay for that though,’ Polly laughed.

‘Don’t you worry, if this is the hell I think it’s going to be, then he will definitely pay.’

‘Do you think your new neighbours will be there?’ Polly asked.

‘I don’t know. You know what’s weird is that I haven’t seen them. I couldn’t even tell you what they look like. I did go round a couple of times with a gift to introduce myself but there was no answer.’ Like cat, like owner.

‘I don’t agree with the way Vic and Heather are behaving, acting as if the new family has something to hide but these guys aren’t doing themselves any favours by keeping themselves to themselves,’ Polly pointed out.

‘I know, it’s a bit strange. But then, I’m sure there’s a perfectly reasonable explanation,’ Claire replied.

‘Let’s hope so, for their sake, otherwise Vic and Heather will be rounding up a lynch mob before we know it.’ They both laughed as they drained their wine and made their way out. I fleetingly wished I could have gone with them — I was intrigued to know what the meeting was actually going tobe about, but of course with Salmon there I would be far from welcome. There was no way I was going to risk crossing his path.

I let myself into Matt and Polly’s and found him sitting on the sofa, looking very pleased with himself.

‘Ah, Alfie, nice of you to join me on my boys’ night.’ I saw he had a bottle of beer open on the coffee table. I miaowed and jumped on the sofa next to him. ‘Ha, thank goodness I didn’t have to go to that godawful meeting. You better make yourself comfortable; they’re going to be gone hours.’ He was smiling and I thought he was lucky Polly couldn’t see him. She wouldn’t be happy.

I smiled and curled myself up, nestling into him. As he put a film on the television I sighed contentedly. It was nice to relax at the end of a busy day.

‘Matt,’ I heard a voice shout. Startled, I opened my eyes, as did Matt. ‘Wake up, boys, you were both snoring,’ Polly stated.

‘Sorry, I must have fallen asleep,’ Matt said. I glared at Polly, blinking. I did not snore. Perish, the thought. ‘What time is it?’ he asked.

‘Gone eleven. I’m so angry with you, and with you, Alfie, that neither of you had to endure the hell I did tonight.’

‘So go on, what happened?’ Matt looked as if he was trying hard not to smile, although he still looked as sleepy as I did.

‘Well, where do I start? The new people didn’t come, despite the fact that Heather and Vic had been knocking on their door daily and had also posted a number of flyers through their letter box. Apparently they did see the daughter of the family, a teenage girl who was on her way back from school, and she said that she was sorry but her parents were really up to their necks.’

‘So of course they aren’t going to accept that,’ Matt said.

‘They certainly are not. We tried to reason with Vic and Heather, reminding them that a month isn’t long when you move house and perhaps they needed to give them a bit more time, but then of course they immediately jumped to conclusions, saying they obviously had something to hide. So after hours of speculation they no longer think the house is full of illegal immigrants, but it’s a drugs den.’ Polly shook her head.

‘Based on what?’

‘Nothing but the fact that they haven’t shown themselves. Honestly, Matt, they’re crazed! Apparently it’s our duty, along with everyone else on the street, to watch the house — especially at night — and to report back.’

‘You’re kidding?’

‘No, they even suggested drawing up a roster, but we all said that it wouldn’t work. You know, we have lives. Jesus, Matt. And what’s worse is that some of the other neighbours agreed with them — either they’re mad too or they were too scared to argue. Anyway, they’re having another meeting in a month, attendance is compulsory and you and Jonathan will have to go, my love.’ It was Polly’s turn to smile.

‘Oh boy, that’s something to look forward to. Drugs? Immigrants? This is going to be a barrel of laughs.’

As Polly and Matt hugged, and then started kissing like teenagers I saw it was time for me to take my leave. Matt and Polly had been together for years and years so I had no idea why they had to behave like that. I was going to alert them to the fact that I was going, but they looked so engrossed in each other that I quietly slunk out. I had a feeling I wouldn’t be missed. As I entered my house and made my way upstairs I remembered again that Jonathan was away which meant that Claire would let me sleep on her bed. Yay! I punched my tail in the air in celebration. This day hadn’t gone exactly to plan but it had ended well.

Chapter Eleven

‘Let me get this straight,’ Tiger said. ‘You’re asking me to leave home at the crack of dawn and walk for miles to Aleksy’s house?’

‘Yes,’ I replied, simply. Tiger and I were friends once again; her sulk had only been a short one.

I hadn’t seen Snowball since the cupboard incident, over a week ago, and I knew better than to mention it to Tiger. I didn’t even talk to her about the Goodwins’ meeting, which I had also heard Claire discussing with Jonathan. She told him much the same as I’d heard from Polly, only adding that Vic and Heather said they would have their binoculars trained on the house at all times — meaning they might stray to our house. Jonathan had been pulling the blinds down just in case.

‘Why, again?’ Tiger pushed. I had explained it once but once was never enough for her. Tiger needed to hear everything at least twice before she seemed to understand it.

I had devised one of my plans. Franceska had been for lunch at Polly’s. Strong, stoic Franceska, who was so much an anchor for all my families, was in tears as she explained that she had been to Aleksy’s school but it seemed to have made no difference. The school explained that if Aleksy was, as Franceska and big Tomasz feared, being bullied, they had to eithersee it happening or Aleksy had to tell them, for them to take any action. But when asked, Aleksy kept saying he was fine. Despite the school saying that they would keep a close eye on things, Franceska wasn’t convinced this was enough. Whilst Aleksy wouldn’t tell them what was going on, he keptcoming home covered in scratches and bruises — clear proof, Franceska said, that someone was hurting him.

My sweet Franceska was distraught. And my best human friend, Aleksy, had cried himself to sleep and Franceska didn’t know what to do. It broke my heart, so I decided to take matters into my own paws. I would go to the school myself. I would find out what was wrong with Aleksy and I would fix it.

‘Right, so I remember from my trip with Polly where they live. We have to leave very early because I don’t know how long it’ll take to walk, as I went in the pushchair last time. Anyway, when we get there we’ll follow Aleksy to school.’

‘Right, and then what?’ Tiger looked at me as if I was mad. It was almost a fair assumption.

‘Well, that’s what I don’t know.’ I knew I had to get to Aleksy and show him that I was there for him. I also knew I had to sort out the bullying, if he was in fact being bullied, but I had no idea how exactly. What did people expect? I am a cat after all.

‘So let me get this straight. We’re going to walk miles but we don’t even know what we’re going to do when we get there? This might be one of your more genius ideas, Alfie. Maybe even better than the one involving nearly getting yourself killed by Joe, Claire’s idiot ex-boyfriend.’ I looked at Tiger; sarcasm was very unbecoming in a cat.

‘All right, I know it’s not perfect. But I cannot bear to think my Aleksy is sad. Tiger, I have to do something.’ I was pleading.

‘I know, I know.’ She sounded exasperated. ‘And after all you’ve been through there is no way I’m letting you go all that way on your own. No way. So I guess I have to come with you. But you owe me. Big time.’

‘Oh thank you. I’ll call for you tomorrow morning and I promise, I will make it up to you.’ She looked at me, stretched out her paws and lifted her whiskers.

‘I hope so, Alfie, I really do.’

‘Tiger, you are the best friend any cat could have,’ I said, as I bounded off home to rest up for the big journey.

It was still dark when I woke but the birds alerted me with the dawn chorus; it was my early morning alarm call and for once I was grateful for them, as I stretched and quietly padded downstairs and out of the cat flap. I went to Tiger’s house and quietly made my way through her door, and found her drinking some milk. I was hungry but I knew I had no chance of breakfast before I left, so I would have to bear it. If I’d left any of my supper from the night before, Claire would have cleaned it away. Tiger’s humans were a little less bothered with mess.

‘Ready?’ I whispered. She licked her whiskers and followed me outside. As I didn’t venture far from home anymore, I felt nervous as we set off. I had paid very special attention to where we were going when I visited with Polly and luckily, the dark had no bearing on my senses. As we walked past Snowball’s house, we both stopped and looked. Through the darkness a white flash chased a creature under a bush taking us by surprise.

‘She’s up early,’ Tiger said looking at me. I glanced over at Snowball, who peered directly at us in her hostile way, but I didn’t stop; I had bigger fish to fry. Oh how I wish I had a fish to fry in actual fact.

Snowball didn’t move as we strode on. I thought it wouldn’t hurt her to think I had lost interest; Jonathan always said women liked the chase, and he seemed to know a lot of women before settling down with Claire so maybe he was right.

‘So you’re not talking to Princess Mean then?’ Tiger asked me as we headed towards the park.

‘Tiger, today is about Aleksy, and you are with me, so let’s leave the talk of Snowball.’

‘Fine by me,’ she replied.

The sky was slowly beginning to lighten as we walked; the air began to get warmer as the sun made its presence felt. Although I still felt a bit uneasy, as we got nearer to Aleksy’s my confidence began to grow. The closer we got the more life appeared in the streets, as the world began to come alive. It was strange for me, being out at this time. Normally I would be fast asleep in my warm bed, but now, braving the biting dawn, I saw a different side of life and it made merealize how cosseted I had become.

Since my mission to find a new home after Margaret died, the long journey that led me to Edgar Road had put me off leaving there again. I rarely ventured further than the park at the end of the street. I looked over at Tiger, reassured by having her at my side.

‘This is the street,’ I said as we rounded a corner. I knew the flat would be easy to find as it was above the restaurant. So after walking a bit further, we arrived at our destination. The walk had taken a long time, but then we hadn’t been rushing. Tiger wasn’t one for running about afterall. And we both made sure we took in every landmark so that we didn’t have to worry about finding our way back again.

‘This is it,’ I said as we stood outsideOgnisko. It was in darkness of course, and as we found a hiding place nearby I tried not to think about Franceska’s sardines as my stomach rumbled.

‘So what now?’ Tiger asked.

‘We wait for Aleksy to come out and follow him to school. But, it’s important that they don’t see us.’

‘Why?’

‘Because it’ll be a surprise when I turn up.’

‘And what are you going to do when you get there?’

‘I don’t know but I hope I’m going to get some inspiration.’ To be honest, I didn’t have a clue what I was dealing with and I had never, ever been in a school before. My plan wasn’t without flaws.

‘This better not be another dangerous situation you’re getting us into again,’ Tiger warned.

‘They are children, not adults,’ I pointed out. ‘And anyway, once we get to the school I will be going in alone,’ I said more bravely than I felt.

‘I could come with you, find the bully, and scratch him really bad,’ Tiger suggested, looking a bit too keen on the idea for my liking.

‘No, Tiger, no violence. Not in this case. The bully might be nasty, and goodness knows if he is, I dislike him for hurting Aleksy, but he’s still a child.’

‘OK. If you insist, I’ll just watch you and not interfere.’ Tiger bristled. She seemed almost disappointed that she wasn’t going to get to inflict pain on someone.

‘Thank you,’ I replied and we waited in silence.

After what felt like a long time, I saw little Tomasz first as he appeared out of the front door, jumping, full of energy. Franceska was next and she turned and spoke, before Aleksy appeared. He was looking sad and I could sense his reluctance in the way he looked and moved. Tiger and I hung back and then began to follow them in silence. It was easy to keep out of sight, by dodging behind the odd fence or bush. Whereas Tomasz chatted animatedly to his mother, Aleksy was largely silent as he dragged his feet.

‘Oh look, there’s the school,’ Tiger said and we stopped and hid by a parked car. We watched as Franceska and the boys crossed the road.

‘I’m glad it wasn’t too far,’ I said as I looked. ‘So that’s their school.’ I was quite excited to see where Aleksy and little Tomasz spent their days. I had seen schools before, of course, in passing but I had never been in one before.

There were children everywhere. As Franceska dropped the boys at the gate they went through it and into the playground, a noisy tarmacked area, swarming with loud little people. Tomasz ran off in one direction and Aleksy stayed close to the gate. As Franceska turned, shooting a last worried look at Aleksy before walking off, that was my cue.

‘OK,’ I said as Tiger and I crossed the road. ‘Stay by the gate. If anything bad happens I’ll make my loudest noise.’

‘Good luck, Alfie,’ Tiger said, nuzzling my neck. I felt tense again as I squeezed through the bars of the gate and into the playground. I followed Aleksy as he made his way across the playground to a big building. Then I saw a group of children. One of them waved at Aleksy, but another child, a little bigger than Aleksy, stopped him.

‘Here’s the cry baby,’ he said nastily. I looked at all the boys and girls. None of them looked comfortable with the horrible boy but I could see that they were all too scared to say anything.

‘Leave me alone,’ Aleksy said, although I could hear the wobble in his voice.

‘Make me.’ All the other children looked aghast at the two boys. No one seemed to know what to do.

‘I don’t want to fight with you,’ Aleksy said. I wanted to fight him though. I wanted to give this kid a good hard swipe — but I told myself violence wasn’t the answer.

‘Because you are a baby and a chicken.’ The boy started to make chicken noises as he came very close to Aleksy. ‘I guess I’ll just take your lunch,’ he said.

‘No … you can’t have it,’ Aleksy stammered back. I was proud of him; I could see he was scared, but he was still sticking up for himself.

‘I think you’ll find I can.’

I wondered where the adults were. I spotted one but she was the other side of the playground and hadn’t noticed what was going on.

I realized that children weren’t so different from adults. You got nice ones and mean ones, but as I watched, I saw that this was just a sad kid who was acting tougher than he actually was. I couldn’t tell Aleksy this though, so I decided that it was time for me to act.

I moved towards Aleksy and miaowed loudly.

‘Alfie,’ he said, startled, fear forgotten. ‘What are you doing here?’ He picked me up. I purred into him.

‘Is that your cat?’ one of the children asked.

‘Yes, well he lives in my old road, not at my house, but he’s very clever. He must have followed me all the way to school!’ Aleksy put me down and all the children rushed to pet me. I made myself my most charming as I purred and revelled in the attention.

‘It’s only a stupid cat,’ the nasty boy said. I wasn’t scared though, he didn’t really pose as much of a threat as many adults and other animals I’d met. After all, I’d once had a seagull threaten me and a horrid man nearly kill me. This was nothing compared to that. But I was powerless as the nasty boy took Aleksy by surprise and grabbed the bag off his back. Aleksy grappled with him but there was nothing I could do as the bag swung out and hit a little girl in the face. I seemed to be the only one who noticed as the girl burst into tears and ran off; both boys scrambled to grab the bag. Aleksy won. I looked over at the crying little girl, torn about what to do — I was here to protect Aleksy, but I knew I could quickly cheer her up if I went over and snuggled up to her.

But before I could decide, the bully looked at Aleksy who was now clutching the bag to his chest, then at me. As if weighing up his next move he stepped towards me. I stood my ground, looked at him and hissed aggressively. The boy looked a bit startled and quickly stumbled back.

‘See, he doesn’t like you. He only likes nice people,’ Aleksy said, looking and sounding a bit braver. The other children laughed too.

The boy looked at Aleksy, his eyes full of anger, and then he looked at me.

‘Dumb cat,’ he said. I flicked my tail up in anger, and hissed at him again. He backed away.

‘Ha, Ralph is afraid of a cat,’ Aleksy said. I realized then, as Aleksy’s eyes sparkled that although I hadn’t done much, I had given Aleksy confidence — and that was exactly what he needed. As all the other children laughed, a bell rang out. I stuck close to Aleksy; I wanted to see more of this school, it seemed an intense but interesting place.

It was both scary and exciting as I seemed to be caught up in a sea of legs, making their way into what I learned was a classroom. There were a lot of children, all chattering loudly as I stayed close to Aleksy. I managed to follow him into the room, sneaking past a lady they called‘Miss Walton’.

Ralph was red faced and clearly not happy. As the children competed to sit near Aleksy he had the biggest smile on his face. Meanwhile, Ralph sat on his own.

‘Right, time for the register,’ Miss Walton said, not having spotted me yet. She looked quite young and smiled a lot. As one by one the children answered to their names I began to enjoy myself.

‘Molly?’ Miss Walton said. There was silence. ‘Has anyone seen Molly?’ she asked, looking concerned.

‘She was in the playground, Miss,’ one child pointed out; I guessed they meant the little girl who had been hit by Aleksy’s bag. I felt terrible for having forgotten her, and knew that I had to help them find her.

I miaowed very loudly. The teacher looked over and saw me jump onto Aleksy’s desk, making everyone laugh.

‘Hi, and who are you?’ she asked, as she came over.

‘This is Alfie, he lives in my old street but he is a very special cat,’ Aleksy said proudly. ‘He must have followed me to school today and it’s very far.’

‘Well hello, Alfie,’ she said, stroking me. ‘But you’re not allowed to be in school, I’m afraid. This is for humans only.’ She laughed and I miaowed again. I jumped off the desk and, yowling as loudly as I could, started to walk towards the door.

‘Oh please can he stay?’ Aleksy asked. The others all cried out in agreement. All apart from Ralph who looked at his feet.

‘No, I’m afraid not. Look, children, all stay here and I’ll take Alfie out and find Molly.’ Another adult came into the classroom; Miss Walton said something to her about being back in a minute and then as I ran out she started to follow me. I tried to remember the way I’d come in as I legged it towards the exit. Before I left, I needed to find Molly, I’d seen her run off after all and had an idea which way she’d gone.

‘Alfie, slow down,’ Miss Walton said as she hurried after me. I stood in the playground, finding my bearings and sniffing the air. Like a super sleuth, I made my way round the side of the building where I had seen Molly heading following my nose, vaguely aware of Miss Walton a little way behindme. I stopped in front of a shed, noticing a door was ajar, just big enough for a small child — or a cat — to slide through. I peered in, but it was dark and cramped, full of outdoor clothes — muddy wet weather wear and Wellington boots. From the door, I couldn’t see the girl but I could sense her. Miss Walton came up behind me a little breathless.

‘Molly,’ she called. ‘Molly, are you in there?’ Her words were met with silence and I looked up and saw the worry etched on Miss Walton’s face as she looked around her, panic growing. I miaowed and went inside, scrambling around in the darkness, getting caught up in raincoats, and tangledin boots but determined to find Molly.

She was hiding in a dark corner, curled up and still crying. I miaowed loudly again, running out to alert the teacher. She looked puzzled— she was running around the playground shouting Molly’s name and sounding increasingly frantic. I kept yelling at her, brushing her legs before running back to the shed. She looked uncertain as she followed me into the shed but I led her to the missing girl.

‘Molly, there you are,’ Miss Walton said, kindly, her eyes full of concern and voice full of relief. I quite liked this teacher; she was very warm. Molly looked up, her eyes teary and I saw her nose was bleeding. ‘Oh, Molly, what happened?’

‘I got hit by a bag. Ralph was trying to fight Aleksy, and it hit me.’ She burst into tears again.

‘Come on, we’ll get you cleaned up.’ Miss Walton pulled Molly up and, holding her hand, went back inside. Of course I followed them, even though I knew I shouldn’t, but I needed to see how this story ended.

Miss Walton took Molly to another kind lady who said she would make her better and then she headed back to the classroom. I managed to sneak in behind her.

‘Oh, Alfie,’ she said as she noticed me again. ‘I forgot about you.’

‘Alfie!’ Aleksy cried. ‘I thought you were sending him home.’

‘I was, but, Aleksy, you were right, Alfie is a very special cat. He found Molly, and he’s the hero of the school today.’ All the children cheered me and I preened myself. It hadn’t been hard but then again, I wasn’t going to refuse praise. Milking it, I first went up to where Aleksy sat and jumped onto his desk. As the rest of the class crowded round him I stood on my back legs and raised my paw. ‘However, I have heard that there was an altercation in the playground which we will talk about, mark my words.’ Miss Walton looked at Ralph who turned red and looked as if he would burst into tears.

‘High-five,’ Aleksy said, as I sat up, tapping my paw with his hand. A trick we practised every time I saw him. I was quite an old paw at it now, in fact.

‘Wow, can I do that?’ another child asked. I let them all high-five me, which was tiring but it made them so happy that I couldn’t refuse. Even Ralph was moving closer, but he didn’t seem quite able to join in.

‘Aleksy, you know the coolest cat ever. Can I come and see him at your house, if he’s ever there?’ one child asked. As everyone made a request to hang out with Aleksy and me, I felt as if my job here was done.

‘But Alfie really does have to go now,’ Miss Watson said all too soon, ‘so how about we write a story about him, and his journey here? Then we can all draw pictures!’

‘Yeah,’ the class chorused, excitedly.

‘Great,’ she said. ‘Right, while I show Alfie out, yet again, you can all start thinking about the story.’ She picked me up and took me outside. When we got to the gate she put me down. ‘Bye, Alfie, nice to meet you but it’s best if you don’t make this a regular thing,’ was her parting comment.

‘All OK?’ Tiger said, as she came to greet me.

‘Mission accomplished I think, and it was incredibly easy! Aleksy is very popular now and that horrible boy isn’t going to bother him again.’ Seeing how the children had reacted to Aleksy, I was confident of that. I wished I could have been there to hear their story about me though. I would have liked that.

Chapter Twelve

‘All right, I said I’d go,’ Jonathan said reluctantly, as I appeared in the kitchen. It was the day after my school adventure and he had arrived back from his work trip.

‘Take the plant I bought them before it dies,’ Claire snapped. She had bought it about a week after Snowball’s family moved into number 48, and as all attempts she’d made to deliver it had been in vain, she’d been watering it herself.

I bristled, she clearly wasn’t in the best of moods.

‘Of course, darling. Hey, are you all right?’ His voice was tender so I knew he was as concerned as I was.

‘Yes, sorry I snapped. I just think those poor neighbours need warning about the horrors opposite them. I saw Vic today and he’s really got it in for them.’

‘OK, I’ll give it a go, wish me luck.’ He kissed his wife. ‘Alfie, come with me, you haven’t met the new neighbours yet either have you?’

How little he knew. However, unable to resist another glimpse of Snowball, I trotted off.

I wondered if Vic and Heather were watching as Jonathan stood on the doorstep and rang the bell. I was sure I could see a curtain twitch. Jonathan was quite insistent with the bell, and after what seemed like ages we heard footsteps coming towards us. It was the man who opened the door. Although he only opened it a fraction.

‘Hello?’ he said, suspiciously. What was it with these people?

‘Hi, I’m Jonathan, your next door neighbour. We wanted to welcome you to Edgar Road.’ The man opened the door a bit more.

‘Hi, I’m Tim. Sorry we haven’t introduced ourselves but it’s been pretty hectic.’ Tim sounded normal, not the way he had when I had heard him speaking to Snowball where his voice had been sad. Suddenly she appeared at his feet as the men shook hands.

‘Nice to meet you, Tim. Oh and this is my cat, Alfie.’

‘Snowball,’ he said, gesturing to her. Both men laughed awkwardly. Snowball looked at me through narrowed eyes; she clearly wasn’t over the moon to see me.

‘My wife, Claire, got a plant for you.’ Jonathan handed it over, looking a bit sheepish. It wasn’t very manly after all. ‘She’s been over but you must have been out.’

‘To be honest, we’re not home much. My wife, Karen, works shifts at the hospital and poor thing is doing killer hours at the moment. The kids have just started a new school, which, well, you know how it is.’

‘We don’t have children, yet.’ I marvelled at the fact Jonathan disclosed this information, he looked a bit bashful so I guessed he was surprised by his openness too.

‘Well take it from me, teenagers starting a new school is no fun,’ he laughed although it was edged with bitterness.

‘Sorry to hear that. Anyway, listen, we should grab a beer? Or maybe you and your wife would like to come over for dinner one night?’

‘We’d love to but to be honest at the moment things aren’t easy. Karen’s working all hours and with the kids …’

‘Well, when you have time the invitation’s there. Anyway, I wanted to warn you that there’s this couple over the road, Vic and Heather Goodwin. They’re Neighbourhood Watch Nazis, and they’ve got a bit of a bee in their bonnet.’ Jonathan scratched his head, awkwardly. Snowball stared at me, with beautiful but frosty eyes. I had to make myself concentrate on the conversation, she was so distracting.

‘Really?’

‘They are sort of, well, curtain-twitchers my mate Matt calls them. They think that as they haven’t met you and you didn’t come to the meeting the other night, you’re, well, you know … dodgy.’ Jonathan looked a bit red, and Snowball scowled at me. Tim bristled.

‘Dodgy, because we didn’t go to a meeting? Christ what kind of place is this?’

‘Oh, no don’t get the wrong idea! It’s just them, and I’m warning you because, well, they kind of have their binoculars trained on your house.’ He laughed again.

‘My God, you are kidding me.’ Tim looked across the street. I turned and could swear the curtains did in fact twitch again. ‘This is crazy. Look, we just like to keep ourselves to ourselves, so thanks for the plant but, really, I have to go.’

‘Please, I didn’t mean to offend you, it was just a friendly visit.’ Poor Jonathan looked confused.

‘Bye, Jonathan.’ Before he could say anything else, Tim closed the door.

‘Damn Alfie, I think I messed up.’ Jonathan looked flummoxed. ‘Claire’s going to kill me,’ he mumbled as he walked away. I stayed put, trying to figure out what went wrong.

All of a sudden I heard raised voices, but Jonathan was already out of earshot.

‘I hate school, this house and this stupid place, why can’t we just go home,’ a female voice shouted — the teenage girl I thought.

‘Because, Daisy, you know full well what happened. We have no choice.’ It was Tim and he sounded desperate.

‘Yeah well that doesn’t make it any better does it,’ a surly boy’s voice chipped in.

‘For the love of God, I can’t do anything right and now we’ve got the neighbours on our backs,’ Tim shouted.

‘Can we all calm down,’ a voice obviously belonging to Karen said. ‘It’s not your dad’s fault and if we continue like this our family is going to fall apart.’ Her voice was desperate. Then I heard noisy tears, which I thought was the girl again. My head was so close to the door, I was almost in it.

‘Alfie!’ Snowball’s voice came from behind the door, I pricked up my ears.

‘Yes?’ I hoped my voice conveyed helpfulness.

‘Go away and leave us in peace. None of us, especially not me, need you here.’ Her voice was even more vehement than usual.

‘I was only trying to help,’ I said.

‘You can help by leaving us alone, all of you. Oh and by the way, if it was you that left me the bird the other day, you shouldn’t have bothered.’ I heard her padding away, as the other voices faded and I had no alternative but to turn around and head home.

Whatever was going on with them, it wasn’t good, although I knew, instinctively, that they weren’t bad people or doing anything dodgy like the Goodwins thought. But I could tell they also needed help, although, boy, they weren’t making it easy, that was for sure.

I made my way back and saw Jonathan standing, still looking confused, key in hand. I was about to run after him to follow him in when a shadow blocked my path. It was Salmon.

‘Oh, not you,’ I hissed.

‘Alfie, you really are a silly cat. Those people are bad and that white ball of fluff is no better. She’s an evil cat.’

‘How on earth would you know?’

‘My owners know, and if you know what’s good for you you’ll steer clear. They are going to be very fleeting visitors on Edgar Road, my family will see to that.’

‘What do you mean?’ I suddenly felt very fearful.

‘They rent that house and the landlord won’t put up with illegal activity.’

‘What illegal activity?’ My eyes widened.

‘We don’t know yet but rest assured we will get to the bottom of it.’

‘So it’s just what you guys think?’ I almost laughed.

‘Don’t take us seriously if you don’t want to, but mark my words, we will see this street returned to the way it should be.’

‘Salmon, you’re mad. You have no idea what you’re talking about.’ Salmon went to swipe me with his paw but I was too quick as I dodged out of his way. ‘I’m not going to fight you. I just think you’ve got it wrong.’

‘Do you now? Well just wait, and then we’ll see who is the mad cat around here.’ Salmon gave me another glare as he flicked his tail and moved aside to let me pass.

Chapter Thirteen

After the drama of the previous day I was happy to welcome my favourite day. Once a month, on a Sunday, all my families came together. They all brought food and the children played together. It was so much fun for me to see them all under one roof— all the people I loved. So I put my thoughts of Snowball and my altercation with Salmon aside to revel in what was important to me; love.

Although that brought me back to Snowball. I was feeling towards her the way that I think some human men and women feel about each other. I was pretty sure that I was falling for her romantically. The way I felt when I saw her was almost electric. I felt a current running through my veins and my fur almost stood on end. And when I didn’t see her, I was consumed by thoughts of her. I had taken to pining by the loose fence panel a bit too often, desperate to catch even just a glimpse of her. I had it bad.

When the doorbell went my fur was almost shivering with excitement as I stood ready to welcome everyone. Aleksy and Tomasz bounded in and rushed up to me, then Franceska, and Tomasz followed, carrying bags and handing over food and wine as they greeted Jonathan and Claire. I enjoyed being fussed by all of them, especially Aleksy who I was gratified to see was like his old self, with a big smile on his face and the sparkle back in his eyes. I rolled over, purred and snuggled as I enjoyed welcoming my guests in the best way ever.

Before we could catch our breath, the doorbell went again heralding Polly, who was holding Henry’s hand, and Matt who was carrying Martha. The excitement of the children was feverish as I yet again enjoyed being cuddled and stroked. When the initial excitement died down, everyone went into the kitchen. As Tomasz and Claire sorted out the food, the back doors were opened and the children, except for Martha, headed out.

Although Jonathan’s garden was small, there was a lawn and Aleksy had brought his football so they started chasing it around. I was about to join them, but Franceska picked me up.

‘You will not believe what happened,’ she said.

‘What?’ Jonathan asked, he had a big smile on his face as he watched the boys playing.

‘Alfie went to Aleksy’s school.’ The room was silent as everyone looked at me.

‘How on earth did he manage that?’ Matt asked, scratching his head.

‘We don’t know, but we think he must have found his way to our flat and followed us there.’

‘Good grief, Alfie, sometimes I wish you could talk because I would love to know how you do these things,’ Claire said, looking amazed. I miaowed and they laughed.

‘So,’ Tomasz continued. ‘You know how Aleksy was having problems with a boy at school.’

‘He was being bullied, Tomasz. He was very bad,’ Franceska added.

‘Yes, well we went to the school but without knowing the full story there was not much they could do,’ big Tomasz said.

‘Aleksy wouldn’t tell us what was going on,’ Franceska added.

‘What’s this got to do with Alfie?’ Polly asked. I miaowed again.

‘Well he went to Aleksy’s school, followed him to class and everyone in the class was really excited; so now he is popular and they are doing a school project with a story and drawings about Alfie! The boy leaves him alone now and tries to be his friend.’

‘You’re telling me that Alfie went to the school and sorted out a bully?’ Jonathan looked at me in disbelief.

‘Yes, he did. He really did!’ Franceska was excited.

‘So they’re doing a project on him?’ Matt asked, looking perplexed.

‘Yes, they have written a story as a class and everyone, even the bad boy, has made a painting of him.’

I felt so emotional as I listened to Franceska explain. My plan had worked and, admittedly, I was trying very hard not to feel too smug about it. I was enjoying the praise and I was also enjoying the fact that my humans were so confused about my actions; I liked to keep them on their toes.

‘It’d be nice for him to go and see the paintings,’ Claire suggested, echoing my thoughts.

‘Why don’t we take him?’ Franceska suggested. ‘I could take him! Would you like that, Alfie?’ I purred in the affirmative.

‘Alfie, I do love you but you certainly do my head in at times,’ Jonathan said, which I knew was a compliment, as I jumped out of Franceska’s arms and headed outside to play football, or paw-ball more accurately.

As Polly, Franceska and Claire cleared up after lunch, the men put on a film for the children. I padded between both rooms, keeping an eye on everyone. Martha was asleep on the sofa while the boys— adults included — watched the film. The doorbell interrupted us and Jonathan reluctantly tore himself away to answer it. Vic was on the doorstep, without Heather for once.

‘We have company,’ Jonathan said, gruffly before the man had a chance to speak.

‘I won’t stop but I need to call an emergency meeting. Tomorrow night at our house.’

‘What on earth for?’ Jonathan asked.

‘Your next door neighbours. I have Heather on watch right now.’ Jonathan looked around Vic and saw Heather behind her living room curtains with her binoculars.

‘She’s hardly inconspicuous,’ Jonathan said.

‘Well,’ Vic replied. ‘The time for that has gone. Something has happened and I can tell you it is very serious.’

‘What?’ Jonathan asked.

‘The police have been round. I’m surprised you missed it. They stayed for ages which goes to show that we’re right to be concerned. I am calling their landlords in the morning and I’ll see you tomorrow evening, seven sharp so we can discuss what we’re going to do.’ Before Jonathan couldreply again, Vic turned and walked off, leaving him standing dumbfounded on the doorstep.

As Jonathan explained the visit to the others, I wondered what on earth the police were doing at Snowball’s house. I was sure that there was nothing bad about Snowball and her family, but it seemed as though there was no convincing the Goodwins.

‘The thing is that he was a bit odd when I went around,’ Jonathan said. ‘I hate to think Vic is right about anything, but I just don’t know.’

‘And we did send round a plant, and not a word,’ Claire replied. ‘I mean if it was me I would drop round to say thank you at least.’

‘They do seem to be a bit strange. I saw the kids the other day, well teenagers really,’ Polly continued. ‘But I haven’t caught a glimpse of the parents.’

‘Although it does sound as if the Goodwins are on a bit of a witch hunt,’ big Tomasz pointed out.

‘You know what they’re like. Anyway, the upshot is that whether that family are drug barons, gangsters or even just perfectly normal people, they’re making our lives a misery because we have to go to another meeting. I almost want to evict them on that basis,’ Jonathan mused.

‘Just don’t go,’ Franceska suggested. I loved how sensible she was but also so naive. She escaped the Goodwins when she lived here, so she had no idea how awful they were.

‘We can’t not go, it’s not an option,’ Matt said.

‘Luckily, boys, it’s your turn to go, so Jonathan and Matt, all I can say is have fun,’ Polly laughed.

‘And I won’t wait up,’ Claire finished with a wink.

Chapter Fourteen

‘I have to warn her,’ I said to Tiger.

‘Oh, Alfie, if only you paid half as much attention to your real friends, rather than to someone who doesn’t seem to have a nice word for you.’

‘I know, but you know as well as I do what unhappiness can do. Look at how I fixed things for Aleksy. I need to do the same for Snowball, or at least try to. I’m pretty sure her family’s unhappiness is the reason she is so prickly after all. So if I can help her family, I can help her.’

I tried to snuggle up to Tiger, but she moved away from me. She wasn’t a happy kitty. She had wanted us to go and play with the other cats but I couldn’t. After all, my neighbours were in trouble with the Goodwins and I wanted to give Snowball the chance to do something about it.

‘Look, Tiger, I’ll go over there, and try to get her attention then I’ll come and join the rest of you. I’m sorry but you know what I’m like and a cat’s got to do what a cat’s got to do.’ I gave her my most endearing look as she stalked off. But she looked back at me and I knew thatshe would forgive me, yet again. Eventually.

After Tiger stalked off I made my way to Snowball’s back garden. I didn’t exactly have a plan, but I was hoping that it would come to me when I got there. Although of course I was determined not to be so stupid as to get stuck in any cupboards today. The weather was damp and threatened rain. I felt this in my back legs especially. It was funny but my injury seemed to be affected by the weather. I felt a dull ache in my leg as I prepared to gently jump over the back fence and into Snowball’s garden.

I let my thoughts wander to earlier this morning. We had been up early and as I bounded downstairs eager for breakfast, I saw something on our doormat. I miaowed to draw Claire’s attention to it. It was a white envelope with their names written on it. Claire opened it and pulled out a card. Later when Jonathan came down, ready for work she showed him.

‘So they sent a thank you for the plant after all,’ he said, giving the note a quick glance.

‘Yes but, darling, it just says, “Thank you for the plant it was a very kind thought, from Tim, Karen, Daisy and Christopher.” Not much really.’

‘At least they have manners. Strange they didn’t ring the doorbell to say hello when they dropped it off though. We went to bed quite late last night, and you were up early so they must have put it through the letterbox either incredibly late or very early.’

‘Which is weird, Jonathan. I hate to give any credence to the Goodwins but it is strange.’

‘Maybe,’ Jonathan said, taking a sip of coffee and buttering a piece of toast, ‘they seem to be nocturnal. Like bats. Like Batman.’ His eyes were wide.

‘You’re saying Batman lives next door?’ Claire raised her eyebrows exasperated.

‘A whole bat family. By day they’re mild-mannered, by night they turn into bats and clean up the evil streets around Edgar Road.’

‘You’re as insane as the Goodwins.’

‘But it is a good theory for me to bring up at the meeting tonight. That will throw them off,’ he chuckled.

‘Almost makes me want to come along.’ Claire kissed the top of his head.

‘You still can you know,’ he replied.

‘I said almost.’

As I jumped down onto their lawn, I stopped short; the girl, who I now believed was called Daisy, stood in the garden smoking a cigarette and looking at her mobile phone. I stood still, unsure what my next move should be, when she turned and screamed.

‘God, you startled me,’ she said, but didn’t sound angry. She bent down and looked at my tag. ‘Hello, Alfie. You are a very pretty cat.’ I tilted my head to one side and blinked in greeting. I would have preferred being called handsome but I would take pretty. I purred as she put out the cigarette and stroked me. Then she sat down on the back step, looking pensive. This was my chance, I thought as I rubbed up against her legs. She was wearing school uniform and as it was late morning I wondered why she wasn’t at school. I glanced through the patio doors, but the house looked deserted.

‘Oh boy,’ she said stroking me. ‘I wish I knew what to do.’ I nestled into her, knowing that she needed to talk and I needed to listen. ‘I’m bunking off school, which I’ve never done before. But then I was forced to leave my old school when we moved here and I’m in the middle of my exams! I mean I know what happened meant wehad to move but that doesn’t make it any easier.’ She let out a huge sigh.

I miaowed softly, urging her to go on as she wasn’t exactly making anything clear to me.

‘I know I shouldn’t blame Dad, but Chris is miserable, Mum’s working herself into the ground, and it wasn’t his fault but still … we’re all suffering. How can life change so drastically, so quickly? I’ll never understand that.’

I miaowed again, I totally understood that one. After all, I’d been there. My situation had brought me to Edgar Road, and I hadn’t wanted life to change when it did either.

‘I wish I could feel better about it. I just feel so angry about everything all the time.’ She pulled gently at my fur in the nicest way. Lucky Snowball I thought. ‘And so does everyone. This is one unhappy house, that’s for sure.’

She stood up.

‘Anyway, Alfie, I’d better go to school before they call my parents and there’s even more shouting here.’ She started walking away, then turned around. ‘Have you met my Snowball?’ she asked.

I miaowed. She laughed.

‘She’d like you. I think you’d make a really cute cat couple.’ She laughed sadly and I felt my stomach flutter. If only, I thought.

I stared at the empty house, contemplating whether or not to go in given that the house was empty— I was a curious cat after all — when I heard a hiss behind me. Although it was aggressive, it was still music to my ears. I turned around.

‘Hi,’ I said.

‘When are you going to get the message and leave us alone?’

‘Where were you when I was talking to Daisy?’

‘You spoke to Daisy?’ Snowball looked angrier than ever as she bared her teeth.

‘She told me a bit about how she was forced to move here.’ I really hoped she would soften towards me as I gave her my best smile.

‘Yes we had to move and because of Karen’s work we ended up here. Everyone is living on a knife-edge and now the police are involved. The kids had to leave their very nice school and no one is happy about it. Including me.’ She looked horrified.

‘So why do you all keep to yourselves?’ I asked, my eyes like saucers as I felt desperate to know more.

‘Oh goodness, I have said too much. Forget I said anything and please, you need to leave us alone. We’ve had enough of people interfering in our life, causing trouble, we are better off alone. My family are good people but they have been through hell, through no fault of their own.’ She paused, then thankfully spoke again. ‘Tim has been the victim of injustice, and the rest of the family are suffering. We had to leave our old home and we need to be left alone.’

‘Snowball, I do understand that you might feel that way. Life hasn’t been all sardines and butterflies for me you know.’

‘What’s that got to do with us?’ Snowball asked.

‘I just want you to know I’ve been in a similar position. You don’t know my story but before I lived here I was left orphaned and they were going to put me in a shelter. I became a homeless cat and I nearly died making my way here. When I got here I finally found homes but it was awful beforethat, so you see I do know how hard life can be.’ I was desperate for her to see that I did care but it wasn’t exactly going to plan. ‘But, Snowball, I’m only trying to help. I can help you, I just know I can, I can make your family happier, by introducing them to my families. But you have to give me a chance. Daisy talked to me, why can’t you?’

‘I don’t think so,’ she said, quietly.

‘But you know we need to do something. People are talking behind your backs, the Goodwins are relentless, if only you’d let me help, I could solve this for you.’

‘It’s not something you, I or anyone can solve.’ She quickly switched back to being hostile just as I felt that we were getting somewhere as she flicked her tail at me, turned on her paws and had her back to me.

‘What happened to you all?’ I asked, softly.

‘I’ve said too much. Please go, give us some space. We’ll figure it out.’ Without even a backward glance she jumped through the cat flap and was gone.

Although I was left with more questions than answers, I had made some progress. I would do exactly what I said to Snowball and I would bring our families, and therefore us, together.

I lay on my back on a sunny patch of grass in Polly and Matt’s front garden, watching the sky and thinking. There was no sign of anyone at home but that was OK. I did quite fancy something to eat but it was more important to me to ponder on what had been happening and what I could do about it.

As Snowball’s face popped into my head I felt giddy. Yes, she was angry but that didn’t stop her beauty shining through. I couldn’t stop thinking about her glittering eyes and that incredible white fur … I had never felt this way about another cat before, and I wasn’t sure exactly how to describe it, but all I wanted was to be close to her.

A loud miaow jolted me out of my reverie and I rolled back onto all fours. My friend Rocky stood in front of me.

‘How long have you been there?’ I asked, stretching out; my back legs felt stiff and I realized I must have been sunbathing a bit longer than I thought.

‘Only a few minutes. You looked so content, with the biggest smile on your face.’

‘I was thinking of Snowball,’ I admitted. ‘You know, the white cat who’s just moved in down the street.’

‘I know who you mean. I bumped into her a few evenings ago, although she was pretty rude to me. I thought for a minute she was going to attack but she was just warning me not to try to talk to her.’

‘She can be aloof,’ I said, knowing I was trying to make excuses for her.

‘I think that might be your best understatement yet, Alfie. Besides, Tiger was just telling us all about her.’

‘What was Tiger saying?’ I narrowed my eyes.

‘That she’s nasty but you seem intent on sucking up to her. She’s not best pleased with your behaviour, and she’s guessed that you have a crush on her.’

‘Is that what this is? Tiger’s not wrong though. I can’t stop thinking about that fluffy white coat, and those eyes …’

‘Oh boy, you’ve got it bad, Alfie. Let me give you some advice, man to man; be careful, women are complicated. Take Tiger for example.’

‘Tiger? I barely think of her as a female cat.’

‘That’s the problem, Alfie, you two are such good friends but she is female and, well, it’s kind of difficult to be really close friends with girls. If you know what I mean.’

‘I absolutely don’t.’ I really didn’t get it. I was friends with Agnes, the cat from my first home, I was friends with the human women in my life, so why not Tiger?

‘OK, well Tiger has this little thing for you, you know, more than just friends. She has, you know, romantic feelings for you.’

I nearly fell off my legs. I couldn’t believe what I was hearing.

‘There must be some mistake, Rocky, she doesn’t think of me like that.’

‘Well, mate, trust me she does, you just don’t notice. You should have heard her just now. She’s really jealous.’

‘Jealous?!’ This was all news to me.

‘Oh, Alfie, you silly cat. You need to be careful if you don’t want to lose Tiger as your friend.’ Rocky sat down, looking serious. ‘She won’t ruin your friendship but you need to respect her feelings, especially if you really do like Snowball.’

‘You’ve given me even more to think about; thank you for being a good friend. I really do care about Tiger, she is my best cat friend and I don’t want to hurt her. But I can’t stop thinking about Snowball.’ Rocky and I looked at each other, seriously.

‘Hey, Alfie, that’s what friends are for. I’d better go — lunch is calling.’

We said goodbye and I suddenly felt I had the weight of the world on my shoulders. How much could my head take? Now I had even more to figure out and solve. I felt as if I might explode.

I made my way back to my house. My cat instinct told me it would be safer to keep out of the way of anyone for now, as I made my way round the back and in through the cat flap. The house would be empty, I could find some peace and quiet and try to get things straight.

As I stalked through the kitchen and was about to go and find my favourite corner of the sofa to snuggle on, I stopped. Because slumped on it already was Claire with Franceska, who was hugging her as she cried.

I felt my heart sink, as I fretted for another person I loved. As one problem was solved, another presented itself. That was how it seemed to be with humans, or the ones in my life anyway.

Chapter Fifteen

‘Claire, is going to be OK,’ Franceska said, stroking her hair, the way I had seen her do with her boys when they were upset. Whenever Franceska was stressed her accent was stronger and the way she spoke reminded me of when she first arrived in Edgar Road.

I was confused and scared. When I got up this morning, Claire had seemed fine. She fed me, got ready for work and left the house at the same time as Jonathan, in a puff of smiles and kisses. But now she was wearing what looked like her bed clothes, and her face was red and puffy.

‘I’m sorry, Frankie but I was so sure, and then this,’ she sobbed noisily.

‘Claire, sweetie, you must stay calm. This doesn’t help, and I know everyone says it but you have time, it’s not a rush.’

‘I know, but I can’t help how I feel. I really thought I was pregnant, my period was late, I really felt it, and then today at work, I get the crushing period pains. I’m sorry, Frankie, I know I’m not being sane but I just feel as if I’m going mad.’

‘How long have you been trying?’

‘Over eight months now.’

‘Is nothing. It took me a year to get pregnant with Aleksy.’ Franceska was still stroking her hair, and I hung back. I didn’t want to intrude or interrupt.

‘Really?’ Claire looked up with teary eyes. ‘I guess I am being silly but you know, I’m nearly forty and I know that it’s not too old but I want us to be a family so much. I couldn’t believe it, after the divorce, that I got together with Jonathan and we have such an amazing life. But then I see your boys and Polly … and I really want that. I’m desperate for it.’

‘And you will have it, but you need to stop crying, and relax. I am sure everyone is saying it but you enjoy trying and it will happen.’

‘I don’t want Jonathan to see me like this. It’s not that I’m trying to hide from him but he tries so hard to protect me from feeling bad again. After I told him everything about my divorce and then my disastrous relationship with Joe, he has been so good at looking after me, and I don’t want to worry him.’

‘Right, then I shall make you a coffee, you will clean that face and when he comes from work you tell him you’re a bit unwell, and then rest. That way he can take care of you without the worry so much.’

‘Oh, Frankie, where would I be without you?’

I decided it was time to make my presence known, so I miaowed.

‘Alfie, I didn’t know you were here,’ Claire said, furiously rubbing her eyes. I jumped up onto her lap and snuggled into her neck. She rubbed the top of my head, my favourite spot and then I went to say hello to Franceska.

‘OK, I make some drinks for us and get Alfie a snack, OK?’

‘Great, thank you, Frankie.’

I almost glued myself to Franceska’s leg as she went to the kitchen. I didn’t want to take any chances when it came to getting fed, so I jumped up on the kitchen counter and pointed my nose in the direction of the cupboard where they kept the tuna. I stood on my hind legs and scratched at the cupboard door, and although I couldn’t open it, it was enough to alert Franceska as to what I wanted. I wasn’t being greedy but the emotion of the day had left me feeling hungry.

‘Ah, Alfie, calm down, I get you some!’ She pulled out a tin of tuna, opened it and tipped it in my bowl. She then got me some milk. I purred in thanks as I got stuck in.

Before Franceska left she made a hot water bottle for Claire and sent her to bed. I thought about joining her but as I had so much to think about I decided to stay downstairs, and go back to my original plan of trying to get my head straight. Only now I had even more to think about, because my list was once again growing. Tiger, Snowball and her family and now Claire. There was too much going on for me to process, especially as I now had a full tummy. So with my head full of thoughts, sunlight flowing through the window, I curled up on the sofa and fell into a lovely sleep.

I woke, it must have been hours later, because I heard Jonathan’s key in the door. I stretched my legs out sleepily and jumped off the sofa to greet him.

‘Hey, Alfie.’ He threw his keys onto the side table and bent down to pet me. I purred and offered him my paw for our customary high five. ‘Right, I’d better go and see our patient.’ He kicked off his shoes and ran upstairs. I followed him, running as fast as I could to keep up. He opened the bedroom door and went in, where I could see Claire sitting up in bed and reading. She looked far more composed now than the last time I saw her.

‘Hi, darling, are you all right?’ Jonathan went up to her and kissed her head.

‘Hey, I’m feeling a bit better, just really bad stomach pains, you know, time of the month.’ She smiled though and although I saw a flicker of something in Jonathan’s eyes he seemed to quickly recover.

‘In that case, I shall go to the gym and then on the way back pick us up a takeaway. What do you fancy?’

‘Thai.’ Claire grinned and I felt relieved as I jumped up onto the bed next to her. ‘I might have pains, but I’m so hungry.’

‘Thai it is then, my love. Right, I’d better get going.’ He kissed her again, gave me a rough head scratch and then went to get changed into his gym kit. I was satisfied that Claire was all right, or at least she was for now, I thought, as I got down from the bed and went downstairs. As I made my way out of the cat flap, I started following my sense of smell. It was time for me to go and make amends with one of the other women in my life: Tiger.

I hadn’t had much time to think about what Rocky had said, but I decided that for now I would just ensure our friendship wasn’t damaged. I wasn’t exactly sure how to sort this situation out — I had never been in love before like this and I had never had anyone in love with me the way Rocky said Tiger was — I had to tread carefully. In the meantime I would ensure that Tiger knew she was important to me, in a friendship way of course.

I quickly located my friend. It wasn’t hard, given that she was at home eating her supper. I put my head gently through the cat flap to see if the coast was clear. Seeing that it was, I hissed gently to her and she turned around and saw me. She must have forgotten to be cross as, for a second, she looked pleased to see me until sheremembered and scowled at me.

‘Can you come out here?’ I asked. I couldn’t go inside and risk seeing her family. They didn’t like other cats in their house.

‘I’m having my dinner. I shall come out when I’m finished,’ she said in a hoity-toity voice. I didn’t answer, but I gave her my most charming look and popped my head back out. I sat patiently by the rose bush as I waited for Tiger to appear. I knew deep down that she would take her time. And boy did she.

‘I’ve almost forgotten why I came here,’ I said as she appeared sometime later.

‘Alfie, the world doesn’t revolve around you.’

‘I know, I know.’ I was the sort of cat that spent most of his time worrying about others, but it wasn’t the time to point that out to Tiger. Not when she was in one of her moods. I remembered Rocky’s words and realized that perhaps I had been remiss in reading the signs. She really did seem very angry with me.

I thought back to when I first met her. We had become firm friends and had a happy relationship. She was definitely my best cat friend and I’d do anything for her. She was protective towards me, like when she came to Aleksy’s school, she looked out for me; but things had changed slightly, and maybe I had failed to notice the shift in our relationship. I didn’t understand why she seemed so stroppy with me these days.

‘It’s frustrating sometimes, Alfie,’ she said, sounding sad.

‘But I would never do anything to upset you on purpose, you know that don’t you?’ I said, looking at her. She cocked her head to one side.

‘I hope so,’ she said sadly. I was none the wiser as to why she was actually upset but I was sorry that I’d made her sad.

‘I know, let’s go to the park and look at the moon in the water,’ I suggested in an attempt to diffuse the situation.

‘Wow, you must be sorry,’ she said. It was true. Tiger loved to go to the pond and stare at the moon’s reflection in the water. She put her face too close to it and it terrified me, after my near-drowning experience. So on the rare occasion I would go with her I kept well back. Now I wanted to show her how much her friendship meant to me and overcoming my fear and looking at the moon seemed appropriate.

We walked along in silence, passing hedges and garden gates but not stopping to look at other houses. I was focusing all my attention on Tiger. When we reached the park it seemed deserted. I could hear signs of other animals but they were keeping well hidden in the darkness. We made our way to the pond and I took a deep breath, as Tiger bounded to the water’s edge and I made my way there carefully.

‘My favourite is the round moon,’ Tiger said as she looked at the big round ball which seemed to glimmer as it floated on the water’s surface.

‘It is beautiful,’ I agreed as I stood perilously close to the water’s edge and opened one eye to see the moon while keeping the other closed. I felt my legs shaking and I tried very hard to be brave but I seemed to fail.

‘Oh, Alfie, you’re petrified! But I appreciate you doing this for me.’ Tiger laughed kindly, and we thankfully moved away from the pond.

‘I’m sorry we fought,’ I said. ‘I hate it when that happens.’

‘I know and I get it that you’re infatuated with that white cat and her bloody family.’

‘I don’t meant to be,’ I offered.

‘You never do. But you can’t help yourself, Alfie. It’s always like you have to fix things and when there isn’t anything to fix you almost go looking for stuff.’

‘I do, don’t I?’

‘Even in the last couple of years when the families all seemed happy, you have been worrying about the children, and Polly, and of course Claire and Jonathan, it’s just what you do.’

‘I can’t help it, it’s as if finding Edgar Road and being given my second chance at happiness came with a need for me to help people.’ I sighed; it was tiring worrying so much but there seemed no alternative at times. Tiger sighed too.

‘It’s why I care about you and get mad at you all at the same time. Come on then, I guess you’re dying to tell me what happened at Snowball’s this morning.’ Tiger looked a bit embarrassed but I was happy to fill her in. It felt like safer ground.

I couldn’t believe I had forgotten about it. It seemed so long ago and so much had happened in that time. So as we started to make our way back home, wrapped in the darkness of night, I started to tell Tiger about my encounter with Daisy and then Snowball and I felt something shifting inside. Tiger and Imight not be completely on the same page but our friendship was stronger than ever, I was sure of that.

As we stopped outside the Goodwins’ house we couldn’t resist jumping up on their garden wall. For once Heather and Vic weren’t at the window but Salmon was. We started taunting him, safe in the knowledge that if he did try to come outside we’d be long gone by the time he made it. Tiger and I grinned at each other as Salmon snarled like a dog, flicked his tail and bared his teeth at us. We teased a while longer and then jumped down and headed home. We strolled back shoulder to shoulder and it seemed that all had been forgiven. I decided I needed to put what Rocky said about Tiger to the back of my mind. I had a list aslong as my tail of people who needed my help, and I wouldn’t rest until I’d done what I needed to do.

Chapter Sixteen

I spotted Polly a while before she saw me. She was on her own, walking back to the house with a couple of shopping bags, humming to herself. At the same time, I noticed the front door of Snowball’s house open a crack, and I saw my chance. I rushed forth, so when Polly reached their gate, I stood in front of her, stopping her in her tracks, in the hope of engineering a meeting. Polly bent down to pet me as the front door opened and the mother, Karen, appeared. She was wearing a pair of jeans and a shirt and she looked uncertainly around her as she made her way out of the house and up to the front gate.

‘Oh,’ she said startled as she spotted us. She had dark rings under her eyes and she looked a bit messy. Or not exactly well-groomed like me, anyway. I never left the house with any fur out of place. Looking my best was incredibly important to me.

‘Hi, I’m Polly.’ Polly adjusted her bags and held out her hand. Karen looked at it as if she had never seen a hand before in her life. She went to take it and then she burst into tears. Polly and I were both taken aback.

‘I’m Karen,’ she sobbed.

‘Hey,’ Polly said in her gentle voice that always soothed me. ‘What’s wrong?’

‘I can’t, I can’t talk here,’ Karen said, she looked directly across the road to Heather and Vic’s house.

Polly nodded.‘Listen, my house is only a few doors away, and my husband has taken the kids out, so it’s empty if you fancy a cuppa?’

‘I really shouldn’t,’ Karen protested.

‘It can’t hurt can it? Karen, you clearly need some time to collect yourself. Come on.’ Polly looked determined, like a woman who wouldn’t take no for an answer. And this cat wouldn’t either, as I decided to tag along with them.

Karen was quite a lot shorter than Polly, although most women were. She was about the same height as Franceska, her muddy blonde hair tied back in a ponytail. While Polly walked tall, holding herself with confidence and grace, Karen was walking as if she was shrinking into herself with each step. I could almost feel her weightiness; she walked as if she carried a whole other person on her back.

I don’t think she even noticed me as I padded along a couple of steps behind them, determined not to miss this opportunity.

Polly opened the door and silence greeted us, a rare event in Polly’s house. It made me laugh, because Polly was like an excited kid when no one else was around (apart from me), and once alone she would kick her shoes off, grab a bar of chocolate from her secret stash, put on a face pack, watch TV programmes she told me Matt hated or read her stack of magazines.Although not today of course, as Karen followed her into their small homely kitchen, and sat at the table as Polly wordlessly went to switch on the kettle.

‘Sorry,’ Karen started. ‘I shouldn’t be here.’

‘Why ever not?’ Polly asked. ‘Look, love, it’s OK to chat to me, you know.’

‘It’s not that, it’s just we agreed. No one else needs to know our business, not after what happened.’

‘OK, but if you do want to talk, I’m quite friendly.’ Polly smiled, then busied herself pouring tea before sitting opposite Karen.

‘Please, I can’t go into it now. But it doesn’t help thatthose people think we’re criminals.’

‘Oh, you must mean the Goodwins. I wouldn’t worry about them; they’re just the street busybodies.’

‘They keep coming round, knocking on our door, normally when I am at work but it’s driving Tim — that’s my husband — crazy. I told him that he should maybe answer the door to them, and put a stop to it, but he won’t.’

‘Well I guess they’re surprised that you haven’t been to one of their Neighbourhood Watch meetings,’ Polly said. ‘This is such a big street, but they kind of rule this part of it, unfortunately.’ Polly attempted a laugh, but it sounded wrong.

‘We couldn’t face it. Not yet, I’m not sure ever. All the questions. Tim saw them spying on us when the police came round the other day, they would want to know everything and I can’t answer those questions.’ Karen seemed slightly hysterical and I thought I understood now why Snowball wasso hostile; she obviously had a lot on her plate.

‘I know they are way too interested in everything that’s going on, but I guess that by ignoring them you are fuelling that curiosity,’ Polly said, tentatively.

‘Polly, we aren’t criminals.’

‘Oh no, I wasn’t implying that, love.’

‘We’re just a family, having a tough time and want to be left alone.’

‘Yet you’re sitting here with me. It can be lonely cutting yourself off — I should know, I’ve been there. We only want to help though.’

‘Yes.’ Karen looked as if she remembered that she was indeed doing that. I sat under the table, and listened, I didn’t want to draw attention to myself. ‘And I’m sorry, I don’t mean to be rude, it’s just that, well, I guess I’m not ready to be around people just yet. I’m so tired,working all hours, it’s not that I want to be anti-social, but we just need a bit of space.’

‘Hey, whatever you need.’ Polly tried to look supportive but I could see her underlying confusion. She didn’t look as if she knew what was going on and neither did I.

‘I had a row with my son, Christopher. He’s fourteen and so angry all the time.’

‘Hormonal teenager?’

‘Yes, but more than that. My poor children have been through so much … I really am sorry to be so weird but I just—’

‘Hey.’ Polly held her hands up in defeat. ‘Honestly, as long as you’re OK. And you know where I am if you ever do want to talk. I’d hate you to think we’re all like Heather and Vic.’ Polly, was full of compassion, it was one of the things all my families had in common.

Karen stood up.‘I’m sorry again, but I really must go.’ Karen went to the front door, said a distracted goodbye and, looking around furtively, hurried off down the street.

‘Well for someone who has nothing to hide she sure acts like she does,’ Polly said as she picked me up and started stroking my fur. ‘I mean, Alfie, I’m sure there’s nothing criminal about them but she clearly isn’t the most normal person I’ve ever met.’ I miaowed my agreement. It seemed none of the family could give a straight answer. They all talked in riddles, never letting their guard down about whatever secret it was they were hiding. None of us had any idea what was going on.

My only conclusion was that if they didn’t have anything to hide, they were hiding from something. Or someone. Or everyone for that matter.

A little while later, the door opened as Polly and I sat side by side on her sofa, her flicking through magazines, me processing my thoughts. With a thundering of little feet, Henry ran in.

‘Mummy! We saw a rabbit, and some cows. Alfie! Hi, Alfie.’ I loved Henry’s excitement.

‘Where on earth did you take them?’ Polly asked, when Matt came in.

‘To the toy shop,’ he laughed. ‘They had a farm set and Henry spent ages playing with it, he loved it. I told him we’d get him some animals for his birthday.’

‘And where is my little girl?’ Polly said as Henry climbed on his mum and smothered her with cuddles.

‘Asleep in the pushchair. Hi, Alfie.’ Matt sat down, so we were all squished together on their sofa.

‘We need a bigger sofa,’ Polly observed.

‘Or maybe this boy could take up less room,’ he replied, tickling Henry so he giggled and wriggled.

‘Oh, Daddy.’ Henry laughed.

‘By the way, I bumped into the lady from number forty-eight today, Karen. She was upset so I invited her round and although she came she was still so secretive and basically couldn’t wait to leave. I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t think they’re a danger to the road like some think,but I agree that it is strange.’

‘Yeah, that’s what Jonathan said. He said they acted like everyone was out to get them.’

‘Actually that’s it, that’s exactly what it was like.’

‘But the Goodwins aren’t helping,’ Matt said. ‘They’re fixated on them; it’s like an obsession.’

‘Well maybe if we can get the Goodwins off their back they might start to behave a bit more normally then.’

‘You got any ideas how to stop Heather and Vic?’ Matt asked with a grin.

‘Short of locking them up, no.’ Polly laughed. ‘But remember how sad I was when I moved here. When Frankie tried to be friendly to me I pushed her away. What if it’s like that?’

‘Oh, darling, you weren’t well then and maybe they have their own problems, but unless they want to tell us we can’t make them.’

‘No, Matt, we can’t but putting the brakes on the Goodwins would be a good start.’ She looked determined.

I miaowed loudly. Polly and I were the most in tune it seemed, at the moment anyway. She was right, if the newcomers weren’t ready to tell us what was going on, then we needed to get the Goodwins to back off and then hopefully they might feel a bit more welcome, until they were ready to open up. That was what we had to do but I had no idea how we would do it. Once again I had to put my thinking cap on and let the head scratching — although I actually did enjoy a little head scratch — ensue.

Chapter Seventeen

I trembled at the sight of cat carrier; normally it heralded a trip to the vet, which never ended well. It was four days after I’d met Karen, and the weekend was looming. Claire had also put my cat bed by the front door, along with a bag of cat food. My eyes widened; was I being given away? I couldn’t think of anything I had done wrong, although yesterday I had been looking through the fence at next door in the hope of seeing Snowball and I’d come nose to nose with an annoying little mouse. It had been so scared that the stupid thing ran towards me and into my garden. I was actually trying to get rid of it, but somehow — probably due to what Tiger called my inept hunting technique — the mouse had ended up inmy house. As it ran off I was going to get it but then I was distracted by a lovely smell, and forgot all about it. Instead, I’d sniffed the fresh laundry that sat in the basket waiting to be put away, before noticing that on top was my favourite — Jonathan’s favourite — cashmere jumper. Ithad seemed so delicious and was so soft that I couldn’t resist jumping on it and, before I knew it, I’d fallen asleep.

A commotion had woken me; all hell had broken loose. Claire was screaming and standing on a chair in the kitchen. Jonathan was running around with a broom and when I emerged, they both looked at me in an accusatory way.

‘Did you bring a mouse in?’ Claire asked, sounding annoyed. I miaowed, realizing I’d forgotten about it. But in my defence, I then sniffed it out and chased it back into the garden. But then Jonathan picked up his jumper.

‘You’ve been sleeping on my best jumper!’ he shouted, clearly unhappy. ‘Look it’s covered in your fur, Alfie, how many times do I have to tell you to keep away from my cashmere?’ he stormed. Claire and he were clearly unhappy with me and now, looking at the cat carrier, it seemed they were punishing me in the worst way.

‘Ready for your holiday?’ she asked me, picking me up. I looked at her, head cocked to one side. ‘Remember I told you that Jon and I were going away this weekend, so you’re going to stay with Franceska and the boys.’ A feeling of relief flooded me and I breathed again. Ahh, of course! I’d forgotten. Jonathan had booked a weekend away for them, somewhere called Paris which was in a different country apparently, and they were going for three days. I would normally stay at Polly and Matt’s but this time, Franceska was going to take me to Aleksy’s school to see the Alfie project, after spending the weekend with them.

Although I was going to stay with people I loved, I wondered how I would cope being so far from my street. I was nervous away from Edgar Road, and felt trepidation of places unknown. I had learnt that adventure wasn’t always a good thing and actually quite a lot of it for me had been bad. I shuddered and my fur stood on end as some of the memories flooded my head. As I started to scramble out of Claire’s arms and away from the cat carrier, I realized I needed to calm down, reminding myself that I had beento Franceska’s before, so it wasn’t like going to the unknown.

I did have to give myself a talking to quite often. Memories of my journey to Edgar Road still invoked terror in me. It was sometimes hard to remember that I was safe and loved although I constantly tried to remind myself.

‘Don’t be such a silly cat,’ Claire said, coming towards me and stroking my fur. ‘You’re going to have so much fun, Alfie, and hopefully so will we. I’ll pick you up on Monday evening.’ She kissed the tip of my nose and put me down on the floor. Although I hated being in the cage, I knew there was no option, and the idea of a few days with Aleksy and the others couldn’t help but make me smile. And of course, I was expecting gourmet sardines from my lovely Franceska. So, as I talked myself down I remembered that I would actually have a lovely time. Yes, I would enjoy my holiday. Although I would miss trying to catch a glimpse of Snowball.

Claire drove me to my holiday home, all the while chatting animatedly about how much she was looking forward to going away with Jonathan. Of every human I knew, I loved it that Claire still talked to me the most. I guess it was a habit she had developed when we lived together, just the two of us, before she moved in with Jonathan.

By the time Claire found a parking space on Franceska’s road, I knew that she was hoping that this weekend, spent in a luxury hotel, would result in her being pregnant. I basked in happiness when Claire was like this — she had her dark moments, but who doesn’t? Claire’s had the potential to be worse than most though and I fervently hoped she would get what she wanted. Not only was I happy to have an addition to our family but I wanted that happiness to last. I always worried that it wouldn’t.

Happiness was so wonderful but it could also be scarily fickle.

HAPPY HOLIDAY ALFIE! greeted me. Aleksy had made me a banner painted in rainbow colours along with a picture of me. Aleksy looked both proud and a little shy as everyone praised his artistic talents. I miaowed and jumped up into his arms— it was our new favourite trick. Aleksy thought he’d taught me but we all know who the teacher was really.

As everyone clapped and grinned I felt as if I had come home again. I did miss this lovely family who meant so much to me and although they had travelled further than I had to get to Edgar Road all that time ago, we still would always share that bond. They were immigrants, Tomasz used to tell me, which meant they weren’t born in this country. But they worked hard and were such good people that I knew that they actually belonged here now, with me. Or I belonged with them.

As Claire and Franceska went to the kitchen to have a chat, Tomasz and Aleksy took me into their living room where I was presented with a lot of toys all laid out for me. It was playtime.

After chasing fake mice, cars, and running around in circles, I collapsed on my back and let the boys tickle and fuss over me. I was tired but very happy as Claire came in to say goodbye. She gave me a huge cuddle and kiss and told me to be good— as if I would be anything but — and then she left.

‘Right, Alfie, is your dinner time?’ Franceska asked.

‘Can I feed him?’ little Tomasz asked. I followed them to the kitchen where Franceska made me a very happy cat by getting a tin of sardines out of the cupboard. I tried to be patient as Tomasz helped open the tin and with ‘careful, careful’ repeated, he tipped the sardines in my bowl.

I eagerly got stuck in when they were finally put on the floor and Tomasz stood by proudly as I ate. My boys were growing up fast. When I first met Tomasz he was still very small, taking naps and learning to talk. Now he and Aleksy were like proper little people.

The door flew open and I heard the booming voice of big Tomasz, their father. He came into the kitchen carrying cartons of food. Aleksy came running into the kitchen after him.

‘Pappa,’ little Tomasz shouted, gleefully.

‘Dinner,’ big Tomasz said, putting the food on the counter. He scooped up both of his children into a big hug, they all laughed. Tomasz was a big man and towered over his wife as he kissed her. ‘Ah and here is our guest. Welcome to our little home, Alfie,’ he said, picking me up and stroking me. I purred into his massive neck.

‘How long can you stay?’ Franceska asked.

‘We are fully booked tonight, so I have to go back in an hour.’

‘Right, better get this heated up quickly then.’ She smiled.

‘I’m sorry,kochanie, I will get back as early as possible.’

‘I know, but now it’s getting so busy, which is good, can you get more staff?’

‘We are trying, I promise, but it’s difficult to find good staff. I have more interviews next week, so fingers crossed.’

‘Good, because I love you work so hard for us but it would be nice to see you a bit more.’ Franceska smiled, though, and I knew she wasn’t really angry, I just wondered if she was a bit lonely while her husband worked so much.

Later that afternoon, I stood by the flat door and miaowed. I wanted to go out, but there was no cat flap in the second floor flat, and although they had got me a litter tray I turned my nose up at it. I would use it in emergencies but I didn’t want to if I didn’t have to. I wasn’t that sort of cat.

Franceska, gestured to me to follow her and she opened a back door, which I hadn’t noticed before, and she walked with me down a flight of stairs. We emerged into a small yard.

‘This is the back of the restaurant, I can leave the door open for you, but be quick as I don’t want any mice to get in,’ she said.

I was pleased by this limited freedom and I found a patch of weeds to do my business in, before quickly scoping out my surroundings. There were some big bins in a small-ish yard which led to an alley. My nose was aroused, I could smell wildlife here, mice and even those horrible big rats. But then it made sense. Where there was rubbish, there was vermin. I didn’t need Franceska to tell me to be quick; I wasn’t sure I fancied hanging around here too long. Although I didn’t catch sight of anything, I knew they were lurking in the shadows waiting for scraps to feed off.

I bounded back upstairs and Franceska went down to close the door. She looked relieved when we were back inside.

‘I just don’t want any of those mice or rats coming in here,’ she said, as Aleksy and Tomasz sat on the sofa, in their pyjamas, watching television. ‘Hazard of living above a restaurant,’ she explained. I tilted my head in sympathy. It wasn’t nice. And of course although I could see offa few mice, I tended to avoid rats, some of whom seemed almost as big as me.

‘But what about Dustbin?’ Aleksy said.

‘Oh yes, he is very good at catching them, but they still seem to come back.’ I miaowed, wanting them to tell me who Dustbin was. They looked at me and laughed.

‘Dustbin is a cat who lives by the dustbins. I’m surprised you didn’t see him just then. He gets fed by the restaurant and he chases off the mice and rats. He’s a big cat.’

‘He is much bigger than you, Alfie, and he never goes inside, ever,’ Aleksy explained.

I was curious and wondered if I would meet this cat while I was staying.

‘He smells funny,’ Tomasz piped up. ‘And his fur is very messy, not like yours.’ I was a silver/grey coloured cat, with a tinge of blue in my fur, my eyes were shiny and healthy and my perfectly round face was proportionate to my slender body.

‘Yes, it is true he is not as good-looking as Alfie,’ Franceska concurred. My fur gleamed in pride. ‘But he is a good cat nonetheless and we don’t need to be mean about him.’

‘Oh no, Mamma, I like him,’ Tomasz added, giggling. ‘He’s not a house cat like Alfie but he is a cat.’

‘Of course he’s a cat, dummy, you get different kinds of cats,’ Aleksy said. I smiled through my whiskers. Aleksy was right, you get different kinds of cats and different kinds of people. It was how the world worked.

Later that night I woke, briefly wondering where I was. I knew I was in my bed, but, as I blinked through the darkness I could see two beds, one with Aleksy sleeping, his covers all thrown off him and a leg hanging over the side, and Tomasz, still fully tucked in. Franceska had talked about how Aleksy loved school again now since the bullying incident which seemed to be firmly behind him. And she credited me with being the one who saved the day. I smiled as I remembered that I was on something called a‘holiday’ with some of my favourite people, so I settled back down and managed to drift back to sleep. After all, holidays were for taking it easy, and I intended to do just that.

Chapter Eighteen

I had developed a compulsive need to meet this cat called Dustbin, due to the fact that he was obviously part of my Polish family’s life. I was let out into the back yard after breakfast but there was no sign of him, just a few dirty mice scratching around. They looked startled to see me but I wasn’t interested in them, having enjoyed a hearty breakfast. I could see a way out of the yard, which seemed to lead to an alleyway but I was reluctant to explore the unknown territory. I returned with my curiosity far from sated as we spent the morning at home in the flat. Big Tomasz had the morning off, and while Franceska went to the shops, us boys played video games. I tried to join in, watching a bird flying around on screen which I tried to follow with my paw, but I lost my normally incredible balance and fell off the TV stand. The boys shrieked with laughter. Slightly humiliated I then tried to see if I could use the controllers they were holding onto but they kept swerving them out of my grasp. In the end I gave up and became a spectator.

‘Alfie, we are going to take Aleksy to football this afternoon,’ big Tomasz said, as Franceska returned and called the boys in for lunch. I joined them, although I wasn’t expecting any food, I liked being around the action.

‘Can Alfie come?’ Aleksy asked, excitedly, and I purred and jumped into Tomasz’s arms. I had no real idea what they meant but I wanted to go to wherever it was.

I cried to be let out again, as the family sat down for lunch and as I stepped out the door I immediately struck gold as I met the cat that could only be Dustbin. He was a little fragrant, I have to admit (and not in a good way), and his fur stuck up in all directions; he was also huge, almost as big as a dog. As I stood stock still, unsure of the reception I could expect, he turned to me.

‘Hello, who are you?’ he asked, not unkindly.

‘I’m Alfie. I’m staying upstairs for a few days.’

‘Ah, with big Tomasz. I’m Dustbin. Not my real name. Not sure what my real name is to be honest. I was given this name by the family upstairs and well, it’s as good as any.’ Although he was clearly feral, he was very polite.

‘I’m not trying to encroach on your territory,’ I said quickly. He waved a paw at me.

‘Hadn’t crossed my mind and anyway I’m happy to share.’ He smiled, and I saw his teeth were pretty sharp, I was thankful that he wasn’t angry with me. Or inclined to eat me.

‘I live where they used to live, and my other family are away. Nice to meet you.’

‘Nice to meet you too, Alfie. I guess you get a bit pampered?’

‘I do,’ I admitted. ‘I was homeless, a street cat for a while though, and I have to say I don’t know how you do it. I like hot fires, warm laps, and food served to me in bowls.’ I smiled and Dustbin laughed.

‘Well it takes all sorts. I mean your life sounds pretty nice, but not for me. I like the freedom, and I have food on tap here. As long as I keep the mice and rat population down, I get fed pretty well from the restaurant too.’

‘But the cold?’

‘You get used to it. There is plenty of shelter here and I like being my own man.’

‘Don’t you get lonely?’ I asked.

‘I have friends, well, sort of. There are a group of us round here, all outdoor cats, so it’s not so bad.’ He chuckled. I couldn’t contemplate having his life, but it made me feel a bit of a pampered cat.

‘Alfie,’ I heard Franceska call from upstairs, before I could pursue the conversation further.

‘I’d better go, but I’ll be back later. It’d be nice to see you again.’

‘Sure, you too. See you later.’

As I ran back upstairs I thought what a nice cat Dustbin was. A little bit wild but really very friendly. As he said, it took all sorts. Life would be pretty boring if we were all the same. That applied to humans and cats alike.

Big Tomasz carried me to football. They were worried about losing me he said, so he tucked me neatly under his arm and we walked past the school and towards a big field. Aleksy was wearing baggy shorts and a shirt with a number on the back, and he was bouncing with excitement.

‘Don’t use all your energy before you get on the field,’ his dad said. Franceska laughed as she held onto little Tomasz’s hand. I was almost as excited as Aleksy, although I had no idea what to expect.

When we reached the field, there were lots of children and adults already there, standing around. A man blew a whistle and all the children rushed onto the pitch.

‘Good luck, Aleksy,’ my family shouted. He turned back, smiled and waved.

Tomasz kept hold of me which I was grateful for because there were lots of people and it was also quite cold. I snuggled into Tomasz’s jacket as the match began. I knew all about football from watching it with Jonathan and Matt, but I had never seen it played live. And I had never seen children play before. Which quickly turned out to be a good thing.

When they started playing, it was a little bit of a mess. No one seemed to know which way to run, and although the adults were cheering and shouting, there was no clear sense to what everyone was doing. The ball flew past me as a child fell over trying to kick it. Franceska and Tomasz laughed and little Tomasz clapped his hands. Other people were shouting, and I noticed that some weren’t finding it funny, but these kids were certainly energetic even if none of them were any good at actually playing football. A whistle blew and Aleksy ran over to us with most of his team.

‘Aleksy,’ Tomasz admonished. ‘You are supposed to talk to your coach not come over to us.’

‘But, Pappa, I wanted to show Alfie to the team.’ The children, who were wearing the same shirts as Aleksy, all crowded around me and some reached to stroke me. I noticed there was boys and girls in the team, and some I recognized from my visit to the school. They seemed almost as enthusiastic about seeing me as they were about the game. As the children cooed over me, a tubby man came over to us.

‘Hello, Mr Armstrong,’ Franceska said.

‘Hi.’ He looked a bit sheepish as he interrupted the goings on, and I guessed he was in charge. ‘Come on, you lot, it’s nearly time for the second half.’ He nodded seriously at Tomasz and Franceska. ‘What are you all doing anyway?’

‘It’s Alfie, our cat,’ Aleksy explained. ‘He has come to see us play and is our lucky mascot.’ Aleksy puffed out his chest proudly, and I did the same. Although I didn’t seem to have proved lucky so far as no one had scored any goals.

‘OK, well, Alfie, perhaps you can bring us some goals in the second half,’ Mr Armstrong jested. I miaowed in response; I didn’t know how, after all it didn’t seem they were going to let me play.

Somehow I became a hero with Aleksy’s friends yet again. I even noticed that the bully was playing and although he hung back from me, Aleksy and he seemed to be friendly as they stood side by side on the football pitch. So when Aleksy scored a goal, the crowd cheered loudly; big Tomasz jumped up with me almost flying out of his arms; Franceska squealed; little Tomasz cheered and clapped his hands; and I grinned my biggest grin. When a little girl on Aleksy’s team scored a second goal just before the final whistle went, they all ran over to me and gave me credit for the win.

I loved being a cat sometimes; I didn’t have to do anything and yet I was always getting praised.

On Sunday the restaurant was closed, so Tomasz took us all down there.

‘Alfie hasn’t seen it yet and although I know no animals are allowed, no one will know.’ He winked at Franceska.

‘He can go and play in the yard with Dustbin,’ she said. As they started doing stuff in the restaurant the boys came outside with me where they greeted Dustbin like an old friend, as did I. Obviously I couldn’t speak to him properly with the boys there but when they were called in to do theirhomework, we got to hang out.

‘So you’ve had a nice weekend?’ Dustbin asked.

‘Actually, I have. I went to see Aleksy play football yesterday, and tomorrow, before I go home, I’m going to the school for a visit.’

‘You do have an interesting life,’ he said.

‘Well I seem to have a few adventures. But when I was homeless I was so miserable, and I really feared for my life. Sometimes even now I wonder how I survived. I guess I’m lucky to have such caring people around me.’

‘You are, but then I’ve always been a street cat and I wouldn’t fare well in a home. Franceska suggested to Tomasz that they take me in but I would have hated that. Especially as it apparently involved getting me bathed and taken to a vet!’

‘Trust me, I’ve been through both and neither are fun,’ I replied sagely.

‘I’m not cut out for domesticity. I mean I like the boys well enough, but I wouldn’t want to have to play with them too often.’ He laughed. ‘I like the freedom that this life gives me.’

‘So it’s your choice?’ I asked.

‘I’m not sure I’d call it choice, exactly.’ He looked thoughtful. ‘I was born into it and I just got used to it. Tomasz keeps me well fed and I keep down the vermin around here. It’s like a job really.’

‘When I was homeless I saw some people who lived on the streets. But they were drunk and mean to me. I met street cats too, and some of them scared me, but one of them was really great.’

‘And not all people who live on the street are drunks. Remember, this world is far from perfect; yours might be but others aren’t so fortunate. I know many people who live outside because they don’t have a choice, not because they like it, and it’s very sad.’

‘There’s so much I don’t know about the world still, I guess,’ I admitted.

‘There’s so much we all don’t know, but hey, Alfie, just appreciate all you have, and take care of the people who love you.’

‘I will, Dustbin. I wish we had more time together but if I come back again I hope to see you.’

‘You too, Alfie, I might teach you effective hunting,’ he laughed.

‘My friend Tiger would tell you that I’m the worse hunter ever.’ I tried though, as I followed Dustbin around the yard. Unfortunately I lived up to my reputation. I swiped for one mouse who darted out of my grasp, and I spun round to find it, tripped over my tail and ended up on my bottom. Not to be deterred, I stalked another mouse, but I pounced a bit too soon and the mouse sprang out of my loose lips and bit me on the nose.

‘Ow,’ I cried, dropping it on its head. Dustbin was almost crying with laughter and I decided to quit while I just had a slightly sore nose and bruised pride.

We waved our tails in a friendly goodbye and I thought what an interesting cat he was.

Chapter Nineteen

Today was the day that I was going to school with Aleksy. We were all incredibly excited. Apart from little Tomasz who was annoyed that I wasn’t going to his class.

‘It’s not fair,’ he whined.

‘Don’t sound like a baby, Tomasz. Your class hasn’t done an Alfie project; maybe some other time,’ Franceska chastised. Little Tomasz crossed his arms over his chest and stuck his bottom lip out. I went up to him and tickled him with my tail, which I knew would get him. He laughed and then he picked me up and gave me a cuddle. Tomasz was still only five but he was big for his age. Jonathan called him ‘a bruiser,’ which seemed to suit him.

‘So, if Alfie can’t come to my class then can I carry him to school?’ he asked.

‘OK, but I’ll bring the carrier in case you get tired,’ Franceska replied. Great, I was going to be caged again. I definitely wasn’t looking forward to that part of the day.

But even that couldn’t dampen my spirits. I couldn’t wait to tell Tiger all about it.

I felt a pang. I had barely given her a thought since I’d been on my holiday. I had, of course, thought a lot about Snowball; she was the last thing on my mind before I went to sleep and the first thing I thought of on waking. I felt guilty about Tiger but then what could I do? I missed everyone from Edgar Road, but I missed seeing Snowball the most.A cat I had only known for just over two months. What did that say about me?

Once the boys were dressed in their school uniforms, I was put into the cat carrier by Aleksy. He looked as if he was beside himself with excitement as his eyes shone and he kept hopping from foot to foot.

‘Aleksy, I wish you were always so keen to go to school,’ Franceska teased.

‘Maybe I would be if Alfie came with me every day,’ he replied, cheekily. I miaowed loudly. There was no way I could go to school every day; I was far too busy.

Excitedly, I realized that being the hero of the football match would have increased my already great popularity at school. It was lucky I wasn’t a big headed cat; I knew it was just the affection of children, and I tried not to get too proud. It really was a very nice feeling though.

Franceska dropped Tomasz, who was carrying me, at his classroom, wrestling me from him, and we then went to Aleksy’s class, where everyone was waiting. As the children crowded round me, still in Franceska’s arms, the teacher, the pretty Miss Walton, who had gently ejected me from her classroom last time, welcomed me warmly. She put me on her desk and all the children came to see me one by one. They were all gentle, even the bully who seemed to have changed his ways.

Eventually, everyone was told to settle down, and Franceska left the classroom. I took the opportunity for a good look around. On my first visit, I had been so preoccupied with Aleksy and the missing Molly that I hadn’t properly noticed the surroundings. A big white board was at the front of the room, and desks were lined up with bright plastic chairs. Paintings covered most of the walls and there was a book corner where there were more books than I had ever seen. At the back of the room a hamster was eyeing me suspiciously from its cage. It was a bright, colourful room and I felt pleased as punch to be there again.

Then the children all read out parts of a story they had written about me. It was about a cat, called Alfie (naturally), who had magic powers. The cat could stop people being sad and from being hurt; basically, he could solve any school problems or home issues. When Aleksy read out his bit it said this magic cat taught children to be good children. It was actually quite an emotional story and although not all of it made sense— cats cannot fly through the air and we don’t wear capes — I felt a bit choked up by the time the story came to the end.

I miaowed loudly to show my approval which made everyone laugh. The teacher picked me up to view the childrens’ paintings of me, which adorned the classroom wall. As I looked at them all, I admit I preened a bit. I felt very special and very lucky, and suddenly I realized how far I had come from being a homeless cat with no one to love him.

Miss Walton carried me out to Franceska when the stories had been read and the children said a reluctant goodbye to me. I was a little hurt to be bundled, yet again, into the cat carrier.

After being released from my jail back at the flat, it was just me and Franceska for the first time in ages. As Franceska and I shared a special bond, I was happy for our rare time together. She took her jacket off, and let me out of the carrier. I followed her into the kitchen where she put the kettle on and then put some milk in a bowl for me.

‘Right, Alfie, that was quite a morning and I really feel so glad that Aleksy is happy at school again thanks to you.’ She made a drink and sat at the breakfast bar in the kitchen. I jumped up onto one of the high stools to be next to her. ‘And we’ve loved having you here. I do miss you,’she said, stroking the part of my neck that I loved. I purred melodiously. ‘But you can come here anytime, you know. I know we have competition with Claire and Polly, but you will always have a home with us too.’ As she smiled and sipped her drink, she had a dreamy look in her eyes. I tilted myhead towards her, questioningly. She smiled, as if she was far away. ‘When I first met you, well we had just moved from Poland and I was terrified.’

I miaowed to tell her that I was in the same boat.

‘I remember seeing you and you were such a sweet cat; we loved you from the start. And now, we’ve all had our ups and downs — we even nearly lost you! — but life is good at last. I have a nice home, my husband is successful and my boys are doing well. When we lived in Poland and were struggling to find work, I honestly never thought that we would be in such a good place. You’ve always been part of that for us.’ I miaowed again. I felt the same.

‘Right, well I need to clean my nice home. Do you want to keep me company?’ She got off the stool and I jumped down. I did want to keep her company and although she barely spoke for the next few hours until she had to leave to get the children from school, I felt close to her, my companion, a lovely woman who was so strong and I was so pleased to see that life had paid off for her. Actually it had paid off for both of us.

Chapter Twenty

By the time I got back to Claire’s, was fussed over by her and Jonathan, and had something to eat I felt it was quite late. Claire had picked me up that evening, and I had been pleased to see her but also a little bit sad at leaving Franceska and the family. Especially Aleksy. It made me feel sad, and I wished that they lived back on Edgar Road.

But I wanted to find Tiger; I had only been away a few days but I had missed her. I wanted to hear the street gossip as well of course.

Jonathan and Claire had clearly had a lovely time; they were both smiling and looking relaxed, so when they went to the living room to‘chill out’ after we’d all eaten, I decided to go out.

Tiger was in her back garden, staring at the moon which had just appeared in the darkening sky. She looked like a picture, sitting up regally, neck long and tail curled about her. I felt a pang of tenderness as I observed her; I had missed my friend.

‘Tiger,’ I said, softly, as I approached.

‘Hey, Alfie, you’re back.’ She smiled and blinked in greeting.

‘I feel like I’ve been away for ages,’ I explained.

‘I know, it was weird not seeing you. But come on, let’s go for a stroll and I’ll fill you in on what happened when you were away.’

‘OK, lead the way.’ We walked along in silence. I didn’t want to push; conscious of how much I could upset her if I mentioned Snowball.

‘There was a bit of drama,’ Tiger said, eventually as we made our way down the street. I have to admit to feeling comfort from being on such familiar territory — I’d had a nice time away, but it was good to be home.

‘Really? What?’ I asked.

‘Well, I saw Snowball and she ran off as soon as she saw me, back to her house. She’s either very nervous, skittish or rude, or maybe all three.’

‘I think she’s trying to hide from something,’ I offered.

‘We know what you think, Alfie,’ Tiger sighed. I resolved to tread more carefully.

‘Sorry, go on.’

‘Well I spoke to Rocky who said that he had caught her having a fight with Tom. Rocky wasn’t sure who started it, but something happened and Rocky said he saw blood on her fur. But when he went to her to see if she was all right, she ran off and he couldn’t find her.’

‘I will kill that Tom. Snowball needs us to be friends with her, see,’ I said, forgetting my earlier resolve to avoid talking about her.

‘You can’t make people be friends with you, Alfie. And I don’t exactly know what her problem is but if she’s willing to fight Tom I’d say she’s one angry cat.’ We stopped at a spot where the reflections of the moon and one of the street lights were making patterns on the pavement. We jumped between them, watching the pools of light grow and shrink.

‘I’m going to see Tom and tell him to leave her alone anyway,’ I said finally. I wouldn’t have anyone, not person or cat, being bullied, and I’d had my own problems with Tom when I first moved to Edgar Road so I knew what an aggressive cat he could be.

‘I’ll come with you to do that, although to be fair he might have been trying to be nice to her. And in other news, Salmon has been flinging his weight around.’

‘Oh dear, what’s he been doing?’

‘Well he says that his family is very close to finding out what the Snells are hiding and even getting them removed from the street.’

‘No, surely not!’

‘No one really believes him, we think the whole family is just full of hot air. Literally in Salmon’s case.’ We both snickered.

‘But what are we going to do?’ I asked.

‘We?’ Tiger stared at me, I wasn’t sure if she was being hostile or not.

‘Come on, you’re my partner in crime. When I went to Aleksy’s school I couldn’t have done that without you.’

‘Yeah, Alfie, flattery will get you everywhere. Anyway, what are you thinking?’

‘I’m still a bit unsure but first of all I want to have a word with Tom and then I think we should confront Salmon.’

‘OK, well I can’t let you do that on your own — they’ll eat you alive. I suppose I’d better come along and help.’ Tiger didn’t look delighted exactly but she was on side for now. Tomorrow we would take on Tom and Salmon.

After arranging to meet Tiger the following day I went home and found Claire and Jonathan, snuggled up together on the sofa. They were watching a film on the television. I stood in the doorway for a moment to observe them. They really did fit together well and I realized that everything I had been through was worth it for this. It really was. I walked in slowly and jumped up on the sofa, landing on Claire’s lap.

‘Oh, Alfie,’ she said, laughing. ‘Did you miss us?’

I miaowed the affirmative. I put my paw on Jonathan’s chest so he wouldn’t feel left out.

‘Well nice to know that, and I’d say we missed you, but we were too busy.’ Jonathan winked at Claire as she swatted his arm.

‘Jonathan, pipe down!’ Claire giggled, turning red.

‘Honestly, I don’t think Alfie minds even if he understands.’ I looked at him, trying to convey that I understood even though I wasn’t sure I did.

‘I know, but I hope … well, you know what I hope. It was such a fabulous weekend, and I loved every minute. You are the perfect husband, Jon, and I only want your child so badly because I think we will be the perfect family.’

‘Darling, I’m not sure that there’s such a thing as a perfect family,’ Jonathan pointed out.

‘Maybe not, but I know it’ll be perfect to me.’ She snuggled further into her husband and I settled down on both of them, dozing and enjoying the warmth of them, as they finished watching the film.

I was home, but then I always seemed to be home these days, no matter where I was.

Chapter Twenty-One

I woke, feeling refreshed until I remembered that today we had to take on Tom and Salmon.

Claire was humming as she gave me my cat ready meal for breakfast and made coffee and toast for Jonathan. She hummed as she walked upstairs to take her shower and she wasstill humming when she came back downstairs dressed for work.

I watched them both get ready to leave. Jonathan as usual couldn’t find his house keys — which were in the bowl by the front door where they were always kept, and Claire hurried him out of the house, still humming happily.

I breathed in the silence of the empty house for a few minutes. I hadn’t been alone for a while and, although I loved being around people and fellow cats, it was nice to have a bit of time to myself for once. I thought about the day ahead and resolved that I would seek out Snowball later on. I needed to see her, just to get a glimpse of that beautiful white fur andto speak to her, even if she was horrible to me. I missed her. My heart started beating faster at the thought.

I heard my cat flap bang, which was my doorbell equivalent. I went through to the kitchen and found Tiger sitting on the outside.

‘You could have come in,’ I said.

‘I wasn’t sure if the humans had left yet.’

‘I don’t think they’d mind if you did come in. After all, the first time I came into this house I was uninvited.’

‘No, but Jonathan can be a bit grumpy, so I’d rather not risk it.’

‘Fair enough.’ I rolled on my back for a minute, looking up at the blue sky. The sun was almost coming out and it promised to be a warm day. I hoped that it would also be a good day. After lolling in the warming sun for a few moments we set off.

‘Do you know where Tom will be?’ I asked, trying, and failing, to feel brave about telling him to lay off Snowball.

‘It’ll be fine, Alfie, I’ve got your back,’ Tiger said, as if she could read my mind.

Tom lived in a house at the end of the street, but wasn’t there much of the time. It was a small house and he lived with a man who wasn’t as old as my Margaret had been, but he wasn’t far off.

We decided to make our way there as a starting point and I felt braver with Tiger by my side. I’d had numerous run-ins with Tom in the early days of Edgar Road; he was a bit of a loner cat, and he seemed not to like anyone. Apparently he got that from his owner.

It’s funny how people say that cats are like their owners — or humans as I prefer to think of them — after all, we all know who the real owners are. For example, Salmon is a busybody, just like his humans. Tom is a loner, just like his. Tiger is a bit like hers; they’re homebodies and before she became friends with me she rarely ventured far. And me, well I have so many humans that maybe I am combination of all of them, or perhaps, more accurately, they are a combination of me.

We found Tom licking his paws in his small front yard. It was always a bit overgrown and messy; his human was lucky that he was far enough away from the Goodwins, otherwise they’d be over there leaving notes. Perhaps they already had but he just ignored them.

‘Hi, Tom. Are you all right?’ I asked in my friendliest voice. He stopped mid-paw and looked at us.

‘It isn’t often I get visitors, to what do I owe this pleasure?’ When he said ‘pleasure’ he licked his lips, as if he was about to devour us, but then he softened.

‘Look, Tom, we’ve got no beef with you as you know but some cat told us that you had an altercation with Snowball from number forty-eight and we just wondered what the problem was.’

‘So I guess Rocky spilled the beans. He’s such an interfering cat.’

‘Yes, well he was just concerned actually, as are we,’ I said. Tom stood in front of us now on all paws, but his stance wasn’t aggressive. I relaxed slightly, making it clear there was no confrontation here.

‘All right, if you must know, I was just asking her why she was so rude, and then when she was even ruder to me, things got a bit out of hand.’

‘What did you do?’ Tiger asked.

‘Look she started it. OK, so maybe I shouldn’t have stopped her but most of the cats on this street get on all right these days and I just wanted to know why she wouldn’t even say hello to me.’

‘Go on?’ I said.

‘She hissed at me, told me to go away and when I laughed at her, she swiped me with her paw. Look, she’s scratched my head.’ Tom bent his head and we could indeed see a small scratch there.

‘But what did you do?’ Tiger asked.

‘I didn’t mean to hurt her but I lost my rag, swiped at her and I caught her a bit with my paw. She was bleeding but I realized what I was doing and stopped, but before I could say I was sorry, she just ran off.’

I was angry with Tom but also surprised to see he did look contrite.

‘You need to stop being aggressive,’ Tiger said to Tom, who looked even sorrier.

‘I know, Tiger, and I regretted my actions as soon as she ran off. I tried to find her to apologize but she’s probably refusing to leave her house.’

‘Just leave her alone, OK?’ I said and Tom agreed. Although I was angry with him, I could see he was sorry but that didn’t fix the problem that now Snowball would be even more solitary than ever.

‘OK, one down, one to go,’ I stated as we walked away from Tom. ‘Although what do you think about what Tom said?’ I asked.

‘I don’t think he meant to hurt her,’ Tiger said carefully. ‘I think Tom finds it hard to put his old aggressive days behind him sometimes.’

‘Let’s see what Salmon has to say then.’

‘Oh yes, and dealing with Salmon will make Tom look like a … a pussy cat!’ She laughed at her own joke. We both slowly made our way in search of Salmon. We passed some of our cat friends on the way, but we didn’t invite them along. As Tiger said, it wouldn’t do to go in heavy-handed as wewanted information from him, not to annoy or scare him off.

As Tiger and I tried to strategize, I came up with a plan. I could charm most people and actually a fair few cats, but Salmon was more like a hostile dog refusing, steadfastly, to be nice to any of us. Not only was he a busybody but he also thought himself human and above all us cats. That was what made him so tricky to deal with.

‘We’ll just have to try to kill him with kindness,’ I suggested.

‘I get the first bit, not the second. Maybe we should have got the others to come with us and we could have pinned him down and made him talk.’

‘Tiger, sometimes your aggression takes me by surprise. You sound like Tom!’

She grinned at me, she could be one feisty cat.

We reached Salmon’s house and found him sitting staring out of the living room window, with the net curtain hanging behind him.

‘So what now?’ Tiger asked. I instinctively jumped up onto the windowsill in front of him, only the glass separating us. He looked a bit taken aback as I smiled, charmingly. I raised my paw and gestured to him to come outside. He scowled. I could see his whiskers twirling as he contemplated hisnext move. After a while he jumped down and disappeared.

‘Let’s go round the back,’ I said to Tiger and I jumped down to rejoin her.

We ran round to the back of the house and waited by the back door.

‘He’s not coming,’ Tiger said, after waiting for what felt like ages, and lying down on the small but immaculate lawn that the Goodwins had. Their garden was very pleasant in fact. They had lots of flowers and attractive bushes, the perfect place for playing and chasing butterflies. It was a shame that Salmon would never let us play here.

Tiger was rolling on the lawn and I was playing with some rather nice leaves that were swaying in the breeze, when we heard the cat flap clank and Salmon finally appeared.

‘Hi,’ I said, breezily. ‘How are you?’

He narrowed his eyes at me, flicked his tail, and bared his teeth.

‘What on earth are you two doing here?’ he asked. Before I could reply, he continued. ‘And don’t think that I am at all happy about you jumping up at me like that.’

‘Sorry but we were just trying to get your attention. You see, my owners were talking about the meeting they had here the other day, you know about the bad neighbours,’ I said. Tiger started to object but I silenced her with a look.

‘Bad neighbours?’ Salmon gave me another suspicious look. ‘Last I heard you were all keen on them, or on that white ball of fluff anyway.’

‘No, not at all, well I was to be honest but I heard my owners talking about how they were definitely not good for Edgar Road.’ My plan to ingratiate myself with Salmon to get information was underway. I would have made a great spy, I thought.

‘Really? Well it’s about time the other residents came round to our way of thinking. I know Vic and Heather have been pretty upset by people trying to argue against us.’

‘Oh I think you’ll find that they’ll be with you from now on,’ I said. I hoped I didn’t sound as insincere as I felt. Tiger had turned her back, she was probably trying not to laugh.

‘Well that’s good.’ He still didn’t sound convinced.

‘But anyway, I heard that that “white ball of fluff” was horrible to you, so we thought we would come and offer support.’

‘Really?’

‘Of course,’ I said.

‘She hissed at me.’

‘She hisses at everyone.’ That much was true.

‘Anyway, I might as well tell you. I told the others, as we’re really close to finding out what they’re up to. The police have been round again and although they didn’t arrest anyone, it’s obvious that they’re actually a criminal gang, masquerading as a normal family.’

‘What?!’ I was incredulous. ‘That’s the most ridiculous thing I have ever—’ I saw Salmon’s eyes narrow at me suspiciously and I remembered my plan. ‘I mean really? It seems incredible but it would make sense,’ I quickly corrected myself.

‘Vic and Heather saw a film once and it was similar. They live in a middle-class street and pretend to be normal but actually they’re criminal masterminds.’

‘What criminal activities are they supposed to be doing?’ I was sure this was all fantasy but I couldn’t help feel intrigued.

‘That’s what we don’t know, but clearly the police are onto them. Although Vic says the police can be really dumb so can’t be relied on.’

‘So what are you guys going to do?’ I asked. Surely this was all ridiculous. The angry beautiful cat, the father who looked worried, the mum who was on the verge of breaking down, the teenage girl who confided her loneliness to me, and the surly boy — none of them seemed likely to be members of the criminal underworld.

‘Well, my family think it could be a number of things. It could be something called a white-collar crime, or money laundering, or forgery. They could even be jewel thieves,’ Salmon continued, excitedly, hostility forgotten. His eyes were glinting eagerly — after all, being the street’s busybody cat, he couldn’t resist a good gossip.

‘Wow,’ I said. ‘That’s interesting, what are they going to do?’

‘Oh don’t worry, Alfie, we’re onto them and on top of this. We’re going to get them removed from the street. They rent the house you know, they don’t own it, so it’s only a matter of time. And that is what I told Snowball. She’d better get used to being homeless.’

‘Really?’ I asked, seething inside. ‘OK, well you know where we are if you need any help. Isn’t that right, Tiger?’

‘Huh?’ Tiger said. She’d been sunning herself on Salmon’s lawn, and was now chasing a butterfly as we interrupted her.

‘I said we would help Salmon if he needs us to.’

‘Oh, OK?’ I realized that Tiger hadn’t even been listening. Some bodyguard she was.

We went to play in the park as I wanted to be away from the street, so I could think. As we walked there I relayed the conversation I had just had to Tiger.

‘I can’t believe you didn’t listen,’ I moaned.

‘I got distracted by the shadows the sun cast on the lawn, it was really fun chasing them.’ At least she had the grace to sound contrite.

‘So what are you going to do when Salmon actually asks for our help?’ Tiger asked, after I’d explained what happened.

‘It won’t come to that, Tiger. The thing is that now I know what the Goodwins are up to, we know what we’re dealing with. Now all I have to do is to find out exactly what’s going on with Snowball’s family, that’s my next step.’

‘Great, Alfie.’ Tiger shook her head. ‘I still don’t know why you even care.’ We were lounging in a warm flower bed, swatting the odd fly that came our way.

‘You know me, I like everyone to be happy, cats and humans alike. It means a lot to me.’

‘Are you in love with her?’ she asked me seriously.

‘I don’t know,’ I replied, honestly.

‘Tell me how she makes you feel?’ she asked, suddenly getting onto all fours and looking me in the eye. I knew this was a touchy subject, but I wanted to be honest.

‘She’s mean to me but I still want to see her all the time. I think about her before I go to sleep and when I wake. My tummy does little flips whenever I catch a glimpse of her, I want to be near her, even if she doesn’t want to be near me. That’s pretty much it.’

‘Well, it definitely sounds like you’re in love with her,’ Tiger said.

‘How can you be so sure?’ I asked.

‘If you haven’t figured that out you’re not as clever as you think.’

‘Huh?’

‘I can be sure, Alfie, because that’s how I feel about you.’

I was stunned as Tiger shot me one last glance, before running away, leaving me alone in a flower bed with a fly buzzing around my ears.

Chapter Twenty-Two

Well, that piece of information certainly set the cat among the pigeons. If I thought I was going to try to find Snowball after that little bombshell I was sadly mistaken. I know Tiger had been acting a little bit differently towards me lately— well, since Snowball entered the scene — and I’d been warned by others that she had feelings for me, but I valued Tiger so highly as a friend I guess I hadn’t wanted to confront any of that. And now I’d been forced to, I had no idea what to do.

My head was reeling and I knew I wasn’t nearly sharp enough for the task. In fact, I really needed to have a bit of time to think. And of course I didn’t do great thinking on an empty stomach. Although it wasn’t yet tea time, I realized that if I caught Polly in the house I might get a snack, which would certainly help my focus.

I let myself in through my cat flap and was delighted to see Polly in the kitchen, cooking. The children were both nearby— Henry sat in his booster seat at the table, drawing, and Martha was in her highchair eating carrots. I miaowed loudly.

‘Alfie!’ Henry shouted, grinning broadly. I grinned back and blinked at him. Polly petted me and then without speaking she went to the fridge and took out some milk. She poured it into a bowl and then got my special biscuits out of the cupboard and tipped some of them into another bowl. I quiteenjoyed the biscuits, they were tastier than they looked and worked well with my milk. As I finished them off, then cleaned myself and my whiskers, my mind returned to the problem of Tiger’s declaration.

I curled myself up on the sofa in the living room as Polly put a DVD on the television for Henry. He was soon engrossed in it, whilst across the room Martha was just as engrossed as she practised her standing— she finally seemed to be getting the hang of it. Polly sank onto the sofa and I curled up on her lap. It was so comforting to be there as all manner of strange and confusing thoughts about Tiger raced through my brain.

I knew I’d been warned that she felt romantically towards me but I’d put it to the back of my mind and I certainly hadn’t taken it seriously. I might have known but I pushed it away because I didn’t want to deal with it. Tiger was my buddy and I didn’t want anything to change that. However, feelings were already changing that. The more I thought about it the more I realized that I wasn’t sure how I was going to fix this one. It seemed to me that as soon as I thought I had one problem under control, another would present itself.

I wished I could talk to Jonathan, because before he met Claire he had lots of women in his life. Although thinking about it, he generally got rid of them pretty quickly. Nor did they seem to be very happy about it.

I didn’t want to get rid of Tiger, I loved having her as my friend, but I didn’t want a romantic relationship. I needed to be honest with her about how I felt, but the last thing I wanted to do was to hurt her feelings. Oh, it was such a conundrum! The only thing for it was to sleep. Polly stroked megently, talking to the children every now and then, and I could hear Henry’s laughter and Martha’s occasional tears as I drifted off.

Polly gently moved me, waking me up. I yawned and stretched and then, miaowing my goodbyes, I made my way back to Claire and Jonathan’s. The house was empty, so I made my way to my favourite spot in the living room, where the sun streamed through the window. I rolled around in a big patch of sunlight, enjoying the warmth and the feeling of the soft carpet against my fur; it was as nice as sunbathing, but in the comfort of my own home.

A little while later, I heard the key in the door and Claire rushed in, all smiles. I smiled and purred as we greeted each other.

‘Hey, Alfie, Jonathan has a work thing so I’m having a girls’ night,’ she said. I wondered if I would get to see mine and Claire’s friend Tasha.

‘Yes, Alfie, Tash is coming,’ Claire said as if she could read my mind, ‘as well as Polly and Franceska.’ I purred my approval. My favourite human women all under one roof. It would be a good night, even if I was the only man.

I prepared by eating my tea and cleaning myself thoroughly so I looked my best. I sat in front of the big hall mirror, and slicked my fur down so it wasn’t sticking up. I tilted my head to check how I looked from all angles and after a while I was satisfied with my appearance. Claire approached and laughed at me.

‘Oh, Alfie, you are a vain little cat,’ she said. I bristled. I was certainly not vain, I just liked to make sure I looked my best at all times like any self-respecting cat. Still reeling from the accusation, I followed Claire into the kitchen where she took wine glasses out of the cupboard andput some plated nibbles on the table. She still had that glow from Paris about her and she was still singing to herself as she got ready to receive her friends.

Franceska arrived first with a bottle tucked under her arm, so I prepared for my first lot of fussing. Tasha followed soon after, with such an enormous bunch of flowers that I could barely see her. As Claire greeted her and then ushered her into the kitchen to join Franceska, I could see her baby bump was beginning to show. I remembered Polly’s when she was pregnant with Martha; I thought she looked a bit like an egg to be honest but I understood now that when babies grew inside you they made you fat — cats and humans alike. I was quite grateful that it was a female thing.

I curled up on Tasha’s lap as they sat around the kitchen table. I knew this wouldn’t exactly thrill Claire — she didn’t like me being to near human food, but I took a chance and luckily she didn’t say anything. Claire and Franceska sipped wine and Tasha sipped a soft drink. They were commenting on the fact that Polly still hadn’t arrived, and how it wasn’t like her to be late.

‘I’ll text her. Maybe the kids aren’t settling tonight?’ Franceska suggested. As she did that, Claire turned her attention to Tasha.

‘Are you finding work easier?’ she asked. When I first moved here Claire and Tasha worked together, but not anymore and I knew Claire missed her still.

‘Yes, but I wish I was back at the old place. Here they want a pound of flesh, pregnant or not. To be honest I think they’re a bit annoyed that I’m pregnant; after all I’ve only been there a year and it was a promotion,’ Tasha replied.

‘Are they that bad?’ Franceska asked, rejoining the conversation.

‘Probably not, I think I’m a bit oversensitive. It’s just that there’s a lot going on and I’m not feeling the sympathy I want,’ she said with a wry smile. They all laughed.

‘You mean they aren’t treating you as a delicate little flower?’ Claire teased.

‘Exactly.’

The doorbell interrupted them and Claire jumped up. I waited with Tasha, being particularly comfortable, but I was as surprised as everyone else when Claire walked in with not just Polly but Karen Snell behind her.

‘Everyone, this is Karen,’ Polly introduced. ‘Karen, this is Claire, Franceska and Tasha.’

‘Hello.’ Tasha looked at her with interest as did I.

‘Hi.’ She looked awkward, as if she was going to turn and run away again.

‘Pull up a pew, Karen. Karen recently moved next door to us,’ Claire explained as Karen reluctantly took a seat. I had never seen anyone look less pleased to be there and it seemed that no one knew what to say exactly. Claire put two glasses of wine in front of Karen and Polly.

‘Thanks, lovely,’ Polly said.

‘So how do you like Edgar Road?’ Tasha asked innocently. Karen looked at her as if she was an alien.

‘Karen is having a bit of a time of it with some of the neighbours,’ Polly interjected. At the sound of that, Karen burst into tears.

‘Oh no, don’t cry!’ Claire exclaimed. Franceska pulled her chair next to Karen’s and put her arm around her.

‘I picked Karen up outside as she was being accosted by the Goodwins. Someone had to help her escape that terrible pair!’ Polly explained. The atmosphere had changed and it suddenly felt oppressive.

‘Street busybodies,’ Claire explained to Tasha.

‘Anyway,’ Polly continued, ‘they were threatening to call the landlord, unless Karen told them why the police were there the other day — it was all very silly but upsetting at the same time as you might imagine.’

‘The police?’ Franceska asked, wide-eyed.

‘Never mind that.’ Polly shot her a look. ‘Anyway, I’m afraid I’ve made enemies of the Goodwins now.’

‘We need some help though,’ Karen mumbled through her tears. She was brandishing some pieces of paper but I couldn’t see what was on them.

‘Why, what’s going on?’ Claire asked, full of concern. I pricked up my ears.

‘It’s our cat, Snowball. She’s gone missing.’ She held up a poster and I found myself looking at the love of my life. Well her picture anyway.

Chapter Twenty-Three

As the women mobilized to help Karen look for Snowball— who’d been missing since the fight with Tom and Salmon — I needed to see Tiger, but I was scared. I knew we still needed to have ‘the talk’, cat to cat, but now Snowball might be in danger, my priorities had shifted. I was so afraid of many things, but losing Tiger’s friendship, and losing Snowball scared me equally.

I know that men aren’t known for being good at these things, but I vowed to do what all men and women should do when it came to such delicate matters. Instead of lying or pulling out meaningless platitudes I was going to tell the truth and speak from the heart. Because I needed her more than ever now.

I risked meeting her family as I jumped through the cat flap, and Tiger seemed to appear almost immediately. I could hear voices from another room so I guessed I was in the clear.

‘Hey, what are you doing here?’ she asked.

‘Look, I know we need to talk, but I’ve just seen Karen Snell. She was in tears because Snowball is missing. She hasn’t been home since the altercations with Tom and Salmon.’ I sounded hysterical, I know, but I felt it too. I was so afraid for Snowball, and I understood why Karen was so inconsolable.

‘Alfie, do you think she might have been hurt more badly than Tom and Salmon led us to believe?’

‘But even Rocky said she ran off. She can’t have been hurt too badly if she could still run surely?’

‘OK, come on, we’ll round up the others and start a search party. Don’t worry, Alfie, we’ll find her.’ Tiger gave me a reassuring look and I knew I’d never have a better friend.

‘About earlier,’ I said as we walked towards Nellie’s house to get her first. Tiger was being really sweet over the missing Snowball but what if she didn’t want to ever be my friend again? I tried to tell myself not to be so dramatic, but a cat can’t change its fur.

‘Alfie, it’s OK. I know you don’t havethose feelings for me,’ Tiger said.

‘You do?’ I was taken aback.

‘I’m not stupid, Alfie. I’ve known you for three years; you meet white fluff-ball for a second and you’re in love. Don’t worry, I know that we’re just friends, and I know that deep down you respect my feelings but like a man, sometimes you can be a bit insensitive to them.’

‘Wow,’ I managed to say. Now I know why my human males said women were so much better at this stuff. It was like she could read my mind. I continued, ‘I wanted to tell you honestly how I felt. I love you, Tiger, but as a friend, and as a friend I couldn’t love you more. You’re right, it’s different with Snowball. I don’t know why, but that’s how it is.’

‘I know, Alfie. If you felt the same way about me it would be so easy, but you don’t and we need to move on.’

‘And I thought this conversation was going to be tricky,’ I said feeling bemused. I was confused again but in a different way. A good way.

‘I don’t want to lose you from my life, Alfie, and that means I have to accept that we are just friends and stop being so jealous of Fluff-ball.’ She looked at me but she was smiling. I purred and nuzzled.

‘You are so amazing, Tiger, the best friend a cat could have.’

‘You always say that.’

‘Because it’s true. Are you sure you’re OK with this?’ I was still concerned.

‘I will be. Alfie, I want things to go back to the way they were with us before, and if that means I have to hear about Fuzzy-kitten and her weird family then so be it.’ Tiger smiled to show me the name-calling was in good humour.

‘Thank you so much Tiger, you mean the world to me.’ I meant it.

‘Right, well come on, let’s find Snowball, and make sure she’s all right.’

We found Nellie at the end of the street, watching the moon. While she went to find Rocky and Elvis, we started our hunt but then we bumped into Tom.

‘Tom, are you sure you didn’t hurt Snowball more than you said?’ I asked, angrily. I was worried now and upset, and although Tiger was being amazing I hated to think of Snowball out there, scared and hurt.

‘Honestly it was nothing major. She could still walk away. Why are we raking this up again, I said I was sorry.’ He looked a bit sheepish as Tiger stepped forward.

‘She’s gone missing,’ Tiger explained. ‘Her owner has Alfie’s families out looking for her now, but she hasn’t been home since she fought with you and argued with Salmon.’

‘I didn’t mean for anything bad to happen.’ Tom did look stricken, I had to admit. ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to help you find her.’

‘You’re the last person she’d want to see,’ I pointed out, ‘please don’t look for her. You might scare her off again.’

‘OK, but I really do want to help you.’

‘Maybe go and see what you can find out from other cats. If you hear anything, come and find one of us,’ Tiger said and we bounded off.

We both searched well into the night, as far as the park at one end of the road, while the other cats covered the other end.

‘No sightings could mean that she isn’t too injured to hide,’ Tiger said.

‘But she’s probably hungry and scared. Do you think that maybe Salmon saying that the family were going to be hounded out, tipped her over the edge?’

‘Probably, I know she’s having a hard time settling in. She could have gone back to her old home,’ Tiger suggested.

‘I guess we need to go home and get some rest now. We can’t stay out forever.’ I was tired, cold and losing hope. I needed to regain my strength and think logically about where she could be. It was important that I had a strategy and, so far, there were no leads and I could no longer think straight. Every lamppost we passed on our way home now had pictures of Snowball on them; her beautiful face was everywhere. I had never known worry like this but I gave up and went to get some rest. Although I knew I wouldn’t properly rest until I’d found her, I curled up into my bed.