Alfie The Holiday Cat

Chapter Seven

‘What do you mean, another cat?’ George asked the following morning. I’d already checked the utility room but there was no sign of Gilbert.

‘He’s been living here, I don’t know why, he wasn’t exactly forthcoming. But he said he doesn’t have a family. Anyway, he was hoping we would have left but he’s been sneaking in at night and leaving before we get up. I’m hoping to see him again and find out more.’

I was a nosy cat, I’ll admit, but I was intrigued by this cat who seemed to think of Seabreeze as his home. I wanted to know why he didn’t have a family and also make sure he knew that he could stay here; after all, we weren’t going to be here the whole time and it seemed a shame for the house to be totally empty. Most importantly I didn’t want Gilbert to be homeless, I still remembered how awful that was. I also thought I might persuade him to make himself known to the humans; I didn’t doubt that they would all welcome him the way I wanted to.

‘Wow, I can’t wait to meet him. But I’d rather go and see Chanel, can we, can we please?’ George begged.

Again, I was still unsure how to play this. I wanted to give George the benefit of my wisdom but I also knew that some things had to be learnt first-hand. If I refused he would probably just run off again and I didn’t want that, not at all.

‘I tell you what, I will take you out for a walk after breakfast and we’ll go by her place, but you know if she tells us to go away, we might have to.’

‘Oh she doesn’t mean it, she likes me really. Anyway, thank you, Dad, I’ll eat all my breakfast and then clean up really well.’

That put a spring in his paws. I just hoped I wasn’t going to regret it.

After everyone had eaten breakfast, the humans were going to spend the morning on the beach — the sun had returned — and we could join them after our walk/Chanel search. Although we hadn’t fallen in love with the sand, we were getting more and more used to it. Our humans packed up food, blankets, buckets and spades and then headed out, leaving George and I alone. The more I thought about his crush on Chanel the more I worried, but at the same time it allowed me to go and check on Andrea. I didn’t trust that woman. Not one little bit.

‘What are you doing in my garden?’ a voice hissed as soon as we crawled through the hedge. We straightened up to see Chanel looking angry as she stood, slowly waving her tail from side to side.

‘We were just taking our morning constitutional,’ I said, trying to be friendly.

‘Is that how you city cats talk?’ I had never heard a cat sound so disdainful. ‘Well the thing is,’ she continued, ‘that this is private property, it’s my property actually, and I would rather you didn’t set paw on it.’

‘Hello,’ George said as if she hadn’t spoken. ‘You are looking very beautiful today.’

I tried not to be amused, but it was funny; as if his crush had rendered him deaf.

‘What on earth is he talking about?’ Chanel looked at me.

As if I knew.

We were interrupted by two sets of bare feet approaching and I saw there were two very pretty girls, wearing matching sundresses.

‘Ah there you are, Chanel, Mummy wants you,’ one said, picking the cat up. George and I had quickly backed into the hedge so they didn’t see us.

‘Meow,’ Chanel said, sweetly, nuzzling the little girl’s neck.

‘See, I told you,’ George said, as they walked off. ‘She really is nice.’

Just not to us, I thought. As we made our way back to our garden I was thinking of what a nice day it was. We could definitely join the others on the beach — I’d decided to give it another chance after my experience yesterday. But George had other ideas. He lay in the sun, by the gap in the hedge, and refused to move.

‘Won’t you come with me, son?’ I asked, trying to coax him.

‘No thanks, Dad, I’m staying right here so Chanel knows where to find me.’

There was nothing I could do to get George to budge. He had it bad but I did remember what it was like, so I had to try to be understanding. The problem was that Chanel was not only horrible but also too old for him. Way too old.

I really wanted to join the others on the beach but I couldn’t leave George. I occupied myself by exploring the garden. It needed work — Polly said the garden would be done last — but there were some nice bushes, which were messy but interesting. Although loath to leave George, I did make my way round the back; what I liked about Seabreeze Cottage was that you could access the back of the house from the front, so I could see if there was any action in the back courtyard. There wasn’t, and no sign of Gilbert either.

I was getting a little bit bored of watching George by the time the families returned. They were all laughing and joking, a bit pink from the sun, and of course covered in sand. Claire spread out the blankets on the lawn, and flopped down. Franceska and Tomasz were going to go into town and their boys were going with them as they needed to buy some clothes and bits and pieces. Everyone waved them off as they got into their car and then we passed a pleasant couple of hours in the front garden. Martha and Summer had a picnic with their dolls and teddy bears and Henry and Toby played with a football. Jonathan and Matt joined in at one point while Claire and Polly looked on fondly.

‘This is just how I imagined it would be,’ Claire said, as I sat next to her.

‘George, play ball with us,’ Henry said.

‘Meow.’ George refused to move. Toby tried to persuade him but he wasn’t for persuading.

‘Oh shall we go and get some of those lovely ice creams?’ Polly said.

‘Did I hear ice cream?’ Matt said.

‘Yay!’ Toby and Henry shouted.

‘There’s a van across the road, it does the best ice creams. They’re made from local clotted cream, George and Alfie are in love with them too. We’ll go.’ Claire stood up.

When they returned they handed out the cones. One for each of the kids, an enormous one each for Matt and Jonathan and then Claire held one out to me.

‘George, Alfie, want to share an ice cream?’ she said. I have never seen George move so quickly in his life. He put his nose straight into the cone, and everyone laughed. Ha, he liked ice cream more than Chanel, there was hope for him yet.

‘Who knew cats liked ice cream?’ Matt said.

‘You’d think it would be too cold,’ Jonathan chuckled.

So much for sharing, I thought, but then I would never take that joy away from my boy so I didn’t mind too much. I’d wait for the left-overs. If there were any, I thought, as George licked manically at it, his little pink tongue darting back and forth.

‘I think it’s not a proper holiday without ice-cream cones,’ Toby said. ‘Even for cats.’ Everyone laughed.

I was pretty sure I knew what they were thinking. Everyone seemed to be happier here, or different at least, and even Toby was growing in confidence. It was as if the sun of Seabreeze Cottage was shining down on all of us and it was lovely. If only George would get over Chanel, I thought, as he discarded his ice cream and ran back to the bush. I finished it off and then lay down for a well-earned nap. After all, there were plenty of people around to keep their eye on George and one of my favourite things about this holiday was sleeping in the sun on the lawn.

Aleksy woke me, and I slowly opened my eyes. Blinking in the sun, I meowed and cuddled into him.

‘Hi, Alfie,’ he said. ‘We seemed to have been shopping for hours. Tommy got so bored he was in trouble — when we got back Mum and Dad said he had to go to his room for a while! Anyway, I am going to set up our cricket set in the garden and our new friends are going to come and play with us after tea. It’s going to be ace!’ He tickled my fur and I stretched out to encourage him. ‘Oh, Alfie, you are such a softy,’ he said, laughing.

I followed him around as he set up the game of cricket. When he finished I saw George sneaking out from the hedge. That boy had stamina, I had to give him that.

‘Did you see her?’ I asked.

‘No, Dad, no sign, but then I heard the girls in the garden. They don’t like us.’

‘What do you mean?’ I pricked my ears up. What now?

‘Well, I heard them say that their mum didn’t want us here, and they definitely didn’t want the children here.’

‘That’s not nice,’ I said, carefully.

‘Anyway, they said we wouldn’t be here for long anyway. What does that mean?’

‘I’ve no idea, George, but I tell you what, I will find out, so don’t worry. But if you hear anything else, then tell me.’

‘I will. But obviously Chanel won’t agree with them, she likes me, I know she does.’

‘Um, maybe,’ I said. Here we go, I thought. There was something not very nice about all the people living next door and I wasn’t pleased about it. We were all so happy here, I couldn’t have anything or anyone spoiling it.

Just as we were all finishing our tea there was a knock on the door. Matt went to get it. He came back alone.

‘Aleksy and Tommy, there are four children saying they are here to play cricket with you?’

‘Oh yes, can we play now, in the garden?’ Aleksy said hopefully.

‘Of course, if you’ve finished eating,’ Franceska said.

‘Can I go?’ Toby asked.

‘And me?’ Henry said.

‘Of course, but, Aleksy, you are in charge of the younger ones and keep the front door open. We’ll pop out as soon as we’ve cleaned up,’ Claire said.

I noticed Summer and Martha didn’t want to go with them.

‘Not wanting to play cricket?’ Jonathan asked his daughter.

‘No, it’s a silly game,’ she said, folding her arms.

‘We had a bit of a disaster when they played on the beach,’ Claire whispered in Jonathan’s ear. ‘Summer couldn’t hit the ball and she had a bit of a tantrum.’

‘Right, girls, who would like to watch a Disney film as a treat?’ Polly trilled, and they jumped up. It seemed much easier to keep everyone happy by the sea.

‘Do I watch a film with the girls or play cricket with the boys?’ George asked.

‘Cricket might be fun, come on, let’s go outside.’

I ran out with George on my heels. The game was in full swing. There were two boys, roughly the same ages as Aleksy and Tommy, who were called Simon and Ben, and there were two girls, Millie and Jess. They seemed like nice children. Toby and Henry had to stand around to do what they called ‘fielding’, which meant they were expected to fetch the ball wherever it landed. I think they got the short straw but didn’t seem to notice, and were happy to do so. George said he would help them and he ran after the ball alongside the other boys. It was cute to watch. At one point, Claire and Franceska brought out drinks and then left them — as Jonathan said, it made the kids feel grown up to be allowed to play without adult supervision for once and Claire said they played out like this and on the beach when she was a child without any of her parents or her aunt worrying. So I moved between all my humans, keeping my eye on all of them, which was my favourite thing to do.

I had just reached outside when the gate opened and the two girls from next door appeared.

‘Hey,’ Aleksy said, waving the cricket bat, ‘do you want to join in?’

The local children suddenly went very quiet and looked at their feet.

‘No, we don’t. And I’m surprised at you.’ Savannah, the oldest girl, glared at Simon, Ben, Millie and Jess. ‘What do you think you are doing?’

‘Uh, we’re playing cricket,’ Tommy said. Toby, Henry and George were staring at the girls.

‘I wasn’t talking to you,’ Savannah said, nastily. ‘You guys,’ she pointed at the local children, ‘are not allowed to play with them. They don’t belong here.’

‘No they don’t,’ Serafina, the younger girl, colluded.

‘What on earth?’ Aleksy looked appalled. ‘We live here, well we do in the holidays, so what is your problem?’

Aleksy used to be quite shy but with my help and the fact he was such a popular boy at his school, he had gained confidence and come out of his shell.

‘Um, the thing is that we all go to the same school.’ Simon looked awkward.

‘And, well, we are all friends,’ Ben added, looking unhappy.

‘So, we can all play then,’ Tommy said a bit aggressively. He was almost as big as Aleksy, despite being a couple of years younger, and he wasn’t scared of anyone.

‘No, you can’t.’ Savannah poked him in the chest.

‘Oy,’ Tommy said. But he backed off. He was a gentleman and wouldn’t hit a girl.

‘Our friends won’t be playing with you again. Come on, right now!’ Savannah shouted and the children all mumbled apologies before following her out of the garden.

‘We should go home now, anyway,’ Jess said, looking embarrassed.

‘Shut up, Jess,’ Savannah shouted.

‘Wow, that wasn’t nice,’ Henry said. Toby looked devastated.

‘Hey, Henry, Toby, don’t worry, we can still play. And now they’ve gone, you can take a turn with the bat.’ Aleksy put his arm around the younger boy.

‘Finally!’ Toby said.

‘Well now we know where Chanel gets it from,’ I said to George when we were out of earshot.

‘What, you mean her beauty? Yes, I see it,’ he replied and I raised my whiskers in despair.

Aleksy told Franceska what happened with the children and she was visibly upset. When the children were in bed, or settled in front of the TV, she told the others.

‘Like mother, like daughters,’ Polly said.

‘Oh God, I’m not having them start on the children though,’ Claire said.

‘Don’t worry, you know what kids are like,’ Jonathan started. ‘I know, we’ll go and see this Andrea woman and have a word.’ He looked pleased with himself.

‘What, me and you?’ Claire didn’t look so pleased.

‘No, us men will go. We’ll use our charm to tell her that not only can she not buy the cottage but also that the children should all play happily together.’

‘Really? All of us?’ Tomasz looked unsure.

‘Won’t we seem intimidating?’ Matt asked.

As Polly, Claire and Franceska laughed, I felt a bit sorry for the men. They were about as intimidating as George.

‘What?’ Matt said again.

‘You guys are about as intimidating as a teabag,’ Polly finished, wiping tears from her eyes. Everyone was laughing apart from the poor men.

They all headed out before they changed their minds and I couldn’t resist, I had to go with them and see this for myself. Thankfully George had already gone upstairs with Toby so I didn’t have to worry about him mooning over Chanel as I headed out. The men went through the gate to Andrea’s house while I darted under the hedge, waiting by the front door, hidden just out of sight, until I saw them appear. They rang the brass doorbell and waited, as did I. I decided to stay out of sight in case Chanel was there. I didn’t feel like antagonising her or having her be rude to me this evening.

Andrea opened the door wearing a low-cut dress, which had a slit up her leg, high heels, full make-up and her long blonde hair shone very brightly. It was almost blinding. I wondered what her secret was; I’d like my fur to gleam like that.

‘Hello,’ she said, smiling widely. She actually appeared to be friendly.

‘So sorry to interrupt you,’ Jonathan said. Tomasz didn’t seem to know where to look, and Matt was also a bit frozen. Jonathan glared at them. ‘I’m Jonathan, this is Matt and Tomasz from Seabreeze Cottage.’

‘Oh how lovely to meet you. Of course I’ve already met your lovely wives, and now you. How are you finding it?’ She was so warm and friendly I felt wrong-pawed.

‘Well, it’s very nice so far,’ Matt said. ‘And the kids are having such a fun time, just being away from London is so healthy for them.’ He was gushing a bit, I thought.

‘Oh it is and Lynstow is one of the best places in the world, I am always saying to my husband. Of course that’s why we moved here.’

‘Is he here?’ Tomasz finally found his voice. I think he was more comfortable dealing with men.

‘No, I’m afraid he’s away on business at the moment. Just little me and the girls, oh and of course Chanel.’ Chanel appeared from behind her legs.

‘Right, well.’ Jonathan was looking awkward again. ‘It’s just that we wanted to introduce ourselves and also, it’s probably nothing, but there was … an incident with the children earlier.’

‘An incident?’ The smile hadn’t moved from Andrea’s face.

‘Yes, some local children were playing in our garden and your girls told them to leave and that they weren’t allowed to play with our kids,’ Matt explained.

‘Someone must have put them up to it. My girls are so sweet, they would never say anything like that. Don’t worry, I will have a word and find out who put them up to it, and of course all the children can play together. I am hoping,’ she looked directly at Jonathan, then reached out to lightly touch his arm,’ that we shall all be the best of friends. I am so happy to have you as neighbours.’

‘Right, well that’s great, and we’ll see you soon?’ Jonathan was flustered, Tomasz uncertain and Matt confused.

‘I look forward to it.’ Andrea smiled again, before she closed the door.

I darted back to Seabreeze Cottage to await the men’s return. This was going to be interesting.

‘Well?’ Claire demanded as Jonathan, Tomasz and Matt trooped in. Franceska was cooking and Polly and Claire were setting the table.

‘She’s nice,’ Jonathan said.

‘Very nice,’ Matt added.

‘Her shoes were nice,’ Tomasz said, turning as red as a tomato.

‘What do you mean? She’s horrible,’ Polly snapped.

‘No, not to us, she said she was so happy to have us as neighbours and that someone must have put her girls up to being nasty, they would never say anything like that apparently,’ Jonathan explained. ‘And anyway, she’ll sort it out.’

‘That’s not the case: Aleksy, Tommy, Henry and Toby all corroborated the same story.’

‘She didn’t say they didn’t say it, she said someone must be behind it because they are sweet girls. Anyway, she’s going to have a word so it’ll all be sorted. And she didn’t mention buying the house, just how nice it was to have us living here, so perhaps you got the wrong end of the stick,’ Matt added.

Claire, Franceska and Polly exchanged a glance.

‘God, why are all men so gullible,’ Polly said.

‘What do you mean?’ Matt asked.

‘She’s clearly flirting with you and now you think your own wives are liars,’ Claire stormed. I actually agreed with her.

‘No, of course not, but we’re just thinking that you might have got off on the wrong foot, but now it’s all going to be fine,’ Tomasz said.

‘Dazzled by her beauty no doubt,’ Franceska added.

‘I didn’t notice she was—’

‘I can’t even remember what she looked like—’

‘No, not at all—’ all the men started objecting at once but Claire silenced them. The damage was done. They had been blinded by Andrea the way George had by Chanel, it was clear for us all to see.

With all the excitement I’d nearly forgotten about Gilbert, but as everyone retired for the evening, and there was no sign of him, I ignored my rumbling tummy and the left-over food that had been so enticingly tipped into my bowl and left it for him. I was too tired to stay up and see if he came back, but I hoped he would, and that he’d eat what I left for him, because I hated to think of any cat being hungry. I had been that cat once and it wasn’t nice. I would have left a note for him, but being a cat I couldn’t, so leaving him some lovely food would hopefully convey my message: that he was welcome here and I would like to get to know him. The way to a cat’s heart is through its stomach after all. You can never have too many friends; the horrible experience with Chanel, Andrea and her daughters proved the truth of that.