Alfie The Holiday Cat

Chapter Seventeen

Franceska was unloading the car and George was hindering her by circling her legs. I was trying to stop him, which somehow meant I was circling her legs too.

‘George, Alfie, you guys are going to send me flying,’ Franceska chastised. At least the sun had finally come out again and, although things weren’t back to normal with Franceska and Claire, they had cleared the air a bit, deciding not to worry until they knew the whole situation.

‘Meow.’ George was proud of himself although I wasn’t sure why.

Franceska took the last bag out of the boot of the car and put it down. ‘I’ll go and get the boys to bring the shopping in, wait there.’

We weren’t sure why she wanted us to wait but we did as we were told. Aleksy and Tommy ran out and grabbed the bags then ran back in, ignoring us completely.

‘Meow,’ I shouted.

‘Sorry Alfie but Mum said if we took the shopping in we could go to the beach,’ Aleksy said excitedly as he ran back to the house.

Us cats couldn’t compete with the beach.

Franceska returned. ‘Right, boys, I am locking the car and then I’m making lunch. Hungry?’

‘Yowl.’ Yes I was. We were about to turn back to the house when I spotted Andrea and Chanel approaching.

‘It’s Chanel.’ George hopped from paw to paw excitedly. As Andrea stopped, the Persian gave us her usual dirty scowl, which I think George saw as a loving blink.

‘Ah, it’s the Polish one,’ she said, unkindly. Franceska turned to her, looking confused and then angry.

‘I have a name, it’s Franceska,’ she replied, her voice shaking a little.

‘Of course, whatever. Anyway, I’m glad I ran into you, I want to speak to you all. Together.’

‘What do you mean?’ Franceska asked.

‘You and the other two women, we need to sit down and talk. We need to resolve this.’ Andrea was wearing a bright pink dress, lots of jewellery and high heels. As usual her hair was very tidy, and didn’t move in the breeze, and Chanel was sitting bearing her teeth at us in one of her arms. I was immediately on my guard. George was trying to catch Chanel’s eyes by being cute but she was blatantly ignoring him.

‘We do?’ Franceska looked at the house as if hoping someone else would come and rescue her.

‘Yes, we need to resolve the issue about the house,’ Andrea pushed.

‘I didn’t realise there was an issue. You asked to buy the house, we said no. End of story.’ Franceska’s face reddened; she could be sensitive at times so it was nice to see she was holding her own.

‘It’s not the end of the story. When the husbands, well two of them, came to see me it was clear that there is definitely not an end of story. I hate it when women go running to their husbands as if they can’t cope themselves.’

‘That is not what happened. That was about the children. Anyway, I don’t need to speak to you about this, I told you we don’t want to sell the house and we definitely don’t need any trouble. If there is a problem we will talk to you, not our husbands. In fact Claire and Polly were cross with them for coming to see you. So we shall leave it at that.’

‘Are you saying you won’t sell the house to me?’ Andrea narrowed her eyes.

‘We have said that all along. The renovations are well underway, we have only a few weeks left before the end of summer, and honestly, we would all like to enjoy our holiday.’

‘We’ll see about that.’

As Andrea turned and trotted off in her heels we could feel the threat hanging in the air.

Franceska went back inside and I waited patiently with George as he looked wistfully after Chanel. Aleksy and Tommy ran out of the front door and stopped to pet us.

‘We’re going to the beach.’

‘Why don’t you come?’ Tommy asked.

‘Meow.’ We could go.

‘Cool and we’ll take care of you,’ Aleksy said. He and Tommy looked at each other, then Tommy picked up George and Aleksy picked me up and off we went.

They found a spot in the sand dunes, and Aleksy put me down. I was getting quite used to the sand now, finding it easier the more we came here; I would possibly be a sand expert by the end of the holiday. As the boys sat down, flicking off their sandals, George started sinking into the sand. It was cute, but he did it on purpose, I could see, as he pushed his paws down.

‘George, don’t do that,’ Tommy said, picking him up and brushing the sand off. We took a few moments to enjoy the sun and the grass in the dunes tickled us in the gentle wind. Just as the boys were deciding what to do, Savannah and Serafina approached. This was not good. We had already had to encounter their mother, now them.

‘What are you doing?’ they asked.

‘Well, we are just hanging out, obviously,’ Aleksy replied.

‘How exciting. Anyway, I wanted to say, don’t expect to see any of your other friends, because they are coming to my house. My mum has organised it and you are definitely not invited.’

‘We wouldn’t want to come anyway,’ Tommy said. He poked his tongue out at her, which I felt was a bit childish but then I guess he was a child.

I hissed to tell Tommy to shush but he didn’t seem to hear me.

‘Tommy, don’t waste your time talking to them,’ Aleksy said. He turned to George and picked him up, stroking him.

‘You boys are so boring,’ Savannah said, and used her foot to flick sand up at us. I felt it cover me and Tommy.

‘Oi!’ Tommy shouted.

‘Yowl!’ I said; it wasn’t a pleasant feeling. The girls walked away laughing.

‘I really don’t like them,’ Aleksy said.

‘Me either, but never mind, I’ve got some money for ice cream. Shall we get some?’

‘Meow!’ George said excitedly.

‘OK, George, we can get some for you too,’ Aleksy laughed.

We spent a pleasant time on the beach. George and I shared an ice cream and sunbathed, enjoying spending time with Aleksy and Tommy, but all too soon Franceska appeared at the beach wall and shouted that it was time for us to go home to tea.

The house was empty when we got back.

‘Where is everyone?’ Aleksy asked.

‘Claire and Polly have taken the others for a walk to burn off some energy.’ So, they were still avoiding each other a bit.

George went to the sand room to clean up and to find some shade and I drank a lot of water, being thirsty from the sunny afternoon. Aleksy told his mum how the girls had been and she told him to ignore them but I knew that was easier said than done. Colin appeared and, as Franceska made tea for the builders, they chatted over the day’s work.

‘No accidents so far,’ he said. ‘But you know we have a lot of work to do still, so let’s hope it stays that way.’

‘Will the house be finished before we leave?’ Franceska looked anxious and I wondered what she and Tomasz had decided to do.

‘It should mainly be. As you know, the downstairs is being done after you go, only because the new kitchen will be a big job as we will be knocking the rooms through, and then we just have the windows and the painting and it’ll all be ready the next time you’re here.’ Colin smiled.

‘Um,’ Franceska said, looking thoughtful.

‘Well, I hope you’ll be overjoyed with the finished house. It’s amazing what the attic rooms and now the second floor has done for the house already. The whole village is buzzing with what a good job you’ve done.’

‘Well I wish they would talk to us more, I mean it seems that when we go to the local shop or to the beach people are scared to speak with us.’

‘Well, it might be because of Andrea,’ Colin said.

‘What, because she speaks so badly of us to the rest of the village?’

‘Look. I’m sure it’s all hot air, but you know, why don’t you take the children to the pub for tea tonight, about six? I’m in there, my wife is coming down and I’ll introduce you to a few people. It would be good for you to make friends in the village.’

‘Would you? That would be great. It would be nice if we can make some friends.’

‘Honestly, not all of us are like Andrea, and you’ve been here long enough, it’s about time you saw that for yourselves. But it’s a small village and, well, I guess the locals are more cautious with new people. Anyway, come to the pub tonight, bring the kiddies with you, and you’ll see.’

‘Thank you, Colin. That would be very nice and the children love to go for tea at the pub.’ Franceska looked happy and I thought she had made a sensible move. Getting out of the house, meeting new people, it might be just what they needed. Just as the children had made friends, it was perhaps time that the grown-ups did too.

‘You know what would go down a treat?’ Colin had turned to go, stopped and then faced Franceska again.

‘What?’

‘If, when the house is nearly ready, you invite some villagers over to have a look. They’re all curious and it would be a nice way to break the ice and let them have a nose around.’

‘Great idea. We could do tea and cakes and have, like, an open house! Colin, that is such a good idea — they can see then how much we love Seabreeze Cottage and Lynstow, so they will feel happier about us being here.’

‘You got it, love.’ Colin left to go back to work. I rubbed up against Colin’s legs. I could tell that he was definitely one of the good guys.

The children were excited to go out to eat but George and I weren’t invited and the boys had been warned in no uncertain terms not to sneak us out. I didn’t mind, I fancied a quiet evening in with my boy, even if he had other ideas.

‘Can I go and wait for Chanel?’ he said. Really, all George did was either lie under the bush hoping for a glimpse of her, or hide behind a plant by her back door, and more often than not he fell asleep before he even saw her. So, neither tactic proved very successful, or at least hadn’t so far. I really didn’t want to go out again and I thought perhaps, now he was growing up, I shouldn’t have to.

‘If you promise to be home before it’s dark, or I’ll have to come looking for you,’ I warned.

‘Of course, Dad.’ He raised his whiskers, gave me a thank-you nuzzle and was off. I settled down in a nice spot on the big living room sofa. It was warm and cosy and before I knew it I’d dozed off.

I was woken by a tail tickle and I opened my eyes to see George.

‘Oh good boy, you came home on time,’ I said, looking out of the window where the sky was darkening.

‘Yes and it was no good, I didn’t see Chanel but I did see Andrea, she was pacing up and down angrily, shouting down the phone.’

‘Who was she talking to? Was it Liam?’

‘I don’t know but she said that things were getting desperate and she was scared.’

‘She doesn’t act scared though, does she?’ I was thinking aloud.

‘People act in different ways, for different reasons, you taught me that,’ my wise kitten replied.

I had taught him a lot. When my first love, Snowball, moved in next door to me on Edgar Road, her whole family acted a bit rude, including her, and they didn’t ever want to talk to us. When they did they made it clear that they didn’t want anything to do with us, and it did look as if they had something to hide. It turned out they’d had a very bad experience which had left them scared of making friends and I wondered if Andrea was in a similar situation — it might be that her fear was making her mean. I could sometimes be a bit judgmental; perhaps I needed to listen to George more. If Andrea was doing this because she was scared then maybe she wasn’t all bad and we could get to the nicer version of her. I just didn’t know how. Going through Chanel the way I did with Snowball certainly wasn’t an option. That cat wasn’t scared, she was just downright rude.

As George and I were thinking about what to do next, the door opened and the children burst in, shattering our peace and quiet. Or mine anyway. George hopped down and began mewing at them excitedly.

‘But I’m not even tired,’ Summer was shouting, in a way which suggested she really was.

‘Me neither,’ Martha concurred. Although Martha was older than Summer, she often let Summer take the lead. For the most part she was laid-back, whereas Summer was the bossiest person I knew.

‘Bed, both of you,’ Claire said, coming in the room, ‘and Toby and Henry too. Upstairs now, before I get cross.’ She was giggling as she spoke, which suggested she wasn’t that cross at all.

The younger children were hustled upstairs and Aleksy and Tommy were allowed to go to the small sitting room and watch some TV for a while.

Franceska came in to join us with a bottle of wine and three glasses. She collapsed on the sofa next to me, absently stroking my fur. She seemed happy and I was looking forward to hearing what a success the evening had been.

We didn’t have long to wait as Polly and Claire came in.

‘That was quick,’ Franceska said, with a smile.

‘Well, I couldn’t be bothered to bath them so we just got them into their PJs and into bed quickly.’ Polly smiled. ‘They were all too tired to argue the minute they saw their beds.’

‘I shouldn’t drink when in charge of my children though,’ Claire laughed, as she took a full glass from Franceska.

‘Look, I am sorry about the spanner we threw in the works, with the restaurant. I know Tomasz is still trying to sort it and I want to keep this house very much, so I just want to say sorry and I hope it doesn’t ruin everything.’ She looked suddenly tearful. ‘We are doing everything we can to make sure we can keep the cottage, you need to know this.’

‘Oh, Frankie, I am sorry,’ Claire said. ‘None of this is your fault, or Tomasz’. I just love Seabreeze so much, and I was worried about losing it but after tonight, well I feel like we can sort it out … Somehow we will keep the house.’ Claire hugged Franceska. ‘I’m so sorry that I was cold with you, you know how emotional I get, but our friendship is more important than anything.’

‘To me too.’ Franceska’s eyes glistened with tears.

‘And what a fun evening though. I mean, Frankie, you are a genius getting us to meet the locals,’ Polly took the conversation in a more upbeat direction. I felt relief flood my fur, it seemed that the women had got over the hump for now.

‘It was Colin’s idea.’ Franceska smiled. ‘He said the villagers were very nice.’

‘They were and the idea of having an open house when the cottage is nearly finished is also good. They all seemed to be keen to have a look around.’

‘Again, Colin. But he’s right, with the Andrea situation, it might be good to have the locals on our side.’

‘He’s a lovely man,’ Claire said. ‘I feel that we’ve made progress, they all seemed to like the idea that we’d be in the house a lot, and when you said that we were looking for someone local to be a kind of caretaker I thought they were all going to line up there and then, Pol,’ Claire said.

‘Well, we do need someone, they can do the beds ready for when we’re coming, and when it’s empty I like the idea of someone giving it a clean every week too.’ Franceska added.

‘It’s very sensible. But I think that Colin’s sister-in-law might want the job,’ Polly said.

‘Liam’s mum?’ Claire looked faintly horrified.

‘She might not be as hopeless as him and Colin told me they are struggling for any extra cash, so I said I would talk to you.’ Polly seemed to have talked through a lot with Colin.

‘Hey, let’s meet her, if Colin vouches for her …’ Claire said. She was in a good mood; I couldn’t help thinking it was the wine.

‘And they promise not to let Liam be here alone,’ Polly laughed.

‘But wasn’t it nice to meet the women too?’ Claire said. ‘I mean, I know we met Amber before but the others … They are all clearly terrified of Andrea but actually they’re nice and seemed more than happy to be friendly with us.’

‘Not sure if they would in front of her, though,’ Franceska said. ‘Look, I know that we’re OK but I am sorry. I was just so terrified that we might have to take the money back to keep the business afloat, I can’t bear it.’

‘Oh, Frankie, honestly, let’s forget it for now, I still feel terrible that I’ve been a bit moody with you,’ Claire said. ‘We were so excited and we all stretched ourselves to afford it, so please, don’t worry.’

‘Look, this place has already become a home to us, in the month we’ve been here it’s become like home to us all. So we will figure it out, the restaurant, Andrea, everything, I promise that.’

‘Let’s drink to that.’ Claire raised her glass. ‘To Seabreeze and Lynstow and many, many happy holidays here.’