Sylvie wasn’t coping and Hana said that she had no one to turn to. Having cut herself off from the women, she wasn’t even talking to her friends via the computer any more. Hana told George that no one really comprehended how much Sylvie’s life had been turned upside down and that trying to hold things together for Connie, as she had been so far, was making her ill. Sylvie had even done as she’d threatened and spoken to her ex-husband, who had suggested Connie come and live with him in Japan, which had sent Sylvie almost mad. Now she felt she couldn’t talk to him about it, in case she lost her daughter. Because I knew this, but my women didn’t, I felt for Sylvie and thought it would be down to me to fix things for her.
As winter settled, cold whipping at our fur and nights and mornings dark and gloomy, my tranquil life was over. However, Tiger had to be my priority. I didn’t know how long I had left with her and I wasn’t going to miss a moment if I could help it. I knew I had other problems to solve, other fish to fry, and I had my paws full, yet everything would have to work around time with Tiger. That was something I would never get back again and I refused to miss it.
She was waiting on the back step for me.‘Hi Alfie,’ she said. When I saw her these days, I had to gulp back my feelings, try not to show the shock in my eyes, which I knew, for a split second, was there. She was getting thinner, her fur had lost its glean and she was permanently exhausted. But she always kept her spirits up, which I thought was for my sake and George’s.
‘Tiger, looking good,’ I said and gave her my best grin.
‘I know that’s a lie. Anyway, I’m glad you’re here, tell me about the drama with your humans.’ She shivered.
‘Are you cold?’ I asked.
‘Yes, it’s harder and harder to keep warm, but I’ll be alright.’
I snuggled into her.‘You don’t want to hear about my humans, all that drama,’ I said.
‘Alfie, don’t treat me as if I’m ill. Normally you would tell me all about the problems and I would listen to you, I need that. I need normality.’
‘OK, but before I do, how do you think George is coping?’ I asked. She nestled her head into my neck.
‘I don’t know, he’s putting a brave face on with me, and he visits me, which is sweet – my family don’t even mind at all any more. But when I try to talk to him he changes the subject.’
‘Same with me,’ I said. ‘He seems fine, but I know how much he loves you. And he seems to be avoiding me. Or maybe he just needs to be alone to process things. I know he sees Hana every day, and you, but he seems to be out for an awful long time and when I ask him he’s evasive.’
‘Alfie, he’ll be fine, he’s got you, and he’s probably just trying to get his little head around everything. Now tell me about this row between the women.’ Tiger had always been a bit like my voice of reason, and I fleetingly wondered who would be that when I lost her.
I told her all about how the relationship was fractured between them now, and how Claire and Polly were trying to resolve it.
‘But if Sylvie was so rude about Aleksy why do they want to be friends with her?’ Tiger asked. One thing I loved about Tiger was how she sometimes saw everything in black and white.
‘Well, firstly they want to resolve it for Aleksy and Connie’s sake, but also they know how badly Sylvie has been hurt. They know she’s not really horrible, but she’s scared, terrified even.’
‘I see. And do you have a plan?’
‘Not yet. I am going to see what happens when Polly tries to reason with her and also tomorrow, when I’ve left you, I’m going to go and see Dustbin, see if he has any news, about Aleksy mainly. But you know you’re my priority before I worry about anything else.’
Tiger sighed.‘Look, Alfie, I know that you are going to put me first, but I also want whatever time I have left to be as normal as possible. And that means I expect you to do what you always do and come up with your mad plans, which inevitably involve some kind of disaster before working out.’
‘They are not mad, they are very good plans.’ I bristled.
‘What about when you nearly died?’
‘It all worked out in the end, but yes, maybe not that one,’ I conceded. I had tried to protect Claire from a boyfriend I knew was no good and I ended up being injured by him, but it did bring all my families together, so you know, it was kind of worth it.
‘And when you got stuck up the tree and had to be rescued by the firemen?’ I could tell she was grinning now.
‘Well yes, that might not have been my finest hour.’ I had been trying to woo Snowball, my first girlfriend, but I discovered a fear of heights and couldn’t get back down the tree. It was most humiliating.
‘Or when George got catnapped?’
‘But at least we managed to rescue loads of cats in the end.’ That had been a terribly worrying time though, not knowing where my little George was. We called them the ‘Lamppost Cats’, because cats were disappearing on and around Edgar Road; pictures of them were being hung on lampposts. Atthe same time, my families were all unhappy so I tried to get George to hide with Tiger for a while, the idea being that it would bring them all together again. And it did in the end but only after it went a bit awry as George got taken by the kidnapper – catnapper. It was the worst time of my life before we managed to rescue him and all the other cats.
‘Or when you nearly got set on fire?’
‘OK, Tiger, enough now.’ But I was smiling. I was glad to talk about old times with her, it was some comfort actually, even if she was teasing me. And I didn’t nearly get set on fire, I actually foiled a fire that was going to be set in our holiday house in Devon, so there.
‘So, promise me you won’t ever stop with your plans, Alfie,’ she said and I felt her eyes close and she fell asleep right on the doorstep, snuggled up with me in the cold. I wanted to tell her that I wasn’t sure I could give up my plans even if I wanted to, how when she was gone I would need to keep busy more than ever. There was so much I wanted to say to her.
I stayed still, and breathed in the scent of her. I was trying to commit it all to memory– how she looked, how she felt, how she smelt, how her fur tickled mine – because it was painfully clear that despite my optimism, despite the fact that I was the cat who fixed everything, there was no way I could fix this. One day soon, I would have to say goodbye to someone else I loved. And all I would be left with was my memories of her, so I wanted to make sure that I had lots of them.
Chapter Eighteen
[Ęŕđňčíęŕ: _20.jpg]
Matt and the children were with Jonathan in the living room and Claire was clearing up the kitchen when we heard the doorbell. Wiping her hands on her jeans, Claire went to open it with me at her heels. Polly, face like thunder, stood on the doorstep.
‘Oh dear,’ Claire said. Polly pursed her lips and walked in. The adults all made their way to the kitchen, leaving the children playing.
‘I’m actually really worried about that woman,’ Polly started.
‘So, she didn’t take kindly to your reasonable chat?’ Matt raised an eyebrow. ‘I did tell you to leave well alone.’
‘I told Claire as well,’ Jonathan said. The two men high-fived, looking pleased with themselves. Honestly, if we left it to them nothing would ever get resolved. I swished my tail against Jonathan, angrily.
‘Oh, for goodness sake, grow up. Anyway, I will tell you what happened. Sylvie now blames us – that’s me and you, Claire – for this whole thing. Apparently if we had left her alone, hadn’t tried to make her our friend, then Connie wouldn’t have met Aleksy and none of this would have happened.’
Even I had to admit that was terrible logic. Connie was in the same year as Aleksy in the same school.
‘I said,’ Polly continued, ‘very calmly, I might add, that they’re in school together so they would probably have met at some point. And do you know what she said?’ They all shook their heads. Polly can be a bit scary when riled. ‘She said that she was still going to figure out a way topull Connie out of school and send her to an all-girls’ one. The thing is that she is behaving madly, and I think she needs help but she won’t let us anywhere near her.’
‘Oh dear,’ Jonathan, the master of understatement, said.
‘I asked if she would sit down with Franceska and Aleksy to talk, and she basically threw me out of her house.’
‘She must have been so badly affected by the divorce.’ Claire shook her head.
‘Yes, and I’m out of ideas. I do want to help her, not just the kids, but she really isn’t behaving rationally.’
‘I feel sorry for her, but I have no idea what to do.’
‘Maybe you can try next time,’ Polly said. Then she smiled. ‘Though if you value your life I wouldn’t recommend it. She’s feistier than she looks.’
‘If only there was a way though, to get her to see sense.’ Claire chewed her lip, thoughtfully.
I felt my brain begin to tick over. Sylvie felt as if she was alone, and she wouldn’t let the women in, but if we showed her that she was welcome here, I mean if I showed her…I just had to figure out how.
‘Poor Aleksy, it’s just like Romeo and Juliet,’ Matt said, and they all lapsed into silence.
It was clear no one knew what to do and it seemed that yet again it was going to be down to me.
I left them to see Tiger. George was still out and I assumed he would be with her. There was no sign of either of them, so I took one of my lives in my paws and jumped through the cat flap. Thankfully the kitchen was empty, and I made my way through to the living room where I stopped. Tiger’s bed was in front of a fire, although it wasn’t a real fire, and Tiger was alone in it. There was no sign of her humans, but Tiger was curled up. She looked up and saw me.
‘Alfie,’ she said, her voice quiet.
‘Hey, is it safe to come in?’
‘Yes, they’ve gone shopping for a bit, come on in.’
I made my way over to her bed, and sat down next to her.
‘I thought George might be with you,’ I said.
‘No, isn’t he home?’
I flicked my tail.‘No, and he’s normally home by now.’
‘Alfie, he seemed a bit angry when I saw him today. He was trying to hide it but he kept saying it was unfair that I wasn’t going to be here soon. I tried to calm him down by telling him I’d always be watching him but I’m not sure he was buying it. Anyway, I think he might have needed a bitof time to himself.’
‘I know and he’s old enough, but Tiger, and I’m not telling you this to worry you, but he’s been going out a lot more lately. At first I thought he was visiting Hana, which he does but not the whole time, so I’m not sure where he goes. I asked Rocky, Elvis and Nellie but they don’t knoweither. He’s not spending much time with them, it seems.’
‘And asking George won’t work, will it?’
‘No, he gets defensive when I even ask him if he’s hungry these days.’ My lovely sweet kitten was becoming surly, monosyllabic and he was actually behaving like a teenager, but of course cats don’t normally do that. But, I accepted that, with the Tiger situation, normality had gone out of the window.
‘Alfie, you’ll have to follow him, just to check you know that he’s safe.’
‘I’m normally the one who would suggest such a thing.’ I grinned. It was obvious. Why hadn’t I thought of this? Although with everything going on, maybe it wasn’t surprising.
‘But just make sure that he doesn’t see you. I’m not sure he’ll take kindly to being followed.’
‘And with all the mounting problems at the moment, having George angry with me is not one I want to add to the pile.’
‘Please make sure you come back and tell me what you discover. If I can I’ll come out, but if not I’ll be right here. Even if my family is here – they are both quite sad at the moment, so they might even let you come in.’
‘Right, Tiger, before I do anything more about the whole human situation I will make sure that I know George is OK and I’ll find out where he’s going.’
If George was acting like a teenager, I hoped he wasn’t doing what I’d heard a lot of teenagers did, and getting into trouble. We had quite enough of that right now, thank you very much.
I casually established that George was going to see Tiger, and I lay in wait for him. Unfortunately it was cold, and I shivered in the bush in Tiger’s front garden, where I had chosen to hide. I had followed many people before, but never George, and although I kept a close eye on him, I had to admit this did feel different. I felt as if I was betraying him in a way, although I knew, deep down, it was for his own good. I would let him have his freedom, just as long as I knew he was safe. I needed to ensure he was being careful and there was no danger.
I knew I should be thankful that he was going out during the day– if it had been night I would have had a whole heap of fears and worries. He could have been hanging out with unsavoury cats, fighting, hunting, getting up to all sorts of mischief. Though if he had shown any signs of that I would have got Dustbin on the case. I really had to stop worrying aboutthings that hadn’t happened, especially as I had my paws full with troubles that were very, very real.
It is characteristic of life, and I speak from my own experience, that when things start piling up the tendency is to fret more. It’s a vicious circle: when things are good you enjoy them and try not to think of the bad times, but when things are bad you can only think of how they could get worse. So, as I waited for George, I tried to count my blessings. Firstly, the sun was shining. Yes it was cold and windy, but at least it wasn’t raining. And I did have lovely families and friends. I might be losing Tiger but I was lucky to have had her in my life for as long as I had, and that was a gift. Although losing her wasn’t a gift, it was the opposite of a gift, whatever that may be.
Just as I was running out of both blessings and optimism, George appeared. He didn’t notice me as he set off down Edgar Road, towards where our cat friends met. I followed at a safe distance, hopping behind the odd lamppost to ensure I kept out of sight, but George didn’t look back once. None of our friends were at the recreation spot but he walked straight past it anyway; that clearly wasn’t where he was heading. As I carried on walking, I had a horrible feeling that I knew where he was going. As George stopped at the tatty house with the jungle garden and the horrible old man, my worst fears were confirmed.
I watched him from a safe distance as George played in the overgrown bushes which dominated the space. It really did look fun to play in; brambles and overgrown plants, a small, fat tree with overhanging branches and long grass. There were no flowers, no colour. But it was a garden you could definitely lose yourself in and I just hoped he was safe. I settled back to watch my boy.
After exploring the garden, he hopped up on the windowsill of the house and peered in. Next thing I knew, the old man from Halloween appeared and started banging a walking stick against the window in an angry fashion. George, however, sat on the windowsill and seemed nonplussed. Or nonpussed. I cowered behind a bush near the front wall, as close as I dared go. What if the man hurt George? He stood there shaking his fist and his walking stick. I saw him more clearly than I had in the dark that night. I could vaguely hear the words,‘Get lost’, being shouted. George tapped his paw on the window one last time and hopped down, raising his tail in a salute. I quickly started running home.
All the way I tried to make sense of what I’d seen. George clearly knew the garden but the old man didn’t want him there. The thing was that my George wasn’t the best at reading signals, he’d thought Chanel liked him when she showed him nothing but disdain. But how could I discuss this with George without him knowing I was followinghim? I couldn’t.
Another thing to add to my mounting problems; I would have to keep an eye on it. If this was where George was disappearing to most days I would need to make sure that he was safe. That walking stick looked like it could do some serious damage. The man looked as if he could do some damage too. And if the Goodwins were right and he was dangerous…I shuddered.
My other dilemma on the way back was whether to tell Tiger or not. On the one hand I didn’t want her to worry, but on the other she’d asked me to treat her normally. Also, I had a vague idea that it might be better for her to tackle George about this, or at least to try to ask him about it. He was still talking to her, after all, whereas at the moment he seemed to be avoiding me asmuch as he could. Oh yes, he would still fill me in about Hana but it was as if talking to me was a duty rather than a desire. Our easy relationship, the one where we hung out, chased leaves, chewed the fat with other cats, talked through the day’s events together in the evening, seemed to be over.
I just hoped it wasn’t over forever.
I’d been at home for a while before George came in. I’d stopped at Tiger’s but the cat flap was closed and there was no sign of her. I hoped she was resting. Every time I saw her she seemed weaker and the idea that, one day soon, I would go and see her and she wouldn’t be there threatened tofloor me.
I’d had a snack, a wash and a nap, only to be woken by the sound of the cat flap and the appearance of a very sad-looking George.
‘Are you alright?’ I asked, fussing despite saying I wouldn’t.
‘I’m a bit tired actually,’ George said. ‘I think I might have a nap. It’s very cold out.’
He was chattier than normal, which I was happy about, but I also knew not to push it.
‘OK, did you see Tiger mum?’ I asked, casually.
‘I did, earlier.’ He turned to go, then he stopped. ‘Dad, she’s really not going to get better, is she?’ His eyes were full of sadness and his whiskers seemed to droop. My heart broke and I wanted, so desperately wanted, to give him the answer he needed to hear, but of course I couldn’t.
‘No, son, I don’t think she is,’ I said, heavily. George, to my surprise, came up to me and nuzzled into me.
‘What about you? Are you going to leave me as well?’ he asked, his voice small.
‘No, son, not for a very long time,’ I replied and I crossed my paws and hoped, prayed, that that was true. No, actually I knew it was true. I wasn’t going anywhere. I wanted to reassure him, but I didn’t want to lie. ‘You know, George, I would never leave you willingly, and nor would Tiger mum. She has no choice but I’m still here and, for as long as I am, I’ll always be right by your side. I love you, son.’ I nuzzled him and I felt his sadness through his fur.
As I watched George go to find his favourite chair to nap in, I felt my heart breaking for him all over again. I would be around for a very long time– don’t ask me how I knew, but I did – and I would give George as much strength and courage as possible. That was what parents should do for their children, after all. That and try to keep him away from the scary old man at the end of the street, of course.
Chapter Nineteen
[Ęŕđňčíęŕ: _21.jpg]
It was pouring with rain but I had promised myself that I would go to see Dustbin to check that all was well with Aleksy. Unfortunately I had heard nothing new; the situation, according to George, via Hana, via the door, was the same. George was being a supportive friend and their regular through-the-glass-door chats were helping her, he believed. I was trying to let George feel grown-up so I didn’t intrude but I told him if he needed me, I would be happy to help. He was enjoying his friendship with Hana, although he was getting frustrated about not actually being able to see her properly or always hear what she had to say. That issue was already on my list, however. I felt that perhaps if I could get Hana and George face to face, it would help him through a tough time. I would have done anything to make George feel better about losing his Tiger mum, and though I knew that getting Hana out of the house wouldn’t do it, not nearly, at least it would be something.
What I hated most about this situation was the feeling of helplessness. I was a cat who fixed things, who fixed hearts, who never gave up, but here there really was nothing I could do. If the vet couldn’t fix Tiger, then I certainly couldn’t, and I hated that feeling. My heart was going to break, as was George’s, but I was powerless and that made me want to yowl in pain. All I could do was to be there for everyone, and that didn’t seem to be enough, although it had to be.
‘George,’ I said, finding him tracing raindrops falling down the window with his paw.
‘Yes, Dad?’ he replied, but he didn’t turn around.
‘I know it’s raining but I have to see Dustbin, Aleksy business. Do you fancy coming with?’ There was a pause as George, head tilted, seemed to be mulling my offer over.
‘No thanks, Dad,’ he said eventually. ‘It’s quite far in the rain and I have to visit Tiger mum and also go and see Hana, so that’ll keep me busy today.’
‘Alright, son, I’ll go on my own. If anyone needs me, let me know when I’m back later. I’m going to try to say hello to Tiger on the way, as well.’
George let out a big sigh.‘OK Dad, see you later.’ He returned his attention to the raindrops, indicating our conversation was well and truly over.
Feeling like I wanted to say so much more, but unsure what, I waited a few moments before turning and heading out. Typical that I had to choose a day when the rain was beating down, although the grey sky matched my mood. But, never one to wallow, I went to Tiger’s house. There was no sign of her and I butted the cat flap with my head, but it didn’t move. Her family had locked her in again. Was this because she had to go to the vet? Or was it something even worse? My heart started beating fast as I made my way to the front of the house. I looked at thebottom window and there was Tiger, lying down. I jumped up onto the windowsill and she saw me. She looked frailer than ever but she managed to raise a paw and I did the same. Like George and Hana, we managed to exchange a few words, most of them lost in the wind. Her family was with her, in the living room, I could see the lights on, the fire blazing red, and they were sitting on the sofa. I gazed at Tiger and mouthed, ‘Goodbye’, as I reluctantly left her to lay down her head again. I just hoped it wasn’t going to be the last time I saw her. I hoped that every time, but I could feel herslipping away from me, and I knew that losing her was imminent.
My legs felt heavy with grief as I made my way to Franceska and Tomasz’s house to find Dustbin. My limbs seemed to be filled with lead, my head ached, and I felt pain running through my whole body. I knew this feeling, I’d had it before; it was heartbreak, pure and simple, the worst ailment to affect me. But I kept going. One paw in front of the other, me and mypain continued. I was almost glad of the distraction, but then I was sad I even needed a distraction.
‘Dustbin.’ I mustered all my cheer as I greeted him. He was having a snack; not a rodent, thank goodness, but some leftovers from the restaurant which looked very tasty. He did get pretty well-paid in his job. He had to see off all manner of nasty rodents but the food he was given was of the highest quality. I wouldn’t have been able to do it though, not for all the sardines in the world.
‘Alfie, what a lovely surprise.’ He stopped eating. ‘How are you, mate?’
I filled him in on the situation with Tiger, which he was very sympathetic about, then I shared my worries about George, and finally I asked about Aleksy.
‘Oh boy, the drama just piles up, doesn’t it?’ Dustbin shook his tail. ‘I feel for you, Alfie, I really do. And I wish there was something I could do. But if you think George is in any danger from this stick-wielding man, just say the word and I’ll be after him.’
Dustbin was quite a keen fighter, not that I approved of violence, but Dustbin was a different type of cat to me. He didn’t go looking for trouble, but he didn’t shy away from dealing with it, which had helped me out quite a lot in the past. And for that I was grateful. He would never hurt anyone who didn’t deserve it, I could vouch for that. He protected those he cared about, and I was grateful to be counted among those he did.
‘I think George is OK, at least he hasn’t got in with the wrong crowd. I’m worried about the old man, he seems very angry, but we can keep an eye on that. It’s more the fact that he’s shying away from me. We barely talk any more – well, we do about Aleksy, Connie and Hana, but not really about Tiger, or how he’s feeling.’
‘Give him time, Alfie, he’s young still and doesn’t know how to express himself yet. He will, and he’ll come to you when he’s ready. Just make sure he knows he can, which I know you do.’
‘Thanks, Dustbin, you always say the right thing. What about Aleksy?’ I gave Dustbin a quick affectionate nudge. He wasn’t a touchy-feely type of cat but I like to think I had softened him up a bit over the years.
‘He’s a bit sad, the poor lad. He can’t phone her so I don’t get to overhear him any more, but he does mooch around quite a lot. His mum and him are talking more now though, which is a good thing, and he asked her for a job, so he can buy Connie a present to cheer her up. I’m not sure what kind of present though.’
Ah, Aleksy was a man after my own heart. He was going to do a grand gesture, a gift to show Connie that he cared. I had done the same in my time. Not that it was as simple for cats; not being able to buy anything meant that we had to be a little more creative. Digging up flowers and climbing trees, that sort of thing, but let’s not go there. Anyway, Aleksy was showing what a considerate, caring youngster he was, which made me happy. And he and Franceska were on good terms again, which made me even happier.
‘Did she give him a job?’
‘She said he was too young to do anything official but he’s helping with cleaning up and polishing cutlery at the restaurant and she’s giving him extra pocket money, so yes it seems so. From listening to their conversations it seems that he still spends time with Connie at school. They are both sad about how her mother is but Connie says she won’t budge. At least the mother/son relationship is good again, it’s like he’s stopped being a teenager.’
‘Thank goodness. I miss the old chatty Aleksy and he and Franceska, who were always so close, need to be again. That at least makes me happy.’
‘We need to count every single blessing at the moment, Alfie,’ Dustbin pointed out.
‘I agree, and if Aleksy is being sweet and it seems quite mature about this whole thing, trying to cheer Connie up rather than getting angry, well, I’m one happy cat.’ I wasn’t exactly happy. ‘I just wish there was something I could do to get Sylvie to come round. Not only has she made the kids miserable but she’s isolated herself now, so she can’t be happy.’
‘You’ll come up with something. Oh look, it’s that pesky rat. I thought I’d seen him off, excuse me a minute.’ Dustbin turned, ran at breakneck speed and pounced on a rat. I turned my head away. It didn’t look as if that rat would be bothering the restaurant again. It was the ugly side of being a cat and I could only be thankful that I didn’t have to worry about it. There, I had found two blessings in one afternoon, which was better than none.
I saw Franceska come out of the restaurant, just as I was about to leave.
‘Alfie, you came to see us,’ she said, petting me. ‘It’s a long way, can I get you some sardines?’
‘Meow,’ I replied. She certainly could. And that was blessing number three.
Chapter Twenty
[Ęŕđňčíęŕ: _22.jpg]
December beckoned, with its demands for Christmas trees and advent calendars, and excitement was palpable among the young members of my family. The auditions for the nativity had taken place and everyone was waiting eagerly to learn of their parts. Even George forgot to be surly at all times. Although we were still shrouded in sadness– Tiger was getting worse, and the situation next door with Sylvie, Connie and Hana was no better – amidst all that, Christmas had officially started in Edgar Road.
Tiger was hanging on but we were seeing less and less of her. Not only was she hardly going out, but her family had started closing her cat flap more often, and so George and I were able to snatch only occasional moments with her, which were becoming rarer. If the cat flap was shut, she would try to make it to a window to see us, it had become our new thing, but it wasn’t the same. Poor George had to talk to his new friend and his mum through a window, and I could tell he was getting frustrated with both. And he wasn’t the only one. I had nothing. No plans, no schemes, and no idea how to fix any of the messes we were surrounded with. I was a cat without a plan and I was nursing a very bad heartache.
‘Claire, how on earth are we going to get a tree that size home?’ Jonathan said. Claire had been to the tree man down the road and had just announced that she’d reserved a tree which was over six-foot tall.
‘Tomasz said he’d go with you in his van.’ Claire indicated the conversation was closed. She was drawing up big plans for Christmas. She talked of something called ‘hygge’.
‘What on earth is that?’ Jonathan had despair written all over his face.
‘It’s Danish and it’s to do with cosy, simple pleasures, and I want to make our house feel like that this year.’
Jonathan just shook his head.
‘I’ve got lots of candles and this is going to be a proper family Christmas,’ she announced.
‘Let’s just hope we don’t burn the house down,’ Jonathan finished.
I left them, Claire talking through her plans for making the house Christmassy, and Jonathan still shaking his head, and went to find my boy.
George had reacted just as you would expect a child to react; he was angry, scared and he felt as if he was being abandoned. Parents are meant to protect their children and both Tiger and I had failed him in this. I remembered how I felt when my sister cat, Agnes, died when I was just a kitten. I’d been so lost without her and I didn’t understand. My owner was beside herself and so I retreated into myself. I’d felt as if I had no one to turn to and then, when Margaret died a year later, I was utterly alone. But George wasn’t alone; not that that would make him feel better right now. I was pretty sure that nothing would make him feel better right now. It broke my heart, which was already breaking over Tiger. I was worried there would be nothing left. But I had to pull myself together. For Tiger, and for George.
I set off down the road to find him. George was always home for tea, and with all the drama I realised I hadn’t seen him for quite a while. He was loitering near the front of Tiger’s house.
‘Ah, there you are.’
‘So?’ George looked at me angrily.
‘Well, it’s just that I hadn’t seen you for ages and it’s teatime.’
‘Whatever,’ he said, sounding just like a teenager.
George looked at me with his beautiful big eyes, but I couldn’t tell how he was feeling.
‘It’s about Tiger mum.’
‘I don’t want to talk about it.’ He sat and flicked his tail angrily towards me.
‘OK, then you can just listen. What has happened sucks.’ I employed ‘teenage’ speak in the hope of getting through to him. ‘For her, for me, and most of all for you. Saying goodbye is the hardest thing we have to do in our lives, and I know this as I’ve done it a number of times before.But, and this is where I need you to listen, if you don’t say goodbye to Tiger mum, while you’ve got the chance, then you’ll regret it, and I can’t let you do that. I promise you that I love you, and I’ll be here for you for a long time to come, but now I need you to talk to me about it.’
‘But, I don’t want to,’ he said, his voice small, tinged with sadness. His tail was wrapped around his body as if he was trying to protect himself.
‘I know, son, and if I could have it any other way I would, but I can’t. You need to say goodbye and you need to say it now. Please don’t leave it until it’s too late. Don’t regret it or be angry with us, because this isn’t anyone’s fault.’
George sat silently. I could tell he was mulling my words over, but I was determined. I would somehow drag him round there if I had to– although I had no idea how, he was quite a weight now. I crossed my paws that it wouldn’t come to that.
‘Should I go to find her right now?’ he asked, his eyes full of fear.
‘I’ll be right with you,’ I said, as we set off.
We made our way round to the back of the houses. It was eerily quiet, apart from the odd bird squawk or the faint sound of a car engine– it was like a ghost street. I could feel our uncertainty, shivering as we walked. We reached the back doorstep and looked at each other. I tipped my head slightly, and then I checked the cat flap. Thankfully it was open; I let myself have a huge sigh of relief. I gestured for George to go through first and then I followed, hot on his paws. I took a deep breath and prepared myself for the worst.
We both padded through to the living room, where Tiger was in her bed, in the same place I had left her last night. The fire warmed the room and I immediately felt my fur start to defrost. I nudged George slightly as he paused and we both made it to her bed at the same time.
‘Tiger,’ I whispered, hoping against hope that she was still with us. I almost didn’t dare breathe.
‘Mum,’ George said, and I thought my heart would crack in two. After what seemed like an eternity she opened her eyes.
‘My two favourites,’ she said, her voice quiet and raspy.
‘Mum, I’m sorry,’ George cried. ‘I just couldn’t bear to say goodbye but Dad told me I would be sad if I did but even sadder if I didn’t. I don’t want you to go.’
‘I don’t want to go either, son,’ she said. George hopped into the bed and snuggled into her.
They say cats don’t shed tears but I swear my eyes were full of them.
‘I will always love you, George,’ she said. ‘Remember that, and I’ll always be part of you and you’ll always be part of me.’
‘And I will always love you too, Mum,’ he replied.
‘Be good for your dad, be true to yourself and you’ll grow into a fine adult cat.’
‘And wherever you are, you’ll see me? You’ll always watch over me?’
‘I will, George, even though you won’t be able to see me.’
‘But I want to see you,’ he cried. Tiger gave me an anxious glance.
‘You know, George, your dad and my favourite thing to do was to watch the moon, and you know when we did we also saw lots of stars in the sky. If you ever want to see me then look into the night sky and I will be the brightest star. I won’t be able to be with you but I’ll always be there.’
‘You’ll be in our hearts forever,’ I said, not for the first time, but I didn’t know how else to say goodbye and I didn’t trust myself to speak further.
‘And you mine. Be the best you can be and, George, try to keep your dad out of trouble.’ They both grinned and nuzzled.
‘Oi,’ I said, trying to sound jovial, but feeling as if the words were going to choke me.
‘You two have each other, you need to be a team, a family, please remember that,’ Tiger said. Before we could answer, I saw her body go rigid, then still. Her eyes closed. I looked at George, he looked at me. We both knew she had gone. It was almost as if we had seen her go and I was rooted to the spot. I watched my boy yowl into Tiger’s fur and I knew that we would never see or hear her again. Not in the real world anyway. Tiger had breathed her last breath and now we had to find a way to carry on without her.
After a long while, I gave George a gentle nudge.
‘We should go, son,’ I said. ‘Her family will be down soon.’ I felt for them, how they would wake up today and find Tiger gone, that would be so hard for them, but I couldn’t help. For once in my life I felt totally helpless.
‘OK, Dad,’ George replied, and reluctantly, wishing with our hearts that we didn’t have to go, we both gave her one last nuzzle before leaving.
Chapter Twenty-One
[Ęŕđňčíęŕ: _23.jpg]
Tiger was gone but Christmas was coming. George and I were silent as we observed the house being decorated. We didn’t talk about Tiger, neither of us were ready yet. I needed to see our friends, but for now I wanted to be silent in my grief. And from what I could see, George felt the same, so I was showing him I was there for him, whilst trying to hold myself together.
Our house looked beautiful with its big tree in the living room that Claire insisted on putting up on the first day of December. It took Jonathan, Matt and Tomasz to carry it in the house, which elicited a lot of words that neither children nor cats should have to listen to. And then they discovered it was too tall for the room, so Tomasz had to saw off the top. Although it wouldn’t be Christmas if it all went smoothly! Claire was so happy about the tree that no amount of Jonathan’s moaning could ruin it for her.
Despite the fact that we were miserable, we tried to enjoy the occasion the way we would most years. The children were so excited as they helped decorate it, as was fast becoming a Christmas tradition. It looked a little bottom heavy as a result but it also reflected our family. There were homemade decorations from both Summer and Toby, their favourite coloured baubles, which they were allowed to choose, and an abundance of tinsel. Toby even begged George not to try to jump into the tree this year. As George had done this every year since he’d been with us, we weren’t confident. Even though he said he would try his best, I had a sneaking suspicion he wouldn’t be able to resist. Our living room had a sudden explosion of tinsel, lights and brightness, and it couldn’t fail but to cheer us up. It was a burst of colour in our very black and white life.
Claire then did as she’d suggested she would and put out lots of candles. I wasn’t sure about them – candles, cats and children weren’t a good combination – but she said this was her nod to ‘hygge’. She hadn’t quite grasped what else it meant so to her it was just far too many candles and, as Jonathan said, ‘turning our house into a fire hazard’.
Claire had also written most of her Christmas cards and she put one through the door at Sylvie’s saying she hoped that they could have a drink over Christmas. Claire, like me, didn’t like giving up, so she was trying to come up with ways to get Sylvie back into our Edgar Road fold. Jonathan told Claire to leave it but she rarely listened to him. I agreed, not just because we liked and cared about Sylvie, but also because both Aleksy and Connie were still being kept apart. I knew (via Hana and George) that Connie was still crying most nights, and Aleksy was miserable without his friend (via Dustbin).
Hana told George that Sylvie had found out that her ex-husband was having a baby with his new woman and that had set her off into deeper depression. He’d even suggested Connie going to spend Christmas with them but Sylvie couldn’t bear to lose the only person she had left in her life. I understood. We were lucky with all the people we loved, despite losing Tiger, but she had no one. It was beyond sad.
I saw her in the street and tried to get her attention but she seemed to look through me as if I was invisible. I really was worried about her and her state of mind. It wasn’t good, I could tell. I needed to do something, and through habit I went to see Tiger, momentarily forgetting that she was no longer there. I was alone to come up with a plan. I wanted to get Hana out of the house, but again, nothing. I thought if I got George in then that would be something, but they didn’t even leave the top windows open any more, so I had no chance. There was literally no way in. George offered to see if he could fit through the letter box but even I knew that wouldn’t work.
I was trying to make my list, in my head. Tiger, gone, but I wasn’t ready to let go. Aleksy, missing his first love, and we all knew what that was like. Connie, isolated and angry with her mother. Sylvie, upset about her divorce but taking it out on the wrong people. Hana, a poor cat caught in the middle. And George, who was still disappearing regularly, stillnot quite talking to me the way he used to, and obviously hurting but refusing to let me comfort him. It was a lot.
Thank goodness for Christmas. The only speck of happiness on the horizon.
I sat with Claire as she made even more lists. She explained to me she was making a list of presents to get.
‘Everyone likes getting gifts, Alfie, so I am going to make sure I put a lot of thought into it. It’s how us humans show we love each other.’
Ping, I had a brainwave. Gifts, of course. That was the answer. I would win Sylvie over by getting her gifts. I went off for my afternoon nap and to try to make my own list of what I could get her.
‘I am never speaking to him again,’ I heard Toby shout as the front door opened and, along with a gust of icy wind, Claire, Toby and Summer burst in.
‘Toby, calm down,’ Claire pleaded. She chewed her bottom lip, worriedly. Summer was looking a bit startled, after all she wasn’t the one being dramatic for once and she didn’t seem to know how to handle that. Toby’s face was red and angry. Oh no, what now, I thought. This was not good. Our Toby was such a star. He had come to us age five having been adopted, and not having had a great start in life. At first he’d had nightmares, which George had stopped, and then he’d had a fear of being sent away. But finally, he now seemed to feel, to believe, he was the important part of the family that he really was. It was both heartbreaking that he’d been through that but heart-warming that he had us now and we had him. We all loved him so much. Just as much as Summer.
‘I will not calm down. It’s not fair.’ He sounded a bit like Summer as he stamped his foot. I guess he’d been taking lessons. I was glad for once that George was out; this scene would have definitely upset him. None of us liked it when Toby was unhappy, although I didn’t recall seeing himthis angry before.
‘OK, but Tobe, you have to tell me, because you just sulked all the way home and neither you nor Henry would speak. So can one of you please let me know what’s going on?’ Claire ran her hands through her hair. Toby and Henry were best friends, inseparable, so I didn’t like the sound of themfalling out.
‘I will not.’ Toby crossed his arms and then looked a little unsure what to do.
‘Oh Mummy, what happened is this,’ Summer said. ‘They announced the Jesus play people in assembly today. I’m a star. Daddy says I’m a star anyway, so I think that’s why they cast me.’
‘I am guessing you mean nativity, and Summer, yes you are a star, but please can you tell me why this has made Tobe in such a bad mood.’ Claire tried to hug him but he slipped out of range.
‘He’s Joseph, who is baby Jesus’ daddy, but not his real one because Mary was a virgin.’
‘Oh God, Summer, who told you the nativity story?’ Claire asked, although it was a little off point.
‘Daddy.’
Claire rolled her eyes.‘But Toby, that’s the main part, along with Mary of course, that’s amazing, you should be very proud. I’m very proud.’
I was very proud too, look how far Toby had come.
‘Well I’m not, because I have to hold hands with Emma Roper. She’s Mary and I don’t like her. She’s a girl.’
‘I’m a girl,’ Summer pointed out.
‘You’re my sister, that’s different,’ Toby said.
‘True.’ Summer nodded.
I saw Claire look between them, unsure where to go with this, and I have to say I wasn’t sure either.
‘OK, so you don’t want to hold hands, but what has this got to do with Henry?’ Claire asked.
‘He’s the donkey,’ Toby said.
‘Ah,’ Claire said.
‘I wanted to be the donkey. Everyone knows the donkey is the best part ever.’ Toby burst into tears and ran up to his room.
‘What on earth am I supposed to do about this?’ Claire asked.
‘Leave it to Daddy, he is so much better at all this than you,’ Summer said sagely, and leaving Claire open-mouthed, and me a little bemused, she went to join Toby.
‘He’s really not,’ Claire said.
‘Meow,’ I agreed; he really wasn’t.
‘I hope that she’s only saying that because she’s such a daddy’s girl,’ Claire added, stroking me.
‘Meow,’ I agreed. Claire and I would probably have to sort this one out, just as we sorted everything out.
The doorbell rang and Claire opened it to find Polly on the doorstep.
‘I left Matt with the kids, but had to come and see you. Is Toby alright?’ Polly asked, coming in and picking me up, taking me to the kitchen with her.
‘I was about to go and see, but Sum’s up there with him. He’s really upset.’ Claire’s lips twitched, as did Polly’s, and to my great surprise they both burst out laughing. What kind of parenting was this?
‘Oh, I’m sorry Claire, but Henry was so pleased with himself. He kept saying how everyone wanted to be the donkey and he was chosen for his acting skills and the best thing was that everyone knew that donkeys didn’t have to hold hands with girls.’
‘Poor Toby is so distraught. I told him he’d got the main part but he wasn’t having it. He said he doesn’t like the girl who plays Mary, or he doesn’t like any girls actually.’
‘Poor girl, she’ll get a complex. Anyway, Emma’s a sweetie, she was at Henry’s last birthday party remember, and they all seemed to be friends then.’
‘Oh, how things change in the minds of our babes. But what do we do? Summer thinks Jonathan is going to sort it all out.’
‘Really? She’s delusional when she comes to him.’
‘Is Martha like that with Matt?’
‘No, she knows he’s hopeless at sorting things out, stemming from when he was out of work that time and I was at work most of the time. Things were chaotic.’ Polly shuddered, as did I. It had been a bad time for all of them and Polly was right: the house was a mess, and everyone was struggling. It took Matt quite a while to learn how to cope with the children and the house. No one knew why he was so hopeless, although he’s much better now.
‘Anyway, I better put the kids’ tea on, but what are we going to do?’ Claire asked. ‘Henry has always been such a good friend to Toby, and I couldn’t bear it if they fell out.’
‘Oh, kids fall out all the time, they’ll be best friends in no time, and you know Henry can’t hold a grudge, he doesn’t have the attention span. A bit like his father. But anyway, what I will do is tell Henry to convince Toby that being Joseph is a really good thing. I’ll bribe him somehow if I need to.’
‘Oh thanks Pol, it would be amazing if we could sort this out. And I’ll tell him that Joseph is an amazing part – oh, I’ll say the sign of a good actor is pretending and if he can pretend to like the girl then that will show how amazing he is.’
‘Perfect. Thank goodness for us. I’ll bring Henry round before school tomorrow, and if you like I’ll walk all the kids to school for you.’
‘Oh, that would be fab. Now if only we could sort out Sylvie as easily.’
‘I think that might take a bit more. But we’ll come up with something.’
‘Meow,’ I shouted. They meant I would.
‘Yes, Alfie, you’ll help us as well,’ Claire said, stroking me. Helping? Actually, it would all be down to me.
Toby sulked all through tea, despite Claire trying to convince him that he must be the best actor the school had ever seen. Summer thankfully agreed with everything her mum said, and I could see Toby wavering. He was listening, but he was also refusing to budge just yet. He did remind me of George.
That night I put the first phase of my plan into action. Giving gifts isn’t easy for cats. We don’t have money or go to shops, we certainly can’t gift-wrap. But when I first moved to Edgar Road, I’d tried to win Jonathan over with my version of a present. He’d pretended he hated them but it must have worked because look at us now. So, confident in my plan and with a thought for how proud Tiger would be of me, I waited until everyone was asleep and went to find one of the street’s nocturnal cats. I didn’t spend much time with them, seeing as I was pretty much always asleep at night, but we were all friendly enough on our street. I found Lucky, a big black cat, and told him what I needed. I didn’t have to wait long before he presented me with a juicy mouse, who unfortunately was no more. Despite my feelings of distaste, I took it to Sylvie’s doorstep and left it by the front door. When she opened her door in the morning and saw the gift I’dleft for her, she wouldn’t be able to help but feel wanted on the street.
Chapter Twenty-Two
[Ęŕđňčíęŕ: _24.jpg]
The following morning, as the house began to stir, George seemed to be in shock as he sat by his bowl in the kitchen, not wanting food, but not knowing what to do. Tiger’s death had sunk in, but only a little. I tried to talk to him but he looked at me as if he couldn’t hear a word I was saying. He just sat there and I stayed close by. I didn’t know how to offer comfort any other way and I was desperately trying to suppress my own feelings for now.
We sat, side by side, as Claire ran downstairs, putting the kettle on, tipping food into a bowl for us, laying the breakfast table, before going to rouse the children. Jonathan emerged, fresh from the shower, poured coffee into two cups and took them back upstairs. Voices drifted down, children being chivvied, Jonathan looking for something, normal life going on all around us, when life felt anything but normal.
‘I need to go,’ George said, finally. His breakfast untouched, as was mine.
‘Where?’ I asked.
‘I just need to be alone,’ he said.
‘Are you sure? Sometimes it’s best not to be on your own.’ I felt panicked, I didn’t want him to leave, I wanted to stay with him to keep my eye on him. I needed him, but again, as a parent, I knew it wasn’t about what I needed.
‘I really am sure, Dad. Please, just let me,’ he said sadly and I felt I had no choice but to let him go. As I watched him leave the house again, I was tempted to follow but then I realised that I needed some time as well. I had just said goodbye to my best friend, a cat I loved with all my heart, and I was never going to see her again.
I had to trust George would be alright for now, and I needed to trust that I would be too.
I was vaguely aware of the family going about their morning business. Claire made a mention of George, but Toby assured her that he had been in bed with him last night, so they didn’t worry. I tried to eat a little but I felt the food would choke me. When something horrible happened it always struck me as odd, how normal life carried on around you.
Toby was still moaning about the nativity. Jonathan was trying to tell him how when he was a child he had always wanted to be Joseph, but that wasn’t really working. I could see this situation was likely to go on a bit: Toby threatening to refuse to be in the play, Claire trying to cajole him, Summer saying it wouldn’t be the same without him. I let it all wash over my fur. I couldn’t really bring myself to get involved or be concerned at the moment. It was too painful, too hard.
A knock at the door interrupted as we were finishing breakfast and Jonathan opened the door. I stayed where I was as he came back with Polly, Henry and Martha all ready for school.
‘Henry has something to say,’ Polly announced before anyone spoke.
‘Toby, I am sorry I said being Joseph was the worst thing ever and that Emma Roper would try to kiss you. I think it’s cool actually and I am going to be the donkey, yes, but I will look out for you and if I think Emma Roper is going to try to kiss you then I’ll try to stop her with my tail.’ Henry stood back and looked quite pleased with himself. Jonathan stuffed his fist in his mouth as he did when trying not to laugh.
‘Well, that’s very kind of you, Henry, isn’t it Toby?’ Claire said.
‘I still don’t want to be Joseph though,’ Toby said; he wasn’t going to forgive so easily.
‘I think it’s great, one day I want to be Mary,’ Martha offered.
‘Why don’t you children go and play for five minutes before we leave for school?’ Polly suggested. They all went into the living room but as chatter started up, I realised that Toby was still not really talking. It seemed the nativity issue wasn’t going to be resolved that easily.
‘Right, I better go to work,’ Jonathan said, standing up.
‘Just a minute. We were on the way and we bumped into the Barkers, down the road. They were in such a state – turns out their cat, Tiger, has just passed away. She was very ill, they’re so distraught, poor things, but I know she and Alfie were friends. And George too, I guess,’ Polly said.
‘They were, really good friends,’ Jonathan said. They all looked at me, concern across all their faces. I started yowling and I lay down, finally able to fall apart.
‘And they say cats don’t have feelings,’ Claire said, bending down and stroking me.
‘Well they do, and none more than Alfie,’ Polly added, as I just let myself go.
‘That’s awful,’ Jonathan said. ‘They’re an odd couple, the Barkers, and although not particularly warm they did dote on that cat. Claire, we should drop round some flowers.’
‘I agree, and I’ll get a card,’ Polly said.
As Claire picked me up and cuddled me to her, I showed my grief, and thought that at least my humans were lovely people, and they would show kindness to the Barkers, and I would pull myself together and take care of George. I would also have to go and see our friends later, because they would all be very upset, and I would have to learn to put one paw in front of the other and carry on. But for now, I would just take some time to wallow in my distress. As I felt the warmth of Claire’s arms around me, I couldn’t do anything else. Hearing them say it, my humans, made it abundantly real and I nestled into Claire’s arms and let despair engulf me.
When everyone had gone out, and with still no sign of George, I cleaned myself and went out to see our friends, although it was the last thing I felt like doing. I understood George’s desire to be alone, I shared it in a way, but it wasn’t necessarily healthy and I needed to tell Tiger’s friends what had happened and also find my kitten. It was too much for him to go through alone, even if he did think that was what he wanted. I mustered the tiny amount of reserve strength I had and set out.
I noticed that Connie was going out as I left but I didn’t stop. I saw that Salmon’s owners were at the Barkers’ front door, and although they were terrible busybodies, I also knew they were friends and that they were hopefully going to be able to offer some small comfort to them in their hour of need. Again I didn’t stop.
I carried on to the recreation ground, wondering if anyone would be there. It wasn’t raining, but it was still bitingly cold, and a winter wind whipped around my legs as I walked. To say I arrived looking and feeling windswept was a bit of an understatement. I was relieved to see both Rocky and Nellie there when I arrived. No sign of Elvis, but they would be able to spread theword, and I was sure that Salmon probably knew already, so I wanted Tiger’s friends to hear as soon as possible.
‘Alfie,’ Nellie said, with a sympathetic expression on her face. ‘It’s good to see you, I was wondering where you were. We heard about Tiger.’
‘I take it you guys haven’t seen George?’ I said grimly.
‘No,’ Rocky said. ‘Is the lad alright?’
‘Oh guys, I’m worried about him.’
‘Oh Alfie,’ Nellie said, coming over to nuzzle me. ‘It’s all so sad. I’m going to miss her.’ She hung her head.
‘Me too, Alfie,’ Rocky agreed. ‘It’s the saddest thing, losing someone you love.’
‘And I know we all loved her, which makes all this so hard and not just for me. George said he needed time on his own but I really just need to know he’s alright.’
I found fretting about George was overtaking my grief. I thought of two places he might be. One was Hana’s house, but I discounted that on the grounds that he wanted to be alone. Then there was the house at the end of the street with the angry man. That made more sense. He could be hiding out in the garden, and no one would know he was there. Unless the old man saw him, of course – but if he wanted to be alone, hopefully he would have kept himself hidden.
‘What do you want us to do, Alfie?’ Rocky asked.
‘Well, I wouldn’t mind some help finding George,’ I said. I found it was a bit comforting being among friends but also people who loved Tiger too. As if they would prop me up and stop me from falling. I wanted the same for George.
‘Let’s go and find this jungle of his,’ Nellie suggested. The three of us were about to set off when we saw Elvis coming towards us with George by his side. The sight of him was a huge relief. We all waited, glancing anxiously at each other.
‘Hey,’ Elvis said, solemnly, as they reached us. ‘Sorry to hear about Tiger.’ I noticed that George was looking at his paws.
‘Are you alright?’ I asked George. He swished his tail, sadly.
‘I need to go, I have to eat something and then see Hana,’ he said and without another word he left.
‘I’m guessing George’s not doing so well.’ Elvis was a master at stating the obvious.
‘It’s very early days,’ Rocky pointed out. ‘I mean, it’s barely just happened.’
‘He saw the cat he thought of as his mum die,’ Nellie pushed.
We all nodded. It was a lot for anyone, but especially for such a youngster. I knew, it had happened to me, but of course I hadn’t had anyone else to turn to then. Not the way George had. But we needed to give him time, and some space. I was gladdened by the idea he was going to see Hana; I liked the fact that George had someone who wasn’t connected to the rest of us, I think he needed that. A friend who was just his.
‘I just had an idea,’ Elvis said. We all raised our whiskers at him; he wasn’t one for ideas. ‘We should hold what the humans call a memorial or something like that, for Tiger. They go to church which we can’t do, obviously, but we can all gather here and say goodbye and talk about her. It might help the lad. It might help us all to say goodbye.’
‘Elvis, you’re a genius,’ I said. Something, again, I’d never thought I would hear myself say. ‘We’ll invite all Tiger’s friends, everyone who knew her, and make it a fitting goodbye.’
‘It’s a lovely thing to do, and sooner rather than later,’ Nellie said. ‘I’ll help organise it.’
‘And I’ll get Dustbin to come too,’ I said. ‘Let’s do it in a couple of days. Give us time to arrange things.’
‘Hopefully it will help George,’ Nellie echoed Elvis, and that seemed settled.
‘How do you know about these memorials?’ I asked Elvis.
‘I watch a lot of TV,’ he replied.
At home it was, for once, all about us cats. Toby and the nativity was a banned subject, as was Connie, Sylvie and Aleksy. Polly brought round some pilchards for George and I. And I have to say that even they failed to tempt me but I tried for Polly’s sake. Matt even came to see us after work to give us both a hug. Claire and Jonathan fussed us, more than usual. George was quieter, he ate a bit but he still refused to talk to me other than the odd word. But I could tell he appreciated the care everyone was taking of him.
That night, I tucked him up with Toby, and I nuzzled him.
‘I forgot to tell you, Hana said that someone left a dead mouse on Sylvie’s doorstep. I of course said how kind, but Hana didn’t understand – being a house cat she’s never hunted and apparently Sylvie screamed and asked Connie if she knew anything about it.’
‘Oh.’ Not the reaction I was hoping for.
‘I think she thinks it was because someone was cross with her. I tried to say we leave gifts like that as a sign of love but Hana didn’t know how to tell Sylvie that.’
‘George, it was me. I thought if we left her a gift she might feel wanted on the street.’
‘But you don’t hunt.’
‘No, I got Lucky to do it for me. Never mind, I will have to try harder.’
I knew what I had to do. I had to leave her an even better gift. Oh, so much to do but I couldn’t have Sylvie feeling sad about it, not now I’d started the plan. But I needed to talk to my son about something more important.
‘I know you don’t want to talk right now but I am always here for you, I need you to know that.’
‘I do know, but I’m so sad,’ George said. ‘And I don’t know how to act. I’ve never felt this bad before. Not even when I loved Chanel and I thought I’d drowned her.’ His eyes were so full of pain. Although the less said about that incident the better.
‘None of us do, George, but remember if you need me, or anyone, there are so many people who love you very much and we are all here for you. You don’t have to go through this horrible, horrible time alone.’
‘But I want my Tiger mum, and she’s never going to be here again.’
I had no words, as I let my kitten wail into my neck and I silently wept right along with him.
Chapter Twenty-Three
[Ęŕđňčíęŕ: _25.jpg]
It was the day of the memorial for Tiger. This was a day for her. There are not many areas where humans trump cats, but the memorial idea was one of them. I still didn’t know much about it, but thankfully our television expert, Elvis, filled us in. Normally people wore black, sang songs and said a few words about the person they were saying goodbye to. We had adapted this to our lives and limitations, so we weren’t going to wear black, obviously, but I had instructed everyone to look their best and we were going to each say something about Tiger, before we did a cats’ chorus of goodbyes to her – our version of singing. I hoped it would help George with his grief; I didn’t dare hope it would help me with mine.
But it gave me something to focus on, as we invited cats from our road, even Salmon who Tiger really wasn’t fond of, but I knew that she would have liked having him there. Dustbin was coming as well; Tiger had become part of his life too, and he wanted to say goodbye. George had spoken to Hana about it and she’d told him about something in Japan where humans went to the temples – whatever they were – and left something as a prayer or an offering. George and I didn’t quite grasp that but George was going to take his favourite toy mouse and leave it as something to keep Tiger safe which was very moving. Of course Hana couldn’t come with us, which was sad but there was no way to get herout of the house, even if she had wanted to.
George was quite upset about that and I assured him that as soon as I could I would come up with a plan to get her out or him in. I could see how much he needed a friend and although he had us, she was really just his, and more his age. And also I remember Tiger telling me never to give up on my plans. I almost smiled as I could hear her telling me to never stop with my mad schemes– not that I thought they were mad, of course. And I wouldn’t. Not that I could anyway. They were part of me.
But I thought that if I could find a way to get George and Hana together, it would help him. I wasn’t matchmaking, don’t get me wrong. I wasn’t sure whether George liked her in that way, or she him, and goodness knows relationships among the young could be difficult, but I was determined that their friendship would be a priority for me. He needed her, I knew that. And of course, with everything going on in her house, she also needed him.
George and I had a thorough grooming before he took the toy mouse in his mouth and we set off for the recreation ground and Tiger’s memorial. I could feel the sadness in the way we both walked, slowly, reluctantly almost, and I knew that wasn’t going away any time soon. The grief we felt was inside us but also visible in the way we moved, and how we looked. There was no hiding from it. George dropped his toy a number of times but I didn’t get irritated, I stayed calm. This wasn’t easy for any of us, after all. When we eventually reached the recreation spot, I was moved to see that there was a good turn-out. As well as Nellie, Elvis, Rocky, Tinkerbell and Salmon, Dustbin was there, looking smarter than normal, and some of the other cats from Edgar Road we usually didn’t see much as they were normally nocturnal. Tiger would have been pleased, I thought. I hoped she could see us all. I hoped she knew how many cats had turned out just for her.
Elvis, self-appointed expert on memorials, took the lead.
‘We are gathered here today to remember a very special cat,’ he said. Already I could barely hold it together. I glanced over at George who was staring very intently at the toy mouse. I stood as close to him as he would allow, but I wasn’t sure it made any difference. ‘Tiger was a feisty cat. She didn’t go looking for trouble but she never shied away from a fight if she was protecting her friends and family. I remember the first time I met her, she was having an argument with Tom, and I tried to intervene but she told me that she could more than handle him, and she did. So much so that her and Tom ended up very good friends.’ He paused and raised his whiskers.
I shivered. That was so Tiger. Tom had been a cantankerous cat who lived on our street and when I’d first moved here he really didn’t like me. He wasn’t that pleasant but Tiger sorted him out and they’d ended up very close. No one quite knew why and when I asked her she just shrugged it off and then he moved away with his owner. We had no idea where he was now, or even if he was still alive. Maybe they could both be in heaven arguing together now. I grinned at the thought.
‘We all loved Tiger, we are all going to miss her, none more so than Alfie and young George, here. But it’s only fitting that we remember the good things about Tiger, because there were so many of them, as we sadly say goodbye.’
Elvis was pretty good at this, I thought. He sounded as if he had done this before. He called each cat up in turn to speak about Tiger, recounting their favourite story, or memory. As I felt the love that everyone had for her, it warmed my heart. She would be so missed, but only those that were loved can be missed, I had to remember that. Soon, it was George’s turn. I nuzzled him.
‘Are you alright to do this?’ I asked, full of concern.
‘I need to do it for her,’ he replied and my heart swelled with pride.
‘Tiger mum was my mum,’ George started. I swear there wasn’t a dry whisker in the area. ‘And she was a good mum. She loved me, she protected me. She let me climb trees when my dad didn’t, and she took me on adventures. I think she was probably the best mum a cat could have, and I didn’twant to say goodbye but my dad said we had to, and sometimes in life we had to do what we didn’t want to do, so there was no choice, and I knew he was right. But I didn’t want to lose my Tiger mum, and I just hope she knows how much I loved her, how important she was to me and how I will never stop missing her.’
‘Oh George,’ I said. ‘That was beautiful.’ He nodded, solemnly, and laid down the toy mouse for his mum. Nellie rubbed her eyes with her paws. No one had failed to be moved by George as they all told him how well he’d done.
And then all eyes were on me. I took a breath. I needed to do justice to Tiger, but also I had to do this for George and I guess for me too.
‘So much has already been said about Tiger,’ I began. ‘And it’s been so heart-warming to hear how much she was loved. She was funny, feisty, yes, definitely, and loyal. Tiger was my first real friend on Edgar Road. I remember how I made her come for walks with me when she didn’t want to – she was lazy and spoilt back then – but she soon found her adventurous side, and to be honest, soon became far more adventurous than me. She stood by me, even when she didn’t always want to, she was the dearest, kindest cat ever, and to say I’ll miss her will be a huge understatement. She was always there with a kind word, or a joke to cheer me, she would tell me off when I was behaving badly, or being annoying. She saved me on a number of occasions and, without her by my side, I feel as if I am half the cat I was before. But I know she will always be by my side, if not literally, and when I carry on with life, which at the moment feels impossible – but I know I will – I will remember her always. Tiger, no one wants to say goodbye to you but wherever you are be happy and know how very loved you are, and how loved you will always be.’
I stopped, exhausted, to find myself flanked by Dustbin on one side and George on the other. I let their warmth comfort me, as the other cats all began their cats’ chorus in honour of Tiger. By the way, cats’ chorus is probably not the best way to describe the horrible noise that came out of them, but it was well meant. We cats have never been known for melodic singing. But I hoped that it would bring a smile to Tiger’s lips wherever she was and I looked up to the sky, raising my whiskers to the heavens and saying a silent goodbye. Yet again.
No one wanted to rush off, so we spent a pleasant afternoon in the cold, all huddled up to keep warm, lots of the older cats doing their best to cheer George up. Everyone was being kind to each other; even Salmon was upset and he never got emotional.
‘Bad times, bad times, Alfie,’ he repeated. I knew for him that was a lot. So as we shivered and nuzzled and basked in the glow of friendship that was around, I found some sort of peace. Sad, yes, but also it was good to see how much Tiger meant to everyone and to feel how much we all meant to each other. I knew that the coming days, months, years even, would be hard for us, George and I especially, but today, there was comfort of sorts and I took a mental picture so I could conjure it up whenever I needed to.
‘George,’ I said, gently. My fractured relationship with my son was still a little bit of a see-saw. One minute he was glad of my company, my love, the next he rejected it. I knew this was what I would have to bear for now, until he was ready to talk, or for our relationship to go back to how it was. No, that wasn’t right, it would never fully go back to how it was, I knew that. It would always be different now, without Tiger, but I would wait until he was ready for us to move on to our next phase and hopefully that wouldn’t take too long.
‘Yes?’ he replied.
‘Would you like to go home? Warm up? Take a nap?’ I knew I was fussing but then that was what parents did and I was now a single parent. That thought struck me so hard that it almost winded me. I was going to be doing this on my own from now on.
‘No, I have to go,’ he stated.
‘Where?’ I asked. ‘Can I come with you?’
‘Dad,’ he sighed. ‘I need to be alone, just give me some space.’ It wasn’t a request and he said goodbye to the other cats and started walking in the opposite direction of our house. I knew he was probably going to his ‘jungle’ and the old man and I had to let him, but I also felt I needed to find out more about what he did there. I had only seen the one time when the man seemed angry, and I resolved that I would talk to him about it, later, I would get him to tell me exactly what he was up to there, after all that was what any responsible parent would do. Like it or not, I might be grieving, broken-hearted, exhausted, but first and foremost I was a parent and I needed to parent more than ever now.
However, my grief needed an outlet too, and so that night when everyone was asleep I went outside, and I yowled with all my might at the bottom of the garden, my cries being carried off in the wind.
I was about to go home, when I remembered Sylvie. I had organised another gift for her via Lucky again. After all, this plan was for Sylvie, for Connie and for Aleksy, as well as the friendship that I was trying to rescue and also in memory of Tiger.
The bird was waiting where I’d been told it would be – my new best friend was really proving helpful. As I picked it up and made my way to Sylvie’s doorstep again, I nearly dropped it a couple of times, not least as I squeezed under the gate, but I made it. She would definitely know how much she was cared about now.
Chapter Twenty-Four
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I was failing as a father and as a cat. My feelings of grief weighed heavily on me and I was finding it hard to muster any energy. I had always tried to put my feelings after those of others, but I couldn’t do that as easily as normal right now. I was struggling with the day-to-day functions. Eating, with little appetite. Going out, knowing I would have to walk past Tiger’s house, which was physically painful. Trying to talk to George who still had no real interest in talking to me.
The humans were being very considerate to us. They were sure that we were sad because of Tiger– we were – and so they were being extra nurturing. Toby and Henry were still at loggerheads – things had worsened when Henry had laughed at the play rehearsal when Emma Roper wouldn’t let go of Toby’s hand and Toby was angrier than ever about being Joseph – but I couldn’t worry aboutthat. Nor could I fret too much when Franceska came round to say how upset Aleksy still was, throwing himself into earning money so he could buy Connie a nice present, and how her mum was still unmovable. Apparently Connie had even asked her father to intervene, which he had, via Skype, but Sylvie said that he’d given up being a parent when he left them for another woman and it just made things worse. George was still visiting Hana, but he was so closed off that he didn’t seem to want to talk to me about that either.
I did manage to ascertain that the bird gift hadn’t gone down very well. What was wrong with these humans? This time, according to Hana, Sylvie had accused Aleksy of doing it to punish her. Of course Aleksy never would but the idea that he was being blamed for my brilliant plan was devastating. I had to think like a human and not a cat. Despitebeing wrapped in grief, I needed to put this right, because so far my plan was making things worse.
I lay in my bed, in our empty house, and I talked to Tiger. I told her about the gifts and I could picture her there in my head. Her stripy fur, the way she would square up to any other cat, dog or anyone for those she loved. I knew that she would be sad about the way George and I were at the moment and I could hear her telling me that we needed each other more than ever, so to go and do something about it. It was startling how clear her voice was, how loud, how forceful. And I hadn’t always done what Tiger told me to when she was alive, but I was going to now. Even if it was only a lone voice in my head. I needed to listen, I needed guidance. Sometimes when you felt at your worst, you had to pull through rather than give into it. Tiger was dead, that was the most horrible thing to recognise, but I wasn’t, and I needed to keep living, but more important than that I had to show my kitten how to keep living.
With a slightly renewed sense of energy, I got up, stretched fully– I had been in bed longer than normal so felt very scrunched up – and cleaned myself up ready to leave the house. I walked past the living room where the Christmas tree lights were off, due to no one being home, and I thought about the festive period. It was a time for love, and goodwill to all men – and cats – so I needed to rally myself and my troops and make sure that I did Tiger proud by making this Christmas a good one. It wouldn’t be the best, it couldn’t be without her by my side, but it would be as good as it could be. And I was the cat to make sure of it.
Feeling amazingly confident and armed with my new purpose, I went to find George. He might not have wanted to talk to me but I would show him that he needed to. I made my way to the end of the street, it was drizzly, cold, and miserable but I kept going. I ignored the damp feeling in my fur, the ache in my legs, the pain in my heart, and I heard Tiger’s voice egging me on every step of the way.
I got to the house and scanned the front garden for George. There was no immediate sign but then the garden really was an overgrown mess. I spotted George beneath a browning bush and I approached him. I wasn’t going to pretend any more.
‘What are you doing here?’ he asked, raising his whiskers angrily at me.
‘George, you know you are entitled to spend time on your own, and I’m not going to stop that, but I am your father, and I’m entitled to check that you’re safe if I feel I need to.’ I was stern.
‘As you can see, I am.’ He shuffled around so he had his back to me.
‘George, I miss Tiger every second of the day, and I know you do too, but we’ve still got each other. We’re lucky to have that so it’s important you don’t push me away.’
‘But—’ he started.
‘No, no buts. I’m here for you, I love you and you have to know that. You can be angry, you can be sad, you can be whatever you need to be, but you can’t push away the people who love you, because that, George, isn’t going to help at all.’
‘I don’t mean to push you away,’ he said, his voice small.
‘Then why do you?’ I asked, kindly.
‘Because I’m scared. I didn’t know that you could get pain like this and what happens if I lose you too?’ He looked at me, his words coated in sadness, his eyes spilling over with fear. My heart, which was already in pieces, shattered a bit more. ‘I know you said you wouldn’t go for a long time but then with Tiger mum, she didn’t know, so that could happen to you.’
‘I can’t promise I’ll always be here, George, I wish I could. But, we have been through this, you’ve got me for a very long time. I’m incredibly healthy, and I’m not going anywhere right now.’ I was actually and on the whole took very good care of myself, I ate well, I exercised and Ieven ensured I drank plenty of water. ‘And I’m younger than Tiger was. I’ll take care of myself and do whatever I can to stick around for as long as I can, but you know what this whole death thing teaches us?’
‘No,’ he stated. I wasn’t sure either, but I ploughed on regardless.
‘It teaches us to make the most of living our lives. Make the most of our families, our friends, our fellow cats and our humans. If anything does happen to me – not that it will – you have Claire, Jonathan, Polly, Matt, Franceska, Tomasz and the kids, not to mention all the cats who were herefor Tiger earlier. We are the lucky ones, George, and although it might not feel like it right now, it might never feel like it, try to remember that. Live your life to the full, that is what Tiger would have wanted. And also don’t push away those who love you. She would have told you that too.’
George stood up; he appeared to be thinking. I hoped, prayed I had got through to him.
‘You’re right, Dad, and I know it but the sad feeling is so strong.’
‘I know, son.’
‘But I will try and I’ll talk to you more about how I feel. Is that a deal?’
‘Yes, and not only will I listen but I will help you, that’s what I’m here for.’
‘Oh, come and meet my friend,’ George said, animatedly, and I saw the glint of the kitten I used to know. He sprang up and ran up to the windowsill. I reluctantly followed him. He sat on the windowsill and I saw the old man sitting in a chair. It was dark in the house, and as soon as he spottedGeorge, the man tried to pull himself out of the chair, which seemed to take an age; he didn’t look in good shape. He finally hauled himself up and started waving his fist.
‘Get lost,’ he shouted. ‘Get lost, I tell you.’ His words flew through the window pane.
‘George, he doesn’t sound very friendly,’ I pointed out.
‘What do you mean?’ George waved a paw at the man, who shook his fist again. ‘We’re waving, look.’
‘He’s telling you to get lost, and his face is all red,’ I said carefully, glad that there was a window between us.
‘Oh no, he thinks “Get Lost” is my name,’ George said. ‘He loves playing our game with me, we’re very good friends.’
For a moment I was lost for words. I remembered back to how, when George got his first crush on the horrible Chanel, she would hiss at him and he took that as affection. Nothing I could say would persuade him otherwise. George did have a history of misinterpretation, and it looked as if this was a similar situation. I was still unsure how I would convince him that this man didn’t like him, when the man suddenly came to the window and opened it wide, nearly knocking us both flying. I sprang back off the sill but George somehow managed to jump inside the house. I didn’t realise it until too late.
‘Get lost,’ the man shouted.
I jumped back up on the windowsill.‘Oh my,’ I exclaimed.
What would happen to George now? I felt fear welling up inside me. This man could really hurt my boy, and I had to stop him.
‘Oh, this is a new part of the game,’ I heard George say as he dodged the old man. I was about to go in – no matter what, I needed to protect my boy – but then I stopped as the old man went a funny colour and then fell over. He was going to fall on George.
‘Yowl,’ I shouted and George managed to jump out of the way before the man reached the ground. ‘Um, George, I don’t think it’s a game any more, he’s lying on the floor.’ I couldn’t see much as it was so dark inside, but the man didn’t appear to be moving and George sprang to his side.
‘Do you think he’s alright?’ George looked at me, stricken. This was all we needed, having just lost Tiger, he couldn’t lose his new friend. Even if the man didn’t like him. I had to think and act quickly.
‘I’ll go and get one of the humans,’ I said. ‘They’ll know what to do. Do you want to come with me?’
‘No, I better stay here, I don’t want him to be alone,’ George replied.
I was in luck. Just as I was a few paw strides from the house, wondering who would be home, I saw Jonathan and Matt walking along the street. I ran in front of them.
‘Hey Alfie, we’re just going home from the pub, football,’ Matt explained.
‘YOWL,’ I cried at the top of my lungs.
‘Oh no, don’t tell me this is another cat emergency,’ Jonathan moaned. It wasn’t my fault that there seemed to be quite a few lately. I jumped on his foot, which caused him to say a bad word.
‘YOWL,’ I screeched again. I then did my signal of running round in circles, before they both seemed to get it.
‘Alfie, you do pick your moments, I’m really hungry,’ Jonathan complained, but I was already hightailing it back to the man’s house.
‘Where the hell are we going?’ They were finally following. I ran as fast as my legs would take me back to the open window. George hadn’t moved, he was right by the man’s side.
‘Meow,’ he greeted us with relief.
‘What on earth,’ Matt peered in the window, ‘is that?’
‘There’s an old man on the ground, I think. With George,’ Jonathan said. ‘It’s dark though.’
‘I’m calling an ambulance. Thank goodness for these cats,’ Matt said, pulling his phone out and dialling.
‘I’ll try to break in,’ Jonathan said, shoving the front door with his shoulder, which didn’t move. ‘Ow,’ he said, rubbing it. I climbed in through the window, trying to show him how it was done. ‘Oh, I guess I can go in that way,’ Jonathan said. It was a bit of a tight squeeze but he made it.
‘Great, why didn’t we think of that?’ Matt rolled his eyes as Jonathan came round and opened the front door for him. ‘Ambulance is on its way.’
Jonathan’s hands were shaking as he opened the door and they both ran in, with me on their heels. The house was freezing. Matt bent down.
‘He’s still alive,’ he said, face flushed with relief. ‘But he’s so cold. Can you go and see if you can find a blanket?’
‘Sure thing,’ Jonathan said, rushing off. George nuzzled into him as close as he could.
‘I’m going to try to keep him warm,’ he whispered to me. I nodded. ‘I can’t let him die too.’ My heart would have broken all over again but I wasn’t sure there was enough left to break just at the moment.
‘Get lost,’ the man said, but so quietly that only we could hear him.
By the time the ambulance arrived, the man, whose name we didn’t know, was wrapped in blankets, and his breathing was steadier. Looking a bit shaken up, Jonathan and Matt stood back to let the paramedics do their job. George and I did the same. Then the paramedics said if the man had been left in the cold for too much longer he might have got hypothermia. It seemed we had saved him and it was all really thanks to George.
Jonathan established what hospital they would be taking the man to and he told them that he and Matt would go there to try to sort things out as they didn’t know anything about him or his family. There were a few photos on the wall of a woman and a boy, and then of the same boy as a young man. Matt searched and found a wallet in the man’s coat pocket, which was hanging by the front door. It had a bus pass in it, for a Harold Jenkins. But there was no other information to hand.
‘Hopefully when he comes round we’ll be able to find out who his family is,’ Jonathan said. ‘God, I wish Claire was here, she’d know what to do.’
‘Meow,’ I said. They could figure this out, surely.
‘Shall we see if we can find some pyjamas to take for him? Maybe a book or something, that’s what Polly would suggest.’ Thank goodness, I thought, at least they were being a bit practical.
‘Good thinking.’ Matt and Jonathan went upstairs and we followed them. The house was a bit of a mess, and none of the lights seemed to work, although they found one that did in the man’s bedroom.
‘Bulbs need changing,’ Matt said. ‘God, being old and alone is depressing.’
They found some clean pyjamas in a drawer and a pair of reading glasses by the bed. They took them and a few bits from the bathroom, which looked as if it was in need of a clean.
‘He obviously can’t really cope on his own,’ Jonathan said. ‘I hope he’s got family. I think I need to start training Summer and Toby up to take care of me when I’m old.’
‘I hear you,’ Matt said. ‘And good work, Alfie and George, he’ll probably be alright thanks to you,’ he finished, as he ushered us all out of the house, locking the door behind him.
I looked at George as Matt and Jonathan set off to get to the hospital.
‘You did so well,’ I said.
‘I hope he’s going to be OK?’ George looked at me, his eyes full of fear.
‘It sounds as if he will be and it’s all thanks to you.’ I nuzzled him and then I took my son home.
Chapter Twenty-Five
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‘These guys really earned their pilchards today,’ Jonathan said, jubilantly, as my families all sat round the dinner table. Although we’d had little to celebrate lately, I was slightly buoyed by the fact that today had turned out so well, as was George.
‘Tell us exactly what happened,’ Franceska pushed. I licked my lips. So, yes I had been off my food since losing Tiger, but the fresh, plump pilchards were mouthwatering, particularly after the busy day we’d had. I’m only a cat, after all.
‘So, we were on our way back from watching football …’ As Jonathan launched into the story, George and I launched into our dinner. George was happier now that Harold was safely in hospital, and was going to be alright. Jonathan and Matt had gone to see him, taking him his things, and had found he was stable. He had something called a blood sugar problem which caused him to faint, but I didn’t understand much about that, not being a doctor. The point was that it wasn’t serious. But what was serious was the fact he wasn’t taking care of himself, or according to the hospital, not capable of taking care of himself.
It turned out that Harold had a virus and had been struggling to go out. So although he’d had some food delivered, he hadn’t seen anyone, not even a doctor, because he ‘didn’t believe in them’. Which was a bit rich when he ended up in hospital surrounded by them. He hadn’t been able to pay for his heating, because for that he needed to go to the post office, so that was why the house was cold. He was too proud to ask anyone for help, so he’d been suffering alone and it could have ended very badly for him.
‘But surely he has family?’ Claire asked.
‘Thankfully, he has a son, Marcus, who he’d fallen out with. Not sure exactly what happened but something to do with him getting divorced – Marcus not Harold – and Harold doesn’t believe in divorce,’ Matt explained.
I wondered what Harold did believe in– not doctors, not divorce, nor cats, it seemed.
Matt continued.‘He lost his wife, Marcus’ mum, to cancer a few years ago, and he’s a proud and stubborn man. So Marcus and he haven’t spoken for over a year. We persuaded him to give us his number though,’ he said. ‘I said if the hospital didn’t think he had anyone to help him they’d never let himout. That did the trick.’
Jonathan smiled.‘Yeah, and I called Marcus and he seemed pretty nice. He was upset that he had let things go this far with his dad though, and he rushed to the hospital. I gave him our number because he said he was going to sort the house out, and so I said we’d help. I mean, the state of the place.’
‘Where’s the son from then?’ Tomasz asked.
‘He lives nearby, which is the worst thing, about ten minutes away from here, but he has been through a divorce and various job issues, so he’s been a bit preoccupied. But he seems decent,’ Matt said.
‘Yeah, it sounds as if he’s had a hard time, as well as his dad, but Harold is quite a difficult character by all accounts. So although it’s sad they fell out, it’s not irrevocable. It’s like George and Alfie brought them back together.’ Jonathan grinned. ‘With our help of course, eh Matt?’
‘I’m so proud of you, you are such a softy underneath it all,’ Claire said, giving her husband’s hair a tousle.
‘Get off,’ Jonathan said, but he was pink and smiling, under his not-so-tough exterior.
‘The thing is that Harold told us that George had been visiting him for a while and he kept telling him to get lost but he wouldn’t, which of course sounds just like both our cats,’ Matt explained.
‘And now, because George and Alfie saved him, he said he would welcome him anytime. Poor old chap, miserable because he can’t cope with not coping, if you know what I mean,’ Jonathan added.
‘Pol, I said you’d help Marcus get the house sorted, if you don’t mind? It’s just a dump at the moment, dirty, threadbare carpet, furniture falling apart, and Marcus said he would pay for anything, he feels so guilty. And I also said we’d help do the garden,’ Matt explained.
‘Which is so annoying because it’s December and freezing,’ Jonathan pointed out. Not to mention that he didn’t even do any work in his own garden. Claire normally did it.
‘We’ll all rally, that’s what this community is all about,’ Claire said. ‘I can give his son the number of a cleaner, so the house can be spotless, and we have some old furniture you might be able to use, Polly.’
‘When he comes home from hospital we should throw him a welcome-home dinner,’ Franceska suggested. ‘I will bring food from the restaurant and then he knows he has friends around here.’
‘That is such a lovely idea,’ Polly said. ‘And of course I’ll get the house sorted. God, getting old isn’t much fun, is it?’
‘Polly, we’re no way near there yet,’ Tomasz pointed out, and they all laughed.
As I licked my lips after polishing off the pilchards I smiled at my humans. I had taught them all well. And my kitten, well, I couldn’t be prouder of him either and I knew Tiger would have been too.
George and I left the adults planning how they were going to help with Harold and Marcus, and went to check on the children. It wasn’t a happy sight. Summer and Martha were both unnaturally quiet, Toby and Henry weren’t talking and Tommy and Aleksy were trying to bring about some kind of truce. In my experience, once one thing got sorted, another problem reared its ugly head. And suddenly there was no shortage of them roundhere.
‘Right, so have I got this straight?’ Aleksy asked. ‘Toby is not talking to Henry because Henry is a donkey and Toby is Joseph?’
Both boys nodded and Tommy and Aleksy exchanged a smile. I couldn’t believe the change in Aleksy since the last time I saw him. He was happier, he was engaging with the younger children and the adults, and more importantly with me. He was like a different person and I hoped that it was because things with Connie were settling down, or he was being grown-up about it. Whichever, it was great, and one less thing for me to worry about.
‘Toby, Joseph is the main part. I was Joseph once and I loved it,’ Aleksy said. Toby glared at him, suspiciously.
‘But you did drop the baby Jesus,’ Tommy pointed out.
‘Yes, but I picked him up quickly,’ Aleksy replied. Both boys laughed.
‘Hey, I’ve got an idea,’ Tommy said suddenly. ‘I will make sure that you are remembered for being Joseph and you, Henry, as the donkey, will be able to help too. But before I share this idea, you two have to be friends again.’
Henry and Toby glanced at each other uncertainly.
‘What’s the plan?’ Henry asked.
‘No, no friendship, then no plan.’ Tommy whispered into Aleksy’s ear, and he laughed.
‘We will get into so much trouble, but what a brilliant idea,’ Aleksy said.
‘OK, let’s be friends again,’ Toby said, unable to resist, and he and Henry shook hands. Tommy gathered us all close in and he whispered the plan. He even let Summer and Martha in on it, but everyone, including me and George, were sworn to secrecy. I didn’t know what to think, as I listened. The kids thought it was great, I wasn’t so sure. I knew some of my plans were a bit crazy, but this really took the biscuit. Or the baby Jesus. Aleksy was right, we would get into trouble. Big trouble.
‘Are you sure?’ Toby asked. He wasn’t very good at not doing what he was told, he was such a good boy.
‘I am, I think it’s brilliant,’ Tommy said, immodestly.
‘I think it’s amazing too,’ Martha said.
‘Meow,’ George agreed. Well, he would.
‘And, you know, it will remind us that we’re not just friends, but family, and therefore we do it for each other,’ Aleksy said, which made me want to weep. OK, that did it, so I was in too.
‘Meow,’ I agreed.
As they discussed the finer details, I hoped that it wouldn’t go wrong as many of my plans had in the past, but then I decided that we all needed cheering up and this might just do it. It might do the opposite, but I wasn’t going to think about that. It had reunited and bonded all the children. George was hopping with excitement and I knew this would take his mind off Tiger a bit, which could only be a good thing. So, I high-fived Tommy with my paw, to reiterate that I was all in.
‘You did such a great job today,’ I said to George as we took our last bit of air in the garden before bed. We were both exhausted, it had been such a long day.
‘I didn’t know he was that bad, but I’m glad I could help him,’ George said. ‘And doubly glad he might call me George now instead of “Get Lost”.’ There was no convincing George that the man didn’t like him.
‘Well, I am incredibly proud of you,’ I said. I thought that if I reminded George every day how great he was, it might make things a bit easier for him, navigating his grief.
‘Thanks Dad. I’m just happy he has his son now, and it made me realise how bad it was when I tried to pull away from you. I’m sorry.’
I was so choked up.‘Don’t be sorry, but let’s not do that again, I missed you, I missed our relationship, doing things together. How’s Hana, have you seen her?’
‘Not much, but it’s funny, she said that her owner, Sylvie, is still upset about the mouse and the bird. Apparently she keeps going on about it.’
‘Right, we better put this right – I mean, I better put this right. I know, women like getting flowers.’ I had tried to woo Snowball with flowers once. It hadn’t gone to plan but she had appreciated the gesture.
‘They do. Claire loves it when Jonathan gives her flowers.’
‘So, let’s go and get some flowers and leave them on her doorstep. Then she will know that they’re gifts and nothing bad.’
‘Great idea, Dad, I’ll help you dig some up. Polly’s are nicest. But, there is something I’d like you to do.’
‘What’s that, son?’
‘Figure out a way for me to get to see Hana, properly, I mean. I’ve been wrapped up in my sad feelings but she is sad too. She loved being an indoor cat in Japan, she had lots of people around her, but now she’s alone a lot and her house is very unhappy, so she needs a friend like me.’
‘I’ll do whatever I can,’ I said, meaning it. ‘Everyone needs a friend like you, George.’
Chapter Twenty-Six
[Ęŕđňčíęŕ: _28.jpg]
Claire came into the house, having dropped all the children off at school and immediately called Franceska on the phone.
‘Hi,’ Claire said. ‘I just bumped into Sylvie. I’m seriously worried, she said that someone is out to get her.’
There was a pause.
‘Because she’s had a dead mouse, bird and now dead flowers left on her doorstep. I tried to reassure her that no one would do such a thing but she’s not convinced.’
Another pause.
‘Yes, I’m sorry, Frankie, but she thinks it might be Aleksy.’
Pause.
‘I told her he wouldn’t do anything like that, but it is a bit weird, isn’t it?’
Pause.
‘Yes, but of course it’s not Aleksy, and I told her, don’t worry, but I thought you might need a heads-up. Oh, and Polly was telling me today that someone had taken some of her flowers from the garden. How weird is that?’
It was beginning to sink in that my plan may have been a bit foolish. I hadn’t taken into account that Sylvie was a mere human and not as highly sophisticated as us cats. Yet again I had expected too much and I wondered if Tiger would be laughing at me in heaven or wherever she was – of course she would. No more ill-thought-out gifts, I would need a new plan.
On the plus side, we were about to have a breakthrough with the Hana situation. I gleaned from Claire and Polly’s conversation about the dead things that Sylvie was still refusing to have anything much to do with us, but she was working longer hours, and had told Claire that a lady called Susan had just started coming to the house to clean it – apparently so Claire didn’t think she was a burglar. I think that Sylvie was showing that she did want to communicate after all but she still didn’t know how, that was my take.
I immediately formed a plan, and explained it to George. All we needed to do was to find out when this Susan came, and then get George into the house with her. It would bank on her not throwing him out but, after all, no one could resist George. OK, well perhaps Harold could, but we had a feeling this Susan loved cats and so wouldn’t be immune to his charms. Hopefully anyway.
So, George and I cased the house, waiting for her. We knew Susan came after Connie had left for school and Sylvie for work. It became part of our daily routine. We would breakfast, then clean ourselves, and when everyone from our house left for school we would go and camp out next door. We’d wait in the front garden, sheltering from the cold under a fat bush, and if there was no sign by lunchtime we would know she wasn’t going to turn up, so I’d head home and George would go and visit with Hana through the glass. The routine helped me; although I was still pining for Tiger, I appreciated being kept busy. As did George. It was helping us to rebuild our relationship too, spending time together. We chatted as we waited, and I felt closer to George, once again.
We struck lucky on the third day, when a lady unlatched the gate and made her way up the front path. She was wearing jeans, had her hair tied back and looked very friendly, I thought. As we watched her approach the front door, I gestured for George to go.
‘Go in with her, quick,’ I said as the lady stood on the doorstep, fumbling around in her pocket for a key. He started to move towards her and then stopped.
‘Dad, you forgot to tell me how to get out again?’
‘Make sure you leave when she does, son,’ I said. Bless him, I thought, he still had a lot to learn. I crossed my paws that this would all work out as I watched George slip in between Susan’s legs as she began to walk through the door.
‘Who do we have here?’ she said, bending down.
‘Meow,’ George said. I saw Hana come to the door, and I saw her eyes widen as she saw George there. They greeted each other with a nuzzle and then Susan shut the door. He was in.
I felt warm; George and Hana were together for now and I hoped they had a nice time together. I also hoped he came back with a lot more information. Actually, more than anything, I hoped he remembered to leave with Susan.
Feeling satisfied, I stared at the closed front door for a few minutes before I headed back. I imagined that, as Susan got on with her work, George and Hana would have a tour of the house, as I had that time I’d got stuck inside, and they would play together, chat, really enjoying their time together. I raised my whiskers at another job well done.
Back at our house, I found Claire, Polly and a man I hadn’t met before sitting round the kitchen table with a notepad and pen in front of them. I was curious as I jumped up onto Claire’s lap.
‘Marcus, this is Alfie, one of our cats who alerted us to your father.’ Ah, so this was Marcus. He was nothing like I’d expected. I’d expected a slightly younger version of the angry, red-faced man, but he was tall, slim and about the same age as Matt and Jonathan at a guess. He had curly dark hair, glasses, and he looked very kind. Nothing like his father.
‘I still can’t believe your cats saved my father, it’s crazy,’ he said, with a small laugh.
‘I know, it takes a bit to get your head around how Alfie and George are,’ Polly explained. ‘It’s taken us years to get used to it, but Alfie is a remarkable cat and we like to think he’s training George up to be the same.’ She stroked me and gave me one of my favourite head scratches. Just what I needed.
Marcus leant over and petted me. I immediately liked him, he had very soft, warm hands.
‘How do I thank them?’ he asked. ‘I’m guessing, no matter how clever they are, they won’t read a thank you note.’ The women both laughed and I added good sense of humour to his list of attributes.
‘Buy them some fish, that always works,’ Claire said, still tittering. ‘Or any kind of delicious treats.’
‘Meow!’ It really would.
‘Right, I can do that. So, let’s look at the list. I can’t believe how nice you’ve all been.’
‘Hey, don’t mention it. I wish I’d known that he was there before, we could have helped,’ Claire said. A darker look passed over Marcus’ face.
‘I feel so damn guilty, but it was a really bad time. My wife cheated on me, my dad didn’t approve of me divorcing her, then I sold my company, because I wanted to have a fresh start, and that took quite a lot of work. I still work for them, but as a consultant…Anyway, there was a lot going on in my life, and I let my stupid pride get in the way. Dad and I are both too proud for our own good actually, it’s one of our biggest faults, but I should have kept an eye on him, I should have made sure he was alright. I’d have never forgiven myself if anything happened to him.’
‘Hey, it all worked out. You’ve had a wake-up call and now you are going to make sure your relationship is repaired,’ Polly pointed out. My women were so kind.
‘So you’re single?’ Claire asked and I swished my tail; Claire and I did like to matchmake but perhaps this wasn’t quite the time.
‘Yes?’ he replied, sounding worried.
‘Ignore her, Claire is the matchmaker of the group, but Claire, we don’t know anyone we could try to set Marcus up with, do we?’ Polly stated, firmly.
‘Well, no, apart from Sylvie.’
‘Who’s not even talking to us, remember,’ Polly said.
‘Who’s Sylvie?’ Marcus looked confused and I couldn’t blame him. Although it wasn’t a bad idea. If Sylvie hadn’t been totally insane, of course.
‘No one to worry about right now, but what we do need to sort out is the house. How long before your dad is out of hospital?’
‘They said about another week. But in that time I need to get it cleaned up and sort out some furniture. I’d like to redecorate but I don’t see that we have time, not to mention that garden and getting the front of the house painted.’ He looked worried.
‘That’s why we’re here. Polly and I are going to put together a roster. We’ve cleaned the house, so that’s a start,’ Claire said. ‘Although it won’t all be finished, we can get a lot done in a week.’
‘Thank you so much.’
‘So, painting first off. I’ve roped a couple of guys in to help us, and the carpets can be laid, all you need to do is choose the colours. Then there’s furniture – we can get some of it sorted now but some might need to be ordered so we will make do with what we’ve got for now. The gardenwill be tidied up a bit before your dad comes home, but again, that might take longer, and the outside painting will be last.’
‘As I said, I’m willing to pay, and also for your time,’ Marcus said.
‘Marcus, we are doing this out of friendship, that’s what we do. But let’s go to the DIY store now to get supplies, and you can bring your credit card for that,’ Polly said.
‘I’ll pick up the kids and give them tea,’ Claire offered. ‘That way you guys have longer to get everything you need.’
‘What would I have done without you, cats and husbands included?’ Marcus said, shaking his head as if he couldn’t believe it.
‘Well, luckily you don’t have to worry about that, you’re part of our Edgar Road family now. And I know you’re going to stay with your dad for a bit, but it’ll be good to know that we’re just down the road when you’re not there.’ Claire smiled.
‘That means a lot. I’m a bit thin on the friendship ground, what with the divorce and everything.’ He looked sad but then he smiled; I could tell he no longer felt alone.
I raised my whiskers, all this friendly chat and caring was making me very tired. For the first time in days, I drifted off into sleep, feeling almost peaceful.
Someone licked my head, interrupting my dreams. I opened my eyes slowly to see George standing over me. I’d almost forgotten to worry about him, actually I had. The sleep that I’d had was desperately needed, I couldn’t remember the last time I’d had rest like that.
‘Dad,’ he said, as I extended my paws and started to stretch.
‘You got out OK?’ Thank goodness. That wasn’t my best parenting – going to sleep and forgetting about my child – but thankfully it had been fine, he was fine.
‘Oh yes. It was so good, and I got out easily. I told Hana that we would stay close to Susan, but not so she could hear our chat, but so we knew when she was leaving. It was so nice to see her properly and have a conversation which we could actually hear. The house is very nice. Not much stuff around but Hana said they lived in a smaller space in Japan and did something called “minimalism”.’ His voice was so animated, I hadn’t heard him so full of enthusiasm since before Tiger told him she was ill. ‘The best thing is that Susan is coming back in two days, she comes in twice a weeknow. Apparently Sylvie isn’t very good at cleaning and also she worries about Hana being left alone, so she comes in, for two hours twice a week! Which means that I can see Hana all that time.’ He sounded happier than I had heard him in ages.
‘So how was it?’ I asked. I didn’t want to burst his bubble but I was curious.
‘Well, as I said, the house was lovely, and Susan is sweet. Hana has raw fish for food nearly all the time! And she eats rice, and I got to try some.’
‘Rice, really? And did you like that?’ I’d never tried rice.
‘It was OK. I prefer my food to be honest but it was good to try it. But Hana is lonely though, we were right.’
‘Go on.’ We were getting to the interesting part, I could tell.
‘Well, she loved her life in Japan. She didn’t spend much time alone, there were always people around. Sylvie, her ex-husband, Connie, and the house was normally full of their friends too. But now she’s alone so much and when Sylvie and Connie are home they don’t really talk to each other and they shout if they do.’
‘We guessed that was the case, didn’t we?’ I tilted my head sympathetically.
‘Yes, but things have taken a turn that you and I didn’t even think of,’ he said.
‘What, George?’ I had a bad feeling in my fur.
‘Remember you said how Aleksy was working to buy Connie a present?’
‘Yes.’ I willed him to hurry up, but he wasn’t one for rushing a story.
‘He lied to his mum a bit, because he bought her a phone yesterday, and she hid it under her pillow and they do that talking thing where you don’t talk but write.’
‘George, are you talking about texting?’ I had a very bad feeling.
‘Yes, they do texting, which means that of course Hana doesn’t know what they are saying because she can’t read. She thinks they do still talk but only when Connie shuts the door and Hana is outside. Of course her mum doesn’t know.’
‘George, I have a bad feeling about this. Was there anything else?’
‘Sylvie cries a lot, she’s very lonely, she isn’t coping so well. It’s not a happy house at the moment, but it is very nice and clean. Susan is a very good cleaner.’
Chapter Twenty-Seven
[Ęŕđňčíęŕ: _29.jpg]
‘Perhaps I should go and see Dustbin, just in case, see if he knows anything.’ I said later, starting to fret yet again after having had time to digest all the information George had given me.
‘OK, but I’m tired, so I think I better wait here for Summer and Toby. It’s been another busy day,’ George yawned.
‘And you know if Dustbin did know anything urgent, he would come and find us, so he probably doesn’t.’ The idea of walking all that way right now wasn’t appealing to me either.
George and I made our way downstairs, me trying to decide what to do. We had reached the kitchen when the cat flap bashed loudly. We both ran as quickly as we could and slid through, to find Dustbin standing on the other side.
‘Talk of the devil,’ I said. ‘I was just trying to decide if I had to come and see you, because George found out that Aleksy got Connie a phone,’ I gushed.
‘Ah, you know about that, yes he did. And I came to you as soon as I could, but I was very busy. The rodents seem to be more determined in winter.’
‘At least you’re here now. There’ll be big trouble if anyone finds out about the phone,’ I said, raising my whiskers worriedly. Aleksy and Connie were playing with fire. I understood how frustrating love could be, especially when you were young, but still.
‘Yeah, it’s worse than that,’ Dustbin said.
‘What?’ My fur stood on end.
‘I heard him speaking to her last night in the yard. They are planning on running away.’
I wondered if Tiger could see me and what she would be thinking if she could. Slightly out of ideas, we held our crisis council at the recreation ground. Thankfully, as Dustbin, George and I approached, Nellie, Elvis and Rocky were all there. It was a good time, before tea and before it got dark, and I was grateful for my friends. We needed to come up with a plan; it needed to be quick and I needed their input.
‘According to what Dustbin heard, we think they might be planning on running away tonight, late, when it’s dark and everyone is asleep,’ I finished, having filled them in the whole situation.
‘Oh dear,’ Nellie said, licking her paws in concern. ‘I don’t like the sound of this.’
‘The poor kids just want to be together,’ Elvis said. ‘I saw something like that on TV once, and I have to say I don’t blame them. Parents have a lot to answer for.’
George flicked his eyes towards me worriedly.
‘Not you Alfie, of course.’ Of course not. I’d tried to help George get together with Hana, not keep them apart – although that was just friendship. And yes, I had tried to warn him off Chanel, but that was because she didn’t like him. No, in the case of Aleksy and Connie, I was fully supportive. But not of them running away. Running away never solved anything. Not to mention that London at night was full of danger.
‘Well,’ Rocky said. ‘I think there’s only one thing for it.’
‘What is that?’ I asked, impatiently. If there was a solution, I wanted it. What with how full my head was at the moment, I was finding it hard to think.
‘Stop them,’ Rocky said.
‘Great, I think we know that,’ I said, a little snappily. ‘But how?’
‘Don’t snap, Alfie, we’re only trying to help,’ Nellie bristled.
‘Sorry, sorry, it’s a bit tough right now.’
‘But hey, Rocky’s right, we just need to stop them, literally.’ Dustbin’s eyes lit up as he seemed to be thinking. And then I got it.
‘Sorry Rocky, you are right. We need to lie in wait for Aleksy, and make so much of a commotion that he’ll think we’re going to wake his family up, or we actually do wake his family up, and he’ll have no choice but to abandon running away.’ My brain was back in proper operation now.
‘Oh, good idea, Dad, but what about Connie?’ George sensibly asked.
‘Go and tell Hana, if you can. I know it’ll be through the window but fill her in and see if she will try to stop Connie. It’d be easier if we could get in there to help but it’ll have to be down to her, I’m afraid. Once again, thanks guys, you are the best friends a cat could have. And Ihope that Aleksy and Connie appreciate us.’
‘They probably won’t, not if you stop them running away,’ George pointed out, sensibly.
‘Not right now but my job, our job, is to keep them safe,’ I explained.
‘And it’s not safe out there, not for teenagers or most cats,’ Dustbin explained. ‘Honestly, if they did run away, I shudder to think how they’ll manage. I mean, Aleksy hasn’t exactly got survival skills.’
‘I’ll go to Dustbin tonight, and help him stop Aleksy. If he sees me there he’ll know that somehow we’ve foiled his plan and it might make him think again.’
I was a little cross now I thought about it. Aleksy was normally the sensible one but running away, late at night, was not clever and it was far from sensible. It was also not going to happen. As the others discussed the plan, I listened but I couldn’t help but think about the other day, when Tommy had come up with his plan for the nativity and Aleksy had said he’d help, as if nothing was amiss. And his good mood must have been down to this crazy running-away idea. I wasn’t happy with him at all.
I would not let this family fall apart. I would not let Aleksy and Connie run away. Yes, their situation was unfair, and yes, they should have been allowed to have their relationship, within the limits of their age, but this was not the way to go about getting Sylvie to change her mind. I worried that if she got wind of it then she’d lock Connie up at boarding school, far far away, whether she could afford to or not.
I calmed down as George and I headed home, and I felt confident in our plan. George had asked to come with us but I pointed out that Toby would worry if he wasn’t there. Although our plan didn’t involve any of my usual dangers, things could always go wrong, so knowing George was safely tucked up at home would be one less thing for me to worry about. The ideal outcome would be that we stopped Aleksy without his parents finding out and the same with Connie. Then they would realise how foolish they were being and rethink their behaviour. George and I parted ways and he went to Hana’s house and I went back to ours.
Marcus was at our house again. He had paint smeared on one of his glasses lenses, and he and Jonathan were both drinking beer and laughing. They seemed to get on well and I thought he would be a welcome addition to Edgar Road– although I had said the same about Sylvie not long ago.
I didn’t have much time to listen to their conversation though I picked up a bit. Harold was recovering well, but wasn’t coming home until the doctors were confident that he had the right medication. But that was all I managed to glean as I ate, had a quick wash and, after putting George to bed – he felt he had successfully communicated what he needed to to Hana – headed out to meet Dustbin. I was beyond tired, and my exhaustion was added to by the thought of the long night ahead. I wasn’t sure what time the kids would think about trying to escape, but I knew it would probably be fairly late if they were waiting for the adults to go to sleep. Just the idea of it made my fur feel weary.
Dustbin was hard at work when I arrived, evenings being his busiest time. It was pitch black, as the nights were now, and the street was lit only by a handful of stars and eyes of the cheeky rodents that Dustbin was charged with getting rid of.
‘Why don’t you get some rest while I finish up here?’ he suggested, kindly, when I told him how tired I was. I didn’t need asking twice, I curled up by the back door to Franceska’s house and I took my forty, or so, winks.
I was woken by Dustbin nudging me and although I was startled I shot up to see Aleksy opening the back door to their house. He was wearing dark jeans and a black hoody, and had a backpack with him. It didn’t look as if he had much stuff in it, I thought, as he was carrying it with ease. Dustbin and I blinked at each other and we turned to face Aleksy.
He jumped at the sight of me.‘Alfie, what are you doing here?’
‘MEW,’ I said at the top of my voice. That was our cue. Dustbin and I yowled and meowed at the tops of our voices.
‘Shush, please shush,’ Aleksy said. We didn’t. He picked me up but I wouldn’t stop and I wiggled until I had to, reluctantly, give him a tiny scratch, which made him let go and drop me onto the floor. It wasn’t one of my best experiences. Dustbin, give him his due, thankfully kept going – turns out he had quite a pair of lungs on him. We saw a light go on inside the flat above the restaurant, and I saw Aleksy notice it too. I imagined them looking out of the window at us. Thankfully neither Tomasz or Franceska seemed to have heard us though.
‘Can you both please just be quiet, you’ll wake Mum and Dad.’ I could hear the desperation in his voice but I wasn’t going to be silenced.
‘Yowl,’ I shouted over and over.
‘Alright,’ he said, suddenly sitting down on the doorstep and pulling out his phone. We both stopped shouting and waited. ‘Hi, it’s me.’
I couldn’t hear what Connie was saying.
‘Hana tried to trip you up?’ There was a pause. ‘She woke your mum up?’ Another pause. ‘What did your mum say?’ Silence. ‘Oh, you shut yourself in the bathroom, quick thinking. But Alfie is here and he and Dustbin made such a noise when they saw me that my parents will wake up soon, and the flat next door is already looking out of the window. They haven’t seen me yet, I don’t think.’ Pause. ‘No, I agree, we can’t risk it tonight.’ He sounded crestfallen but it was for his own good. ‘I’ll text you and let’s talk at school tomorrow and come up with a new plan.’
That wasn’t exactly what I wanted to hear but at least he and Connie were safe and had aborted their running away for now.
‘Alfie, why are you here?’ Aleksy asked, after he hung up. ‘Did you know I was going to try to be with Connie?’ He narrowed his eyes. ‘No, that’s silly. Of course you didn’t know, you just came to see your friend, Dustbin.’ He nodded. If it was easier for him to believe that, then who was I to argue?
‘Alfie, I’ll walk you home,’ Dustbin said, after we watched Aleksy go inside. I was glad I hadn’t woken Tomasz and Franceska, but also a little surprised. The fact that they had slept through me and Dustbin at our nosiest was slightly worrying. If that didn’t wake them then what on earth would?
‘You don’t think he’ll try to come out again?’ I asked. I was longing for home, for my bed, but I didn’t want to lose Aleksy.
‘No, we’ll wait a few minutes just in case. But that doesn’t mean that’s the end of this.’
‘We’ll keep our ears to the ground,’ I said, but I didn’t mean literally.
‘Sure, but we’re both tired, it’s been a long day. Let’s sleep on it and see what tomorrow brings.’
‘Oh goodness, I need a rest. In a few days we have the nativity play to look forward to. Maybe that will give us some light relief.’ I filled Dustbin in on Tommy’s plan as he walked me back to Edgar Road and even Dustbin thought it would be a riot. That was what worried me: it might cause a riot. I wasn’t sure how much more this cat was up to at the moment.
Chapter Twenty-Eight
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I knew the nativity was a big deal, but today it was all anyone talked of over breakfast. Summer was so excited, she kept saying she was literally the star of the show. Toby mumbled how there were loads of other stars but he was too miserable about having to hold Emma Roper’s hand to make a huge fuss. They didn’t mention Tommy’s plan and I was impressed with the fact that Summer hadn’t spilled the beans, she just kept saying it was going to be the best nativity ever. The performance was after school, which was why all my families could go, and of course that included Tommy and Aleksy.
It had been a few days since we’d foiled Aleksy’s running-away plan, and according to Dustbin he and Connie seemed to have been a bit put off the idea; Aleksy hadn’t mentioned running away when he’d listened to his snatched conversations. That gave us some time, thank goodness, and we could focus now on the nativity and then Christmas. Although George and I were on good terms, I knew the first Christmas without Tiger would be incredibly hard for him, for both of us, and I was mindful of that. I was also feeling the stress of the past couple of weeks. So much had happened: Tiger, Harold, George and I, Hana and getting George into Hana’s house, and of course the attempted runaways. It was a lot for any cat to cope with, and the strain was definitely being felt. Yes, I was coping, yes I was grieving, and yes I was exhausted with the emotion of it all.
I didn’t feel like myself at the moment. There was something missing, and everything felt as if it was such a huge effort. I wanted to enjoy Christmas and all that entailed but I was also dreading it, knowing it was the first one without Tiger. I missed her, and that was exhausting too. I didn’t liketo complain but all I wanted to do was to yowl in pain. But of course I couldn’t do that.
Thankfully we had Tommy’s caper to distract us. I was still unsure about the finer details of how they were going to pull it off, but for once I didn’t have to worry about that. It wasn’t my plan, I was just an innocent part of it. That made a refreshing change to be honest. It was almost like having a day off, andthat was how I was going to look at it. After the drama of the last few days and the ache that I carried constantly from missing Tiger, no one needed a day off more than me.
Thankfully, it really was a day off for me, as I needed more than anything to catch up on some rest. Claire was helping at Harold’s house; everyone else, including Marcus, was working, so she was supervising the new carpets. George was visiting Hana. Aleksy and Connie were both at school and I would be seeing Aleksy later, so I didn’t have to worry about him for now.
I spent the day catching up on my sleep, before making a quick visit to our friends. I also checked on the Barkers, a habit I’d got into. Since Tiger had passed away they never left the cat flap open, of course, so I couldn’t go in, but I just felt that it was my duty to go by and see their house. If I saw them I would try to be friendly, and they did pet me kindly; I could tell they felt Tiger’s loss keenly. We all did. Grief hung over Edgar Road, despite the approach of Christmas. The Barkers hadn’t even bothered to get a tree from what I could see through their front window, which meant they must have been in a bad way. I felt so bad for them; I understood how they felt, after all.
I added them to the list. I didn’t know how I could cheer them up when I couldn’t really cheer myself up, but I was concerned. I knew Tiger would have wanted me to try and I owed it to her, so I would do all I could. But time was ticking on, and problems were piling up, and I was shrouded in grief, so it was all so hard. WhenI got home, I took another nap.
The light outside was beginning to fade as I heard the door open and Aleksy and Tommy appeared. Luckily, George and I were in the living room and were ready, having had something to eat and groomed ourselves thoroughly.
Aleksy picked me up and told me I would have to hide in his jacket. Tommy did the same with George.
‘Quick,’ Tommy said. ‘Before Mum notices I stole the key.’
‘You didn’t steal it, you borrowed it,’ Aleksy replied, far less dramatically.
‘I know, but the grown-ups might not see it that way. Anyway, we better go, I told Mum we’d meet her at the school so we could get good seats.’
‘We need to get the best seats to watch what you’ve got planned,’ Aleksy said, and I agreed. I noticed he stopped at the gate to Connie’s house and looked longingly up at the window. He didn’t mention anything about the other night to either me or Tommy.
‘Come on, honestly her mum will come round, I heard Claire say that,’ Tommy said, patting his brother on the shoulder and nearly dropping George in the process. ‘Oops, sorry George, I must be more careful.’
‘Meow,’ I yelled from the warmth of Aleksy’s jacket. Yes you must.
It was a pleasant journey after that. I could just about poke my head out and check out the scenery, which was always different from this vantage point. Instead of seeing– and dodging – feet, we could see the people more clearly. And the cars – there were so many cars revving along the road. Although it was warm inside Aleksy’s jacket, the top of my head felt cold. I willed Aleksy and Tommy to be careful when crossing but they were very sensible, thankfully. I noted a couple of dogs being taken on their walks and women pushing prams, the way our ladies used to when our children were younger. Goodness, when I first met Tommy all those years ago he was still just about in a pushchair. And look at him now. Time passes, that’s what it does, and althoughwe have to carry our hurts and our grief with us, it showed me, yet again, how we all have to keep moving forward.
It was funny, on this walk I was watching life, and it was passing us, bumping us, moving around us, and that was what life did. It made me realise, from my home in Aleksy’s jacket, how absorbed we get into our own little worlds and I found some kind of comfort in seeing a bigger world. I wondered what Tiger would have thought if she’d known what we were about to do. I imagined her chuckling and telling us how mad we were but also being impatient for us to get back and relay the story to her. She would have told me to make sure George was alright but, other than that, she’d have liked this one. I would tell her later, in my head, and in my heart, because that was where she lived now.
I tried to rein in my emotions as we reached the school. Tommy told us both to keep down as they zipped their jackets up. Surely it was obvious we were there, bumps poking out of coats? It was pitch black so I couldn’t see anything, but my hearing was very good. Aleksy greeted the adults, Tommy was quiet. Claire had got them all seats near the front and so they rushed in. Aleksy sat down with me on the end, hoping no one would notice me, and Tommy said he needed the toilet. Luckily he had been to this schoolhimself, not so long ago, so he knew where everything was. I was still locked in the jacket so I couldn’t tell you what was happening but by the sound of scuffles on the floor and chairs scraping impatiently the hall was filling up. People greeted each other, chattering excitedly. Parents were all desperate to see their little ones appear on stage. I just hoped that we weren’t going to ruin it for them. Although I thought that, mad as Tommy’s plan was, it was also quite funny and harmless. And it had brought Toby and Henry back together, so I was still very proud of the boy.
Tommy reappeared and took his seat next to Aleksy with his dad on the other side. I was pleased that all the family was here, but then, as Tomasz said, it wouldn’t be Christmas without going to a nativity, and now his boys didn’t have them any more, he was glad they could still come. Not long ago I had thought that Sylvie and Connie would be joining us but, of course, that hadn’t worked out. I knew that not everyone could be friends, but I still didn’t understand why not. The loneliness coming from next door was bothering me but, as the lights were turned down and the headmistress appeared on stage, I put that to one side. We had a play to watch.
I was allowed a peek out of the jacket to watch. I didn’t dare look around too much, lest I was noticed. But after the headmistress welcomed everyone – I like to think she included me – she introduced the play and then I noticed people taking out their phones. Tommy did the same; they were either taking photos or filming.
The music struck and the singing began. Toby looked so cute in a robe and what looked like a tea towel on his head, but I noticed the donkey couldn’t stop laughing as Toby kept trying to pull his hand away from his Mary. I saw Summer twirling on the stage as a star and she really did pretty much command the centre of the stage, which I wasn’t sure she was supposed to. Then Martha came on as an angel and, actually, she really was a little angel. The angels sang a song and then the oldest one spoke to a scowling Toby and his Mary.
At one point a teacher appeared to move everyone, as it had got a little confusing. I was pretty sure I knew the story of the nativity well; I think Summer was supposed to move with the other stars to the back of the stage after singing to the shepherds, but she seemed to want to stay right at the front. I imagined Claire had her head in her hands at this point. A shouty boy told Toby there was‘no room at the inn’. I have to say Toby looked quite relieved but I’m not sure he was meant to. Then they were directed to the stable and I braced myself.
There was another song, and then the shepherds gathered, and the wise men, and they were all supposed to give gifts to the baby Jesus. Tommy stuffed his fist into his mouth, and held his phone up high, while Aleksy giggled into my fur. Toby and Henry exchanged a glance and then, just as the first wise man approached the manger, he shouted:
‘It’s a cat. The baby Jesus is a cat.’ I could hear Jonathan’s groan from my seat. Then George, who I assume must have fallen asleep, jumped up from the manger where they had wrapped him in a tea towel.
‘Mewmewmewmew,’ he said.
The audience erupted in laughter, the room echoing with it as Toby grabbed hold of George and cuddled him to his chest. I peered out and looked at my family. Clairedid have her head in her hands, Jonathan and Matt had tears running down their cheeks from laughter, Aleksy was giggling into my head, Franceska, Polly and Tomasz’s shoulders were shaking as they tried and failed not to find it funny. A teacher ran on stage but didn’t know what to do when she got there, and Henry, the donkey, laughed so much he had to lie down.
‘It’s George, the baby Jesus,’ Summer shouted, as she spun around. Only Mary/Emma Roper didn’t look happy. She was still trying to hold Toby’s hand even though he was now clutching a cat.
Finally, Jonathan, having been shouted at by Claire, approached the stage, looking a bit embarrassed, and got Toby to give him George. The applause was deafening and if George hadn’t been clamped so tightly to Jonathan’s chest I know he would have taken a proud bow.
‘High-five,’ Aleksy said to Tommy, and as we all high-fived, I felt as if it had given us some much-needed fun.
The children were all squashed onto our sofa, the parents lined up in front of them. George, unsure where to go, finally perched on the arm of the sofa and I, of course, stood with the parents, although I was pretty sure this time I was in trouble too.
‘Tommy, it was your idea?’ Franceska asked, with her arms folded.
At the play, the audience hadn’t stopped laughing until they reluctantly filed out of the hall, collecting their children as they went. The headmistress had a face like thunder, as she told my adults that the nativity, which they had all worked hard for, had been ruined. Although parents did come and stick up for us, saying it was the best nativity they’d ever seen, I’m not sure it helped, the woman was so angry. Claire was embarrassed as they got a ticking-off, and it didn’t help when the headmistress told Toby that he wouldn’t be trusted with the role of Joseph again, and he replied, ‘Thank goodness.’ The adults made the children apologise. Tommy stood up and took responsibility, but the headmistress pointed out that Toby and Henry knew George was in the manger all along and if they weren’t ‘in on it’ they should have told an adult. The upshot was that everyone was in a bit of trouble, and although actually it was worth it, they had to at least pretend to be cross. Although thinking about it, I think Claire reallywascross; sometimes she forgot her sense of humour.
‘It was all my idea,’ Tommy said, again. Give him his due, he always owned up. Like the time it was his idea to take George to church in our holiday home in Devon – I haven’t forgotten how they left me behind – and George saw Chanel, the cat he had a crush on, and it didn’t end well. Orwhen it was his idea to take us both crabbing with them, on a boat no less, and George got bitten on his nose by a crab. Thatdid turn out well, as we all got ice cream, but you get the gist.
‘That’s a surprise,’ Franceska said with her best cross voice, but I could tell she wasn’t actually that angry. Apart from Claire, I could see them all struggling to keep straight faces.
‘But the rest of you all went along with it,’ Claire pointed out. The children, including George, looked a little guilty beneath their smiles.
‘But apart from me, George was the best thing about the play,’ Summer pointed out. Star by name, star by nature.
‘Where does she get it from?’ Claire hissed.
‘Don’t look at me.’ Jonathan shrugged.
‘Let’s get back on topic,’ Polly interrupted.
‘It was quite funny,’ Matt added. ‘No, it was incredibly funny. “The baby Jesus is a cat” classic line.’
‘Yes, it might well have been, but Mrs White, the headmistress, didn’t find it funny, she’s angry and for some reason she blames us. Honestly, Claire, we’ll be made to bake cakes for every occasion as penance,’ Polly said.
‘You can’t bake,’ Matt pointed out. He was right, she couldn’t. She bought all the cakes, then put them in tins and took them to school, we all knew that.
‘Not the point,’ Claire replied. ‘Right, why did you do it, Tommy?’
‘Well, Toby was so upset about being Joseph and he and Henry weren’t really being like friends and I wanted to make them happy again, so I came up with the plan to get them together.’ Ah, he was a boy after my own heart. ‘And Aleksy was so sad about Connie and the fact her mum won’t let them spend time together, and I thought it would cheer him up. I roped them all in, honestly, and Alfie, well I didn’t want Alfie to miss seeing George as the baby Jesus.’
‘Of course you didn’t.’ Jonathan grinned and shook his head. ‘Look guys, Tommy meant well and no harm done. I mean, everyone thought it was funny. Apart from Mary but then she had just given birth to a cat.’
‘Jonathan,’ Claire snapped. ‘They have to apologise to Mrs White.’
‘We can do that,’ Tommy said. ‘I’m happy to write her a letter, not that she deserves it,’ he mumbled.
‘Toby?’
‘OK, I’ll say sorry. It was worth it, wasn’t it, Henry?’
‘Sure was, Tobe.’
I agreed. It really was worth it.
‘What about me?’ Martha asked. ‘Do I have to say sorry?’
‘Well you should,’ Polly said. ‘You knew all about it so that makes you guilty too.’
‘OK.’ Martha shrugged in the good-natured way she always did.
‘But not me?’ Summer said.
‘Why not you?’ Jonathan asked.
‘I’m a star, I’m allowed to do what I want,’ she said.
‘No, you are not.’ Claire rolled her eyes. ‘You apologise too, young lady.’ Summer scrunched her nose up.
‘And guess what?’ Aleksy said. It was the first time he had spoken and his voice was animated as he looked at his phone.
‘What?’ Tomasz asked.
‘George is trending. The video is on the internet already and “cat as baby jesus” already has thousands of views. George, you’re famous,’ he said, punching the air with joy. ‘Tommy, the video you put on YouTube is being watched and shared. We might get rich!’
‘Good thinking, boys. We could make some money out of this.’ Jonathan rubbed his hands together.
‘Jonathan, don’t make this worse,’ Claire warned.
‘Oh come on guys, look how happy it’s made the internet.’ Matt grinned.
George looked nonplussed as he licked his paws.
Everyone was relaxed again. The kids were playing by the Christmas tree. The adults all had drinks and snacks and Claire had lit her hundred candles. To be honest, I didn’t expect this to last long – they took ages to light and to blow out so she didn’t bother too much. Her interest in ‘hygge’, whatever that was, was definitely waning. But it looked and felt Christmassy, as the tinsel glinted, the tree lights sparkled and the candle flames danced. I thought of Tiger, of course, and how much she would have loved to be around for Christmas, how much we would have loved having her around. That was the weird thing about grief, it appeared at the strangest times. I was happy, with my families, but then I thought of her and I was sad again. But happy, andsad. It was most confusing.
‘Oh no, George is on fire,’ Tomasz screamed.
‘Yowl,’ George said. He had caught his tail on one of the candles and it was now on fire. My poor boy. I ran around in circles looking for something to put the fire out with, as did the adults.
Thankfully Aleksy and Tommy were quicker than all of us. Aleksy grabbed George, holding him away, and Tommy threw a glass of water over his tail, then grabbed one of Claire’s ‘hygge’ blankets – there were quite a few – and wrapped it around him.
‘Oh my goodness, is he alright?’ Claire asked, tearfully. I felt my heart pounding.
‘Meow,’ George said. I knew that meant he was in pain but he was alright.
‘I think so,’ Aleksy said.
‘Tommy, Aleksy, great job,’ Jonathan said. ‘But we need to get George to the vet, there’s a clinic I can take him to,’ he said.
Not the vet, I thought, but this time I agreed with them.
‘I’ll drive, I haven’t been drinking,’ Tomasz said.
‘Oh, that was so scary,’ Polly said.
‘I think I’ll get rid of the candles,’ Claire finished.
Chapter Twenty-Nine
[Ęŕđňčíęŕ: _31.jpg]
It was very exciting, Harold was coming home. Well, it was to everyone else, because I, quite frankly, was having a down day. There would be all these distractions that I was used to, being the kind of doorstep cat I was, but then I would remember how much I missed Tiger and my heart would collapse all over again. I tried to keep my tail upright but, sometimes, it just didn’t want to do it and all I felt capable of was curling up in my bed and yowling. George was my salvation in the darker days, him and my families of course, but mainly him.
Since becoming the star of the school nativity play, and actually getting to spend time with Hana, he was doing pretty well. Of course the tail incident was still fresh in our minds, but apart from it being painful and singed, George was fine. The vet had given him an injection which took some of the pain away and my resilient boy had bounced back. Toby said all of the school now wanted to come to our house to meet George, and Summer suggested selling tickets– Jonathan was proud at this, Claire not so much so. And George took being famous in his stride but I could tell he quite liked it. He still talked to me about missing Tiger mum, and how hard he found it to walk past her house. I knew that one. Some days I would find myself in her back garden, staring at the closed cat flap as if she would slide through it, but of course she never would. Sometimes seeing her house, knowing she wasn’t there, floored me, so I understand how he felt. One day, I literally froze as I approached the house and couldn’t bring myself to walk past it. It was beyond hard.
After the apology at school, the children had returned to normal for the last week of term. Well, as normal as they ever were at Christmas. Summer declared that she was going to be a famous actress when she was older and Toby said he wouldn’t want to be an actor, because there were too many girls involved, so he was going to do something like be a spaceman, where you didn’t have to hold anyone’s hands. Henry and Toby were firm friends again and Martha, with her customary laid-back manner, was just lovely Martha.
So many people had viewed the video that George had even been mentioned in a newspaper, and now he felt that he was the most famous member of the family, which of course he was. But no one dared tell Summer that.
Amidst all the chaos, Christmas was drawing closer and closer. More and more of the advent calendar doors were open, festive food was being bought, presents wrapped, cards displayed. The weather was also getting colder, frost greeted us most mornings and everyone talked of snow. Despite the ache that now sat with me daily for Tiger, I couldn’t help but enjoy everyone’s festive spirit. I knew they felt as if it was the most wonderful time of the year and I tried to bask in their happiness even if I wasn’t going to ever say this was my favourite Christmas.
It couldn’t be, not without Tiger here. The thing was that, last year, when we went away to our holiday cottage in Devon for Christmas, I hadn’t seen her but I’d known she was there. And when we had returned home, we’d all been so excited to share our stories. She’d told me that she got extra turkey, some toys and a very fetching new red collar for Christmas. In return, I’d told her that we’d spent time with our friend Gilbert in Devon and, although the beach was freezing, we had braved it, and I’d managed to keep George out of the water this time. It was moments like these, sharing moments, that kept friendship and love alive, I believed, and so I was still sharing with her; every evening I had a chat to her before going to sleep. It was just very one-sided.
‘I can’t wait to see my friend Harold again,’ George said, hopping with excitement, as we sat on the windowsill looking out at the quiet street. Marcus was collecting Harold this afternoon, and Polly and Franceska were at his house now, getting it ready for his welcome-home party. We were both invited and I just hoped Harold wouldn’t tell us to get lost or wave his stick at us now. Apparently he wouldn’t, he’d told Jonathan that we were both welcome in his house after all. George was so looking forward to it; he’d taken ages getting himself looking his best, as had I. I was one cat who always took care over his appearance – even when I was heartbroken, I had learnt not to let myself go.
Claire returned with Toby and Summer and shortly afterwards the doorbell announced the arrival of Franceska, Tommy and Aleksy.
‘Meow?’ I asked as I greeted them. Where was Tomasz?
‘Tomasz is going to meet us at Harold’s later, he had to sort something out at work,’ Franceska explained as she petted me. But I think she was talking to Claire.
‘Come in for a bit, have a coffee. Boys, can I get you anything?’ Claire asked, as coats were shaken out and hung up.
‘No, we’re good, thanks,’ Tommy answered, shooting worried glances at Aleksy who was back to not talking. Franceska shook her head and followed Claire into the kitchen.
‘Where are you going?’ Franceska asked as Aleksy headed out to the back garden, carrying me for some unfathomable reason.
‘Alfie wants to go out, I thought I’d go with him,’ he replied, looking at his feet. I had no idea what sort of pawn I was now, but I didn’t want to go out, I wanted no such thing. I had just got myself all smart and the wind and the cold would probably ruin all my hard work. But I didn’tsay anything. I knew, better than any cat, when one of my humans needed me and Aleksy clearly did. No one argued as he opened the back door and we went into the garden.
It all became clear. Aleksy started walking around the garden, trying to find a vantage point where he could see into Connie’s house. I stood there, freezing and quite astounded, as he even tried to climb the fence. Was he mad? Yes, he was but then I remembered what young love could do to you.
‘Yowl!’ That wasn’t a good idea. I had done the same thing when I was trying to woo Snowball, of course, but it seemed humans were slightly happier for cats to get into their gardens than other humans.
‘It’s no good.’ Aleksy looked so downcast. I sighed. It was always down to me. I led him to the bottom of the small garden, where a table and chairs sat. They were covered for the winter but if he stood on a chair, he might see something. ‘Alfie, you’re a genius,’ he said, as he took one of the chairs over to the fence and climbed on it. ‘Bingo,’ he shouted as he saw Connie appear in one of the upstairs windows. He started waving wildly at her.
I have to say, as I climbed on top of the fence to watch, her face seemed to beam as she waved back. He took his phone out of his pocket and pointed at it. I looked around. I saw how Claire and Franceska were pretending not to watch us from the kitchen as a number of annoying birds flew overhead. But I knew that for Aleksy and Connie they were the only two people in the world right now, I could see it on their faces. I saw Hana appear on the windowsill and I tried to wave my paw but I nearly lost my balance so I stopped. I could see she was raising her whiskers though. I couldn’t help but think how sweet this was, and also how unfair. I had to find a way to get these two kids together.
Fourteen years old, responsible enough, hard workers, they weren’t the worst teenagers by a long shot. They should have been allowed to be together with adult supervision at the very least. I felt angry with Sylvie.
Speak of the devil.
‘Yowl!’ I tried to warn Aleksy as Sylvie appeared in the window behind Connie, and not only did she see us, but she also saw that her daughter had a phone. I tried to get Aleksy’s attention by tapping him, but I wobbled and fell on him. The shock of seeing Sylvie, coupled with me landing on him, meant he lost his balance and fell off the chair.
‘Ahhh,’ he shouted as we landed on the grass. Luckily for me, I was on top of him. But his face was stricken as he scrambled up, dropping me into a patch of mud as he did so.
‘Meow,’ I complained. But he didn’t seem to hear me as he ran round to the front of the house. I got up, certainly not looking my best now, and ran after him.
Connie was outside the front of her house, sobbing, when we got there. The rain had started in earnest, so we were all getting soaked.
‘I’m sorry,’ he said.
‘It’s not your fault,’ she replied. I ran around in a circle, what on earth could I do? Sylvie appeared, then Claire and Franceska came out of our house. I could hear Claire shouting at Tommy to look after the kids and we all stood around. No one seemed sure what to do next, as we shivered inthe rain.
‘Your son gave my daughter a phone, although I forbade it,’ Sylvie shouted. A vein seemed to be throbbing on her head, and although her face was red with anger, it was also puffy as if she had been crying. She needed someone to support her, I knew that, and if she’d had such a person maybe she would have been handling this whole situation better. But there was no one for her: her ex-husband didn’t want to know and she had pushed everyone else away.
‘Aleksy, that wasn’t good,’ Franceska said carefully. ‘I promise you I didn’t know, but Sylvie, can’t we work things out? The kids want to spend time together, and they are both good kids.’
‘Good kids don’t lie and get phones when they’ve been forbidden.’
‘I agree, Sylvie, and I will punish Aleksy but they just want to see each other. Perhaps if they were chaperoned?’ Franceska suggested.
‘What is this, the 1920s?’ Claire said, unhelpfully. She blushed and shut up but I agreed with her.
‘No, that won’t work. I mean, who will do it? You work, I work, and well, just no. I told Connie she can date when she is sixteen,’ Sylvie replied.
‘But that’s two years away!’ Aleksy was horrified, and I noticed that he was still holding Connie’s hand. My heart went out to him. Love was hard enough without it being forbidden.
‘Can’t we figure this out somehow?’ Claire said. ‘Sylvie, look at them, the lengths they’ve gone to to try to be together. Aleksy doesn’t lie but he has done now, and that’s only because you won’t let him see Connie.’
‘Oh, you mean leaving dead mice, birds and flowers on my doorstep.’
‘Eh?’ they all said. I wasn’t sure how to own up to that, but then, as Sylvie continued, I decided not to.
‘It scared me, like someone was warning me off,’ she stormed. ‘Why would you do that?’
‘I didn’t do that.’ Aleksy scratched his head. ‘I would never do anything to upset you.’
‘Well, actually you have. The lengths you both have gone to are not acceptable, and I want this to stop now.’
If only you knew the lengths they were going to go to, and still might, I thought. Perhaps Dustbin and I should have let them run away. I mean, I have kind of championed running-away plans in my time…Well, actually only one, which ended up with George getting catnapped. And also Snowball had run away once when her family were all having a terrible time– that had been nothing to do with me, but she nearly died. Luckily Dustbin rescued her on my behest. But no, it was far too dangerous. And it would probably just make Sylvie lock Connie up. Oh, why was this one so hard to crack? I wished I had Tiger to talk through my thoughts with, she had always been my sounding board. She was also often my voice of reason, not that I always listened to her. And I wondered what she would say about the ‘gifts’ plan. Though I had a feeling she’d just laugh about that.
‘Claire, Franceska, I have said it before, I think Connie is too young for a boyfriend, and it’s as simple as that. She lived a very sheltered life in Japan and quite frankly I am looking to move her to an all-girls’ school now. Her father thinks she should go back to Japan.’ She looked andsounded threatening.
‘But I love my new school, I’ve made friends, you can’t send me away.’ Connie burst into loud, angry tears.
‘I think we need to sort this situation out, somehow, please,’ Franceska pleaded, putting her arm around Aleksy. ‘The children are so unhappy, surely we can work something out.’
I thought Sylvie might crack. Her daughter sobbing, my families being sensible, Aleksy so sad…But just as I thought she would, she shook her head.
‘No, not at the moment. And take your phone back. When I say my daughter shouldn’t have a phone, I don’t expect to be defied. You say they’re good kids but look, they went behind our backs. I can’t stop you seeing each other in school for now.’ She crossed her arms as if she would do soon. ‘But I’m seriously looking at alternatives, so that is that. And you.’ She pointed at Connie. ‘Are grounded until further notice.’
‘I’m never allowed out anyway,’ Connie shouted and ran back in the house, slamming the door. With a final glare at Aleksy, Sylvie followed.
‘Aleksy, that wasn’t good of you,’ Franceska said.
‘But—’
‘No, you never used to lie to us, but now look.’ Even Franceska was angry now.
‘Mum, please.’
‘No, Aleksy, I support you as much as I can, but not when you lie to me and to Sylvie. It makes her seem less mad and more right, and for now I have to agree with her.’
It had put a bit of a dampener on the day, but George’s excitement infected me. He was really looking forward to seeing Harold again, and after all he’d been through lately I certainly wasn’t going to rain on his parade. Ha, the irony as the rain had ruined my neat looks and I had to dry myself off and then lick myself smooth again. Claire gaveme a rub with a towel to help with the worst of it, then she went to change, and lent Franceska some clothes. Aleksy, covered in mud, had to get into a bath – thank goodness I didn’t have to – before Claire sponged the worst of his trousers and then dried his clothes off on the radiator. It was quite a mission and we were worried we would be late for Harold’s party with all that was going on.
Aleksy was upset, though everyone gave him a wide berth.
‘Mum, can I go home rather than come to the party?’ he asked, as he sat in his pants and socks. ‘I really don’t feel like it.’
‘You come to the party,’ Franceska stated, indicating the case was closed.
We set off, picking up Matt, Polly and the kids on the way. Toby was insisting on carrying George, but I had to walk, and thankfully the rain had stopped as quickly as it started. I listened to my humans chatter as we went towards Harold’s house. George and I had visited a few times while Harold was in hospital, seeing the progress being made. Having been around Seabreeze Cottage while they did lots of building work, I was quite the expert in home renovations, I liked to think.
‘Oh no, my garden,’ George said as Toby set him down in front of the house.
‘Sorry, son, but they were always going to tidy it up for Harold,’ I pointed out. It was no longer a jungle, but a very neat front garden. Grass trimmed, bushes cut back, and although the house wasn’t quite painted yet, the front door had been smartened up, and I could see it was going to look very nice soon. Even if poor George no longer had his jungle.
Polly opened the door and let us in and the warmth hit me first, followed by the light. No more gloomy interior, that was for sure, and all the lights worked. Walls had been painted a bright white, the living room furniture had been replaced by a nice sofa and one of Claire and Jonathan’s old armchairs. A coffee table sat neatly over new carpet and a bigger television hung on the wall. I ran to see the rest of the house. It was such a transformation. Still quite simple, but more homely. The kitchen hadn’t changed but had been cleaned up, the hallway carpet had been replaced, there was a small dining table at one end of the sitting room, overlooking the small, but tidy, back garden. I thought Harold would be very pleased, even if George was not.
They had even insisted on getting Harold a small Christmas tree, which sat in the corner of the living room. It was adorned with lights and baubles, and I saw George eyeing it up.
‘George, you cannot attack the tree before Harold even sees it,’ I said.
‘There is no fun in this house any more,’ he complained as he slunk away. I flicked my tail. Kids!
Claire and Polly supervised Matt and Jonathan hanging a‘Welcome Home’ banner across one wall. Franceska got Tommy to help her with the food in the kitchen, which as usual looked delicious, and Toby, Henry, Summer and Martha played happily in the living room with George. It was heart-warming after what we had just witnessed with Sylvie. If only she and Connie would be part of this, I knew it would help them, but it seemed there was no way to win Sylvie around. She didn’t even seem to notice me, let alone allow me to charm her, and I had no ideas left. But I knew we would have to do something, we couldn’t go on like this. Not my poor Aleksy. But clearly dead things as presents were off the menu.
We were all lined up in the living room when Marcus texted Matt to say he was just outside. Tomasz had just arrived, with even more food, and as we all stood there Harold came in, with his stick in one hand and his son holding the other arm.
‘Welcome home,’ everyone cheered at once and as Harold’s eyes took in the scene they filled with tears. Oh no, we’d made another person cry today.
‘I can’t believe it,’ he said. My eyes widened; he sounded moved rather than angry. ‘I don’t know how to thank you for all of this. I’m such a cantankerous old man, I don’t deserve it, but I’m so happy to be home and what a lovely home it is. I don’t know how to thank you. And you…’
I almost ran in front of George as Harold slowly bent down. Was he going to hurt him? Instead though he gave him a pet. Wow, who was this man?
‘Thank you, clever cat, for saving my life, I’ll never tell you to “get lost” again.’ George purred and nuzzled into him, and I wondered where my thanks were. After all, I had gone and got the humans. I should have been used to being ignored by now, but you know, some appreciation would have been nice.
As they all crowded round Harold to show him the work they’d done to the house and then sat him down with food and a cup of tea, George, his new best friend, sat proudly next to him. I softened a bit. OK, so I was underappreciated at times but I had my George, so it was alright. And George needed any cheering up he could get.
‘And I have told Dad that I’m moving in here for a while,’ Marcus announced.
‘You don’t have to, son, and I’m sorry again about the whole divorce thing,’ Harold said. Being in hospital had really changed him.
‘No, we’ve put that firmly in the past where it belongs. Dad, I should never have let our row get out of hand. We’re family, so I’m staying at least until after Christmas and then we’ll see. I’ve arranged some home help for when I’m working, so you’ll be looked after as you should.’
‘And we’re going to pop in and see you as well,’ Jonathan said. He was quite fond of the old man; apparently they shared the same taste in football teams.
‘Oh, and I was thinking, we’re having a big Christmas this year, at our house,’ Claire said. ‘So why don’t you both join us?’
I felt like squealing; this was the sort of situation I loved, bringing more people into our family circle.
‘That’s so kind,’ Marcus said. ‘And if you’re sure we won’t be in the way, then we’d love to. I’m not much of a cook.’
‘He isn’t,’ Harold laughed. ‘He can burn water.’ Everyone laughed although I didn’t quite understand what that meant. It was a shame I couldn’t get Sylvie there, after all she and Marcus, well they were both divorced, both nice-looking, a similar age…Although one of them was insane. But then no one, not even me, was perfect.
‘You might have to bring a couple of chairs,’ Polly laughed.
‘Deal.’
‘Daddy, George is in the Christmas tree,’ Summer shouted and everyone moved at breakneck speed to find George sitting in the middle of the tree, a tangle of lights.
When he’d been untangled and sat back on the floor I went up to him.
‘What did I say?’ I chastised.
‘You said, don’t attack the tree before Harold sees it. Well he’s seen it now.’
I couldn’t argue with that.
Chapter Thirty
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How we got to Christmas Eve, I don’t know, but it was now upon us. December tended to do that. With the excitement of the decorations, the nativity, Aleksy and then Harold, it had been one of the busiest Decembers for my humans, and especially for me. It was flying by, and giving me very little time to enjoy the festivities or togrieve, both of which I wanted, and needed, to do. However, I was trying very hard to put everything aside to enjoy today.
Christmas Eve was a very special day with all my families. Even Tomasz took the day off from the restaurants. And he closed them all on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, he said it was important for him and his staff to have family time. The only problem was that my families weren’t together on Christmas Eve, so I had to travel if I wanted to see everyone. Claire and Jonathan were busy with last-minute preparations for the big day. Claire was preparing any food that she could ready in advance and Jonathan had to try to keep two very hyperactive children and one hyperactive kitten entertained and calm, which was no easy feat. I did try to help him but it was impossible. He gave up and took them out to the park to try to run off some of their excitement, and he called for Matt, who came with Henry and Martha. Polly was doing some last-minute shopping, which she alwaysdid. She was always a last-minute person, whereas Claire was super organised. I just hoped she remembered to buy enough cream for pudding because I was especially looking forward to that.
I was determined to put any sadness about Tiger away for the day; if George could do it then so could I. I still missed her and I knew she would be the one cat I wanted to visit today but couldn’t. Nonetheless, Christmas was a time for fun, and I was going to do my very best.
It had been a bittersweet time since Harold’s welcome-home party. He and Marcus were firmly part of our family now. They sort of fitted in as if they had always been there, actually. Marcus was funny, kind, and had been very hurt by his ex-wife, which would have made him perfect for Sylvie, if she hadn’t been quite so unhinged. Though Ihad to stop thinking that, as I had quite enough to cope with without trying to matchmake. But I couldn’t help it, I was still hoping for a way to get my next-door neighbours back into the fold, but so far my one-sided conversations with Tiger hadn’t yielded any inspiration.
My other friends hadn’t exactly been full of helpful advice; even Elvis hadn’t seen a TV show about it. It was as if, without Tiger, we were devoid of plans, and I hoped that my career of helping people hadn’t died with her. The gap she left in our friendship group, our family, our relationships was vast and obvious to us all. She had been like the glue that held us all together in a way and, without her, we had to try that bit harder, but all the while knowing something, or rather someone was missing.
George was now coping so much better than I ever imagined he would. He missed her, he talked about his‘Tiger mum’ a lot, in a way which made me want to weep, but he also kept himself busy. He visited Harold, those two were thick as thieves, and I let him have space for that friendship, as I did with Hana. He told me how he would sit next to Harold on his new sofa, watching a TV show about ‘very old things’ and eating biscuits dunked in tea, which was now George’s new favourite food. I have to admit I couldn’t resist going to spy on them a little. I managed to watch them sometimes, keeping out of sight on the front window, and they did look very sweet together – not something I ever thought I would say about angry Harold. But he wasn’t angry any more, he was happy, and as I knew from my years of experience, happiness changes people for the better, which was why I was such an advocate.
George had also been spending time with Hana in their house, though sadly that had stopped this week, as Susan, the cleaner, had gone away on holiday until after Christmas. He was trying to persuade Hana to come outside but she wouldn’t, or rather she couldn’t. But, George, a chip off the old block, wasn’t giving up, and said that he was going to redouble his efforts in the new year and was hopeful that by summer she might have experienced the great outdoors. I was happy for him to have a project. She was lovely, Hana, but he said she was homesick, and also of course she was living with two miserable people. Although Hana didn’t complain, it was all so sad for her, and now George couldn’t even go in and cheer her up and they’d had to go back to having their through-the-window conversations.
‘You see, Dad,’ George explained to me, very maturely, I may add. ‘I miss Tiger mum, but I know she would be pleased because I am spending time with a lonely person and cat, and then they aren’t quite as lonely when I’m there.’
I thought I would burst with pride for my lovely, kind, caring kitten. Tiger and I had both taught him well.
Christmas Eve passed in a whirl of activity with all the families that George and I decided to visit. We always spent Christmas Eve together and liked to think we were a bit like Santa cats as we delivered good cheer to everyone we cared about. Although we didn’t dress up. Claire had tried to dress me up once and let’s just say it didn’t end well for any of us.
We started with Harold. Marcus and he were laughing in the living room as we sat on the windowsill until they let us in. Their Christmas tree was wonky and even George didn’t seem keen on trying to jump onto it any more, which was a bit of a relief for me. They were both preparing sprouts, which they were going to bring to us for lunch tomorrow, and some other vegetables which were all very sensible, and not terribly tempting for us cats. But Marcus said he also had bought some nice wine, chocolates for the adults and a big jar of sweets for the children, which I knew would be gratefully received. He looked at George and I, and then winked at his dad.
‘We’ve got a present for the lovely cats too,’ he said. My ears pricked at this and I hoped it was some kind of fish. Although I think George was hoping for dunked biscuits.
‘We better had, these cats deserve a medal,’ Harold said, affectionately, and I basked in the fact I’d been acknowledged for once. But I would much rather have had pilchards than a medal. I wasn’t even sure what a medal was.
We left them a little while later full of good cheer and went to visit Polly and Matt. Matt was trying to get the children to sit still and watch a film, but they weren’t really in the mood. They were both so excited, babbling about what Santa would bring them, and even Martha, who was normally quite chilled out, was bouncing around.
‘Alfie and George,’ Henry beamed, as we entered the living room.
‘Oh good, we can play,’ Martha said and Matt just shook his head in defeat. Their living room was decorated beautifully but then as Polly was an interior designer we all expected nothing less. Their tree was so tasteful, and she got away with it by giving the children their own tree to decorate, which was in the corner of the living room and was a bit of a mess. Polly told Claire it was alright because you couldn’t really see it, but George loved it because he could jump on it, which totally ruined it, but made the children laugh. I despaired along with Matt, but Polly said he could do anything to that tree as long as he didn’t touch hers. For once, George actually took notice of this and didn’t dare go near her tree. No one did, not even Matt.
Matt and Polly were the best at decorating, they had lights outside the house and reindeer scattered around the small front garden. Claire had begged Jonathan for something similar but he’d refused, saying that he’d probably fall off the ladder, or it would take him all of December to do, as our house was bigger, so it was left undecorated outside. It was the only battle that Jonathan won really, and as Claire wasn’t going to do it herself she said the kids could just admire Polly and Matt’s.
Polly came downstairs, looking a little flustered, which wasn’t like her.
‘I’ve run out of Sellotape,’ she said. ‘And I’ve still got loads of wrapping to do.’ You see, she was so disorganised.
‘The shops will be closed now,’ Matt said. Even he looked alarmed. ‘Are all the kids—’
‘No,’ Polly said quickly. ‘I need more.’
‘Meow,’ I said. Claire will always have spare, I tried to tell her. Claire had drawers full of it, we never ran out.
‘Oh Alfie, thank goodness, I’ll just nip to Claire’s to borrow some. Are you sure you’re OK with the kids?’ Polly asked.
‘Not really, but then they’ve eaten a mountain of chocolate coins, so what did I expect?’ I’d never seen a man look so defeated. ‘Actually, shall I go get the Sellotape?’ he asked, smiling at the idea of escape.
‘No, I think I’d better go,’ Polly said. ‘After all, we’ve still got loads to do before the carol concert and you’ll probably have a drink with Jonathan …’ She was right, he would, and I could see from the disappointment on his face that that was what he had been hoping for.
I cheered up at the mention of the concert. There was always a Christmas Eve carol concert for the children at the local church, and although George and I didn’t get to go, it meant that Franceska and family would visit us either before the concert or after, so I would get to see them briefly. I’d have liked to have seen Dustbin but we really didn’t have time. Christmas Eve was a busy day for us all, as I’ve said.
After we left Matt and the children trying to sort out the small Christmas tree that George had all but squashed, we went to see our friends. They were all waiting to wish us a Merry Christmas and we chatted about what we were looking forward to most about the following day.
‘Food,’ I said, which was true. ‘And all the humans I love being together of course.’
‘I like the wrapping paper,’ George said. He hadn’t grown out of playing with that yet either.
‘Oh, I do love the fact that we have visitors all day and they make such a fuss of me,’ Nellie said.
‘I like the fact I get to sleep a lot, because my lot go out for quite a while and there’s nothing like a good Christmas Day nap.’ I wasn’t sure I agreed with Rocky but as long as he was happy.
‘I like the Queen’s Speech,’ Elvis declared. ‘She does it every year on TV, and when she comes on we all go quiet and listen very intently. It wouldn’t be Christmas without it.’
No one knew quite what to say about that. I had never even heard of it. But anyway, we passed a pleasant few minutes before I felt something wet landing on my fur.
‘Oh no, it’s raining,’ I said.
‘No, Dad, it’s not raining, it’s snowing!’ George said. ‘Look.’ We all looked up at the sky and snow was actually falling. We all stuck our tongues out to catch it, and it definitely made us all feel even more Christmassy.
‘Do you think Tiger sent the snow?’ Nellie asked as a fat snowdrop landed on her head.
‘Probably, she hated snow,’ I laughed.
Walking home, George kept trying to catch the snow with his tongue, and because he wasn’t looking where he was going he walked into a lamppost.
‘Ow,’ he said.
‘Look where you’re going, silly,’ I replied, but actually catching snow was quite fun, I had to concede. We both stopped naturally when we got to Tiger’s house. There were lights inside and I wondered how the Barkers were coping without Tiger. There was still no tree, I could see through the window, and only a small amount of decorations, but I hoped they were OK. I would have liked to have seen them really, but since Tiger had died they never opened the cat flap, and as it was so cold I doubted they would venture out.
‘Do you think Tiger mum is happy where she is?’ George asked, suddenly.
‘I do, son,’ I replied. ‘She can’t be over-the-moon happy because she’s not with you, but I think she’s not in pain and that must be a good thing.’
‘I know, I miss her but I’m glad she’s not in pain, any more. Dad?’
‘Yes, George?’ I could barely speak.
‘Loving is about letting go, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, George,’ I managed, my throat choked up. It really was.
When we got home, thankfully the warmth hit us as soon as we got through the cat flap. Everyone was in a state about the snow.
‘What if it settles?’ Claire panicked. ‘People won’t be able to get out and then it could be a problem.’
‘Everyone can walk here and if we need to help, like with Harold, I can go and give Marcus a hand. So don’t worry, it’ll be fine, darling. In fact, more than fine, it’s going to be the best Christmas,’ Jonathan reassured. ‘We’re together, we’ve got our gorgeous two children, our amazing cats and our best friends coming, what more could we want?’
‘I know, I’m sorry. I wish that Sylvie and Connie would come though, I feel so sorry for them, and I know they’ll have a miserable Christmas. Especially Connie.’
‘You might need a Christmas miracle for that one. I’m not sure even Santa can sort that out.’
I wished I could give them that miracle but I was all out of ideas. Part of me still wondered if Dustbin and I had been right to stop the kids from running away but I knew, deep down, it had been our only option. It was too dangerous out there for them. I was going to have to keep thinking, or– like Claire – hope for a miracle.
By the time Tomasz, Franceska and the boys arrived before the carol concert, I was exhausted from trying to think. However, Aleksy took me aside immediately. Well, he picked me up. I narrowed my eyes at him. What was he up to now? I hoped we weren’t going to try to look for Connie again. But instead of heading outside, he took me upstairs.
‘Look, Alfie, I know you were only visiting Dustbin the night I was running away, but it was probably good that you were there,’ he said when we were out of earshot in Toby’s bedroom.
‘Yowl.’ I wasn’t, I was trying to stop you.
‘I thought it was a good idea, when you and Dustbin made the commotion and stopped me going, I really had to think about things and Connie did too. We realised running away was a terrible idea. We have very little money, I spent most of mine on her phone, and what job would I get at my age?’
‘Meow.’ I raised my eyes to the heavens, it was madness.
‘And it’s dangerous out there, I know that, but you see Connie was so sad and I just wanted to make things better. But somehow I made them worse because now she doesn’t even have the phone any more and her mum hates me.’
‘Yowl.’ She does.
‘Anyway, I have a plan and I think you might approve of this one.’
I put my paws over my ears. I had a bad feeling.
‘No, honestly, there’s no risk to either of us. You see, tonight I am going to come to Connie’s and she is going to meet me and then we are going to hide, so that come morning when everyone gets up they’ll see we’re missing and they’ll worry but then we appear and say we were pushed so far to make a point that we want to be together and then they have to let us.’
‘YOWL!’ Could I voice my disapproval any more? Doing this on Christmas morning! It was a terrible idea. The worst.
‘Right, of course how did we concoct this with no phone? Well, that’s the clever part. Connie’s best friend, Sophie Hawker, is also my friend and we live on the same street. She went to visit Connie and she gave her a note from me. Her mum didn’t even suspect a thing. Clever, huh?’
He looked so pleased with himself, I really felt like scratching some sense into him, but I wasn’t going to use violence, it didn’t solve anything. And I couldn’t do that to my Aleksy. Not unless I really had to.
‘And then Connie gave Sophie a note for me agreeing to the plan!’ His eyes sparkled.
‘Mewmewmewmew.’ This was quite possibly the worst plan I’d ever heard. What Aleksy was suggesting was ruining everyone’s Christmas morning by going missing. I knew how I’d felt when George went missing, it had been the worst time ever. Aleksy was going to put his parents, Tommy and Sylviethrough that? Even for an hour it was too much and it would ruin Christmas. Totally ruin it.
‘I knew you’d approve. And we won’t ruin Christmas as we’ll only be gone for a bit.’
‘Yowl?’ How could I stop this one, I thought, as my poor overworked brain started whirring.
‘The best bit is that we’re going to hide in your shed, so we’ll only be in your garden. And I’ll set my alarm so we don’t leave it too late to tell everyone we’re fine. Hopefully before they call the police.’ His eyes clouded over slightly at that mention.
Oh no. I put my paws over my eyes. Of course, they’d call the police straight away. This was not good. Not good at all, I had to put a stop to this madness, but how?
Chapter Thirty-One
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This Christmas Eve was not going according to plan at all any more. I should have been relaxing in the warm with my boy while the families all went to the carol concert, but no, no I had to go and clear up yet another mess that my humans were making. I knew Aleksy was young so I really tried to give him some kind of concession, but this was possibly the worst plan I’d heard, and trust me, I had heard and even been the mastermind of quite a few. None that involved ruining Christmas, though.
And now I was going to have to save it.
I toyed with the idea of not telling George, but after all I had told him he needed to be open with me, so I felt I should do the same with him. I filled him in, but I downplayed it a bit; even so, he was shocked. He had been to visit Hana to wish her a Happy Christmas Eve through the glass door and she obviously had no idea what the kids were up to. I said the best thing would be for him to stay home to make sure all was alright here, while I went to see Dustbin. By giving him a very important job I managed to persuade him to wait at home. I was a little annoyed, as I was looking forward to a relaxing festive evening with my family, but of course life didn’t always give us what we wanted, did it?
My legs were so weary as I made my way there, but I had no option. The snow was falling more heavily– I had to be careful, as it was slippery under paw in certain parts. I felt as if my fur was freezing to my body, as worry flowed through me. We had to sort this out, and I had only one idea. Dustbin was in the yard having a rest by the bins. Obviously the rodents had scrammed.
‘Alfie, what a surprise.’ He stood up and stretched out. Poor Dustbin seemed tired as well.
‘I know. It’s Christmas Eve and it’s snowing, and I’ve had a really full day, but Aleksy came to my house and he confided in me that he and Connie are going to run away tonight.’
‘Oh no, that’s terrible.’
‘Yes, but the best or worst bit – I can’t figure out which – is that they are only planning on hiding in our garden shed for a while. They think if they scare the parents just for a short time, they will see sense, or Sylvie will, and let them see each other.’ I was almost tripping over my words.
‘This sounds like one of your plans,’ he pointed out. Not terribly helpfully, I might add.
‘Well, yes, normally I would, perhaps, agree but I wouldn’t do anything at Christmas. Christmas is, well, Christmas, no one should mess with Christmas.’ I was getting quite worked up now. ‘Imagine Franceska, Tomasz and Tommy waking up on Christmas morning to find Aleksy missing, it’ll be awful, and the same for Sylvie, only worse as she’s all alone. And then they’ll call Claire and Jonathan, which will ruin Christmas morning for the little ones, and the same with Matt and Polly as everyone aborts normal Christmas festivities to find the idiots!’ The more I thought about it theworse it sounded.
‘Oh dear, what a mess.’ Dustbin could sometimes be a bit too calm, although as I was so worked up, that might not have been such a bad thing. ‘So, we’ll stop him like we did last time,’ he suggested, licking his paw.
‘No, we can’t because Connie is going to meet him in the garden shed.’ I was so agitated. I suddenly wanted to knock the heads of a number of my humans together. Sylvie, for being so ridiculous about keeping these two apart, them for this silly plot, and well the mood I was in, I could probably find a reason for all of them. Happiness was so precious, so fleeting, why couldn’t they see that?
‘Um, I see.’ Dustbin licked his other paw and glared angrily at a mouse who was trying to approach. The mouse took one look at him and scurried away. ‘I almost feel bad not letting them in in this weather, but you know, a job’s a job.’ He raised his tail.
‘Dustbin, back to the matter at hand,’ I snapped.
‘Oh yes, so what do you think we should do?’ he asked. He looked at me with sympathy in his eyes and I knew I was being unfair, snapping at him, so I tried to calm down.
‘Well, I was thinking there is only one thing to do, and that is for me to somehow get Jonathan and Claire to discover them tonight, so the morning isn’t ruined.’
‘Good thinking. So what can I do to help?’
Now I could see us being able to foil this plan, I was beginning to feel calmer.
‘It’s a big ask but I wondered if you could follow Aleksy, you know, make sure he’s OK. He shouldn’t be wandering the streets at night, even if it’s only to our house.’
‘Right, that’s good, yes that’ll work. And then when I get to your place I’ll bang on the cat flap to let you know they are in the shed, so you can alert the humans straight away.’
‘Perfect. You really are such a good friend, Dustbin.’ I felt emotional, probably because I was so tired, angry, missing Tiger, and the idea that Christmas might be ruined, it was all getting on top of me.
‘No, you are. And you take care of these families so well. Right, so I’ll let you know when they are there. You will have to really make a fuss to get Jonathan and Claire out though.’
‘Oh, don’t worry, I seem to have had a lot of experience doing that lately.’ I really had. And although they sometimes could be a bit slow on the uptake, they seemed to get what I was telling them in the end. After all, that was how I had saved Harold. I just hoped I could stay awake long enough, I was so cat-tired (Yes, I know the expression is dog-tired but I would never compare myself to a dog.)
‘Right you are. We’ll sort this out and, you never know, the shock of them actually running away, albeit to a garden shed, might even make her mother see sense. I hope so, Aleksy is such a good lad.’
I nodded, I did understand. Love wasn’t always easy; I had learnt that the hard way.
My house was once again a hive of activity when I returned home, brushing the snow off my fur and warming my bones by the radiator.
‘Oh there you are, Alfie. I was wondering where you’d been. I can’t believe you went out in this weather,’ Claire said.
‘Meow.’ It wasn’t my choice.
‘Never mind, it’s so Christmassy, isn’t it? The first white Christmas in goodness knows how many years. The kids were so excited at the concert and getting them into bed was a mission. Thankfully they know that Santa only visits sleeping children, so they seem to have gone off now. And Georgeis tucked up with Toby, in case you were wondering.’
I was, but I’d assumed that was where he’d be. When I was dry and warm I was going to go and say goodnight to him.
‘And Jonathan and I have quite a lot to do before we’re ready for tomorrow. But I’m so excited. The snow, the big lunch with all our friends. It’s going to be wonderful,’ she gushed, she was so full of Christmas cheer. I hoped it was contagious.
As I thought about Aleksy and Connie, I wondered what would happen when they were discovered. Either all the parents would be so angry the teenagers would be grounded forever, or they would see how much the two of them meant to each other and Sylvie would relent and maybe we’d all spend a wonderful Christmas together. I knew which one I wanted it to be. I also knew which one I thought it would be.
After kissing my boy goodnight, I went to wait by the cat flap. That way, I knew if I went to sleep I would hear Dustbin when he arrived. I wondered what Tiger would have said to me if she was here, but I thought I knew. She would have said that Aleksy’s crazy plan was too much like one of mine, and that perhaps my humans were more influenced by me than we’d realised. I would be to blame for all of this, but then she would have approved of the way I was putting it right, I’m sure. I did feel responsible but then I cared too much about everyone’s happiness. I was learning that there was only so much this cat could do, however, and although I would never give up trying, sometimes I couldn’t find ways to solve everything. I still hadn’t figured out how to bring Sylvie and Connie back into the fold, and I hadn’t found a way of getting Hana out of the house – although of course I had discovered a way to get George in. Harold and his son had been reunited thanks to George and I, but that had been mainly George. Although I had achieved a fair bit, thinking about it. Just not everything, and I wasn’t a cat who liked loose ends.
Claire and Jonathan approached.
‘Honey, can’t we go to bed yet?’ Jonathan yawned.
‘Not until all our gifts are under the tree, and let’s have a last glass of champagne, so we can toast our Christmas Eve together. And it was perfect, wasn’t it? I can’t believe that Harold even sang at the carol concert, he really enjoyed himself.’
‘Yeah, and Marcus is a top bloke. I like him.’
‘If only Sylvie would meet him, he’d take her mind off all the awfulness in her life,’ Claire said.
‘Meow,’ I agreed.
‘Oh Alfie, I thought you were asleep. Why are you lying by the cat flap?’ Jonathan asked. ‘Santa comes down the chimney, not through the cat flap,’ he laughed. I swished my tail. Very funny.
‘Very funny, Jon, now come and have a drink, honestly, it will help you finish the wrapping.’
‘We’ll be up all night at this rate,’ he complained.
‘I want it to be perfect for Summer and Toby when they wake up at the crack of dawn,’ Claire said. I thought Jonathan might voice another of his objections but instead he put his arm around Claire and kissed the top of her head.
‘And so do I, darling, so let’s get going and be tucked up in bed in time for the real Santa to come.’
I let Jonathan scratch my ears and I hoped that Dustbin would arrive first.
Chapter Thirty-Two
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I must have fallen asleep, but I heard the cat flap bang and jumped up in an instant. I put my head through and saw Dustbin’s eyes staring back at me. In a second I was out in the freezing cold next to him.
‘They’re here?’
‘Yup, they went through with the crazy plan. Aleksy shivered all the way here, it’s so cold, and the shed is probably freezing. It’s lucky we’re not leaving them until morning, they’d probably get hypothermia,’ Dustbin replied. ‘Anyway, I checked they were inside before I came to get you, didn’t want them seeing me this time.’
Although the snow had stopped, there was a thin carpet of it in the garden. I could see their footprints, and also Dustbin’s paw prints.
‘Right, I guess it’s showtime,’ I said. Dustbin nodded.
‘Good luck, Alfie, I’ll wait just round here out of sight in case you need me.’
I went back inside. Claire and Jonathan were in their pyjamas, just about to switch the lights off in the living room and go to bed. Oh boy, I thought, as the tiredness weighed heavily on me, I had to get this right.
‘MEWMEWMEWMEWMEW,’ I screeched at the top of my lungs. Then I ran in circles.
‘Oh, not this again,’ Jonathan said. ‘What now? For goodness sake, Alfie, it’s midnight, on Christmas Eve, which means it’s technically Christmas morning and I for one want my bed.’
‘Alfie, shush, you’ll wake the children, now go to bed,’ Claire said. Oh dear, they were obviously so tired they weren’t getting it.
‘YOWLYOWLYOWL.’ I tried to stand on Claire’s foot but she pulled it away and I fell on my tail. I got up and ran some more circles. Normally Claire was the quicker of the two but it was very late.
‘I really think he’s trying to tell us something.’ Jonathan scratched his head. Thank goodness. I headed to the back door, mewing all the way.
‘He wants us to go outside?’ Claire said, uncertainly.
‘What, in this weather? Alfie, you’ve got to be joking.’
‘MEOW.’ I really wasn’t. I headed through the cat flap, crossing my paws that they would follow. After a few seconds I saw the door open and two sets of eyes peered out at me.
‘You go, Jon,’ Claire said.
‘But I’ve got my slippers on.’
‘So have I,’ Claire replied. I wished at least one of them would just hurry up and come.
‘OK, let me just put my shoes on.’ Jonathan went off and came back, his feet stuffed into some trainers. ‘Come on then,’ he said, glancing back at Claire as he stepped outside. ‘This had better be good.’
Oh it would be, I thought, as I started to lead him to the shed. He ran his hands through his hair and turned back to Claire.
‘I think he wants me to go to the shed,’ he said.
‘What if there’s someone in there? They might be dangerous,’ Claire replied. She went to the kitchen and came back with a saucepan. Forgetting she had her slippers on, she ran to Jonathan and handed it to him.
‘What’s that for?’
‘In case you need to hit them,’ Claire said.
‘You honestly think Alfie is telling us that there’s someone dangerous in our shed?’ He sounded a little bit panicked.
‘No idea but to be on the safe side,’ Claire said sensibly.
‘It’s probably a cat. You know, a stray cat that we’ll end up having to give a home to, or maybe it’s Santa.’ Jonathan laughed and I swished him with my tail again, this was no time for jokes.
‘YOWL.’ Would you just open the door already? Claire gave Jonathan a little push and, saucepan in hand, he tentatively opened the door. A scream from inside filled the air, as Jonathan flung the door wide open.
‘Oh my goodness,’ Claire said as the three of us stared at Aleksy and Connie, huddled together in the shed, wrapped in dusty old painting blankets.
‘What the hell?’ Jonathan shouted. He was still holding the saucepan up.
‘Oh dear,’ Aleksy said. Yet another understatement. Jonathan shook his head, and looked at Claire.
‘Right, I’ll go and call Franceska,’ Claire said. ‘And then I’m going to get your mum, Connie.’ She sounded angry. ‘Blimey you two, it’s freezing, are you both mad?’ Without waiting for an answer she ran back to the house. I was tempted to go with her but I wanted to see how this was going to play out.
‘What were you thinking, Aleksy? You idiot.’ Jonathan didn’t mince his words. He finally let his arm with the saucepan drop.
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