Alfie the Christmas Cat

Back to ours. George and I gave them a wide berth until they were all safely out of the house. After snatching a few moments’ peace and quiet after they were gone, our day could begin.

‘I’m going to Hana’s,’ George said. Since the baby, Hana had been happier to go for walks than normal. Hana was from Japan, and she was a house cat when she moved with Sylvie and Connie next door to us on Edgar Road. After trying for ages, we managed to get her to go outside but she only liked it when it was warm. However, since Theo’s arrival, she seemed to prefer the cold to staying at home all day long. I didn’t go with George and Hana on their morning walks because it was the cat equivalent of a date for them and who wanted their parents to go on a date with them? No one, that’s who.

Despite the fact it was a cold and breezy day, I decided to go and visit Tomasz, Franceska, Aleksy and Tommy. They lived in Edgar Road when I first moved there, but for a few years now, they’d lived next door to one of the restaurants they’d opened. They had come over from Poland, worked hard, and now had a number of popular restaurants, which provided great food. And I should know, as I am sometimes one of their chief tasters.

I assumed that Aleksy and Tommy would be at school, and Tomasz and Franceska would probably be working in the restaurant, so I hoped I might get a snack, and could see my cat friend Dustbin who worked for them. He was a bit of a feral cat, with a big heart and we had been friends for years. He kept the rodent population by the restaurant under control – not a job I would like by the way, but he loved his work. He was totally dedicated. I was still a bit worried about Tommy. He wasn’t himself on family day – understatement – and Franceska and Tomasz were obviously upset, so I wanted to see if I could gather as much information as possible about the situation, before I came up with a plan to sort it out.

I felt the wind in my fur as I ran through the back alley to the yard. Dustbin was there, licking his paws – probably after another successful rodent control – with his friend Ally, whom he was loath to call his girlfriend, although she was.

‘Hey Alfie,’ he said as he spotted me. His whiskers were raised and he sounded pleased to see me.

‘Dustbin, Ally,’ I said in greeting.

‘What brings you here in the cold?’ Ally said. She always teased me, calling me a spoilt cat with my warm homes and numerous humans to pamper me. Who was I to argue? I loved my life. But I wasn’t that fair weather, as I’ve already said. I even went out in snow. I felt my fur shiver at the thought of snow, but it might not be too far away now. Snow made me think of Christmas, and Snowball, who was as white as snow – hence her name.

‘I thought I’d brave it in order to see my two good friends,’ I replied, with a grin. I liked Ally, but she had taken a bit of winning over. She wasn’t used to being friends with ‘pampered’ cats.

‘Good to see you, Alfie. Here to catch up on the news?’ Dustbin asked. He kept me abreast of the goings on with my third family, as he saw them far more often than I did.

‘Is there news about Tommy?’ I raised my whiskers.

‘Well, yes, I’m afraid there is,’ Dustbin said, sounding serious.

‘Oh no.’ I felt my heart sink. Whereas Aleksy – who happened to be my first ever human child friend – was sensitive, serious, and a hard worker, his younger brother Tommy was the opposite. He was a good kid but he did get into trouble. Once, when George was a kitten, he sneaked him to church with the family, another time he snuck him into the younger children’s Nativity play and put him in the manger, replacing the doll that was supposed to be the baby Jesus. That even made the local newspaper. But you get the idea. He was mischievous rather than bad, I liked to think. Although, if family lunch had been anything to go by, he was now transitioning to bad.

‘He’s still not doing his homework, he’s had so many detentions, he’s getting bad grades, and being rude to his teachers. He stays up late – we see his light on, playing games and he even fell asleep in class the other day. The school have called in his parents this week to have a serious talk about him, I’m sorry to say,’ Dustbin explained.

‘Oh dear.’ I knew that this would be very stressful for Tomasz and Franceska. And, although I adore Tommy, he can be his own worst enemy. His parents work so hard and are such good people, I wasn’t happy at the idea of him worrying them so much. I didn’t want him in trouble either, it never ended well. I realised that I would need to get involved.

‘Franceska said he’s still grounded and he’s mad because you know how he likes to go hang out with his friends. Aleksy is trying to keep the peace but he can’t really say anything to his brother right now, and Tomasz even said that Tommy was going off the rails and needed taking in hand.’

‘What are they going to do?’ I asked. I had taught Dustbin well. When we first met he was more interested in rodents than people. Look how far he’d come.

‘They don’t know. Tomasz has said Tommy has to start working in the restaurant, washing dishes to keep him out of trouble, and Tommy said that is unfair, but I have a feeling it might get worse before it gets better, Alfie.’

‘Poor Aleksy is trying,’ Ally added. She had also become an asset. ‘But he doesn’t know how to get through to Tommy either. You hear the two of them arguing quite a lot. Tomasz was supposed to take him and Connie to the homeless shelter yesterday after school, but because they got called in to see Tommy’s teacher, Tomasz was late. They went in the end, but Aleksy accused Tommy of ruining things for everyone. Tommy said Aleksy was a “goody-goody” and Aleksy said Tommy will end up in jail if he carries on this way.’ My eyes widened. Surely it couldn’t be that bad?

‘I’ll have to think of something.’ I knew it would come down to me to try to find a way to fix this – most things did. I didn’t mind, it was my job. Dustbin kept the rodents under control, I kept the humans under control. I have to admit I think his job is easier though, even though I’m not keen on rodents.

‘I know you’ll come up with something,’ Dustbin said. ‘I hate to see Franceska so worried, Tomasz helpless … They think that if he doesn’t shape up he’s going to be in real trouble.’

‘Hmm. I get it. He’s always been a bit wild and he’s never liked school work the way Aleksy did … I’ll think about it, talk it over with Snowball maybe, see what we can come up with.’

‘Speaking of Snowball, how is she?’

‘Yes, she’s good. Harold has had a bad cold so she’s stayed in quite a lot to keep him company; she’s got such a good heart. I know sometimes she still misses her old family too but she and Harold are pretty close. And of course George is there a lot – and me – so she’s never really allowed to be down for long.’ Snowball used to live next door to us many years ago. Her family had moved away, which was sad for me, but just last year they had to go overseas and couldn’t take her with them, so she moved in with Harold. It was a wonderful surprise.

‘Life can throw a lot of changes at us, can’t it?’ Dustbin asked. He wasn’t wrong.

‘Goodness, if we went through all of them we’d be here all week. Right, shall we go and scratch at the door and see if they have any treats for us?’ I suggested. I had to think of a way to sort Tommy out, but before I even thought about coming up with an idea, I knew that it would be easier to do so once I had a full tummy.

I always managed to think better after food.

After a little bit more time spent with Dustbin and Ally and some delicious plump sardines, I headed back to Edgar Road. As I entered through the cat flap I could tell the house was empty, and I wondered if George was still next door. After taking a quick rest, I went to see Snowball, who lived near the end of the road. Edgar Road is quite a big street, with different types of houses on it, and that means we have a lovely mix of people and cats. As I walked past Tiger’s old house – would I ever stop thinking of it like that, I wondered – I saw Oliver, the Barkers’ new cat in the window, though he was not so new now. I felt a pang and, as if sensing this, he raised a paw at me. I greeted him and walked on. I was happy the Barkers had got a cat after Tiger, but I also found it hard – the dichotomy of life. I knew they gave Oliver a good home and he was a splendid cat. And, of course, every cat deserved a loving home, but it was still hard to have a reminder of Tiger being gone every time I passed.

I walked on, past the recreation ground where us cats met up, but no one was there. But then, the weather had turned quite horrible so my sensible cat friends were probably warm and cosy at home. I would see them soon though, I knew. We Edgar Road cats were quite the gang. I made it to Harold’s house, went round the back, and let myself in through the cat flap.

Harold wasn’t a fan when he first met us, but George saved his life and now he liked cats more than people. Especially now he had Snowball. It hadn’t been easy for us at first, me and Snowball. Not only were we trying to see where our feelings were – she was my first love, after all – but also I had been with Tiger in between and, on top of that, George took against her because he felt she was trying to replace his mum. It took us a while for us all to figure out our relationship but we did, eventually, and we were all happy together now.

This was illustrated by my finding George and Snowball together in the living room at Harold’s house. Harold sat in his favourite chair, watching some kind of war programme on the TV. Snowball was sat on one arm of the chair, George on Harold’s lap. They all looked so comfortable, I felt a pang. I stood and watched them for a moment, the two cats I loved so much together, and then Harold spotted me.

‘Ah Alfie, now I have a full house!’ He laughed. I jumped onto the other arm of his chair and lay down. None of us moved for a moment. We were there together and that was enough for now. More than enough, in fact, as we all purred with contentment.

Chapter Four

By the time George and I returned home, the house was full again. I hadn’t had the chance to tell Snowball about Tommy yet; George was present, and I didn’t want to worry him until I had a chance to think it through a bit more – that was parenting for you. You tried to protect your children, although I had learnt you can’t protect them from everything.

We went through the cat flap and into the hallway where Pickles, Polly and Matt’s pug, waddled up and licked us both.

‘Oh, hey Pickles,’ George said, as he used his paw to wipe where Pickles had licked. I followed suit. Pickles licked everything and you could never be sure quite where that tongue had been.

‘How are you?’ I asked. My role with Pickles was like an uncle; he didn’t have dog parents, so I took the responsibility of being the non-human figure of authority very seriously. I’d known him since he was tiny, and often been in charge of looking after him, and I really was very fond of him. As was George, even though he didn’t always like to admit it. George saw him as an annoying younger sibling, I think. Pickles got me in a lot of trouble, but then most people and cats in my life did, so I was certainly used to it.

‘I’m so good,’ Pickles said, snuffling around to see if there was any stray food. I liked my food but I had nothing on Pickles. Polly was always putting him on a diet so he had to come up with more and more ways to sneak food. When it came to eating, there was no stopping him. ‘George, the kids are playing upstairs, will you come with me?’ Pickles asked, waggling his bottom with excitement. We could hear Toby, Summer, Henry, and Martha, laughing and shrieking.

‘OK.’ George tried to sound reluctant. He was so grown up now that he said the games they played with the younger kids were beneath him! However, I knew he secretly still loved it. I watched them both rush off then went into the living room where, to my delight, Polly, Franceska, Claire, and Sylvie were. Claire was clutching baby Theo, who seemed to be asleep.

‘I can’t believe he’s sleeping,’ Sylvie said, as if reading my mind. ‘He’s been terrible lately; I think it’s a growth spurt. Feeding all the time, not sleeping, it’s exhausting. If I knew that having a baby at my age would be so tough …’

‘You wouldn’t be without him though, would you?’ Polly asked.

‘No, of course not – I adore him. But Connie’s so much older, so I really had forgotten what it was like to have a newborn. Thankfully Marcus is great and supportive, but I’m conscious that he has to work.’

‘It’s a tough time, the first year,’ Claire said. ‘But also amazing. I sometimes look at Toby, who feels as if he’s been with us forever, and I feel guilty that I wasn’t the one to comfort him when he was this age.’ Claire sounded emotional. Toby was adopted by us when he was five. We don’t talk about his life before and neither does he anymore. Now he’s been with us, such a huge part of our family for years, it’s as if he was always here. I kind of know what Claire means though.

‘Theo’s only three months old, remember,’ Franceska said. ‘Soon enough he will find his routine; babies do it in their own time. Goodness, not that I remember, my two are so growing fast.’ I glanced at Franceska and jumped onto her lap. She got her words a little bit mixed up when she was worried. Perhaps I would hear more about the Tommy situation now. Franceska sighed.

‘Things still bad with Tommy?’ Polly asked.

‘Ah, yes. He’s always been such a naughty boy but mostly harmless. You know, so physical, unlike Aleksy, but sports seemed to keep him under control. But now he’s really playing up at school and we don’t know why. He doesn’t do his homework, he’s been in detention so many times and his head of year even called me and Tomasz in. He said he is not doing well in lessons and he’s becoming known as a trouble maker by the teachers. He has broken so many rules, I don’t think there’s many he hasn’t broken. Thankfully he hasn’t been fighting, but that seems to be the only thing he hasn’t done.’

‘Oh Frankie,’ Claire said. ‘Tommy’s a bright boy but he’s always been a little bit of a live wire. Do you think this might just be a phase?’

‘I hope so, but as Tomasz said, if he starts being in trouble all the time, how do we stop it? It’s hard, you know? Tommy’s always been a leader and he is being seen as the bad influence on his friends now; Aleksy told me this. He didn’t want to say too much because it would betray his brother. He also said he would try to talk to Tommy but I don’t think it’s done any good. They just argue about it all. Tommy says Aleksy is a “suck up” and Aleksy gets quite upset by him.’

‘You’ve already grounded him?’ Sylvie said.

‘Yes, and we took his phone and his iPad, and now he just says he hates us! I just don’t want my lovely boy to go off the rails.’

‘I’m sure he won’t – he’s got a good heart at the end of the day – but you know, maybe he still feels a little bit out of place … with us. He’s older than our lot, and Aleksy has Connie …’ Polly pointed out. This was true. Poor Tommy was a little bit on his own. We noticed this and I somehow managed to draw attention to it. He sometimes had a friend come with him, when we had family day, but not now, not when he was in trouble. He wasn’t allowed.

‘That is why we told him to invite a friend, but now he is grounded we said he had to improve his behaviour before his friends can visit again,’ Franceska said. ‘We really don’t know what to do for the best.’

‘Keep an eye on the situation, that’s all you can do. And if you need any help, we’re all here,’ Claire said.

‘Meow.’ I seconded that.

‘I know. I’m hoping that the next family day we have, maybe Jonathan can have a word. For some reason he seems to take to Jonathan.’ Yeah, I didn’t know why either.

‘I think it’s because they’re similar.’ Claire laughed. ‘But I have an idea. Tommy said he wants to work in the city, which he can only do if he does well at school. Maybe Jonathan could say that if he improves his grades he can do some work experience for him.’

‘That’s a genius idea, Claire,’ Franceska said. ‘I would be so grateful.’

You see, I had taught my humans well. Claire had almost as many good ideas as I did. Although, knowing Jonathan as I did, I wasn’t sure he’d be thrilled. He often found himself having to do things that he had no say in. But, I also knew that even if he objected there would be no point. When Claire made up her mind there was absolutely no changing it.

Tommy being in trouble was something I would have to ponder. He was a good boy. He was fun as well, always laughing and joking, and yes he didn’t love school the way Aleksy did and he didn’t find lessons easy either, but he had great potential. And I would not let Tommy ruin his life – not that he was going to, but if Franceska and his school were right, he was in danger of going down the wrong path and it would take a cat like me to get him back on the right one. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to do it alone, but I had my family, my cat friends, and I was determined. All I needed now was a plan, and I was very, very experienced when it came to making plans.

Theo woke up with a quite startling cry soon after, and Sylvie took him home in order to make Connie’s tea. Franceska reluctantly left us to go and deal with her family. I could see in the way her shoulders were slumped that she was seriously worried about her younger son. I nuzzled into her, giving her a bit of extra fuss so she knew that I was here for her.

‘Shall I do tea for the kids here?’ Claire offered.

‘Oh that would be fantastic. I’ll pour us a glass of wine shall I?’ Polly replied. The kids all got on pretty well most of the time. There was the odd squabble, but that was only to be expected. They all had tea together a few times a week, especially as Claire looked after Henry and Martha when Polly had to work late, and Matt couldn’t get home either. I loved how lively the house was, but it was also quite exhausting.

As George and Pickles and the children descended on the kitchen I watched my family with a mixture of love, pride and worry. We never stopped worrying about those we loved, that was for sure. As the children ate their tea with all the usual chatter and laughter, George and I sat in our basket in the kitchen, enjoying our family. Pickles lurked under the kitchen table, trying to pick up any scraps that were dropped, and Polly and Claire sipped glasses of wine. I wished I could press pause on our lives. Keep this snapshot for a bit longer, because it was truly lovely. And because sometimes life moved far too quickly.

George and the children were growing up fast, the adults trying to keep everything balanced – and I include myself in that by the way – and even Pickles wasn’t technically a baby anymore. At least we had baby Theo to keep us young, I guessed, but then we’d blink and he’d be a teenager. Oh listen to me, getting all maudlin. It was only because I was worried about Tommy, and once I started fretting I generally started worrying about everyone I loved.

That was the sort of cat I was.

I went out the front to take a bit of thinking time in the fresh, albeit damp and cold, air. I saw Aleksy and Connie standing at Connie’s front gate. I went to greet them.

‘Ah Alfie, I was just going home. I don’t want to give my parents any more grief,’ Aleksy said, petting me.

‘No, your brother’s doing quite enough,’ Connie added.

‘Meow.’ I’ve heard, I said.

‘At least we did get to the homeless shelter. Oh Alfie, it was so sad, so many people without homes,’ Aleksy said, still stroking my fur. I nuzzled. I had been homeless once, which seems like another life now, but, I understood.

‘Yes, we want to raise money for it. Not because of the school project but because Christmas is coming up and it’s tough enough being homeless at any time but imagine at Christmas,’ Connie added, sounding passionate.

‘Mew, mew, mew.’ I thought that sounded like a very good idea. Not that I had experience of raising money.

‘I knew you’d agree. Now we just have to think of an idea, because we don’t have one yet. But I better go. As I said, I don’t want Mum to worry about anything else.’ Aleksy bid me and Connie goodbye. He was a good kid, as was Connie. And they wanted an idea.

Well, they had come to the right cat.

Chapter Five

It was another family day, an unscheduled one actually. Sylvie wanted to host a lunch, which she hadn’t done since Theo was born, to sort of officially welcome Theo into our extended family. As far as I was concerned we already had, but if it kept Sylvie happy … Hana told George that Sylvie felt as if she had received so much support from us all since Theo was born, she wanted to thank everyone, so a Japanese feast it was. And I wasn’t too upset about that because the Japanese were huge fans of fish, just like me.

Sylvie’s house, which used to be very minimalistic, was full of baby stuff now. By the way, for something so small, babies seemed to need a lot of stuff. Not like kittens, kittens were easy by comparison. We cats are so self-sufficient, it’s a shame that humans can’t learn from us; believe me, I have tried to teach them. Dogs can’t learn that much either by the way. Trust me, we tried with Pickles.

I was hoping I might get a bit more information about the Tommy situation. Having reviewed all I knew so far, I had a number of conclusions. Tommy was a teenager and he was misbehaving at school and home. I loved Tommy as I loved all my children, and therefore I could not allow that to happen. However, at this point in time I had no idea what to do. The problem was I could feel trouble brewing. I could feel it in my fur.

Hana, George and I stand poised by the front door of Hana’s house to greet the families. George and I snuck over early, entering through the cat flap, because we were so excited. Hana’s house used to be a quiet and immaculate place but hurricane Theo had changed things somewhat. Now, there was baby paraphernalia all over the place, and it was also pretty noisy. Theo was a beautiful baby but he had a strong set of lungs on him.

On the upside, it was also a happier home now. They had had challenges when they first moved in. Sylvie and Connie arrived from Japan after an upsetting time – divorce. Connie struggled to settle in England, and worried about her mum, but then Sylvie met Marcus, and now they’re a family, which baby Theo helped to complete.

Hana took a bit of time to get used to life in Edgar Road too. In Japan her life was very ordered but in Edgar Road, well, let’s just say order isn’t something that we do very well.

Claire, Jonathan, Toby and Summer arrived first as they only had to come from next door. Claire made a beeline for baby Theo, practically grabbing him out of Sylvie’s arms, and Summer, who was fascinated by babies, and played with dolls a lot, attached herself to her mum’s side, begging for a hold. Sylvie, who is usually quite uptight, sat Summer on the sofa and said she could give Theo his bottle. Polly, Matt, Henry and Martha arrived next with Pickles, who was allowed to join us as long as he behaved himself. He never behaved himself, though, as he set about licking everyone. Martha immediately wanted a turn with Theo; this baby was in demand. Just as a row threatened to break out, Sylvie said there would be enough time for everyone to hold Theo. Poor thing, he was going to spend the day getting passed around like a parcel. It reminded me of when George was a tiny kitten. Everyone wanted him then, too. They lose interest when you get bigger. It’s a fact of life; I can tell you that from personal experience. Not a terrible one, I might add. There are benefits to not being manhandled all the time. Theo could look forward to learning that when he got a bit bigger.