Рейчел Уэллс - A Friend Called Alfie

‘You should go and see her, take Connie as well,’ Claire said.

‘I think we’re going in a bit.’

‘Woof!’

‘Can I take Pickles?’ Aleksy said.

‘If you promise not to let him off the lead.’

‘Woof.’ Pickles licked his face again. That dog could get his way with anything, it seemed.

‘Right, Aleksy, it’s nice to see you but what do I owe the pleasure?’ Claire asked.

‘I want to buy a present for Connie, you know for Christmas,’ he said, blushing. ‘She’s going to Japan, which means I won’t see her on Christmas Day, but I want to tell her that I care and also make her feel as if I’m OK about her going.’

‘You couldn’t ask your mum?’ Claire asked.

‘No, she’ll only tell me to buy her one of those funny neck pillows to use on the plane.’ She did; Franceska was known to only spend money on things that she deemed useful.

‘So what were you thinking?’ Claire asked. She was smiling and I think she found it sweet, as did I, that Aleksy had come to her for help.

‘Jewellery, I heard women like that,’ he said looking at his feet.

‘They certainly do.’ Claire smiled. ‘So why me?’

‘Because you have good taste and Jonathan says that shopping is the thing you do best,’ Aleksy replied. Claire rolled her eyes. Jonathan did say that. A lot.

‘Right, come with me, we’ll hit the internet,’ Claire said and they went to the kitchen to her laptop.

‘Is the internet something I can eat?’ Pickles asked me.

‘No, it is not and you need to stop trying to eat everything,’ I chastised.

‘OK, Alfie,’ he replied as he licked me.

I decided, that I’d go and see my friends while Aleksy took Pickles. I hadn’t seen much of them since Snowball was back, because as I said before, I was still processing my feelings. I headed out into the cold, shivering as I first hit the outdoors, and made my way down. I was disappointed to find no one was there but it was a freezing day, so it was also understandable. I stayed for a bit, wondering whether to head back when I spotted George walking down the road.

‘Hey,’ I shouted and went to join him.

‘Why haven’t you been to Harold’s for a while?’ he asked as we fell into step with each other.

‘I just wanted to give you the chance to spend time with Harold. Your old dad can give you some space you know. So how are you finding it?’

‘Dad, I know I was upset at first but you have to admit that it is strange that your old girlfriend turns up, but I actually like her. I really like her, she’s funny, and I like that she’s nothing like Tiger mum as well. Although Tiger mum was funny, she and Snowball are very different. You really don’t have a type do you?’

‘No,’ I laughed. ‘I don’t have a type. But I also have a lot of feelings—’

‘I do know, and I don’t want to talk about that but there is something I do want to talk about.’

‘Right, go on?’

‘It’s about Harold’s idea for the Sunday Lunch Club. He’s got a list of people who don’t have anyone and he’s even written it all down in a notebook. I chatted about it with Snowball as well and we both think that it’ll be great for our community if we could put it into practice.’

‘Right, so you guys now have your own little plan, seeing as you wouldn’t talk to her a few days ago that’s interesting,’ I teased.

‘Stop it, Dad. But you know my job, it’s not at the hospital anymore, but I still have it. I still have to try to help lonely people you know.’

‘I know and I’m proud of you.’

‘But we need your help,’ George said.

I felt as if we had come so far. I was so delighted that George and Snowball were actually in cohorts about something, I was pleased Harold was doing something as well, but I didn’t know where we went from here.

‘My help with what?’

‘Harold is too nervous about his idea to tell any humans, is there a way we can put it in practice on our own?’

As much as I was a cat who normally put plans into action, arranging for people to cook for other people and take care of them was possibly beyond me. It definitely needed human intervention.

‘We need one of them to hear the idea, so we need to encourage Harold to tell them,’ I said.

‘But how do we do that? I mean he’s happy to talk to Snowball and me but that’s as far as it goes,’ George said.

‘Then we need to find a way to get him to tell the others, and they can help get it set up, I know they can,’ I said.

‘But how?’ George asked.

‘George, I think we need another plan.’

‘I was hoping you’d say that. But I also think we need Snowball’s input on this one.’

‘Really?’ It seemed she had won my boy over.

‘Yes, she told me about your past, and some of your plans have been really terrible. With her help, I reckon we can keep us all out of danger.’

I had no words.

‘It’s a bit like old times isn’t it?’ Snowball asked as we sat in Harold’s garden discussing what George had told me earlier.

‘Different house but yes,’ I replied, feeling a mixture of nostalgia and confusion. I felt warm despite the fact it was freezing and being next to Snowball was making me happy.

‘Alfie, I feel that I’ve bonded with George, but I also think it all hinges on his plan. If we can’t get Harold to tell the others about the Sunday Lunch Club, George will be so disappointed and I can’t bear to let him down.’

‘I agree, I want to make it happen too, not least because I love that he accepted you so quickly.’

‘It wasn’t that quick, he froze me out for over a week.’

‘Believe me, for George that’s nothing. He didn’t talk to me for ages not that long ago. Anyway, any ideas about how to get Harold to tell the others? I really don’t know why he won’t.’

‘He says he thinks they might just say he’s a silly old man and not take it seriously,’ Snowball told me. ‘It’s totally irrational because it’s a great idea, but he doesn’t seem to have confidence in himself.’

‘Poor Harold, not only is it brilliant, but he’s given it a lot of thought, according to George.’

‘Weirdly he swears that he and George came up with the idea together, I have no idea how that worked though,’ Snowball said.

‘You said he’d written it down?’

‘Yes, he’s got this notebook and he said the other day he’d made a list of people and also written a bit about how his idea would work.’

‘Where is this notebook?’ I asked.

‘He leaves it on the arm of his chair, mostly,’ she replied. ‘Why?’

‘I think I might have an idea …’

‘Just like old times.’

‘What did you think of Pickles?’ I asked. I hadn’t seen him since he’d been to Snowball’s house. I think Aleksy must have taken him back to Polly’s.

‘Interesting little fellow. Kept trying to lick me,’ Snowball replied.

‘You better get used to that. Did you fall in love, when you moved away?’ I hadn’t asked this question directly yet.

‘No, I didn’t. But I know about you and Tiger. She always loved you.’

‘And I grew to love her, but it was different than with you, not better, not worse, not more or less, just different.’

‘I do understand. I did feel a bit jealous at first, but then that’s natural.’

‘Yes, and you will always be my first love, Snowball. Remember how hard I had to work to woo you.’ We both laughed.

‘It’s strange, I’m still upset about my family, I know they had to move and I know they thought long and hard about taking me with them, but …’

‘Snowball, it was only when Claire told them that we were looking for a cat that they actually made up their minds, because you know their reasons.’