Рейчел Уэллс - A Friend Called Alfie

The restaurant was warm, welcoming, with lights twinkling everywhere. Frankie greeted us all with hugs and kisses, Tomasz was cooking, and Sylvie and Claire went to help him. Jonathan organised the children, while Franceska poured drinks. Tommy and Aleksy played a game on a tablet; rare for the brothers to share a moment together. I knew Aleksy was missing Connie, but it was nice to see them hanging out, and I hoped it would bring them closer together.

We cats skipped happily out the back to wish Dustbin a Happy Christmas.

‘Well I never, it’s Snowball.’ Dustbin raised his whiskers in greeting. ‘How lovely to see you after all this time.’

‘Remember, George, I told you that I ran away once and Dustbin literally saved my life,’ Snowball explained.

‘Yes, but that was down to Alfie, really,’ Dustbin said. We all spared a thought for our old memories.

‘Isn’t it great us all being here together?’ Dustbin said as he introduced Snowball and Hana to Ally.

‘Hana, come outside,’ George coaxed, she was still stood just inside the door.

‘But it’s so cold on my paws,’ Hana replied, tentatively lifting a paw out. ‘Brurrgh,’ she said, shivering. We all smiled at her fondly.

I went back inside when I heard Matt and Marcus arrive, as did George and Hana. Snowball stayed outside to catch up with Dustbin and Ally.

Harold proudly led our new friends, Les, Mary, Val, Jack and Alan in. I felt so proud and sad at the same time. I still couldn’t quite come to terms with the idea that people were alone at Christmas.

‘Thanks so much for having us,’ Mary said, she was quiet and a little nervous. Our families had decided that they would share the old people, although Claire said we shouldn’t say it like that, you know what Jonathan was like. However, this way us, Polly, Matt, Franceska, Tomasz, Sylvie and Marcus would make sure they were looked after and we’d somehow ended up with an extra person too, but it didn’t matter because we had enough love to go round. George and I enjoyed the extra fuss we got when we saw them also.

I went to greet them all by rubbing their legs, but Alan looked a bit shocked. He wasn’t a cat person, and didn’t make a fuss of us, but George and I had decided that we’d soon convert him.

‘You are all so welcome,’ Franceska said, ‘now can I get you drinks. We’ve got Prosecco?’

‘Oh I’ve never had it,’ Val said. ‘But I wouldn’t say no.’ She grinned. She had never had children and her husband died a few years ago, so she’d been on her own ever since.

‘I think I might rather a sherry?’ Mary said, sounding a little uncertain. I guessed we were overwhelming all together, and they weren’t used to us yet.

‘Meow.’ I tried to reassure them all.

‘I’d love a beer,’ Jack said.

‘We’ve got sherry, beer, wine or Prosecco, you’re welcome to whatever you want,’ Jonathan said, as he took orders.

‘And can I take your coats?’ Franceska asked, as they finally shrugged off their coats. Matt and Harold led them to the table.

‘Take a seat,’ Harold said. He was definitely enjoying taking charge.

‘Is there anywhere we should sit?’ Val asked.

‘Wherever you like,’ Harold replied. I watched as they levered themselves into chairs, just as drinks were delivered to them, and the children came over.

‘We wish you a Merry Christmas,’ Summer and Martha sang. They were so angelic, I wondered what they’d been bribed with. Aleksy, and Tommy shook everyone’s hands like the polite older children they were growing into and Toby and Henry introduced them to Pickles. Although our guests were still a little bewildered, it wasn’t long before they started to relax. Our families had that effect on people.

Sylvie sat down with them. She didn’t have a big pregnancy belly yet but she tired easily and had to take care of herself and the unborn baby. We didn’t know what we were having yet but we were all very excited about it. Especially Hana, who was looking forward to having new life in their house.

‘So, I hope you’re going to enjoy today.’ She smiled. ‘It’s a little crazy when we’re all together.’ That was an understatement.

‘I just never saw a family who went to a restaurant and took their pets,’ Alan said, nervously. ‘But I’m so happy to be here, I can’t remember the last time I had a home-cooked Christmas meal.’

‘Oh Alan.’ Sylvie who was emotional, hugged him which seemed to shock him even more. ‘I’m sorry,’ she added as she wiped tears from her face. ‘But my little girl, who is fifteen and not so little, is in Japan with my ex-husband. It’s my first ever Christmas without her and I miss her so much.’ Her tears streamed down her cheeks and Hana jumped to comfort her as did Marcus. ‘Oh it’s fine, she’ll be fine and so will I but I feel so strange without her. You know this morning, we would always wake up on Christmas morning and open her stocking. I wish she was here, that’s all. Sorry.’

‘Don’t apologise, it’s not easy, Sylvie,’ Harold said, squeezing her hand.

‘Thanks, Harold, right it’s Christmas, I will make sure we all have fun.’ She wiped her tears away and then went to see if she could help anyone.

‘I don’t know if I explained to all of you,’ Harold continued, taking his role of organiser of this wonderful thing very seriously. ‘But this is Tomasz and Franceska’s restaurant and they never open on Christmas, so it’s more like going to someone’s home. And the cats, well what can I say, they come everywhere with us more or less. I can highly recommend getting a cat if you’re lonely by the way, it worked wonders for me.’

‘Meow.’ Snowball appeared and jumped on Harold’s lap. ‘But at our age, what if anything happened to us and we left them?’ Val asked.

‘You can rehome an older cat,’ Harold explained. Goodness at this rate they would all have cats by the end of this meal. Although possibly not Alan.

‘Ahh, no, Pickles, stop, Pickles,’ Henry started shouting. We all looked over.

‘What’s going on?’ Polly asked, appearing from the kitchen.

‘Pickles just ate a Christmas cracker toy,’ Henry explained as he tried to fish it out of Pickles’ mouth. Polly grabbed him, and managed to get it.

‘How on earth did he get that?’ Matt asked, scratching his head. We hadn’t pulled any crackers yet. The children all shrugged innocently.

‘Let’s do Secret Santa now,’ Marcus suggested, cleverly changing the subject.

All the adults exchanged gifts and the younger children all helped deliver them. Summer wanted to deliver a gift when it was Martha’s turn and although Martha was pretty laid-back, she got cross, and then Pickles barked.

‘Summer, you all take turns remember,’ Claire said.

‘She never likes to take turns,’ Toby explained. ‘But, Summer, as it’s Christmas, you can have my turn,’ he added.

‘Yay!’ Summer hugged Toby and I felt a pang. My children were growing up to be like us too.

‘Also, and I won’t have any arguing, you will all take home some leftover food please, it will help me out,’ Tomasz stated, as he prepared to go and put the finishing touches to dinner. I know he meant our new guests, as we all had plenty, but it had been decided before to cook extra food and send it home with our guests, by letting them think it was just leftovers and we needed them to help eat it up. That was Harold’s idea too. He said like him, a lot of them were too proud to admit being lonely, or to needing help. I had learnt, through Harold, to understand that. I was quite a proud cat myself, after all.

Lunch was wonderful. We cats all ate together. Pickles was kept away, because we all know about his strict diet, and I did feel a bit sorry for him. However, he was given some turkey so it wasn’t all bad. As we ate, I enjoyed listening to the low hum of happy human conversation and laughter. Crackers were pulled, hats put on, drinks refreshed – Mary was a little tipsy, her cheeks flushed and she giggled like a young girl. The rest of our new friends were all relaxing, as they were made to feel part of the family. The children were behaving again, all getting along, under the watchful eyes of Aleksy and Tommy, and everyone was having a lovely time which was all that mattered. It was all that ever mattered to me, to see my friends and families happy.