Шейла Нортон - Oliver The Cat Who Saved Christmas

‘Oh, of course, the pub fire. I’d forgotten the hall was damaged too.’ He looked down at his paws. ‘I’m afraid I don’t often go into the village. I’ve found it difficult to meet people, to be honest. I didn’t know how I’d handle it if they started asking questions, so I kept out of their way. I realise now how stupid that was. Everyone must have thought I was being stand-offish.’

‘Oh, well, I wouldn’t say that…’ Sarah began, but her mouth was twitching at the corners.

He smiled and shrugged. He looked so much nicer when he smiled.

‘I can’t blame them. But now you and the children, and the other families, are being so good to us, I’ve realised, well…’ He hesitated, then admitted, ‘I guess it wasn’t just Caroline who was desperately in need of some good neighbours. You must let me know if I can do anything in return.’

‘There’s no need, honestly. We’re happy to help.’

‘Thank you, again.’ He turned to go. Halfway out of the door, he swung round and looked back at Sarah.

‘So there’s nowhere for all the Brownies to meet together? Nowhere else in the village?’

‘No. Not just the Brownies. None of the groups and clubs have anywhere to meet. But it’s funny how we’ve all somehow managed to get around it. People in the village have become so good at improvising and co-operating with each other – we’ve actually all benefited from the situation, in a way. Small groups have been getting together in each other’s homes, drawing up rotas, even making new friends.’

‘But we can’t have a Christmas party this year,’ Grace said sadly.

‘No.’ Sarah shook her head. ‘ All the Christmas parties and meals have had to be cancelled. The pensioners, the WI, the playgroup, mums-and-babies group – obviously nobody has room to cater for the numbers that would be involved.’

‘I see.’ Julian paused, looking around him. ‘But we do.’

‘Pardon?’

‘I said, we do.’ His eyes went suddenly brighter, like he’d just seen a nice juicy mouse running past. ‘We’ve got empty rooms in this house, rooms that I haven’t even got around to furnishing. We’ve got an enormous great ballroom, for God’s sake! All the clubs could have their parties in there, and it still probably wouldn’t be crowded. In fact,’ he went on, sounding so excited now, Caroline had sat upright in surprise, and Laura and Sarah both had their mouths hanging open, staring at him, ‘in fact, why don’t we just have the whole village here together? Make it a huge village family party? Let’s do it! I’ve got a colleague who used to moonlight as a DJ – he’s still got all his equipment. I know he’ll do me a favour if I ask him. Let’s start at teatime, so all the children can come. How about Christmas Eve? A lot of people will have finished work early.’

‘Oh, Daddy!’ Caroline was squealing. ‘Can I come? Please, please, can I come? I won’t even have to leave the house. And Laura will be here to look after me. And I can see Grace and Rose and the other Brownies.’

‘Yes, of course you can. But you’ll have to remember you still get very tired. You won’t be able to run around like the other children.’

Caroline bounced up and down on the sofa, her cheeks all pink with excitement.

‘But…’ Sarah had gone a bit pink too. ‘Mr Smythe, honestly, you can’t…’

‘ Julian, for goodness’ sake, and yes I can. I want to. It’s the least I can do, to make up for being so unsociable and rude.’

‘But what about food, Julian?’ Laura asked, looking worried. ‘It’s such short notice. I mean, I’ll help, but there’s not much time for shopping or cooking.’

‘Hmm, that’s a point. Might be too late to organise caterers,’ he said, frowning.

‘Perhaps we should leave it until after Christmas,’ Laura suggested.

‘But I’d like to make it a Christmas party,’ Julian insisted. ‘Where’s your sense of fun, Laura?’ He laughed. ‘It’ll be great – spontaneous! I’ll just have to drive into town and load up with lots of party food.’

‘No!’ Sarah stood up now, shaking her head. ‘Absolutely not. If you really want to do this – and honestly, I agree it’s a bit rushed! – we certainly can’t let you go to the trouble and expense of providing food. There are too many of us. We’ll sort it out together, like we’ve been doing, with notices on the notice board, and with phone calls, emails, and notes through people’s doors, and we’ll all bring something along. Plates of sausage rolls, sandwiches, cakes – everyone who comes will rustle up or buy something quickly.’

He started to protest, but Laura stopped him.

‘It’s actually a good idea, Julian,’ she said. ‘People won’t feel so embarrassed about coming, if they contribute.’

‘Oh, I suppose that’s a point. All right, then, but please tell them the contributions are voluntary. And I’ll provide drinks. Soft drinks for kids, wine and beer for the adults who want it. I insist! It’s the first thing I’ve contributed to village life, and not before time.’ He grinned at Laura. ‘I’m looking forward to this. It’s…’ He coughed, and took a deep breath. ‘It’s the first thing I’ve looked forward to for a long while.’

‘Perhaps the first of many,’ Laura said quietly, and they gave each other that long look again.

‘Oh, for goodness’ sake, Daddy, why don’t you just kiss her?’ Caroline said. ‘It’s been obvious for ages that you want to.’

And everyone burst out laughing.

When Sarah was ready to leave, I decided to go with them. Grace and Rose lingered over their goodbyes to Caroline, while I followed Julian and Sarah out into the hall.

‘Just a thought,’ Sarah said very quietly to Julian. ‘If you do decide to get Caroline a cat after Christmas, we happen to know someone whose cat’s having kittens soon. We’re actually getting one ourselves. We went to see the couple last night, and they’ll be wanting to re-home all but one of the kittens. If you’re sure about this party, and they come, I’ll introduce you.’

‘Thank you. Yes,’ he said, ‘I think, now I’ve got over the shock of seeing Oliver with her, it would be very good for Caroline. And I like the idea of having a kitten from someone in the village.’

‘I’m glad. You know, a lot of what’s happened here seems to have come about because of Oliver. Since he’s been with us, things seem to have … fallen into place, somehow.’ She laughed. ‘My neighbour thinks he’s got magical qualities.’

‘Maybe he has. People used to believe that about cats, didn’t they, in medieval times? Thought they were associated with witches or something.’

I have no idea what witches are, little Charlie, or whether I’d want to be associated with them. All I knew was, I didn’t particularly feel magical. But I was, after all, beginning to feel like I really could be the Cat Who Saved Christmas.

Those next few days, there was such a flurry of activity everywhere, I felt like wherever I went, people were tripping over me. Everyone in the village seemed to be shopping in a hurry, cooking in a hurry, wrapping things up in a hurry. And at the Big House it was even worse, with Julian and Laura and Harry rushing around putting up decorations and balloons and big tables and another big Christmas tree in the huge empty room they called the ballroom. I couldn’t quite work out why it was called a ballroom when there wasn’t a single ball in there to play with, but what did I know?

And then it was Christmas Eve, and everyone was even busier. The children were beside themselves with excitement. Almost every time Sarah opened her mouth it was to tell them that if they didn’t calm down and behave themselves, Father Christmas wouldn’t be coming. I tried to keep out of her way, as she ran around the kitchen with pots and pans, getting flustered and red in the face. But finally it was time to get ready for the party, and to my delight, Sarah told me I was invited too.