Рейчел Уэллс - Alfie The Holiday Cat

‘George, just settle down,’ I chastised, not that it did me any good.

We left London in the first week of the school holidays. We were in Claire’s car with Toby and Summer, driving in convoy with Polly and her children, and Franceska and hers. All three cars were packed up with our belongings too. Jonathan had huffed and puffed a lot when Claire barked instructions at him as he squashed everything in the boot. George and I were on the front seat next to Claire but we were too low down to see anything from the carrier. I thought I would try to sleep as much as I could, it seemed a good opportunity to rest, but George had other ideas.

‘Are we nearly there yet?’ he asked for the millionth time.

‘Yes,’ I said, with no idea if that was true but I’d heard Claire saying the same to Summer and Toby, so I guessed it was an appropriate parental response.

‘Tell me about the seaside?’ George asked as he finally sat down.

‘Well I only went there once and that was a different seaside I think. But there were big birds, seagulls, which you need to watch out for as they’re not very friendly. And of course we keep away from the water at all costs.’ As I repeatedly warned George about the perils of the seaside that I knew about, I hoped there weren’t any others. But I knew I wouldn’t let George out of my sight. I had done so once and it had all gone horribly wrong, with him being catnapped, and he could be a bit of a pawful. Also, the fear of not knowing where my boy was had been unlike anything I have ever experienced.

‘I will do, Dad. But what can we do there?’ he asked. I actually didn’t know.

‘We’ll do what we do at home, look after our humans and enjoy ourselves in any way we can,’ I replied vaguely. Sea air would do us good, I knew that much. Well, that was what everyone said.

The journey seemed to go on forever, I was beginning to feel impatient. We stopped a few times so the children could eat, and when we did, we were allowed out of the cat carrier, although not out of the car, so we could move around a bit.

I had to be careful, because I had an old injury from when I was hurt in Edgar Road, saving Claire from a horrible man, which bothered me at times, and as I’d been sitting for so long, my bad leg was stiff. I was fine, although I had to be careful, but it was a stark reminder that people weren’t always good. I snuck a glance at George and hoped he would never encounter anyone like that. But then, I smiled. George was standing on his hind legs looking out of the car window, paws against it, as people stopped and took photos of him.

‘Get down, before you fall,’ I chastised him. He loved attention. By the time Claire got back to the car with Summer and Toby, he’d acquired quite a crowd.

‘Oh gosh,’ Claire said. ‘I better get them back in the pet carrier.’

‘Lovely kitten,’ someone said to her and she smiled and thanked them. She strapped Summer and Toby into their car seats and then I ushered George into our carrier and we settled down again.

‘Not far now,’ Claire said, as she started to drive off. But, of course, we had heard that before.

It felt like we had been in that pet carrier forever when we finally stopped. I couldn’t see anything at first, but then Claire lifted the carrier out of the car and put us on the ground and I saw that we were on a lawn. It was still light outside too, although the sun was dulling.

‘Can I let them out?’ I heard Aleksy’s voice.

‘Yes, but make sure they don’t run off,’ Claire warned. Aleksy opened the door. George sprang out, but Aleksy scooped him up. I walked out behind him, sniffing the air. Yes, it did smell different to that in London, and I looked around. Wow, I could already see that it was pretty lovely here.

Claire had parked her car next to Franceska’s at the edge of the lawn, where there was a kind of parking area. Then there was a fence, not too high, but with a gate which we had walked through. The lawn in front of the house was bigger than it looked in the photos, and as it was enclosed, it would be our playground. The cottage was detached and there were lush bushes surrounding the garden. The lawn looked neat and tidy, and the grass felt warm under paw. I turned and looked away from the house.

‘Wow,’ George said, joining me. We sat side by side for a moment taking in the view. There was a road, but on the other side of it was a sandy beach, which stretched to the water, glimmering in the sun. It was beautiful. Toby and Summer were jumping up and down.

‘Can we go to the beach now?’ Toby asked.

‘Well, darling, I’ve got to get unpacked and it’s nearly teatime,’ Claire said. ‘And we need to wait for Polly to arrive too.’

‘I tell you what, Claire, I take the children over, they’ve been cooped up in the car for so long and then you have some time to get organised,’ Franceska offered.

‘Yes!’ Toby grinned.

‘Come on, Tobe,’ Tommy said, taking hold of his hand, and they all headed off towards the beach.

Claire had her arms full as she stood next to us on the lawn watching them run off.

‘Right guys, come inside and I’ll get you fed,’ she said. I purred. ‘I know, it’s so beautiful here, isn’t it? I can smell my childhood,’ she said, before heading into the house.

Claire opened the door and George and I ran between her legs to explore. On first glance the house was a bit of a shock, compared to what we were used to at home. The carpet was shabby and almost threadbare. As we made our way through the entrance hall, I noticed the walls were all peeling. With George following me, the first room I came to was large and square with two big windows overlooking the lawn; I guessed this was the living room. As George jumped on the windowsill, I padded around. It had two big old sofas and two floral armchairs in it — I knew from the humans’ conversation that they had got them from a charity shop, just until they furnished it properly. There was an open fire on one side, and an old coffee table. It was a nice room, or it would be. I was happy to see there was also a television in the corner. I wasn’t sure how the children would have lived without that. I left the room and went to the next room, which was smaller, with two small sofas in it and a fire. Again the walls were peeling, and the carpet was thin. It had a window to the back of the house, where I could see a courtyard. I guessed the lawn at the front was the main garden, and that was enormous. Anyway, the empty room held little interest so I went back to the hall and saw George there.

‘What do you think?’ I asked.

‘It’s a bit empty,’ George said. It wasn’t but I knew what he meant — it was un-lived in.

‘We’ll soon make it our home,’ I told him. There was another smaller room at the front of the house, on the other side to the front door, again it was empty, and next to that was a large kitchen. A massive table dominated the room, and although you could tell it was old fashioned — there were no fixed cupboards like we had at home — the kitchen felt a bit like the life of the house already. Claire was boiling a kettle and she was arranging cupboards. I was about to go upstairs to continue my tour of the house when a noise from the front interrupted me.

‘We’re here,’ I heard Polly call out.

‘In the kitchen,’ Claire replied. Henry and Martha ran in first, and made a fuss of both me and George.

‘Hi, love,’ Polly said, as she appeared. ‘Thank goodness we’re finally here.’

‘Bit of a drive, wasn’t it?’

‘Well the traffic wasn’t great, but then it is the start of the summer holiday.’

‘Cuppa?’ Claire asked.

‘Love one. Where is everyone else?’

‘Frankie’s taken the kids to the beach, they were stir crazy after being in the car for so long.’