Рейчел Уэллс - Alfie And George

‘I’m worried we won’t come home. I mean, Mum said we will when I asked her, but what if we don’t? Or what if our parents split up like Elijah’s and my school friend Justin’s did? I love Mum and Dad, and I get we don’t see enough of Dad at the moment because he’s too busy but they have to fix it.’ He thumped his hand down on his bed and looked so sad. I really felt for him. Aleksy was ten but very sensitive and mature, I thought, a little like me. I tickled him with my tail, which normally made him laugh and then I put my paw up in a high five.‘You’ll make sure that they’re OK, won’t you, Alfie?’

‘Miaow.’ Of course I would. I had no idea how, but I would. I was giving Aleksy my cat promise.

‘I’m excited to go to Poland. I don’t really remember much about it and Tommy has no memory at all. We’ll get to see family and Mum says it’ll be really cool but I want to come home to both my parents, Alfie. I’m relying on you.’

‘Miaow.’ Oh goodness, I had just been given even more responsibility.

After the boys had gone to bed, Tomasz let us out the back. He and Franceska were speaking to each other using only one word at a time, which I knew wasn’t good, and he was going back to the restaurant downstairs to quickly check everything was fine. He promised Franceska he wouldn’t be long, but she just grunted in response.

‘It’s dark,’ George said as he tentatively stepped into the yard.‘Yowl!’ he shrieked.‘What was that?’

‘Your shadow, George. Don’t worry, I’m here.’ I felt brave. After all, I’d been in this yard loads of times, and yes, it was a bit scary, and there were some nasty creatures around, but Dustbin would be here somewhere and he’d take care of us.

‘Yowl!’ he shrieked again. ‘What’s that?’ A figure loomed towards us.

‘George, that’s my friend, Dustbin.’ Dustbin emerged from behind a bin, licking his whiskers.

‘Nice surprise, Alfie.’ He looked at George. ‘And who’s this?’

‘This is George, he’s my kitten.’

‘I heard the boys talking about someone called George when they were down here the other day. I didn’t know you were a kitten. Nice to meet you, George.’ Dustbin’s voice softened as he spoke; even he wasn’t immune to George’s charm.

‘We aren’t allowed out for very long,’ I explained.‘But it’s safe, isn’t it?’

‘Don’t worry, Alfie, I won’t let anything happen to your lad. Will you come to see me tomorrow?’

‘Yes, I’ll miaow to be let out after breakfast and we can have a proper catch up.’

‘Looking forward to it, and getting to know the little lad a bit better too!’

Big Tomasz came out again, leaving a big plate of food for Dustbin, before taking us back upstairs. I noticed George was still shaking.

‘It’s OK, Dustbin is really nice,’ I said.

‘I know but it was so dark and it smelled funny in the yard. Dustbin smelled funny too.’ I couldn’t argue with that. He was a little fragrant, but he had a heart of gold.

George and I settled down in my bed in the living room as Tomasz and Franceska drank the champagne that Tomasz had brought from the restaurant, but neither of them looked as if they were enjoying it. They barely said a word, until finally they both started speaking really quickly in Polish, which meant that I couldn’t understand what they were saying. They didn’t sound very happy, I had to admit. I went to sleep worrying about them and feeling bad for Aleksy. And for myself — after all, I had promised to fix it.

The following morning, the sun was shining brightly as George and I waited to go out into the yard. In the daylight, George felt more confident, and ran straight up to Dustbin.

‘MIAOW!’ he screamed, as Dustbin, taken by surprise, dropped what he had in his mouth. It was a very fat mouse, or perhaps even a rat. George jumped back, the rodent jumped towards him, and before I knew what to do, Dustbin had grabbed it and flung it out of the way.

‘Oh dear, that was a bit close,’ Dustbin said as I went to comfort George.

‘What was that?’ George asked, wide-eyed.

‘It was a small rat, not very nice, but my job is to keep them away from the restaurant.’

‘But what do they do?’ George said.

‘Good question. All they seem to do is eat rubbish and spread disease.’

‘Are they worse than dogs then?’ George asked.

‘Not exactly, but as bad as.’ Dustbin was very patient with him; it was gratifying to see.

‘But you know what, Dustbin, Dad, I wanted to leap on it, I had this feeling inside me.’

‘That’s your cat instinct,’ Dustbin explained.‘Cats are natural hunters, it’s in your nature and that’s why you felt that urge to do that.’

‘Dad, do you hunt too?’ asked George.

Dustbin exchanged a look with me.

‘Well, George, I’m not so keen on hunting. There was a point in my life when I had to, and I’ll tell you all about that later, but now, well, I try not to get involved.’ I saw Dustbin smirk but he didn’t contradict me.

‘But I can do it?’ he asked.

‘Look, George, come with me and I’ll give you a lesson. But honestly, I do this as a job, it’s not something you domestic cats need to worry about too much.’

‘Thank you! Can I, Dad?’ he asked, looking at me hopefully.

‘Of course, George.’ I sat back on the doorstep as I watched my boy go hunting with Dustbin. And I have to admit he was already much better at it than me. My boy, a total natural.

‘So, Alfie,’ Dustbin said, when we were all sitting in the sun by the restaurant back step.‘How’s your broken heart?’

‘Oh, well, now you come to mention it, it’s still a bit sore.’ I gestured to George.‘He keeps me busy, which may have been Claire’s idea, but there are moments when I feel pangs of loss. I still wonder what Snowball’s doing …’ I looked wistfully at the sky, although I wasn’t sure why.

‘You know, I thought about it after you left last time,’ Dustbin said.‘It’s as if you give a bit of your heart to everyone you love, and sometimes they stay around and sometimes they don’t. The point is, Alfie, that you have a very big heart, with enough pieces for everyone.’ I felt emotional as he said this, thinking of those I’d loved who had taken pieces of my heart with them: Margaret, Agnes and Snowball. I knew Dustbin was right.

‘For such a feral cat you’re very wise,’ I said, touched and full of love for him.

‘That’s what friends are for.’

‘But I don’t understand,’ George said, looking bewildered at both of us.

‘You’re far too young,’ we both said at the same time.

We had a lovely time with Dustbin and I filled him in on the lamppost cats. I did it while George was distracted, as I didn’t like talking about them in front of him. I didn’t want to scare him.

‘Interesting,’ Dustbin said after a while. ‘I wonder what’s going on? They can’t all have decided to leave home.’

‘That’s what I think. My humans have been all preoccupying me as usual with their own problems, but this is beginning to make me worry. What if the worst is right and there’s some kind of threat to all the cats in the neighbourhood? No one from Edgar Road has gone missing, but still, it seems a bit close to home to be comfortable.’

‘Look, Alfie, I can ask around.’ Dustbin had this amazing network of cats who generally knew or could find out anything; they had helped me in the past.

‘I’d be really grateful if you could.’ I still wasn’t sure what the lamppost cat issue really was, or if I should be worried about it, but having Dustbin dig around for me wouldn’t hurt at all.

When we went back inside, big Tomasz took the boys out for lunch so Franceska could pack. George and I followed her into her room where there were two suitcases on the bed, one big and one small.