Рейчел Уэллс - Alfie And George

I couldn’t help marvelling that even though he’d only been with us for such a short time, I almost couldn’t remember life without him. I hadn’t forgotten my time with Snowball, but it was as if George belonged in my life more than anyone or anything else ever had. The time before him felt like it had happened to a different cat. Did that sound crazy?

‘So, Claire, we have to go to this dinner with my bosses next week, can you babysit?’ Polly asked.

‘Sure, what night? I’d be happy to if Jon can stay home.’

‘Thursday.’

‘No problem,’ Jonathan said.

‘It’ll be funny, Polly often had to endure dinners when I was working, but now I’m the spouse who has to charm her bosses. Not sure I’ll be as good at it as she was,’ Matt said, but he didn’t sound bitter.

‘They’ll love you, but I agree it will be odd. Gosh, over the years I’ve been to so many of these corporate dinners with you.’

‘I know, and you’ve always dazzled. Never mind, I’ll just have to do my best,’ said Matt, kissing her cheek.

‘Well, you are charming all the school mums I used to hang out with,’ Polly teased.

‘Charming?’ Matt replied, ‘I spend most of my time running the gauntlet so I don’t get cornered by them. Not only are they scary but they keep wanting me to join them for skinny lattes and Pilates.’ Matt laughed and everyone else joined in.

‘What do you do, Matt?’ Max asked. I held my breath.

‘At the moment, nothing. Well not nothing, I’m a househusband. I worked for a digital design agency, which went belly-up. And despite numerous applications there aren’t any posts senior enough for me at the moment.’

‘Oh God, you’ll have to take up Pilates, mate,’ Jonathan teased.

George had fallen asleep beside me, but I was concentrating on the conversation. It seemed that Max’s brother co-owned a company like the one Matt used to work for, and Matt had heard of it. And although Max didn’t know if he had any vacancies, he said he’d be happy to ask. Matt seemed very pleased and I thought about what a small world it could be. As Tash flirted, Claire and Jonathan looked happy and Matt and Polly were affectionate; I wondered if they would sort everything out without my help. For once. With that lovely thought swimming around my head, I fell asleep.

I woke as Tash and Polly came to say goodbye to us. George didn’t stir, but I decided to follow them out, just to make sure that everything was all right. I don’t think anyone noticed as I went out the front door, they were all so effervescent and excited. As I stood by our gate, I saw Matt and Polly head off in one direction holding hands, which made me feel warm in my fur. Then Max offered to walk Tash home before getting into the taxi that was waiting for him. I hung back slightly as Max spoke to the driver and then he and Tash set off the short walk to her flat, the opposite way to Matt and Polly.

‘I know things are raw but I had fun tonight. So if you fancy going to dinner sometime …’ I heard Max say. I decided I really liked him: not only was he handsome, he was kind.

‘I would like that,’ Tash said. She could barely keep the smile from her face and she looked so pretty in the moonlight. Max stopped and pulled out his phone as Tash gave him her number. Satisfied, I made my way home.

I went to jump through the cat flap.

‘Yowl!’ I flew backwards. Yet again, I had forgotten that the cat flap was still locked at night. When would I learn? I panicked slightly; what if I was locked out for the night? What if George woke and I wasn’t there? I jumped on to the kitchen windowsill and was relieved to find myself looking at Jonathan. He was holding a glass and seemed to be staring at the sink.

‘Miaow!’ I shouted as loudly as I could, tapping the glass with my sore head.

‘What the?’ Jonathan jumped and dropped the glass. I ran to the back door. ‘You gave me the fright of my life, Alfie!’ Jonathan shouted. I walked past, giving him my sternest look. Take away your freedom and then see how you feel, I wanted to say, but of course I couldn’t, being a cat.

Vic and Heather had called a neighbourhood watch meeting. I watched through our living room window as people crammed into their house. Polly and Claire went; Polly said that Matt was so down she didn’t think he’d survive it, so Claire offered to go with her in solidarity. Tash couldn’t go as she had to look after Elijah and to everyone’s amusement she was actually a little disappointed. But as they told her, there would be plenty more meetings to attend in the future. But despite the joking, I knew the nature of the meeting might help me so I was disappointed that I couldn’t go either.

I felt a little sad as I watched Polly, still in her work suit, and Claire, wearing jeans and a jumper, walk through the Goodwins’ door. All I could do was settle down with Jonathan and wait for Claire to come home. Summer was in bed, George was asleep on the armchair and Jonathan and I sat side by side on the sofa watching the news. There was no mention of any cats on it as far as I could see, so I didn’t think that this lamppost cat thing had reached epic proportions yet, but still I found it troubling. Despite the increase in posters, none of our cat friends had gone missing, so it didn’t make sense. I still hadn’t heard from Dustbin, and I wondered if Edgar Road was somehow protected from whatever was going on. But then just what was going on? Anyway, I was sure they would be discussing it at the meeting, so I would hear about it later.

Jonathan fell asleep on the sofa at some point, as he often did, snoring a bit and dribbling sometimes, but then when he woke up denied he had been asleep at all. Glancing at George, who was also fast asleep, I went to stretch my legs in the garden. As I slid through the cat flap I was surprised to see Tiger by my back step. Her fur glinted in the moonlight, and she looked very serious.

‘What are you doing here?’ I asked.

‘Thank goodness you’re here, I thought I’d have to risk coming in.’

‘Tiger, I’ve told you before, I’m sure Claire and Jonathan wouldn’t mind!’ Jonathan would probably huff and puff a bit but actually he’d be all right. Besides, he was snoring away just now anyway.

‘I’ve been waiting for ages and getting cold, but I had to come and see you.’ Tiger’s eyes shone with fear.

‘What is it, Tiger?’

‘The lamppost cats, it is serious after all.’

‘Ah, I worried it was. That’s why the Goodwins called their meeting.’

‘Yes, it is. My owners were fussing, telling me to be careful, saying they might have to stop me from going out! Anyway that’s not the worst bit. There was a new poster tonight and it’s …’

‘Come on, Tiger, spit it out.’ Tiger often got a bit flustered when she was upset. I tried to be patient but it wasn’t one of my strong points.

‘Pinkie! It’s Pinkie on the poster.’

‘Are we sure she isn’t just in a fridge somewhere?’ I asked, but I had a bad feeling.

‘She’s missing, Alfie. Her poster is on a lamppost. So finally, after all our musing about whether this was a proper problem, someone we know has gone missing, an Edgar Road cat. It’s time we stopped burying our heads in the sand. I think that something bad is going on and you know I’m not a dramatic cat. But I can’t just sit by and watch our friends go missing.’ I had never seen Tiger this agitated before.

‘Calm down, Tiger. Right, let’s think this through. Pinkie wouldn’t just leave home — she liked her owner.’