Рейчел Уэллс - Alfie And George

‘Oh, Alfie, I don’t know what to say—’ She stopped suddenly. ‘Look.’ I turned and saw Claire and Tash approaching. Claire was pushing Summer in her pushchair, and Elijah was walking next to them, holding his mum’s hand. I was flooded with relief as I saw, sitting bold as brass on Summer’s lap, George. I tried to slow my breathing down to a normal level as they approached us but my heart was still beating out of my chest.

‘Oh, Alfie, were you looking for George?’ Claire said as they reached us.‘The naughty little kitten stowed away in the pushchair, in my bag.’ She lifted George out.‘We were on our way to soft play but of course we couldn’t take him in. Now, George, stay here. We have to go back before the kids get mutinous.’ She shook her head, gave me a pat and left.

When they’d gone, Tiger and I exchanged a glance.

‘Don’t ever do that to me again,’ I said crossly. I had never felt so cross and yet so relieved in my life.

‘Why?’

‘We were worried sick,’ Tiger added.‘George, you can’t just go with humans, and if you do then you need to tell Alfie.’

‘Why?’

‘Because we were worried and we love you, but at the moment I am very cross with you. What were you thinking?’ I didn’t want to scare him by telling him about the lamppost cats — he was too little for that — but he needed to be aware of the dangers. Parenting wasn’t as easy as it looked.

‘You said you’d like to go to hear about Tash and that man. And by the way, she had a lovely time, he took her to something called French restaurant, they drank something called champagne and they had a great evening, and they are going to see each other again but they’ve both agreed to take it slowly. Tash doesn’t know if she’s ready but actually she admitted she really did enjoy herself,’ said George.

As much as I liked hearing this, I was still angry and scared. Although I was delighted for Tash, and it was brilliant that George had listened so well, I wasn’t going to tell him that.

‘I know I said I wanted to go but I also said that we couldn’t go. We just can’t go anywhere we fancy it, no matter how much we want to.’ I once stowed away in a bag and went all the way to the seaside with my families but I wasn’t going to tell George about that.‘It’s dangerous, it’s reckless and your mum and I were worried sick. Now you will go inside and stay there, and think about your behaviour,’ I said crossly.

‘But I’m sorry,’ George said, trying to look cute.

‘No, George, you need to be punished. Come on, inside now and never, ever go anywhere without telling me again.’

I hustled him round the back, with Tiger following us. As I told George to get through the cat flap, Tiger hung back.

‘I’m so relieved,’ Tiger said. ‘The feelings I had when he was missing were awful.’

‘I know, it was horrific, I really can’t begin to tell you.’

‘I think I understand. I love him too, you know.’

‘I know we’re his parents, and just like with my families, I’ve seen how parents worry and I totally understand it now. I worry enough about all my humans, but even that isn’t the same as the way I feel about George,’ I tried to explain.

‘Because he’s your kitten,’ Tiger said.‘Anyway, I’d better go and let the others know he’s safe, they’re probably still looking for him.’

‘Great. And Tiger …’

‘Yes?’

‘He’s not my kitten, he’s our kitten.’

Tiger nuzzled me and left. I went inside to deal with our kitten feeling an odd cocktail of emotions.

George behaved impeccably for the rest of the day. He didn’t go near anything he shouldn’t and he asked me before he did anything. I wished he could always be this good, although of course I’d probably miss his mischievous side just a tiny bit. When Summer came home, she grabbed George and took him upstairs to play dress up. After having to wear bonnets, scarfs and dolly dresses, I think he’d been punished enough. However, the idea that he could really go missing haunted me. I needed to get to the bottom of the cat mystery sooner rather than later.

I knew I couldn’t wait any longer. That morning, after delivering George into Tiger’s care, I set off to see Dustbin. She was such a good mum, and I felt lucky to have her. Glancing back, I saw the two of them looking after me and I felt a pang in my heart. I needed to do this for all my friends, but especially Tiger and George. I went as fast as my legs would carry me, knowing the way and knowing what dangers to look out for — usually just cars and maybe the odd dog. I took the back route into Dustbin’s yard without too much trouble, feeling pleased with myself for making such quick time.

‘Hi, Alfie,’ Dustbin said.‘This is a pleasant surprise.’

‘Well, Dustbin, you might not feel that way when I tell you why I’m here.’ I filled him in on the latest developments.‘So it seems the lamppost cats might actually be more of a problem than we first thought. God forbid any more cats are in danger.’

‘Right, Alfie, sounds like we need to sort this out before it gets out of hand. I’ll go this afternoon and talk to my colleagues again and we’ll ramp up the urgency. I’m sure that between us we can get some information. In the meantime, you stay vigilant and let me know of any developments as soon as you can.’

‘I think I’ll set up a network here, so that when I can’t get to you I can send Tiger or something. I really do need to keep a close eye on George, I shudder to think anything might happen to him.’

‘Right, well, it might take a bit of time, but I’m on the case and I’ll come and find you if I have any news.’

‘But do you know where I live?’

‘Yes, I was interested once so I followed Tomasz.’ I raised my whiskers.

‘OK, so maybe I was being a bit nosey. I fancied seeing where you lived. I miss the boys by the way.’

‘Me too. I wish they’d come home. And I wish all the missing cats would get to go back to their homes too. Oh, Dustbin, I wish the lampposts were just lampposts again.’ My eyes were full of worry, but Dustbin, more than anyone, reassured me.

Life has a funny way of turning round in circles; time passes, things change. One minute everyone’s sad, then they’re happy, and then, well, where do I start?

Tash was over at ours when I got back from seeing Dustbin, gushing about Max, who she’d been on another date with. I couldn’t believe how happy she seemed. She’d come to realise that perhaps she had fallen out of love with Dave before he left her, without realising it, and although she was cautious, she was beginning to see that she deserved happiness. And as Claire said to her, you didn’t know when it would come along so you had to snatch it when you could. Also, because Max was a father himself, he understood her need to put Elijah first. I felt very hopeful although I did worry she would get hurt again. But I was a cat who worried about things, that was just what I did.

‘Anyway,’ Tash said,‘he’s great, puts no pressure on me at all. But you know, whatever happens, he’s made me see that I tried so hard to make the relationship with Dave work, whilst he did nothing. If I’m honest, I think having Elijah was my last-ditch attempt to save us. I don’t think I realised it at the time, but it does make sense.’

‘I had no idea,’ Claire said.

‘He was just so lazy. Anyway, I put up with him for so long and I really believed I loved him. Well, I did love him, but actually, he’s not worth it,’ said Tash as she watched Elijah eat his sandwich at the kitchen table. Summer was sitting opposite him, pulling her sandwich apart and dropping bits on the floor, where George was waiting, hoping it might be something he liked. Luckily for him, it was grated cheese. George loved cheese.