Рейчел Уэллс - Alfie And George

‘Yes, of course. Wait. Breakfast.’

‘Right, I have to go. Remember, do whatever Tiger says.’ I touched my nose to his and then, before I got more emotional, I left to go home. George would wait, Tiger would be right out and then the plan would begin to unfurl.

‘I’ll listen to Tiger-Mum,’ were his parting words for me. I felt so proud.

I rushed home and luckily made it back to my bed before anyone in the house woke up. Because I was so tired, before I knew it I’d actually fallen asleep.

‘Where’s George?’ I woke up to see Claire and Summer standing over my basket. I looked around and then yawned.

‘Miaow?’ I said.

‘Jon, Jon,’ I heard Claire shout. She then went into the bedroom. A sleeping Jonathan emerged.

‘Alfie, is George downstairs?’ he asked me, rubbing his eyes.

‘MIAOW!’ I don’t know, I tried to tell them.

‘Oh God.’ Claire practically flew downstairs and Jonathan picked Summer up and followed her. I went after them. Of course, after looking everywhere we didn’t find him.

‘I told you it was too soon to leave the cat flap open at night,’ Claire snapped.

‘Um, Claire, everyone said it was OK and anyway, Alfie nearly got locked out the other night. I mean, you can’t keep them in forever.’

‘Oh, Alfie, why did you let him out of your sight!’ Claire stormed back upstairs to check again.

So at the moment she was blaming Jonathan and me — a bit unfair, but it was early days and it was early in the morning. Neither of them had had coffee and that said a lot. I normally avoided them in this state.

I stood by the back door and made a lot of noise. While Jonathan strapped Summer into her highchair, made coffee and gave Summer a drink of milk, Claire could be heard slamming doors upstairs.

‘He’s definitely not up there,’ Claire said, coming back into the kitchen. ‘Jonathan, where on earth is he? He’s never out without Alfie and he’s always here first thing in the morning.’ She had searched the whole house by now and of course found nothing.

‘Look, darling.’ Jonathan gave her a hug.‘You sort Summer out and I’ll throw on my tracksuit and go out and look.’

‘Can you get Matt to help you?’ Claire asked.

‘Of course, don’t worry.’ He kissed her and I felt a little tiny moment of triumph. See, it was working already.

I went out with Jonathan, and followed him to Matt’s house. Luckily they were already up and dressed and Matt came straight out when he heard what had happened.

‘Oh God,’ Polly said as she came to the front door.‘Let me know what I can do. I’d go to yours, Jon, but then George might come here, so maybe I should stay?’

‘Babe, I think you should stay put. I’ve got my mobile so we’ll keep in touch.’ Matt kissed Polly and she hugged him tightly.‘I’m sure he’s fine, you know what kittens are like, they get into all sorts of trouble.’

As the guys decided to go and check the street, I followed them. But I heard a hiss by Tiger’s front gate and I turned to see her, trying to get my attention. I waited until the men were at a safe distance.

‘Tiger, it’s working already!’ I exclaimed.

‘But where’s George?’ Tiger asked.

‘What do you mean?’

‘Well, I told you I’d check the coast was clear at home, but when I came back out, George was gone. I looked everywhere and couldn’t find him, so I assumed there’d been a change of plan and he was with you.’ Tiger sounded slightly panicked.

‘You mean he’s not with you?’ I felt fear bubble up in the pit of my stomach.

‘No, he wasn’t there when I came out of the house, nowhere to be seen. So I assumed he was still with you and the plan had somehow changed! I was literally gone for a flap of a butterfly wing!’

‘Oh God, Tiger, no. I left him on the doorstep so I could get home before everyone woke up, and that was the last I saw of him. I thought he was with you! I told him to wait and he said he understood.’ Now I sounded hysterical.

‘Right, OK, let’s stay calm. He’s definitely not in my house, so shall we check yours?’

‘We can pop back there but Claire’s there and she checked everywhere.’ I was finding it hard to catch my breath.‘When I got home, I went straight to bed. I dropped off, but it wasn’t for long, and that’s all I can tell you.’

‘So George really is missing?’

‘Oh no, my boy is missing!’ It dawned on me. ‘Jonathan and Matt are looking for him and now we’re going to have to really look for him.’ I felt terrified; I couldn’t quite comprehend what had happened.

‘Oh no, Alfie, this plan has gone wrong before it’s even started.’

‘And I never even saw it coming.’

As we quickly ran to my house to see if he’d gone home, I felt increasingly worried — but also a bit angry with George. I had explicitly told him to wait for Tiger, he had only been left alone for a matter of minutes, and he knew not to go off. But I was angrier with myself. I should have waited with him, or told Tiger to risk taking him into her house. We had specifically chosen the back of the house in case there was a lamppost cat snatcher — after all, they wouldn’t have known George was there would they? Unless they’d been watching us. No, it couldn’t be that, that made no sense.

Oh goodness, all he’d had to do was stand there, why couldn’t he have done that? Where could he be? I felt as if my mind was running round in those circles George was so fond of. Oh, little George. I tried to breathe calmly, despite feeling as though my life was spiralling out of control. I wanted my boy back!

He wasn’t back at ours and I heard Claire on the phone to Tash. She sounded as upset as me. The plan was so simple, but it had fallen apart from the moment it started and I only had myself to blame.

‘Alfie,’ Tiger said, as we checked every inch of our back garden. ‘Beating yourself up really isn’t helpful. We need to think about this. Let’s round up all the cats and get them to spread out. We need to check his favourite places.’

‘He’s not at our house, if he was at Polly’s we’d know and Tash is looking out for him. So the park, or the end of the street? But then if he goes there the other cats will see him …’ I couldn’t think of anywhere else.

‘Right, I think you need to stay central and also keep an eye on the humans, and I’ll keep checking my house, because he might remember he’s supposed to be there. How does that sound?’

‘I have no better ideas. I wish I did.’ I felt like lying down and yowling but then that wouldn’t find my boy, would it?

‘Look, come with me to find the others and you can help me organise them. Oh, Alfie, we have to find him, where on earth could he have gone? Why did I take my eyes off him?’ Tiger seemed to feel the same as me.

‘I just don’t know where he’d have gone. And, Tiger, it’s not your fault — you had to check the coast was clear. I mean, I know I keep saying it, but he was supposed to sit on the step and wait for you! Why didn’t he do that? I was sure he understood.’

‘I didn’t take long, Alfie, I promise I just ran in, checked downstairs and was out again.’

‘I know. I mean it, Tiger, it’s not your fault. I should have waited with him.’

‘But then you might not have been home before your family woke up and that was a crucial part of the plan.’

‘OK, let’s stop going round in circles and just find him then.’ I turned to run off and saw Dustbin appear. I’d never been so pleased to see him.

‘Oh, thank goodness you’re here. George is missing,’ I said.

‘What? Not the lad?’

‘Yes.’ I explained the plan to Dustbin.‘It was still dark when I left him in Tiger’s back garden. Oh, what have we done? What if I’ve lost him for good?’ I yowled.