Рейчел Уэллс - Alfie And George

‘Right, Mr B is on the case, honestly he’s the best cat in the business. I’ll go to him right now and tell him of this latest development. Don’t worry, Alfie, if I’ve got anything to do with it, he’ll be found safe and well.’ I tried but failed to feel reassured.

Rocky was the first cat we saw. He went to get Elvis, who went to find Nellie, who rounded up Tinkerbell, and we all met at the end of the street. I outlined the situation.

‘So you want us to pretend to find him?’ Nellie said. Honestly!

‘No, contrary to our plan he is actually missing.’

‘Oh my word, the gorgeous little baby is actually missing?’ Nellie started yowling and Elvis had to calm her down. Although I could see all my friends had panic in their eyes.

Once roles had been allocated, Tiger headed back to hers. I went with her to check but there was still no sign of George. I felt as if I had a paw missing, I missed him so much. I hoped he wasn’t scared or in danger.

I went back home and slipped through the cat flap.

‘Have you found him?’ Claire, who was still not dressed, rushed up to me. I just looked at her, my eyes full of sorrow. She picked me up.‘Don’t worry, Jon and Matt will find him. Oh, Alfie, I’m sorry I shouted at you.’ She hugged me close before putting me down. I purred sadly. The doorbell went and Claire opened it to Tash.

‘Where’s Elijah?’ Claire asked.

‘With Granny today. She picked him up really early, so it means I can help. What should I do?’

‘No sign of him on the way here?’ Claire asked without hope.

‘No, I looked the whole way, on both sides of the road. I read somewhere kittens like to hide though, so he could just be hiding.’

We had checked all the usual places more than once, so I knew that he wasn’t hiding.

‘Has Summer had her breakfast?’ Tash asked.

‘NO!’ Summer shouted. Tash grinned.

‘Claire, go and get dressed and I’ll make Summer some toast.’

‘Oh, thank you, Tash.’ Claire had tears glistening in her eyes as she made her way upstairs.

By lunchtime everyone was in our kitchen. Claire, Jonathan, Polly and Matt sat at the table. Tash had set up a sort of playgroup in the living room for the children. The doorbell went again and I hoped it was someone with George, but we opened it to find Tomasz standing there.

‘Right, I am here now, so let’s make a plan,’ Tomasz said, sitting down.

‘Aren’t you supposed to be at work?’ Claire said.

‘Some things are more important. Don’t worry, my Alfie, we will find him.’ As he stroked me, I felt reassured, Tomasz was so big and comforting. I felt a slight sliver of hope.

‘I don’t know what we’ll do if we don’t find him.’ Claire started crying and Jonathan wrapped his arms around her.

‘We will find him,’ he said, but I heard his voice crack. He was such a softy underneath the bluster, but he sounded determined.

‘We have to,’ Polly said, her beautiful face ashen. Matt hugged her. Somehow the fact that everyone was being brought together didn’t make me feel any better.

‘I think I’ll call Max,’ Tash said, her cheeks reddening. The others looked at her. ‘He might be able to help, he’s quite practical.’

‘Good idea, Tash,’ Jonathan said, and I saw Tash brighten. I followed her into the other room, and when I heard her speak to him, I knew that she was letting him in. By asking for his help she was trusting him, and although I felt as bad as I ever had in my life, I felt a little better for that.

It was decided that Tash would stay with the children and Claire and Jonathan would go on foot to the park at the end of the street, stopping at the Goodwins first — if anyone could find George it would be those nosey parkers, Jonathan said. Matt and Polly would go to the other end of the street and Tomasz and Max would drive around looking at the surrounding area. The plan was that if we hadn’t found him by nightfall they would put alerts on the local Facebook and then maybe even make posters … My baby might become a lamppost cat! But we all hoped it wouldn’t come to that. I prayed and prayed it wouldn’t come to that.

I did actually see the flaw in my plan then. Even if it had worked, I had planned on George staying away overnight, but the amount of worry that that would have caused was unfair. No matter how much my humans needed to have their eyes opened, it wasn’t worth this distress. But now he really was missing, and it was all my fault.

If anything happened to my kitten, I would never, ever forgive myself.

It was nearly teatime and I had had enough. I still cared about my humans, but not as much as I cared about getting George back. The adults were still looking for him, to no avail, so I went to round up my cat friends in the hope that they might have some leads. As I set off though, Salmon loomed over me.

‘Right, Alfie, what is going on?’ he demanded, narrowing his eyes. ‘I’ve seen the neighbourhood cats running around like headless chickens, your family have been to see my family and I heard them say they had to go and look for George before dashing out.’

‘So you know exactly what’s going on then. George is missing. It’s a long story but the fact is we need to find him.’ ‘I was afraid that was the case. I was actually hoping this was just one of your hair-brained schemes.’

I wanted to be affronted, but for once Salmon was right. ‘Well, he’s missing, and I’m frantic, we’re all frantic. What if he’s become one of the lamppost cats?’

‘My family said they were afraid that that might have happened to George. Look, they’re looking for all the cats, George now included, and with so many of us we’re bound to find him. And I’m off now, so if there’s any news I’ll report back.’ Salmon sounded kind, which was a first for me.

‘You will?’ I was wide-eyed.

‘Yes, the boy is very cute and, well, I’ve got a soft spot for him. Don’t worry Alfie, we’ll find him.’

‘But what if he’s with the other lamppost cats?’ I asked.

‘Then at least he’ll be among friends. Alfie, try not to worry.’

I watched in amazement as Salmon bounded off. My kitten had bewitched even him.

I was sure now that George was lost, not hiding, and the idea of him being afraid was almost too much for me to bear, especially now that night was falling. My cat friends had paired up to search the area: Nellie had gone with Tinkerbell, Rocky with Elvis. Tiger and I were sticking together — I needed her more now than I ever had. It was as if her physical presence was keeping me in one piece. Or almost. I wanted to curl up and yowl but I had to try to keep going until he was found. Not finding him was not an option.

When we met up, all the cats reported where they had looked so far, and we all shared our frustrations that no one had come close to finding George. Despondency filled the air around us; I didn’t know how much more of this I could take.

‘I’ll go home and see if the humans have any news,’ I decided.‘You wait here for Dustbin, and I’ll be back as quickly as I can. They all nodded solemnly. Nellie had said that my plans brought them together, but this was a step too far. We were all distraught: for Pinkie, because of the fear that someone might be out there to hurt cats, and especially for George, who we all loved.

My legs felt heavy as I made my way inside. I saw, to my dismay, all my humans at the kitchen table. Why weren’t they out looking?

‘Miaow,’ I said angrily. They all turned to look at me: Jonathan, Claire, Matt, Polly, Tomasz, Tash and, surprisingly, Max. I saw that Max and Tash were holding hands — what was that about? I then saw that on the table were posters, just like the lamppost ones, only these had a picture of my George on them. I felt my heart tear in two.