Рейчел Уэллс - Alfie And George

‘Then looking at you is like looking in a mirror,’ Tomasz joked.

‘Who knew how painful this could be. And for poor Alfie too. You know, we will find him,’ Jonathan said again, but I wasn’t sure who he was trying to convince — me, Tomasz or himself.

I watched the house come alive but there was a flatness to everyone. Even little Summer wasn’t her usual self, she must sense that something was wrong. Children can be quite perceptive, I had learnt, though not quite as perceptive as cats. Claire wore her emotions on her face and I knew she had been crying. She kept hugging me and saying how sorry she was. Jonathan kept giving us both worried glances as he filled Claire in on Tomasz’s revelation.

‘I’m so glad he’s come to his senses,’ Claire said. ‘But honestly I wish it hadn’t taken losing George to do it.’

‘No, darling, nothing is worth losing George for,’ Jonathan agreed.

I had some water and tried to eat, although it felt as if the food would choke me. Spotting George’s bowl sitting empty in the cupboard was almost more than my heart could bear. I cleaned myself up a bit and listened to Claire and Jonathan trying to come up with a plan.

‘We’ve looked around, we’ve put posters up and we have Vic and Heather on the case. I think our best bet might be to sit tight here and hope the phone rings,’ Jonathan suggested.

‘I agree. Tomasz has been looking all night, we searched everywhere all day yesterday, and Vic and Heather even spoke to the police. If we stay close to home we might hear news or maybe, just maybe, George will come home.’

Oh, how I envied their optimism. Though I felt a little angry with them — they seemed to think they could sit around and do nothing. There was no way I could that. I had to be out there, doing something. Even if it was fruitless.

I left the house and made my way round to the front of the house to see Tiger looking uncertainly at something.

‘What is it?’ I said, rushing up to her.

‘Your friend is coming,’ she said, sounding nervous,‘and he has someone with him.’ I squinted as I saw Dustbin approaching from a distance. My heart swelled with hope but the cat with him wasn’t George, it was a big black cat. Tiger and I both sat upright, waiting for them to approach.

‘Alfie, can we talk somewhere a bit more private?’ Dustbin asked, gesturing to his companion. I wordlessly led them under our bush, where we’d be hidden.‘Right, first things first. This is Mr B. And Mr B, this is Alfie and Tiger.’ We all nodded our hellos. ‘Mr B is the best in the business, an expert at finding stuff. In fact, he helped me when your Snowball was lost.’

‘I remember it well,’ said Mr B.‘Pretty white cat, got herself into a bit of a scrape. Anyway, the thing is, Dustbin told me about the lamppost cats, and I’ve spent a bit of time looking into it, and I think we’ve got the answer.’

‘Really?’ I couldn’t breathe. They had found George?

‘Look, it’s been a bit of a job, but we got lucky, or we think we have. It seems that someone’s going round picking up cats off the street when they aren’t expecting it.’

‘You mean there really is a cat snatcher?’ Tiger looked terrified.

‘Yes. We don’t know who it is or why they’re doing it, but after extensive work we have found the house we think the cats have been taken to. Think is the operative word here — we can’t be one hundred per cent sure. But after doing some surveillance around this area we heard reports of unsocial levels of cat noise.’ Mr B sounded very professional, I thought. Once again I was indebted to Dustbin.

‘George is there?’ I asked.

‘We don’t know, Alfie. We know where the house is, it’s not far from here, but getting in isn’t going to be easy. The front has a high gate, which we can’t see over — it’s too tall to get up there. Attached to it is a wire fence which leads around a garden. We could see in but the curtains were all drawn and the house was in darkness. However, we were able to verify that indeed there were a large number of cats there.’

‘How?’ Tiger asked.

‘Good question,’ Mr B replied. ‘There’s a lot of noise, although be reassured we didn’t necessarily hear cats in distress, just cat chatter, and more than would be normal for a domestic house. Then there’s a shelter at the back which is packed full of tins of cat food and big bags of biscuits.’ I shuddered, I didn’t like cat food from tins myself.‘The house is also being guarded by some kind of creature right next to the wire fence. With the high gate, the drawn curtains on every window, the cat food and these guards, the evidence points to the fact that the person living there is hiding something — or rather, is hiding lots of cats.’

‘I guess it makes sense.’ I felt doubtful but we had nothing else.

‘Alfie, we can’t be certain, but if George is there then we need to find out soon. We need a plan,’ Dustbin said. I felt a tiny bit of hope swell inside me. This was the first bit of news since George had gone missing and I needed to be strong now, for my boy.

They needed a plan. Well, they had come to the right place.

I felt nervous. Of all the plans I had ever put into play, this one had the most riding on it. Not only George but potentially all the lamppost cats would be saved by this. I had rounded up as many of my friends as I could to explain what we needed to do.

After long discussions with Mr B and Dustbin I had all the information I needed, and they had even taken Tiger and I to the house. As they had said, it was in total darkness, but we could hear faint cat noises coming from inside. The front gate wasn’t going to help us but the back fence, which stretched around the house, was wire, and although it wouldn’t be easy, it provided a possibility.

The best thing though was that the creatures guarding the house turned out to be hens. Their run followed the fence all the way along its length, so the only way to get into the garden was via them. I managed to poke my nose through the fence, and although they were angry, squawking and wobbling their heads at me, when I explained that I had many hen friends in the country — only a slight exaggeration — they were more welcoming. At least they didn’t try to peck me through the fence with their beaks, anyway. We didn’t exactly communicate easily but we managed to establish that I would need their help, and as they calmed down I think they agreed to it. I was thankful for my time in the country: my understanding of hens looked as if it was finally coming in handy.

‘Impressive,’ Dustbin said as I came back. ‘But that fence will be tricky to climb.’ He was right: it was tall and there was spiked wire along the top. It didn’t look very safe.

‘I know, I think I can do it though, if I put my mind to it,’ I said, trying to sound brave, although I was quaking all the way down to my paws.

‘Oh, Alfie, are you sure, it looks as if it could really hurt you and your leg …’Tiger sounded worried.

‘Tiger, if my boy is in there I have to do it. I’ll get over there somehow.’ The others looked worried but it was agreed that Dustbin would accompany me. Tiger and I then left Dustbin and Mr B to keep watch on the house. They were going to wait there, because we still had a lot to do before we were ready for the actual cat rescue.

‘So, Alfie, what can we do?’ Rocky asked as I told them about the house.

I outlined our plan from start to finish, leaving no stone unturned, and by the time I had finished speaking everyone understood how serious it was. ‘So, guys, I’m going to go. Dustbin and Mr B are waiting.’ I looked at Tiger, the only other cat who knew where the house was. She was needed in case anything went wrong.‘I have to sort out the humans too, but if you guys could find Salmon for me then that would be great. Tiger, can you direct Salmon to the house?’ I explained exactly what I needed Salmon to do. I wanted to give all my friends a part in the plan, although many of them were just going to be supportive roles. I knew how important it was for them to feel useful. Tinkerbell was going to assist Tiger, whilst Rocky, Nellie and Elvis were going to ensure they knew what was going on and would warn either Tiger or Tinkerbell of any problems. I could see how fired up they all were. Frightened, yes, but adrenaline was pumping through all of us. We were going to rescue George.