Рейчел Уэллс - Alfie And George

‘I don’t know when exactly, but it sounds like it.’ Snowball looked sad and I started to panic. She couldn’t go, not when we were so in love. Not when we’d had such a wonderful holiday together. Though I knew full well that although human life worked very differently to cat life, there was no way they could be so cruel to us. It had to be a mistake. It just had to be.

Snowball and I moped around for the rest of the day.

‘I don’t want to go home,’ she said. She was angry and confused, as was I. I did try to be positive, but there’s only so much of that you can do in such a dire situation, especially when you have the post-holiday blues to boot. I led Snowball into my house and we curled up in my basket in the living room, both of us upset and worried and trying to take some comfort where we could. We must have fallen asleep because when we woke up, Claire, Jonathan, Summer, Tim and Karen were all staring at us.

‘It’s as if they know they’re going to be separated,’ Claire said.

‘Alfie is a very perceptive cat,’ Jonathan added.

‘But how can they know? They’re cats,’ Tim said.

‘Miaow,’ I objected.

‘See,’ Jonathan said. ‘Alfie knows.’

Snowball glared at her owners as, now fully awake, we sat side by side.

‘Maybe …’ Karen sounded uncertain. ‘Maybe you should try to explain it to them, properly. You know, man to cat?’

‘Really?’ Tim asked.‘You want me to talk to the cats and tell them?’

‘I think it’s a good idea,’ Claire concurred.

‘Yes, go on, Tim.’ I wasn’t sure if Jonathan was goading Tim because he found it amusing, but he was smirking a bit. I gave him one of my looks and thankfully he had the grace to look ashamed. After all, this was clearly no joking matter.

Tim cleared his throat. Snowball and I looked at him expectantly.

‘We love living here, on this street, and we’ve made some great friends.’ Tim looked really uncomfortable. ‘But just as moving here was a big decision for our family, and far from ideal at the time, actually, we have had to make another difficult decision. You see, Snowball and Alfie, I’ve been offered a dream job, a really amazing opportunity. It means we can buy our own home again, so I can give my family the security they need and deserve.’ He was a bit pink. I looked at Snowball, who looked at me. I felt a sense of disbelief. Although I had heard they were moving already, having this confirmation from Tim wasn’t making it any easier. I had been holding onto the hope that the rumours weren’t true.

‘As much as we hate to leave here,’ Tim continued,‘having spoken to the family, we feel we have to take this opportunity. We’ll be leaving in a few weeks. It’s all happened very quickly actually.’ He looked at us expectantly but we just stared back at him. ‘And I never wanted to part you two,’ he added.

‘Oh, Alfie, it’ll be all right,’ Claire said, scooping me up in her arms. But I knew it wouldn’t. As I looked at Snowball sitting in my cat basket, her manner changed from sad to angry, I knew it would never be all right again. I felt a sense of rage building inside me. How could they do this to us?

I thought about running away. Maybe Snowball and I could run back to the country, to where we’d been so happy, but I knew we wouldn’t. I couldn’t do the homeless thing again, no matter how much I loved her, and I knew that even though I was angry with our families right now, we both loved them very much. It was an impossible, impossible situation.

All I could hear as the humans began trying to reassure us was the sound of my heart breaking.

It was the day before they were due to leave. The day before my true love was to be ripped away from me. I had been beside myself since Tim’s chat a few weeks ago. Snowball and I had snatched as much time together as we could but something had changed: it was awkward between us, because we knew that it was coming to an end. When we spent time together, it hurt badly. We both felt so sad that our time together was almost over. Yet again, I was losing someone that I loved; how much could my cat heart take?

Claire looked glum as she picked me up and gave me a kiss on the top of my head. Jonathan looked sombre. I had heard them talking, and although they were sad for Snowball and me, I knew they’d also miss the good friends they had made in Edgar Road. I didn’t have the energy to feel sorry for them; I didn’t even have the energy to miaow. I just wanted to curl up in my bed and cry silently.

Saying goodbye is one of life’s biggest cruelties and I had spent a lot of time in my short life saying it. It never got any easier, and this looked set to be the worst one yet.

Claire carried me next door to say a final goodbye to the Snells and Snowball. Tim answered the door, and everyone hugged awkwardly as we walked into the house. It was almost all packed up and the sight of the boxes made me want to wail. Claire gently put me down.

‘Snowball’s in the garden, she’s very unhappy,’ Karen said as she led the way.

I went into the garden and sat next to Snowball. The humans stood on the other side of the patio door but I could feel their eyes on us. For a few minutes neither of us spoke.

‘So this is it then,’ Snowball said. She raised her whiskers but I could see the despondency in the gesture.

‘I just don’t know what to say,’ I replied.‘I wish I could say that we could do something to stop this, but for a cat who is used to solving problems, I have nothing here.’ I felt the pain of her impending departure in every fibre of my fur.

‘Remember how awful I was to you when I first met you,’ she said.

‘Yes, you weren’t very nice. Even after I rescued you, when you accidentally got yourself lost all those years ago. But I never gave up.’

‘And you taught me so much. I don’t want to go, Alfie. I don’t want to leave you but at least I can say I learnt a lot from you.’

‘I can’t even begin to tell you how much I’m going to miss you,’ I told her. She rested her head on mine. I almost felt as if I would stop breathing.

‘Alfie, don’t come and see me tomorrow. I don’t know if I could bear it,’ she said. I could feel her pain as a mirror to my own.

‘I’m not sure I could either. But remember I will always love you and you are in my heart forever,’ I said.

‘And mine.’ Her voice broke and we stayed like that for as long as we could bear it, before we had to tear ourselves away.

Cats might not produce tears, but believe me, we were both weeping. And when I slowly made my way back inside, I saw that Jonathan, Claire, Karen and Tim all had tears in their eyes.

Our ‘purrfect’ love had touched everyone. I just wished it didn’t hurt so much.

I sat in my front garden staring at a big removal van. I normally loved the sight of removal vans, as they heralded the arrival of a new family, an area of fascination for a doorstep cat like me, but today as I smoothed down my grey fur, I hated that van. It was taking the Snells’ furniture away, followed by the family and my beloved Snowball. The nightmare we had first heard about on holiday was actually coming true.

I didn’t know how to cope with the despair I was feeling as I stared at the removal van. I wanted to tear myself away and run inside, but I couldn’t stop watching. I was both horrified and mesmerised.

I heard a noise as my best cat friend, Tiger, squeezed under my gate. Although Tiger could be feisty and she hadn’t exactly been Snowball’s biggest fan when they first met, she had thawed towards her and the two cat women in my life had formed a rapport, almost becoming friends.