Рейчел Уэллс - A Cat Called Alfie

‘Hey, whatever you need.’ Polly tried to look supportive but I could see her underlying confusion. She didn’t look as if she knew what was going on and neither did I.

‘I had a row with my son, Christopher. He’s fourteen and so angry all the time.’

‘Hormonal teenager?’

‘Yes, but more than that. My poor children have been through so much … I really am sorry to be so weird but I just—’

‘Hey.’ Polly held her hands up in defeat. ‘Honestly, as long as you’re OK. And you know where I am if you ever do want to talk. I’d hate you to think we’re all like Heather and Vic.’ Polly, was full of compassion, it was one of the things all my families had in common.

Karen stood up. ‘I’m sorry again, but I really must go.’ Karen went to the front door, said a distracted goodbye and, looking around furtively, hurried off down the street.

‘Well for someone who has nothing to hide she sure acts like she does,’ Polly said as she picked me up and started stroking my fur. ‘I mean, Alfie, I’m sure there’s nothing criminal about them but she clearly isn’t the most normal person I’ve ever met.’ I miaowed my agreement. It seemed none of the family could give a straight answer. They all talked in riddles, never letting their guard down about whatever secret it was they were hiding. None of us had any idea what was going on.

My only conclusion was that if they didn’t have anything to hide, they were hiding from something. Or someone. Or everyone for that matter.

A little while later, the door opened as Polly and I sat side by side on her sofa, her flicking through magazines, me processing my thoughts. With a thundering of little feet, Henry ran in.

‘Mummy! We saw a rabbit, and some cows. Alfie! Hi, Alfie.’ I loved Henry’s excitement.

‘Where on earth did you take them?’ Polly asked, when Matt came in.

‘To the toy shop,’ he laughed. ‘They had a farm set and Henry spent ages playing with it, he loved it. I told him we’d get him some animals for his birthday.’

‘And where is my little girl?’ Polly said as Henry climbed on his mum and smothered her with cuddles.

‘Asleep in the pushchair. Hi, Alfie.’ Matt sat down, so we were all squished together on their sofa.

‘We need a bigger sofa,’ Polly observed.

‘Or maybe this boy could take up less room,’ he replied, tickling Henry so he giggled and wriggled.

‘Oh, Daddy.’ Henry laughed.

‘By the way, I bumped into the lady from number forty-eight today, Karen. She was upset so I invited her round and although she came she was still so secretive and basically couldn’t wait to leave. I have no idea what’s going on. I don’t think they’re a danger to the road like some think, but I agree that it is strange.’

‘Yeah, that’s what Jonathan said. He said they acted like everyone was out to get them.’

‘Actually that’s it, that’s exactly what it was like.’

‘But the Goodwins aren’t helping,’ Matt said. ‘They’re fixated on them; it’s like an obsession.’

‘Well maybe if we can get the Goodwins off their back they might start to behave a bit more normally then.’

‘You got any ideas how to stop Heather and Vic?’ Matt asked with a grin.

‘Short of locking them up, no.’ Polly laughed. ‘But remember how sad I was when I moved here. When Frankie tried to be friendly to me I pushed her away. What if it’s like that?’

‘Oh, darling, you weren’t well then and maybe they have their own problems, but unless they want to tell us we can’t make them.’

‘No, Matt, we can’t but putting the brakes on the Goodwins would be a good start.’ She looked determined.

I miaowed loudly. Polly and I were the most in tune it seemed, at the moment anyway. She was right, if the newcomers weren’t ready to tell us what was going on, then we needed to get the Goodwins to back off and then hopefully they might feel a bit more welcome, until they were ready to open up. That was what we had to do but I had no idea how we would do it. Once again I had to put my thinking cap on and let the head scratching — although I actually did enjoy a little head scratch — ensue.

I trembled at the sight of cat carrier; normally it heralded a trip to the vet, which never ended well. It was four days after I’d met Karen, and the weekend was looming. Claire had also put my cat bed by the front door, along with a bag of cat food. My eyes widened; was I being given away? I couldn’t think of anything I had done wrong, although yesterday I had been looking through the fence at next door in the hope of seeing Snowball and I’d come nose to nose with an annoying little mouse. It had been so scared that the stupid thing ran towards me and into my garden. I was actually trying to get rid of it, but somehow — probably due to what Tiger called my inept hunting technique — the mouse had ended up in my house. As it ran off I was going to get it but then I was distracted by a lovely smell, and forgot all about it. Instead, I’d sniffed the fresh laundry that sat in the basket waiting to be put away, before noticing that on top was my favourite — Jonathan’s favourite — cashmere jumper. It had seemed so delicious and was so soft that I couldn’t resist jumping on it and, before I knew it, I’d fallen asleep.

A commotion had woken me; all hell had broken loose. Claire was screaming and standing on a chair in the kitchen. Jonathan was running around with a broom and when I emerged, they both looked at me in an accusatory way.

‘Did you bring a mouse in?’ Claire asked, sounding annoyed. I miaowed, realizing I’d forgotten about it. But in my defence, I then sniffed it out and chased it back into the garden. But then Jonathan picked up his jumper.

‘You’ve been sleeping on my best jumper!’ he shouted, clearly unhappy. ‘Look it’s covered in your fur, Alfie, how many times do I have to tell you to keep away from my cashmere?’ he stormed. Claire and he were clearly unhappy with me and now, looking at the cat carrier, it seemed they were punishing me in the worst way.

‘Ready for your holiday?’ she asked me, picking me up. I looked at her, head cocked to one side. ‘Remember I told you that Jon and I were going away this weekend, so you’re going to stay with Franceska and the boys.’ A feeling of relief flooded me and I breathed again. Ahh, of course! I’d forgotten. Jonathan had booked a weekend away for them, somewhere called Paris which was in a different country apparently, and they were going for three days. I would normally stay at Polly and Matt’s but this time, Franceska was going to take me to Aleksy’s school to see the Alfie project, after spending the weekend with them.

Although I was going to stay with people I loved, I wondered how I would cope being so far from my street. I was nervous away from Edgar Road, and felt trepidation of places unknown. I had learnt that adventure wasn’t always a good thing and actually quite a lot of it for me had been bad. I shuddered and my fur stood on end as some of the memories flooded my head. As I started to scramble out of Claire’s arms and away from the cat carrier, I realized I needed to calm down, reminding myself that I had been to Franceska’s before, so it wasn’t like going to the unknown.

I did have to give myself a talking to quite often. Memories of my journey to Edgar Road still invoked terror in me. It was sometimes hard to remember that I was safe and loved although I constantly tried to remind myself.

‘Don’t be such a silly cat,’ Claire said, coming towards me and stroking my fur. ‘You’re going to have so much fun, Alfie, and hopefully so will we. I’ll pick you up on Monday evening.’ She kissed the tip of my nose and put me down on the floor. Although I hated being in the cage, I knew there was no option, and the idea of a few days with Aleksy and the others couldn’t help but make me smile. And of course, I was expecting gourmet sardines from my lovely Franceska. So, as I talked myself down I remembered that I would actually have a lovely time. Yes, I would enjoy my holiday. Although I would miss trying to catch a glimpse of Snowball.