Рейчел Уэллс - A Cat Called Alfie

I miaowed to tell her that I was in the same boat.

‘I remember seeing you and you were such a sweet cat; we loved you from the start. And now, we’ve all had our ups and downs — we even nearly lost you! — but life is good at last. I have a nice home, my husband is successful and my boys are doing well. When we lived in Poland and were struggling to find work, I honestly never thought that we would be in such a good place. You’ve always been part of that for us.’ I miaowed again. I felt the same.

‘Right, well I need to clean my nice home. Do you want to keep me company?’ She got off the stool and I jumped down. I did want to keep her company and although she barely spoke for the next few hours until she had to leave to get the children from school, I felt close to her, my companion, a lovely woman who was so strong and I was so pleased to see that life had paid off for her. Actually it had paid off for both of us.

By the time I got back to Claire’s, was fussed over by her and Jonathan, and had something to eat I felt it was quite late. Claire had picked me up that evening, and I had been pleased to see her but also a little bit sad at leaving Franceska and the family. Especially Aleksy. It made me feel sad, and I wished that they lived back on Edgar Road.

But I wanted to find Tiger; I had only been away a few days but I had missed her. I wanted to hear the street gossip as well of course.

Jonathan and Claire had clearly had a lovely time; they were both smiling and looking relaxed, so when they went to the living room to ‘chill out’ after we’d all eaten, I decided to go out.

Tiger was in her back garden, staring at the moon which had just appeared in the darkening sky. She looked like a picture, sitting up regally, neck long and tail curled about her. I felt a pang of tenderness as I observed her; I had missed my friend.

‘Tiger,’ I said, softly, as I approached.

‘Hey, Alfie, you’re back.’ She smiled and blinked in greeting.

‘I feel like I’ve been away for ages,’ I explained.

‘I know, it was weird not seeing you. But come on, let’s go for a stroll and I’ll fill you in on what happened when you were away.’

‘OK, lead the way.’ We walked along in silence. I didn’t want to push; conscious of how much I could upset her if I mentioned Snowball.

‘There was a bit of drama,’ Tiger said, eventually as we made our way down the street. I have to admit to feeling comfort from being on such familiar territory — I’d had a nice time away, but it was good to be home.

‘Really? What?’ I asked.

‘Well, I saw Snowball and she ran off as soon as she saw me, back to her house. She’s either very nervous, skittish or rude, or maybe all three.’

‘I think she’s trying to hide from something,’ I offered.

‘We know what you think, Alfie,’ Tiger sighed. I resolved to tread more carefully.

‘Sorry, go on.’

‘Well I spoke to Rocky who said that he had caught her having a fight with Tom. Rocky wasn’t sure who started it, but something happened and Rocky said he saw blood on her fur. But when he went to her to see if she was all right, she ran off and he couldn’t find her.’

‘I will kill that Tom. Snowball needs us to be friends with her, see,’ I said, forgetting my earlier resolve to avoid talking about her.

‘You can’t make people be friends with you, Alfie. And I don’t exactly know what her problem is but if she’s willing to fight Tom I’d say she’s one angry cat.’ We stopped at a spot where the reflections of the moon and one of the street lights were making patterns on the pavement. We jumped between them, watching the pools of light grow and shrink.

‘I’m going to see Tom and tell him to leave her alone anyway,’ I said finally. I wouldn’t have anyone, not person or cat, being bullied, and I’d had my own problems with Tom when I first moved to Edgar Road so I knew what an aggressive cat he could be.

‘I’ll come with you to do that, although to be fair he might have been trying to be nice to her. And in other news, Salmon has been flinging his weight around.’

‘Oh dear, what’s he been doing?’

‘Well he says that his family is very close to finding out what the Snells are hiding and even getting them removed from the street.’

‘No, surely not!’

‘No one really believes him, we think the whole family is just full of hot air. Literally in Salmon’s case.’ We both snickered.

‘But what are we going to do?’ I asked.

‘We?’ Tiger stared at me, I wasn’t sure if she was being hostile or not.

‘Come on, you’re my partner in crime. When I went to Aleksy’s school I couldn’t have done that without you.’

‘Yeah, Alfie, flattery will get you everywhere. Anyway, what are you thinking?’

‘I’m still a bit unsure but first of all I want to have a word with Tom and then I think we should confront Salmon.’

‘OK, well I can’t let you do that on your own — they’ll eat you alive. I suppose I’d better come along and help.’ Tiger didn’t look delighted exactly but she was on side for now. Tomorrow we would take on Tom and Salmon.

After arranging to meet Tiger the following day I went home and found Claire and Jonathan, snuggled up together on the sofa. They were watching a film on the television. I stood in the doorway for a moment to observe them. They really did fit together well and I realized that everything I had been through was worth it for this. It really was. I walked in slowly and jumped up on the sofa, landing on Claire’s lap.

‘Oh, Alfie,’ she said, laughing. ‘Did you miss us?’

I miaowed the affirmative. I put my paw on Jonathan’s chest so he wouldn’t feel left out.

‘Well nice to know that, and I’d say we missed you, but we were too busy.’ Jonathan winked at Claire as she swatted his arm.

‘Jonathan, pipe down!’ Claire giggled, turning red.

‘Honestly, I don’t think Alfie minds even if he understands.’ I looked at him, trying to convey that I understood even though I wasn’t sure I did.

‘I know, but I hope … well, you know what I hope. It was such a fabulous weekend, and I loved every minute. You are the perfect husband, Jon, and I only want your child so badly because I think we will be the perfect family.’

‘Darling, I’m not sure that there’s such a thing as a perfect family,’ Jonathan pointed out.

‘Maybe not, but I know it’ll be perfect to me.’ She snuggled further into her husband and I settled down on both of them, dozing and enjoying the warmth of them, as they finished watching the film.

I was home, but then I always seemed to be home these days, no matter where I was.

I woke, feeling refreshed until I remembered that today we had to take on Tom and Salmon.

Claire was humming as she gave me my cat ready meal for breakfast and made coffee and toast for Jonathan. She hummed as she walked upstairs to take her shower and she was still humming when she came back downstairs dressed for work.

I watched them both get ready to leave. Jonathan as usual couldn’t find his house keys — which were in the bowl by the front door where they were always kept, and Claire hurried him out of the house, still humming happily.

I breathed in the silence of the empty house for a few minutes. I hadn’t been alone for a while and, although I loved being around people and fellow cats, it was nice to have a bit of time to myself for once. I thought about the day ahead and resolved that I would seek out Snowball later on. I needed to see her, just to get a glimpse of that beautiful white fur and to speak to her, even if she was horrible to me. I missed her. My heart started beating faster at the thought.