Рейчел Уэллс - A Cat Called Alfie

‘You do?’ I was taken aback.

‘I’m not stupid, Alfie. I’ve known you for three years; you meet white fluff-ball for a second and you’re in love. Don’t worry, I know that we’re just friends, and I know that deep down you respect my feelings but like a man, sometimes you can be a bit insensitive to them.’

‘Wow,’ I managed to say. Now I know why my human males said women were so much better at this stuff. It was like she could read my mind. I continued, ‘I wanted to tell you honestly how I felt. I love you, Tiger, but as a friend, and as a friend I couldn’t love you more. You’re right, it’s different with Snowball. I don’t know why, but that’s how it is.’

‘I know, Alfie. If you felt the same way about me it would be so easy, but you don’t and we need to move on.’

‘And I thought this conversation was going to be tricky,’ I said feeling bemused. I was confused again but in a different way. A good way.

‘I don’t want to lose you from my life, Alfie, and that means I have to accept that we are just friends and stop being so jealous of Fluff-ball.’ She looked at me but she was smiling. I purred and nuzzled.

‘You are so amazing, Tiger, the best friend a cat could have.’

‘You always say that.’

‘Because it’s true. Are you sure you’re OK with this?’ I was still concerned.

‘I will be. Alfie, I want things to go back to the way they were with us before, and if that means I have to hear about Fuzzy-kitten and her weird family then so be it.’ Tiger smiled to show me the name-calling was in good humour.

‘Thank you so much Tiger, you mean the world to me.’ I meant it.

‘Right, well come on, let’s find Snowball, and make sure she’s all right.’

We found Nellie at the end of the street, watching the moon. While she went to find Rocky and Elvis, we started our hunt but then we bumped into Tom.

‘Tom, are you sure you didn’t hurt Snowball more than you said?’ I asked, angrily. I was worried now and upset, and although Tiger was being amazing I hated to think of Snowball out there, scared and hurt.

‘Honestly it was nothing major. She could still walk away. Why are we raking this up again, I said I was sorry.’ He looked a bit sheepish as Tiger stepped forward.

‘She’s gone missing,’ Tiger explained. ‘Her owner has Alfie’s families out looking for her now, but she hasn’t been home since she fought with you and argued with Salmon.’

‘I didn’t mean for anything bad to happen.’ Tom did look stricken, I had to admit. ‘I’ll do whatever it takes to help you find her.’

‘You’re the last person she’d want to see,’ I pointed out, ‘please don’t look for her. You might scare her off again.’

‘OK, but I really do want to help you.’

‘Maybe go and see what you can find out from other cats. If you hear anything, come and find one of us,’ Tiger said and we bounded off.

We both searched well into the night, as far as the park at one end of the road, while the other cats covered the other end.

‘No sightings could mean that she isn’t too injured to hide,’ Tiger said.

‘But she’s probably hungry and scared. Do you think that maybe Salmon saying that the family were going to be hounded out, tipped her over the edge?’

‘Probably, I know she’s having a hard time settling in. She could have gone back to her old home,’ Tiger suggested.

‘I guess we need to go home and get some rest now. We can’t stay out forever.’ I was tired, cold and losing hope. I needed to regain my strength and think logically about where she could be. It was important that I had a strategy and, so far, there were no leads and I could no longer think straight. Every lamp-post we passed on our way home now had pictures of Snowball on them; her beautiful face was everywhere. I had never known worry like this but I gave up and went to get some rest. Although I knew I wouldn’t properly rest until I’d found her, I curled up into my bed.

I slept uneasily which wasn’t a surprise. I made my way downstairs where Claire and Jonathan were already sat at the breakfast table.

‘Polly texted me to say she’d called in at the Snells’ and there was still no sign.’

‘God, I remember how worried I was when Alfie was missing, when he’d been hurt and taken to the vet’s that time.’ I shuddered as I made my presence felt. I hated hearing that word.

‘Oh there you are, I wonder if you’ve seen Snowball?’ He went to feed me. I miaowed to tell him I hadn’t seen her.

‘They’re making more posters. Polly said she would take the kids out and put them up a bit further afield. I can’t get out of work but I’ve offered for us both to help when we get back.’

‘OK, darling, cool. I’ll try not to be late.’

After I’d breakfasted, groomed myself and made my way out, I saw Polly and Karen and I wanted to cry as I saw Snowball’s beautiful face smiling down at me again and wondered if I would ever see her again. You heard about cats going missing a lot and many of them were never found. Terrible things could happen, and it was unfortunately more common than it should be. I felt as if my heart was going to break. It seemed Karen felt the same because she stood with Polly, sobbing as Polly put her arm around her and the children looked on.

‘I’m sorry,’ Karen said. ‘But she’s family. Daisy adores her and we’ve had her since she was a kitten. I can’t bear to lose her after everything else we’ve lost.’

‘Hey, love, come on, we’ll find her. After work me, Matt, Claire and Jonathan are going to look. We’ve put these posters up everywhere and I’m sure we’ll have her home safe in no time.’ I hoped that Polly was more confident than she sounded.

I left them, as Tim joined his wife and for the first time I saw affection pass between them. They clung to each other and when Tim suggested driving around looking for Snowball, Karen said she wanted to go with him.

I had to find that cat. As I started walking I saw Tiger engaged in some kind of conversation with Salmon. I quickened my pace. Maybe he would know where Snowball was.

‘Hi, Tiger,’ I said.

‘Ah, here’s your partner. I’ve just discovered your ruse, Alfie,’ Salmon said unkindly.

‘What?’ I asked.

‘Sorry, Alfie, I felt I had to tell him we were just pretending to be on his side the other day, as we’re doing all we can to find Snowball.’

‘Oh, I’d forgotten that.’

‘Well who cares. The cat is done for.’

‘What do you mean?’ I hissed angrily.

‘It’s obvious. She’s been kidnapped by the criminals that the Snells are involved with. They’ve probably double-crossed them or something and so they’ve taken the cat.’

‘I’ve never heard such nonsense,’ Tiger said.

‘We’ll see,’ Salmon replied before stalking off.

‘Ignore him, Alfie, I’m sure she’ll be all right,’ Tiger said, trying to cheer me up. I smiled, gratefully, at her but even I was losing hope as no one had seen her. We had looked everywhere we could think of and were quickly running out of ideas.

That evening, I felt the love in Edgar Road, for the first time in ages, as Polly, Matt, Claire and Jonathan and all the Snells came out together to look for Snowball. I had cat tears in my eyes as I saw them all working together. I had wanted to bring them together, to help them, but not at the expense of Snowball. As her face looked at me from every lamp-post I tried to strengthen my resolve to find her but even I was struggling to stay positive.

‘I just can’t think of where else to look,’ Tim said as they all converged outside our house. My families exchanged anxious glances.