Рейчел Уэллс - A Cat Called Alfie

‘What on earth are you doing here, Tomasz?’ he asked before he saw that Snowball was in his arms. ‘You found Snowball? How on earth?’ He looked at me.

‘I have no idea, Jonathan. I found Alfie, with the missing cat, in the yard behind the restaurant, along with the restaurant cat.’

‘I don’t understand,’ Jonathan said.

‘I don’t either,’ Tomasz concurred. ‘It seems that Alfie strikes again.’

Claire appeared and took in the scene. ‘What’s going on?’

‘He’s got Snowball! It seems that, yet again, Alfie is somehow linked to a success story and we will never know what happened.’ Jonathan stood aside as if to let Tomasz in.

‘She is not good, I think we need to get her home now,’ Tomasz said, staying on the doorstep.

‘Oh, I’ll come round with you,’ Jonathan offered.

The Snells cried tears of joy when they saw Snowball, but the celebration was short-lived as they noticed how unwell she seemed.

‘Do you need a lift to the vet?’ Tomasz asked, introducing himself.

‘No, we can’t thank you enough for bringing her back but we’ll take it from here.’ As the Snells shut the door, Jonathan and Tomasz exchanged a glance; it seemed as if the Snells were keen to get rid of them and me.

‘They seem a bit strange,’ Tomasz said. ‘They didn’t even ask me where the cat was found or anything.’

‘I know, and I thought we all bonded yesterday when we were looking for her. I mean they didn’t tell us their life story but they joined us for tea and cake, and although they were upset they were friendly then.’

Both men shrugged and I wondered what this meant. Would the Snells return to their old ways or were they going to continue being part of the street? I fervently hoped it was the former but I was afraid it was the latter.

I was more determined than ever to come up with a plan to help Snowball and her family. As I feared, the Snells had retreated to their old ways since Snowball’s return a few days ago. They had come to see Jonathan to tell him that Snowball was fine; she had been just a bit dehydrated. The vet had given her some medicine and the all clear, and they had thanked us, and finally even asked where she was found. That was the last we’d seen of them.

Desperate to see Snowball, I had taken to hanging out by the loose fence panel and I had been rewarded with her finding me there three days after her rescue.

‘Are you all right?’ I asked her.

‘I am now, thank you. And thank you for your efforts to find me.’ She sounded formal for someone whose life I’d practically saved.

‘We all did. The cats on Edgar Road and my friend Dustbin all rallied. Even Tom who is sorry he hurt you. But why did you run off?’ I asked.

‘I’d had enough. My family were falling apart, Tom and Salmon were mean and I thought if I was going to be homeless anyway I might as well make a head start. By the time I’d cooled off and wanted to come home I had no idea where I was until that cat found me.’

‘I remember how scary it can be out on the streets,’ I said.

‘Well thank you again, Alfie, and you might be pleased to know my family are stronger now. While I was missing, they remembered how much they loved each other, so they are getting along much better. At least one good thing came out of it.’

‘I’m so glad; now if only we could all be friends—’

‘Don’t get ahead of yourself. We still need our privacy, they still have too much going on to cope with and, speaking of that, I’m afraid Tim is fixing the fence today. When he saw how loose this panel was, which I may have helped him discover, he decided to do some work out here. Thanks for finding me, but now you can leave us alone again.’

That was over a week ago and I hadn’t even so much as caught a glimpse of Snowball since. The loose fence panel had been fixed, and so my days of looking from my garden into the Snells’ were over. After all I’d done for her, I was hurt. But then I realized I couldn’t give up.

I decided it was time to go and see Snowball to find out once and for all what was going on with her family. I had to try to get to the bottom of it. I was prepared to be brave and go inside the house if I needed to; after all, I knew the layout and this time I would make sure I avoided getting stuck in cupboards.

I was still feeling quite pleased with myself as I made my way next door, going over the fence rather than round the front. I surveyed the place from the top of the fence, but couldn’t see anything, so I jumped down into the garden. It was deserted, I could tell by just sniffing the air. I went over to look through the patio doors. Whilst the Snells kept the front of the house in darkness most of the time, I could see into the back, and as I looked through the patio doors, trying not to concentrate too much on my own reflection, I could see the kitchen was empty. I decided to take my chance as I hopped through the cat flap. The kitchen was definitely empty, not tidy though, as dishes littered the side and there was a lot of clearing up to be done. Being such a clean cat this made me bristle but I tried not to mind too much. Snowball’s bowls on the floor had half-eaten food and a small amount of water. As tempted as I was to help myself, I didn’t touch them as I knew that would definitely upset her. And of course I was glad she was well enough to eat again.

I padded through the hall and into the living room, which was much like ours at home, although, again, not as tidy. Evidence of life could be seen in the creases on the cushions, and I spied some bits of white fur on the sofa. I couldn’t resist having a sniff, making me feel closer to the object of my affections. As always, the front curtains were drawn. I reluctantly went back into the hallway and stood at the bottom of the staircase. I was so tempted to go upstairs, to see what was there, but then I heard movement coming from the kitchen. I froze. Was I about to be discovered? I looked for somewhere to hide but there was nowhere, and so I stood rooted to the spot as a figure appeared. It was Christopher, the boy that they talked about. He started as he saw me and then smiled.

‘Snowball won’t be happy to find another cat in the house,’ he said. ‘Unless of course you’re her friend? Do cats have friends?’ He bent down to stroke me and read my collar. ‘Oh you’re the cat who helped find her. Nice one.’

I miaowed, trying to answer him, but he didn’t seem to hear me. He threw a backpack on the floor and went into the living room. As he slumped on the sofa, I wondered what I should do. I mean here was an opportunity for me to get a bit more information, but I also didn’t know what Snowball would say if she came home and found me talking to another of her humans. But the temptation was too great and, yet again, trying not to think too much about consequences, I hopped up on the sofa and sat with Christopher.

‘I shouldn’t be here,’ he said, looking at me, darkness clouded his eyes. ‘I should be in school. There’s going to be loads of crap when Mum and Dad find out, and we’re all getting on better so I don’t want to hurt them anymore.’ He sounded sad and a bit angry. ‘Luckily they’re both out. Mum at work as always and Dad’s out trying to find a new job, and isn’t having much luck. It’s all so bad here no wonder Snowball ran away.’ I purred my agreement, although I didn’t exactly understand.

‘That’s the thing,’ he continued. ‘I have no one to talk to. My old friends all managed to forget me instantly, and I hate my new school. Daisy is so self-obsessed she barely notices I’m here, same with the parents, and even the cat doesn’t want to listen to me — Snowball is Daisy’s cat so she doesn’t pay much attention to me.’