Рейчел Уэллс - A Cat Called Alfie

I took a long time to perform my morning ablutions, and then I thought about going to see Tiger. I wasn’t planning on going on one of our usual long walks but a bit of exercise was good for me. I slid out of the cat flap and found myself face to face with Snowball.

‘Hi,’ I said, suddenly feeling shy at her unexpected appearance.

‘Hello, Alfie. I thought I would see how you are after yesterday.’

‘That’s sweet,’ I replied. ‘But I’m good thank you. Feel a bit silly that it all went a bit …’

‘Wrong? Yes it did, but it did make me smile. And Christopher was so animated last night, after rescuing you; it was as if you did it as a favour just for him.’

‘Wish I’d thought of that really.’ I said, thinking that I really did. It would have saved me having to dig up Polly’s flower bed.

‘Well, you always said you could help, and you did a bit. Anyway, I wondered if you wanted to go for a walk?’

‘With you?’ I was shocked; was she asking me on a date?

‘Yes, of course with me. I thought maybe we could talk.’

‘OK, but can we take it slowly? I’m still aching a bit.’ I wasn’t going to pretend to be macho; that would only lead to more trouble.

‘No problem.’ We looked at each other and I felt my whiskers tingle again. I hoped my legs weren’t shaking as we set off. I didn’t want to bump into any other cats, so I led Snowball in the direction of the park.

‘Have you been to the park before?’ I asked.

‘No, I tend not to go out much at the moment — I prefer to stay close to home.’

‘Where did you live before this?’ I asked.

‘In Kent, it’s not that far from London but we lived in a really big house, with all this land around us.’

‘Our houses are quite big,’ I exclaimed. My first home was much smaller than Jonathan’s house, and his was the biggest house I had ever been in.

‘I guess, but the problem is that they’re not all that large compared to what we had. I barely left my garden. It could take all day to explore it, it was that big. And there were flower beds and trees and even a lake. It was so much fun.’

‘Really? So nothing like here?’ I could only imagine what Snowball was used to, it sounded amazing.

‘No, nothing like here. We didn’t have neighbours so close, we had loads of space around us. And the house was bigger too. Far too big to be honest. I could go for hours without seeing anyone, despite the fact we lived together.’

‘Why did they have such a big house?’

‘I don’t know, it’s a human thing. They had a lot of money, and people who have a lot of money often have big houses. They had more than two cars too. Daisy and Christopher went to schools that they had to pay for and Karen, well you might find it hard to believe, but she had so many clothes they could barely fit in her wardrobe! She looked glamorous all the time. She did work part-time though as she never liked just being at home. Not like now.’

‘What do you mean?’

‘She works all the time, in a hospital, any shifts she can get as she’s the only one earning money.’ Snowball looked sad, but we had reached the park.

‘Come on, I’ll show you the best bushes.’ I led her over and we crawled under a bush, it was really quite nice being there, alone together. It felt quite intimate as the leaves shadowed us and we sat side by side.

‘So what happened to it all?’

‘I shouldn’t be telling you any of this.’

‘I know, but I did get stuck up a tree for you.’ I smiled and tried to nuzzle her; she didn’t push me away, but she did look a bit embarrassed.

‘Right, well, anyway, we had lots of money because Tim is very clever with computers and he had a company, which was very successful. He worked a lot, mind you, and Karen always moaned that she never saw him. But they went on these exotic holidays and when they did I had to stay in a cat hotel, which I wasn’t that keen on to be honest, but they would always come back happy.’

‘A cat hotel?’ I had never heard of such a thing.

‘Yes, you had to sleep in your own cage and you got fed but there were other cats and you didn’t get half the attention you get at home.’

‘Sounds like the vet to me.’

‘Um, not exactly. Anyway there was this other man, Simon, he was Tim’s business partner but also his best friend. He was the best man at their wedding, there are photos of him; I mean there were. And the children called him Uncle Simon. He didn’t have any children of his own, but he always had a different girlfriend and Karen never liked them.’ Snowball rolled over, and sighed.

‘Sounds a bit like how Jonathan used to be before Claire,’ I said.

‘Anyway, Simon was always around. He and Tim were so close and he trusted him. But then this thing happened.’

‘Go on.’ I could barely wait.

‘Simon turned out to be bad. Really bad. He managed to do something called fraud and he took off with all their money.’

‘How on earth did he do that?’ I asked, not really comprehending.

‘I don’t exactly know how he did it but he left the company bankrupt, which means totally broken I think. He left Tim in a huge mess.’

‘So Tim didn’t suspect anything?’

‘No, he trusted Simon. But he was left owing a lot of money and he had to shut down the business. It was a huge mess. The police are trying to find him but according to Tim and Karen, even if they do it won’t make things right again.’

‘I’m horrified that someone could do that.’

It was beginning to make a bit of sense as to why the Snells were so secretive and unwilling to let anyone in. No wonder they didn’t trust anyone.

‘It got worse though. Not only did they lose everything and have to move here but they also lost all their friends. Some people pointed the finger at Tim; although he lost everything they still thought he’d done something bad. People turned their backs on them as soon as they found out they were poor, too. It was awful. All those people who came round for parties, drank that fizzy wine, and ate our food, wouldn’t even answer their phones to Tim or Karen. They were forced to sell their house, the kids had to leave their expensive schools, and their friends abandoned them too. That was when Karen got a job near here so they moved to Edgar Road.’

‘But why did they think Tim was involved?’ I asked, trying to clarify.

‘People are judgemental, Alfie. But he is totally innocent and when they moved here he was too terrified to make friends in case they thought he was a criminal.’

‘The irony is that by refusing to befriend anyone on the street the Goodwins think exactly that.’

‘I know but he’s too affected by everything that’s happened to think straight. They all are.’

‘It’s a sad story. Although I will never understand why humans value money so highly, above everything else. Cats don’t have any and look how happy we are. All we need is a butterfly to chase, a warm fire to come home to, and a loving lap to sit on.’

‘I don’t understand either.’

‘And they say us cats are superficial! But when it comes down to it, we’re more loyal than most of them.’

‘I agree, Alfie.’ Snowball looked at me, and I couldn’t stop my heart from pounding. ‘So now you know what happened,’ she continued. ‘The police come round because of Simon. But Karen and Tim are still so depressed and so hurt, that they won’t let themselves meet anyone. They’ve put their guard up, and now the Goodwins are making everything so much worse, just when they thought they might be able to get their lives back on track.’

‘That’s the thing, when you’re down, sometimes you can’t see anything good.’

‘No, and I couldn’t either for a time. I’m worried for the kids. Chris is being teased at his new school because he came from a posh school. But he’s good at football, so if he would just get involved in that he would be OK. He refuses to though. And Daisy is popular because she’s pretty. To be honest, she has always been a bit of princess so she struggles with the change in her lifestyle, although as Karen points out on a regular basis, she is luckier than so many people.’