Рейчел Уэллс - Alfie In The Snow

Matt and Polly were the best at decorating, they had lights outside the house and reindeer scattered around the small front garden. Claire had begged Jonathan for something similar but he’d refused, saying that he’d probably fall off the ladder, or it would take him all of December to do, as our house was bigger, so it was left undecorated outside. It was the only battle that Jonathan won really, and as Claire wasn’t going to do it herself she said the kids could just admire Polly and Matt’s.

Polly came downstairs, looking a little flustered, which wasn’t like her.

‘I’ve run out of Sellotape,’ she said. ‘And I’ve still got loads of wrapping to do.’ You see, she was so disorganised.

‘The shops will be closed now,’ Matt said. Even he looked alarmed. ‘Are all the kids—’

‘No,’ Polly said quickly. ‘I need more.’

‘Meow,’ I said. Claire will always have spare, I tried to tell her. Claire had drawers full of it, we never ran out.

‘Oh Alfie, thank goodness, I’ll just nip to Claire’s to borrow some. Are you sure you’re OK with the kids?’ Polly asked.

‘Not really, but then they’ve eaten a mountain of chocolate coins, so what did I expect?’ I’d never seen a man look so defeated. ‘Actually, shall I go get the Sellotape?’ he asked, smiling at the idea of escape.

‘No, I think I’d better go,’ Polly said. ‘After all, we’ve still got loads to do before the carol concert and you’ll probably have a drink with Jonathan …’ She was right, he would, and I could see from the disappointment on his face that that was what he had been hoping for.

I cheered up at the mention of the concert. There was always a Christmas Eve carol concert for the children at the local church, and although George and I didn’t get to go, it meant that Franceska and family would visit us either before the concert or after, so I would get to see them briefly. I’d have liked to have seen Dustbin but we really didn’t have time. Christmas Eve was a busy day for us all, as I’ve said.

After we left Matt and the children trying to sort out the small Christmas tree that George had all but squashed, we went to see our friends. They were all waiting to wish us a Merry Christmas and we chatted about what we were looking forward to most about the following day.

‘Food,’ I said, which was true. ‘And all the humans I love being together of course.’

‘I like the wrapping paper,’ George said. He hadn’t grown out of playing with that yet either.

‘Oh, I do love the fact that we have visitors all day and they make such a fuss of me,’ Nellie said.

‘I like the fact I get to sleep a lot, because my lot go out for quite a while and there’s nothing like a good Christmas Day nap.’ I wasn’t sure I agreed with Rocky but as long as he was happy.

‘I like the Queen’s Speech,’ Elvis declared. ‘She does it every year on TV, and when she comes on we all go quiet and listen very intently. It wouldn’t be Christmas without it.’

No one knew quite what to say about that. I had never even heard of it. But anyway, we passed a pleasant few minutes before I felt something wet landing on my fur.

‘Oh no, it’s raining,’ I said.

‘No, Dad, it’s not raining, it’s snowing!’ George said. ‘Look.’ We all looked up at the sky and snow was actually falling. We all stuck our tongues out to catch it, and it definitely made us all feel even more Christmassy.

‘Do you think Tiger sent the snow?’ Nellie asked as a fat snowdrop landed on her head.

‘Probably, she hated snow,’ I laughed.

Walking home, George kept trying to catch the snow with his tongue, and because he wasn’t looking where he was going he walked into a lamppost.

‘Ow,’ he said.

‘Look where you’re going, silly,’ I replied, but actually catching snow was quite fun, I had to concede. We both stopped naturally when we got to Tiger’s house. There were lights inside and I wondered how the Barkers were coping without Tiger. There was still no tree, I could see through the window, and only a small amount of decorations, but I hoped they were OK. I would have liked to have seen them really, but since Tiger had died they never opened the cat flap, and as it was so cold I doubted they would venture out.

‘Do you think Tiger mum is happy where she is?’ George asked, suddenly.

‘I do, son,’ I replied. ‘She can’t be over-the-moon happy because she’s not with you, but I think she’s not in pain and that must be a good thing.’

‘I know, I miss her but I’m glad she’s not in pain, any more. Dad?’

‘Yes, George?’ I could barely speak.

‘Loving is about letting go, isn’t it?’

‘Yes, George,’ I managed, my throat choked up. It really was.

When we got home, thankfully the warmth hit us as soon as we got through the cat flap. Everyone was in a state about the snow.

‘What if it settles?’ Claire panicked. ‘People won’t be able to get out and then it could be a problem.’

‘Everyone can walk here and if we need to help, like with Harold, I can go and give Marcus a hand. So don’t worry, it’ll be fine, darling. In fact, more than fine, it’s going to be the best Christmas,’ Jonathan reassured. ‘We’re together, we’ve got our gorgeous two children, our amazing cats and our best friends coming, what more could we want?’

‘I know, I’m sorry. I wish that Sylvie and Connie would come though, I feel so sorry for them, and I know they’ll have a miserable Christmas. Especially Connie.’

‘You might need a Christmas miracle for that one. I’m not sure even Santa can sort that out.’

I wished I could give them that miracle but I was all out of ideas. Part of me still wondered if Dustbin and I had been right to stop the kids from running away but I knew, deep down, it had been our only option. It was too dangerous out there for them. I was going to have to keep thinking, or – like Claire – hope for a miracle.

By the time Tomasz, Franceska and the boys arrived before the carol concert, I was exhausted from trying to think. However, Aleksy took me aside immediately. Well, he picked me up. I narrowed my eyes at him. What was he up to now? I hoped we weren’t going to try to look for Connie again. But instead of heading outside, he took me upstairs.

‘Look, Alfie, I know you were only visiting Dustbin the night I was running away, but it was probably good that you were there,’ he said when we were out of earshot in Toby’s bedroom.

‘Yowl.’ I wasn’t, I was trying to stop you.

‘I thought it was a good idea, when you and Dustbin made the commotion and stopped me going, I really had to think about things and Connie did too. We realised running away was a terrible idea. We have very little money, I spent most of mine on her phone, and what job would I get at my age?’

‘Meow.’ I raised my eyes to the heavens, it was madness.

‘And it’s dangerous out there, I know that, but you see Connie was so sad and I just wanted to make things better. But somehow I made them worse because now she doesn’t even have the phone any more and her mum hates me.’

‘Yowl.’ She does.

‘Anyway, I have a plan and I think you might approve of this one.’

I put my paws over my ears. I had a bad feeling.

‘No, honestly, there’s no risk to either of us. You see, tonight I am going to come to Connie’s and she is going to meet me and then we are going to hide, so that come morning when everyone gets up they’ll see we’re missing and they’ll worry but then we appear and say we were pushed so far to make a point that we want to be together and then they have to let us.’

‘YOWL!’ Could I voice my disapproval any more? Doing this on Christmas morning! It was a terrible idea. The worst.