Рейчел Уэллс - Alfie In The Snow

‘I will, I’ll do anything,’ Connie said, her eyes full of hope.

‘Me too,’ Aleksy said. ‘Even if we aren’t alone ever, we don’t care.’ He sounded so excited.

‘But you will be punished,’ Tomasz said, unsurely.

Jonathan patted him on the back. ‘Hey, how about we let it go for now? It was stupid but I think they’ve learnt their lesson and it is technically Christmas Day.’ I went to rub Jonathan’s leg; he was right. ‘We’ll put him on washing-up duty or something tomorrow,’ he laughed.

‘And I know Frankie will just be relieved to have her boy home,’ Claire added.

‘OK. So maybe no punishment, I don’t know what to do in this situation but we better get home and let Claire and Jonathan go to sleep.’

‘Yes the kids will be up early and we’ve got a big lunch to prepare. Sylvie, Connie, please will you join us?’

‘Oh, no, we couldn’t. Sorry, but we just couldn’t.’ Sylvie said, almost pushing Connie out of the house.

‘Please?’ Aleksy asked.

‘No, we have plans, I’m sorry,’ she added and they were gone.

‘That was strange. Just as I thought she was being reasonable?’ Jonathan said.

‘I think perhaps she’s too embarrassed to see everyone at once,’ Claire said. I agreed with her. ‘You know she’s sort of fallen out with all of us, and she probably thinks she needs to build bridges but Christmas Day, us all en masse, it might be a bit much.’

I thought that Claire was spot on. The thing was that a broken heart was a terrible thing, and Sylvie definitely had one of those. As did I. However, I seemed to be coping better, more rationally, than she did, which was darn lucky for my family.

‘You see, I’m no good at this stuff, I never even thought of that.’ Poor Tomasz looked perplexed. ‘Right, young man, come on, let’s get you home.’

Aleksy was smiling, he was allowed to see Connie. Tomasz, Claire and Jonathan seemed pleased with the outcome, and I was too. It was a Christmas miracle after all and it seemed I had saved our Christmas.

Chapter Thirty-Three

The excitement of Christmas Day was something I would never tire of, despite being incredibly worn out. But we had rallied, when woken by the kids at ‘silly o’clock’, as Jonathan called it. George was excited by the prospect of his wrapping paper and so was encouraging the children to rip open their presents, hopping around them as they did so. As he blew a stray piece off his head, I looked on affectionately. Happy Christmas.

Everyone was fizzing around, a bit like the drink that Claire and Jonathan had. Although it was champagne, it had orange juice in it which made it suitable for breakfast apparently, although not for children or cats it seemed.

The presents were soon opened. Toby was so happy he was beside himself, and Jonathan who had to help him with some very complicated Lego, was beside himself but not with happiness as he struggled. He kept scratching his head and looking pleadingly at Claire. Summer had added even more dolls to her collection and apparently Santa was the cleverest person in the world, as he had got everything right. George was in wrapping-paper heaven although we did have to untangle him at one point when he got himself stuck with Sellotape, but everyone was cheerful. Including me. Because seeing everyone I loved having such a nice time warmed my heart. I knew how lucky we all were: we were warm, fed, loved and it made me sad for anyone who wasn’t as lucky as us. But I couldn’t dwell on that today, I had a kitten to unwrap from the tinsel he’d liberated from the windowsill.

I hoped Tiger could see us, she would have enjoyed this scene, and although I missed her with every piece of fur on my body, I couldn’t help but smile as I heard her voice wishing us, ‘Happy Christmas.’ It was a happy Christmas, but a sad one too. But then life was all about balances and contrasts in feelings after all.

‘Right, I’ve showered and now I better start cooking,’ Claire said. She was wearing a bright red jumper with a Christmas tree on it. Jonathan was supposed to wear a matching one but he claimed to have lost it. I knew that it was hidden as I heard him say it was ‘ridiculous’ and that he wouldn’t ‘be seen dead wearing it’. Which was a phrase I didn’t understand. But anyway, Claire looked quite Christmassy as she tied on an apron. I was not only excited for lunch but also the knowledge that my other families would be here soon.

‘Do you want a hand?’ Jonathan asked, looking pleadingly at her as he studied the Lego instructions. Jonathan didn’t like cooking but it was clearly easier than putting a Lego spaceship together.

‘No, you carry on with Toby.’ Claire grinned.

‘Yay!’ Toby said, and then stared very intently at Jonathan, who was still scratching his head.

‘Mummy, can you help me with my car?’ Summer asked. She’d been given a pink car which spun around when operated with a remote control. She wasn’t the best driver, though, my tail had already been run over and George had had a few close calls.

‘Darling, I have to start cooking. Toby, can you help her for a moment?’

Toby looked thoughtful, as if weighing up the Lego or his sister.

‘OK, but only for a minute,’ he said, as suddenly and without warning the Christmas tree lights went off.

‘Oh no, they must have fused,’ Jonathan said, jumping up and trying the living room lights. But they didn’t come on either. ‘Strange, I wonder if it’s tripped?’ he said, going to the hallway where the fuse box was. ‘No, it’s not tripped,’ he said, sounding confused just as the phone rang.

‘Oh my goodness. The power in the whole of Edgar Road is out,’ Claire screamed, as she lowered the phone from her ear.

‘What do you mean?’ Jonathan asked.

‘No power. None at all. How am I supposed to cook Christmas lunch?’ She looked at the handset, which she was still holding. ‘Sorry, Pol, I’m just in shock, I’ll call you back,’ she said, hanging up.

‘What are we going to do?’ Jonathan said. We all stood in the semi-darkness in horror. What was Christmas without food? For me, that was the best bit. I was so looking forward to my Christmas dinner. George looked horrified, Toby concerned and Summer played with her dolls as if nothing was wrong.

As panic continued all around me, I tried to calm myself and think. I had saved Christmas once already this year and now I needed to do it again. And I was still sleep-deprived from a long, long day yesterday, an early morning today and not even any turkey to show for it. No, we couldn’t have that. As they say, a cat’s work is never done.

I listened as Summer suggested they eat sandwiches for lunch and Toby chocolate coins – although he had already put a fair few of those away, as far as I could tell. He even offered to share round his selection box. Which was all well and good, but what about us cats? We didn’t eat chocolate and as for sandwiches, unless they had pilchards in them, or some other kind of fish, I simply wasn’t interested. No, I wanted my traditional Christmas lunch and by the look of horror on Jonathan’s face, so did he. And what about all the people who were having lunch with us? What about the rest of the street? This was a disaster.

The phone rang again and Claire snatched it up. After a few moments she replaced the receiver.

‘That was Marcus. Apparently there’s a fault and it’s down as an emergency but they don’t expect it to be fixed until tonight at the earliest,’ she explained.

‘Oh no, Christmas is ruined,’ Jonathan moaned.