A Friend Called Alfie

by Rachel Wells

  ‘Ow!’ he shouted, glaring at me. ‘You’re ganging up on me now!’ I did feel a bit guilty, but he needed to make an effort with his wife. I wanted to tell him I understood tiredness, after all, I’d fallen asleep when I should have been looking after Pickles. But of course, I couldn’t.

  ‘I made so much effort,’ Claire added.

  ‘Sorry, darling,’ he said as the penny dropped. I did stand on his foot a couple of times to help him. ‘You look gorgeous,’ he finally said as he wrapped his arms around her. ‘I’ll get changed very quickly, and we will go and have a lovely dinner,’ he promised.

  ‘Thank you. I know you’re tired, love, but what with the house and visiting Harold, the kids, I feel as if I haven’t spent any time with you and I also could really do with getting out of the house.’

  ‘I know and I’m sorry. I guess our lives are so different now with you doing all the house stuff, I don’t think enough about your day …’

  ‘And I don’t always appreciate how hard you’re working either. Let’s make a pact to work at us, as much as I work on the family, and you work in the office,’ Claire said, nuzzling into her husband.

  ‘I love you.’ He kissed her. ‘Right give me five minutes to freshen up, and then we’ll have the best dinner ever.’ He grinned.

  ‘Alfie, thanks for your support.’ Claire picked me up and cuddled me as Jonathan went to get changed. It seemed I was forgiven now, too.

  Polly rushed in and immediately gave me a squeeze. It would be nice to spend a bit of time with her, just the two of us, which was rare. When Claire and Jonathan left, Polly and me snuggled up on the sofa together, and settled down for the evening.

  When Polly’s phone rang, interrupting our peace, I jumped up.

  ‘Hey, Matt,’ Polly said. I climbed on Polly’s lap and tried to listen.

  ‘I just spoke to Marcus, Harold had a relapse, he’s not reacting to the drugs as they hoped, and so he’s quite poorly. Marcus is with him tonight, and Sylvie will phone you with any news, but he sounded pretty devastated.’

  ‘Oh no, I thought he was on the mend. Please tell me that he’s not critical. Should I get Claire and Jon home?’

  ‘No, honey, he’s not critical, but he’s not too good either. I just wanted to let you know. And I told Marcus we’d go to the hospital tomorrow if that’s OK?’

  ‘Of course, and if he calls again find out if we can take anything with us.’

  After Polly hung up, she stroked me, and I wondered how I would break the news to George. He was asleep with Toby, so I thought I would wait until the morning and tell him then. I didn’t know how George would react, and I wasn’t sure it was fair for me to sugar-coat the news, so I had to find a gentle way of telling him the truth without scaring him.

  The following day, I was awake early, fretting about how I would tell George that Harold was still poorly. I kept reassuring myself that he was going to be fine. I just hoped he was.

  ‘Morning, Dad.’ George joined me in the kitchen.

  ‘Oh hi, son, did you sleep well?’ I asked.

  ‘Yes, thanks, you’re up early.’

  ‘I know, George, listen I heard Polly talking to Matt last night, and it turns out that Harold might be in hospital a bit longer than we thought. He’s alright, not serious, apparently, but he needs to get his medicine right before he can come home, so it might be a while.’

  ‘But I haven’t seen him for ages, Dad, and he’s my friend.’ George stamped his paw in anger.

  ‘I am so sorry, George, but at least we’re getting to hear all about what is happening. And Marcus is going to see him again this morning, and Polly and Matt will be there later, Sylvie will be going at some point so I am sure we will hear all about it.’

  ‘But I want to see him.’

  As everyone got ready for the day, the doorbell went. I followed Claire to the door, Marcus was stood on the doorstep.

  ‘Hi, Marcus, so sorry to hear that Harold’s still not too good,’ Claire said.

  ‘It was pretty scary, but he’s in good hands and out of danger. They just need to adjust his medication, I honestly think he’ll be fine, but I’m going to see him now, before work. I’ve got special dispensation because of the scare last night. Anyway, I just wondered if you would be able to pop in sometime today with clean pyjamas for him, I know you’ve got a key and Sylvie’s working.’

  ‘It’s absolutely fine, I’ll go as soon as visiting hours start if that’s OK?’

  ‘Yes please, I’m so grateful. I better go now.’ Marcus gave Claire a quick hug and turned to go. I turned to speak to George, but he had already followed Marcus out the front door. I thought about getting out of the cat flap and going to follow him, but then I realised that he probably needed some time alone to cool off. It was hard being a parent. Before I could give the situation more thought, the door went again, Polly piled in with the children, followed by a bouncy Pickles.

  ‘I just saw George, he looked as if he was going somewhere in a hurry,’ Polly said, but before I could dwell on her words, Pickles bundled into me.

  ‘Oi, be careful,’ I said. ‘You’ll soon squash me as flat as a pancake.’ Pickles was growing at an alarming rate it seemed, in width anyway.

  ‘Oh and Claire, I know our puppy is greedy, but the vet said he’s weighing a bit much for his age so he’s on a diet and we need to make sure he gets more exercise.’

  ‘Got it, I’ll make sure there’s no food left out. No cat food or human food,’ she said, shooting me a look. Great, if Pickles was on a diet, did that mean I was too? ‘I’m going to see Harold later, taking him some bits and pieces, so I’ll call and let you know how he is.’

  ‘Thanks, Claire. See you later, kids.’ With a flourish, Polly was gone.

  As Claire got the children ready to go to school, she turned to us.

  ‘Right, Pickles, I’m going to take you with us, you need the exercise,’ she said, clipping his lead on. ‘Coming, Alfie?’ I tilted my head to suggest I would. George and I often did the school run with her, we loved seeing where the children went, and the school wasn’t too far away.

  ‘Meow.’ Don’t mind if I do.

  We walked together, the children taking turns with Pickles’ lead, apart from when we crossed roads, because Claire took charge of everyone, she clearly wasn’t taking any chances after the other day, not that she ever did. Toby picked me up and carried me across the roads. I didn’t want to point out that I was capable and I could cross roads unaided in front of Pickles, so I let Toby carry me. When we got to the school gates, the children rushed in, greeting the teacher who was the playground monitor for the day, and then waving behind to us.

  ‘Right then, home time,’ Claire said. As she started to walk us home, Pickles managed to wrap his lead around my paws, causing me to fall over.

  ‘Oh, Pickles,’ Claire said, untangling us and then picking me up. Luckily I wasn’t in too much pain from the accident, but I gave Pickles a little bit of a wide berth for the rest of the walk. When we got home, there was still no sign of George. I let Pickles follow me around the house, he said he needed to watch me to learn about being a better cat. I didn’t even have the energy with everything that was going on to point out for what felt like the millionth time that he was a puppy. So I went about my usual cat business with him as my little shadow. I went to lie on my favourite blanket and I looked out of the window. But no matter how hard he tried, Pickles couldn’t get up onto the windowsill, and I didn’t have the heart to watch him try for too long. So I hopped off my perch so that we could take a walk around the garden. Perhaps I needed to make my cat activities more dog-friendly, or Pickles friendly anyway. There was still no sign of George, but I couldn’t risk leaving the house to go and look for him. I hoped Claire would take Pickles for a walk to give me some space, but she had to go and get things for Harold, so once again I was left in charge. I know I was an adult, but I was also a cat, and the responsibility being piled on me was vast. However, I was flattered because cl
early everyone felt that I could handle it and they were almost right.

  ‘Right,’ I said. ‘Time to practise napping,’ I said, as I led Pickles to curl up on the sofa with me. it had been a tiresome morning, and I needed some peace. Thankfully Pickles started snoring the moment he lay his head down, and I was ready to rest myself. I had to think about Harold, and what he might be going through – we all knew how much he hated hospital by now. I thought about George and the fact that he was frustrated by not being able to see Harold. I had to think about all my families, and I said a little prayer for everyone before I lay my head down and fell asleep – the little pug snoring next to me.

  Chapter Fourteen

  After a restful cat nap, I woke up feeling uplifted for a change. It was girls’ night, or rather ladies’ night at our house and my favourite human women would all be under one roof. It was lovely being a friend to so many people, but when they were all together, my heart would swell with happiness. Since coming to Edgar Road, I had been incredibly busy, making friends, bringing people together and solving problems, so George was right, I did have a vocation, and so, therefore, I understood how important it was to him. I determined that I would help him with his quest. I might not have taken him as seriously as I should have done … But for now, I was going to hang out with my favourite bunch of women; Claire, Franceska, Polly and Sylvie.

  I said goodnight to George, who although now old enough to stay up with us, wanted to go and be with Toby.

  ‘That’s fine, son, but you know where I am if you want me,’ I said.

  ‘Of course. But I need an early night, I’m exhausted,’ he said, stretching his paws and yawning.

  ‘Pickles kept you busy earlier, didn’t he?’ I had been quite pleased when George said he’d hang out with Pickles for a bit, so I could go out and see my friends. We still had to be careful because if we both went out, he followed us.

  ‘Yeah it was fun, I was trying to teach him how to meow.’

  ‘And how did that go?’

  ‘Not great, whenever he tried it still came out as a woof, but it was quite funny.’

  ‘Sweet dreams, son.’ I gave him a quick nuzzle and then headed downstairs, chuckling to myself. Poor Pickles didn’t stand a chance.

  Jonathan had gone to Matt’s to ‘get out of the way’, as he put it, but I was pleased; he’d been working so much lately he hadn’t had time for any of us, including his friends. He and Matt were best friends, so it would do them good to spend a bit of time together. Again, thanks to yours truly. They did invite Marcus, but he was with his dad at the hospital, and he’d taken Connie with him to cheer Harold up. The children were tucked into bed, but I knew that Toby and George were not asleep but playing on Toby’s tablet under the covers. I think Claire knew as well but was also turning a blind eye. We parents sometimes did that, we would choose our battles. Besides, it wasn’t a school night, and therefore we could all have a lie-in the following day. Paws crossed.

  ‘Dig in,’ Claire said, as they sat at the kitchen table, all with glasses of wine and food laid out.

  ‘It looks great, Claire, I am so hungry right now. Sometimes I think that working in a restaurant puts me off food,’ Franceska said.

  ‘Frankie, you work in the office,’ Polly pointed out. They laughed.

  ‘Yes, but I am around the food all day still,’ Franceska argued. ‘It’s a good diet in a way.’

  ‘Maybe I should come and work with you,’ Sylvie said. ‘I’ve put on a bit of weight lately.’

  ‘Not that anyone can tell.’ Polly rolled her eyes.

  ‘It’s because you’re happy,’ Claire pointed out. ‘You are, aren’t you?’ Claire worried about Sylvie, I knew because she had had such a hard time, and meeting Marcus had been great for her, but with Harold at the hospital, it wasn’t as peaceful as it had been, although they seemed to be coping well.

  ‘I am. I wish they would sort out Harold though. Marcus is incredibly worried, naturally, and he’s running himself ragged being at the hospital all the time. But you know, he’s going to be there for longer than we hoped. Which isn’t great for any of us.’

  ‘It must be hard, well I know it’s hard because fitting everything in including visiting Harold in hospital isn’t easy,’ Polly said.

  ‘And you guys have been great, knowing that you’re all visiting him takes some of the pressure off Marcus, but you know what he’s like.’

  ‘A lovely man,’ Franceska said. She was a big fan of Marcus, in fact, we all were.

  ‘It’s funny because I still think of it as the early days in our relationship. We see each other a lot, but we haven’t discussed the future yet, but you know I feel as if he’s been there forever in some ways. And he’s so different from my ex—’

  ‘Don’t go there,’ Polly warned wagging a finger at Sylvie. They laughed.

  ‘No, but you know he, my ex, really wants Connie to go to Japan for Christmas, and I know I won’t be alone, but it would be the first Christmas I wasn’t with my daughter since she was born.’ She shuddered. ‘And I’ve told them both, him and Connie that is, that it’s her choice. The problem is I know she’s conflicted.’

  ‘She would be, do you think she wants to go?’ Claire asked. I thought it would be sad to not have Connie here for Christmas, but I also knew that Connie missed her dad.

  ‘I don’t know. She’s so loyal after the turmoil of last year she doesn’t want to say, I’ve tried to tell her that I don’t mind and that I’d be fine here with Marcus and all of you, but I don’t know. She’s not happy with her father, especially now he has a new family, but I also don’t want her to cut him off. He is her dad, after all.’

  ‘Do you want me to talk to Aleksy about it?’ Franceska asked. ‘I never ask him to betray her confidence, but I could say that we’re worried she doesn’t know what to do so maybe he could make sure she is OK?’

  ‘That’s a great idea, as long as you don’t say it’s come from me,’ Sylvie said. ‘Thanks, Frankie, I don’t need to know what she says, but it would be great to know that she can confide in Aleksy.’

  I would have suggested the same – I had taught my humans well.

  ‘Gosh, can you believe we’re talking about Christmas already?’ Claire said. I couldn’t believe it. It was late October, so actually, it wasn’t that far away. It would be our second Christmas without Tiger who we lost in December last year. I felt emotion well up, I missed her. I would have given anything to see her one last time. Just as I was about to wallow, I felt a drop of something wet on my head. I jumped up and then onto Franceska’s lap.

  ‘Sorry, Alfie, I got carried away, and spilt my wine,’ Polly said, looking guilty. Franceska wiped my fur and then stroked me as I settled down on her lap, purring.

  ‘So what do you think, we should do a big Christmas again, like last year?’ Polly asked.

  ‘Not exactly like last year,’ Claire laughed.

  ‘Oh can we not talk about it yet, I have so much work to do because I like to take time off in December, but if I don’t get it done then you’ll have to do my shopping, Claire,’ Polly laughed. It was a family joke that Claire loved shopping, a bit too much. Jonathan moaned about it all the time.

  ‘You know I’d love that,’ Claire replied. ‘But you know, I’ll have to do everything this year, because Jonathan’s been tasked with heading up a department which has lost staff due to incompetence, so he needs to turn it around. He is also hiring staff, so when he finds the right people, in theory, it will take the pressure off him a bit.’ Her eyes darkened slightly.

  ‘Bear with it, Claire,’ Franceska said. ‘When we started out with the restaurants, remember how mad I got about never seeing Tomasz or him seeing the kids? But we sorted it out.’

  ‘You went back to Poland and threatened not to come back,’ Polly pointed out.

  ‘Yes, I did, but that was because Tomasz didn’t realise how much he was neglecting his family, which was different. Jon knows he’s working too much and he’s already tr
ying to sort it out.’

  I crossed my paws that he was.

  ‘I know, and I’ve said that I will support him,’ Claire said. ‘But if it carries on into the new year then maybe I’ll go to Poland.’ They laughed again.

  Their easy chatter was music to my ears. Life might not be perfect, never perfect, but still better than it could have been. And that was enough for this cat. For now.

  Chapter Fifteen

  ‘Just where exactly are you going?’ I asked George as he stood by the cat flap. I knew I sounded like an overbearing parent, but I didn’t care. I was feeling suspicious.

  ‘I’m going to see Hana,’ he replied. I narrowed my eyes. It wasn’t that I didn’t believe him exactly, but I could tell he was hiding something. Also, it was very early, and he didn’t usually go out this early.

  ‘But her family might all still be asleep,’ I pointed out. After all, ours was. It was a school day, or weekday, whatever the best term was, and I had noticed, from my bed, on the landing, George get up, quietly as if he didn’t want to wake me as he crept downstairs. Something was definitely going on.

  ‘No they get up super early,’ he replied, confidently. ‘Anyway, she needs a friend, because she’s sad about Harold,’ he continued.

  I was confused, George was the one who was closest to Harold.

  ‘But, aren’t you sad about Harold?’ I asked.

  ‘Of course I am, but he’s going to be fine. I know it.’

  I surrendered, and let him go. ‘Don’t be too long,’ I shouted after him, still unable to shake the feeling that there was something he wasn’t telling me. I had to resist the urge to go after him, I knew that would cause a row between us but I also knew my kitten really well, and I knew when he was hiding something.