by Rachel Wells
‘Thank you so much, love. He’ll be relieved and I’ll make sure we don’t disturb you again.’
‘’S all right,’ Daisy said, suddenly looking a bit coy. ‘Can I ask you, are you a model?’
‘No, not anymore, but I was before having two kids.’ Polly laughed. ‘And certainly not a supermodel, but I did a few magazines and catwalks in my time. Why, are you interested in that world?’ Polly asked.
‘I’d love it but Mum and Dad well …’
‘Daisy, you have the height, and the looks, although I obviously don’t know how you photograph. How old are you?’
‘Sixteen.’ Daisy was red-faced but I noticed that she was very pretty. I wonder why I hadn’t noticed it before.
‘Well, take my advice, get your exams first and then maybe think about it. It’s a tough world. But if you’re really interested and if your parents are OK, I can help with agencies.’
‘Would you really?’
‘Of course. But as I said, your parents have to agree to it, and don’t do anything until after your GCSEs.’
We heard shouting from inside; it sounded like they were wondering what was keeping Daisy. She looked apologetic.
‘Sorry, I better go, but I’ll talk to Mum and Dad.’
‘Thanks for the ball,’ Polly said as Daisy closed the door. I was flooded with disappointment. I knew Snowball knew I was there, I could sense her, but she clearly didn’t want to see me.
We walked down the path and back to mine in silence. As Claire opened the door, Aleksy rushed forward and looked delighted to see his ball.
‘Don’t kick it over again or it’s lost.’
‘It wasn’t me, it was Tomasz,’ Aleksy protested.
‘OK, tell him to be more careful, love.’ Polly ruffled his hair as she handed the ball over. She and Claire went into the kitchen. Everyone was sitting around the table. Martha was in the highchair that they brought over with them and when Polly sat down the food was served.
‘How was it next door?’ Jonathan asked.
‘Honestly those poor people are like characters in a soap opera; everyone wondering what they are up to or why they are like they are! Anyway, Daisy answered the door, I didn’t see anyone else.’
‘I wish we knew what their deal was? What was she like with you?’ Claire asked.
‘Very sweet, wanted to know if I was a model. I said I’d help her if her parents were happy with it but I can’t imagine they would be.’
‘Do you think they might be like those secret people?’ big Tomasz asked. I sat at Aleksy’s feet and the children were all concentrating on their food; the adults seemed more keen to chat.
‘What secret people?’ Matt asked.
‘You know something happens and they have to be new people and no one can know who they really are?’ big Tomasz explained.
‘Oh yes, those in witness protection!’ Claire exclaimed.
‘Well I guess it would explain why they don’t want to see anyone.’ Polly nodded.
‘And why the police visit sometimes,’ Jonathan added.
‘Yes but if you’re in witness protection you have to act normally so as not to raise suspicion surely?’ Matt chipped in.
‘Oh yeah.’ They all reverted to looking as confused as they did when they started speculating.
After lunch had been cleared away, including my empty bowl, they all decided to go for a walk, as it was a cold but sunny day. As children were bundled into coats, and Matt fetched Martha’s pushchair, I decided that as much fun as it had been I was glad for some time alone.
I bade them all goodbye and made my way to the back garden to sunbathe. As I jumped through the cat flap I was surprised to find a most unexpected visitor in my garden. Snowball.
I couldn’t believe my eyes.
‘Hi, why are you here?’ I asked, taken aback.
‘We had a deal. Or so I thought. Why did you come to the house before?’
She was as coldly hostile as ever, but beautiful with it too.
‘Snowball, you can’t blame me for that. I was helping Polly get Aleksy’s ball back, but I have kept away the past few days.’
‘Don’t take me for a fool, Alfie.’
‘I never would.’
She looked at me witheringly. OK, so maybe I was a bit, but you can’t blame a cat for trying. ‘Anyway, Daisy seemed really happy to see Polly.’
‘She was.’ Snowball looked a bit sad for a minute. I had found her weak spot; it was Daisy. ‘But of course then when she spoke to her mum and dad they weren’t happy. They kept telling her that modelling is so tough, and not many people make it. I mean she was happy for the first time in months; you’d think they might have been a bit more supportive.’
‘Yes, you would. Why do you think the parents are doing that?’
‘They’re scared, Alfie, really scared. We all are. I know those horrible people with that nasty cat Salmon think we’re bad, and I know everyone else thinks we’re strange, but that’s not it. We’re scared. Nervous even, and on top of that we’ve lost the ability to trust.’
‘Wow, that’s a lot to deal with. What on earth has happened to ruin your family’s trust like this?’
‘I can’t tell you, and you know why I can’t,’ she reprimanded me.
‘Fair enough.’ I needed to tread carefully, this was the nicest she had been to me and I didn’t want to ruin that. ‘I get it, Snowball, honestly I do, because I was in a bad place, I told you. There must be something we can do. You can’t do it on your own.’ I looked at her, her eyes were filled with sadness that I just wanted to take away from her. ‘And it’s the same for us cats. You need friends and I’m willing to be just that.’
She stood up and walked around in a circle, as if she was thinking about what I said. Then she looked at me again.
‘You’re a good cat, Alfie and I’m sorry I was so mean to you, but I have to do what my family wants me to do, and that means I have to keep away.’
‘Are you sure you won’t let me help?’
‘For now I can’t, sorry.’ She looked at me. ‘Honestly, Alfie, I really am sorry.’
I was speechless as I knew that somehow, in my little garden, something had changed. A switch had been flicked. And although I didn’t know where that would lead, I felt we had taken a giant leap forward.
She turned and ran as she heard voices. My families were back and Snowball had disappeared in a puff of fluff.
‘Alfie looks like the cat who got the cream,’ Claire observed later when the others had all gone home. She was right, I couldn’t get the grin off my face, ever since my encounter with Snowball. I know she didn’t exactly furnish me with good news but I felt that had been our first truly friendly conversation. I couldn’t be happier.
‘Hey, if he looks like the cat who got the cream, then let’s give him the cream. There’s some left over from pudding.’ As he winked, Claire giggled and I licked my lips. Moments like this, when life felt good, were priceless. And on top of that I had a big bowl of cream to enjoy.
- CHAPTER -
Twenty-Nine
‘Do you fancy going to the park?’ Tiger asked. We were lazing around at our patch at the end of the street. Our little gang – Elvis, Nellie, Rocky, and our newest member Tom – had been having a competition. We’d been stalking mice, but I lost as usual. Tom had won, although it was clear to us all that he was just trying to impress Tiger.
‘Sorry but I need to go home, Claire’s not herself,’ I explained. ‘Next time though.’
‘I’ll come to the park with you, Tiger,’ Tom offered, gruffly. I tried not to grin.
‘Oooooh,’ Nellie teased.
‘Shut up, Nellie. Come on, Tom, let’s go.’ Tiger stalked off without a backward glance and Tom followed. It was quite a sight to be seen. Tiger, confidently striding and the normally alpha male Tom, literally tottering after her. They did made a cute couple though, in a strange kind of way.
It was true that I was concerned about Claire. I worried that wi
th the excitement of everything that was happening with Snowball, I was neglecting my own family. I had to do a mental inventory: Matt, Polly and the kids were definitely all right; Franceska and family, ditto; but I wasn’t so sure about Claire and Jonathan.
While Jonathan was the same as always, the reliable man I loved so much, Claire was see-sawing between being calm and angry. One minute she would seem happy, the next she would be snapping at Jonathan, or crying. I really was worried about her. I knew she wanted a baby, but I didn’t understand why she was behaving like this. Jonathan said to me the other day that he was walking on eggshells, and his patience – which wasn’t great at the best of times – was being tested.
Whenever Jonathan asked her what was wrong she would snap ‘nothing,’ in an almost hateful way. I would try to make things better by snuggling up to her, but so often she would burst into tears and I was left thinking I’d only made things worse, even when I purred in my most relaxing way. Jonathan and I were at a loss as to how we could help Claire and fix this situation.
I loved Claire so much, I couldn’t bear for her to be upset, although it seemed there was little I could do. I could see Jonathan didn’t know what to do either. He was attentive, he was loving but he didn’t smother her – Jonathan wasn’t the smothering kind. He bought her flowers, which for some reason made her cross; she accused him of trying to ‘buy’ her whatever that meant? This crazy behaviour hadn’t been going on long enough for me to be desperately worried but Claire seemed to be on a slippery slope leading her back to her self-destructive ways. Jonathan was like an innocent bystander, trying to save her but without any idea of whether or not he was doing the right thing. And I for one knew exactly how that felt.
I walked into the kitchen and it seemed my timing was impeccable. Claire was standing in front of a broken dish, sobbing. She sank to the floor, cradling her knees and sobbed even harder. I went over to her, brushing against her but she didn’t even notice. Jonathan was nowhere to be seen. I didn’t know what to do.
I needed to take matters into my own paws, so I made my way to Polly and Matt’s. They were all there as I jumped through the cat flap and into their kitchen. The children were having something to eat and Matt was feeding Martha.
I miaowed loudly.
‘Hi, Alfie,’ Matt said, as he stopped spoon-feeding Martha. Martha immediately started to cry loudly, so he continued.
At times like this I wished I could talk. Instead, I used my loudest yowl. Henry jumped and dropped his food, Matt looked at me as did Polly.
‘What’s wrong?’ Matt asked.
‘Do you think something’s really wrong?’ Polly asked. I yowled again – of course there was something wrong. I put my head back through the cat flap to indicate that they needed to follow me to Claire’s.
‘Maybe I’ll check Claire’s?’ Polly suggested. ‘Can you hold the fort?’
‘Sure thing.’
Polly stood up and headed out of the house. I followed her, keeping so close to her legs I was touching them. I wanted her to know I needed her, and this was the best way I could do that.
‘Alfie, I’m going to trip over you,’ she said, picking me up. She marched us to our front door and rang the doorbell. There was no answer. ‘Is anyone home?’ she asked. I miaowed the affirmative. She rang the bell again, her finger pressed on it insistently. Finally, Claire answered the door.
‘Bloody hell,’ Polly said as she looked at her, echoing my thoughts. Her face was streaked with tears, her hair was a mess and she looked terrible. It was as if she had morphed into someone else.
‘Thanks, Pol,’ Claire said, sarcastically, standing aside to let her in. Claire went to the living room and Polly followed her.
‘Sorry.’ Polly looked contrite. ‘What’s going on? Alfie came over, yelping and yowling, and I thought that maybe you were in trouble.’
‘I am in trouble. I hate myself at the moment, and soon I’ll drive Jonathan away. He’s been working late every night this week.’
‘What’s that got to do with things?’
‘He doesn’t want to spend any time with me and who can blame him?’
‘Don’t be crazy! He loves you, anyone can see that.’
‘He might have loved the old me but I’ve turned into some kind of mad woman that no one could love.’ She burst into tears again. Polly left the room, returning with tissues, which she handed to Claire.
‘What’s really going on?’ she asked, sitting down next to Claire on the sofa.
‘I don’t know. It’s the baby thing. We’ve been trying for ages now, and I just can’t help it but now, every time I get PMT I feel so horribly disappointed that I can’t bear it. And this time, well this time is the worst ever. For a couple of weeks now I’ve just felt evil and I know my period is coming, which makes me feel even worse.’
‘Claire, I don’t want to make things worse but you can’t have this every month.’
‘I know, but what can I do? I want to kill someone one minute and I just can’t stop sobbing the next.’ To illustrate this she burst into tears. Polly hugged her.
‘Listen, honey, this isn’t right. PMT shouldn’t be making you feel like this.’
‘Well I do. There’s probably something seriously wrong with me and I need to see a doctor. It’s probably early onset menopause, knowing my luck. Oh and look at my complexion, I’m covered in teenage acne.’
‘Claire, I don’t think this is menopause or PMT,’ Polly said gently.
‘Oh my God, you mean it’s something worse?’
‘Since when were you such a hypochondriac? No, no!’ Polly replied.
‘Well what is it?’ I’ve been pre-menstrual for a couple of weeks.’
‘Claire, do you think …’ Polly smiled. ‘Claire, do you think you could be pregnant?’
Claire looked at Polly, thunderously. Not the reaction either of us were expecting.
‘Please, sorry, I know how much you want to be, so don’t hit me, but if you’re not pregnant then you need to see a doctor about the uncontrollable mood-swings and the first thing they’ll do is make you take a test.’ Polly sounded so reasonable and calm. I was glad I’d fetched her.
‘Oh God.’ Claire looked at Polly, who displayed a glimmer of hope in her eyes. ‘Shall I do one?’ Claire was trembling.
‘I take it you have some?’ Polly asked.
‘I’ve got about fifty in the bathroom.’ That was my Claire – always well prepared.
She came downstairs a little while later. Polly was in the kitchen, having cleared up the broken bowl. Claire still looked terrible.
‘Well?’ Both Polly and I waited with bated breath.
‘Positive.’
‘You did a test?’
‘I did four. Oh my, I’m pregnant. I’m actually pregnant!’ Claire sounded shocked but with joy dancing across her face.
‘Claire, you’re having a baby!’ Polly shouted, grabbing Claire and hugging her.
‘Oh my God,’ Jonathan said, as he appeared in the doorway. None of us had heard him come in, we were so caught up. I watched as a huge smile spread across his face. Then Polly laughed, and Claire finally smiled and as Jonathan grabbed her in a huge hug they both cried and laughed at the same time. Polly quietly snuck out, as did I; it was a moment for just the two of them.
We were going to be a proper family now! I was so excited, and relieved. Now Claire would be happy again. All she wanted was a baby and now it looked as if she was getting one. We were all getting one.
- CHAPTER -
Thirty
‘Alfie, look,’ Tiger said, gesturing to where Heather and Vic Goodwin stood on the pavement outside their house with a strange man. The man was wearing a suit and he didn’t exactly look happy. I had gone to find Tiger to deliver the good news, whilst giving Jonathan and Claire some alone time.
‘We need to see if we can find out what’s going on,’ I said, wondering if it was to do with the Snells.
‘Leave it to me.’ Tiger carefully cro
ssed the road and hid under a car nearby. I didn’t know whether to follow her but my decision was made for me when Salmon appeared, jumping onto a wall and looking right at me with his beady eyes. Luckily it seemed he hadn’t seen Tiger. I would have to wait here and bide my time so as not to arouse suspicion.
The suited man walked off, crossed the road to number 48 and rang the bell. Now I was really worried. The Goodwins and Salmon watched the man, all wearing the same matching self-satisfied smiles. When she felt sure everyone was looking the other way, Tiger rejoined me and we went to my front garden, out of sight of the horrible Salmon.
‘So …?’ I pushed, desperate for information.
‘It seems he’s the Snells’ landlord. The Goodwins said the family are up to no good, and although he assured them that there was nothing illegal going on in the house, they didn’t believe him. It sounds as if they’ve literally been hounding him which is why he finally caved in and said he would go and see the Snells.’
‘Do you think he’s angry with the Snells?’
‘I think he’s more angry with the Goodwins. I heard him say they pay their rent on time, they’re no trouble, although of course the Goodwins didn’t agree with that. In the end he said he would speak with them and tell them that the neighbours were concerned. But that’s all he’s agreed to.’
‘Oh good. I would hate the Goodwins’ witch hunt to drive them out.’
‘They won’t give up though. I think they’ve far too much time on their hands and keep going on about the fact that if they have bad neighbours then the property prices will fall, whatever that means.’
‘What do your family think?’ I asked.
‘Well, I’ve heard them speaking to the Goodwins and they seem to be easily led by them. I mean my family are great and all, but they like a quiet life. The Goodwins have convinced them that they will cause a massive disturbance on the street before too long, so they are ready to support them.’
We went back to the street to see if there were any developments. The Goodwins had gone, as had Salmon, but there was no sign of the man who was possibly inside the Snells’ house now. I looked at Tiger.