by Rachel Wells
I knew how to play this man; I didn’t want him to think that I was a needy cat. Alpha males didn’t like needy, I had learnt that from the soap operas as well. And anyway, look how far I had come already. From being a terrified, broken-hearted, lonely little cat, to one who had survived the streets and now had two new friends to care for. I hoped Margaret and Agnes could see me from wherever they were, and that they would be proud of me.
Thinking about my old life made me sad, but despite that, I smiled to myself all the way back to Claire’s. Not only had I had two dinners tonight, but now I knew for sure that Jonathan liked me and it would only be a matter of time before I could call his big house home, too.
I thought to the weekend ahead; Claire had told me she would be going to see her parents, but I knew she would leave me food. As much as I would miss her, I was quite glad she was going away, as it would give me the chance to bond properly with Jonathan. I was pretty certain that after spending more time with me he would find me irresistible. After all, it had only taken me a few days to get Agnes on side and she was far more moody and stubborn a cat than Jonathan was a man.
As Claire packed her things, I realised that she was nervous. She kept biting her lip and stopping to sit down, as if her legs didn’t work properly. I prided myself on being a perceptive cat; I assumed that she was scared of bumping into that awful man, Steve, and his girlfriend. But despite this setback, Claire had been doing quite well. She and Tasha were obviously becoming friends, as Claire had decided to go along to this book club thing the following week. She was reading a book, something about a woman who planned to kill her husband. Claire said it would probably have given her ideas had she still been married; it was cheaper than a divorce, apparently. I hoped she would make more friends at the book club. I wanted Claire to be happy again more than anything. I almost felt that my happiness was irrevocably tied up with hers, now.
After a couple of weeks with Claire, I already loved her. I knew because of the way I had loved Agnes and Margaret. Margaret was a beautiful person. She was always smiling, even when she was struggling, and she wanted to help others although she could have done with a lot of help herself. She was a huge inspiration to me and she made me the cat I was.
Claire needed my love and it was my duty to give it. I stayed close to Claire as she packed, giving her extra rubs and making sure she knew I was there. As she took her bag downstairs, she turned to me and picked me up.
‘Are you sure you’re going to be OK when I’m away?’ she asked, her eyes full of concern.
I tipped my head as if to say ‘Of course.’
‘There’s plenty of food; just take care. I’ll miss you.’ She kissed me on the tip of my nose, something she’d never done before. I purred in thanks.
A car honked its horn and she gave me a last stroke before she left the house, locking the door behind her. I hoped that she would be all right and the horrible Steve wouldn’t upset her this weekend, and then I went out.
I greeted a couple of younger cats that were playing in the street and carried on walking to the end of the road to have another look at the house split into two. I wondered if anyone had moved in to the flats yet. I stopped short when I saw a man and a woman by the closed front door of 22A. The woman had something tied to her chest which, on closer inspection, seemed to be a noisily crying baby. The man had his arm around her. She was very beautiful; tall with long blonde hair and green eyes that any cat would be envious of, to be frank. I stayed back so I could observe them for a bit as they locked the door of their new home. Inside, I was jumping for joy; there were three of them, and despite the fact that one of them was smaller than me, it meant a household with three more people to take care of me, rather than one.
I edged closer so I could hear what they were saying.
‘Don’t worry, Pol, it’s going to be lovely when we get the furniture in.’ The man was taller than the woman, and he was kind looking, although lacking in hair.
‘I don’t know, Matt, it’s such a long way from Manchester, and so much smaller than our old house.’
‘Think of it as just a temporary step, it’s a rental and as soon as we’re settled, we’ll get somewhere better. Darling, you do know that I couldn’t turn this job down, it’s for our future; ours and little Henry’s.’ He leant over and kissed the top of the head, which had stopped crying.
‘I know, but I’m scared. I’m terrified.’ She looked as frightened as I had felt when I first started my journey to Edgar Road.
‘Honestly, we’ll be fine, Polly. We can move in tomorrow when the furniture arrives, out of the cramped hotel room into our first home in London, so that’s something positive. This is a new start for us; for us as a family.’
I immediately liked Matt as he took Polly into his arms and enveloped his wife and child the way a proper man should. Yes, I instinctively knew that this would be a good household for me to be part of. They walked away together, and I decided that I would visit them again once they’d moved in. That would be a better time to introduce myself.
I had a spring in my step as I jumped through Jonathan’s cat flap. You see, I knew he liked me, as he hadn’t followed through with his threat to get rid of it. I found him sitting in the living room on the computer again. I managed to look at the screen; there wasn’t a person there, but photographs of shiny cars. I jumped up next to him.
‘Oh, it’s you again? I guess you didn’t understand my deal last night.’ I wanted to tell him that I understood it but I just didn’t agree with it, so I miaowed loudly, hoping that would do.
‘I guess I should at least be thankful that you haven’t brought me anything dead today.’ My heart dropped; I felt terrible to be turning up empty handed. I lay down and put my head on the keyboard. I thought he might be cross, but luckily he laughed.
‘Come on, you can have the rest of the prawns. They’d only be thrown away.’ I licked my lips and followed him to the kitchen. He tipped the prawns into a bowl and I ate them greedily. I wasn’t hungry, but fresh prawns were a huge treat. When I finished eating, I noticed he was dressed nicely tonight; not a suit, but not scruffy. I looked at him with my eyes slightly closed, suspiciously.
‘Right, Alfie the Unwanted, I’m going out on the town tonight. If I were you, I wouldn’t wait up.’ He laughed and, before I knew it, he’d slunk out the front door.
I had two homes but I was still alone. In my old house, I had rarely been on my own. If Margaret went out, then Agnes would be there, and after Agnes died, Margaret would only leave the house for such a short time that I barely even noticed that she was gone.
I couldn’t wait for the new family at 22A to move in. This cat had needs; food, water, warm shelter, laps and love. That was all I required but after what I had been through in my short life, I wasn’t taking any chances. I decided to go to sleep on Jonathan’s expensive looking sofa for now, and despite what he had said, I would wait up for him, because without Claire here he was the only family I had.
I was daydreaming about the past. About living in my old house with Margaret and Agnes. The day was cold, and Agnes was in a lot of pain. Margaret had phoned the vet, who had said the end was imminent. If Margaret wanted to take her in she would give Agnes something to help the pain; it was either that, or put her to sleep.
Margaret sobbed, a bit like Claire had been doing, tears filled with grief ran down her sunken cheeks. I wanted to join in, but Agnes was trying so hard to be brave that I suppressed my own emotion and I snuggled into her, hoping that I wasn’t adding to her pain. Margaret was getting ready to take her to the vet, which wasn’t very easy as Margaret was old and didn’t have a car – she could barely lift the cat carrier any more. She phoned her neighbour, a nice man called Don, who wasn’t much younger than Margaret and he said that he would take her. He was always happy to help Margaret. Agnes said that she thought at one stage they might end up together, after Don’s wife died a few years back, but Margaret was far too fond of her own company, as she was often
heard to say.
‘All I need is myself and my cats,’ she used to say, laughing. I could almost hear her voice now.
Back then, I had to stay at home while they took Agnes to the vet. Left in the house alone, I yowled louder than I ever had before. I was so scared about losing Agnes. Even if she came home, I knew there wasn’t much longer in her, I’d heard Margaret talking about that.
Agnes did come home, and I was so excited. I was so thankful, I licked her. I had thought I would never see her face again, and although she was quiet, she was there, by my side, where she should have been. I was euphoric. But by the morning she was gone. I knew because I slept with her and at some point when I woke I noticed her heart had stopped beating. I had gone from feeling so happy to completely wretched in the space of a few hours.
At that point in time, it was the worst day of my life.
My sad thoughts were interrupted by a key in the door, followed by howls of laughter and a clacking of heels. The house remained in darkness as I heard footsteps enter the room and then, just as I was about to stretch, someone fell on me.
I yelped as loudly as I could. A woman’s voice screamed. Jonathan put on the light and looked a bit cross.
‘What are you doing on my sofa?’ he asked, sounding angry. I would have liked to have asked him the same thing; after all, I was there first. Instead I jumped off and stood in the room surveying the situation.
The woman wasn’t the woman from before. She was tall and thin and had a very short skirt which showed off very long legs.
‘Is that your cat?’ the woman asked, slurring her words slightly. What was it with humans getting drunk?
‘No, it’s my bloody squatter,’ Jonathan replied glaring at me. I didn’t know what a squatter was, but it didn’t sound good. The woman approached him again and flung her arms around him. As they started kissing, I decided that it was time for me to leave. After all, I had often heard it said that three was a crowd.
It was light outside as I awoke on Claire’s bed. Skipping downstairs, I stopped to eat one of the bowls of food that Claire had left for me and drink some water, before taking an early morning walk. It wasn’t exactly Jonathan’s prawns, but at least I was well fed. I decided to give him a wide berth until later, when perhaps his guest had left. So instead I went to check on the progress of the number 22 flats.
Although it was early, the tall woman and the baby were there in the front garden and the man was unloading furniture from a white van. The woman, despite her beauty, looked very worried. She was constantly biting her lip and sighing. Yet again, it seemed I was drawn to a human in need. Although I didn’t know what her need was yet.
‘I’ve got to go and feed Henry,’ she said, as the sound of a baby’s wail started up from inside.
‘OK, Polly, I’ll carry on here.’
I followed the woman inside; it was a house without stairs, all on one level. It was a fairly small space that looked as if it was almost ready to be lived in. There was a serious amount of unpacking to do, but there was a large grey sofa and a matching chair, which Polly went to sit on, with her baby. She stuck him to her chest and he stopped crying immediately. I was incredibly curious; I’d seen this on television but not in real life. It brought back very vague and unreliable memories of how my mother used to nurse me before we were weaned and I went to live with Margaret. It made me feel even more nostalgic about my past. Suddenly the woman looked at me. I blinked in greeting but as I prepared to introduce myself, she screamed loudly. The baby started crying and the man ran into the room.
‘What’s wrong?’ he asked, his voice full of concern.
‘There’s a cat here!’ she shrieked, as she tried to resettle the baby back on her. I was a little offended; I hadn’t had quite that reaction before. Not even from Jonathan.
‘Polly, it’s a cat, I’m not sure you need to be quite so upset.’ Matt spoke gently, as if he was speaking to a child. Her baby was quiet again but now it was Polly’s turn to start crying. I realised I might have made a huge mistake; this woman clearly had an extreme phobia of cats. I wasn’t sure that such a thing existed but she certainly seemed scared of me.
‘But I’ve read that cats kill babies.’ I yelped as if I’d been hit. I’d been accused of many things in my life; killing birds and mice and even, if needs must, the occasional rabbit, but I’d never killed a baby. Perish the thought.
‘Pol,’ the man went and knelt down next to her. ‘Cats don’t kill babies. They just say to make sure they are not in the room when the baby is in their cot, in case they go and sleep on them and accidentally smother them. This cat is awake, and you’ve got Henry.’ I liked him even more than I had at first; his voice was gentle and full of patience.
‘Are you sure?’ She seemed more than a little neurotic to me. I could tell that there was something wrong with this woman. Not in the way there was with Claire, but there was definitely something that wasn’t right.
‘How on earth can the cat kill Henry while you’re here?’ He came over and picked me up. He was a nice man, I decided; he held me firmly but gently. You can tell a lot from a man from the way they hold you. Jonathan was a little too rough, but this man was just right.
‘Matt, I just …’ Polly looked upset still.
‘His name is Alfie,’ he said, reading my tag. ‘Hello, Alfie,’ he added, giving me a stroke. He had nice hands and I rubbed my head against him. ‘Anyway, he doesn’t live here, Polly, so you’ve got nothing to worry about. He must have just crept in while the front door was open. Where do you live?’ he asked me, and I gave him my most charming miaow.
‘How can you be sure that he doesn’t live here?’
‘He’s got a name tag. There’s a number on it. I’ll call it if it’ll make you feel better.’
‘No, no, I’m sure you’re right. Just make sure you put him out.’
Polly still looked unsure. The baby seemed to be asleep on her and I felt that although this man was nice, there was definitely sadness in the small, square room.
‘Right, well, I’ll go and finish unloading. Come on Alfie, time for you to go home.’ He carried me outside and gently put me on the doorstep. I hadn’t had a chance to look round the rest of the flat, but I didn’t want to risk upsetting Polly again.
I had a few hours to fill before dinner time so I thought that perhaps it was time to find Jonathan another present. After all, now I was winning him over, I needed to step up my charm offensive. It would be useful to have him onside because I definitely had my work cut out with Polly.
I left number 22A, having made the decision to get a present for Jonathan, but was distracted by the bright sunlight. I had been told many times that cats should hunt at night; that this was meant to be our favourite nocturnal activity, but I’d never been much of a going-out-at-night cat and nowadays, I only went out at night if I absolutely had to, after my terrifying journey.
There were plenty of birds flying overhead but as I sat on a grassy verge by the local park, I saw some butterflies fluttering around. I made a few unsuccessful attempts to leap at them, but they managed to get away. Then I spotted some resting on a nearby bush. Unable to resist, I started chasing them. It had been one of my favourite games back when I lived with Margaret. I pounced this way and that, and the butterfly escaped my paws every time. Getting slightly out of breath, I made one last attempt and leapt for it into a large leafed bush, but I misread the distance and instead fell and landed on my bottom. A passing bird laughed at me. Although I was bruised, and a little embarrassed, it had been fun. I mustered my dignity, hauled myself up and decided to abandon hunting or chasing for another day.
I found a sunny spot to rest, where I accidentally fell asleep. I must have slept for a long time, because when I was awoken by two of the neighbourhood cats having a screeching row over who was the best looking, it was getting dark. The argument wasn’t that unusual, cats can be vain. They asked me to choose, but I knew the dangers of getting involved, so I told them they were both fi
ne looking cats and diplomatically slid off.
With Claire still away, I went back to Jonathan’s. I let myself in through the cat flap, finding the house in darkness. I padded through the empty kitchen and into the living room. I was surprised to find Jonathan lying on the sofa. He was resting his head on a cushion as if he was asleep, but his eyes were open. There was no sign of the woman from last night; he was alone, once again. He looked at me as I walked in, and I felt bad that I’d come empty handed. He looked as if he really needed a present.
‘You’re back,’ he said, dryly. ‘I’d almost say I’m pleased to see you. At least the house isn’t so damn empty any more.’ I miaowed a ‘thank you’ although I wasn’t sure how much of a compliment it was. Despite that, I decided to chance my luck and I jumped up on the sofa and sat next to him. He looked at me but he didn’t tell me to get off, which was progress of sorts.
‘Where do you go when you’re not here?’ he asked, suddenly. I miaowed. ‘Do you just roam the streets? Because I get the feeling that you actually live with me.’ He looked confused and I purred my assent. ‘It’s funny, Alfie, but it’s hit me that this is my life now. I live in this empty house which is too big for me, and I have barely any friends.’ I wondered about the two women I’d met here so far. ‘And we can’t count my one night stands. I don’t know how I got to the age of forty-three, with nothing meaningful to show for my life,’ he continued, sounding self-pitying. ‘No wife, no family, and only a handful of friends, most of whom are in different countries.’ I moved closer to him and tried to purr compassionately.
‘It’s just me and you, Alfie. All I have for my forty-three years is a bloody cat to talk to, and I don’t even know if you’re mine.’
I looked at him, head tilted to one side, trying to be reassuring.
‘I guess you’re hungry?’ he said, and I miaowed as loudly as I could. This was more like it. I was famished. I followed him into the kitchen where he took some smoked salmon out of the fridge. As much as I loved Claire, dinner with Jonathan was really special. He put some on a plate on the floor for me and he stroked me as I started eating, in a tender way that he’d never done before. We were indulging in some male bonding.