by Rachel Wells
‘If I could be just a fraction as successful as she is, I’ll be overjoyed,’ Daisy laughed. She didn’t realise how stunning she really was, I thought – a bit like Snowball. Although Snowball had been aloof when I first met her, it wasn’t because she thought she was a beauty, and even now she was still unaware of the effect she had on other cats and people. Like Roddy, most male cats started drooling like dogs when they first saw her. Myself included, I have to admit.
‘So what shall we do today?’ Karen asked as she buttered another piece of toast.
‘How about we hang out here, maybe go for a walk, and then have lunch at home?’ Tim suggested.
‘Sounds nice,’ Claire said, trying and failing to spoon cereal into Summer’s closed mouth.
‘TOAST,’ Summer shouted. Claire looked exasperated but Jonathan laughed indulgently.
‘I wish she could learn to say fruit or porridge at least,’ Claire said.
‘My girl knows her own mind,’ Jonathan replied.‘Chip off the old block.’ Claire swiped at him with her arm.
‘God, then I’m in trouble,’ she joked.
‘I’m going to do some computer stuff,’ Christopher said, looking bashful. He was turning out to be quite a chip off his old block himself, if that means what I think it does. He was following in his father’s footsteps by being a computer genius, or something along those lines.
‘Hey, Claire, I know you’ve got that book you keep trying to read, so I’ll take Summer out round the farm this morning. She loves the animals and you can stick your head in your novel,’ Jonathan said, giving her a kiss on the cheek.
‘My God, now I remember why I married you.’
‘I’ll come with you, Jon,’ Karen said, and Tim nodded.
I looked at Snowball. It would be just the two of us again; maybe we could go for a romantic meander in the garden. After our adventure on the farm the other day we had stayed close to the holiday house, and I wasn’t sure that it would be a good idea to explore.
For a while, Snowball and I stayed in the garden, close to where Claire sat in a lawn chair, reading. Chris was inside, Daisy had gone for a run, and the others had gone for a walk. As the morning drew on we decided to visit the hens. We nodded at them in greeting – I was no longer afraid – and they wobbled their heads in response. I knew they weren’t scary now. Being in the country was an education about other animals, ones we didn’t really get in London.
‘All right, city cats,’ said Roddy, suddenly appearing from behind the hen enclosure.
‘Hey, Roddy,’ said Snowball.
‘We need to thank you again for the other day,’ I said, remembering my manners.
‘You’re welcome. Anyway what are you guys up to?’ Roddy asked.
‘It’s our last day here, we leave tomorrow,’ I explained, feeling relaxed and friendly. I definitely found the country enjoyable, though I missed many things about London, like my friends, especially Tiger, and my other families. I also missed the hustle and bustle, the constant noise. At night here, it was eerily quiet, but back home I could hear cars, voices and the odd siren. Silence took a bit of getting used to.
‘In that case, how about I take you to my favourite place?’ suggested Roddy.
‘What is it?’ Snowball asked.
‘You’ll see, it’s lovely. Come on, come with me.’ He ran off and we sprang after him. As we crossed a different – and thankfully cow-free – field, I realised how nice the country smelled. I breathed in deeply, enjoying the fresh scents. I was happy that we were having a last adventure and with Roddy with us there was no danger involved. Well, I hoped not anyway.
We set off and took a route that we were more familiar with, passing the outskirts of the field where we’d met the giant cow. There were a few cows there, but they were at the other end of the field and were so busy eating grass they didn’t pay us much attention. I can’t say I was sorry.
‘Come on, let’s keep going,’ Roddy said, as we followed close behind him.
I blinked at Snowball and she blinked back as we came upon a stream.
‘I am not a fan of water,’ I stated.
‘Nah, me neither, Alfie. But look, there’s a bridge just up here. Come on.’ Roddy led us across a small wooden bridge and then came to a halt. As I looked around, I almost felt my breath being taken away. We were standing in a clearing on the edge of a wood, trees densely surrounding us. Sunlight glinted between the branches and reflected off the leaves, it was beautiful.
‘It’s a forest,’ Snowball exclaimed.
‘Yeah, it’s my forest,’ Roddy said, although I was pretty sure it wasn’t.
‘Wow, it’s beautiful,’ I stated.‘Almost as beautiful as you.’ I nuzzled Snowball. She smiled coyly and raised her whiskers.
‘It reminds me a bit of my old home,’ Snowball said. ‘We had a big wood just outside our garden and I would chase squirrels, although they could be mean. They were particularly protective of their nuts.’
‘I can see why you’d miss it,’ I conceded. As much as I loved Edgar Road and London, I did see the beauty of this place.
We stood at the bottom of a large tree. Roddy said that if we climbed up it we would see the most spectacular view. Snowball looked at me questioningly and gestured towards the tree. I shook my head – I was staying on the ground. I’d been stuck up a tree in the past, twice in fact, and it wasn’t fun. So I stayed put and watched as Roddy and Snowball climbed higher and higher, feeling a little bit jealous and half wishing I could join them. But ultimately I was glad to be on firm ground where I found some leaves to play with.
After a while I saw Snowball scaling back down and I was relieved that she was managing it easily.
‘Right, let’s get back before you’re missed,’ Roddy said, bounding off.
He took us a different route home, and I felt so energised by the journey, with the wind in my fur, the warming sun above and the tickly green grass beneath my paws, that I started fooling around a bit. I turned and walked backwards.
‘What are you doing?’ Snowball asked, raising her whiskers.
‘Hey, I can go backwards, look at me,’ I said, showing off. I started trying to run backwards, which wasn’t as easy as I thought – in all honesty, I’d never tried it before. I felt my legs tangle and I tried to turn around but ended up falling on my bottom. Luckily, something soft broke my fall.
‘Yelp!’ I said. But what was that smell? I stood up and, trying to get away from the smell, ended up running round in circles – wherever I went, it seemed to follow. I heard laughter from Roddy and saw that Snowball was hiding behind her paw.
‘What?’ I asked.
‘You fell into a cow pat!’ she said. I looked down and saw that the soft thing that had broken my fall was in fact the source of the terrible smell. Those monster cows had left a monster mess, and I was now covered in it! As I walked dejectedly home, my earlier energy deflated, I knew that there would be only one thing for it: a bath. I really dislike baths, or actually water in any form – even rain upsets me, and don’t get me started on puddles. But I knew I had no choice.
We said a fond farewell to Roddy back at the house.
‘You’re a lucky guy,’ he said to me, gesturing towards Snowball. She purred and looked coy.
‘I know I am – she’s wonderful. Thank you for everything,’ I said, as I bade him a warm goodbye.
I was still covered in mess and I didn’t dare enter the house. ‘Maybe if you go inside, you can miaow loudly and get someone’s attention?’ I said to Snowball. As much as I hated baths, I really wanted to get this mess off me as soon as possible.
Snowball went off and returned after what seemed like ages with Claire. I was beginning to really hate the smell. It was another reason for me to add cows to my list of things to be avoided.
‘What on earth?’ Claire said. ‘Snowball was making such a racket, I thought something was wrong.’ She took a closer look at me. ‘Oh God, Alfie, did you roll in something bad?’ I miaowed to show my
disagreement – as if I would do anything like this on purpose!
Claire wrapped me in a towel to carry me inside, holding me at arm’s length as she took me straight to the bathroom. I could see that Snowball found the whole thing amusing; we would be having words about that later. As Claire ran a shallow bath, muttering about the way I smelled, I stayed very still. She gently put me in the water and I tried not to squirm, but as the warm wet stuff started to engulf my body, I found it so uncomfortable that I wriggled a bit. I wasn’t sure which was worse, the bath or the smell. Actually, it was definitely the smell.
‘Keep still, Alfie,’ she said crossly as I squirmed. I couldn’t stay still. Eventually, after what felt like forever, Claire carefully lifted me out and dried me off.‘Go and lie by the fire, you’ll soon be all dry and warm,’ she said. She didn’t need to ask twice, and I quickly ran out of the room.
I curled up by the fire and Snowball joined me.
‘You smell much better, thank goodness,’ she said, nuzzling into my neck.
‘You know, I’m going to miss a few things about this holiday but the fire is definitely one of the things I’ll miss most,’ I said, yawning. What an eventful day we’d had. I closed my eyes, and soon I was dreaming of pilchards.
A while later, I was aware of voices as I woke up, and sensed the presence of everyone in the living room.
‘I can’t believe we have to leave in the morning,’ said Jonathan. I kept my eyes closed, enjoying the warmth in my fur as I listened. I could picture him, stretched out on the sofa. He sounded quite mellow. Jonathan was often uptight, and it was clear the holiday had done him good.
‘It’s been a good holiday though, mate,’ Tim said.
‘I’m just worried about how Alfie’s going to be you know, if …’ I heard Claire say. I pricked up my ears. I could tell that Snowball was still asleep next to me. She made this really sweet noise as she slept. Some called it snoring but to me it was music.
‘And Snowball,’ Karen added. ‘It’s weird, I never thought cats were like that, we’ve always been led to believe they’re solitary creatures, certainly not animals that mate for life.’
‘Like lobsters,’ Tim said.
‘What?’ Jonathan asked. I was trying to follow this conversation but it wasn’t proving easy.
‘You know, lobsters, they mate for life,’ Tim explained.
‘But look at them,’ Claire said, sounding sad.‘Snuggled up together. They definitely love each other.’
‘God, I feel guilty already,’ said Tim.‘But this time, it’s not my family I might be letting down, but my cat.’
‘It might not even happen,’ said Karen.
I gave Snowball a gentle nudge, but she was fast asleep. This conversation made no sense to me, and my fur suddenly felt freezing cold.
‘It’ll be such a shame if you did,’ Claire said.
‘Anyway it might not happen,’ Karen repeated, indicating that that was the end of the conversation.
What on earth were they talking about? It was as if they were talking about something that would be bad for me and Snowball. I tried to put it out of my mind but I couldn’t.
As the humans all went to sort out dinner that evening, and Jonathan put Summer to bed, I finally got Snowball on her own.
‘I heard something weird when you were sleeping. Your family were talking about something strange, but I didn’t understand what. It sounded like something that might happen to us. Do you know anything about it?’
Snowball surveyed me with her cool blue eyes. ‘What do you mean?’ She sounded shocked; she obviously didn’t know anything.
‘Tim said something about letting his cat down if it happened. Karen said it might not happen, but I don’t know what “it” is. I didn’t like the sound of it though.’
‘Alfie, you’re talking in riddles! I have no idea what you’re going on about. We both know what you’re like, always looking for drama.’ Snowball yawned and stretched. She didn’t seem worried but I couldn’t shake the feeling that all wasn’t well.
‘OK, if you say so, but let’s see if we hear anything.’
‘Of course, Alfie. I love you, and I love that you worry so much, but we’ve had a wonderful trip together. Let’s just focus on that.’
I couldn’t argue.
Chapter Five
I was suffering from what I had learnt were called post-holiday blues. Being home was exciting at first. I saw Tiger and my other friends and was reunited with my other humans on Edgar Road, which of course was lovely. Still though, I was fed up. I missed spending all my time with Snowball; I still saw her but not as much. I also missed the country walks, the fresh air, the romance, the fire we slept in front of … Even the hens. And of course it had rained every day in London since we’d been home, so after my initial visits to all my friends I had been largely stuck indoors. I felt as limp as the weather. I was totally bored and listless.
And there was something bothering me. I was still a little perplexed by the confusing things I’d heard on the last day of the holiday. No one had said anything about it, so I still had no idea what they had been discussing. Snowball and I had been listening out for any more clues, but apart from the usual hushed conversations that humans were so keen on, I hadn’t noticed anything amiss and neither had she. Perhaps she was right, we should just ignore it and not worry. It was probably nothing … So why did I still feel so unsettled? I tried to tell myself it was the post-holiday blues that were making me feel so rattled, nothing more.
As I sat on the living room windowsill, I saw a man putting something on a nearby lamppost. Soon after, I saw Tiger approaching my front gate. I ran to the kitchen, dived through the cat flap and made my way round to the front of the house. My blues were momentarily cheered at the sight of my friend.
‘Hey, Alfie,’ Tiger said, a bit breathlessly.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked. She lifted her head towards the lamppost and I saw that there was a picture of a tabby cat on it, along with some words – which, of course, being a cat, I couldn’t read.‘What is that?’ I asked.
‘Not sure, there were two others that went up on lampposts while you were away. None of us cats know what they mean.’
‘I’m not sure either.’ I felt puzzled. ‘Let’s go and see the others,’ I suggested.‘See if they know anything.’ Something was bothering me, but I wasn’t sure what. As we made our way to the end of the street, we saw the other two cat pictures, but we didn’t recognise the cats.
‘Are these the only other two?’ I asked Tiger.
‘Yup. Weird, huh?’
We found Elvis and Nellie at our usual meeting place. They were sitting away from the damp grass, on a strip of concrete that was relatively dry.
‘Guess what?’ Tiger said.
‘What?’ Nellie loved drama and looked excited.
‘We just saw a cat picture going up on a lamppost,’ said Tiger.
‘Another one? What can they mean?’ Elvis asked.
‘I’m not sure,’ I said.‘But something is niggling me.’
‘I think we should definitely keep an eye on it. This all seems very strange,’ Tiger said. As we lapsed into silence, Salmon, our nemesis cat, approached.
‘He might know,’ hissed Nellie, although we were all loath to ask him.
‘What are you up to?’ Salmon asked, narrowing his eyes and flicking his tail in a hostile way. Salmon was the meanest of cats and never missed an opportunity to be horrible to us.
‘Just hanging out with friends, something you know nothing about,’ Tiger replied. She was the only one of us not scared of Salmon.
‘Very funny, Tiger.’
‘Salmon,’ Elvis cut in quickly.‘We just saw another cat picture going up. Do you know what they mean?’
Salmon flicked his tail again.‘Of course I know, but I can’t possibly tell you.’
‘Which means he doesn’t have a clue,’ I cut in.
‘I do! I know far more than you think,’ he hissed.‘Why don�
�t you find that girlfriend of yours and ask her what’s going on.’
‘What do you mean?’ I felt angry now – how dare he bring Snowball into this.
‘I just heard her owners talking to mine, and let’s just say it doesn’t look good for you.’ He licked his lips, looking pleased with himself.
‘Salmon, tell me right now, or I’ll, I’ll …’
‘You’ll what? Set your girlfriend on me?’ he laughed, and before I could say anything else, he bounded off.
‘What could Salmon mean by that?’ Nellie asked. But as my cat friends looked at me, worry in their eyes, I knew there could only be bad news to come. I had to get to Snowball.
I found Snowball waiting by my front gate. As soon as I saw her, I knew that something was very wrong.
‘We’re in trouble, Alfie,’ she said.
‘What have we done?’ I asked. I was prone to a bit of trouble but I didn’t think I had done anything lately.
‘No,’ said Snowball, wiggling further into the bush. It was still a bit damp from the rain but she looked so serious that I didn’t complain.‘Not that sort of trouble. You know that conversation you heard? Well, it seems it wasn’t nothing after all.’
‘Snowball, slow down, you’re not making any sense at all.’
‘OK, well, Tim and Karen were talking to Daisy and Christopher last night. It seems that we’re moving away, because Tim’s been offered a really good job.’
‘Moving away?’ I asked, my heart sinking into my paws. The Snells had been through a terrible time when they first moved to Edgar Road. It had taken quite a while and a lot of planning from me to make them part of our community, but we had done it in the end. Surely they wouldn’t move away now?
‘The worst thing is that the job is in Cheshire.’ Snowball looked glum.
‘Cheshire? Where is that? Is it far away?’ I asked, fearing the answer.
‘Yes, it’s hours away. Christopher will have to go to a different school, although he doesn’t mind, and Daisy said she would be travelling for work so much that it didn’t matter to her. And she has friends in London she can stay with. Of course, no one asked me what I thought.’