Alfie and George

by Rachel Wells

  ‘Oh, I’m not stuck,’ George replied. ‘Why did you think that?’

  ‘Well, Summer said you were and when I looked at you you put your paw over your eyes.’

  ‘Oh, Dad, that was to tell you I came up here to hide from Summer. She wanted me to be her baby and she tried to put me in her pushchair like a doll and I didn’t really like it. I can get down, I just don’t want to.’

  ‘Well, what do we do now? Claire thinks you’re stuck, and now I’m up here when I don’t really like being this high. You’ll have to come down with me.’

  ‘Only if you promise you won’t let her put me in the pushchair.’

  ‘OK, get down and we’ll go straight downstairs, it’s your teatime anyway.’ He looked at me uncertainly.

  ‘Promise?’ he said.

  ‘Yes, now come on.’ George jumped down with ease; I envied him his youth and fearlessness as I tentatively followed. Then we both made for the stairs before Summer could object.

  That night, George was fast asleep in my bed, exhausted from his busy day. Summer was tucked up in bed too, so I sat with Claire and Jonathan in the living room.

  ‘How’s Tash?’ Jonathan asked.

  ‘Actually not too bad, it’s like she’s a different person since she moved into the flat. I really think she’s beginning to feel a bit like her old self. The solicitor’s proving a godsend and has put a rocket up Dave. He’s been threatened with court unless they sort out maintenance for Elijah. She’s got the mortgage approved for the house, so that’s all being finalised, but it’s sad too. They were together for so long and it’s all fallen apart so quickly. She still misses him, I think, but she’s pretty brave. What with her job and her boy she’s being kept busy.’

  ‘Well, we have family day on Sunday, so she’ll spend the day with us, won’t she?’ I pricked up my whiskers. I loved family day; every month all my families would get together and I’d have all the people I loved in one place. Sometimes it happened more often, but if not, then I always had that to look forward to.

  ‘Yes, she’ll be with us, and so will everyone else, which we all need. I mean, it seems that Polly and Matt are barely talking and Frankie says she and the boys will only get to see Tomasz because of family day. It’ll be good for the kids, and everyone’s coming to ours because they all want to see George.’

  ‘That kitten is a star attraction,’ Jonathan laughed.

  ‘You’ll never guess what he did this afternoon …’ Claire told Jonathan about the wardrobe incident, which Jonathan seemed to find funny. Claire snuggled into him and kissed his cheek. I lay on the armchair, one eye on the two of them.

  ‘Right, well I guess we ought to think about going to bed,’ Jonathan said.

  ‘It is going to be all right, isn’t it?’ Claire asked suddenly. I didn’t know exactly what she meant, but I was sure by the look on his face that Jonathan did.

  ‘Of course it is, darling,’ he replied, but he sounded uncertain.

  On Sunday, as everyone descended on us for family day, I think I almost understood what Claire had meant the other night. As soon as everyone arrived, George was indeed the star attraction. He purred and preened as everyone made a huge fuss of him, then of me as a bit of an afterthought, but I was mature enough to accept that. But it went downhill from there. After a bit of a strained lunch, the adults all seemed a little bit lost in their own thoughts instead of their usual chatty selves. There were three camps. The children were one, which was usual and now included George. Luckily Aleksy, being the oldest, was in charge, so I knew George was in good hands, and he’d come and get me if needed. The men had taken over the living room, and in the kitchen the women had commandeered the kitchen table. I found myself having to move between the two adult camps.

  The men were more subdued than usual.

  ‘Is something wrong with us?’ Jonathan asked finally, after even he got fed up of the silence – he usually enjoyed some peace and quiet.

  ‘I’m just not in a great place,’ Matt admitted.‘I miss working. This Mr Mum stuff isn’t me. And yes, I know I sound like a sexist pig because my wife tells me often enough. And it’s not even the kids, I love being with them but I would rather be at work. I miss it. Remember, I actually loved what I did.’

  ‘So no luck on the job hunt?’ Tomasz asked, eyes full of sympathy.

  ‘Yes and no. I’ve got a couple of meetings lined up but nothing concrete, there’s not much about at the moment. All my contacts are looking out for me but they all say I have to be patient.’ Matt shook his head.

  ‘Are you guys OK financially?’ Jonathan asked. He sounded concerned.

  ‘Yes, Polly’s new job has been a lifesaver. She loves the job but I know that coming home to me, as grumpy as I am, isn’t much fun for her. As it is, she’s tired all the time, working long hours and then rushing home to see the kids. She gets back and then once we’ve put them to bed she has to work most nights. We don’t spend enough time together – I’m miserable because I miss work, she’s miserable because I am, and also I’m not good at laundry or something.’ He laughed, sadly.

  ‘Well, on the flip side, I’m working too much and Franceska is very not happy,’ said Tomasz. ‘In fact, she tells me today she and the boys are going back to Poland for the school holiday, because they never see me anyway. I know I work too much but the restaurants are doing so well now, and yes, I have a manager, but I can’t hand over control yet.’ Tomasz looked guilty.

  ‘Mate, you have to trust other people. You can’t do it all yourself, what’ll happen when you have ten restaurants all over the country?’ said Jonathan.

  ‘I know, it’s not easy, but if I get these two right then I feel I can step back and let others do more work, no?’

  All the men shrugged.

  ‘Anyway, Jon, you’re OK, aren’t you?’ Matt asked.

  ‘Who thought this would turn into a sharing afternoon? Quick, better put the football on,’ Jonathan replied, changing the subject.

  After that depressing interlude I went into the kitchen.

  ‘So I said to him, he can formalise the child support or we’ll have to go to the CSA and I’ll take him to court to sort out the house as well. I’ve been more than reasonable but he’s just being so awful. Anyway, we have a mediation booked in. Sounds like fun, right? Means I have to see him again, which I’m dreading, but I have to do what’s best for Elijah.’

  I took a drink of water before going to sit with Franceska. If she was going away, I wanted to spend a bit of time with her.

  ‘I hope it does good,’ Franceska said. ‘I have to tell you, we’re going to Poland for the summer, me and the boys, not Tomasz.’

  ‘Oh goodness, that sounds great,’ Claire said. Really? It didn’t sound good to me, a whole summer apart from her husband, not to mention me. I would miss them terribly.

  ‘Yes, well, Tomasz is so busy, so I thought we could see family and have a holiday, and the boys don’t remember much about home, so it’s good for them. Tomasz is not happy but he is all work, work, work.’

  ‘Maybe that’s what Matt and I need, a holiday,’ Polly mused.

  ‘Can’t you take one?’ Claire asked.

  ‘No, I wouldn’t get time off work, being so new. And anyway, I’m not sure Matt would want to take a holiday, not when he hasn’t got a job sorted and he’s feeling so down. No, actually, I know he won’t. Maybe next year.’ She smiled. ‘Anyway, Claire, at least you’re OK.’ I marvelled at the difference between the way the men and women talked. They were kind of saying the same things, but just in a very different way.

  ‘Oh yes, we’re fine,’ Claire said with a loud sigh.

  ‘Changing the subject,’ Tash said. ‘You know that neighbourhood watch couple?’

  ‘Oh God, Vic and Heather,’ Polly groaned.

  ‘Yes, the ones in the matching jumpers,’ Tash laughed. ‘They cornered me the other day talking about the increase in missing cats. Apparently six have been reported missing from the area now.’
r />   I pricked up my ears.

  ‘I know, we’ve seen the pictures on the lampposts. Makes me really sad. Imagine if Alfie or George went missing.’ I shuddered as Claire said this.

  ‘Well, they seem to think something sinister is going on,’ Tash continued. ‘Apparently they’re going to hold a meeting soon.’

  ‘Oh no, not a meeting.’ Polly put her head in her hands.

  ‘Their meetings go on for days,’ Claire explained.

  ‘But these cats, no one knows what’s happened?’ Franceska asked.

  ‘No. Jon thinks they just didn’t like their owners or fancied a change of scene.’

  ‘Matt said maybe there’s a cat snatcher, like the child snatcher in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,’ Polly said.

  I put my paws over my ears.

  ‘Shush, Polly, not in front of Alfie,’ Claire chastised. ‘And that’s ridiculous. Besides, if anyone tried to take our cats we would sort them out.’ Claire looked at me as she said this and I felt marginally reassured.

  It wasn’t good, these missing cats – I could feel it in my fur. But for now there was little I could do, so I went upstairs to see the children, following the trail of their laughter. At least they were having fun, and I needed to join in with that while I came up with a plan for what to do with my troublesome grown-ups, and tried not to worry about this cat problem at the same time.

  Chapter Nineteen

  It never rains but it pours. My very first owner, Margaret, used to say that a lot. I didn’t always understand what it meant but I think I do now. After family day I spent quite a lot of time fretting. I worried about all my families, including Tasha, who had been in floods of tears after mediation had gone horribly wrong. She was now talking about taking Dave to the cleaners – wherever that was – and saying that her parents were going to pay her legal bills so she could do so. She was refusing to hand over the money for the house sale, which the solicitor held in an account, until it was all settled, and things had turned a bit nasty. Jonathan said that if Dave came near her he would get involved, but thankfully Tasha hadn’t told her ex where she was living and anyway, she said, he was too lazy to do anything. It was all in the hands of the law now and Tasha was refusing to speak to him, or have anything to do with him apart from through solicitors. It was a bit complicated for me to follow, being a cat, but I was trying. Oh, and he’d still only made half-hearted attempts to see Elijah which upset everyone. We all loved Elijah and I couldn’t understand any father who didn’t want to see his child as much as possible. Look at me and George.

  It was also literally pouring. As George and I sat on the windowsill watching the rain drip down the pane, I was worrying about everyone and everything.

  I was feeling helpless and hopeless. I couldn’t help Tasha, but actually knowing that she had this solicitor person as well as Claire and Jonathan made me feel better. I couldn’t seem to help Matt and Polly, who seemed to be barely speaking whenever I saw them. I couldn’t help Franceska and Tomasz, who were going to be apart. Aleksy and little Tomasz were so excited for their holiday but I worried that it meant Franceska might never come back! I couldn’t imagine losing them from my life. And it seemed I couldn’t help Claire and Jonathan, who only the previous night had had a massive row.

  ‘Did you have to say that to the social worker?’ Claire had shouted the previous evening as we sat in the living room.

  ‘I only said there was no history of criminal activity or insanity in my family …’ Jonathan tried not to smile.‘It was a joke!’

  ‘Then you said you weren’t sure about my mother! Did you really think that was funny?’

  ‘Well, your mother can come across as a bit bonkers.’ He laughed.

  ‘This is just a big joke to you, isn’t it, us getting a child, a sibling for Summer, another child for us to parent? I can’t believe you sometimes.’

  ‘Of course not, it was just a stupid joke, Claire. The social worker needs to know we have a sense of humour, surely?’

  ‘Well, you’re not funny.’

  Claire had slept in the spare room, the room that Tash had only recently vacated. I know she cried herself to sleep too, because I slept with her, leaving George for the first time since he’d moved in, although I did check him regularly, which of course meant I was feeling a little sleep deprived myself.

  The atmosphere had been strained here all day, a bit like at Polly and Matt’s. So far, Claire was refusing all of Jonathan’s efforts to make up and when they left for work and to take Summer to nursery it was a relief to have that atmosphere out of the house along with them.

  ‘What is wrong with people?’ George asked me, chasing a raindrop with his paw and bringing me back to the present.

  ‘Oh dear, where do I start?’ I began to tell him all I knew. As I started feeling more and more fearful, I tried to downplay the situation for George’s sake. Yes, he needed to know how humans worked, especially if he was going to take after me, but he was still so young – I had to protect him. As I was thinking of how I was going to fix each of my humans, from Tash, who had suddenly gone from the top of my worry list almost to the bottom, to Matt and Polly, Franceska and Tomasz and now Claire and Jonathan, George jumped down from the windowsill and ran off. I pulled myself from my reverie and went to find him.

  When George had first come to live here, Claire was pretty careful about where he was allowed to go. All the bedroom doors were kept closed, as was the bathroom and the downstairs loo, so he was basically confined to the kitchen/dining room and living room. Despite the stair gate, he could get up the stairs, but once he was there he was confined to the landing. Now that he was bigger, however, they didn’t bother to close the doors, the argument being he knew what he was doing (he didn’t) and he was still never left alone (he was). But he had more freedom and now I had to locate him, with so many more places he could be.

  He wasn’t in the kitchen. I knew he hadn’t gone outside or I would have heard the cat flap, so I did a quick look around the utility room, especially the washing machine, before heading upstairs.

  ‘George,’ I called out loudly, but there was no answer. I tried to stem my growing panic as I checked the bedrooms, telling myself that he couldn’t be far, he was just a kitten after all … The bathroom door was closed, as was the door to Jonathan and Claire’s en suite, so at least I didn’t have to worry about him having fallen into the loo again. But still, I couldn’t help but panic. I knew he was here but because I couldn’t see him there was this irrational worry that I couldn’t quite keep away. I went back into the spare room.

  ‘George,’ I shouted again. I heard a little muffled sound. I traced it to the wardrobe where Claire kept some of her clothes, and saw that the door was a tiny bit ajar. I hit at it with my paw until it opened a bit more and I saw George lying on one of Claire’s jumpers which were piled up on the bottom of the wardrobe.

  ‘George, I was worried! I’ve been calling you. Why didn’t you answer me?’

  ‘But, Dad, if I answered you it wouldn’t be hide and seek would it?’

  ‘Hide and seek?’

  ‘Yes, the children taught me the other day, it’s so much fun. One person seeks and the others hide.’

  ‘Yes, thank you, I do know how to play, but the point is that we weren’t playing hide and seek, I was sitting on the windowsill with you one minute and the next you were gone.’

  ‘Oh, maybe I should have told you.’ George had confusion in his beautiful eyes. ‘Right, now why don’t you hide?’ He didn’t seem contrite or even aware of the worry he caused me.

  ‘I don’t really feel like it.’ I was still busy fretting over my families, and now that I’d found George, I had to calm myself down again.

  ‘Please, Dad, it’s the best game ever!’ His eyes were wide with hope and I couldn’t help but smile. I remembered when Aleksy had first played the game with me – it had been such fun. How could I disappoint? Besides, it was raining outside, so there was nothing else we could do.

&nbs
p; ‘OK, you count to ten and I’ll hide.’

  ‘But I don’t know how to count!’

  ‘OK, well just give me a bit of time then.’ I wasn’t sure if I could count either. It wasn’t the most useful skill for a cat, after all.

  I went to Summer’s room and decided to climb into her toy box, which was overflowing with her collection of soft toys. By my reckoning, if it took George ages to find me, I would at least be comfortable.

  I woke some time later to George licking my head. I opened my eyes and stretched.‘Sorry, I fell asleep.’

  ‘Wow, you are really good at hiding!’ he exclaimed.‘My turn, my turn.’ He ran off. I felt a bit better for my catnap, but I didn’t rush as I climbed out of the toy box. I could hear George running down the stairs, so I waited a bit on the landing. I noticed that the rain had slowed and I jumped up onto the landing windowsill to see a glimmer of blue sky peeking through the clouds. I wondered if we could go out in a bit – it would be good to get some exercise and perhaps we could pop in to see Matt … Suddenly, there was a loud bang, which made me jump.

  ‘Yowl,’ I heard George cry. Honestly, I really must stop getting so distracted, what kind of parent was I? I ran down the stairs and into the kitchen. I stopped when I saw that one of the cupboards was open, its contents over the floor, and George was poking out of a plastic bag, tangled up in the handle.

  ‘George, what have you done?’ I asked, using my paw to get the bag off him.‘Bags are dangerous, you must be careful,’ I chastised. Although of course there was a big hole, which was how he’d got in, so I didn’t really need to be too worried. And us cats did like bags, I used to climb into Margaret’s shopping bags all the time when I was little.

  ‘I was just trying to move it and I fell into it,’ he replied. Honestly this kitten was getting a bit too defiant.‘But I like it!’

  ‘Not the point. What is this mess?’ I asked, surveying the packets and boxes scattered across the floor.

  ‘I managed to open that cupboard, which I thought was quite clever, and I wanted to hide but to make it really good hiding I decided to take everything out and hide right at the back, but then I didn’t know how to get it back in …’