Alfie and George

by Rachel Wells

  Matt had been getting ready to go to a meeting with his potential new employer. They would be discussing something called ‘terms’ and he was stressed because he still hadn’t really discussed it with Polly yet. He kept putting it off because he wasn’t sure how they would cope with both of them working or something. As he blustered on, in quite an unlike Matt kind of way, George, who was growing and as a result was going through a clumsy phase, got under Matt’s feet, causing him to trip up and bash his elbow. As a result he became even more flustered. I had decided to take George to the park in the end, hopeful that no trouble would follow us. Thankfully it didn’t.

  Later that day I had found George scaling the curtains in the spare room, gleeful about discovering that he could climb them. However, he got almost to the top and then realised he didn’t know how to let go. He had started to panic and I had to coax him down. It took a lot of time and effort, his claws were stuck firmly into the material, and when he was finally persuaded to let go – one paw at a time – I noticed he had made quite a few little rips. I hoped no one would notice and I told George that we should give the spare room a wide berth for a bit, just in case.

  And this morning, George had knocked a cereal box off the kitchen counter, pouring the contents all over the floor. He had then climbed into the empty box and started running around the kitchen. Summer was laughing and Claire was shouting while Jonathan shrieked,‘We should be filming this for YouTube, we’d at least make enough money to buy more cereal out of the blooming kitten.’ Of course it was left to me to get him out of the cereal box. Although he’d been covered in cornflake dust, he was so adorable when he was happy, it was almost impossible for me to be cross with him.

  Thankfully, or not, everyone else was too cross with each other to really tell us off. I mean, I know I hadn’t done anything wrong, but I was responsible for George, so I could have been given a bit of a ticking off too – like I had with the tie incident.

  With Dustbin working on the lamppost cats, I was focusing on my plan for my families. I decided to go and round up our cat friends to finalise the details for my grand plan. Poor George didn’t really understand, it was a lot for a kitten to take in, even though he was getting bigger, but I remained patient as I explained that he was going to be the most important cat in solving everyone’s problems, which he quite liked the sound of. And every way I had looked at it there was absolutely no danger involved at all. If Tiger wouldn’t let anything happen to me, she absolutely would never let anything happen to our George.

  I was just about to start the meeting when a large shadow loomed.

  ‘What are you up to?’ Salmon asked, approaching us. Oh no, this was the last thing I needed. He couldn’t get wind of any plan; if he did, he might sabotage us.

  ‘Well,’ George said, before anyone could stop him, ‘I am going to save the whole wide world.’ Bless him, he had interpreted the plan in a slightly different way.

  ‘What are you talking about?’ Salmon asked, in a kindly way, but I knew he was looking for gossip in that salacious way of his. Tiger gently put her paw over George’s mouth and motioned for him to be quiet.

  ‘It’s just a game we’re playing, Salmon,’ I said, trying to sound friendly.‘Nothing for you to be concerned about.’

  ‘You guys are always here, plotting things,’ he spat back. So much for friendliness.

  ‘Well, that’s not true, most of the time we’re napping, sunbathing and playing with leaves,’ said Rocky.

  ‘And just hanging out. With friends. You should try it sometime,’ Elvis said.‘If you have any friends, that is.’

  ‘As if I have time for such frivolities. Honestly, if I was like you then this street would go to wrack and ruin. Well, carry on with your silly game, I have more important matters to attend to.’ He turned and stalked off.

  ‘What was he talking about and why did you put your paw over my mouth?’ George asked.

  ‘I’ll teach you about him later,’ I said. ‘But right now we have to finalise our plan. Right, Rocky, you go first.’

  As each of my friends gave their ideas, I listened to them all. It seemed they had all thought carefully about it and had done a pretty good job. I beamed with happiness; it was all going to be so straightforward, the easiest of my plans but also the most important.

  D-Day was set for tomorrow, Saturday. It had to happen then, because everyone would be home from work. So today was the only day we had to get it right. But I was confident; we were all working together and we had left no stone unturned. I was one hundred per cent sure that nothing could go wrong.

  ‘My idea,’ Nellie said. I almost didn’t want to hear, she could be a bit silly sometimes. ‘My idea is that you use the shed at the bottom of Tiger’s garden.’

  We all looked at her. Our sticking point had been where we could hide George. After all, Tiger couldn’t take him to her house, her humans doted on her but they weren’t keen on other cats. I had been chased out of there a few times and I’m not only charming, but Tiger’s best friend too. But Nellie had come up with a genius idea. Tiger’s shed was quite tatty, and had a gap in the door they could easily slip through. And her humans didn’t use it, ever.

  ‘That isn’t a bad idea,’ Tiger admitted grudgingly.‘So what do we need? Food, something to keep us warm and comfortable, water, something to play with?’

  ‘You’re only going to be there for a few hours, not the whole summer,’ Rocky pointed out.

  ‘But we can get enough food for George, a blanket and yes, he will need a source of water,’ I said.

  ‘I can sneak him into my house for food and water,’ Tiger said.‘Because how on earth are we supposed to get food and bowls and stuff into the shed?’

  ‘Good point. So you sneak him in when it’s safe. They always give you too much food anyway, so you’ll have plenty for George.’ It was true, Tiger was totally overfed – she had to exercise a lot to keep the weight off.

  ‘I’ll drag a blanket down there for you,’ Elvis offered.‘We have loads at home and I am the strongest cat here.’

  ‘That’s debatable,’ said Tinkerbell. I wasn’t sure which of them was right but I knew I wouldn’t like to fight with either of them.

  ‘Why don’t you both get the blanket, it’ll be easier with two of you,’ Tiger sensibly suggested. They looked at each other and nodded. I liked how everyone was working together.

  ‘What about toys? I don’t want George to get bored,’ Tiger said.

  ‘We can bring some from home,’ I said, although I wasn’t sure how we would carry them. ‘Right, we need to get this settled because we’re going to do this tomorrow.’ My voice shook with nerves.

  ‘Alfie, it’s fine, we have planned this brilliantly, what on earth could go wrong?’ Nellie asked.

  I didn’t answer. In my experience those sounded like famous last words.

  Later I quietly ran through the plan with my little boy again. He still didn’t understand fully but he was super excited about being a hero, which of course is what I had convinced him he would be if everything went the way I hoped. But I had to say, I was more nervous about this plan than I had been about my others. Not because of any danger – this was the least dangerous plan I had ever come up with – but because so much was at stake.

  Walking back from our planning meeting, we’d popped in to Matt and Polly’s. Polly had taken an afternoon off because Martha had to go to the doctor, and Polly wanted to be with her. I thought that was a good sign, but I quickly realised things weren’t good. George had run off to play with Henry and Martha in the living room, while I listened to Polly and Matt arguing in the kitchen.

  ‘Well, yes, I agree we should be celebrating you having got a new job, but you seem to have forgotten that I’m working now and we have two children.’

  ‘I haven’t forgotten, but I don’t know what you want. Do you want to keep working?’

  ‘Yes, I do. I was dubious at first but I did the interior design course so that I could go back to
work at some point and now I love my job. I’ve cut my hours lately, now I know what I’m doing a bit better, and I feel I’ve got the balance right. And now that it’s all sorted, you want me to give it up!’ Polly wasn’t shouting but I could tell she was angry.

  ‘I didn’t say that, but what are we going to do about the kids? I mean, yes, Henry’s at school, but the days aren’t long enough and Martha is only at pre-school three days a week.’ Matt sounded frazzled.

  ‘It’s not like either of our jobs are permanent. I know I’m on a rolling contract but yours is six months and then we might be back to square one,’ Polly ranted.

  ‘Thanks for the optimism.’

  ‘Oh God, I can’t talk to you when you’re like this, I’m going to see my children,’ said Polly, storming out of the room.

  I went to get George and told him it was time to go home. Before we left, I made a fuss of Henry and Martha. I worried for those two lovely children.

  Claire was sitting at the kitchen table, crying, when we got home. I looked at George, who seemed very sad. This day was not going well. I was wondering where Summer was just as Jonathan walked into the kitchen.

  ‘Claire, please don’t cry,’ Jonathan said, sitting down next to her.

  ‘I asked Tash to give Sum tea so we could talk, yet we’re not talking.’

  ‘I don’t know what to say, Claire.’

  ‘I want this child,’ she said.

  ‘There is no child, not yet.’

  ‘You know what I mean.’ Claire had tears streaming down her face and I felt so sad for her.

  ‘I do, but I don’t know what you want from me.’

  ‘Yes, Jonathan, you know exactly what I want from you.’ So much was unsaid between them, but they both knew what they meant.

  ‘Look, I’m going to the gym and then I said I’d pop in to see Tomasz at the restaurant.’

  ‘Right, that’s more important than this?’ Claire snapped.

  ‘No, but I made plans and I’m sticking to them. Tomasz is really struggling without his family. Besides, we’re not getting anywhere right now.’

  ‘Oh, just go then,’ Claire screamed at him. I had never heard her so angry.

  By the time Tash brought Summer home, Claire had stopped crying, and she also had a glass of wine in her hand.

  ‘Can I tempt you?’ she asked Tash. Her eyes were red and Tash hurriedly took Summer and Elijah into the living room with some of Summer’s toys.

  ‘OK, just a quick one. My boy’s tired tonight.’

  ‘Nursery wears them out. Oh, Tash, sorry. I’ve had another row with Jonathan.’

  ‘I thought so. Come on, sit down.’ They both sat down and as George again went to play with the children, I stayed with the adults.

  ‘I’m not going to bore you with the details, it’s nothing new anyway. Distract me, tell me about your budding romance.’

  ‘Ah, well you might regret asking that. I’ve asked Max for some space. He wasn’t being anything but charming and wonderful, but I freaked out when we were last out.’

  ‘Why, Tash?’

  ‘I’m falling for him, Claire, and I got scared. I’m not sure I can cope with being hurt again.’

  ‘Oh, Tash, look at us both. Two great men and we’re pushing them away.’ Claire’s eyes filled with tears again.

  ‘I know, that’s exactly what we seem to be doing,’ Tasha said sadly.

  It seemed that tomorrow couldn’t come quickly enough, and we only had one chance to get it right. There was so very much resting on our plan. I hoped and prayed with all my heart that we got it right.

  Chapter Twenty-eight

  I was yet again facing a sleepless night. I was so worried about tomorrow. George slept soundly at least, which was good. Despite the lack of danger involved in this plan, I was still worried that George would be spending his first night away from me, and although he’d be with Tiger – she had promised to sleep in the shed overnight with him – I wouldn’t feel comfortable without him. I knew that I would feel as if something was missing, being apart from him. But at least I would be busy. I would have to rally all my families to look for George and make sure they bonded over it. I did have quite a big part to play in the plan – the biggest, in fact. All George and Tiger had to do was lay low, I actually had to mobilise the humans and somehow ensure that they actually came together over this, rather than falling apart. I had to admit that I was a ball of nerves: from the tips of my claws to the ends of my whiskers, I felt like jelly.

  Oh, life was so hard and so complicated. It was a lot to cope with. Not just for me either. As I watched my kitten sleeping, I hoped that I could protect him from the worst that life had to offer, but failing that, I hoped that I could at least equip him to deal with it. Being a parent was just so fretful, and I didn’t think that I would ever stop fretting about George.

  I must have drifted off, because I woke with George tickling my nose with his whiskers.

  ‘Dad, it’s the day!’ he squealed.

  ‘Shush,’ I said. ‘Let’s not draw too much attention to ourselves. We need to go before the others wake up.’

  George was an early riser, waking at dawn most days, so our plan was that we would leave the house, I’d deliver him to Tiger and then come back to bed. I’d pretend to be asleep and when everyone else woke up they would find me alone in the bed. I could make lots of noise to show them I was worried and then our search would begin. Part one of the plan was simple.

  I made George drink some water before we left. There was no food as Claire still didn’t leave food down for us overnight, but hopefully Tiger would get him into her house for breakfast. We then left, as quietly as we could. I walked George to Tiger’s house and we stood by her back door. I pushed the cat flap to let Tiger know we were there.

  ‘Good luck, my little boy,’ I said, feeling affectionate, emotional and a little bit terrified all at once.

  ‘Thanks, Dad, and don’t leave me too long.’

  I nuzzled up to him.‘I won’t, but you know Tiger will be there for you. There’s nothing to worry about. But, George, listen, it’s important that you do what you’re told. Do you understand?’

  ‘Yes.’ He looked serious. I hoped Tiger had woken up. She had said she would get up when the birds started singing. After a short while, she appeared.

  ‘Here we are,’ I said, shaking.

  ‘It’s OK, Alfie, it’ll be fine, and I’ll take it from here. Right, George, wait there, I have to go and make sure the coast is clear – my family are early risers – and then I’ll come back and sneak you in for breakfast. I’ll be really quick,’ Tiger said.

  ‘Do you understand, George?’ I asked. He looked a bit like he hadn’t been listening as he stared at the emerging sun and then a bird flying overhead. Tiger disappeared round the back of her house.

  ‘Yes, of course. Wait. Breakfast.’

  ‘Right, I have to go. Remember, do whatever Tiger says.’ I touched my nose to his and then, before I got more emotional, I left to go home. George would wait, Tiger would be right out and then the plan would begin to unfurl.

  ‘I’ll listen to Tiger-Mum,’ were his parting words for me. I felt so proud.

  I rushed home and luckily made it back to my bed before anyone in the house woke up. Because I was so tired, before I knew it I’d actually fallen asleep.

  ‘Where’s George?’ I woke up to see Claire and Summer standing over my basket. I looked around and then yawned.

  ‘Miaow?’ I said.

  ‘Jon, Jon,’ I heard Claire shout. She then went into the bedroom. A sleeping Jonathan emerged.

  ‘Alfie, is George downstairs?’ he asked me, rubbing his eyes.

  ‘MIAOW!’ I don’t know, I tried to tell them.

  ‘Oh God.’ Claire practically flew downstairs and Jonathan picked Summer up and followed her. I went after them. Of course, after looking everywhere we didn’t find him.

  ‘I told you it was too soon to leave the cat flap open at night,’ Claire snapped.<
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  ‘Um, Claire, everyone said it was OK and anyway, Alfie nearly got locked out the other night. I mean, you can’t keep them in forever.’

  ‘Oh, Alfie, why did you let him out of your sight!’ Claire stormed back upstairs to check again.

  So at the moment she was blaming Jonathan and me – a bit unfair, but it was early days and it was early in the morning. Neither of them had had coffee and that said a lot. I normally avoided them in this state.

  I stood by the back door and made a lot of noise. While Jonathan strapped Summer into her highchair, made coffee and gave Summer a drink of milk, Claire could be heard slamming doors upstairs.

  ‘He’s definitely not up there,’ Claire said, coming back into the kitchen. ‘Jonathan, where on earth is he? He’s never out without Alfie and he’s always here first thing in the morning.’ She had searched the whole house by now and of course found nothing.

  ‘Look, darling.’ Jonathan gave her a hug.‘You sort Summer out and I’ll throw on my tracksuit and go out and look.’

  ‘Can you get Matt to help you?’ Claire asked.

  ‘Of course, don’t worry.’ He kissed her and I felt a little tiny moment of triumph. See, it was working already.

  I went out with Jonathan, and followed him to Matt’s house. Luckily they were already up and dressed and Matt came straight out when he heard what had happened.

  ‘Oh God,’ Polly said as she came to the front door.‘Let me know what I can do. I’d go to yours, Jon, but then George might come here, so maybe I should stay?’

  ‘Babe, I think you should stay put. I’ve got my mobile so we’ll keep in touch.’ Matt kissed Polly and she hugged him tightly.‘I’m sure he’s fine, you know what kittens are like, they get into all sorts of trouble.’

  As the guys decided to go and check the street, I followed them. But I heard a hiss by Tiger’s front gate and I turned to see her, trying to get my attention. I waited until the men were at a safe distance.