Alfie and George

by Rachel Wells

  ‘We’re sorry,’ Jonathan said, his voice shaky as if he was nervous, when the woman noticed them. ‘Alfie, get out of there!’ I did as he asked, hopping into the woman’s garden to stand by her feet. I noticed she was wearing one boot, but the other foot only had a holey sock on it. She didn’t exactly look dangerous, although her grey hair was wild and she wore a huge jumper over what looked like pyjamas.

  ‘Right, well, I’m sorry about this but if you could open the front gate, then Alfie can come with us,’ Matt said, glancing at Jonathan. He and Jonathan turned around; they were looking for the police, I guessed.

  ‘I will do no such thing. This cat is mine now,’ she said, looking at me. ‘Ahh, I don’t have a British Blue and you are very handsome.’ I raised my whiskers – how kind of her to notice – but then I remembered where I was and why I was there.

  ‘He’s our cat,’ Matt said angrily.‘Give him back!’ He stood as close as he could to the fence and Jonathan joined him.

  ‘Yowl,’ I said angrily.

  The woman stared at me, then at Jonathan and Matt before turning around and looking at her back door.

  ‘Arrrghhh!’ she screamed as Dustbin emerged, followed by a horde of cats. My heart quickened as I saw George next to Dustbin.

  ‘Miaow,’ I said, running up to him.‘Thank goodness you’re all right.’ I nuzzled him with all my might.

  ‘Dad, I knew you’d come,’ George replied.

  ‘Right, no time for that just now, we need to stick together.’ I saw Pinkie emerge with the others; there must have been about twenty cats there! She ran over to me.

  ‘Thank goodness,’ she said. ‘Alfie, thank goodness you’re here.’ She looked upset. ‘I’m so relieved to be out. I really didn’t like being there, not even her fridge was a comfort to me.’

  ‘It’s OK, you are all free now,’ I said.

  Although I realised with a sinking feeling that actually none of us were; we were still stuck in the woman’s garden.

  ‘You really are the cat snatcher!’ Jonathan shouted above the noise, as cats of all shapes and sizes ran around the garden, miaowing loudly.

  ‘I most certainly am not,’ the woman replied.

  ‘But you’ve got our kitten, and you’re trying to take Alfie!’ Matt said.

  ‘They are all mine. Mine I tell you,’ she screeched. I looked at her, worried she was deranged. As she tried to round up the cats, including me, two things happened. We heard a police siren coming closer, just as Vic and Heather Goodwin ran up to Matt and Jonathan, with Salmon at their heels. I had never been so pleased to see them. Actually before now I had never been pleased to see them, so this situation really was very odd.

  ‘What is going on?’ Vic shouted.

  ‘She’s the cat snatcher,’ Matt said.

  I snuggled close to George; we didn’t know how to get out but at least I had my boy. The other cats all seemed happy to be outside as they ran around in circles, enjoying their freedom.

  ‘What, this old lady?’ Heather asked, incredulous.‘Citizen’s arrest!’ she shouted, although how she was going to do that from the other side of the fence I wasn’t sure.

  ‘I am not the cat snatcher. These are all my cats,’ the woman maintained.

  ‘The police are on the way,’ Matt told them.

  ‘Good. And that’s not true, lady.’ Vic waved a bunch of papers at the woman. ‘All these cats have been reported missing.’

  ‘And George is one of them,’ Jonathan said.

  ‘You are a cat-napper of the worst kind,’ Heather shouted.

  ‘But …’ The woman looked defeated.‘I just wanted them to be mine.’

  The police car pulled up and two policemen got out.

  ‘What on earth is going on?’ one of them asked, as Vic took it upon himself to explain.

  In the ensuing madness, I was able to check that George was all right. He said that Pinkie had looked after him and the other cats were all very friendly. They were all very upset to have been kitty-napped, as they thought of it. But the cat snatcher, who it turned out was called Henrietta, was kind to them, although she wouldn’t let them go out, so the house was a mess and the cats were all stir-crazy. She hadn’t been mean though, which to me was the main thing.

  It transpired that she had grabbed George from Tiger’s back step in the few seconds he had been there alone. She must have been watching us. I shuddered to think that I had been so careless.

  ‘Let us in,’ one policeman said.

  ‘I’d rather not,’ the lady replied uncertainly.

  ‘Either let us in or we will have to force our way in, and you’re in enough trouble as it is.’

  As the police eventually gained entry, with Matt and Jonathan alongside them, Vic and Heather also barged in. They were doing their best to tell the bemused policemen what to do.

  ‘You should arrest her,’Vic said.

  ‘Lock her up and throw away the key,’ Heather concurred.

  ‘Well, perhaps first we should sort out what to do with all these cats. It’s not like we can take them to the station,’ one of the policemen said, looking slightly afraid.

  ‘No need,’ said Heather. ‘We can call all the owners and they’ll come and collect them. Look, I’ve got the posters. We took a copy of each so we knew what cats to look out for. We don’t run the neighbourhood watch for nothing, you know.’

  ‘Well that is good, Mr and Mrs Goodwin. Right, Ms …’

  ‘Babbington-Smythe. But you can call me Henrietta,’ the strange lady said. She even held out her hand to the officer, who looked confused but shook it.

  ‘Come with me,’ said one of the policemen.‘I’m afraid I’ll have to ask you to wait inside while we sort this out.’ The other policeman used his radio to inform someone that they had a cat situation which may take a while. As Matt scooped up George, Jonathan phoned Claire to tell her what was going on and I managed to get a quiet moment with Dustbin and Mr B.

  ‘I don’t know how to thank you, Mr B, you did a sterling job. And, Dustbin, you proved, yet again, what a great friend you are. None of these cats would be free without you.’

  ‘I dunno about that, Alfie, but I’m just glad the boy is all right,’ said Dustbin. ‘The other cats too, of course, but especially him.’ We nuzzled.‘And, Alfie, it took real guts to do what you did, that fence, your fear of heights, the hens. Good job.’

  ‘I’m sorry to interrupt, but I must get back, you never know when I’ll be needed next,’ Mr B said. They both managed to get away without anyone noticing or trying to rehome them, thankfully.

  After what seemed like ages with the policeman, we were allowed to go. Heather and Vic agreed to wait for the other cat owners, only to help the police, of course. As I gave Salmon a grin, I realised the Goodwins were in their element. They were loving every minute, although possibly disappointed they didn’t get to make a citizen’s arrest.

  As we made our way home, Matt carrying George, Jonathan carrying me, I realised that this plan had worked pretty well. No one was hurt, I hadn’t got more than a couple of scratches from the fence, no chickens had been harmed, and I had George safe and sound with me.

  ‘Thank you all so much,’ I said to the chickens. I felt as if I was friends with the creatures now.

  ‘Cluck,’ they replied, bobbing their heads in what I could only assume meant ‘you’re welcome’.

  My relief was palpable. I had relied on a team, and that team had really come through. As we approached Edgar Road I saw Tiger at my gate. I miaowed and Jonathan set me down.

  ‘He’s safe,’ I said, grinning.

  ‘Oh, Alfie, you did it!’ Tiger looked so happy and I felt closer to her than ever in that moment.

  ‘No, Tiger, we did it.’ I nuzzled her and felt like the luckiest cat in the world.

  Chapter Thirty-two

  It was pandemonium when we got back with George. Claire burst into tears, as did Summer, who ran up to George, clutched him to her little chest and told him, ‘Bad kitten.�
�� George looked confused at this telling off, but I gave him a reassuring look. Polly and the kids all crowded round him and of course they wanted to hear the story.

  ‘Alfie did it, really,’ Jonathan said, looking confused.‘After that whole thing here, the kerfuffle, he made us follow him and he led us to the house. How did you find it when no one else had?’ Jonathan asked me. I tilted my head to the side. ‘I think he had help, cat help, that is. And then he took his life, or one of them anyway, into his own hands …’ Jonathan told the story, but it sounded a bit more like one of his action films than what really happened. I mean yes, it was dramatic, but not quite as dramatic as he made out.

  ‘So it turns out that poor Henrietta worked at a cattery, but she hated giving the cats back so they gave her the boot,’ Matt said.‘Which sent her a bit mad and she basically scooped up all the cats she came across. There were about twenty there, all in this big dilapidated house.’

  ‘Imagine the smell, Claire, you would not have coped,’ Jonathan added. It was funny what humans dwelled on.

  Everyone was so happy and made a huge fuss of George, but I got a hero’s welcome after Matt and Jonathan finished explaining what had happened. Claire went to get us some smoked salmon, which was very welcome after our ordeal.

  We ate as everyone stayed close by, all chattering with relief.

  ‘Have you told Tash?’ Jonathan asked.

  ‘Yes, I texted her. She’s at home with Elijah, he wasn’t feeling too well, but Max is with her so she said she would celebrate. And Tomasz? Has anyone let him know?’

  ‘I texted him,’ Jonathan said. ‘And look.’ He held up his phone, which had a photo of my Polish family on it.‘Family selfie, so it’s all good with them,’ Jonathan grinned. I began to relax. George was back where he belonged. In fact, it seemed everyone was where they belonged right now.

  As I snuggled up with George, after we’d eaten and cleaned ourselves, I wanted everyone to see how much I loved him. I hoped they would then see how much they loved each other.

  ‘It’s amazing, really,’ Polly said. ‘Alfie has really adopted George as if he’s his own. Even if he’d fathered him he couldn’t love him any more.’ Claire looked at Polly and then at Jonathan. I saw Jonathan looking at me and then he reached over and grabbed Claire’s hand.

  ‘And we love those cats as if they’re our children, almost,’ Matt pointed out.

  ‘We do,’ Claire said, and I saw she had tears in her eyes as she held tightly onto Jonathan’s hand. I made a note to make an extra fuss of Polly later. How clever she had been with what she said.

  ‘Polly,’ said Matt,‘I was thinking a lot today, when we were looking for George. I felt so scared for him, I know we all did, but it was as if we’d lost a part of the family. And so I think we need to decide, for the good of our family, how we can both work, because I don’t think it’s good for anyone if either of us are miserable.’

  ‘We have been awful lately,’ Polly said.‘Poor kids, we must have been a nightmare to live with.’ I purred my agreement from where I was resting: they had been.

  ‘You can get a nanny or an au pair or something,’ Jonathan said.‘Plenty of parents do that.’

  ‘And I can help you find one,’ Claire said. She was so efficient that I knew she’d probably find them someone in no time.‘And you’re right. We’ve all made a bit of a mess of things lately, perhaps this was the wake-up call we all needed to start putting things right.’ She looked at her husband.

  ‘We’ll talk, properly talk, later,’ Jonathan said, leaning over to kiss her.

  Henry walked into the kitchen and up to his dad. He looked cross.

  ‘What’s up, mate?’ Matt asked.

  ‘Martha and Summer want me to dress up as a girl and go to a pretend tea party with them.’ He didn’t sound happy.

  ‘Oh boy, those girls are so bossy. Right, Henry, come with me and I’ll find you something else to do,’ Jonathan said, taking his hand.

  ‘Can I play on the iPad?’ Henry looked hopeful.

  ‘OK, but you’d better use it in the kitchen or the girls will squabble over it.’ Jonathan ruffled Henry’s hair as he went to get his iPad. Henry sat on a chair in the corner of the room, happy once again now he was safe from the girls.

  Oh, I thought as I felt the warmth of my little boy, it could all be so easy, if only people would let it.

  ‘I’m going to open a bottle of champagne,’ Jonathan announced. ‘We need to celebrate George’s safe return.’ He went to the fridge to get a bottle.

  ‘You know, the last time I was as scared as I was today was when Alfie was ill and I didn’t know if he’d survive,’ Claire said. She was talking about my first plan, which had been incredibly dangerous. Although it had worked, it did almost kill me.

  ‘And to think we didn’t know each other then. Gosh, Claire, I can’t imagine not having you guys in my life,’ Polly said.

  ‘If it wasn’t for Alfie, and now for George, we wouldn’t all be talking like this, like we haven’t done for ages, so I reckon we should toast them,’ Matt suggested.

  ‘You’d almost think he planned the whole thing,’ Jonathan laughed.

  ‘Oh, Jon, you are so ridiculous where Alfie’s concerned, of course he didn’t. But Matt’s right, our lives are richer for having them in it, so let’s toast them,’ said Claire, giving Jonathan an affectionate pat on the arm.

  Jonathan stood up and cleared his throat.

  ‘To love, family and friends – and that includes our lovely, clever cats, without whom we would be lost. As lost as little George was. To Alfie and George.’ He raised his champagne and everyone echoed him as they clinked glasses.

  My heart swelled, so full of joy, I wondered if it would burst.

  Apart from the fact that George actually did go missing, and my plan had gone totally awry, the end result was exactly what I had hoped for. No, it wasn’t worth losing George for, and I would never leave him ever again, not for a moment, but we had him back and it was time to stop dwelling on the bad times and look to our future. Which, as I listened to Claire and Jonathan talk that night, seemed to be exactly what they were doing.

  ‘I think adoption is important for so many reasons,’ Claire said. ‘A child needs a loving family, and we have one, we are one. There are too many children in the world that don’t have what we can offer,’ she said.

  ‘I know and I want to, but I’m scared. What if I don’t love the child like I love Summer? I can’t believe how much I do love her, it takes me by surprise even now.’

  ‘But what if you do love them? Jonathan, you don’t realise how big your heart is, you treat all the kids – Aleksy, little Tomasz, Elijah, Henry and Martha – as if they’re family.’

  ‘I know, and I love them all, but they don’t live with me. I’m not their father.’

  ‘But you are like Alfie and George’s dad now, as well as Summer’s.’

  ‘I sometimes think that perhaps I could do it, but I’m scared, Claire. And by the way, I know we treat them like they’re children but Alfie and George are cats.’

  I did fleetingly think that Jonathan hadn’t exactly welcomed me when I first met him, physically ejecting me from this very house a number of times, but then I knew that was a very different Jonathan to the one I had now. I had won him round and Claire had fixed whatever was wrong with him. Now he was the best father anyone could have. Well, apart from me of course!

  ‘I know that, and it is scary. I’m sorry I’ve been so determined to do it that I haven’t really thought how frightening it is. I’m not just thinking about me, you know. I think that expanding our family in this way will be good for all of us. Summer would really love a sibling, we have a loving home to offer any child, and who cares if he’s older than her.’

  ‘He? Don’t tell me you’ve already got a child and haven’t told me.’

  I thought I wouldn’t put it past Claire actually. Jonathan looked even more terrified.

  ‘Of course not.’ Phew, I was re
lieved.‘But in my head it’s a boy. A big brother for our Sum, someone to take care of her. To protect her while we protect him.’ Claire had tears in her eyes, and I felt a hit of emotion. It would be so perfect, to open our home, our family to a child who didn’t have one. That’s what they had done with me.

  ‘I would like that. I’d also like to have another child, but Claire, what if I don’t feel the right way about them, what if I don’t feel that I’m their parent?’

  ‘Trust me, you will. When the right child comes here, you will feel it.’

  ‘But how can you be so sure?’ he asked.

  ‘Because of Alfie and George.’

  Chapter Thirty-three

  It was over six months since George had gone missing. He was big now, and never got into any trouble. Pah, who am I kidding? He was always up to something. Luckily he had grown out of hide and seek – I think being trapped in Henrietta’s house for so long had put him off hiding. The local paper had called her a mad cat woman – I have to admit, I actually felt a bit sorry for her. She was actually a woman who loved cats, although of course that didn’t mean she could just nick us off the street. Anyway, despite his ordeal, George still loved playing with bags, boxes and curtains, jumping up and climbing. I was forever telling him off but I had learnt that was an important job for any parent, cat or human.

  However, I also made sure he knew he was loved. I was always on hand with a nuzzle whenever he needed one – or if I’m honest, whenever I did. Making sure George knew how loved he was was my most important job. It was so funny, how reluctant I had been when he first arrived, how I wanted to be alone with my heartbreak, but Claire had obviously known what she was doing.