7. ALFIE THE CHRISTMAS CAT
Chapter One
We prepared for noise and chaos to fill our house on what can only be described as one of my favourite days. It was family lunch day, and we have a big family. What I have learnt, as a doorstep cat, is that family isn’t just about blood. As George and I groomed ourselves, ready to greet all our favourite people, we were more than a little bit excited.
I’m Alfie, if you haven’t met me before, and George is my kitten, although he’s not exactly a kitten anymore. As most parents know, there is a reluctance to acknowledge that our children are growing up, getting older and more independent. I have to admit, looking back, I miss when George was younger and needed me more than he does now. Thinking about how I used to moan about lack of sleep, no time to myself, constantly being on guard for danger … But I’d turn the clocks back in a heartbeat. Of course, George still needs me at times, but he is so independent, with his own life and even a girlfriend, Hana. Oh how he’s grown into a fine tom. But I digress.
I am a doorstep cat, which means I have more than one home, more than one family that I spend time with. George and I have our main home with Claire, Jonathan, and our children, Toby and Summer. We live on Edgar Road. It’s a big street with lots of different types of houses. We often gather at ours as it is one of the bigger houses, and we have a lot of people, pets and children to fit in.
‘Hey guys!’ Matt, who is one of the most laid back of our adults, approached the doorstep with his wife Polly, and their children, Henry and Martha. Oh, and on the lead was a very excited Pickles, their pug who spends a lot of time with us. I am not only a cat who looks after humans, but also dogs, it seems.
Pickles tries to eat everything in sight, and likes to lick whatever he can’t eat. He’s still a puppy, albeit quite a chubby one! I am often charged with Pickles sitting; have been since he was tiny. Now, as I said, he’s far from tiny – as the time he got stuck in the cat flap proved – but he’s part of the family. He might have taken a bit of getting used to, us cats and dogs aren’t natural friends after all, but we love him very much. Although … George took longer than me to come around to having him in our lives, and he can still sometimes be a bit cutting with him.
‘Meow,’ George and I greeted them, along with a friendly nuzzle. As they stepped inside, Pickles licked us both then licked Jonathan’s feet. Thankfully, he was wearing slippers. The children shrieked as they all went upstairs to play. Toby, Summer, Henry, and Martha are the best of friends, which is lucky as we all spend so much time together. As Polly and Matt went off to help with drinks and food, we waited to see who our next arrivals would be.
The doorbell rang again and Sylvie, Marcus, their teenager Connie, and their baby Theo were there. They’d also brought their cat, George’s girlfriend Hana. They made such a cute couple.
Claire practically trampled us to get hold of Theo, before they even set foot inside. Theo was our latest addition; he was only a few months old and ever so popular. It was the same when George was a kitten and Pickles a puppy. People liked babies.
‘Come in out of the cold,’ Jonathan said as Claire walked into the living room cuddling Theo.
‘I’m just going to pick Dad up,’ Marcus said, before leaving to get his dad, Harold, who lived at the end of the street.
It was largely down to George that Harold became part of our group and, in turn, his son Marcus and Sylvie– our next door neighbour – fell in love. We can actually pretty much take credit for baby Theo, thinking about it.
I grinned and raised my whiskers at George and Hana. We could hear the children laughing upstairs, the adults in the kitchen– Jonathan and Claire were cooking, and Polly now had hold of baby Theo. Pickles was running around in circles, Sylvie was enjoying a much-needed sit down and Connie hovered anxiously. We all knew who she was waiting for.
The sound of the doorbell heralded our final guests. As well as Harold, who brought his cat Snowball, my girlfriend and first love– it’s a long story so I’ll tell you about it later – Tomasz, Franceska, and their teenagers Aleksy and Tommy stood on the doorstep.
There were more hugs and kisses and nuzzles and strokes before we were all finally in one place. Our family lunch was about to start. And I couldn’t have been happier.
George, Hana, Snowball and I snuck into the garden. We should have known that Pickles wouldn’t like to be left out and watched as he emerged through the cat flap, which was actually a doggy door. He got stuck in the cat flap so it had had to be replaced with a bigger door.
‘What are you doing?’ Pickles asked. He might not be tiny anymore but he was only a year old, so still a baby. He’d also spent most of the first year of his life trying to be a cat. It’s a hard lesson every non-cat has to learn, that not just anyone can be a cat. It takes a lot of skill.
‘Just getting a bit of fresh air and a bit of quiet,’ I said.
‘It is so noisy in there, isn’t it?’ he said.
‘I love it when we’re all together but we are a lot aren’t we?’ George stated. There was no arguing with that. We were a lot.
Lunch was in full swing. We didn’t have a dining table big enough for everyone, so the children sat at one table and the grown-ups at another. I, obviously, was with the grown-ups, but I hovered by the chairs – it was frowned upon for cats to be on the table, although sometimes that didn’t stop me. George and Hana were withthe children and Pickles was under the table, trying to catch any food that had been discarded. He really liked his food. Snowball was curled up in my bed, taking a rest. I noticed that Connie and Aleksy were sat with the adults, but Tommy, Aleksy’s younger brother, was at the children’s table and he didn’t look happy as he pushed his food around his plate. I made a note of that. If people were unhappy, it was my job to sort them out.
I padded over to him and tried to get his attention, but he ignored me. I was put out– I’m not used to being ignored – but then, Tommy really did look thunderous. I made my way back to the safety of the adults.
‘We have this school project; it’s about homelessness,’ Aleksy said.
‘God, that’s heavy, in my day we just did Geometry,’ Jonathan said with a laugh.
‘Showing your age, Jon,’ Matt teased.
‘In my day we wrote with quills not pens,’ Harold added, then laughed loudly. I had no idea what he meant but as Harold was quite fond of being grumpy, it was nice he was laughing.
‘So, what is the project?’ Marcus asked.
‘We’re learning about awareness campaigns. We have to design a campaign to highlight the problems facing homeless people today and make people aware that it’s a problem,’ Connie explained.
‘Goodness, that sounds very serious,’ Claire said.
‘We wanted to go to the local shelter and meet people who are actually homeless to find out what it’s like,’ Aleksy said. ‘So that when we do our project we will have direct experience to draw on.’
‘And then we thought we might come up with ways to raise money for them,’ Connie added with a blush.
‘You are very good and kind, Aleksy and Connie,’ Franceska said. ‘I’m proud of you both.’
‘I’ll come with you,’ Tomasz said. ‘We give food from the restaurant to the local place so I know them; I can take you both.’
‘Oh that would be great!’ Connie’s eyes lit up.
‘But it will be hard,’ Sylvie said. She was very overprotective and I knew she would be worried about Connie.
‘Yes, but these two will be fine,’ Polly cut in. ‘They are tough and have big hearts. I think it’s wonderful that you’re learning about these things at school.’
‘In my day—’ Jonathan started, but then laughed.
‘So, we’ll visit the shelter and then think of a way to raise money and awareness,’ Aleksy said. I nuzzled him. I was very proud of him too.