‘Ah Alfie, I was just going home. I don’t want to give my parents any more grief,’ Aleksy said, petting me.
‘No, your brother’s doing quite enough,’ Connie added.
‘Meow.’ I’ve heard, I said.
‘At least we did get to the homeless shelter. Oh Alfie, it was so sad, so many people without homes,’ Aleksy said, still stroking my fur. I nuzzled. I had been homeless once, which seems like another life now, but, I understood.
‘Yes, we want to raise money for it. Not because of the school project but because Christmas is coming up and it’s tough enough being homeless at any time but imagine at Christmas,’ Connie added, sounding passionate.
‘Mew, mew, mew.’ I thought that sounded like a very good idea. Not that I had experience of raising money.
‘I knew you’d agree. Now we just have to think of an idea, because we don’t have one yet. But I better go. As I said, I don’t want Mum to worry about anything else.’ Aleksy bid me and Connie goodbye. He was a good kid, as was Connie. And they wanted an idea.
Well, they had come to the right cat.
Chapter Five
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It was another family day, an unscheduled one actually. Sylvie wanted to host a lunch, which she hadn’t done since Theo was born, to sort of officially welcome Theo into our extended family. As far as I was concerned we already had, but if it kept Sylvie happy … Hana told George that Sylvie felt as if she had received so much support from us all since Theo was born, she wanted to thank everyone, so a Japanese feast it was. And I wasn’t too upset about that because the Japanese were huge fans of fish, just like me.
Sylvie’s house, which used to be very minimalistic, was full of baby stuff now. By the way, for something so small, babies seemed to need a lot of stuff. Not like kittens, kittens were easy by comparison. We cats are so self-sufficient, it’s a shame that humans can’t learn from us; believe me, I have tried to teach them. Dogs can’t learn that much either by the way. Trust me, we tried with Pickles.
I was hoping I might get a bit more information about the Tommy situation. Having reviewed all I knew so far, I had a number of conclusions. Tommy was a teenager and he was misbehaving at school and home. I loved Tommy as I loved all my children, and therefore I could not allow that to happen. However, at this point in time I had no idea what to do. The problem was I could feel trouble brewing. I could feel it in my fur.
Hana, George and I stand poised by the front door of Hana’s house to greet the families. George and I snuck over early, entering through the cat flap, because we were so excited. Hana’s house used to be a quiet and immaculate place but hurricane Theo had changed things somewhat. Now, there was baby paraphernalia all over the place, and it was also pretty noisy. Theo was a beautiful baby but he had a strong set of lungs on him.
On the upside, it was also a happier home now. They had had challenges when they first moved in. Sylvie and Connie arrived from Japan after an upsetting time– divorce. Connie struggled to settle in England, and worried about her mum, but then Sylvie met Marcus, and now they’re a family, which baby Theo helped to complete.
Hana took a bit of time to get used to life in Edgar Road too. In Japan her life was very ordered but in Edgar Road, well, let’s just say order isn’t something that we do very well.
Claire, Jonathan, Toby and Summer arrived first as they only had to come from next door. Claire made a beeline for baby Theo, practically grabbing him out of Sylvie’s arms, and Summer, who was fascinated by babies, and played with dolls a lot, attached herself to her mum’s side, begging for a hold. Sylvie, who is usually quite uptight, sat Summer on the sofa and said she could give Theo his bottle. Polly, Matt, Henry and Martha arrived next with Pickles, who was allowed to join us as long as he behaved himself. He never behaved himself, though, as he set about licking everyone. Martha immediately wanted a turn with Theo; this baby was in demand. Just as a row threatened to break out, Sylvie said there would be enough time for everyone to hold Theo. Poor thing, he was going to spend the day getting passed around like a parcel. It reminded me of when George was a tiny kitten. Everyone wanted him then, too. They lose interest when you get bigger. It’s a fact of life; I can tell you that from personal experience. Not a terrible one, I might add.There are benefits to not being manhandled all the time. Theo could look forward to learning that when he got a bit bigger.
‘Where’s my grandson?’ Harold boomed as he arrived with Marcus, carrying Snowball. I raised my whiskers at her, I was pleased to see her but we would wait to greet each other properly when she was on the floor. Harold treated Snowball as if she was his baby sometimes, even though she was a fully grown cat, like me.
Years ago now, Snowball and I had a rocky start to our relationship– for some reason she was immune to my charms – but I won her round eventually. And yes, I do have a few charms, I’ll have you know.
Harold put Snowball on the floor, and we rubbed noses.
‘Here, Dad, sit down and I’ll pass Theo to you,’ Marcus said. See, just like a parcel.
The doorbell went again and Franceska, Tomasz, Aleksy and Tommy were on the doorstep.
‘Sorry we’re late,’ Franceska sounded stressed.
‘It was this one’s fault.’ Tomasz gave Tommy a gentle push into the house.
‘I wanted to hang out with my friends, not be here,’ Tommy said, sounding surly.
‘Yowl!’ I chastised him. He rolled his eyes at me. Where was my fun Tommy? He went into the living room, sat in the corner and folded his arms. Goodness, he looked sulky, even worse than Summer did when she didn’t get her own way, and that was saying something.
‘I am so sorry,’ Franceska said to the other adults as they made their way into the kitchen. ‘But he’s impossible. He wanted his phone back but we had to stand our ground, so he won’t be good company today.’
Even the kids knew to give Tommy a wide berth as they looked at him suspiciously. Aleksy and Connie shrugged, but didn’t even try to speak to him. Only Pickles seemed oblivious as he went up and licked him. Tommy didn’t even acknowledge the poor dog, as he sat with a scowl on his face. Eventually Pickles got the hint and slunk away.
I noticed Franceska nudge Aleksy.
‘Tommy, why don’t you come with us, Connie’s got a new Xbox game.’ Aleksy was trying. He was being kind, just how I’d taught him.
‘Nah.’
Aleksy rolled his eyes at his mum and he and Connie went upstairs.
Apart from Tommy, it was a lovely, busy, cheerful family day. The kids played nicely, baby Theo seemed to enjoy the noise and the chaos, which was lucky as he would have to get used to it. The food was certainly delicious; Snowball, Hana, George and I had a feast. Poor Pickles was rationed though because, as usual, he was on a diet.
‘You know, it’s time to start thinking about Christmas,’ Claire said, as lunch finished and the kids went off to play. My ears pricked up at the word Christmas – it really was a wonderful time of the year.
‘Oh God, Claire, not yet, surely we get a few weeks more of normality before we mention the C-word,’ Jonathan retorted.
‘Bah humbug,’ Claire shot back. ‘And it’s practically November, or it will be next week.’
‘Claire is right, we need to be organised. Last year, there were lots of us, and this year there are even more to invite, because we have our Sunday Lunch Club,’ Franceska pointed out.
‘And, that’s a lot to cater for, so we need to plan it,’ Polly agreed. ‘Not just the food, but transport, presents … Wow, we do have a lot to think about.’
‘We can open up the restaurant for a big lunch,’ Tomasz offered.
‘But we should divide tasks, so that there’s not too much for anyone,’ Matt said, being sensible.
‘And as I’m at home at the moment, I’m happy to pitch in,’ Sylvie said. ‘Theo and I can do some baking or something like that.’