‘Ahh, no, Pickles, stop, Pickles,’ Henry started shouting. We all looked over.
‘What’s going on?’ Polly asked, appearing from the kitchen.
‘Pickles just ate a Christmas cracker toy,’ Henry explained as he tried to fish it out of Pickles’ mouth. Polly grabbed him, and managed to get it.
‘How on earth did he get that?’ Matt asked, scratching his head. We hadn’t pulled any crackers yet. The children all shrugged innocently.
‘Let’s do Secret Santa now,’ Marcus suggested, cleverly changing the subject.
All the adults exchanged gifts and the younger children all helped deliver them. Summer wanted to deliver a gift when it was Martha’s turn and although Martha was pretty laid-back, she got cross, and then Pickles barked.
‘Summer, you all take turns remember,’ Claire said.
‘She never likes to take turns,’ Toby explained. ‘But, Summer, as it’s Christmas, you can have my turn,’ he added.
‘Yay!’ Summer hugged Toby and I felt a pang. My children were growing up to be like us too.
‘Also, and I won’t have any arguing, you will all take home some leftover food please, it will help me out,’ Tomasz stated, as he prepared to go and put the finishing touches to dinner. I know he meant our new guests, as we all had plenty, but it had been decided before to cook extra food andsend it home with our guests, by letting them think it was just leftovers and we needed them to help eat it up. That was Harold’s idea too. He said like him, a lot of them were too proud to admit being lonely, or to needing help. I had learnt, through Harold, to understand that. I was quite a proud cat myself, after all.
Lunch was wonderful. We cats all ate together. Pickles was kept away, because we all know about his strict diet, and I did feel a bit sorry for him. However, he was given some turkey so it wasn’t all bad. As we ate, I enjoyed listening to the low hum of happy human conversation and laughter. Crackers were pulled, hats put on, drinks refreshed – Mary was a little tipsy, her cheeks flushed and she giggled like a young girl. The rest of our new friends were all relaxing, as they were made to feel part of the family. The children were behaving again, all getting along, under the watchful eyes of Aleksy and Tommy, and everyone was having a lovely time which was all that mattered. It was all that ever mattered to me, to see my friends and families happy.
It was all any cat could ever want.
Later, as the clearing up was underway, we all headed to see Dustbin for the last time before it was time to leave. I told George we should take Pickles with us, too, after all it was Christmas, and as the adults had begun to unwind– with the help of a few drinks – they weren’t quite so vigilant with him.
‘You can come too this time,’ I said, and he happily waddled after us.
‘Hello again, Pickles,’ Dustbin said, having met him when he broke out of home and we were on the recreation ground for Tiger’s anniversary. We introduced him to Ally.
‘You’re a funny looking dog, if you don’t mind me saying,’ Ally said as Pickles licked her.
‘He does that, he licks everything,’ George explained, and Pickles licked the window nearest to him to illustrate the point.
‘I don’t exactly mind you saying,’ Pickles replied. ‘But I am more cat than dog now, surely?’ he added. ‘After all I’ve been practising for such a long time.’
‘You’re probably about as much cat as you’re ever going to be,’ George said and I nudged him.
‘Yay! I knew I could do it,’ Pickles replied. ‘It was nice to see you but I’ve got to go inside now, Summer has dropped a lot of food and it needs clearing up.’ He waddled back to eat the scraps.
‘He’ll never really be a cat will he?’ George said.
‘It’s unfortunate but a lesson of life, there’s no dog or human as clever as a cat,’ I pointed out. ‘But don’t tell Pickles that.’
‘So another year drawing to a close,’ Dustbin said.
‘And it’s been eventful,’ I added. ‘What with Pickles’ arrival, then Harold, George and his job, and Snowball.’ I grinned over at her. I still felt a flutter in my heart every time I saw her and I could barely believe that she was back with us. Back in my life.
‘I was so upset that my family moved away, and that I had to be rehomed but it’s worked out pretty well,’ Snowball said.
‘Definitely for us,’ George said sweetly.
‘And I met Ally,’ Dustbin said. ‘Which made me see what all the fuss is about.’ He looked down and I knew this was an emotional time for him.
‘And I am still here,’ Hana announced, putting a paw out to join us and shivering. George nuzzled her.
‘We are so lucky to have each other aren’t we?’ he said.
‘We are and if we learnt anything this year it’s the importance of love, of helping people and of friendship. Being a friend is the best thing ever.’
‘I like friendship,’ Hana said. ‘I never had cat friends before I met you guys and I am so lucky to have you.’
‘For me to have met friends again, old and new, when I could have been so lonely is a miracle,’ Snowball added.
‘And I love all my friends, old and new, human and cat. It’s part of my job after all,’ George added seriously.
‘Well I for one am glad I met you all,’ Ally said. ‘I can’t believe how much friendship has changed my life for the better. Being a friend is the best thing ever!’
‘Let’s toast to friendship,’ George said, raising his paw. He’d got that from the humans who did it all the time with drinks. We all put our paws up, feeling the warmth despite the freezing cold.
‘And it’s easy to be a friend when you’ve got a friend called Alfie,’ Dustbin finished.