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‘Yowl!’ Something fell on me. It wasn’t heavy but as I wriggled out from under it, I could taste dust in my mouth. It wasn’t the nicest taste ever.

‘Meow!’ I shouted, and Aleksy and Connie came running.

‘Oh God, Alfie, you are covered in cobwebs and dust,’ they said, as I tried desperately to get the worst of it off me with my paw.

‘Oh look, it’s a dummy,’ Connie said, picking up the ‘person’ who scared me. Well, obviously now I could see it wasn’t real.

‘Look Claire,’ Aleksy shouted and Claire came to join us.

‘Amazing’ she said. ‘It looks like there might be things we can use for the sets here. Would that be OK, Ralph?’

‘As far as I’m concerned, you can use anything here. So this show, what exactly is it about?’ he asked.

‘We don’t know just yet but we thought we’d have Christmas songs, maybe the Nativity – but with adults – and carols of course. As long as it fits the Christmas theme we could have a variety of acts; a real family show,’ Connie said, looking at her feet and blushing. She could be shy around people she didn’t know.

‘And who’s going to be in it?’ Ralph asked.

‘Meow.’ Me, of course.

‘Um, well, we are going to hold auditions,’ Aleksy said. ‘If you’re interested?’

‘I might well be. We have a small but pretty good choir at our church, I’m sure they would all love to get involved.’

‘Great, when we’ve got the posters and the date for the audition we’ll let you know,’ Claire said.

‘We’d love that. And here’s two sets of keys for you. You can use the hall whenever you like, as no one else uses it at the moment.’

‘We’d love you to be involved,’ Claire added. ‘We’re so grateful for this, by the way. Thank you again.’

There was still no mention of what I would be doing but I knew it was only a matter of time.

After we’d finished at the hall I went home with Connie to see George and Hana, and fill them in on the day’s events.

‘I’ll be in the show,’ Hana said. ‘I said no at first because I’m a bit shy but as it is Connie’s show, I feel that I should get involved.’

‘Great, I’m sure the four of us will get some kind of starring role,’ I said. ‘I don’t know what, but we are bound to steal the show.’

‘Well, Hana, Dad, remember I have the only stage experience among us.’

‘What?’ I asked.

‘I was the baby Jesus in the school Nativity a few years ago so I can give you advice on stage presence and how to get over stage fright. I am something of an expert after all.’

‘Wow, that’s impressive George,’ Hana said.

I shook my tail. Tommy put George in the manger of the school Nativity where he fell asleep and woke up, forgetting where he was, and jumped out, making a racket. That was the sum of his experience. It hardly made him Oscar-worthy but, then, I wasn’t going to tell him that. I would let him have his moment as Hana was hanging on his every word.

‘I guess I’m too old to be baby Jesus this time?’ George said, sounding disappointed.

‘They’ll probably use Theo, seeing as he’s a real baby,’ I pointed out.

‘Yes, I’ll have a more grown-up part then. But, don’t worry Hana and Dad. As I said, I’ll help you both.’

‘Thanks son,’ I said. Honestly, was he ever going to let up with this stage business? Knowing George, probably not.

Theo let out a loud cry just then and Sylvie brought him to where we were chatting.

‘Ah, all the cats. Right, well, guys I am going to take Theo round to Claire’s. Being at home all day is sending me crazy.’

‘We might as well stay here then,’ George said, after she’d gone. ‘Our house will be really noisy now,’ he finished.

‘I better go,’ I said. ‘I promised Snowball I’d let her know how we got on today.’ As much as I was disappointed to miss George’s acting lesson …

‘Don’t worry, Hana, I can give you plenty of acting tips.’

I got soaked to the skin again as I made my way to Snowball’s house. Honestly, the things I did for love. But thankfully, when I got to Harold and Snowball, the living room was warm and cosy so I lay by the fire and soon dried out. We waited until Harold nodded off and then made for the kitchen to chat.

‘I’ve already heard about the venue. Claire popped in to see Harold and told him all about it. He said he was even going to audition for it! As Connie is his granddaughter now, he felt it only fair he support her.’

‘How wonderful, although not sure what talent Harold has?’ Harold was much softer now but he was still a bit of a grumpy old man.

‘Claire said they could get him to be Santa,’ Snowball said.

‘But he’d have to smile and be nice,’ I said and laughed. Imagine Harold dressing up as Santa. It would be almost as bad as Jonathan.

‘He is so much more cheerful now he’s got his family around him, especially me and baby Theo, so maybe he could do it.’

‘Yeah, perhaps.’ Snowball always saw the best in people. ‘I’m more concerned with what parts we’ll have. George thinks he’s some kind of acting expert but I think we’ll probably have to dress up as other animals for the Nativity.’