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‘Lisa is one of our hopeful cases, we’re hoping to get her into some accommodation before Christmas, and then she said she would get a cat as soon as she was able,’ Greg explained.

‘Yowl.’ Lisa was clearly a very clever young woman.

George jumped down and jumped onto one of the empty tables. Before anyone could get him, people lined up to fuss over him. He did a bit of showing off; he jumped a bit, rolled around and then sat looking adorable as they took it in turns to stroke him.

‘Honestly,’ Jonathan said. ‘He’s such an attention seeker.’ But at least everyone was laughing. The shelter became full of life as George entertained, meeting the people who we were doing the show for. It was wonderful. I had no other words – I felt warm and fuzzy, sad, but hopeful, allat the very same time.

Before we left, I noticed that Jonathan took his wallet out and gave Greg a bundle of notes. I puffed my chest. I was so proud of everyone; we were all working together to do something good. And as we left them enjoying a hot meal and company, chatter filled the hall, and cheers and waves followed us out. I hoped we would get to go again. We couldn’t do much but at times doing anything was much better than doing nothing.

My ego was firmly put in its place as we made our way home. I was so lucky and it was time to count my blessings. Even if being a sheep was one of them.

Chapter Sixteen

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The shelter visit had made us all see the show as even more important, and so we all upped our game. We knew that if we could raise money, get the gifts and also extra clothes donated, then at least the people there would have a better Christmas than they would otherwise. Everyone was roped in to make it happen. The show was the focus but helping these people was more than just the show, if that makes sense.

Claire had a list of how many male and female people regularly visited the shelter and she was putting together the gifts. As well as hats, gloves, and scarves, she was also going to put a basic toiletry package together, but she said she would hopefully have spares as there could be more people needing them come Christmas. She had managed to get a lot of help for this already. The primary school where Toby, Henry, Martha, and Summer went were asking parents to help, and local shops had also agreed to get involved. Jonathan’s company, as well as sponsoring the show – he had put himself in charge of budget and wouldn’t let anyone spend a penny unless it was totally necessary – had encouraged its employees to all buy a coat or a sleeping bag, and they had readily agreed. That or they’d been given no choice, I’m not sure which.

Franceska and Tomasz had increased the amount of food they were taking to the shelter every day, now, so more people could be fed. Harold said that his senior centre friends didn’t have much money but he would ask if they had any clothes spare, and Marcus, Polly, and Matt were raising funds at their offices to help as well.

In addition to all that, the show was taking up more and more of our time. It had been cast now, and Aleksy and Connie had informed people of their roles and what they needed to do. It was all coming together well as we prepared to start rehearsals. Rehearsals had to be fitted around school and work, so they would be held evenings and weekends and Claire said that they could draw up a schedule to rotate who was rehearsing when to save time. It was actually all very complicated, so I was glad of her organisational skills.

Ralph the vicar had offered to donate mince pies and tea and coffee for the dress rehearsal, when the shelter patrons came to see the show. The Goodwins’ singing group were holding a raffle to raise more money on the opening night, and they’d started collecting prizes. As Jonathan pointed out, no one ever said no to the Goodwins. No one dared. Aleksy and Connie said they would get their friends, who weren’t in the show, to sell the raffle tickets. It really was wonderful to see how well everyone was working together. It was really a community effort.