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I raised my tail. Not only was I wearing a bonnet but I was now a girl? George almost fell off the arm of the sofa he was trying so hard to contain himself; and then he did fall off.

‘Yowl,’ he said, as he rolled himself upright again.

‘Yowl,’ I replied. Serves you right.

The talk over lunch was all about the show and also about Christmas.

‘Maybe you could do a performance for us,’ Clive said. ‘I, for one, would like to see it but of course it might be hard to get us all there, all the Sunday Lunch Club.’

‘Oh goodness,’ Jonathan said. ‘We’ve got enough members to fill the hall, and of course then we’ll need to be able to transport you all, seeing as most of the families you go to are in the show …’ He scratched his head.

‘There must be a way,’ Claire said. She lapsed into thought. ‘Leave it with us.’

I had a brainwave. On Christmas Day, we were all going to be hosting our Sunday Lunch Club for all members who would be alone. And most of the people involved in the show, as Jonathan rightly said, were involved in the club, so Christmas Day would be perfect for us to do a show for them. It might have to be in the evening and maybe not everyone could make it, but surely we could put on an edited version? It would be better than nothing, and like the people in the shelter, the Sunday Lunch Club didn’t get to go out very often so it would be special for them.

I jumped onto Claire’s lap, and mewed at her, trying to convey my idea. But of course she didn’t understand. How could I tell her what I meant?

‘We’ll sort something out,’ Claire said again, looking at me with a puzzled expression. I would have to keep trying, because clearly she wasn’t quite as advanced in ideas as me and this was a tricky one to convey. I thought maybe I would try again at the next family day, because if everyonewas there, someone might understand me. Or maybe George and Snowball could help me explain it to Harold. That might work. In the meantime, I would just enjoy some nice lunch treats that Jonathan had put down for George and me. Although I was still wearing this awful bonnet, and there wasn’t a damn thing I could do about it.

Later, with everyone at home and the bonnet gone, I went to see Snowball to see what she thought about my latest idea.

‘I agree it’s a very good idea but how to tell the humans? Maybe they’ll come to the same conclusion themselves?’ she said, hopefully.

‘I agree they might … After lunch and games we all have a bit of time before we have to arrange for everyone to go home, so maybe if we did the show then – like a kind of finale – that would be a great end to Christmas Day.’

‘Ah, Alfie, it’s lovely, it would be perfect and mean that everyone we care about gets to see the show. It’ll be like a family showing. Otherwise our Sunday Lunch Club family might miss out.’

‘You know what, Claire said she’s drawing up a list of who from the Sunday Lunch Club is going where for Christmas Day, because some families go away, so we double up, don’t we? If we can see the list and maybe jump around on it or something she might get the idea.’

‘It’s worth a try, but,’ Snowball yawned, ‘I still think that if Claire tells the others that Clive said he wanted to see the show, they will come up with the idea themselves.’

Snowball had a lot more faith in the humans than I did.

‘Or we could do our sheep bit when it’s next family day, so that might give them the idea.’

‘We could, or we could wait for them to get the idea themselves,’ Snowball reiterated.

‘Or we could wait until they put the Christmas tree up and all climb it – OK, actually just George – so they get the idea.’

‘Or we could wait …’ Snowball licked her paw. ‘Alfie, you don’t need an elaborate plan for everything, you know. Do as you said, see if they come up with the idea at the next family day and if they don’t then we’ll think of something. But, whatever you do, don’t tell George about the idea of climbing the tree, you’ve only just got him to stop doing that.’

‘Fair point.’

We strolled around Harold’s small garden and though it was cold and dark, my mind was whirring. Could I really trust the humans to come up with my brilliant idea on their own? Without my help? I really didn’t think I could.

Chapter Eighteen

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‘Alfie, I feel as if I haven’t seen you in ages,’ Nellie said.

‘I’m sorry.’ I was. I knew I had neglected my friends yet again. Rocky, Elvis, and Oliver were all at the recreation ground and I felt even more guilt as they seemed so pleased to see me.

‘So, fill us in? We’re dying to hear about the show. We saw Snowball briefly, although she was in a hurry because Harold needed her at home, but she said it had been busy.’

‘Understatement of the year. There’s so much to do. Who knew when I came up with the idea—’

‘Dad, will you stop saying that? We all know it was your idea, we’ve heard it a thousand million times,’ George interrupted. I hadn’t seen him approach.