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‘As I was saying, there is so much to do. It’s hectic, and of course we feel as if we ought to keep an eye on everything.’

‘Not least because, of course, I have so much stage experience,’ George added. Clearly, it was OK forhim to boast, then.

We took turns to tell them about the show, and we also filled them in about Barbara.

‘Oh my, I met her,’ Nellie said. ‘I was walking past where she lives, just minding my own business and she shouted at me to get away, but I was on the pavement, not even in her garden. I did run a bit though.’

‘Remember, we nearly got killed by her bin bag,’ George said dramatically. He then did a mini re-enactment by running, spinning and then falling over. Although they had heard about it, they indulged him.

‘Definitely not a cat fan then,’ Rocky added.

‘She was also mean to us at the auditions,’ I explained. ‘Even suggested we shouldn’t be in the show.’

‘We ought to give her a bit of a wide berth, if we pass her flat we should cross the road, you don’t want to provoke people like that,’ Elvis said. ‘Never know what might end up happening to you.’

‘Or we could find out why she’s like that.’ I studied my paw and waited for the reactions.

‘No, Alfie,’ Nellie, Rocky, Elvis and Oliver shouted at the same time.

‘We can’t avoid her though, she’s in the show,’ George pointed out.

‘Perhaps we just win her round, we’ve done it before,’ I suggested.

‘No,’ they all chorused.

‘Oh goodness, please be careful around her and if you need our help then you can always come to us,’ Rocky said, which moved me. My friends had my back, and although we had so much to do, I needed to make sure I made time for them too. Although, because they were such wonderful cats they did understand that it was tricky at the moment.

We hung out for a while longer and I promised to visit at least once every two days to check in. I still couldn’t persuade them to come to the hall – it was out of their comfort zone to venture past the recreation ground, actually – but they said they would still love to hear all about it. When George and I went home I thought about the fact that I must go and see Dustbin soon. I didn’t want to neglect him – and Ally – either.

‘I’ve tried to tell him that he needs to be more reindeer but you know Pickles, he’s a bit limited isn’t he?’ George said. We sat on a table by the stage watching the children and Pickles’ first rehearsal. They had fixed a soft red nose to Pickles but he kept trying to eat it. They hadn’t yet put the antlers on but I doubted that they would fare much better. The door banged open just as Toby and Henry started their rap. The hall went quiet and turned to look. It was the awful Barbara.

‘Hi,’ Claire said. ‘We didn’t expect to see you.’

‘I was just passing so I thought I’d see if I could help you at all.’ Barbara smiled, but I didn’t like the smile. Of course, I also just didn’t like her.

‘What’s she doing here?’ George hissed. I raised my whiskers; I had no idea. I wondered if she had decided to put her meanness aside and try to join in finally. I know that Salmon said she was missing her husband, and I understood grief better than most cats, but still, my grief didn’t makeme mean. Hopefully she had come round and was ready to be a part of the community. People did change after all. I had seen that happen time and time again. My theory was that people who were horrible were sometimes just unhappy, and I had to keep remembering that.

‘Oh,’ Claire said. ‘Well, we are doing early rehearsals, just finishing today’s actually, but if you want to help with sets we are asking for volunteers to paint, decorate trees, help out with costumes, that sort of thing.’

I narrowed my eyes at Barbara, but she smiled again. Still a bit scary, but perhaps that was just her face. I tried to give her the benefit of the doubt, while remaining cautious.

‘I would be delighted. By the way, you haven’t changed your mind about the parts? I mean, I would be happy to understudy anyone.’

‘We hadn’t thought about understudies,’ Aleksy said, eyes darting towards Connie. George glared at me. He still felt that Summer and Toby were treating him as Pickles’ understudy, although I hadn’t even known what that was until he explained it.

‘Well, it doesn’t hurt to be prepared, in case anything happens to the cast,’ Barbara said. I felt a bit of a shiver in my fur. What on earth could happen to anyone? ‘You know, if they got ill or something. It is the time of year for colds and flu. But never mind, I’m happy to do whateverit takes to make this show a success, as it is for such a good cause.’

‘Thank you so much,’ Connie said. ‘Come with me and I’ll take you backstage, show you what we’re doing.’

As they went behind the stage, George leant in close.

‘I don’t trust her, Dad,’ he said.

‘Me either, son, not totally anyway. We’ll have to keep an eye on it.’ I didn’t like the way she made me feel one little bit, but then again, maybe, just maybe, she had changed and we had all just got off on the wrong paw.