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‘I was angry all the time, and I didn’t want to have to join in with the show, I thought it was dumb and that’s not nice. But I realised how much I’ve been missing out on by being so bad, and I want to go back to how I was. I still get a bit angry at times but Mum explained it’s hormones.And I think the shelter is such a good cause and I love doing the social media; I even told Aleksy that. I pretended to hate it at first but it wasn’t true. My friend Charlie has helped me see how awful I was being, and now I want to do better.’

‘Well, that’s great. I have to admit, I heard Aleksy thought you were the one who sabotaged the show, and it had crossed my mind as well.’

‘I know. Once you’re a trouble maker then you’re branded. But, I understand and that was my wake-up call. I realised that if people thought I would really do something that bad then I must have been really horrible. But I want a second chance to prove myself.’

‘That’s great. You do it and that offer of work experience might still be on the table.’ Jonathan ruffled his hair and I nuzzled his leg.

‘That would be awesome, thank you. I won’t let you down.’

It was an early Christmas miracle.

Chapter Twenty-Four

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We saw Elvis bound down the street towards us as I was recounting the events of the previous few days to my friends at the rec ground. It was frosty most mornings now, but we cats were brave when we needed to be.

‘Alfie, wait until you hear this,’ he said breathlessly as he skidded to a halt.

‘What?’ Snowball asked.

‘So, I was walking here, and went past the flat – the one where the cat hater lives.’

‘You mean Barbara?’ I was still a little confused by her. She had tried to hurt us, but she had also offered her help with catching the person sabotaging the show, and was being friendly with everyone on the street, so it was hard to figure her out.

‘Yes, that one, well,’ he interrupted my thoughts then had to stop he was panting so much. He almost sounded like Pickles when he ran too fast. ‘Sorry, I was trying to get here too fast.’

‘Elvis, get to the point,’ Nellie said.

‘Sorry. Yes. So I was about to walk past her flat, but I remembered what you said, so when the front door opened, I crouched down by the gate of the next door flat, hidden, as she approached the bin. I saw her look both ways before she lifted the lid and what do you think she put in there?’ He paused and sat down, looking at us expectantly.

‘Rubbish?’ Snowball volunteered.

‘Nope. Not exactly.’

‘What was it, Elvis?’ I said, impatiently. He was making a real meal out of this, which reminded me that I was a bit peckish and my stomach rumbled.

‘A pair of shoes with yellow bottoms.’

‘Right and?’ Rocky said. ‘Oh, you mean?’

‘Yes, they were big shoes and the bottoms were covered in yellow paint, and she threw them in the bin.’

‘Are you sure?’ I was shocked from my whiskers to my paws. I had almost decided to give her another chance after she had seemed so sad when Polly and she walked home the other night.

‘Yup.’

‘But, she’s got little feet,’ I added.

‘Go and see for yourself. I saw her leave after she threw them away. She had a shopping bag with her so if we go now, I can show you and she won’t see us.’

We all set off together. We reached her flat, and the bin outside, but the lid was, of course, closed.

‘How do we look inside?’ I asked.

Snowball jumped up on the wall. She gently eased her paw under the lid and lifted it a bit.

‘Quick, jump up and see if you can see anything,’ she said. I did as she asked and, balancing precariously on the rim of the bin, I peered in.

‘They are in there and it’s the same colour as— Ahhh,’ I lost my balance and fell onto the path, landing on my tail. The others tried not to laugh; they failed. Snowball let the lid fall, and jumped down to join me.

‘Alfie, are you OK?’

‘My tail is a bit sore,’ I said, embarrassed. It was easy to lose your footing on the narrow bin rim, but falling in such an undignified manner in front of Snowball and my friends wasn’t great for my ego.

‘But you saw the shoes?’ Elvis said excitedly.

‘Yes, and you are right, they are definitely the footprints we found, which means that she must know the person who did it. She must know a person with big feet.’

‘Oh Alfie, it was probably her. She wore shoes that were too big for her to throw us off the scent,’ Nellie said, slightly patronisingly.

‘Oh, yes, of course.’ I hadn’t thought of that. But then, I was still nursing a bit of an injury so my brain wasn’t working as well as normal.

‘Remember how the kids used to put on the adults’ shoes sometimes and flap around the house?’ Snowball asked. I nodded.

‘Of course, she put the shoes on just to make the footprints.’ That made more sense.