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‘Things still bad with Tommy?’ Polly asked.

‘Ah, yes. He’s always been such a naughty boy but mostly harmless. You know, so physical, unlike Aleksy, but sports seemed to keep him under control. But now he’s really playing up at school and we don’t know why. He doesn’t do his homework, he’s been in detention so many times and his head of year even called me and Tomasz in. He said he is not doing well in lessons and he’s becoming known as a trouble maker by the teachers. He has broken so many rules, I don’t think there’s many he hasn’t broken. Thankfully he hasn’t been fighting, but that seems to be the only thing he hasn’t done.’

‘Oh Frankie,’ Claire said. ‘Tommy’s a bright boy but he’s always been a little bit of a live wire. Do you think this might just be a phase?’

‘I hope so, but as Tomasz said, if he starts being in trouble all the time, how do we stop it? It’s hard, you know? Tommy’s always been a leader and he is being seen as the bad influence on his friends now; Aleksy told me this. He didn’t want to say too much because it would betray his brother. He also said he would try to talk to Tommy but I don’t think it’s done any good. They just argue about it all. Tommy says Aleksy is a “suck up” and Aleksy gets quite upset by him.’

‘You’ve already grounded him?’ Sylvie said.

‘Yes, and we took his phone and his iPad, and now he just says he hates us! I just don’t want my lovely boy to go off the rails.’

‘I’m sure he won’t – he’s got a good heart at the end of the day – but you know, maybe he still feels a little bit out of place … with us. He’s older than our lot, and Aleksy has Connie …’ Polly pointed out. This was true. Poor Tommy was a little bit on his own. We noticed this and I somehow managed to draw attention to it. He sometimes had a friend come with him, when we had family day, but not now, not when he was in trouble. He wasn’t allowed.

‘That is why we told him to invite a friend, but now he is grounded we said he had to improve his behaviour before his friends can visit again,’ Franceska said. ‘We really don’t know what to do for the best.’

‘Keep an eye on the situation, that’s all you can do. And if you need any help, we’re all here,’ Claire said.

‘Meow.’ I seconded that.

‘I know. I’m hoping that the next family day we have, maybe Jonathan can have a word. For some reason he seems to take to Jonathan.’ Yeah, I didn’t know why either.

‘I think it’s because they’re similar.’ Claire laughed. ‘But I have an idea. Tommy said he wants to work in the city, which he can only do if he does well at school. Maybe Jonathan could say that if he improves his grades he can do some work experience for him.’

‘That’s a genius idea, Claire,’ Franceska said. ‘I would be so grateful.’

You see, I had taught my humans well. Claire had almost as many good ideas as I did. Although, knowing Jonathan as I did, I wasn’t sure he’d be thrilled. He often found himself having to do things that he had no say in. But, I also knew that even if he objected there would be no point. When Claire made up her mind there was absolutely no changing it.

Tommy being in trouble was something I would have to ponder. He was a good boy. He was fun as well, always laughing and joking, and yes he didn’t love school the way Aleksy did and he didn’t find lessons easy either, but he had great potential. And I would not let Tommy ruin his life – not that he was going to, but if Franceska and his school were right, he was in danger of going down the wrong path and it would take a cat like me to get him back on the right one. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to do it alone, but I had my family, my cat friends, and I was determined. All I needed now was a plan, and I was very, very experienced when it came to making plans.

Theo woke up with a quite startling cry soon after, and Sylvie took him home in order to make Connie’s tea. Franceska reluctantly left us to go and deal with her family. I could see in the way her shoulders were slumped that she was seriously worried about her younger son. I nuzzled into her, giving her a bit of extra fuss so she knew that I was here for her.

‘Shall I do tea for the kids here?’ Claire offered.

‘Oh that would be fantastic. I’ll pour us a glass of wine shall I?’ Polly replied. The kids all got on pretty well most of the time. There was the odd squabble, but that was only to be expected. They all had tea together a few times a week, especially as Claire looked after Henry and Martha when Polly had to work late, and Matt couldn’t get home either. I loved how lively the house was, but it was also quite exhausting.