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‘But he was right, he shouldn’t be here,’ Gilbert said. ‘His owners would be really worried if they came home and he was missing.’

‘And by the way, we should find a way to tell the humans to block up that gap,’ George added. He wouldn’t have said that when he was in love with Chanel would he?

‘I know, you’re right but we should have been kinder. He’s all alone.’ I was definitely getting softer the older I got. I think the effect of having grand kittens. ‘I mean, George, have I taught you nothing-‘ I was about to carry on with my lecture but George interrupted me.

‘Dad, I heard Jonathan said he was getting pilchards from the local fish shop,’ George said, knowing full well how much I loved pilchards. Dog forgotten, I ran to the kitchen to await my favourite food.

Although we missed our other families, and of course Snowball and my grand kittens, we were having a nice break. In fact I couldn’t remember when we had had a more relaxing time. I thought as I lay in the sight of the sun, feeling it warm up my fur very nicely. Just as I was about to close my eyes for a quick cat nap, there was a loud commotion coming from next door. I leapt up and ran to see what was going on. George joined me. Gilbert was in the house. We went to the gap where the dog had got in the other day and had a look. The humans from next door were running around like headless chickens – not that I had seen a headless chicken by the way, but Claire often said it when Jonathan was looking for his car keys.

‘Bailey,’ here doggy, they were calling over and over again. There was a level of hysteria in their voices. I looked at George.

‘Do you think it’s the dog we saw the other day?’ I asked. ‘You know the one you were so mean to?’

George looked contrite. ‘Shall we check round the house in case he came in here again?’ he suggested.

‘Good idea, son.’ I softened. We both ran through the open front door where Claire was sweeping the floor – trying to get rid of the never ending supply of sand the kids and we brought in.

‘What are you doing?’ she said, nearly tripping over us and her broom.

‘Meow,’ I shouted and then she heard the voices from outside. When she went out to see what was going on, George went to look for the dog and I followed Claire. I liked to be in the know after all.

‘Is everything OK?’ she shouted through the hedge when she reached the gap.

‘Oh, we’ve lost our puppy Bailey, he got out. Do you think he’s in your house?’

‘Oh no. Please, come over and we’ll look.’

A woman ran round to the front of our house in record time. Her face was red and her voice breathless.

‘I told my husband and kids to keep looking there, but if you don’t mind…’

‘Course not. I haven’t seen him but he might have got through the gap.’

‘Meow,’ he did, I said. But the woman didn’t seem to notice me as she started calling for Bailey again and running round our garden. I raised my whiskers, Claire raised her eyebrows.

‘Come inside, he might have snuck in,’ she offered. The woman stopped running around and followed Claire.

‘He’s only a puppy and hasn’t been with us for long, we adopted him, oh I’d never forgive myself if anything happened.’

‘I’m sure he’s fine. How long have you lived next door?’

‘A few months now. We moved in the midst of the pandemic which was tricky but we’d already arranged it, so anyway, BAILEY,’ she shouted at the top of her lungs. It made me jump.

I went to find George, who was with Gilbert.

‘No sign?’ I asked.

‘No.’

‘And I was by the back door so I’d know if he came through the house,’ Gilbert said.

‘Everyone is going crazy,’ I explained. ‘Bailey is fairly new to them, he was adopted. I hope you don’t feel too bad about not playing with him,’ I couldn’t help but add.

‘Dad, he went missing today, not when he came over to us, so don’t try to pin this on me,’ George retorted.

‘Right you two, instead of arguing how about we try to find the dog?’ Gilbert suggested. It was exactly what I was going to say actually as I swished my tail.

Jonathan came home with the kids and Claire dragged him next door, with Helen – Bailey’s owner – to see if they could help. From what we discovered, they were all going to scour the village and Claire was going to stay at their house in case Bailey came back. As they all headed off in different directions, it seemed to me that none of the humans had a clue how to organise a search. Luckily, I was an expert having searched for a fair few cats and children in my time.