Alfie in the Snow

I nose-kissed George goodnight as he settled in with Toby. I checked on Summer who was sleeping, her breathing so sweet, and I remembered when she was a baby, which didn’t seem so long ago, and I would watch her sleep a lot. It was sort of hypnotic watching her, and I also felt that I was protecting her somehow.

I padded back downstairs where Claire and Jonathan were snuggled up together on the sofa, watching something on TV, and giggling together. They were happy. I then went out, quietly, to Polly and Matt’s house. I let myself in through the cat flap, which they’d had put in years ago just for me. I didn’t spend as much time there as I used to any more, because of George, but I did go and see them when I could. I made my way upstairs, and checked on Martha who was sleeping, and sounded a bit like Summer, then Henry who had kicked the covers off but was also fast asleep, clutching a toy spaceman.

‘Hello, Alfie,’ Polly said as she emerged from the bathroom, wrapped in a towel. She had come out of the bath, I guessed – each to their own. I hated water but humans seemed to like it. Matt shouted up asking if she wanted a cup of tea and when she put her pyjamas on I followed her downstairs to where he was waiting with tea and biscuits laid out on a tray.

‘Fancy watching Game of Thrones?’ he asked, giving me a fuss. ‘Nice to see you, Alfie.’

‘Perfect,’ she said and gave him a kiss. They went into the living room, and sat together on the sofa. I spent a bit of time on Polly’s lap, enjoying her affection. Just as I was beginning to feel sleepy, I decided to leave.

‘Meow,’ I said, quietly, and bid them goodnight.

I had an urgent need to check on everyone I loved, but it wasn’t possible to go back to Franceska’s house. It was too late now to go so far from home, but knowing Dustbin was keeping an eye on things was reassuring. I was glad my Edgar Road families were all happy, and peaceful. How I wished I could be.

I went to see if there was any movement from Tiger’s house before I returned home. There wasn’t. The house was shrouded in darkness and I knew her family normally went to bed early, so I wasn’t surprised. I quickly popped to the back of Sylvie’s house and saw that Connie was at the kitchen table, with her computer in front of her, and it looked as if Sylvie was helping her with her homework while Hana sat next to the computer. They looked more harmonious and I wondered how Sylvie would react when she found out about Aleksy. But that was a worry for another day.

I went home and curled into my bed and thought about Tiger. I replayed certain scenes with her in my head. How she was protective of me since we first met on Edgar Road. How she was always the more aggressive of the two of us and had got me out of trouble a few times. She was unafraid, she seemed so fearless. How she teased me about my vanity and conceit but still liked me for it. How she’d been jealous of me and Snowball, and I’d felt our friendship was really under threat, but she had been so mature about it and we had worked through. How she was the one who helped me when I was broken-hearted after Snowball left and how quickly she took to helping me parent George and never complained. She didn’t complain about much. And when I told her I loved her, which was a long time coming, she was so happy, but she also would never have pushed me into it. She was the best friend a cat could ever have, and as I finally let myself fall apart, when no one could see me, I realised I had no idea how I was going to cope with her loss. For an ideas cat, I literally had no idea how I would carry on without her.

Chapter Fourteen

George’s head moved from me to Tiger, and back again. He blinked and then he looked at us both again.

‘I don’t understand,’ he said. The poor kitten really didn’t.

‘I’m not well, George,’ Tiger said. ‘I can’t get better. It happens sometimes and soon, but I don’t know how soon, I won’t be here any more.’

‘But where are you going? On holiday?’ It was George’s first experience of loss, and goodness, what I wouldn’t have given to protect him from it.

‘No, although it might seem a bit like that. I’m going far away so you can’t physically see me but I will always be watching you.’

‘Well that makes no sense at all,’ George said. ‘If you’re so far away how can you watch me?’

‘Well I’m kind of going to be in the sky, so I will be able to see you but you won’t be able to see me.’ I’m not sure Tiger was actually doing a good job of this. She was confusing the poor lad even more. Not that I was sure I could do any better, but I thought I’d have a go.

‘What Tiger means, George, is that sometimes people, or cats in this case, have to leave this earth, but they will be in your hearts forever, so they never properly leave you.’

He blinked at us both again.

‘So you won’t be here, in this house, on this road?’

‘No.’

‘And I will never see you again?’

‘No.’