Alfie in the Snow

I told her all about how the relationship was fractured between them now, and how Claire and Polly were trying to resolve it.

‘But if Sylvie was so rude about Aleksy why do they want to be friends with her?’ Tiger asked. One thing I loved about Tiger was how she sometimes saw everything in black and white.

‘Well, firstly they want to resolve it for Aleksy and Connie’s sake, but also they know how badly Sylvie has been hurt. They know she’s not really horrible, but she’s scared, terrified even.’

‘I see. And do you have a plan?’

‘Not yet. I am going to see what happens when Polly tries to reason with her and also tomorrow, when I’ve left you, I’m going to go and see Dustbin, see if he has any news, about Aleksy mainly. But you know you’re my priority before I worry about anything else.’

Tiger sighed. ‘Look, Alfie, I know that you are going to put me first, but I also want whatever time I have left to be as normal as possible. And that means I expect you to do what you always do and come up with your mad plans, which inevitably involve some kind of disaster before working out.’

‘They are not mad, they are very good plans.’ I bristled.

‘What about when you nearly died?’

‘It all worked out in the end, but yes, maybe not that one,’ I conceded. I had tried to protect Claire from a boyfriend I knew was no good and I ended up being injured by him, but it did bring all my families together, so you know, it was kind of worth it.

‘And when you got stuck up the tree and had to be rescued by the firemen?’ I could tell she was grinning now.

‘Well yes, that might not have been my finest hour.’ I had been trying to woo Snowball, my first girlfriend, but I discovered a fear of heights and couldn’t get back down the tree. It was most humiliating.

‘Or when George got catnapped?’

‘But at least we managed to rescue loads of cats in the end.’ That had been a terribly worrying time though, not knowing where my little George was. We called them the ‘Lamppost Cats’, because cats were disappearing on and around Edgar Road; pictures of them were being hung on lampposts. At the same time, my families were all unhappy so I tried to get George to hide with Tiger for a while, the idea being that it would bring them all together again. And it did in the end but only after it went a bit awry as George got taken by the kidnapper – catnapper. It was the worst time of my life before we managed to rescue him and all the other cats.

‘Or when you nearly got set on fire?’

‘OK, Tiger, enough now.’ But I was smiling. I was glad to talk about old times with her, it was some comfort actually, even if she was teasing me. And I didn’t nearly get set on fire, I actually foiled a fire that was going to be set in our holiday house in Devon, so there.

‘So, promise me you won’t ever stop with your plans, Alfie,’ she said and I felt her eyes close and she fell asleep right on the doorstep, snuggled up with me in the cold. I wanted to tell her that I wasn’t sure I could give up my plans even if I wanted to, how when she was gone I would need to keep busy more than ever. There was so much I wanted to say to her.

I stayed still, and breathed in the scent of her. I was trying to commit it all to memory – how she looked, how she felt, how she smelt, how her fur tickled mine – because it was painfully clear that despite my optimism, despite the fact that I was the cat who fixed everything, there was no way I could fix this. One day soon, I would have to say goodbye to someone else I loved. And all I would be left with was my memories of her, so I wanted to make sure that I had lots of them.

Chapter Eighteen

Matt and the children were with Jonathan in the living room and Claire was clearing up the kitchen when we heard the doorbell. Wiping her hands on her jeans, Claire went to open it with me at her heels. Polly, face like thunder, stood on the doorstep.

‘Oh dear,’ Claire said. Polly pursed her lips and walked in. The adults all made their way to the kitchen, leaving the children playing.

‘I’m actually really worried about that woman,’ Polly started.

‘So, she didn’t take kindly to your reasonable chat?’ Matt raised an eyebrow. ‘I did tell you to leave well alone.’

‘I told Claire as well,’ Jonathan said. The two men high-fived, looking pleased with themselves. Honestly, if we left it to them nothing would ever get resolved. I swished my tail against Jonathan, angrily.

‘Oh, for goodness sake, grow up. Anyway, I will tell you what happened. Sylvie now blames us – that’s me and you, Claire – for this whole thing. Apparently if we had left her alone, hadn’t tried to make her our friend, then Connie wouldn’t have met Aleksy and none of this would have happened.’

Even I had to admit that was terrible logic. Connie was in the same year as Aleksy in the same school.