Alfie in the Snow

‘I will not calm down. It’s not fair.’ He sounded a bit like Summer as he stamped his foot. I guess he’d been taking lessons. I was glad for once that George was out; this scene would have definitely upset him. None of us liked it when Toby was unhappy, although I didn’t recall seeing him this angry before.

‘OK, but Tobe, you have to tell me, because you just sulked all the way home and neither you nor Henry would speak. So can one of you please let me know what’s going on?’ Claire ran her hands through her hair. Toby and Henry were best friends, inseparable, so I didn’t like the sound of them falling out.

‘I will not.’ Toby crossed his arms and then looked a little unsure what to do.

‘Oh Mummy, what happened is this,’ Summer said. ‘They announced the Jesus play people in assembly today. I’m a star. Daddy says I’m a star anyway, so I think that’s why they cast me.’

‘I am guessing you mean nativity, and Summer, yes you are a star, but please can you tell me why this has made Tobe in such a bad mood.’ Claire tried to hug him but he slipped out of range.

‘He’s Joseph, who is baby Jesus’ daddy, but not his real one because Mary was a virgin.’

‘Oh God, Summer, who told you the nativity story?’ Claire asked, although it was a little off point.

‘Daddy.’

Claire rolled her eyes. ‘But Toby, that’s the main part, along with Mary of course, that’s amazing, you should be very proud. I’m very proud.’

I was very proud too, look how far Toby had come.

‘Well I’m not, because I have to hold hands with Emma Roper. She’s Mary and I don’t like her. She’s a girl.’

‘I’m a girl,’ Summer pointed out.

‘You’re my sister, that’s different,’ Toby said.

‘True.’ Summer nodded.

I saw Claire look between them, unsure where to go with this, and I have to say I wasn’t sure either.

‘OK, so you don’t want to hold hands, but what has this got to do with Henry?’ Claire asked.

‘He’s the donkey,’ Toby said.

‘Ah,’ Claire said.

‘I wanted to be the donkey. Everyone knows the donkey is the best part ever.’ Toby burst into tears and ran up to his room.

‘What on earth am I supposed to do about this?’ Claire asked.

‘Leave it to Daddy, he is so much better at all this than you,’ Summer said sagely, and leaving Claire open-mouthed, and me a little bemused, she went to join Toby.

‘He’s really not,’ Claire said.

‘Meow,’ I agreed; he really wasn’t.

‘I hope that she’s only saying that because she’s such a daddy’s girl,’ Claire added, stroking me.

‘Meow,’ I agreed. Claire and I would probably have to sort this one out, just as we sorted everything out.

The doorbell rang and Claire opened it to find Polly on the doorstep.

‘I left Matt with the kids, but had to come and see you. Is Toby alright?’ Polly asked, coming in and picking me up, taking me to the kitchen with her.

‘I was about to go and see, but Sum’s up there with him. He’s really upset.’ Claire’s lips twitched, as did Polly’s, and to my great surprise they both burst out laughing. What kind of parenting was this?

‘Oh, I’m sorry Claire, but Henry was so pleased with himself. He kept saying how everyone wanted to be the donkey and he was chosen for his acting skills and the best thing was that everyone knew that donkeys didn’t have to hold hands with girls.’

‘Poor Toby is so distraught. I told him he’d got the main part but he wasn’t having it. He said he doesn’t like the girl who plays Mary, or he doesn’t like any girls actually.’

‘Poor girl, she’ll get a complex. Anyway, Emma’s a sweetie, she was at Henry’s last birthday party remember, and they all seemed to be friends then.’

‘Oh, how things change in the minds of our babes. But what do we do? Summer thinks Jonathan is going to sort it all out.’

‘Really? She’s delusional when she comes to him.’

‘Is Martha like that with Matt?’

‘No, she knows he’s hopeless at sorting things out, stemming from when he was out of work that time and I was at work most of the time. Things were chaotic.’ Polly shuddered, as did I. It had been a bad time for all of them and Polly was right: the house was a mess, and everyone was struggling. It took Matt quite a while to learn how to cope with the children and the house. No one knew why he was so hopeless, although he’s much better now.

‘Anyway, I better put the kids’ tea on, but what are we going to do?’ Claire asked. ‘Henry has always been such a good friend to Toby, and I couldn’t bear it if they fell out.’

‘Oh, kids fall out all the time, they’ll be best friends in no time, and you know Henry can’t hold a grudge, he doesn’t have the attention span. A bit like his father. But anyway, what I will do is tell Henry to convince Toby that being Joseph is a really good thing. I’ll bribe him somehow if I need to.’

‘Oh thanks Pol, it would be amazing if we could sort this out. And I’ll tell him that Joseph is an amazing part – oh, I’ll say the sign of a good actor is pretending and if he can pretend to like the girl then that will show how amazing he is.’