Alfie in the Snow

‘Do you think he’s alright?’ George looked at me, stricken. This was all we needed, having just lost Tiger, he couldn’t lose his new friend. Even if the man didn’t like him. I had to think and act quickly.

‘I’ll go and get one of the humans,’ I said. ‘They’ll know what to do. Do you want to come with me?’

‘No, I better stay here, I don’t want him to be alone,’ George replied.

I was in luck. Just as I was a few paw strides from the house, wondering who would be home, I saw Jonathan and Matt walking along the street. I ran in front of them.

‘Hey Alfie, we’re just going home from the pub, football,’ Matt explained.

‘YOWL,’ I cried at the top of my lungs.

‘Oh no, don’t tell me this is another cat emergency,’ Jonathan moaned. It wasn’t my fault that there seemed to be quite a few lately. I jumped on his foot, which caused him to say a bad word.

‘YOWL,’ I screeched again. I then did my signal of running round in circles, before they both seemed to get it.

‘Alfie, you do pick your moments, I’m really hungry,’ Jonathan complained, but I was already hightailing it back to the man’s house.

‘Where the hell are we going?’ They were finally following. I ran as fast as my legs would take me back to the open window. George hadn’t moved, he was right by the man’s side.

‘Meow,’ he greeted us with relief.

‘What on earth,’ Matt peered in the window, ‘is that?’

‘There’s an old man on the ground, I think. With George,’ Jonathan said. ‘It’s dark though.’

‘I’m calling an ambulance. Thank goodness for these cats,’ Matt said, pulling his phone out and dialling.

‘I’ll try to break in,’ Jonathan said, shoving the front door with his shoulder, which didn’t move. ‘Ow,’ he said, rubbing it. I climbed in through the window, trying to show him how it was done. ‘Oh, I guess I can go in that way,’ Jonathan said. It was a bit of a tight squeeze but he made it.

‘Great, why didn’t we think of that?’ Matt rolled his eyes as Jonathan came round and opened the front door for him. ‘Ambulance is on its way.’

Jonathan’s hands were shaking as he opened the door and they both ran in, with me on their heels. The house was freezing. Matt bent down.

‘He’s still alive,’ he said, face flushed with relief. ‘But he’s so cold. Can you go and see if you can find a blanket?’

‘Sure thing,’ Jonathan said, rushing off. George nuzzled into him as close as he could.

‘I’m going to try to keep him warm,’ he whispered to me. I nodded. ‘I can’t let him die too.’ My heart would have broken all over again but I wasn’t sure there was enough left to break just at the moment.

‘Get lost,’ the man said, but so quietly that only we could hear him.

By the time the ambulance arrived, the man, whose name we didn’t know, was wrapped in blankets, and his breathing was steadier. Looking a bit shaken up, Jonathan and Matt stood back to let the paramedics do their job. George and I did the same. Then the paramedics said if the man had been left in the cold for too much longer he might have got hypothermia. It seemed we had saved him and it was all really thanks to George.

Jonathan established what hospital they would be taking the man to and he told them that he and Matt would go there to try to sort things out as they didn’t know anything about him or his family. There were a few photos on the wall of a woman and a boy, and then of the same boy as a young man. Matt searched and found a wallet in the man’s coat pocket, which was hanging by the front door. It had a bus pass in it, for a Harold Jenkins. But there was no other information to hand.

‘Hopefully when he comes round we’ll be able to find out who his family is,’ Jonathan said. ‘God, I wish Claire was here, she’d know what to do.’

‘Meow,’ I said. They could figure this out, surely.

‘Shall we see if we can find some pyjamas to take for him? Maybe a book or something, that’s what Polly would suggest.’ Thank goodness, I thought, at least they were being a bit practical.

‘Good thinking.’ Matt and Jonathan went upstairs and we followed them. The house was a bit of a mess, and none of the lights seemed to work, although they found one that did in the man’s bedroom.

‘Bulbs need changing,’ Matt said. ‘God, being old and alone is depressing.’

They found some clean pyjamas in a drawer and a pair of reading glasses by the bed. They took them and a few bits from the bathroom, which looked as if it was in need of a clean.

‘He obviously can’t really cope on his own,’ Jonathan said. ‘I hope he’s got family. I think I need to start training Summer and Toby up to take care of me when I’m old.’

‘I hear you,’ Matt said. ‘And good work, Alfie and George, he’ll probably be alright thanks to you,’ he finished, as he ushered us all out of the house, locking the door behind him.

I looked at George as Matt and Jonathan set off to get to the hospital.

‘You did so well,’ I said.

‘I hope he’s going to be OK?’ George looked at me, his eyes full of fear.

‘It sounds as if he will be and it’s all thanks to you.’ I nuzzled him and then I took my son home.

Chapter Twenty-Five