Alfie in the Snow

‘Well, Toby was so upset about being Joseph and he and Henry weren’t really being like friends and I wanted to make them happy again, so I came up with the plan to get them together.’ Ah, he was a boy after my own heart. ‘And Aleksy was so sad about Connie and the fact her mum won’t let them spend time together, and I thought it would cheer him up. I roped them all in, honestly, and Alfie, well I didn’t want Alfie to miss seeing George as the baby Jesus.’

‘Of course you didn’t.’ Jonathan grinned and shook his head. ‘Look guys, Tommy meant well and no harm done. I mean, everyone thought it was funny. Apart from Mary but then she had just given birth to a cat.’

‘Jonathan,’ Claire snapped. ‘They have to apologise to Mrs White.’

‘We can do that,’ Tommy said. ‘I’m happy to write her a letter, not that she deserves it,’ he mumbled.

‘Toby?’

‘OK, I’ll say sorry. It was worth it, wasn’t it, Henry?’

‘Sure was, Tobe.’

I agreed. It really was worth it.

‘What about me?’ Martha asked. ‘Do I have to say sorry?’

‘Well you should,’ Polly said. ‘You knew all about it so that makes you guilty too.’

‘OK.’ Martha shrugged in the good-natured way she always did.

‘But not me?’ Summer said.

‘Why not you?’ Jonathan asked.

‘I’m a star, I’m allowed to do what I want,’ she said.

‘No, you are not.’ Claire rolled her eyes. ‘You apologise too, young lady.’ Summer scrunched her nose up.

‘And guess what?’ Aleksy said. It was the first time he had spoken and his voice was animated as he looked at his phone.

‘What?’ Tomasz asked.

‘George is trending. The video is on the internet already and “cat as baby jesus” already has thousands of views. George, you’re famous,’ he said, punching the air with joy. ‘Tommy, the video you put on YouTube is being watched and shared. We might get rich!’

‘Good thinking, boys. We could make some money out of this.’ Jonathan rubbed his hands together.

‘Jonathan, don’t make this worse,’ Claire warned.

‘Oh come on guys, look how happy it’s made the internet.’ Matt grinned.

George looked nonplussed as he licked his paws.

Everyone was relaxed again. The kids were playing by the Christmas tree. The adults all had drinks and snacks and Claire had lit her hundred candles. To be honest, I didn’t expect this to last long – they took ages to light and to blow out so she didn’t bother too much. Her interest in ‘hygge’, whatever that was, was definitely waning. But it looked and felt Christmassy, as the tinsel glinted, the tree lights sparkled and the candle flames danced. I thought of Tiger, of course, and how much she would have loved to be around for Christmas, how much we would have loved having her around. That was the weird thing about grief, it appeared at the strangest times. I was happy, with my families, but then I thought of her and I was sad again. But happy, and sad. It was most confusing.

‘Oh no, George is on fire,’ Tomasz screamed.

‘Yowl,’ George said. He had caught his tail on one of the candles and it was now on fire. My poor boy. I ran around in circles looking for something to put the fire out with, as did the adults.

Thankfully Aleksy and Tommy were quicker than all of us. Aleksy grabbed George, holding him away, and Tommy threw a glass of water over his tail, then grabbed one of Claire’s ‘hygge’ blankets – there were quite a few – and wrapped it around him.

‘Oh my goodness, is he alright?’ Claire asked, tearfully. I felt my heart pounding.

‘Meow,’ George said. I knew that meant he was in pain but he was alright.

‘I think so,’ Aleksy said.

‘Tommy, Aleksy, great job,’ Jonathan said. ‘But we need to get George to the vet, there’s a clinic I can take him to,’ he said.

Not the vet, I thought, but this time I agreed with them.

‘I’ll drive, I haven’t been drinking,’ Tomasz said.

‘Oh, that was so scary,’ Polly said.

‘I think I’ll get rid of the candles,’ Claire finished.

Chapter Twenty-Nine

It was very exciting, Harold was coming home. Well, it was to everyone else, because I, quite frankly, was having a down day. There would be all these distractions that I was used to, being the kind of doorstep cat I was, but then I would remember how much I missed Tiger and my heart would collapse all over again. I tried to keep my tail upright but, sometimes, it just didn’t want to do it and all I felt capable of was curling up in my bed and yowling. George was my salvation in the darker days, him and my families of course, but mainly him.