Felix The Railway Cat

Well, that was it. Angie dropped everything – the station was secondary and her colleagues could take up the slack. She literally ran to the car park and threw herself into her car. Domino’s Pizza, she was thinking, well, I never. And also: how the hell did you get there, little kitten?

For Domino’s Pizza was quite some distance away, located right by the busy ring road that encircled Huddersfield’s town centre. It was totally out of the area that Felix was known to have frequented on her own, which essentially comprised the length of Platforms 1 and 2. If she hadn’t crossed the train tracks – which seemed unlikely since she never had before, and still ran for home if an incoming train was near – then to reach the pizza place she would have had to contend with the traffic in town and cross several busy roads. Unless, of course, someone had taken her …

At that moment, Angie didn’t care how she’d got there; she was just pleased that she knew exactly where she was. She squealed to a stop outside Domino’s Pizza and ran in as fast as she could. And there, sat on the floor in the corner, munching away on something the pizza man had given her and relishing the delicious scent of the cooking pizzas, was Felix. She blinked up at Angie as she ran in, then got rapidly to her feet, as though she’d been waiting for her ride.

Angie felt her heart flip right up into her mouth and back again. ‘Oh, you’ve got her,’ she breathed in relief to the man behind the counter. ‘You’ve got her.’

She couldn’t get to Felix quick enough. She scooped her up from the ground and hugged her. Felix looked happily at her, her fluffy tail swishing, seemingly delighted to be reunited with her mum. Angie stared right into her beautiful green eyes. She was so, so happy to see her.

‘How did she get here?’ she asked the man behind the counter.

‘No idea!’ he laughed. ‘She just wandered in.’

Angie turned her attention back to her beloved cat. ‘You’re not going anywhere ever again!’ she told her sternly. ‘What do you think you’re up to? And where have you been?’ Her worry made her voice quite sharp. She knew Felix couldn’t answer, but the questions spilled out regardless.

Angie held the kitten up in the stark fluorescent lighting of the pizza joint and checked her over carefully, as if looking for clues. There was, at least, no sign of any injury, but neither was there any evidence as to where Felix might have spent her whole day away from home.

Angie brought her back down into her arms. ‘It is good to have you back, madam,’ she told her affectionately.

‘She’s a grand cat,’ the pizza man commented from the counter, adding with a grin, ‘Can we keep her?’

Angie scowled at him jokingly. ‘You’ve absolutely no chance!’ she declared emphatically. ‘No chance! Do you know how many people have been out looking for this cat today?’

‘She’s lovely,’ he observed, with a smile.

‘We know!’ Angie cried, holding her kitten even closer to her chest. ‘We know she is!’

She thanked the man for phoning her – thank God for Christine and that heart-shaped tag, she thought – and carried Felix out to the car.

‘Right, you,’ Angie told the cat. ‘Adventure’s over. We’re going home.’

Back at the office, Angie put some food in her bowl and Felix wolfed it down at once. While the kitten ate, Angie picked up her phone again and dialled Billy. It was the least she could do after his kindness earlier; she knew that, despite himself, he would be worried too.

He answered after only a few rings.

‘I’ve got her!’ Angie said breathlessly, as soon as he picked up.

He didn’t need to ask her who. ‘Where’s she been?’ he asked curiously.

‘Domino’s Pizza,’ deadpanned Angie. ‘Only Felix could go AWOL and end up at a food place!’

14. Angel Felix?

In the first weekend of December 2011, Dave Chin sauntered along Huddersfield station with his arms full of Christmas tree. TPE always got its Christmas trees delivered from a special farm, and that year Huddersfield had chosen a massive, ten-to-twelve-foot one that would stretch right up to the ceiling of the lobby.

As was his habit, on arrival at the station Dave had already popped in to see Felix, and he wasn’t expecting to see her again that shift. Nine times out of ten she was sleeping when he saw her, so he’d just give her a cuddle and leave her be. But on that particular day, as soon as Felix saw what he was carrying, she bounded right up to him and looked on with interest as he and Angie heaved the tree into the entrance lobby and then pushed it into the corner, where it would stand in front of the ticketing office for everyone to see.

‘What is that?’ the station cat seemed to be saying, as she trotted round their ankles and circled the tree, moving back for a better view, then craning her neck upwards, to where the very top of the tree just touched the ceiling.