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‘Just getting a bit of fresh air and a bit of quiet,’ I said.

‘It is so noisy in there, isn’t it?’ he said.

‘I love it when we’re all together but we are a lot aren’t we?’ George stated. There was no arguing with that. We were a lot.

Lunch was in full swing. We didn’t have a dining table big enough for everyone, so the children sat at one table and the grown-ups at another. I, obviously, was with the grown-ups, but I hovered by the chairs – it was frowned upon for cats to be on the table, although sometimes that didn’t stop me. George and Hana were withthe children and Pickles was under the table, trying to catch any food that had been discarded. He really liked his food. Snowball was curled up in my bed, taking a rest. I noticed that Connie and Aleksy were sat with the adults, but Tommy, Aleksy’s younger brother, was at the children’s table and he didn’t look happy as he pushed his food around his plate. I made a note of that. If people were unhappy, it was my job to sort them out.

I padded over to him and tried to get his attention, but he ignored me. I was put out– I’m not used to being ignored – but then, Tommy really did look thunderous. I made my way back to the safety of the adults.

‘We have this school project; it’s about homelessness,’ Aleksy said.

‘God, that’s heavy, in my day we just did Geometry,’ Jonathan said with a laugh.

‘Showing your age, Jon,’ Matt teased.

‘In my day we wrote with quills not pens,’ Harold added, then laughed loudly. I had no idea what he meant but as Harold was quite fond of being grumpy, it was nice he was laughing.

‘So, what is the project?’ Marcus asked.

‘We’re learning about awareness campaigns. We have to design a campaign to highlight the problems facing homeless people today and make people aware that it’s a problem,’ Connie explained.

‘Goodness, that sounds very serious,’ Claire said.

‘We wanted to go to the local shelter and meet people who are actually homeless to find out what it’s like,’ Aleksy said. ‘So that when we do our project we will have direct experience to draw on.’

‘And then we thought we might come up with ways to raise money for them,’ Connie added with a blush.

‘You are very good and kind, Aleksy and Connie,’ Franceska said. ‘I’m proud of you both.’

‘I’ll come with you,’ Tomasz said. ‘We give food from the restaurant to the local place so I know them; I can take you both.’

‘Oh that would be great!’ Connie’s eyes lit up.

‘But it will be hard,’ Sylvie said. She was very overprotective and I knew she would be worried about Connie.

‘Yes, but these two will be fine,’ Polly cut in. ‘They are tough and have big hearts. I think it’s wonderful that you’re learning about these things at school.’

‘In my day—’ Jonathan started, but then laughed.

‘So, we’ll visit the shelter and then think of a way to raise money and awareness,’ Aleksy said. I nuzzled him. I was very proud of him too.

After lunch, the children all went to play again and Connie and Aleksy snuck away, which just left Tommy.

‘Can we go home now?’ Tommy – who had barely said two words to anyone – asked.

‘No, if you don’t want to go and set up games for the little ones, then you can just sit there on your own,’ Franceska snapped. It wasn’t like her. But then, Tommy wasn’t normally so unpleasant either.

‘Go into the living room and put the TV on,’ Jonathan suggested.

Tommy scowled but he went. I glanced at Snowball; we knew all about teenagers. They could be problematic but Tommy was also fun, and he loved setting up assault courses and competitions for the others. I knew he felt left out when Aleksy and Connie started going out together but he normally invited one of his friends to come to our family events. I wondered why he hadn’t today.

‘He’s been nothing but trouble, lately,’ Tomasz said quietly once Tommy was out of earshot.

‘He’s grounded and I said he couldn’t have a friend here today, because of his behaviour,’ Franceska added. Ah, that explained it.

‘What’s he done, Frankie?’ Claire asked.

‘Being rude, answering back, not doing his homework. He even took money from my purse the other day. It’s like my lovely little boy’s been taken and replaced by someone else.’ She sounded upset so I went to nuzzle her.

‘Oh God, teenagers; I am not looking forward to that,’ Matt said, shaking his head. ‘But it’s not like Tommy,’ he added.

‘Do you want me to have a word with Connie? Ask her if she and Aleksy could be more inclusive?’ Sylvie suggested.

‘No, thank you. He and Aleksy are at odds all the time – they can barely stand to be in the same room at the moment. Aleksy said that Tommy is acting like a jerk, Tommy says Aleksy is a goody-goody. Honestly, we are hoping it’s just a phase, because otherwise …’

‘I could give him a good whack with my walking stick. That’ll soon sort him out,’ Harold offered. I wasn’t sure if he was joking; he didn’t look as if he was.

‘Dad, we don’t do that anymore,’ Marcus replied.

‘National service, that’s the answer. He should go into the army.’

‘Um, he’s only fourteen,’ Claire pointed out.