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‘Of course I will, my dear.’ Doris’s cheeks flushed with pleasure.

My eyes widened. I couldn’t believe it. It was terrible. It made his head look like a tomato. Thank goodness I didn’t have one.

‘Don’t worry, Alfie, I’ll have one for you next time I’m here, but your head is a bit bigger, so I need to get more wool. And thinking about it, green might be your colour.’

I had no words as I slunk off to see if there were any more leftovers.

That night, when George and I took our last steps outside before bed– without his cat hat, I may add – we looked at the dark sky and saw the brightest star blinking at us.

‘There’s Tiger mum,’ George said, lifting his paw.

‘Yes.’ I gulped. Despite the fact that it had been quite a while since we’d lost Tiger – George’s adopted mum and my last partner – it still floored me whenever I thought of her not being here anymore. We have both moved on in many ways, the way life forces you to, but although I am happy and with Snowball now, I will always have a place in my heart reserved for Tiger. She was my best cat friend on Edgar Road before we fell in love.

I’ve loved and lost a lot in my life, both humans and cats, and you never stop missing them, a lesson I have learnt the hard way. But on the flip side, a heart is a wonderful thing. It’s big and has the capacity to love many people and many cats. I even managed to love Pickles, who is a dog, andI never thought I’d hear myself saying that. Despite the fact I’m now reunited with Snowball – who was my first love, before Tiger – I miss Tiger. And that’s fine, because as I said, the heart is a miracle and it’s big enough for all it needs to be big enough for. It allows you to miss those you’ve lost and still love those who are with you.

‘She’d be so proud of you, son,’ I said, because it was true. She would.

‘I know, Dad,’ George replied.

I think he gets his modesty from me.

‘Right, lad, let’s go to bed.’ I started to make my way inside, giving the star one last glance. It seemed to blink at me. I blinked back.

We probably had a big week ahead of us, we had a lot of people and cats to check on so there was always a list of things to do. Especially as I worried about Tommy; I had to be on alert.

‘Before we go to bed, Dad, what am I going to do with that awful bonnet that Doris gave me?’

‘Well the polite thing would be to wear it when she is here, at least for a bit.’

‘But it’s scratchy. I was thinking I could bury it in the garden, blame it on Pickles.’

‘George, that’s not nice.’

‘But the hat isn’t nice.’

‘I know, but we do these things to make people happy and if you have to wear it for a short time, every now and then to make Doris smile, is that so terrible?’

He glared at me and then he raised his whiskers.

‘I guess not, especially as you’ll have one as well next time.’ I could hear him laughing as I followed him into the house.

Chapter Three

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Humans will never cease to amaze me. In the morning, our house springs to life in a very dramatic way. There’s shouting, jostling, arguments, and occasionally tears. Jonathan gets ready for work – normally with maximum fuss as he seems unable to find anything. Claire rouses the children from their beds (the tears are usually theirs), then she feeds us cats and prepares breakfast for everyone before going to get dressed. Toby rushes downstairs as if there’s a fire, and Summer sulks as she hates mornings these days. Claire fires questions at everyone: ‘Have you got much on at work today? Have you done your homework? Do you need your PE kit? Why won’t you eat your toast …’ You get the idea. George and I eat our breakfast and then attempt to escape before the madness of trying to get everyone out of the house begins. Trust me, it’s chaos. Jonathan leaves first, rushing out, often moaning about where his keys are even though they are always in the same place. Summer takes forever getting her shoes on, Claire gets exasperated as she repeats the same thing over and over, and Toby gets cross about being late, because he hates being late. The thing is, this happened every single weekday morning. Every single one. You would think they would learn, but no. Humans! Who’d have them?

If only they could be more like us. George and I get up, have a good stretch and a quick wash before we have our breakfast, then we have a more thorough clean up and we’re ready for the day. Totally fuss free.