Alfie in the Snow

‘It really is down to us,’ George countered, immodestly. ‘But now, your family are coming with us, and you will be here on your own. In the dark.’ He raised his whiskers, hopefully.

‘Hana, come with us,’ I said.

‘But I’ve never been out and it’s been snowing and I didn’t know what snow was until Connie told me last night.’

‘Yes, your paws will be cold and it might be a bit slippery but only like a polished floor,’ I pointed out. ‘Listen, Hana, you have to come with us, you need to start going outside. Honestly, you’ll like it, trust me.’ I hoped I was right.

‘But I’m scared,’ Hana said.

‘But I’ll be right by your side and nothing will happen to you,’ George said.

‘Come on, your family need to know that you are still a family and that includes you,’ I stated, nudging her with my nose towards the front door. ‘Not to mention the food we’re about to eat, no self-respecting cat would pass up this opportunity,’ I pointed out.

‘Hana?’ Sylvie asked as they came to the front door to see Hana sitting by it.

‘She should come with us.’ Claire looked worriedly at the three of us and I nudged Hana again. She couldn’t have been any closer to the door.

‘But she doesn’t go out,’ Sylvie said.

‘Meow,’ Hana said. It seemed she was learning.

‘Maybe she wants to come with us,’ Connie said.

‘She definitely does. I can tell, I know a lot about cats,’ Toby said.

‘Me too, and yes she absolutely does,’ Summer, not to be outdone, added.

‘Right, well you’ll have to carry her then, Con, darling, I don’t want her to get cold paws,’ Sylvie said, uncertainly, as Connie scooped her up. It wasn’t quite what I had in mind but, as I blinked at George and he blinked back, it would have to do for now.

‘I am so full I don’t think I can move,’ I said later, as we all rested after our meal.

‘Me either, Dad,’ George said.

‘Being outside is quite nice,’ Hana said, although she was currently inside.

‘Right, well I better get back to work,’ Dustbin said. ‘Those pesky rodents will have taken advantage of my absence.’

‘Can I help you?’ Salmon, who was on his best behaviour, asked.

‘Nah, no offence but you don’t look like the sort of cat who gets his paws dirty,’ Dustbin replied, but without malice. Salmon wasn’t, he could probably talk the rodents to death, but that was it. Like cat, like owner, in that respect.

Although in fairness the Goodwins had been on pretty good form. Seeing them play charades was a sight to behold. Although not as good as Harold, who guessed every single one incorrectly and then accused the person acting the charade of being wrong. All the adults were laughing so much they were nearly crying.

It had turned out to be a wonderful Christmas Day. The food was delicious – and there was plenty of it as everyone had pooled their resources. The children had a table set up on their own and were behaving beautifully. The younger ones had brought some of their new toys with them. The older ones were supervising, well Tommy was but Aleksy and Connie were staring at each other with dopey expressions on their faces. Tommy despaired, but no amount of teasing would stop them. I even noticed they were holding hands under the table whenever they could. Ah, young love.

As I’d weaved in between everyone’s legs I felt a warmth in the atmosphere that I relished. The adults were all behaving pretty well. Sylvie had apologised to Franceska, and cried a bit, and Franceska, who was just too lovely, had hugged her and told her that they should forget it. She told her she would never let Aleksy take advantage of Connie or hurt her, and Sylvie had said she did believe her, but that after her husband had hurt her she was so scared of her daughter going through anything like that. It all made sense in a way, because of course heart-break wasn’t rational. I knew that better than most. Sylvie was back to being the woman we’d first met when she moved here and somehow Claire had manoeuvred it so she and Marcus were sitting next to each other at lunch. I had hope they might fall in love, but I didn’t think either of them looked as if they’d be jumping into anything anytime soon. Harold was on good form, though he and Vic Goodwin had a slight disagreement about the reason for the rise in crime, which Jonathan had to diffuse. But other than that, everyone was getting on well.

I’d felt choked when the Barkers raised a toast to Tiger, and I nuzzled close to George who shook, when they talked about how much they missed her. We both went over to them and rubbed their legs to let them know we felt the same, which they seemed to appreciate. However, I was alarmed when they said they were going to the shelter in the new year to adopt a cat, but an older cat, as the house didn’t feel right without one.

Replace Tiger? How could they?

‘We’re never going to be able to replace Tiger,’ Mrs Barker said. Phew. ‘We had her from a kitten and as we never had children she was our child. We miss her so much but we have a good, warm and kind home and I know Tiger would want us to help a cat who needed a home.’