by Rachel Wells
‘Oh Alfie, you have enough families who love and take care of you, when will you accept that? And besides, that teenage boy might not like you.’ Tiger looked exasperated from having to repeat herself so much.
‘My first owner, Margaret, always used to say this thing, Tiger.’ I paused as I pictured the kind old lady that I had loved with my whole heart. ‘She used to say “We must never rest on our laurels.” Now I don’t exactly know what it means but I think it means that I shouldn’t take anything for granted. I once said I would never do that again. And it wouldn’t hurt you to take a lesson from me.’
‘I’m too lazy. If anything happens to my humans I know you’ll sort it out.’ She smiled, and of course she was right. It was the sort of cat I was.
A noise startled us.
‘Oh my, we hadn’t even noticed that,’ Tiger said as a cat flap slowly lifted up from the other back door.
‘And bang goes my idea of being their doorstep cat,’ I murmured, disappointment flooding me. We both stood, stock still as we watched a cat emerge.
‘Wow,’ I said, unable to contain myself.
‘Well,’ Tiger said, instantly lost for words.
‘Who are you and what are you doing in my garden?’ an unfriendly voice hissed and I felt myself glued to the spot as I found myself staring at the most beautiful cat I had ever seen in my life.
- CHAPTER -
Six
‘Who are you?’ the beauty hissed angrily at us. I wanted to move, or speak or something but I was rooted to the spot and struck dumb.
‘We,’ Tiger replied, feistily, ‘are your neighbours. I’m Tiger and that’s Alfie and we are here to welcome you to Edgar Road.’
I glanced sideways at Tiger, she neither looked nor sounded very welcoming.
‘Right, well now you’ve welcomed me, you may leave.’ The exquisite creature stood in front of us. I had never seen such soft fur, bluer eyes or a whiter coat. Her face was like a work of art. She was truly gorgeous, although, admittedly, not at all friendly.
‘But we … we … we could show you round,’ I stammered, feeling my legs trembling, in an alien sensation.
‘Thank you but I think I’ll find my own way round. I don’t care to ask you again, but would you please get out of my garden.’
‘No need to be so rude, whitey,’ Tiger hissed. ‘We were trying to be friends, but I can see we’re wasting our time.’
‘Yes you are,’ the white cat replied, turning her beautiful back on us and heading back into her house.
‘Well, I’ve never met such a rude cat,’ Tiger said as we made to leave.
‘I’ve never met a more beautiful one,’ I sighed, stretching my legs out, to try to regain my composure. I had to admit I felt flummoxed. On the one hand, my original idea to become their doorstep cat had been scuppered, but then how could I mind when it had been scuppered by such a beautiful creature? For some reason, the idea of the white cat made me happy and not at all disappointed. In that moment, my aim had changed, rather than be their doorstep cat, I wanted to be the white cat’s friend. I was determined to be so.
‘Really? You thought she was beautiful? She was horrible, Alfie!’ Tiger was angry.
‘I didn’t think she was nice, just pretty,’ I defended myself, but it fell upon deaf ears and Tiger shot me a withering look and stalked off. I followed her but I couldn’t get the white cat’s image out of my mind.
I trailed behind Tiger as we headed to our little recreation area, where we found four other cats. Elvis, Nellie, Rocky, and mean Tom were all lolling around. Tiger forgot her earlier animosity, eager to tell the others about the new cat. When she had filled them in they turned to me.
‘What do you think?’ Tom asked, licking his whiskers.
‘She’s stunning,’ I began, but quickly had to duck as Tiger tried to swipe me. ‘But yes, definitely rude,’ I quickly added. A memory of how Jonathan first was when I met him sprang into my head; he threw me out of his house but he loves me now.
‘Well, I wonder if she’ll hang out with us.’ Nellie interrupted my thoughts.
‘I expect, from what we saw she’ll keep close to home,’ Tiger said, diplomatically.
‘I wish he’d stay close to home,’ Rocky added as Salmon approached.
‘I expected to find you here, you are all so boringly predictable. Have you met the new cat?’ Salmon asked, in his sneering voice. As much as he disliked us and we disliked him, he couldn’t resist trying to find out any gossip.
‘Yes,’ Tiger replied, refusing to give him more.
‘And you think you’re so great, but I have met her too,’ Salmon said.
‘And I bet she wouldn’t speak to you,’ I added narrowing my eyes at him and feeling braver for some reason.
‘Well, no she wouldn’t. The silly girl ran away as soon as she saw me.’ He sounded annoyed.
‘I don’t actually blame her for that,’ Tiger said. We all laughed. Salmon hissed at her and looked as if he was about to pounce.
‘Don’t be a silly cat,’ Tom said, standing next to Tiger. ‘Are you really going to take us all on?’ he added.
‘You aren’t worth it,’ Salmon hissed again before turning and stalking off.
‘I really dislike that cat,’ Rocky stated, echoing all our thoughts.
Wanting to think, I took myself to the little park at the end of the street, leaving Tiger to go home. She said she was tired but I could tell she was still annoyed with me, and off for one of her customary sulks. I tried to give her a friendly nuzzle as we parted but she brushed me off. I thought I would do something nice for her later, even though I wasn’t sure exactly what I had done.
When I got to the park I was delighted to see Polly there with the kids. Henry was on the slide and Martha was trying to walk but she kept falling over. I marvelled at her persistence as she kept getting up, with Polly encouraging her.
‘Alfie,’ Henry shouted, spotting me and running up to me. He knelt down and stroked me and I enjoyed the fuss. I followed him over to where Polly was now carrying a crying Martha.
‘Martha, feeling sad?’ Henry asked, eyes brimming with concern.
‘She bumped herself when she fell over, sweetie,’ Polly replied. ‘Hi, Alfie.’ She smiled at me and I miaowed and put my tail up in greeting.
‘Right, well we are going to Franceska’s for lunch, although, Alfie, it might be a bit far for you,’ she added as she strapped Martha into the buggy and then tried to coax Henry in.
‘I walking,’ Henry said. And suddenly I had a great idea. I had never been to Franceska’s new flat, largely due to my fear of going far from home. When I was forced to leave my first home after Margaret died, I walked for weeks before I got to Edgar Road. I nearly died on a number of occasions – the big roads I had to cross were more dangerous than I could have ever imagined – and so I was fearful, but I did want to see where my third family lived and now, if Henry didn’t want to go into the double pushchair then that meant there was a spare seat. I jumped into it.
‘Alfie,’ Polly admonished. Henry laughed, as did Martha. ‘OK, you can come to lunch with us but if Henry needs to go in the buggy you’ll have to sit on his lap.’ Shaking her head she started pushing us. I looked at Martha who was giving me lots of smiles. I happily flicked my tail; I knew what she meant, this wasn’t a bad way to travel.
It seemed quite a long way, and halfway through Henry wanted to get into the pushchair, so Polly put me on his lap.
As we left the quiet of Edgar Road behind, the streets started to get busier, with more shops springing up, more traffic and definitely a lot more people, as Polly manoeuvred the double buggy round them. I soon put my doubts aside and took notice of our route, just in case. We reached Franceska and Tomasz’s restaurant, Ognisko, where Polly stopped so we could look through the big square window. It looked inviting, I thought, the woodwork on the outside was painted blue, and inside it was full of people, sitting at rustic wooden tables, all looking as if they were enjoying the food
that sat on crisp looking linen tablecloths. I was excited to see it for the first time.
We stood next to a different door and Polly rang the buzzer. Franceska opened it with a huge smile, Polly folded the buggy and left it in the entrance as we made our way upstairs to their flat.
‘My goodness, you brought Alfie!’ Franceska beamed and I grinned back as only a cat can do.
‘He jumped into the buggy and so I thought, why not? Although pushing a cat down the road made me feel like a crazy woman.’ They both laughed.
‘Tomasz?’ Henry said, looking for his friend. It always confused me how both father and the younger son of the family were called Tomasz. I called them big Tomasz and little Tomasz to avoid confusion, but it wasn’t the most sensible way to name people who lived in the same house.
‘Sorry, munchkin, he is at school today and Aleksy too. Come though, you can play with his toys.’ Franceska led Henry through to the living room. They had a dining table in the same room as their sofa; it was a big room, warm and inviting and larger than theirs on Edgar Road. The table was laid out with food and I could smell that she had sardines. As if she knew I was coming, my treat awaited. I walked to the table hopefully and miaowed loudly.
‘OK, Alfie, you can have your fish. Lucky I had some, although I had no idea you would be here.’ She laughed as she picked me up and gave me a lovely hug.
We spent a lovely afternoon together. I got to explore the flat – it was wonderful to see where they lived. Big Tomasz, Franceska’s husband, came up to see us after his lunchtime rush and made a huge fuss of me. Big Tomasz suited the name I gave him; he was a big man who was so much softer than he looked. I always wished I knew him better, but as he worked so much I saw the least of him out of everybody. When we had to leave I felt sad, but on the way back Martha and Henry slept so I curled up on Henry’s lap for my lift home, struggling to stay awake after my unexpected excitement.
I jumped out at Claire and Jonathan’s and rubbed Polly’s legs in thanks for my outing. It was time for me to have a nap but I couldn’t resist going to number 48, for one last look. They had already put curtains up at all the windows at the front and the downstairs ones were closed. This was yet another thing that was odd as it was middle of the day. One of the rooms upstairs also had closed curtains.
There was no activity to be seen and no sign of the beautiful white cat. I thought about going round the back but I didn’t want to have another run-in until I thought about how best to approach her. For now, I would sleep on it. It was the best solution, I decided, as I made my way round to my back garden. I was about to go through the cat flap when I remembered something. I went over to our garden fence, the one that divided our house from number 48. When I first moved into Jonathan’s house, I discovered that one of the panels was a bit loose at the bottom. It allowed me to look through to next door’s garden but I hadn’t bothered; I had no need to. Until now.
I nudged the panel with my nose and was overjoyed to see that it still moved ever so slightly. It wasn’t enough for me to squeeze through but I could see a bit of the garden, I could see the back door too. I could keep an eye on the cat next door, I thought, as I resolved that I would do whatever it took to befriend the white cat. And, as I stepped away from the fence, I knew I wouldn’t stop until I succeeded.
- CHAPTER -
Seven
‘I don’t mind cooking,’ Jonathan offered, as he stood staring at his prized possession, the coffee machine, which was whirring away. When I’d first heard the chrome thing gurgling and spluttering I thought it was alive and would eat me, but now I was used to it. Jonathan liked shiny gadgets that cost a lot of money and made a lot of noise, it seemed.
‘Darling, no offence, but when you cook, I have to clean up and it normally takes weeks. Anyway you know what Tasha and Dave are like, they’re happy with anything.’
‘OK, but if you cook do I have to clear up?’
‘Jonathan, stop being an idiot, you know that I clean up as I go along. You can go and get some nice wine, buy some flowers for the house, and treat me to a new dress.’
‘Really, all that?’ Looking bemused he took his coffee and sat at the kitchen table.
‘OK, I don’t need a dress but you can get flowers and wine.’
‘I would buy you all the dresses in the world if you wanted, you know that.’
‘I do and that’s why I love you.’
Once again, I had to put my paws over my eyes as they started smooching. I was glad they were happy but I didn’t necessarily want to see it. Tasha teased Claire and called it the ‘honeymoon period’. I didn’t know exactly what it meant but I had guessed that it meant it wouldn’t last forever. Hopefully. I was all for affection but people could take it too far – it was almost enough to put me off my breakfast.
It was time for me to leave. I had said I would call on Tiger, so we could hang out. Maybe with some of the others, depending on who was around. For the past few days I had not had a sighting of the beautiful white cat. Or its owners for that matter. And I had spent a fair bit of time at the fence. Not only had I not seen her but I didn’t even know her name yet. And I desperately wanted to find out what it was.
I had heard Claire telling Jonathan she had popped round to say welcome, but there had been no answer, although she was sure she’d heard movement in the house. They were certainly mysterious and I wondered if Vic and Heather had managed to get to them yet. They probably had their binoculars trained on the house as it was.
I still hadn’t come up with a plan on how to meet the white cat again, but I was working on it. My little brain was always whirring and perhaps today would be the day that I caught sight of her again.
As I made my way out of the back garden – quickly checking the fence for activity – and round to Tiger’s house, she was waiting for me, giving herself a clean before we set off for our morning walk.
Exercise was important to me, particularly because of my injury, as I had to keep fit and my limbs moving. So I had taken to going to the park most days, sometimes with Polly, other times with Tiger, as well as strolling up and around Edgar Road.
‘Park?’ she asked.
‘You read my mind,’ I replied. The park at the end of our road was small but we loved it. Full of bushes, creatures to chase and, of course, children; we found plenty to entertain us there.
There was also a pond but I didn’t like to think about that after a near-death experience I had falling into it once. Matt rescued me but it taught me to keep away from water. I even avoided puddles if I could.
On the way, we sneaked a look at number 48, to see if there had been any developments but nothing had changed. The curtains were drawn, although lights were glimmering through them. I wasn’t a judgemental cat but it was most odd.
‘Salmon’s family said that there might be twenty people living there,’ I told Tiger. ‘But we only saw four.’
‘Yesterday they came round to ours and were ranting on about criminals to my humans. Saying that no one has seen them, they keep the curtains drawn and so they are definitely up to something. They said something about a drugs den but I have no idea what that is.’
‘Me neither.’ I tried to think about why they might be so secretive. ‘But I guess we’ll find out soon – they’ll have to show their faces at some point.’ I was agitated, my excitement at the idea of seeing the white cat again was off the scale. Just then we were rewarded as the front door opened and the surly boy walked out. He looked furtively around and then pulled his hood up as he started walking down the path. I felt all of a quiver as I saw that the cat was at his feet.
‘Look, Tiger,’ I said, nudging her with my head. We both stood still and looked. When the boy got to the street, he leant down and petted the cat.
‘Bye, Snowball,’ he said, sounding cross. ‘Wish me luck.’ Snowball purred and rubbed up against his legs in a most affectionate way. She seemed like a completely different cat from when we met her. And I knew her name!
&nbs
p; As the boy walked off she looked directly at us. I gave her my most charming look but she immediately narrowed her eyes, turned and, with her tail flapping aggressively, stalked back to the front door, where I noticed the woman was standing. She smiled grimly at the cat, picked her up and shut the door.
‘Well, I hate to agree with Salmon but they are acting very strangely,’ Tiger stated.
‘They are, but at least now we know the beautiful cat is called Snowball.’
‘Alfie, she’s mean! And whilst you may think she’s beautiful, I think she’s cold.’ I raised my whiskers – Tiger sounded cold herself.
‘Yes but, Tiger, remember how Jonathan was when I first met him. He was horrid and angry towards me, and now he loves me. I think there’s more to this than meets the eye and I intend to find out what’s going on.’
‘Here we go again,’ Tiger said, giving me a stern stare.
I squirmed as I tried to avoid her glaring eyes, but I knew what she meant. I had always meddled and tried to help people; it had been my role since moving to Edgar Road and although things had been calm lately, this little cat couldn’t change its fur. Humans often say that curiosity killed the cat but, actually, it was this that kept me going. Part of our intelligence is our interest in everything; that’s what I fully believe.
Blip over, we eventually strolled on in companionable silence. Every now and then we’d stop to chase a flying insect, or play with an inviting looking leaf that dangled over the street. I tried to placate Tiger by catching a fly, and I ended up spinning round in circles chasing it, which made her laugh. Soon I was forgiven, although I couldn’t help but wonder why she was so grumpy with me recently.
When we got to the park, it was almost deserted. I led Tiger to our favourite area, which had some of the bushiest bushes, as well as lots of colourful flowers and a couple of inviting trees. We played a new favourite game of hiding and then jumping out at each other. Although we were pretty silly, it was enjoyable.
