Oliver the Cat Who Saved Christmas

by Sheila Norton

  And, laughing again, he turned to leave. ‘Hope to see you both again before Christmas, anyway. Thanks again, Daniel.’

  ‘No, thank you, for these,’ Daniel said, still staring into the bag.

  ‘How kind of him!’ Nicky exclaimed after she’d seen him out. ‘Can you believe what he said? Just a couple of bottles of plonk? They look like good wines, Dan. We’ll have to put them away for Christmas Day.’

  ‘Yes, I suppose we should,’ he said, looking regretful.

  She laughed. ‘And chuck the pudding away if you don’t want it! As if! How lovely – at least we’ll have that to serve up to my family now. I could even pretend to Mum that I made it myself.’

  Daniel put both arms round her then and they clung together, laughing. It was so nice to see them happy for once. I purred my delight at them, walking round their legs, and it felt like we were all doing a little dance together. For a minute or two, you know, it actually felt warmer in that chilly little kitchen.

  * * *

  I didn’t get a particularly warm welcome, though, when I went back to Sarah and Martin’s house. Sarah had the hoover out – I always hated the noise it made, so I tried to run straight upstairs. But she saw me, turned off the hoover and called out to me in quite a stern voice:

  ‘Yes, you might well run away, Oliver! Look at the mess I’m having to clear up in here. Three baubles broken, pine needles everywhere, tinsel strewn through the lounge…’

  ‘Sorry!’ I squawked in Cat as I scarpered up the stairs. ‘I got carried away.’

  I was worried she might be so cross with me that she’d go and get the new cat straight away and send me packing. I slunk into the girls’ bedroom to hide under one of their duvets.

  ‘Cats!’ I heard Sarah exclaim out loud to herself. ‘Almost as much trouble as kids.’

  I couldn’t quite work out whether that was good or bad. But just before the hoover started its noise again, I was surprised to hear her laughing to herself.

  Phew! Perhaps she still loved me after all.

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  Tabby and I had another early start the following day, and again I wasn’t looking forward to it. However strongly I’d insisted on Tabby coming with me back to the Big House, I didn’t really feel brave about it at all.

  What’s that, Charlie? You think I must have been a brave cat to go back after what happened? Well, it’s nice of you to say so, little one. But honestly, my paws were shaking as I went to call for Tabby on the way there.

  ‘Morning!’ I said as he came out of his cat flap, looking like he’d just woken up. ‘Blimey. Didn’t you get much sleep last night? Your fur’s all over the place.’

  ‘Had a bit of a late one out on the tiles,’ he admitted, yawning. ‘There’s a new little Burmese moved in just down the road here. Cute as anything – slim little paws, beautiful green eyes…’

  ‘Tabby!’ I was so taken aback, I almost forgot how nervous I was about our destination. ‘You’re still going through all this trauma with Suki about giving her kittens! How can you…’

  ‘Oh, I think Suki will come round, you know, after the chat we had yesterday,’ he said breezily. ‘And meanwhile, there’s no point letting the grass grow under your paws, Ollie.’

  I had to laugh. ‘You’re incorrigible,’ I said. ‘But I can forgive you anything, as long as you’re still up for coming with me this morning.’

  ‘I’m not up for it at all, actually. I think you’re a nutcase. But you’re right, I can’t let a little fella like you go into danger on your own, without the protection of someone bigger and braver and more macho like me.’

  ‘Oh, give it a rest,’ I said, nudging him with my head in a friendly way. ‘Let’s get going.’

  * * *

  As we walked up the hill together I started telling Tabby my worries about Sarah and Martin getting a new cat.

  ‘So what?’ he said. ‘You’re not living with them forever, are you? And not just them, anyway – I thought you said you live in the house next door too? All right for some, having two homes to choose from.’

  ‘I know it sounds nice, and yes, I am lucky. But I’d rather be back with George than with either of them. That’s not going to happen for ages, though. They haven’t even started rebuilding the pub yet, have they? And if Sarah and Martin don’t want me anymore, I’ll have to live with Nicky and Daniel permanently.’

  ‘Don’t you like them?’

  ‘Yes, of course I do. But they’re both out all day, working, and the house is really cold, and they’re not usually very happy because of the money thing humans worry about all the time. I’d feel ever so lonely if I couldn’t go to Sarah and Martin’s house too.’

  ‘I see. But why do you think they’ll chuck you out, even if they do get a new cat?’

  ‘I’ve been a kind of replacement for their old one who got run over.’

  ‘Oh yes, poor old Sooty.’ Tabby nodded at me. ‘That was horrible, poor chap.’

  ‘I never met him.’

  ‘He was quite old, didn’t go out a lot. I reckon that was why the car got him – he couldn’t run away fast enough. Shame about the little human, too – broke her paw, didn’t she?’

  ‘Yes. She’s sweet. They say I’ve cheered her up. But if she gets a permanent new cat, that’s obviously going to be much better for her, isn’t it.’ I sighed. ‘And the new cat won’t want me around.’

  ‘It might do. After all, Ollie, you wouldn’t pose too much of a threat to another male.’

  ‘Well thanks!’

  ‘Don’t mention it. And on the other hand, it might be a female.’ He nudged me and gave a little suggestive mew of laughter. ‘But of course,’ he added, ‘that’d be wasted on you, wouldn’t it.’

  ‘You’ve got a one-track mind, Tabby,’ I complained. ‘I wish your humans would get you neutered. We might be able to have a serious conversation then, without the subject of females coming up every five minutes.’

  We’d reached the gates of the Big House by now, and we both fell silent as we squeezed through the iron pattern and into the grounds.

  ‘Don’t be frightened, Ollie,’ Tabby said eventually as we walked stealthily down the drive – but I noticed his voice was shaking. ‘I’ll be right behind you.’

  I’d have preferred him in front of me, as he was bigger, but there you go.

  ‘This is the room where the little sick human usually is,’ I told him quietly when we reached the glass doors. ‘We can see her if we look through here.’

  ‘There’s nobody in there,’ said Tabby, peering over my shoulder into the room.

  ‘No.’ How disappointing. ‘Perhaps she’s still in bed. We are quite early, I suppose.’

  It’s hard to tell, in winter, you see, Charlie. It often still looks like the middle of the night in the morning, and then it looks like the middle of the night again halfway through the afternoon. And then, in the summer, you’ll find it’s just as tricky because night time doesn’t seem to come round all that often at all. We never know where we are – it’s quite tiring trying to fathom it out, which is why I find it best to simply sleep as much as possible, regardless.

  ‘So shall we just go home?’ Tabby said hopefully.

  ‘No. Not yet. Let’s have a quick check around the house. We might see her inside one of the other rooms.’

  ‘You’re one crazy cat,’ he muttered. ‘Lead on, then, if you know the way.’

  I led him round the corner and past the steps where I’d jumped up on the windowsill that day to look at the huge empty room. There was no way Caroline would be in there.

  ‘I suppose she’ll be somewhere upstairs, if she’s still asleep in her bedroom,’ I said.

  I gazed up at the great walls and high roof of the huge house. No chance. Even Tabby wouldn’t try to serenade anyone on that rooftop. And then I saw it – a little bit further, round a corner of the house and sticking out into the grounds, was one of those glass rooms humans call conservatories.

  ‘Let’s
just have a quick look in there,’ I suggested, and I started to sneak forward along the wall of the house before Tabby could dissuade me. The bottom part of the conservatory was a low brick wall. I waited behind this for Tabby to catch up and then hopped up onto the window ledge and peered through the glass.

  It was a cold, frosty morning again, but very sunny, and all the morning sunshine was on this side of the house, so I thought it was quite likely Laura and Caroline might be in here. What I definitely hadn’t expected was to see Caroline’s father instead. I nearly fell off the ledge with fright. What was he doing here? He was supposed to go to the London place today. Had I got the days wrong? He was standing with his back to me, holding his chin in his hand, staring out of one of the windows on the opposite side of the room – thank goodness!

  ‘Is she in there? Can you see her?’ Tabby hissed at me from the safety of the ground.

  ‘Ssh!’ I warned him.

  The window ledge was narrow and I was having trouble keeping my balance. I was just about to jump back down and start running, when I heard a noise from inside. I pricked up my ears. It was him, the father, talking to himself. At first I couldn’t quite believe it. But a couple of the windows were a fraction open on my side of the conservatory, despite the cold – perhaps, with all that glass, the sun had made it warm inside – and with my excellent hearing, I was picking up every word. I was so surprised, I forgot to run away and stayed where I was, listening.

  ‘What an idiot,’ he was saying. ‘What a bloody stupid idiot. What’s the matter with me? There was no need to talk to her like that. Threatening to sack her! It’ll be my own stupid fault if she walks out now.’

  Yes, it will, I thought crossly. And there was no need to be so horrible to me, either!

  ‘What’s going on?’ Tabby called up. ‘Are you all right up there?’

  ‘Ssh!’ I hissed again. ‘I’m listening. Be quiet!’

  The man was sighing to himself. I could see his chest and shoulders going up and down.

  ‘I suppose it’s too late to apologise. She must already think I’m just an arrogant bully, and now I’ve made things even worse. I don’t know why I behave like this – taking out all my frustration on her. And she’s so good with Caroline – so kind, so patient. Not just with Caroline – with me too. Oh, God, what’s wrong with me? She’s the first woman I’ve felt like this about since you died, Susan—’

  Susan? Who was this Susan, and how did she come into it? I put my ear closer to the glass.

  ‘—and there’s absolutely no chance she’ll forgive me this time. She must hate me, and I don’t blame her.’ He sighed again. ‘What should I do, Sue? Try to talk to her? Maybe just write her a note. That’d be better, wouldn’t it – a little note to say I’m sorry. At least then we could put that episode on Saturday behind us and I’ll try again to be better tempered.’

  He was searching in a drawer now, and then, having found a pen and a pad of paper, to my horror he turned round and walked towards my side of the conservatory. Once again I nearly fell off the ledge on top of Tabby, but luckily, the man was looking down at the floor, and just sat down on a chair with his back against my window. His head was so close to mine, if I’d knocked against the glass with my collar he’d have jumped. I knew I was asking for trouble now. I should just go, and be grateful he hadn’t seen me. But he was still talking to himself, and if curiosity really did kill the cat, I was probably about to lose a life.

  ‘Dear Laura,’ he said out loud as he wrote quickly on his pad. ‘The way I spoke to you on Saturday was unforgiveable, so I won’t attempt to excuse it. You’re so understanding and sympathetic, I don’t have to tell you that it’s my overwhelming anxiety about Caroline, and the sleepless nights I have, worrying about her condition, that have made me so constantly on edge that I snap at the slightest thing. But there’s no excuse for taking it out on you, so I can only appeal to your kind and caring nature, to overlook my bad temper once again and accept my apology. If you only knew how much I actually care about you…’

  He stopped, chewing his pen, staring out of the opposite window again. Then he suddenly got up, almost scaring me, yet again, into toppling off the ledge, and he ripped the page out of the pad. He screwed it up fiercely into a ball and lobbed it into a wastepaper basket.

  ‘What’s the point?’ he exclaimed crossly to himself. ‘She hates me and I deserve it. I’m wasting my time.’ He glanced at his watch. ‘Oh, God – what am I doing still here? I’ve missed my train now. Where are my car keys? There’s probably no parking left at the station. Damn! I’m going to have to drive into the city, now.’

  And with that he strode out of the room, and I threw myself off the window ledge.

  ‘Quick!’ I hissed at Tabby. ‘Hide!’

  We belted across the grass and ducked behind a shrub. A few minutes later the door of a garage block on the corner opened and a big, sleek, shiny car purred out and disappeared round the side of the house.

  ‘He’s gone,’ I said with relief. ‘We’re safe.’

  ‘Was that him?’ Tabby squeaked. ‘He was here? Why didn’t you say? Why didn’t we run off straight away?’

  ‘Because he was talking to himself, and…’

  ‘To himself? See, I told you he was mad.’

  ‘I wanted to listen. And it was very interesting. Now…’

  ‘Now we can go home,’ he said, looking all around him nervously. ‘I don’t like it here.’

  ‘It’s fine now he’s gone. He’ll be at work all day. Come on, I’m going inside.’

  ‘No!’ he squawked, running in front of me and trying to block my way. ‘Don’t be an idiot, Ollie, it isn’t safe. Come back!’

  ‘There’s a window open up here,’ I told him, jumping up onto the ledge again. ‘We can easily squeeze through.’

  ‘Speak for yourself,’ he muttered, but with a bit of huffing and puffing, he followed me, jumping down after me into the conservatory and still muttering his disapproval. ‘What now?’ he asked. ‘We are trespassing, Ollie – I suppose you do realise that? What are you doing?’

  I’d made a dive for the wastepaper basket and knocked it over.

  ‘Here it is,’ I said, picking up the screwed-up page in my teeth. ‘Come on! I’m taking this to show Laura.’

  ‘The cat’s gone completely bonkers,’ he moaned to himself, nevertheless trotting obediently after me. ‘We’re going to get thrown out, probably kicked out…’

  Just then a shadow fell over us. I glanced up, and to my relief, it was only Laura. But she didn’t look pleased. I suppose she didn’t want any more trouble for allowing one cat into the house, never mind two.

  ‘What…?’ she started. I dropped the ball of paper near her feet, but she didn’t even notice, kicking it with one foot as she came towards me. ‘Oliver! How did you get in, and who is this?’ She gave Tabby a disapproving look, and he shrank away from her. The paper ball had rolled towards him, and he promptly knocked it back to me, trying to show it had nothing to do with him.

  ‘Oh, look,’ came a little voice from behind Laura. It was Caroline, holding onto Laura’s arm as she watched us. ‘Ollie’s brought a friend with him, and they’re playing!’ She laughed. ‘Aren’t they cute?’

  ‘Cute!’ Tabby meowed to me indignantly.

  ‘Yes!’ I replied. ‘Be cute. Play!’

  I knocked the ball of paper to him with my paw, and waited for him to bat it across to me again. I knew he wouldn’t be able to resist the ball-of-paper game, however nervous he was feeling. When he knocked it back to me, I deliberately sent it towards Laura’s feet.

  ‘They want us to play with them,’ Caroline squealed.

  But this time Laura bent down and picked up the paper. I held my breath. Was she just going to throw it back in the bin? No! She smoothed it out and started reading it. I watched her face. Her eyes widened, and when she got to the end, she flushed very red. For a moment, we were all frozen there – Laura staring at the note, Tabby and I poised to make a
run for it, Caroline watching us.

  ‘Huh!’ Laura exclaimed suddenly, making me jump. ‘Why am I bothering to even read this nonsense? He must have been drunk when he wrote it.’

  ‘What is it?’ Caroline asked.

  ‘Just a bit of rubbish.’ And she screwed it back up and dropped it in the bin. ‘And I’m sorry, Caroline, but the cats have to go. You know what your father said.’

  She opened the conservatory door and shooed us out.

  Well, at least, I suppose, we didn’t have to climb back out of the window.

  CHAPTER TWENTY

  So I’d been through all that trauma, and achieved precisely nothing. I felt a failure. I’d tried to be a helpful cat, a cat who made people happy, and in the end all I’d been was a silly little cat who got people into trouble.

  ‘Don’t be too hard on yourself,’ Tabby said cheerfully. Funny how he’d perked up now we were on the way home and out of danger – but then, to be fair, at least he did come with me and didn’t run away when the heat was on, like a scaredy-cat. ‘It was an adventure. Something we can show off to the females about.’

  I laughed and rubbed heads with him. ‘Thanks, Tabs. I’m glad we’re friends.’

  ‘Me too. You’re a much braver little cat than I ever thought. I don’t know why you used to let me call you timid.’

  * * *

  But in my little heart, I felt sad and sorry. I’d started off my new life as a foster cat with too high an opinion of myself, I now realised. Because I’d given a few people in the village the idea of getting together in their homes, I’d thought I was the mouse’s whiskers, but I obviously wasn’t as clever as I thought I was. I went back through the cat flap into Sarah’s kitchen and spent most of the day asleep.

  When the children came home from school, the rest of the Foxes came round, and spent some time playing with me while Sarah looked through the papers they’d been writing about me during the last few weeks.