Alfie in the Snow

‘Year Nine,’ Connie mumbled, but then she looked up. ‘I haven’t been to school in England before,’ she said. ‘So I don’t know much about it.’

‘I’m in the same year. Hey, listen, I can meet you and walk there with you if you want, I mean on your first day.’

‘Would you?’ She looked relieved, as did her mum.

‘Sure, I mean I know nearly everyone in our year and school’s OK, so I can help you meet people.’ Aleksy blushed; this was the most I had heard him say in ages.

‘That’s great, thank you Aleksy,’ Sylvie said. The teenagers looked as if they had said too much and glanced back at their plates.

Things got easier after that. Sylvie seemed to relax as she and Jonathan chatted about Asia; they both had been to lots of the same countries although Jonathan admitted never having been to Japan. At one point Polly went to check on the children, then Aleksy asked to be excused and Connie and he left, both grabbing their phones from the kitchen counter on their way out. I spent a while listening to the adults, satisfied that although it wasn’t quite there yet, Sylvie would make a nice addition to the group. I could still feel her sadness and she was guarded but when she smiled, or laughed, I could see that she was lovely.

I followed Aleksy to where he and Connie sat on the stairs.

‘I’m actually really nervous about school,’ Connie admitted. I looked at her properly for the first time. She had shoulder-length dark hair, big eyes and pale skin. She was almost as tall as Aleksy and slim, although she wore baggy trousers and a hooded sweatshirt, which was pretty much what Aleksy wore too. They both had trainers on their feet as well. It was, I believed, the teenage uniform.

‘I guess it might be different to your school in Japan. Do you speak Japanese?’ Aleksy asked. Connie said some words which neither of us understood.

‘Yes, I do.’ She smiled. She was pretty when she smiled. ‘But now that we’re here I’m not sure how useful it will be. I didn’t want to come home,’ she admitted.

‘You know, I lived in Poland when I was born,’ he said.

‘Do you remember it?’

‘No, but we do visit. And I speak a bit of Polish.’ He said some words again which I didn’t quite understand, although I recognised it a bit as I’d heard Franceska and Tomasz speaking Polish over the years. ‘But I think of here as home now.’

‘I still think of Japan as home. I miss it,’ she said, sounding sad.

I was surprised at how open she was; it seemed that perhaps teenagers only knew how to speak to each other.

‘It’ll be alright. Hey, is that the iPhone 7?’ he asked, looking at her phone.

‘Yes, it’s the same as yours,’ she replied and they both grinned.

Family evening came to an end soon after that. Tired children were either taken home or upstairs to bed, George was tucked in with Toby, Aleksy and Tommy bounded off, still full of energy, with their parents, and Connie and Sylvie went next door. Once everyone was settled I went to see if Tiger was out, but it was raining so I was pretty sure that she wouldn’t be. I was right: there was no sign of her. As the raindrops dampened my fur, I thought about going home, snuggling into my warm bed but, before I did, I couldn’t resist sneaking next door.

I saw Sylvie sitting at the kitchen table, this time with lights on, Hana the cat on her lap again, and in front of her was a computer. She was talking to someone and I knew from experience that she was probably talking to a friend through the screen – I was quite technologically savvy for a cat. I was pleased to see she was smiling and I hoped that being with us had cheered her up a bit. The rain started coming down much heavier and, in danger of turning into a drowned rat, I went back next door to the warm, dry home that was always there to welcome me.

Chapter Five (#ucbee3e5b-6407-5a68-98ed-45f53441eec5)

I was thinking about how to get to meet Hana now the weekend was over. Connie had started school and Sylvie told Claire she had some job interviews, and now I had spent a bit of time with both Connie and Sylvie I really, really wanted to meet this exotic cat. Not only was I keen to let her know that she had friends around if she wanted them, but I also was interested to get her opinion on how her family was coping.

Connie had told Aleksy that they’d had Hana since she was a kitten and she had never been outside, she’d always been a house cat which was customary in the Tokyo suburb where they lived. I could understand that in some places cats didn’t go outside and I also knew it suited some of them, but I couldn’t imagine being a house cat. Although, after some of the trouble we had got into in the past, it probably wasn’t a bad idea. And in George’s case it would make life much easier for me … No, being a house cat, on reflection, sounded terrible and I needed to rescue Hana from this life of incarceration now she was in England.

These were my thoughts as I hung around outside Tiger’s house – George had gone off for a stroll with Nellie – when I saw her owners come out with her in a cat carrier. I narrowed my eyes and wondered where she was going. Her owners were older than any of mine and didn’t go out very often. But they got into a car, a taxi, and drove off. Tiger hadn’t been looking so she didn’t see me. I forgot all about Hana and fretted about Tiger, where was she going? What was she doing? Was everything OK? I calmed myself down as I went to find the others. Her owners didn’t have luggage with them so they couldn’t be going away. Perhaps they were taking her to visit a friend. I found Elvis and Rocky at the recreation ground, grateful that I could take comfort in their routine.

‘The lad and Nellie have gone to the other end of the street,’ Rocky said.

‘Yeah, and Nellie never says no to him,’ Elvis added.

‘No one says no to George,’ I pointed out. ‘But I wanted to ask you, I just saw Tiger going out, does anyone know where she’s gone?’ I asked. I doubted they did but, before they could answer, Salmon loomed over us. He had a habit of doing that, almost appearing from thin air.

‘Are you wondering about Tiger?’ he asked. He sounded his usual smug self. But I wanted information, so I needed to play along.

‘I was, I saw her go out with her owners, I had no idea what she was up to,’ I said, trying to sound nonchalant.

‘Well, my owners went to see hers this morning, important neighbourhood watch business. Apparently they are taking her to the vet.’

‘The VET??!’ I immediately panicked.

‘Calm down Alfie,’ Salmon said, almost sounding kind. ‘It’s just a check-up. Tiger probably didn’t even know she was going but they said they’d locked the cat flap so she couldn’t go out this morning.’

‘Thank you Salmon, it’s really kind of you to let me know.’ I wasn’t used to him being so helpful.

‘That’s alright.’ He tried to sound cool again. ‘No fur off my nose.’

‘Hey, I was just thinking about Hana, the cat who’s moved in next door to me,’ I said, thinking I owed him.

‘Oh yes, have you met her?’ he asked. He couldn’t hide his interest now.

‘No, but her owners came to our house last night. She doesn’t go out, ever. She’s a house cat. Something common in her country of Japan apparently.’

‘Well I never,’ Rocky said. ‘A house cat?’

‘Yes, she’s never been out, ever,’ I said, enjoying having the authority on something.

‘That’s a shame,’ Elvis said. ‘It means we’ll never meet her.’

‘Oh we will,’ I said.

‘What do you mean?’ Salmon narrowed his eyes at me.

‘I don’t exactly know, but I will figure something out.’

‘I can’t stand around here all day chatting, things to do, people to see.’ Salmon grinned before stalking off.

‘Gosh, he’s almost going soft in his old age,’ Rocky said as we watched him swinging his tail behind him.

I didn’t tell George about Tiger. Salmon had said it was just a check-up but I wanted to talk to Tiger and get some reassurance before involving George. He was surprised as I actively encouraged him to go out on his own after lunch, but he was quick to take advantage as he rushed off with my blessing.

I sat by Tiger’s back step and it wasn’t long before she appeared.

‘Thank goodness,’ I said, nuzzling her. ‘I was worried about you.’

‘I know I’m sorry, they sprang the vet on me. This morning I went to go out and I bashed my head against the cat flap, which hurt.’ She paused to rub her head with her paw. ‘They closed it without telling me, and they shoved me, well not shoved, but put me in the carrier and off we went.’

‘You poor thing.’ No cat I knew was a fan of the vet, they had a habit of poking around where it wasn’t their business. Well, actually it was their business but it was still very personal and intrusive. ‘What did the vet say?’ I took a long, hard look at Tiger; she seemed fine to me.

‘Oh nothing really, it was just a check-up. They poked and prodded and ran some tests but I’m right as rain. You know how my humans fuss. I heard them say that at my age we needed to check more often. I mean the indignity!’