have acted suspiciously so we’ve put two and two together. And this is happening all over London, so we need to be on top of it. You know, as Neighbourhood Watch coordinators and concerned residents.’
‘So hang on, we don’t even know who’s moving in, and yet you’re already planning to interrogate them?’ Matt sounded annoyed.
‘No, that’s not what we said. But whoever it is, we thought if we invited them to a meeting immediately they would know how our street works. And, we would like them to explain their nocturnal activities. We have a duty to the residents here to ensure our street stays safe,’ Heather explained.
‘God, you make it sound like a lynch mob.’ Jonathan looked aghast.
‘No, absolutely not, of course we don’t mean that. But anyway, we wanted to inform you and of course we know that you and your good lady wives will attend and offer the neighbourhood your support.’ Vic smiled, but his smile was as sinister as his wife’s and his cat’s.
‘It’s just that if there are going to be lots of immigrants moving onto the street we need to show them we won’t be messed with. And if it’s a normal middle-class family we will welcome them,’ Heather explained. ‘So we can count on you?’
Jonathan and Matt were speechless as I came out from under the chair, and went and sat on the windowsill. Salmon still sat at the gate, and I flicked my tail up at him through the safety of the window. I saw him hiss at me; I smirked, he couldn’t come near me, as I continued to taunt him.
‘When is this meeting?’ Matt asked.
‘We are going to schedule it when the residents of number forty-eight move in. So you’ll attend I take it?’ Vic said.
‘I don’t know—’ Matt began.
‘The thing is—’ Jonathan said at the same time.
‘Dear boys,’ Heather started, sounding even scarier than normal. ‘I hope that you care enough about this street to come. I would hate to think that you have no interest in where you live, as would the other residents, I’m sure.’
‘Absolutely, dear.’ Vic put his arm around Heather. ‘Until now we have thought of you as being very good members of our community. We wouldn’t want to have to revise that opinion.’
Matt looked terrified as he seemed to shrink back into the chair.
‘Of course we’ll be there,’ Jonathan said. Matt shot him a surprised look. ‘To welcome our new neighbours, which is, what I hope that this meeting will be about.’ Jonathan sounded firm and I was proud of him.
‘Absolutely,’ Vic said. ‘Right, we have lots of people to visit so we’d best get on. Glad we can count on you.’ In the whole scheme of Heather and Vic, they’d got off lightly.
‘Well good, I’ll show you out.’ As Jonathan herded them to the door, he spoke again. ‘You know our good friends, Franceska and Tomasz are from Poland and they lived here for a while. They weren’t trouble makers,’ he said. We all stood at the front door; I took the opportunity to give Salmon one last dirty look.
‘Absolutely not. We got lucky with them, but not all foreigners are like that,’ Heather said, seriously. I could hear Matt in the living room choking on his beer.
‘They are unbelievable,’ Jonathan said, as he returned to the living room. His face was a bit red, the way it was when he was angry.
‘I find them quite amusing. Well apart from the racism of course. You know whenever I walk down the street, I see them over the road, curtains twitching.’
‘This will be the lowest crime street ever with those two. Imagine, if they caught you doing anything wrong you’d get talked to death,’ Jonathan laughed. ‘Or they’d make a citizen’s arrest in their matching jumpers.’
‘Well, I don’t know if it’s a family or a hundred immigrants but I already feel sorry for the people moving into number forty-eight,’ Matt agreed.
‘You’re not wrong there. Right, let’s forget the Goodwins and put on the football.’
Despite developing a new sleeping habit since Claire and Jonathan moved in together, I had adjusted well to it. Before they were together, when they normally slept alone, they often let me in their room but now, they put my basket on the landing and shut their bedroom door. I wasn’t offended; I had since learnt about the human need for privacy when there was more than one of them. And although I didn’t understand why I couldn’t be in their bedroom, I accepted it. However, I knew instinctively when the alarm clock would go off and as soon as it did I would be waiting to scratch at the door. This delighted Claire who declared me incredibly clever, as I never disturbed them even a minute before the alarm roused them. I have often said that if humans had inbuilt clocks as us cats did, then the world would be a far more efficient place.
Today, I scratched at the door right on cue. It was Jonathan who came to the door first.
‘Morning, Alfie,’ he said absently, wearing his navy dressing gown. He made straight for the kitchen and his coffee machine. I had learnt that he was a bit of a nightmare in the mornings before he had a cup of coffee. He pulled out cups and I miaowed hopefully.
‘OK, hang on, I’ll get you some more smoked salmon, but don’t tell Claire.’ I purred in agreement.
‘What are you doing here?’ I asked, as Tiger appeared in the kitchen just as I was cleaning myself. ‘Claire and Jonathan are getting ready for work, they’ll be down any minute,’ I hissed.
‘Quick, Alfie, I have something to show you.’ She looked very pleased with herself; smug even.
‘What?’
‘Come with me, and you’ll see. I have a present for you, a very special present.’
‘Wow,’ I said as I sat outside number 48 with Tiger. We crept into the front garden, to see if we could get a closer look. Lights were on in the house, we could hear footsteps and when we looked through the window furtively, we saw even more boxes had been unpacked. They had finally moved in. And I fleetingly wondered if our nosey neighbours had been right; they had moved in when no one was around to see them. What was that about?
‘I told you, Alfie. They weren’t here when I went to bed last night, but when I got up this morning and went for a stroll they were!’ She sounded excited.
‘They must have come in the night like the boxes,’ I mused.
‘I guess. Anyway, look.’ Tiger led me round the back. We found a bush to hide in, to survey the situation. Through the back patio doors into the kitchen I could see a woman, a bit older than Claire, her hair greying slightly. She was thin and looked harassed as, hair tied back, she was still busily unpacking. After a while she was joined by a man we had seen before; the thin almost bald man. He kissed her and she smiled sadly at him. He was wearing jeans and a shirt and he didn’t look as if he was exactly happy either.
‘So
