Alfie the Holiday Cat. Rachel Wells

      ‘As you’re all off tomorrow, today I’m going to take you and the kids out for lunch and then I thought we’d go to the dinosaur museum,’ Jonathan announced proudly.

      ‘Yay!’ Toby said.

      ‘Will Peppa Pig be there?’ Summer asked.

      ‘Can I go too?’ George asked me. I told him no.

      ‘I’m not sure Peppa will be there but there will be lots of dinosaurs to see, darling,’ Jonathan said.

      ‘Sounds good to me. I’m nearly all organised anyway.’ Claire grinned. Truth be told she had been pretty much packed for weeks. Claire was nothing if not well organised. She had made lists and more lists and, well, possibly even more lists before we headed off to Devon for the summer. I was glad at times like this that I was a cat. All I had to do was to make sure that George and I were clean and ready to go.

      As everyone left, I ate some biscuits, had a drink of water and then cleaned myself.

      ‘George, you might want to give yourself a quick groom,’ I suggested.

      ‘Why, Dad?’

      ‘Because we are going out to enjoy our last day. With the rest of the neighbourhood cats,’ I told him.

      ‘Goody!’ He started licking his fur. We had a group of friendly cats on Edgar Road. As well as Tiger, there were Rocky, Elvis and Nellie who all lived on our street and we often hung out together. They were a good bunch who always helped whenever we were in trouble – like last year when George was catnapped by a woman who snatched quite a few cats in the area and they all rallied to help us. Other cats had come and gone but we were the core Edgar Road cat gang and they were all incredibly important to me.

      While Jonathan had a day planned for the rest of the family, Tiger had planned something for George and I. She told me because she didn’t trust surprises; they normally went wrong. I couldn’t argue with her, they did tend to, in our world anyway. She told me to bring George to the recreational grass at the end of our road. It was a small patch, tucked away from the street and where us cats converged regularly without being bothered by humans. Or dogs for that matter.

      We made our way to the end of the street and found all our Edgar Road cat friends waiting for us. It was like a party. A leaving party, I guessed.

      ‘You’re all here,’ George exclaimed excitedly, bounding from cat to cat.

      ‘Of course we are,’ Rocky said, gruffly.

      ‘We wouldn’t miss a party,’ Nellie added, nestling into George. If Tiger was George’s mum then Nellie was like his favourite aunt.

      ‘Although I nearly didn’t make it, I was eating one minute, then the next I fell asleep. Must be old age.’ Elvis wasn’t a young tom, and I could sympathise with him. Sometimes I found myself drifting off to sleep these days. I wasn’t as young as George, but then I wasn’t ready for old age yet – there were lives in this old cat yet!

      ‘Well I’m glad you did make it,’ I said warmly. Tiger looked very pleased with herself.

      ‘We have been friends for a long time now,’ she said. ‘Since Alfie moved here really, and it’s just amazing to see that we’ve all remained friends.’ It was true we had.

      ‘It’ll be strange without you guys this summer,’ Elvis mused.

      Just then there was a rustle in the bushes and my friend Dustbin, who lived with Franceska and Tomasz, or more accurately in their yard, appeared. He was a feral cat who worked for the restaurant in return for food, a job which suited him perfectly. When I first met him I was a little intimidated by this wild cat, but he had a heart of gold.

      ‘Wow, Dustbin, you’ve come!’ I was touched. He lived a few streets away and was always busy keeping the rodents under control. Not my kettle of fish, or rats more accurately, but Dustbin loved his work.

      ‘Wouldn’t miss it, Alfie,’ said Dustbin. ‘Seeing you and the boy off. It’s going to be strange not having you popping round.’

      George and I stayed with Franceska’s family quite often, which meant we got to spend time with Dustbin. He was a truly good friend.

      ‘It won’t be the same without the lad,’ Rocky said, sounding emotional.

      ‘Um, you do know we’re going away for a few weeks, not forever,’ I said, wondering why everyone was so emotional.

      ‘We know that,’ Nellie said. ‘But you know how much we see of each other. It will be strange not to see George. And you too, Alfie,’ she added as an afterthought. Despite the fact that some said I was quite a vain cat, I was used to playing second fiddle to George.

      ‘We’ll be back here before you know it, and then we can tell you all about our summer.’ I tried to lift everyone’s spirits.

      ‘Yes, we’re going to the seaside,’ George explained.

      ‘I know and not many cats are lucky enough to go to the seaside,’ Rocky said.

      ‘I am so very lucky,’ George said. ‘But now I want to play hide and seek.’ He ran off before anyone could answer. The rest of us cats looked at each other, indulgently. There were only two bushes but we always had to pretend it took us ages to find him. That was what you did with kittens.

      We spent a lovely afternoon, seeking with George, playing with leaves and sunbathing. When it was time to go, I knew I would miss each and every one of my friends, but then I also knew we were going to have such a great time on holiday that time would fly by. We would be back before we all knew it.

      I still felt a bit emotional as I sat on my back step with Tiger that evening. George had gone to bed with Toby, and Tiger and I were going to say our last goodbye. According to Claire, we were going to be gone for about six weeks. I didn’t know exactly how long that was but it sounded like a fair amount of time. I had been away before but not for this long and we were leaving the others behind. I kind of understood now that being left

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