things about this holiday but the fire is definitely one of the things I’ll miss most,’ I said, yawning. What an eventful day we’d had. I closed my eyes, and soon I was dreaming of pilchards.
A while later, I was aware of voices as I woke up, and sensed the presence of everyone in the living room.
‘I can’t believe we have to leave in the morning,’ said Jonathan. I kept my eyes closed, enjoying the warmth in my fur as I listened. I could picture him, stretched out on the sofa. He sounded quite mellow. Jonathan was often uptight, and it was clear the holiday had done him good.
‘It’s been a good holiday though, mate,’ Tim said.
‘I’m just worried about how Alfie’s going to be you know, if …’ I heard Claire say. I pricked up my ears. I could tell that Snowball was still asleep next to me. She made this really sweet noise as she slept. Some called it snoring but to me it was music.
‘And Snowball,’ Karen added. ‘It’s weird, I never thought cats were like that, we’ve always been led to believe they’re solitary creatures, certainly not animals that mate for life.’
‘Like lobsters,’ Tim said.
‘What?’ Jonathan asked. I was trying to follow this conversation but it wasn’t proving easy.
‘You know, lobsters, they mate for life,’ Tim explained.
‘But look at them,’ Claire said, sounding sad.‘Snuggled up together. They definitely love each other.’
‘God, I feel guilty already,’ said Tim.‘But this time, it’s not my family I might be letting down, but my cat.’
‘It might not even happen,’ said Karen.
I gave Snowball a gentle nudge, but she was fast asleep. This conversation made no sense to me, and my fur suddenly felt freezing cold.
‘It’ll be such a shame if you did,’ Claire said.
‘Anyway it might not happen,’ Karen repeated, indicating that that was the end of the conversation.
What on earth were they talking about? It was as if they were talking about something that would be bad for me and Snowball. I tried to put it out of my mind but I couldn’t.
As the humans all went to sort out dinner that evening, and Jonathan put Summer to bed, I finally got Snowball on her own.
‘I heard something weird when you were sleeping. Your family were talking about something strange, but I didn’t understand what. It sounded like something that might happen to us. Do you know anything about it?’
Snowball surveyed me with her cool blue eyes. ‘What do you mean?’ She sounded shocked; she obviously didn’t know anything.
‘Tim said something about letting his cat down if it happened. Karen said it might not happen, but I don’t know what “it” is. I didn’t like the sound of it though.’
‘Alfie, you’re talking in riddles! I have no idea what you’re going on about. We both know what you’re like, always looking for drama.’ Snowball yawned and stretched. She didn’t seem worried but I couldn’t shake the feeling that all wasn’t well.
‘OK, if you say so, but let’s see if we hear anything.’
‘Of course, Alfie. I love you, and I love that you worry so much, but we’ve had a wonderful trip together. Let’s just focus on that.’
I couldn’t argue.
I was suffering from what I had learnt were called post-holiday blues. Being home was exciting at first. I saw Tiger and my other friends and was reunited with my other humans on Edgar Road, which of course was lovely. Still though, I was fed up. I missed spending all my time with Snowball; I still saw her but not as much. I also missed the country walks, the fresh air, the romance, the fire we slept in front of … Even the hens. And of course it had rained every day in London since we’d been home, so after my initial visits to all my friends I had been largely stuck indoors. I felt as limp as the weather. I was totally bored and listless.
And there was something bothering me. I was still a little perplexed by the confusing things I’d heard on the last day of the holiday. No one had said anything about it, so I still had no idea what they had been discussing. Snowball and I had been listening out for any more clues, but apart from the usual hushed conversations that humans were so keen on, I hadn’t noticed anything amiss and neither had she. Perhaps she was right, we should just ignore it and not worry. It was probably nothing … So why did I still feel so unsettled? I tried to tell myself it was the post-holiday blues that were making me feel so rattled, nothing more.
As I sat on the living room windowsill, I saw a man putting something on a nearby lamppost. Soon after, I saw Tiger approaching my front gate. I ran to the kitchen, dived through the cat flap and made my way round to the front of the house. My blues were momentarily cheered at the sight of my friend.
‘Hey, Alfie,’ Tiger said, a bit breathlessly.
‘What’s going on?’ I asked. She lifted her head towards the lamppost and I saw that there was a picture of a tabby cat on it, along with some words – which, of course, being a cat, I couldn’t read.‘What is that?’ I asked.
‘Not sure, there were two others that went up on lampposts while you were away. None of us cats know what they mean.’
‘I’m not sure either.’ I felt puzzled. ‘Let’s go and see the others,’ I suggested.‘See if they know anything.’ Something was bothering me, but I wasn’t sure what. As we made our way to the end of the street, we saw the other two cat pictures, but we didn’t recognise the cats.
‘Are these the only other two?’ I asked Tiger.
‘Yup. Weird, huh?’
We found Elvis and Nellie at our usual meeting place. They were sitting away from the damp grass, on a strip of concrete that was relatively dry.
‘Guess what?’ Tiger said.
‘What?’ Nellie loved drama and looked excited.
‘We just saw a cat picture going up on a lamppost,’ said Tiger.
‘Another one? What can they mean?’ Elvis asked.
‘I’m not sure,’ I said.‘But something is niggling me.’
‘I think we should definitely keep an eye on it. This all seems very strange,’ Tiger said. As we lapsed into silence, Salmon, our nemesis cat, approached.
‘He might know,’ hissed Nellie, although we were all loath to ask him.
‘What are you up to?’ Salmon asked, narrowing his eyes and flicking his tail in a hostile way. Salmon was the meanest of cats and never missed an opportunity to be horrible to us.
