Alfie and George: A heart-warming tale about how one cat and his kitten brought a street together. Rachel Wells

Чтение книги онлайн.

      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.