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

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      ‘Salmon,’ Elvis cut in quickly.‘We just saw another cat picture going up. Do you know what they mean?’

      Salmon flicked his tail again.‘Of course I know, but I can’t possibly tell you.’

      ‘Which means he doesn’t have a clue,’ I cut in.

      ‘I do! I know far more than you think,’ he hissed.‘Why don’t you find that girlfriend of yours and ask her what’s going on.’

      ‘What do you mean?’ I felt angry now – how dare he bring Snowball into this.

      ‘I just heard her owners talking to mine, and let’s just say it doesn’t look good for you.’ He licked his lips, looking pleased with himself.

      ‘Salmon, tell me right now, or I’ll, I’ll …’

      ‘You’ll what? Set your girlfriend on me?’ he laughed, and before I could say anything else, he bounded off.

      ‘What could Salmon mean by that?’ Nellie asked. But as my cat friends looked at me, worry in their eyes, I knew there could only be bad news to come. I had to get to Snowball.

      I found Snowball waiting by my front gate. As soon as I saw her, I knew that something was very wrong.

      ‘We’re in trouble, Alfie,’ she said.

      ‘What have we done?’ I asked. I was prone to a bit of trouble but I didn’t think I had done anything lately.

      ‘No,’ said Snowball, wiggling further into the bush. It was still a bit damp from the rain but she looked so serious that I didn’t complain.‘Not that sort of trouble. You know that conversation you heard? Well, it seems it wasn’t nothing after all.’

      ‘Snowball, slow down, you’re not making any sense at all.’

      ‘OK, well, Tim and Karen were talking to Daisy and Christopher last night. It seems that we’re moving away, because Tim’s been offered a really good job.’

      ‘Moving away?’ I asked, my heart sinking into my paws. The Snells had been through a terrible time when they first moved to Edgar Road. It had taken quite a while and a lot of planning from me to make them part of our community, but we had done it in the end. Surely they wouldn’t move away now?

      ‘The worst thing is that the job is in Cheshire.’ Snowball looked glum.

      ‘Cheshire? Where is that? Is it far away?’ I asked, fearing the answer.

      ‘Yes, it’s hours away. Christopher will have to go to a different school, although he doesn’t mind, and Daisy said she would be travelling for work so much that it didn’t matter to her. And she has friends in London she can stay with. Of course, no one asked me what I thought.’

      ‘Of course they didn’t. Humans can be so selfish. Hold on, does this mean you’re leaving me, Edgar Road, us?’ My eyes were so wide I thought they might ping off my face. Salmon had been right.

      ‘I don’t know when exactly, but it sounds like it.’ Snowball looked sad and I started to panic. She couldn’t go, not when we were so in love. Not when we’d had such a wonderful holiday together. Though I knew full well that although human life worked very differently to cat life, there was no way they could be so cruel to us. It had to be a mistake. It just had to be.

      Snowball and I moped around for the rest of the day.

      ‘I don’t want to go home,’ she said. She was angry and confused, as was I. I did try to be positive, but there’s only so much of that you can do in such a dire situation, especially when you have the post-holiday blues to boot. I led Snowball into my house and we curled up in my basket in the living room, both of us upset and worried and trying to take some comfort where we could. We must have fallen asleep because when we woke up, Claire, Jonathan, Summer, Tim and Karen were all staring at us.

      ‘It’s as if they know they’re going to be separated,’ Claire said.

      ‘Alfie is a very perceptive cat,’ Jonathan added.

      ‘But how can they know? They’re cats,’ Tim said.

      ‘Miaow,’ I objected.

      ‘See,’ Jonathan said. ‘Alfie knows.’

      Snowball glared at her owners as, now fully awake, we sat side by side.

      ‘Maybe …’ Karen sounded uncertain. ‘Maybe you should try to explain it to them, properly. You know, man to cat?’

      ‘Really?’ Tim asked.‘You want me to talk to the cats and tell them?’

      ‘I think it’s a good idea,’ Claire concurred.

      ‘Yes, go on, Tim.’ I wasn’t sure if Jonathan was goading Tim because he found it amusing, but he was smirking a bit. I gave him one of my looks and thankfully he had the grace to look ashamed. After all, this was clearly no joking matter.

      Tim cleared his throat. Snowball and I looked at him expectantly.

      ‘We love living here, on this street, and we’ve made some great friends.’ Tim looked really uncomfortable. ‘But just as moving here was a big decision for our family, and far from ideal at the time, actually, we have had to make another difficult decision. You see, Snowball and Alfie, I’ve been offered a dream job, a really amazing opportunity. It means we can buy our own home again, so I can give my family the security they need and deserve.’ He was a bit pink. I looked at Snowball, who looked at me. I felt a sense of disbelief. Although I had heard they were moving already, having this confirmation from Tim wasn’t making it any easier. I had been holding onto the hope that the rumours weren’t true.

      ‘As much as we hate to leave here,’ Tim continued,‘having spoken to the family, we feel we have to take this opportunity. We’ll be leaving in a few weeks. It’s all happened very quickly actually.’ He looked at us expectantly but we just stared back at him. ‘And I never wanted to part you two,’ he added.

      ‘Oh, Alfie, it’ll be all right,’ Claire said, scooping me up in her arms. But I knew it wouldn’t. As I looked at Snowball sitting in my cat basket, her manner changed from sad to angry, I knew it would never be all right again. I felt a sense of rage building inside me. How could they do this to us?

      I thought about running away. Maybe Snowball and I could run back to the country, to where we’d been so happy, but I knew we wouldn’t. I couldn’t do the homeless thing again, no matter how much I loved her, and I knew that even though I was angry with our families right now, we both loved them very much. It was an impossible, impossible situation.

      All I could hear as the humans began trying to reassure us was the sound of my heart breaking.

       Chapter Six

      It was the day before they were due to leave. The day before my true love was to be ripped away from me. I had been beside СКАЧАТЬ