We crouched behind a wall in front of the hall, as it was the only way someone could get inside. I shivered– it really was bitterly cold – and hoped we wouldn’t be here too long.
‘So, what’s your favourite thing about Christmas?’ Salmon asked me, to pass the time.
‘Only one thing.’
‘One thing.’
‘Family and friends being together,’ I said. I would have said the food but that was shallow and I am not a shallow cat.
‘I agree, it’s a wonderful time if you have a nice family,’ Salmon said.
‘Gosh, that’s deep.’
‘I’m thinking of the shelter, the people who probably don’t have family, because if they did, they wouldn’t be homeless, would they?’
‘No,’ I agreed. ‘There would be someone to take care of them. When my first owner, Margaret, died, I had no one to take care of me, but I was lucky enough to find a new family.’
‘And your Toby, he found a new family.’
‘Yes he did, but it might not be so easy for grown-ups as it is for cats and children,’ I mused.
‘Sad, that.’
We both lapsed into our thoughts before being shaken by the sound of footsteps.
‘Quick, look,’ I said, standing up. Salmon did the same. It was dark but we saw a shadowy figure approach. I checked the feet, they were big. Whoever it was, was big, and also not Tommy, I was relieved to see.
‘Ready, let’s pounce,’ I said as the footsteps came closer.
‘God help us,’ Salmon said and we jumped out.
‘Yowl,’ I said at the top of my voice.
‘Meow!’ Salmon shouted.
‘Oh my God, you nearly gave me heart failure.’
We both became silent as we stared at Tomasz. Not the saboteur then. Or was he? No.
‘What the hell are you doing? I left my phone here – Franceska says I lose everything – and I was coming back for it.’
Ah, that explained it.
‘Were you waiting to see if the sabotage person came back?’
‘Meow,’ I admitted.
‘What clever cats you are, but you need to be careful. Whoever it was had quite big feet, Alfie.’
I shuddered. Tomasz was right and I’d already thought about the damage those feet could do.
Chapter Twenty-Three
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Iwas distracted from the show for a moment because it was Christmas tree day. Finally. It seemed that since we had started the show we had been waiting to be able to get Christmas properly started and now we were. It might be a little early but Claire said they were working so hard on the show that if we didn’t get the tree now, we might not have the time to all do it together. I think secretly she liked the idea of putting it up a bit earlier than usual. And as the show was so Christmassy, it seemed only fitting that we enveloped ourselves in all things Christmas.
Like everything in our families’ lives, Christmas tree day was crazy. Tomasz came with us because he had a van and that could fit ours, Polly and Matt’s, and their tree in. We had offered for Sylvie and Marcus to come but they said with Theo being so tiny they were going to put up an artificial tree, and Harold said he had one that he’d had since Marcus was a boy and it was good enough; he wasn’t going to waste money on a tree that only got used for a month. Jonathan agreed with him but he was outvoted by the rest of us.
The only downside to Christmas tree shopping was that us cats were banned. As was Pickles.
George, Pickles, and I could only sit at home and wait for the tree to arrive.
‘I am so excited,’ Pickles said.
‘Remember no trying to climb it this year.’ Last year had been the first year when George hadn’t climbed the Christmas tree, but he’d encouraged Pickles to do so. This year I was hoping for no tree issues for the first time in a long time.
‘No, I won’t. Can I eat it?’ he asked.
‘No, it’s prickly and could hurt you,’ George cautioned. I gave him a stare of approval.
‘No eating the decorations, or the tinsel either,’ I said.
‘So many rules.’ Pickles didn’t like to be told not to do something. None of us did, really, and Pickles generally did the opposite of what he was told, which never turned out well.
It felt like hours but finally they returned with the tree.
‘Did we have to get one this big,’ Jonathan moaned as he, Tomasz, and Matt carried it in, straining under the weight.
‘Yes,’ Claire said simply.
‘It’s the best tree ever,’ Summer said.
‘Why isn’t ours as big?’ Henry asked.
‘Our living room is a bit smaller so we have two – one for the living room and one for you guys to decorate exactly how you want,’ Polly explained.
‘Why haven’t we got a tree to decorate exactly how we want?’ Toby asked.
‘Because you got the world’s most expensive tree,’ Jonathan said. He was still a little red faced from the exertion. It was a very big tree.
‘Why isn’t ours the world’s most expensive?’ Martha asked.
The adults all shook their heads.
‘We’ll go and drop yours off next,’ Tomasz said to Polly, Matt, Martha, and Henry. ‘Then I better get mine back to the house, as Franceska is insisting the boys help to decorate it. I thought Tommy would say he was far too old but he agreed. Although as Connie’s coming over, he’s allowed to have Charlie too.’
I was pleased by this news. Although Tommy wasn’t quite his old self, it sounded like he was getting there.
We had a lovely afternoon. Claire put on her favourite Christmas music, someone called Michael Bubl?, who apparently was a very handsome Christmas singer. Even Jonathan began to stop moaning about the cost of the tree as they started getting the decorations out.
We had got all the decorations down from the loft earlier and Claire was sorting them out, with Toby helping.
‘All I want for Christmas is you,’ the singer sang.
‘All I want for Christmas is you,’ Claire joined in, laughing, and gave Toby a hug, then Summer and Jonathan. As the family danced around the living room – including Jonathan, who had Summer dancing on his feet – George and I joined in. We danced until our paws hurt.
‘I know, let’s make hot chocolate and have marshmallows while we decorate the tree,’ Claire suggested.
‘Yay!’ Toby and Summer said.
‘Put a shot of whisky in mine,’ Jonathan said.
‘I might, if you promise not to be grumpy,’ she replied.
‘Mew,’ George said to me. He was a bit partial to marshmallows, which weren’t exactly cat friendly and which I didn’t like because they were sticky, but each to their own.
It might have taken us hours but the tree did look impressive when it was finished.
‘Wow, it’s beautiful,’ Claire said quite emotionally as Jonathan climbed up the stepladder and placed the angel on top.
‘That’s the angel both you kids made last year,’ Jonathan added. ‘Right, who is going to do the big light switch on?’
‘Me, me, me,’ Summer said.
‘Meeee,’ Toby said.
‘I’d say it’s a draw, so as we have two sets of lights, you can plug one in each on my count.’
I could barely contain my excitement as the children took the plugs and got ready to put them in the socket.
‘Ten, nine, eight, seven, six, five, four, three, two, one, go,’ Jonathan said.
‘Wow,’ Claire said as the lights all sparkled and the tree lit up.
‘Mew,’ I said. It was beautiful.
‘Yowl,’ George said. ‘It’s going to be hard to resist climbing that one.’
‘Please try.’ I flicked my tail.
‘Silent Night’ started playing and we all huddled round the tree, admiring it.
‘Plenty of room for Santa to put presents,’ Summer said.
‘But remember, it’s not just about presents,’ Toby said. He was pretty mature for a kid.
‘No, it’s about family, love, and caring about those who aren’t as lucky as us,’ Claire said.
‘Like the homeless people,’ Summer said.
‘Meow.’ Maybe Summer was maturing too.