‘Or I could be more creative, I could do my sheep impression?’ George said.
‘No, we won’t be able to see you, so just yowl and we will know it’s time,’ I said. I wanted to keep it as simple as possible.
‘What if Barbara sees us?’ Snowball asked.
‘Then we’ll have to abort our mission so hopefully she won’t. We’ll tuck behind the bin and if she comes out of the house George will give us a signal,’ I said.
‘What’s the signal?’ Salmon asked again.
‘Meow as loudly as you can.’
‘Right, let me get this straight,’ Rocky said. ‘He meows and we tip the bin, he yowls and we hide?’
‘No, the other way round.’ I went through the whole thing one more time. We had to get it right.
It was cold and had started to rain by the time we made it to Barbara’s flat. We took up our position behind the bin, with George out front, and waited.
‘Ow, I think someone stood on my tail,’ Nellie said.
‘Careful,’ I cautioned, although I think it may have been me.
‘Keep quiet, or we could blow this whole thing,’ Salmon said.
‘Imagine if Barbara finds us here, she’ll go mad.’
‘She won’t find us.’
Just as we were all getting on each other’s fur – we were soaking wet and also uncomfortable being crammed in together – we heard George.
‘YOWL.’
‘Is that push or Barbara?’ Rocky asked. I rolled my whiskers.
‘Push,’ I commanded. We all shoved the bin with all our strength and with the help of the wind it fell over with a crash.
‘Whatever is that?’ Sylvie said. Us cats made our way round to the front but tried to stay hidden in a bush. George and Sylvie stood by the bin. ‘How did this happen?’ she asked. She went to pick the bin up, putting the break on Theo’s pram first, and as she did I felt like mewing in despair. The bin was empty, which was probably why it had been pretty easy to push over. Sylvie picked it up and put it back in place, still looking perplexed, then she walked on. We all emerged from the bush.
‘Didn’t think about the fact it might have been emptied, did we?’ Salmon said.
‘No. Oh, how disappointing,’ I said, feeling dejected.
‘Oh Alfie, it was a very good plan, and it’s not your fault that the bin men must have just been.’
‘How could I be so stupid? I heard Claire reminding Jonathan to put the bins out earlier. I didn’t think.’
‘Never mind, there’s always another plan, Alfie,’ Nellie said.
She was right, there was.
‘I think that Salmon and I will have to try to catch her red-handed, as per the original plan. And now we know it’s her, we need to act quickly.’
‘But she tried to hurt you before, what if she does something now?’ Snowball asked.
‘OK, well, maybe we won’t confront her, but we have to stop her from ruining the show somehow. But just in case, George, if I am not at home when you wake up, come and find these guys – if you can make sure you come here in the morning everyone, and Snowball, if you can’t get away, someone will come to your house. Is that OK with everyone? Are we all clear?’ I was surprised to find that I was beginning to feel nervous.
‘Hold on, if she doesn’t come to the hall tonight, you might get locked in, anyway,’ Elvis pointed out.
‘Yes, which is why I need George to find someone to come get us out if that’s the case,’ I said. I thought I had explained my plan clearly, but still they had questions.
‘I should be coming with you,’ George said sulkily.
‘But son, I need you at home, in case you need to raise the alarm,’ I repeated.
‘Humph.’
‘OK, Alfie, but do you still need to do it now we know it’s her?’ Nellie asked.
‘We have to stop her, and this is the only way I can think of.’ I stood my ground.
‘Then you need to be doubly careful,’ Snowball said, sounding worried.
‘She’s definitely sneaky but hopefully by tomorrow her plan will be foiled.’ I tried to sound more confident than I felt as we did need to catch her in the act, and I would have Salmon with me. I just had to be brave. ‘And, in the meantime, we better scarper. We definitely don’t want her to find us here.’
Chapter Twenty-Five
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Salmon was surprisingly chipper about staking out the hall a second time, although this time we were going inside. George, however, wasn’t quite as happy. He was still very upset at not being invited. He had let the first one go because we were just hanging out outside, but now he seemed to think that he should be involved. I told him it might put him in danger. He didn’t accept that and said that, as his dad, I shouldn’t putmyself in danger either. I couldn’t argue, but I reiterated that I needed him here, because if Salmon and I got into trouble he would be able to raise the alarm if we weren’t back by morning. Still, he refused to be pacified, insisting that the plan would work much better if he was directly involved. I had to get quite firm with him, which I don’t like to do but, as he said, I was his father. He might be grown up, or think he was, but he still had to do what I told him. Especially as this was for his own good.
I was quivering with anticipation and cold as I met Salmon that night, and we got to the hall while people were still working. Polly and Franceska were spraying the trees on the stage with fake snow and it was beginning to look like a proper winter wonderland. Tomasz and some others were putting the finishing touches to the stable where baby Jesus would be born, and the star was now re-made and hanging up. An old armchair had been cleaned up, ready for the Santa scene, and someone was making a fake fireplace where stockings would be hung. It was all looking amazing.
‘We better hide,’ I said to Salmon. We didn’t want anyone finding us and making us go home.
‘Right, Pol, let’s go, we’ve got a dinner reservation,’ Matt said.
‘Just coming, love,’ Polly replied. The children and Pickles were spending the night at our house – another thing that had annoyed George. He felt as if he was getting left behind with Pickles, and that he was being treated as a baby. I hadn’t had time to argue though and I did think that with the house full it would be less likely that anyone noticed I wasn’t there for a bit. If everything went to plan, that was.
We could hear everyone leaving– saying goodbyes, footsteps heavy – from where we were hiding.
‘Can you hear that?’ Salmon said.
‘What?’
‘I just heard a lady saying “I’ll lock up, I just want to finish tidying up,” and I think it’s Barbara. Surely she wouldn’t be so obvious as to do anything when she was the last person in the hall?’
‘Yes, if she does anything then they’ll suspect her, surely,’ I said.
‘Maybe she has a plan. You might not be the only one with plans, you know,’ Salmon grinned.
‘I have a lot of plans,’ I admitted.
‘And I’m glad to be participating in one of your plans, I like working with you Alfie, and this is right up my street.’ We both raised our whiskers. It seemed we made a good team. We snuck towards the backstage to find somewhere to hide.
‘Look, here’s a good place.’ He pointed his paw towards one of the backdrops that was leaning against the wall at an angle, leaving just enough space for a couple of cats. We went to slide behind it, but I bumped into something. Something soft and a bit smaller than me.
‘George,’ I hissed. Salmon had managed to get close to me but there was not much room.
‘Oh hi, Dad. I couldn’t let you do this alone; I was worried,’ George gushed, looking guilty.
Something licked me.
‘Oh my God, Pickles, is that you?’
‘Woof.’
‘George, what on earth are you and Pickles doing here? Salmon, what are we going to do?’
‘I’m not sure.’ Salmon wasn’t sure about Pickles, which was understandable because he didn’t know him. It was dark, but we cats have very good eyesight in the dark, so we could see them both. Standing there, as if pilchards wouldn’t melt … ‘But, I don’t think it’s a good idea that they’re here,’ he added.