‘OK.’ George tried to sound reluctant. He was so grown up now that he said the games they played with the younger kids were beneath him! However, I knew he secretly still loved it. I watched them both rush off then went into the living room where, to my delight, Polly, Franceska, Claire, and Sylvie were. Claire was clutching baby Theo, who seemed to be asleep.
‘I can’t believe he’s sleeping,’ Sylvie said, as if reading my mind. ‘He’s been terrible lately; I think it’s a growth spurt. Feeding all the time, not sleeping, it’s exhausting. If I knew that having a baby at my age would be so tough …’
‘You wouldn’t be without him though, would you?’ Polly asked.
‘No, of course not – I adore him. But Connie’s so much older, so I really had forgotten what it was like to have a newborn. Thankfully Marcus is great and supportive, but I’m conscious that he has to work.’
‘It’s a tough time, the first year,’ Claire said. ‘But also amazing. I sometimes look at Toby, who feels as if he’s been with us forever, and I feel guilty that I wasn’t the one to comfort him when he was this age.’ Claire sounded emotional. Toby was adopted by us when he was five. Wedon’t talk about his life before and neitherdoes he anymore. Now he’s been with us, such a huge part of our family for years, it’s as if he was always here. I kind of know what Claire means though.
‘Theo’s only three months old, remember,’ Franceska said. ‘Soon enough he will find his routine; babies do it in their own time. Goodness, not that I remember, my two are so growing fast.’ I glanced at Franceska and jumped onto her lap. She got her words a little bit mixed up when she wasworried. Perhaps I would hear more about the Tommy situation now. Franceska sighed.
‘Things still bad with Tommy?’ Polly asked.
‘Ah, yes. He’s always been such a naughty boy but mostly harmless. You know, so physical, unlike Aleksy, but sports seemed to keep him under control. But now he’s really playing up at school and we don’t know why. He doesn’t do his homework, he’s been in detention so many times and his head of year even called me and Tomasz in. He said he is not doing well in lessons and he’s becoming known as a trouble maker by the teachers. He has broken so many rules, I don’t think there’s many he hasn’t broken. Thankfully he hasn’t been fighting, but that seems to be the only thing he hasn’t done.’
‘Oh Frankie,’ Claire said. ‘Tommy’s a bright boy but he’s always been a little bit of a live wire. Do you think this might just be a phase?’
‘I hope so, but as Tomasz said, if he starts being in trouble all the time, how do we stop it? It’s hard, you know? Tommy’s always been a leader and he is being seen as the bad influence on his friends now; Aleksy told me this. He didn’t want to say too much because it would betray his brother. He also said he would try to talk to Tommy but I don’t think it’s done any good. They just argue about it all. Tommy says Aleksy is a “suck up” and Aleksy gets quite upset by him.’
‘You’ve already grounded him?’ Sylvie said.
‘Yes, and we took his phone and his iPad, and now he just says he hates us! I just don’t want my lovely boy to go off the rails.’
‘I’m sure he won’t – he’s got a good heart at the end of the day – but you know, maybe he still feels a little bit out of place … with us. He’s older than our lot, and Aleksy has Connie …’ Polly pointed out. This was true. Poor Tommy was a little bit on his own. We noticed this and I somehow managed to draw attention to it. He sometimes had a friend come with him, when we had family day, but not now, not when he was in trouble. He wasn’t allowed.
‘That is why we told him to invite a friend, but now he is grounded we said he had to improve his behaviour before his friends can visit again,’ Franceska said. ‘We really don’t know what to do for the best.’
‘Keep an eye on the situation, that’s all you can do. And if you need any help, we’re all here,’ Claire said.
‘Meow.’ I seconded that.
‘I know. I’m hoping that the next family day we have, maybe Jonathan can have a word. For some reason he seems to take to Jonathan.’ Yeah, I didn’t know why either.
‘I think it’s because they’re similar.’ Claire laughed. ‘But I have an idea. Tommy said he wants to work in the city, which he can only do if he does well at school. Maybe Jonathan could say that if he improves his grades he can do some work experience for him.’
‘That’s a genius idea, Claire,’ Franceska said. ‘I would be so grateful.’
You see, I had taught my humans well. Claire had almost as many good ideas as I did. Although, knowing Jonathan as I did, I wasn’t sure he’d be thrilled. He often found himself having to do things that he had no say in. But, I also knew that even if he objected there would be no point. When Claire made up her mind there was absolutely no changing it.
Tommy being in trouble was something I would have to ponder. He was a good boy. He was fun as well, always laughing and joking, and yes he didn’t love school the way Aleksy did and he didn’t find lessons easy either, but he had great potential. And I would not let Tommy ruin his life – not that he was going to, but if Franceska and his school were right, he was in danger of going down the wrong path and it would take a cat like me to get him back on the right one. Oh, don’t get me wrong, I was pretty sure I wouldn’t be able to do it alone, but I had my family, my cat friends, and I was determined. All I needed now was a plan, and I was very, very experienced when it came to making plans.
Theo woke up with a quite startling cry soon after, and Sylvie took him home in order to make Connie’s tea. Franceska reluctantly left us to go and deal with her family. I could see in the way her shoulders were slumped that she was seriously worried about her younger son. I nuzzled into her, giving her a bit of extra fuss so she knew that I was here for her.
‘Shall I do tea for the kids here?’ Claire offered.
‘Oh that would be fantastic. I’ll pour us a glass of wine shall I?’ Polly replied. The kids all got on pretty well most of the time. There was the odd squabble, but that was only to be expected. They all had tea together a few times a week, especially as Claire looked after Henry and Martha when Polly had to work late, and Matt couldn’t get home either. I loved how lively the house was, but it was also quite exhausting.
As George and Pickles and the children descended on the kitchen I watched my family with a mixture of love, pride and worry. We never stopped worrying about those we loved, that was for sure. As the children ate their tea with all the usual chatter and laughter, George and I sat in our basket in the kitchen, enjoying our family. Pickles lurked under the kitchen table, trying to pick up any scraps that were dropped, and Polly and Claire sipped glasses of wine. I wished I could press pause on our lives. Keep this snapshot for a bit longer, because it was truly lovely. And because sometimes life moved far too quickly.
George and the children were growing up fast, the adults trying to keep everything balanced– and I include myself in that by the way – and even Pickles wasn’t technically a baby anymore. At least we had baby Theo to keep us young, I guessed, but then we’d blink and he’d be a teenager. Oh listen to me, getting all maudlin. It was only because I was worried about Tommy, and once I started fretting I generally started worrying about everyone I loved.
That was the sort of cat I was.
I went out the front to take a bit of thinking time in the fresh, albeit damp and cold, air. I saw Aleksy and Connie standing at Connie’s front gate. I went to greet them.