‘Why on earth would we do that?’ Snowball asked.
‘Oh boy, it’s a showbiz term, means good luck,’ he hissed. ‘But you’re not supposed to say good luck as it’s bad luck and now I have. Twice. Oh no!’
‘Calm down, George, it’ll be fine, and how do you know all this anyway?’
‘I’ve been in the business longer than any of you,’ he said. Of course.
The Nativity was flawless, almost. Mary and Joseph arrived at the Airbnb on a tandem. Mary (Sylvie) had a pillow in her dress and Connie was holding Theo backstage.
‘There’s no room in my Airbnb. My business is very popular and successful; in fact I consistently get five stars on trip advisor so, no, there’s nothing for you, here,’ Polly said and everyone laughed. I didn’t get it, but it was apparently quite funny.
Before we knew it, it was our turn with the shepherds. I was actually quite nervous as I mounted the stage. My legs were shaking. I gave Snowball a reassuring look as George ran ahead. We all did our sheep impression, George bounding around taking centre stage while we hung back, pretending to eat grass as well as shuffling around a bit. I don’t think any of us wanted to steal George’s limelight, especially as the audience seemed to be lapping it up. We all became still as the lights dimmed and the song ‘While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night’ began, sung beautifully by Ralph’s choir. Then we were told about the baby Jesus and we set off to meet him after being herded up by Tomasz, who, because he had this sort of head covering on which fell over his face a bit, stepped on my tail.
‘Yelp,’ I said, not sounding like a sheep at all.
‘Sorry,’ he whispered as he adjusted his head piece. Apart from that, I thought it was a very authentic representation. And when Peter juggled the toy sheep he only dropped them once, so that was a definite improvement, as he closed our first part.
The choir sang again, and after that a break– or interval, as Aleksy called it – the stage was set and ready for the last part of the Nativity.
When we arrived at the stable where the baby Jesus was born, we all looked on curiously– not sure if sheep did that, but they did in our play. Theo started bawling suddenly, causing us all to jump back, but Sylvie put a dummy in his mouth and that stopped him. Apparently they didn’t have dummies in Jesus’ time, but as Aleksy said, needs must.
After the finale when Santa Harold came and sat in the armchair, pretended to fall asleep and the children found him there– which was a very sweet scene – he got up and started throwing treats out to the audience, who were all trying to catch them, and then as many people as possible crowded on stage and sang ‘We Wish You a Merry Christmas’. It was over too quickly and as the curtain closed, the audience clapped and cheered with gusto. The curtains opened and everyone bowed again. Well, we tried, but it’s not easy to bow when you’re a cat.
I was exhausted but, for some reason, I couldn’t wait until we got to do it again.
‘That was brilliant, wasn’t it, Dad?’ George said, eyes sparkling.
‘It was, George, and I now see why you were so keen about stage stuff,’ I said.
Backstage was once again chaotic as people tried to change out of costumes and props were tidied up.
‘Can I help with the cats?’ Barbara asked. I narrowed my eyes. Not likely.
‘That’d be great, thank you,’ Claire said. Barbara picked me up and I resisted the urge to jump out of her arms. She had behaved perfectly since the day that we foiled her plan, and Harold was convinced she was a nice lady. She gently took my costume off and then put me down. Wow, that felt better, my fur felt free again.
‘There you go, Alfie,’ she said, kindly. ‘You were all very good sheep.’
Maybe she wasn’t all bad after all.
Tommy and Charlie were showing Aleksy the brilliant response they had received on social media after they put some photos and teasers up. Heather was organising the kitchen and making hot drinks for everyone with some of the other Edgar Road singers, while Franceska was in charge of the food. The audience were all chatting happily, having seemed to have really enjoyed themselves. The cast was mixing with all of them, even the younger members. Summer and Martha paraded Pickles around on his lead to charmingly introduce him to everyone. Sienna and Tommy were handing out food, Aleksy and Connie were shaking hands and chatting to people. It was all truly wonderful. Barbara was being particularly helpful and she had kept her word and was volunteering at the shelter now, so she seemed to know quite a few people. Someone called for quiet again, and as we all looked on, a man, who I assumed was from the shelter, took to the stage.
‘I just wanted to say,’ his voice broke a little. Greg the manager went to join him on stage and he put his arm around the man’s shoulder, reassuringly. ‘I just want to say that this evening has been something we will never forget. We are often forgotten and sometimes we even forget ourselves. Because existing is all we can try to do, there’s no way we can think about enjoying ourselves.’ His voice broke again. Greg patted him reassuringly. My heart felt as if it was breaking a little bit for these forgotten people, and I saw many wiping tears from their eyes, including Jonathan. ‘But today, you did something great. Not only are you putting on a show to help us, which we appreciate more than I can ever tell you, but also you invited us to participate. To feel as if we are part of something, part of the community and that is something that almost never happens to us homeless people. So, on behalf of Helen Street Shelter, and all homeless people everywhere, I want to thank you for seeing us, and hearing us, and letting us be a part of something wonderful.’
Everyone clapped and cheered him, and he became the real star of the show.
A litter while later, I noticed a woman I’d never seen before taking photos as Aleksy and Connie approached her. I joined them.
‘This will go in this week’s paper,’ she said. Ah, she was from the local paper. Claire talked about them doing a piece. ‘I’ve got lots of great photos and I know this will be a wonderful Christmas story.’ She sounded emotional.
‘Brilliant! Did you enjoy the show?’ Aleksy asked.
‘I loved it. And I think people are going to love the cats as sheep and the adorable reindeer, so as well as a picture of some of the people from the shelter, we’ll use those. I assume there’s a link to buy tickets and donate?’ she asked.
‘Oh yes,’ Connie said, and smiled. ‘Let me get you all the details.’
‘Before we go, we wanted to give you some feedback,’ Aleksy said when the people from the shelter had left, so it was just us cast. It had been a long night as we stayed for ages, mixing with our guests and the children were worn out from excitement and too much sugar; they were all about to crash and I felt ready to do the same. But we all listened intently. Were they going to say anything about us sheep? I thought we did a good job, but … I held my breath.
‘You were all brilliant!’ Connie announced and we cheered, well, I mewed, but you get the idea.
‘And, the shows are all now practically sold out,’ Aleksy added, to more cheers.
‘Thank you all for your hard work. Honestly, seeing the response tonight, how much it meant to everyone in the audience, makes it feel so worthwhile, more than worthwhile,’ Claire added.
‘Can we also take a minute to say thank you to the organisers?’ Polly said. ‘Without Aleksy, Connie, and Claire there would be no show, so please, a round of applause for them.’
I looked around the room. No one mentioned me. No one. But then, I was just happy that my idea had gone so brilliantly. That was recognition enough. Or at least, it seemed it would have to be.
As we headed home, we all felt that we’d done something important tonight and everyone was happy, but also our hearts were filled with thoughts of those who didn’t have a home to head to. And that was sad beyond belief.