‘Oh what a fabulous idea,’ Claire said. ‘We could have Christmas songs …’
‘And what about a grown-up Nativity, that could be a good idea?’ Aleksy chipped in.
‘And maybe carols, and all the children can be involved, and we can ask at school …’ Connie sounded excited.
‘We could sell tickets, and make posters advertising it.’
‘I think it’s a brilliant idea. Of course it should be a Christmas show.’ Claire sounded excited. ‘It’s perfect, in fact.’
‘But where would we have it?’ Aleksy asked. ‘And what about the cost?’
‘Leave that to me,’ Claire said. I lay down, relieved. They had got the idea, they liked it and now it was going to hopefully come to life. I wondered what part I would play, and George and Snowball, too, of course. And maybe Hana would be involved. It would be a real family affair and I loved the idea that we’d get to all work together on it. After all, we were a big part of this community. I could see it bringing everyone together in the most wonderful way.
I listened with one ear open as they chatted around some ideas, it seemed they were really getting it now.
‘Yes there’s a lot to do,’ Aleksy said, after they’d chatted for a while. ‘But maybe if we make a list we can do it.’
‘How about you and Connie be the directors?’ Claire suggested. ‘And if you want to do the Nativity you could even write a script so it will be new and original?’
‘Good idea,’ Connie said.
‘We could ask the school to support us as well,’ Aleksy suggested.
‘Now that is a good idea,’ Claire said. I agreed.
‘And we could hold auditions, which would be really fun!’ Connie added, excitement audible in her voice.
I loved the way they were all thinking and coming up with ideas, and I was so proud of Aleksy and Connie. Teenagers get a bad rap (and yes I am guilty of that), but Aleksy and Connie were doing something good, rather than just worrying about themselves. They were being so unselfish, helping others. I had taught them well.
‘We’ll need to do lots of social media,’ Connie said. I climbed onto Aleksy and nuzzled into his neck. As they continued to chat away about the show, I could see it in my mind. I lay down in Aleksy’s lap. My work was done and yet another plan was now underway.
Chapter Nine
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The next few days proved a whirlwind for my humans and me. As the show was my idea, I felt as if I had to be involved in everything. And as Claire pointed out, we didn’t have any time to lose. As it was a Christmas show, it really only gave us just less than a month to hold auditions, build sets, and get everything ready. If we were able to pull it off, it would mean a lot of hard work for everyone involved. And of course, that meant very hard work for me.
It seemed that there were a lot of issues we needed to address. Firstly, my idea might have seemed simple, but it was not. As soon as they understood my vision, they then began questioning everything, which in turn made me question everything.
‘Do you think we have enough time?’ Claire said, when she told Jonathan. ‘It’s nearly November, and we’ll need the show to be on just before Christmas so that doesn’t give us a lot of time to find a hall, write the show, rehearse, sell tickets …’ She chewed her lip anxiously.
‘It is ambitious. But there are a lot of us,’ Jonathan said supportively, which I was pleased about. He wasn’t always so keen to take on our projects. ‘We can all muck in and help. Write a list – you’re really good at them – and we can take it from there.’
Claire made a list, which she talked about to me a lot. The first thing we needed to do was to find a venue. We needed a hall which could accommodate a lot of people, had a stage, and was free, because we couldn’t spend money when the aim was to raise it. I didn’t understand everything but as Connie, Claire, Aleksy and I sat around our kitchen table trying to come up with something, I had to admit it made me a bit nervous.
Claire called a number of people, but there was always a problem. Aleksy asked at school but they weren’t allowed to let him use their hall for anything which wasn’t related to school. There were insurance problems, apparently.
Franceska offered the use of the restaurant but then realised that it was busy so how would they rehearse there, even if they closed it off for the show. Tomasz asked everyone who came to dine at the restaurant but it seemed there was nowhere we could use. I had a terrible feeling in my fur that the show might be over before it even began. I hated the thought that one of my ideas might fail. They never did. Or almost never, anyway.
We were all feeling a bit dejected when Matt turned up at our house with Pickles and started babbling.
‘Slow down, Matt,’ Claire said. ‘I can’t understand a word you are saying.’
‘There’s a hall, I just found it. Edgar Road Parish Hall, it’s tucked behind the end of the road not far from here. It’s a bit neglected but come on, come look.’ He was breathless but excited. Could this be it?
‘How did you find it?’ Claire asked as she grabbed a coat and left the house, shouting to Jonathan to mind the kids. Of course I followed her.
‘Polly is making me take Pickles for longer walks to try to get him to lose some weight, and I was just doing that really. I managed to look through one of the windows and it’s a bit dusty but it looks as if it might fit the bill.’
‘Oh Matt, if you’re right then you’re the hero of the hour.’
I wondered how I had never noticed the hall before; it wasn’t a long walk to get there, and it was tucked away past the park we used to go to a lot when the children were younger. And George too actually. We went there sometimes still, but to be honest, not as much as we used to. I remember when Summer was a baby we would go with Henry and Martha, hauling prams and pushchairs, and have picnics with Claire and Polly. Those were the days before George of course, and goodness how it felt like a long time ago. George was right, I was a pretty nostalgic cat these days. In my early days in Edgar Road I had even fallen into the pond at the park – I was admiring my reflection – and Matt had to save me. Goodness, I’d almost forgotten about that.
The building was near the church and Matt said that as it was a parish hall it probably belonged to the church, which was a good thing, as churches were known for charity.
We had a good look around and I was able to jump onto one of the lower window sills and look through a very big window. It was dirty, though, as Matt had said, so we were limited in what we could see. Inside was big, there were chairs stacked up and I thought I could make out a stage. It was dark as well, and clearly needed a good clean.
Claire had gone from despondent about the show to buoyed up, as had I. She said she didn’t want to speak about it to Aleksy and Connie though until she had tracked down the vicar. That necessitated a trip to the church the following day, but if he agreed it looked as if the show might be a go after all. I had my paws firmly crossed.
Being an optimistic cat, I decided to get George, Hana and Snowball on board now. Although they knew about my idea, and had agreed to be part of it in theory, they, like everyone else, weren’t sure it would actually happen. Our other Edgar Road friends were shyer than us and didn’t want to be part of a show, and of course Dustbin and Ally would rather be in the yard, but the four of us were willing to take centre stage. I knew we wouldn’t have talking parts – I did accept I was a cat after all – but we could definitely be very important members of the cast. However, first we needed to secure that venue.
I woke up feeling tense the following day. Claire was going to find the vicar after she dropped the children off at school, and I didn’t go with her because it was pouring with rain, which meant she had to take the car. All I could do was wait and pace the floor until she returned.
It felt like hours before I heard the key in the lock. Claire rushed in, picked me up and spun me around.