Had I mentioned that?
Chapter Fifteen
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Snowball was laughing, and I didn’t think it was funny. I had just told her about the sheep thing, which she thought was hilarious – even the fact we would be dressing up. I thought she would be as affronted as me, but no, she was amused.
‘Oh come on, Alfie, where’s your sense of adventure?’ she said.
‘But a sheep? We could have been the wise men, because goodness knows we are wise. Or even angels, because everyone knows angels are good. But sheep? They don’t do anything except run around and eat grass.’
‘You’re an expert on sheep now?’
‘I told you about the sheep when we were on holiday in Lynstow—’
‘Yes, you did and you don’t need to tell me again,’ Snowball said, stopping me in my tracks. ‘Alfie, where’s your Christmas spirit?’
‘Goodness, if I had known, I might not have come up with the idea in the first place,’ I huffed. I wasn’t sure why I was so annoyed, but I think that after all the work we’d done I had expected more of a starring role. I felt that the sheep were just extras really. The more I had time to think about it, the more I wasn’t keen.
‘You need to get over yourself. I heard Harold talking about how the homeless people will really benefit from this and that’s why we’re doing it. It raises awareness and money for the problem, and it means that more people at the Helen Street Shelter can have a lovely dinner for Christmas, and hopefully warm clothes and also even gifts. It’s more than they normally get, which is sad, and we need to remember how lucky we are.’ She gave me one of her stern looks. I was suitably chastised.
‘You’re right, sometimes I do think about myself too much.’ I felt bad.
‘Well, I heard Harold on the phone and he said they are all going to the shelter later, not the younger ones because they are too little, so they’re staying with Sylvie, but the rest of them are going to help out, meet some of the people who our show is going to help and give everyone an idea as to why we’re doing this,’ Snowball said.
‘We’re all going to go to the shelter?’ I asked. ‘They said us cats would be going?’
‘No, Alfie, what have I just said? Sometimes things are more important than us.’
‘I do know that,’ I huffed again. ‘But, surely we’ll be going to the shelter.’ How could they even think about going without us?
‘I’m not sure we’re invited,’ Snowball said.
‘When has that ever stopped us?’ I asked.
George didn’t take much persuading to come with us to the shelter but Hana said she was tired and would prefer to stay at home.
‘Is she alright?’ I asked George when we were at our house.
‘She’s just more exhausted than usual but I think that’s because of the baby. No one gets much sleep in that house at the moment.’
‘That makes sense. Hopefully he’ll start sleeping more soon and they’ll all get better rest,’ I said.
‘Anyway, I’m excited to go to the shelter and I said I’d tell her all about it. It’s good for us to meet the people we’re trying to help, so we understand more,’ he said.
‘You’re a good lad,’ I said, and gave him a pat with my paw. I was moved. Snowball was right, I had been too busy thinking about myself, and not spent enough time thinking about why we were doing this show. It wasn’t for us to be stars, it was to raise money for a very good cause, to show how a community can be when it behaves like a proper community, and also – as an added bonus for us – a chance to spend more time with our loved ones. That was what was important. Not me being a sheep. No, Snowball was right, I needed to get over myself. Not that I would tell her that, of course.She loved being right, and when she was right I never heard the end of it.
Because Sylvie was staying with the children, Marcus offered to help as it was too much for one person. So when Harold arrived at our house with Snowball following him, we were ready to go. Aleksy, Tommy, Franceska, and Tomasz, along with Connie, were meeting us there as it was nearer to their house than ours. Jonathan was going to drive, as was Matt, but no one mentioned us.
‘What if they don’t think we’re going with them?’ George asked.
‘We go and wait by Jonathan’s car and when he opens the door we jump in,’ I said.
‘Good plan, Alfie.’ It seemed that Snowball had forgiven me for my earlier selfishness.
As they got into the cars, we jumped in too.
‘Claire, the cats cannot come with us,’ Jonathan said.
‘Meow.’ Why not?
‘Look, if they can’t go in the shelter, then we’ll leave them in the car but if we try to get them out now we’ll be late to meet Frankie and the others,’ Claire replied, which I knew meant we could go. She indulged us a bit more when it came to outings.
‘Why is everything such a drama?’ Jonathan said, but as we sat with Harold in the back, he chuckled and stroked us. He was clearly pleased we were going with him. At least someone was.
I had never been in a shelter before. In fact, I hadn’t heard of a human shelter before now, only animal ones, but Helen Street Shelter was a massive building, or so it looked from outside. We parked and got out of the car. There was no way they were leaving us out so we practically attached ourselves to one of the humans’ legs. I was attached toJonathan, who didn’t look best pleased but what could you do?
‘Hey, the cats have joined us?’ Franceska looked confused.
‘You know what they’re like, they come everywhere if they can, but we need to ask the shelter workers if it’s OK.’
‘Meow.’ Of course it will be; they will be delighted to see us.
‘Maybe it’ll be better if we carry them?’ Jonathan conceded, picking me up. Harold picked up Snowball and Claire took hold of George.
‘We all have to be brave,’ Aleksy said. ‘I’ve been before, and it’s hard to see, but remember they are human beings and need to be treated as such.’ He sounded so authoritative and grown up. I was proud of him.
‘What else would we treat them as?’ Jonathan asked.
I hoped the answer wasn’t sheep.
I saw Tomasz give Tommy a warning to behave himself, and Tommy actually looked a little contrite as we made our way in. We followed Aleksy– our self-appointed leader of this particular expedition – into a massive room. There were long tables with chairs laid out for people to eat at. Some were already full, others still empty. A feeding station was set up at the front, with people standing organising food and serving. I tried to take it all in but it was vast. There was a part where they advertised clothing, and another one for bedding, a third for toiletries. This shelter was drop in only, Aleksy explained. You couldn’t sleep here. They tried to get people beds, of course, and there was an office where people could go tofor advice and help round the back.
‘Hi, I’m Greg, the manager,’ a man said, greeting us. ‘And we are all so pleased you’re helping us. Really, it means the world.’ He was a nice man I decided, with messy blond hair and kind eyes.
Aleksy made all the introductions.
‘Meow,’ I said, to make myself known.
‘Ah, yes you see these are our cats Alfie, George, and Snowball; they like to go everywhere,’ Aleksy explained.
‘And they are in the show so they really should be here,’ Tommy added. I felt relieved, it seemed he was going to do as his dad asked him.
‘OK, well not sure if it’s a good idea while we serve food but we can make an exception as long as you keep carrying them.’
‘Meow,’ I reached out and touched Greg’s arm with my paw.
‘Alfie was homeless when we first met him,’ Claire said.
‘Mew.’ Yes, I was telling him I understood a bit, and although I was now clearly a pampered pet, it hadn’t always been this way.