Ralph the vicar had offered to donate mince pies and tea and coffee for the dress rehearsal, when the shelter patrons came to see the show. The Goodwins’ singing group were holding a raffle to raise more money on the opening night, and they’d started collecting prizes. As Jonathan pointed out, no one ever said no to the Goodwins. No one dared. Aleksy and Connie said they would get their friends, who weren’t in the show, to sell the raffle tickets. It really was wonderful to see how well everyone was working together. It was really a community effort.
I was impressed with how professional Aleksy and Connie were being. They had made a list of the people taking part in the show– and us cats, of course – along with the roles they would be playing. We had six shepherds and only four sheep – or, four cats playing sheep – so Aleksy said they were going to get some toy sheep to make up a flock. There were three wise men, or ‘wise people’ as Barbara the cat-hating woman was one of them. Jonathan said best not to give her too much of a speaking part in case she launched into Shakespeare again. I was just glad she wasn’t a shepherd – imagine her being in charge of us cats? It made my fur shudder. Polly was going to be the angry innkeeper, although she was now an Airbnb owner, whatever that was. Connie said that the innkeeper was always male and it was time for a change because women could be innkeepers too. Sylvie and Marcus were – reluctantly – going to be Mary and Joseph, as they’d agreed in the end. Matt and Tomasz were shepherds along with some of the others who’d auditioned. Sienna, a girl from Tommy’s class in school – one everyone seemed to be in love with – was going to be the angel Gabriel and there were going to be four other angels, played by four other women and girls. Jonathan refused a part because he was the sponsor and accountant – he said it wouldn’t be appropriate – and Claire was definitely going to be needed backstage to organise the cast and make sure the show ran on time. Aleksy and Connie were both directors and they had also written the script. We all had our roles. We were all systems go.
And Sienna, it seemed, might be the answer to our Tommy problem. He blushed every time her name was mentioned and it was clear he liked her. I hoped that meant he’d be on his best behaviour whenever she was around, and maybe, just maybe, he’d stop being so difficult. Love could really straighten people out after all.
Matt had designed a poster, tickets were going to be available pretty soon, and rehearsals were due to start in a few days. We needed plenty of rehearsal time and, at first, they were doing it in stages, so that not everyone had to be at the hall all the time. It was pretty well organised for an amateur production. That was what Aleksy said anyway. They were taking everything very seriously. And although I was taking it very seriously myself, I was also determined to make sure I enjoyed myself. Have I mentioned that it was my idea?
George was next door teaching Hana how to be a sheep, and also how to have‘stage presence’, although he did say that he wasn’t sure it could be taught, you might have to be born with it. Honestly, the kitten was becoming a monster. It was quite cute, actually. Annoying – incredibly annoying – but also sweet in a way. Another dichotomy of parenting.
Claire was cooking dinner when the doorbell went. I followed her out to the hallway and waited to see who our latest visitor was. I almost shrank back into the house when I saw it was the Barbara woman, but I was determined to hear why she was here. At the moment, I didn’t like her. She had not only chased us with a bin bag and nearly got us run over, but also was rude to us at the show audition. She scowled at us when she thought no one else was looking. The problem was that none of the humans had seen any of this. How dare she come to our house?
‘Hello,’ Claire said. ‘It’s Barbara, isn’t it?’
‘Yes, it is.’ Standing on the doorstep, she spotted me and her eyes narrowed.
‘Would you like to come in?’ Claire was so polite but she didn’t know how awful this woman was. I hissed. ‘Alfie, don’t hiss,’ Claire chastised. No idea at all. But I really didn’t want the cat hater in my house. So I stepped closer to the doorstep. She wouldn’t dare attack me in front of Claire, I was pretty sure, but I hoped it would put her off coming in.
‘No, no, I don’t need to come in.’ She glared at me again.
‘Right, well what can I do for you?’ Claire asked. Yes, I wanted to know that too.
‘It’s about the show.’
‘The show?’
‘Yes, you’ve put me down as a wise man.’
‘Yes, it’s a pivotal role – you’re going to have a few lines, sing, and give the baby Jesus a gift. We really thought we needed someone with your experience to pull it off.’ Claire smiled. Barbara did not smile back.
‘But as I explained, I used to be a drama teacher and I’ve always acted; I was the star of our old amateur dramatic group before I moved here. I’m wasted being a wise man, I should be Mary or the angel Gabriel – a main role.’ I took a step back. Was she mad? Mary was so much younger than her and the angel was supposed to be this ethereal being (I heard Claire say that), and although I wasn’t one hundred per cent sure what ethereal meant, I was pretty sure Barbara wasn’t it. I would never get the picture of her swinging a black bag at me and George out of my head.
‘The thing is, we cast the actual mother of Theo, who is going to be the baby Jesus, in case he cries, and we chose a teenager for the angel Gabriel because we wanted to get the youngsters involved, you see. We thought your audition was brilliant but it’s just a Nativity, so there’s not a huge scope for speaking parts.’ I could hear Claire trying to be diplomatic, but Barbara did not look happy.
‘I am not happy about it. Not at all. It’s wasting my talent.’
See, I was right.
‘I’m sorry but Aleksy and Connie are doing this to help the homeless shelter and they’re doing a great job, so we need to all work together. I really hope you still want to be a part of it. The wise men will probably have the best costumes anyway.’ Poor Claire was really trying. ‘And, I know you’re new to Edgar Road, so it might be a really good opportunity to meet others in the community. Do you live alone?’
‘I do, but what’s that got to do with it?’
‘Well, we have a Sunday Lunch Club whereby people on their own can join another family for lunch a few Sundays a month.’
‘I’m quite capable of making my own lunch,’ she snapped.
I was relieved. I really didn’t want her joining us. By the look on her face, Claire was no longer keen, either.
‘Of course, I was just thinking that if you wanted to meet people …’ Claire shook her head. She didn’t know how to deal with this woman.
‘I shall probably still take part but I hope you have noted my displeasure at not being given a bigger role.’
‘Duly noted.’ Claire glanced down at me, her eyes wide.
Without another word, Barbara turned and walked away. I looked up at Claire, she shook her head. See, this woman was not normal. Not normal at all.
‘I don’t know, Alfie,’ she said, picking me up and shutting the front door. ‘I hope she’ll just be happy to be part of it, but she didn’t seem very happy did she?’
‘Yowl.’ She certainly did not.
The rest of the week passed quickly and largely uneventfully. George insisted on getting Snowball, me, and Hana together to practise being sheep, which involved a lot of standing and pretending to eat grass. I wasn’t sure how much rehearsal we needed if that was all we had to do. I was slightly disappointed not to have a bigger role, still, but then I would remember Barbara’s reaction and think of the shelter and all the people there who were so happy to see us. Sometimes, you had to put your ego aside, and this was one of those times. I just hoped that Barbara would too. I knew it wasn’t always easy but it was definitely the right thing to do.