‘How are you?’ he asked, bouncing around. Honestly, he hadn’t quite mastered the art of flirting yet.
‘I will be much better when you have gone,’ she hissed.
‘Hey, there’s no need for that,’ I said.
‘Look, you might be staying next door but this is my house, my garden, and you need to keep out of it.’
‘Oh well, you can come to my garden any time,’ George said, looking hopeful.
‘My owner is going to get rid of all of you, mark my words,’ Chanel replied. ‘So, it won’t be your garden for much longer.’
Again, I felt a shiver in my fur as Chanel stalked off and I herded George back to our side of the hedge.
‘Oh, Dad, she’s so lovely,’ George sighed. ‘And I really think she likes me.’
‘Did you hear what she said?’ I asked.
‘Not really. I was too busy looking at her beautiful eyes,’ he replied.
There was no hope, none at all.
But it annoyed me that a run-in with Chanel— even if George hadn’t noticed it — had ruined what was otherwise a nice day out. Well that and a crab. I had been relieved, by the way, when the boys put the crabs back in the sea. I think they should have been allowed to stay there to be honest — I wasn’t sure how kind crabbing actually was. Even if the crabs weren’t hurt they were sort of kidnapped, which seemed a little unfair. Anyway, as we went back inside we met Polly on the doorstep with a shopping bag from the little local store.
‘Do you think we’ll get more ice cream?’ George asked hopefully.
‘No, I think there’s been enough today.’ I patted his head with my paw.
Polly opened the door and we followed her into the kitchen.
‘Hey,’ Claire said, as Polly put the bags down on the counter.
‘That woman …’ Polly fumed.
‘Oh, now what happened?’ Franceska said.
‘Andrea and two of her friends were in the caf? in the shop and she was pretty nasty.’
‘So what she said to the men?’
‘Total rubbish. I said to her, “You didn’t mention to our husbands that you wanted us out of Seabreeze Cottage,” and she replied, sneering through those bright pink lips of hers, “Oh dear, it must have slipped my mind. But mark my words, you’ll regret not selling it to me soon enough.”’
‘You’re kidding?’ Claire said. ‘What did her friends say?’
‘They looked embarrassed but didn’t speak. Well, one of them tried to introduce herself but Andrea told her to shut up. A bit like the kids, actually, it’s like they’re scared of her, but I tell you what, that woman is not nice, and we need to watch out.’
‘Oh no, I don’t like this hostility,’ Franceska said, brow furrowing.
‘Don’t worry, Frankie, we will not be bullied by her.’ Polly looked tough.
‘There’s nothing she can do anyway,’ Claire pointed out. ‘Yes, she might intimidate us but we’re big girls, we can handle it.’
I sincerely hoped they could.
Chapter Nine [Ęŕđňčíęŕ: i_012.jpg]
I felt slightly despondent as the day drew to a close. The women had managed to push Andrea to the backs of their minds, the children were happy and George, well, he was totally bewitched by Chanel, but I was the realistic one of the family. I could sense when there was trouble ahead and I felt it keenly. That night, I decided to lie in wait for Gilbert. He had been in every night since I’d started leaving him food, although gone by morning, and now it was time for me to speak with him again. I could do with a local ally, and he was my only option.
I waited patiently, playing with a pile of sand that hadn’t yet been swept up. I was trying to grow fonder of sand, seeing as we would be here a lot, but I still wasn’t sure about it. It was not only grainy but it stuck to everything. I felt as if I couldn’t get it off me, no matter how much I cleaned myself.
Just as I was replaying all the events of the holiday so far, I heard the cat flap open and soon Gilbert appeared. He stopped as he saw me. He was an unusual-looking cat; I quite envied his spotty coat.
‘Hello,’ I said, brushing yet more sand from my paw.
‘I should thank you, I suppose,’ Gilbert replied, gruffly. ‘The food. Most welcome.’
‘I was hoping to see you though. You know my family wouldn’t mind if they saw you — they love cats and my kitten George would love to meet you.’
‘All the same … I’m not much of a family cat.’
‘But why? I mean, most cats have families. My friend Dustbin, he’s a working cat, and he likes being feral but he’s the exception and he’s sort of part of one of my families anyway,’ I gushed.
‘Right.’ Gilbert was a cat of few words.
‘So why don’t you have a family?’ I pushed.
‘Well, I did have a family but they weren’t nice. I don’t talk about it. Listen, like I said, thank you for the food, I am grateful, normally I have to get my own scraps, so I have enjoyed it, but I don’t really want to be around people.’
‘Funny you should say that, do you know the next-door neighbours: the cat Chanel and the woman, Andrea?’
‘I’ve seen them about, but as I already said,’ he glared at me with his yellow eyes, ‘I keep to myself.’
‘Well they’re not nice.’ I’m not easily discouraged. ‘And they have threatened us, saying they want this cottage and they want us out. And if that happens, I am guessing they won’t just leave it empty for you to live in either.’
‘Then I’ll find somewhere else.’ He really wasn’t an easy cat to crack.
‘Well you could, but you know this is a nice house and we like it here. We’re not giving it up, and I was thinking if you hear anything, anything at all, you might let me know.’
‘OK.’ He looked at the food bowl, which was quite full. ‘I’ll keep my ears open, but I can’t promise anything. Now if you don’t mind, I am hungry.’
‘Of course, and I’ll leave you alone, I get it. But, just to let you know in the day we go out a lot, the builders are here but they’re all upstairs, and anyway you seem quite good at keeping hidden. Just if you wanted to come by then … well, you might almost have the house to yourself and I can always make sure there is food for you.’
‘Appreciated.’ He started to eat, and I turned to go. ‘Oh and Alfie.’
‘Yes.’ I turned around.
‘Thank you.’
I had a good night’s sleep after that, curled up on Claire’s bed. I wished that Gilbert would meet the family though, they would welcome him after all and I thought that when we weren’t here he could sort of act like a guard cat for us. I had a vision of us all becoming the best of friends and he might be ableto help me with Andrea as well. I know he wasn’t exactly tripping over himself to be my friend, but small steps. One paw at a time.
George woke me by licking my head. I felt warm in my heart and my fur as I stretched out.
‘I slept in,’ I said.
‘I’ve been up for hours, with Toby and Summer. The others didn’t wake quite as early as us but everyone’s up now and it’s breakfast time.’ George bounced up and down excitedly on the bed.
‘Good, I’m quite hungry as it happens.’ I realised, having given up quite a bit of my food to Gilbert, I was a little bit peckish. As I padded into the kitchen I took in the scene, children munching on toast and porridge, the adults sipping from mugs, and George lapping water out of our waterbowl. This was what the holiday was all about, I reminded myself, not the problems that I was fretting about. I tucked into my breakfast, feeling much better.
There was a knock at the door.
‘I’ll go,’ Polly said. ‘In case it’s Andrea,’ she added. I bounded after her.
A woman I’d never seen stood on the doorstep, wearing a big hat and large dark glasses.
‘Hello,’ Polly said, questioningly.
‘Hi, I’m Amber, Ben’s mum.’ She shuffled awkwardly and glanced furtively around. ‘Can I come in?’