Angie was conscious, too, of how much knowledge Felix had of the railway in her clever little head. Over the past seven years, she had learned so much: to master the initially scary sounds of the roaring trains, to cross the tracks, to hunt those pesky pests. Wouldn’t it be something if she could pass all that knowledge on? And wouldn’t it be better to start that process sooner rather than later, before Felix got too set in her ways to share her wisdom with a younger cat?
It definitely wasn’t about retiring Felix – Angie was adamant about that. She was only seven, after all. It was more that, as the cat had now slowed down, Angie wanted to help her in that chosen course, so that Felix could enjoy her golden years – whenever she became ready for them. She had seen this kind of thing happen again and again on the railway network, when an old-timer, rich in wisdom, mentored a younger colleague until they were ready to step up. Perhaps Felix, already so much a part of railway history, was ready to shadow her human colleagues in this way too. The fact that a new kitten could hopefully be a friend to Felix as well, a bit of company for her, was an additional boon.
Angie and Jacqui both began to think more seriously about getting a new kitten at Huddersfield station. At times Jacqui’s enthusiasm would get the better of her and she’d say to Angie, ‘Let’s just do it. What are the powers that be going to do – make us take it back?’ But Angie, matriarch of the station that she was, was absolutely determined that – as with Felix’s arrival seven years before – everything should be above board.
So it was that, one hot summer’s day, around the time that Eva came to visit Felix, Angie paid a visit of her own to Andy Croughan, the station manager. She managed to waylay him in the back-office corridor one day and asked him outright if they could get a second cat. Before Felix had come to the station, there had been a long campaign to secure the authority to give a kitten a home, a crusade full of subterfuge and smart thinking, but this time Angie just came straight out with the suggestion. ‘What are our chances?’ she asked.
When Felix had first arrived, the then manager had been none too keen. But times had changed. And, in fact, Andy Croughan had played a key role in bringing Felix to the station in the first place – including green-lighting her ‘hiring’ as the pest controller when he was only acting up to the role of manager – so when Angie raised the idea, he had no qualms about doing it all again. He and others had separately been thinking something similar.
But, to tell the absolute truth, when he agreed with Angie that it would be a good idea to get another kitten, in his own head he was thinking that it would be a good idea about ten years down the line … He’d assumed it was a bit early to be devising succession plans, yet he enthusiastically agreed that, yes, a kitten was definitely something they would want to do. So he gave Angie the green light she was waiting for, and he did not clarify exactly when he had been envisioning hiring a new cat.
But that was all Angie needed. She tried not to show her absolute elation in front of the manager, but the moment she was alone in her office she started jiggling with excitement, almost dancing on the spot with glee.
Later that day, Jacqui arrived for their handover.
‘Jacqui,’ Angie said as soon as they were alone in the office, her tone deadly serious. ‘I’ve got something to tell you.’
Jacqui’s brow automatically creased in concern, but then Angie let her trademark beaming smile show. ‘Andy said yes!’ she declared.
Jacqui immediately knew what she was talking about and her jaw dropped. ‘You are joking,’ she said. She had never expected it to be so easy.
Angie shook her head emphatically: joking she was not. She whispered the next words, as their secret plan was highly confidential, but her delight was nonetheless loud and clear. ‘We’re gonna have a kitten! We’re gonna have a kitten, Jacqui!’
The two team leaders began bouncing on the spot with joy, yet their celebration was entirely silent. The idea of Huddersfield getting a second cat was such huge news that they knew they had to keep it under wraps. Operation Kitten was now underway, and the two secret agents at the heart of the mission were determined to succeed.
They swung into action straight away. Jacqui had got her lovely little kitten Romeo from a local animal shelter, and Angie also liked the idea of giving a home to a rescued kitten, so Jacqui visited the same shelter as soon as she could.
They did have kittens available – but they told her they were not comfortable with the idea of letting one of them live at the station. Angie and Jacqui understood their position – they were only thinking of the welfare of the animal – but given how Felix had thrived in her domain, there wasn’t much empirical evidence to justify their fears. So they tried another shelter – but they too said the same.
‘We’re going to have to go private,’ Jacqui announced. And, in the last week of August 2018, that was exactly what she did. ‘Kittens for sale near me,’ she typed into a search engine – and a flood of results came back.
Angie and Jacqui, during their whispered top-secret conversations, had already identified some criteria by which they would choose the newest member of the Huddersfield team. Though it flew in the face of gender discrimination laws, he had to be male, for a start. This was because male cats were believed to be much more accepting of other moggies, which had been Jacqui’s personal experience of integrating multiple cats in one home too. Felix, of course – despite the initial confusion on the issue – was female and they knew it wouldn’t be a good idea to have two ladies, as they would be more likely to catfight, literally. Some research in Switzerland had also shown that opposite-sex pairings were more likely to accept one another.
They were also adamant that the junior pest controller should be a kitten and not an adult cat. This was partly for his own safety – so that he could learn from the very start of his life how to live safely on the railway and thus grow up used to all the hustle and bustle – but also because the same research study in Switzerland had shown that adult cats were more likely to accept the introduction of a younger individual than they were a cat of the same age or older. Angie and Jacqui wanted to do all they could to ease the transition as the two cat co-workers got to know one another, to make the shock of Felix sharing her home with another cat as easy as possible for her.
Angie really didn’t know how Felix would take the addition of another feline member of the team. As evidenced by Felix’s ‘romantic’ relationships with the feral black cat and the smarter white pussy, she was not averse to interacting with other moggies. Angie anticipated that, initially, she would not be too happy, because Felix ruled the roost at the station and no monarch likes to share power. But she hoped that the maternal instinct she had seen her display in the past would ultimately kick in. In her dreams, she loved the idea of Felix showing the new apprentice around the station, teaching him the role of railway cat. How wonderful would it be to see them sharing a shift together, both of them patrolling the platforms side by side? A new kitten might even be persuaded to wear a hi-vis jacket just like the one that Felix had so long ago jettisoned! She hoped they would be able to find a kitten who was easy-going and confident, friendly and fun, and who would become a character in his own right.