Alfie the Holiday Cat. Rachel Wells

      ‘And if you all agree, we can get essential work done before the summer,’ Claire chipped in.

      ‘You’ve thought this all through, haven’t you?’ Matt said, shaking his head.

      ‘If you mean have we anticipated all of your objections, then yes,’ Polly replied with a wry smile.

      ‘Look, between the three of us we can afford to get the cottage looking amazing again,’ Claire started. ‘We’ve done the figures and, worst-case scenario, we will have added value and can sell it for a profit for everyone. Best-case scenario, we enjoy it with our families, together at times, on our own at others, but we will have a holiday home and the children will get to enjoy beach life the way I did growing up.’

      ‘But it was valued for more than I expected,’ Jonathan said. ‘So I still think the sensible option is to sell.’

      ‘This way, though, Jonathan, we can do it up and sell it for even more if we decide to,’ Polly persisted. ‘But we all think that this summer, when we get the work done, we’ll all fall in love with it and won’t want to let it go.’

      ‘Just look at the figures, I promise they make sense.’ The men all studied the spreadsheet that Claire thrust at them.

      ‘But are you sure it’s habitable for the children?’ Matt reiterated, looking worried. And for cats, I wondered.

      ‘Well, not exactly, but the summer holidays aren’t for two months so we thought we could all take it in turns to go down before, just the adults, and each time we could do what is needed to make it habitable. We can buy beds, appliances, make sure the water and heating works, we’ll get it ready for the summer and also get some alone time.’ Polly raised her eyebrows at her husband.

      He shrugged, defeated. Honestly, these women had thought of everything and my whiskers stood up with pride.

      ‘We can do this!’ Claire added with a smile.

      ‘You make it sound like a fantastic idea,’ Tomasz said. ‘And now I take more time from work I can come and join you more I guess.’ He looked at the other men for reassurance.

      ‘I can arrange to work from home on a Friday and come down for weekends,’ Matt said.

      ‘Hold on, how do we even get there?’ Jonathan asked.

      ‘Ah, well we’ll be taking the cars but there’s also the trains. The station is only a forty-minute drive away, direct from London, so really there’s no problem.’

      ‘Have I been stitched up again?’ Jonathan asked. I jumped onto his lap and yelped. Of course he had. Everyone laughed.

      ‘Well the house will be quiet, no Claire, no children, just me, Alfie and George this summer.’ I suddenly looked up.

      ‘Oh no, darling, Alfie and George will be coming with us. It’s their holiday cottage too.’

      I purred with delight. Yay! We were going on holiday.

      ‘Claire, you do know it’s strange the way you take Alfie and now George everywhere with you, as if they were dogs?’

      I yelped. How dare he compare me to a dog?

      ‘They’re part of the family and, anyway, Alfie came on holiday with us before, didn’t he?’

      I put my head down, as a bolt of sadness hit me. We went on holiday with Snowball, my then girlfriend, before her family moved her away, leaving my heart broken. It was all OK now but I still remember my last holiday with a pang. Actually, perhaps this was going to give me new holiday memories, which would mean the old ones would properly fade away. It was about time, after all.

      ‘Well yes, but you know, George hasn’t been away from here before,’ Tomasz pointed out.

      ‘Yes but Alfie will take care of him and anyway how will Toby sleep without George next to him,’ Claire said, indicating any debate was over.

      As I finally got my left-overs they discussed the finer details. Everyone, even Jonathan, seemed a little swept away with excitement now. I certainly was, my fur was tingling with the thought of the adventures that awaited us. We were all going to decamp to Seabreeze Cottage for the summer, and we would all spend a lovely, perfect, English summer by the sea. Yes the men had been ambushed, but really it was all for the best.

      ‘I’m not sure Seabreeze or Lynstow know what’s going to be hitting them,’ Matt said.

      ‘Edgar Road decamps to Devon,’ Polly laughed.

      ‘And you know, it will be so great for the children,’ Franceska reiterated.

      ‘Meow!’ I clambered up her, nudging her with my nose.

      ‘And the cats of course,’ Claire finished.

       Chapter Two

      ‘As you’re all off tomorrow, today I’m going to take you and the kids out for lunch and then I thought we’d go to the dinosaur museum,’ Jonathan announced proudly.

      ‘Yay!’ Toby said.

      ‘Will Peppa Pig be there?’ Summer asked.

      ‘Can I go too?’ George asked me. I told him no.

      ‘I’m not sure Peppa will be there but there will be lots of dinosaurs to see, darling,’ Jonathan said.

      ‘Sounds good to me. I’m nearly all organised anyway.’ Claire grinned. Truth be told she had been pretty much packed for weeks. Claire was nothing if not well organised. She had made lists and more lists and, well, possibly even more lists before we headed off to Devon for the summer. I was glad at times like this that I was a cat. All I had to do was to make sure that George and I were clean and ready to go.

      As everyone left, I ate some biscuits, had a drink of water and then cleaned myself.

      ‘George, you might want to give yourself a quick groom,’ I suggested.

      ‘Why, Dad?’

      ‘Because we are going out to enjoy our last day. With the rest of the neighbourhood cats,’ I told him.

      ‘Goody!’ He started licking his fur. We had a group of friendly cats on Edgar Road. As well as Tiger, there were Rocky, Elvis and Nellie who all lived on our street and we often hung out together. They were a good bunch who always helped whenever we were in trouble – like last year when George was catnapped by a woman who snatched quite a few cats in the area and they all rallied to help us. Other cats had come and gone but we were the core Edgar Road cat gang and they were all incredibly important to me.

      While Jonathan had a day planned for the rest of the family, Tiger had planned something for George and I. She told me because she didn’t trust surprises; they normally went wrong. I couldn’t argue with her, they did tend to, in our world anyway. She told me to bring George to the recreational grass at the end of our road. It was a small patch, tucked away from the street and where us cats converged regularly without being bothered by humans. Or dogs for that matter.

      We made our way to the end of the street and found all our Edgar Road cat friends waiting for us. It was like a party. A leaving party, I guessed.

      ‘You’re all here,’ George exclaimed excitedly, bounding from cat to cat.

      ‘Of course we are,’ Rocky said, gruffly.

      ‘We wouldn’t miss a party,’ Nellie added, nestling into George. If Tiger was George’s mum then Nellie was like his favourite aunt.

      ‘Although I nearly didn’t make it, I was eating one minute, then the next I fell asleep. Must be old age.’ Elvis wasn’t a young tom, and I could sympathise with