I yawned and stretched, blinking into the dark night. The sky was clear, stars sprinkled sparsely above me, and the moon lit us up in a spotlight.
‘I’d better go home, Tiger,’ I reluctantly said. ‘They might be worrying.’ It wasn’t often that I stayed out so late, but Tiger and I had been having fun with some of the neighbourhood cats and I’d lost track of time.
‘OK, Alfie, I’ll walk you home.’ Although Tiger, my best friend, was a girl cat, she was pretty tough and definitely scarier than I was. And, after all I had been through, I quite liked having her as my bodyguard. Even as we strolled down Edgar Road together, passing dark houses, lit street lamps, and parked cars, I jumped occasionally at my shadow. I was a bit nervous in the dark; past memories were conjured up, things I would rather forget, but Tiger was striding protectively next to me so I tried to remember that I was safe now.
‘Look, Tiger,’ I exclaimed, fear forgotten, as we stopped near the house next door to mine; number 48 Edgar Road.
‘My goodness, it looks as if someone is moving in,’ she replied.
‘At this time of night!’ I exclaimed. This was incredibly strange – not only did I know that humans normally slept at night but they also normally moved house during the day.
We snuck into the front garden and hid behind a bush, a place we knew well, as we excitedly watched events unfold.
Tiger and I had staked out this house on many an occasion. In fact we knew it almost as well as we knew our own.
A few months ago the current owners had moved out and a ‘To Let’ sign had gone up. I’d persuaded Tiger to join me to check out the progress of the house on many occasions; even after all this time, I couldn’t resist the lure of an empty home. A few years ago, having found myself homeless, I was taught by a wise cat that empty houses heralded new people, and therefore potential families for cats in need. Like a moth to a flame, they called me to them. Although I now had loving families, and I certainly wasn’t a cat in need, I still found myself drawn to them.
There was a large white van parked outside and two men were unloading it. Both men were wearing jeans and jumpers; one wore a woolly hat, the other had very little hair. They were both tall; one was slim, the other a bit more rotund. They were largely silent as they carried large boxes from the van and into the house.
I purred with excitement.
‘New owners! I can’t wait to meet them,’ I said to Tiger.
‘Oh, Alfie, you’re such a doorstep cat. When it comes to new families, you just can’t help yourself can you?’ Tiger asked. I shook my head. ‘You don’t think it’s odd?’ she added.
‘Well yes a bit,’ I replied.
‘Who moves stuff into a house in the middle of the night?’
She was right, I thought, as I pondered why on earth they would choose the dead of night to move their belongings in?
When I first arrived at Edgar Road, over three years ago now, I had been taught that the signs they put up outside houses signalled that new people were moving in. I had arrived in the street homeless, abandoned after my owner passed away. Scared, lonely and with nowhere to go, I had used those signs to find the four houses that would soon become my new homes.
Without realizing it, I had become a doorstep cat; a cat who visits or lives in multiple houses. With so many homes, I could ensure that I was always going to be fed and loved. Finding myself totally alone in the world, without an owner, had broken my heart and I knew I could never face that again.
I had started with four new homes in Edgar Road, but they had dwindled to two after families had moved. So although I was pretty secure, I found old habits hard to break, and couldn’t help investigating empty houses. You never knew what was around the corner.
‘It’s a fairly big house,’ Tiger pointed out. ‘Which probably means a whole family will move in.’ Tiger lived only a few doors down from me but her house was smaller. My main family, Jonathan and Claire, were now married after I had brought them together, and lived in Jonathan’s large house, which cried out for a family. It was too big for just two people and a cat; it badly needed children running around it. They both wanted one, or maybe more than one, but I was their spoilt baby for now. Not something you would ever hear me complain about.
‘I hope there’ll be a big family moving in, with some nice children. But I hope they don’t have a cat.’
‘Why?’
‘Well, I was hoping that this new family might need a doorstep cat.’
Tiger lay down in the bush, looking pensive.
‘You’ve got Jonathan and Claire, and Polly and Matt now. Don’t you think that it’s time to accept that you have families who love you and you don’t need to look for any more homes?’ Tiger yawned, a long lazy yawn; lecturing me always seemed to take it out of her.
I knew in my little heart that what she was saying was true, but knowing something and feeling it were two completely different things.
We watched as the men took the last of the boxes out of the van, and then shut the door. They took them into the house, emerging again a few minutes later.
‘I really don’t know how to thank you,’ the slim man said. He looked sad. I had crept closer, so I could hear more clearly.
‘Hey, don’t worry about it. That’s what family’s for,’ the other one replied, patting him on the back.
‘I know but, well, where we are now, what’s happened, I just don’t know how to—’ His voice broke with emotion; my eyes widened.
‘That’s it then?’ The other man changed the subject.
‘Yup. That’s pretty much everything we own, done now.’ He laughed bitterly.
‘Come on, little brother, it’ll be fine,’ the first man said.
‘I wish I could believe you,’ he replied, as they got into the