‘I’ll go home now, and clear all my stuff off the top of it.’ Isaac’s eyes shone with enthusiasm. ‘Then you can come down and practise. I promise not to listen. I’ll be up a ladder putting a new roof on the barn. You can bring John. It would be good to have some life in the old place. It’s just me and the mice at the moment.’
I meowed at Ellen again, and this time she responded.
‘I’d … like that. I really would. Thank you, and I’d so appreciate you not listening! I’ve always been shy about performing.’
Isaac looked at her silently, nodding his head a little. His eyes glanced around the caravan, at the picture of Jessica, the bowl of oranges, the neatly stacked books and box of Lego, the cosy rugs and cushions.
‘You’ve made a beautiful little home here,’ he said, rather wistfully. His eyes looked at Ellen again, and suddenly I remembered meeting Jessica for the first time. As soon as I’d seen her challenging buttercup eyes, I’d fallen in love with her, and the love was forever.
Isaac was being quiet and courteous. But I knew a secret, even before he knew it. Isaac had fallen in love with Ellen.
On the night of the Christmas concert I was the proudest cat on the planet.
Ellen had bought me a special cat harness, with a lead, and she’d taken me into John’s classroom. With the door firmly shut, I was set free and I knew exactly what to do. Tail up and purring I walked around loving the children, and they adored me. Then I showed them how I liked to sit on the piano while Ellen played. After a few of these sessions, I was allowed to go to the performance on a starry winter night.
Pam was assigned to look after me, and she sat squarely in the front row close to the piano, in her best red coat. The children were used to me by now, but they still buzzed with excitement when Pam put me firmly on top of the piano. I sat up smartly, looking at everyone.
‘Please welcome our pianist, Ellen King,’ said the headmaster, and everyone clapped. I was so proud of Ellen, I could have burst. She swept in, wearing a black velvet coat, with her golden hair swinging down her back. I lay down immediately and had eye contact with her as she sat down at the piano.
She began to play the Christmas music with great energy and love, and everyone listened. Ellen kept glancing at me, and I knew I was helping her. No one except me knew how nervous she’d been. The music helped her too. Once she had started, she was happy. The audience and the children stood up to sing and I really loved the sound they made. I watched Isaac and he was gazing raptly at Ellen.
The children did a play, and John was a shepherd. He had a tea towel on his head and a stick he had cut from the hedge. When the play was over and everyone had finished clapping, I was allowed to go on stage. I strutted on with my tail up and all the children wanted to stroke me. I wanted to inspect the toy sheep that John was carrying, and I touched noses with it. Then I thought I ought to see what was in the crib they were all looking at, so I climbed up and touched noses with the plastic doll who was in there. Everyone laughed, but I didn’t see what was so funny.
‘Well done, Solomon,’ said the headmaster. He was leaning on the piano, so I ran back and touched noses with him, and the children laughed and laughed.
Ellen’s eyes were sparkling as she started to play again, and everyone sang lustily, a song about a figgy pudding.
‘Eee,’ said Pam, as we all walked home under the stars. ‘That were the best night I’ve had in years. And that cat was the star of the show.’
The following morning Ellen’s mobile phone kept ringing; and I noticed she was smiling a lot and singing the ‘figgy pudding’ song as she worked. She and John had decorated a small Christmas tree and the baubles fascinated me. I sat looking at a pink one, intrigued to see a tiny cat inside it who looked like me.
‘That’s you, Solomon,’ said John, and he appeared beside the cat in the bauble. ‘And me. It’s a reflection.’
I stared at it, and when I moved the tiny cat moved too, and I could see Ellen in there hanging decorations in the window– paper snowflakes that she and John had made together. I patted the bauble with my paw, hoping to get it down on the floor and chase it. But Ellen spoke to me, firmly.
‘No, Solomon, please don’t play with the Christmas tree,’ and I meowed back and sat still to show her I understood.
‘It’s a good thing Jessica isn’t here,’ said John. ‘She’d trash it, wouldn’t she Mummy?’
I looked sadly at Jessica’s photograph. A year had passed and I still missed her so much.
I moved round to inspect the reflections on the other side of the bauble; the trees in the copse, the caravans, the entrance gate, all in miniature. Isaac’s shiny black car was arriving. He came so often now that I knew the sound of his car. I jumped down and ran to the door with my tail up.
Ellen looked pleased, and so did John.