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‘Really?’ George said. ‘I would love you to see us being sheep. I’m pretty good but the others need work. I have high hopes that they’ll be OK by opening night though.’

My fur bristled but I kept quiet.

‘I’d love to see you be sheep too,’ Dustbin said.

‘I have no idea what sheep are, but I’m pretty sure we should be there to see it,’ Ally added.

I was even more excited. To get them out of the yard took a lot, but it seemed that our friendship was enough. It moved me and I resolved to work hard to be a good sheep, whatever that meant.

‘So,’ Aleksy said later, as we met him at our house, ready to go to the hall. ‘I’ve given the Nativity script to the others, but obviously as you’re cats you are not able to read.’

Me, George, Snowball, and Hana sat facing him, all of us listening intently to our pep talk.

‘Mew,’ I said.

‘But, what happens is this. You will be in the field with the shepherds, which will be in the middle of the stage, just after Mary and Joseph are told they are having a baby and they set off to go on their journey to take part in the census. We tried to get a donkey for Mary to ride on but apparently it’s not safe, so we need to think about that. Connie thinks that as we’re doing a different version we could have them go on a bike, which might be fun, but we need to ask Sylvie and Marcus what they think about that. Anyway, where was I?’ He scratched his head.

‘Meow,’ George said impatiently.

‘Oh yes, so, you and the shepherds will be in the middle of the stage and you’ll be frolicking like sheep – jumping around, and playing, you can improvise – and then it goes dark and we have the song “While Shepherds Watched Their Flocks by Night”. After the song the angel comes, and you listen while she says a baby has been born and you have to visit. Then the shepherds herd you together and you all set off on your journey. That’s the first scene. We then break for Ralph’s choir to sing and come back for the second scene where you meet the baby Jesus.’

I realised that I’d stopped listening because I was thinking about the song and whether I’d heard it before, which I thought I had but couldn’t be sure …

‘Meow, meow, mew.’ George was telling him he understood. Thankfully, it seemed he’d been paying attention. Hopefully Hana and Snowball had been too.

Claire appeared and said it was time to go and get Connie. I was the only one going with them as Snowball and George were going to Snowball’s house, because George felt as if he had neglected Harold, and Hana was going home to rest as she was still really, really tired.

Before we parted, George said we would have to start rehearsals properly the following day as we all had a lot of work to do. It seemed that although Aleksy and Connie were directors of the show, George was the self-appointed director of us. We all agreed before I jumped into Aleksy’s arms. I had done quite a lot of walking today so I fancied being carried. One of the perks of the cat job.

After picking up Connie, she, Claire, and Aleksy chattered away about the rehearsals, and I enjoyed listening to them as we made our way to the hall. It was cold, so I snuggled into Aleksy as he carried me. We reached the hall and Claire unlocked the door using the keys Ralph the vicar had given us. She flicked on the lights as we walked in and then gasped.

‘What is it?’ Aleksy asked.

We all stared as Claire pointed at the stage. There were large, bright yellow footprints all across the stage.

‘How on earth?’ Claire said.

‘It looks like a man’s footprints,’ Connie said. ‘And we had yellow paint to make the big star that the wise men are going to follow.’ The star was huge and was to be attached to a person, though I wasn’t entirely sure who or how. Aleksy had said that maybe we could suspend the star in the air, as if it was in the sky, but apparently not on this amateur production’s budget. Jonathan said it would cost a fortune, not to mention something called health and safety. I loved how Aleksy had big ideas, but most of them did have to be reined in.

‘Who would do this?’ Aleksy asked. I was shocked. The stage was a mass of bright yellow footprints, as though someone had danced across it. Would this ruin the show?

I put a paw in the paint and found it was dry.‘Meow,’ I said to draw their attention. Claire bent down and put her finger in.

‘It’s dry, so it was done a while ago,’ she said. ‘OK, the sets were being done last night, so it must have happened then? Aleksy, I’ll call your dad and ask if he saw anything.’

Claire walked up to the stage and pulled out her mobile.

‘It’s going to ruin things,’ Connie said, turning to Aleksy.

‘No, it won’t. We just have to get it sorted.’ However, he looked confused and upset as he hugged Connie. I took a closer look. They were large footprints, with the tread of a boot or shoe. It was a lot of paint, but who would have done this? What a mystery.