A street cat named Bob

By James Bowen

James Bowen is a homeless man and former heroin addict, living on the
streets of London, and down to his last bits of change. After a life threatening,
drug-related, incident, his support worker, Val, in an attempt to get him off the
street, gets him into a council flat, and prescribes him on methadone. On his
first night in his flat, James discovers a cat rifling through his food. Assuming
he had escaped from somewhere, James tries to return the cat to his real
owners. After letting him go, the same evening, the cat returns to James's flat,
this time, with a purulent wound on his back leg. Worried, James consults his
animal-loving, but allergic, neighbour, Betty. She informs James of a local
charity vet that she volunteers at, and names the cat Bob. Waiting for a queue
at the vet, James misses a meeting with Val. After the appointment, James
later gets Bob castrated and sets him free. However, Bob keeps following
James into town, eventually drawing more crowds of people, making James
more wealthy, and he eventually decides to keep Bob. Bob becomes a tourist
hotspot, and James and Betty start to become romantically attached.

One night, while returning home, James finds his old friend, Baz, unconscious
on his flat estate, overdosed on heroin. Baz later dies in hospital, and James
finds out that Betty cannot be around drug addicts, as her deceased brother
had been one. On New Year's Eve, James makes an impromptu visit to his
biological father, Jack, his stepmother, Hilary, and his lost sisters, Pris and
Faith. After Bob destroys their living room, Hilary sends James and Bob out.

One day, while busking, James gets into an argument with a yob, causing the
crowd to get in a brawl with the man and James getting arrested for it. After
being found innocent, he is prohibited from busking for 6 months. While in the
chemist, receiving his methadone, Betty notices him. Betty and James argue
and go their separate ways. Later on, James visits the offices of The Big Issue
to make some more money for him and Bob. He regains his popularity with
tourists by selling The Big Issue. After being accused of illegally selling
magazines on another vendor's patch, James and Bob are banned for a whole
month. After going back in business, James gets into an argument with a
woman trying to buy Bob off him, losing Bob in the scuffle. Bob does not return
for a few days, leaving James devastated. After Bob returns, James feels he is
ready to come off the methadone. After a week of withdrawal symptoms,
James awakes, clean and healthy. A journalist, Mary, requests to write a book
about James and Bob after his Internet and media popularity, and James
agrees. James then fixes up his relationship with his father Jack, and his life
turns around for the better.