I have an old cat named Newman who stays on my bed almost all of the time now. When he gets up and roams it is usually to the kitchen to eat and then back to the bed. He is sweet and cuddly, but just old and tired. He never has been interested in going outside at all. He never even looks out of the door or window. He is content to just be safe in our house. I should probably learn from my cat, but I never do!
Last Saturday a strange woman I did not know was wandering around in my back yard. She was calling for “Lola”. As it turns out, Lola is her cat who was lost. The woman described Lola as tortoise shell color and only 7 pounds. My cats are always so huge- Newman weighs 14 pounds, that I assumed Lola was a kitten, but no, she is 3 years old.
The woman seemed devastated so I helped her look for a bit, but had to eventually leave. When I came back home several hours later the woman drove up to tell me that she was sure the cat was under my house. She had her mother with her. Now this woman was probably almost as old as I am, but was so distraught she had called her mom. Between the two of them and a guy who “worked” for her, they were sure Lola had gotten into the crawl space under my bedroom. Why they thought that I am not sure, the lady lived several blocks away. But I got a flash light and took a look.
My house has been added on to several times so some parts have a basement, some have a crawl space and some of it is on a slab. This area is a pretty low crawl space- not just anyone could crawl around under it! So I looked around but saw nothing. The lady thanked me and gave me a flyer with a terrible, out of focus picture of the cat and her phone number.
The next morning as I walked to church I saw a cat that fit Lola’s description in my neighbors yard. I decided to run back to my house to get the flyer and call the woman. As I got on the sidewalk behind an older couple out strolling with their grandkids, I realized the cat would die of old age before I got to the phone at this rate. So I got off of the sidewalk and cut across my yard. Now I don’t know what the old couple with these kids thought I was doing. First I was staring at a cat in my neighbors yard. Then I turned around and headed back to where I had just come from, following them rather closely. Then I veered off and headed across my yard. About half way across I stepped in a hole, twisted my ankle and fell down. I mean face planted- HARD! I got up and saw the old couple staring at me, but not coming to my aid at all! So I brushed off and headed to the back of my house to get the number and call the woman. No answer- I left a message. And of course, the cat was gone. I cleaned up and headed back to church.
Sunday night as I worked in my study I saw the cat through my window. She was on my front porch so I tried to go out and call her, maybe lure her in. No such luck, she turned and ran. The bad part was she was running to the busy street in front of my house. So I did not pursue her in fear of scaring her into traffic. Again, I called the number the woman had left and no answer. Again, I left a message.
The next day when I returned from school I had a message from the woman. When she arrived back at home after I had crawled under my house on Saturday, the cat was back at the woman’s home. She just forgot to call me until Monday! She had no idea whose cat I was seeing around my house but have a nice day! You would think I would learn that no good dead goes unpunished. I have the bruises to prove it! Probably I will never learn.
