“Negative 16? Oh no!” My wife was even more concerned for our furry black cat that had escaped into the night a week before. He was a house cat even though, as my wife put it: “He likes to fashion himself as a wild man.” Well, he was roughing it now, for sure.
A few years ago a small black cat sat in my wheelbarrow situated just outside of our front porch and meowed at us until we walked over and petted him. He became a porch cat of sorts and didn’t really want to have much to do with staying inside. Eventually, he would just show up in the mornings and evenings and spend long lazy days on the porch, cat napping in one of the chairs. Of course, food and water were plentiful so he never strayed off too far. But he did like to pull some disappearing acts: “Where did he go?” was a question we would ask each other when he failed to show up on time some mornings. He would always show up, though, even if it was a little late – usually covered with broken leaves. No telling where he had been.
In anticipation for the coming recent extreme cold weather event, we had a friend take the cat in. It was a temporary move, one designed to only give us a peace of mind: we didn’t want our furry friend freezing and thought he might enjoy a change of scenery. He, however, had other plans: he escaped.
When he didn’t show back up to his temporary residence, we went out driving around and looking for him. Things started to get dire when a week passed and he had not reappeared. And, it was getting colder. I was starting to think the worst. But just when all seemed lost, our home camera system picked up the image of a black cat – on our porch – his original residence. But, we missed him because we were not home! We set some food out and wondered how he had re-found his original home. Somehow, the cat had made it almost across town back to the very porch that he had claimed a few years back. Hopeful, we waited, but the extreme cold was worrying.
As luck would have it, he reappeared and, this time, we happened to be home: “He’s on the porch!!” yelled my wife. At first I had no idea what she was talking about because a day or so had elapsed since he had been spotted and I wasn’t sure just what my wife was yelling about: who was on the porch? Slowly it dawned on me what she was referring to and I knew I didn’t have long – the last time he was on the porch he looked around and walked back into the night. I hurried to the porch and opened the door and – behold – the cat that was lost was now found. “Here kitty,” I said. “Meow,” he said back. I inched towards him and put out a hand to pet him: he arched his back and meowed again: it was apparent he knew exactly where he was and with whom he was “conversing.” I picked him up and brought him in – just in time for the weather to turn even colder that night. But, not for him: milk, all the cat food he could eat, and a nice warm spot to doze were in store for him.
It is a reminder to not lose hope, no matter how dire things seem. You never know: something unexpected may happen and turn it all around.
Have a great week folks!
