Friday morning, at 6:30am I got a call from Bee, that Shakes had escaped from her third floor apartment in Somerville. Shakes, the Wonder Cat, has mobility issues since his mother had distemper in her last trimester. The vision of him getting down the three stories of stairs, boggles the mind, since the two stairs outside our house are a challenge to him.
As soon as I was awake enough, my mothering instinct kicked in and I got dressed and drove into Somerville. It actually took a request from Bee, that she would like it if I came in, to jump start my mothering instinct.
We walked around the block, and looked under cars, porches and inside bushes and the Wonder Cat was no where to be found. I had very little hope of seeing him alive, and probably conveyed a bit of that to Bee.
We got coffee and a bagel, and she went off to work and I came home. In the middle of the day, she accepted by text, my offer to come search for him after work. I arrived and starting circling her apartment, asking everyone if they had seen a cat. The side benefit, is that I know a lot more about her neighborhood and neighbors.
As dusk set in, and as 2 room mates, her boyfriend and Rod, joined our search Bee made a poster and she went off to get photo copies made.
The back story, is that when we first moved to Lexington we lost her stuffed elephant on a trip back from the play ground. We made a poster at that time as well, and again, I thought there was very little chance of finding him. Someone did call and we raced over to retrieve him with the reward in hand. He now wears and ID tag with telephone information in case he gets lost again, and that was 19 years ago.
As she made the poster on Friday night, I though about hope. Putting them up on every telephone post and sign, gave me a little bit of hope, but not a lot. It seemed like an activity to keep us occupied as darkness settled in, and the temperatures reached freezing.
Saturday morning, I received this text "City cat just ate a whole cup of food, little rascal! He is fed and happy, but dirty." PHEW!
So even though I proclaim myself a Pollyanna and eternal optimist, I did not have a lot of hope of finding the Wonder Cat. Making the posters was a shot in the dark, and an activity. Shakes just spent one of his lives by being outside for 36 hours out on an adventure in the city. His return renews my faith a bit that things do work out in the end, even though we were prepared for the worst.
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