#182- THE GHOST CAT

My cat, Kit, is not a happy camper.  She has had a stranger, two small kids, a ferret, a parakeet and four mice move into her home (you would think the bird and mice would give her reason to celebrate her windfall).  She refuses to come home until late at night (can't blame her), and I have had to coax her in with her favorite cat treats as a lure.

To make matters worse, I hired a crew to come out and redo the facia board and guttering on the house.  They were here for a couple of days and making a lot of racket.  The evening of the second day my Kit did not come home.  At 10:00 PM, 11:00 PM and 12:00 AM I went outside, walked around, and called her.  Occasionally, I would faintly hear her,  but never did get a fix on where she was.  Even though I hated to leave her outside all night, I finally gave up.

I worried about her most of the night and checked around for her early the next morning.  There are a lot of critters around here that could seriously hurt her and I was concerned she had been injured (or worse).  The next morning, I was in the garage feeding Toby, and  I heard her soft mew.  I called and called but she didn't come.  Usually, she comes running when I shake her favorite bag of treats.  But, no Kit!

Having lots of work to do I went about my morning choirs (Dad's breakfast, making beds etc).  As I would move from room to room I would hear Kit's soft, plaintiff, mew.  It seamed to follow me.   I would look around, and call after her only to find that she wasn't there.

By now, you guys should know how my mind works.  A thought flashed through my head.  OMG she's dead and haunting me from room to room.   However, the thought was fleeting as I realized that her sound was coming from above my head.  Now, I know it's hard to believe, but I do draw the line at cats as angels, sooooooooo, that means SHE'S IN THE ATTIC.  I retrieved the ladder from the back shed, drug it into the house and accessed the attic portal in the ceiling of our hall.  BINGO!  There she was!

What happened next really pissed hacked me off!  She gave one of her little rolling meows and darted off into the attic with a little, catch me if you can, flit to her tail.  Cats!  I will never understand them.  They are from another galaxy, I'm sure.  Twenty minutes later she came down the ladder on her own, ate her kitty kibbles, and settled her dusty, spider web covered body down on my clean folded clothes for a nap (which I interrupted by grabbing her up and wiping her down with a wash cloth).  She growled at me, showed me her tail end, and stalked off to another napping place (under my bed).

(Apparently, when the men left for lunch, their ladder gave her easy access to the exposed eaves they were working on.)
kt 4/13/11