Last Sunday morning, I went outside to get my newspaper from the end of the driveway. It's the only day of the week that really has a decent paper anymore, and the crap they print really isn't worth reading anyway. It's no wonder everyone is getting their news online these days! Anyway, as I leaned over to pick it up, I thought I heard a faint noise that sounded like a meow. I glanced around and saw nothing, so I proceeded back up the driveway toward the garage. I heard the noise again, only this time it was a little louder. Once again, I looked around, and saw a small white cat emerge from the bushes alongside the driveway.
"Hello." I said quietly.
The cat meowed again, only this time quite loudly and earnestly. I've had many cats over the years, and strays always seem to show up at my house for some reason. It's like there is this invisible sign that says, "Eat at Jack's Place" or something. I've had enough cats that I can recognize their gender by looking at their facial features, and this appeared to be a small female.
"Hello, Pretty Girl." I said in a friendly voice, as I knelt down. "C'mere."
She approached me with only a slight bit of trepidation, and I reached my hand out. She sniffed my hand and apparently smelled some of my other cats on it. She began purring affectionately as she figure-eighted me repeatedly.
"Want some food?" I inquired.
She obviously knew that word, as she began bellowing incessantly at me. I chuckled and continued toward the garage and around to the back door, with her chattering excitedly as she tagged along behind me. I opened the back door, and she eagerly darted inside the house. I knew she had to be hungry, so I tapped on the side of the food bowl. Within seconds, she was chowing down on the dry food that my other cats shared.
I now took the opportunity to get a good look at her. She was young; still a big kitten really, as opposed to a small cat, and she was absolutely gorgeous! Her white fur was beginning to show tones of beige to it, and I could see faint fawn markings on her paws, face and tail, but she was no pointed Siamese. She glanced up at me momentarily, and got a glimpse of her beautiful ice blue eyes. She was too old to still have kitten eyes, so this was the final giveaway. She was a fawn-point Tonkinese; a fairly new and very expensive breed of cat. What in the hell was she doing in my yard?!
After close to five minutes, she finished eating and approached me; meowing and figure-eighting in front of me again. I picked her up, and she snuggled against me, draping over my left shoulder and purring like a well-oiled knitting machine. She was very sweet, and I took an immediate liking to her. Her fur was clean and dry; not oily like a stray would have, and I knew she belonged to someone, but to whom? This was the first day in almost a week that it was not raining, and I wondered if the poor thing could have gotten lost and then huddled somewhere all of that time. If so, it was no wonder she was so hungry! Poor little kitten!
I turned my computer on and checked my email, to see if there were any notifications from the online neighborhood community, but there were none. I decided to log in and post an alert about a found cat anyway, in the event she belonged to someone locally. I showed her the litter box, and got ready to go grocery shopping and run some additional errands. The cat had already made herself completely at home, by curling up on the kitchen table. Since I was single and ate in front of the TV anyway, I didn't mind.
I left the house and headed for the grocery store, but once I got onto the main road, I was suddenly chagrined to see multiple flashing lights in various colors ahead of me. I slowed to a stop at the roadblock and rolled my window down.
"What's up?" I inquired of the attractive female officer, who was directing traffic to detour via a side street.
"Truck took out a power pole." she explained, giving me a very pleasant smile. "Wires are laying across the road. You'll have to go through this neighborhood to get around it. Just go up two blocks or so, and you'll be past it."
I glanced at her quickly, and she was extremely attractive. Her blonde hair was pulled into a high ponytail, and her pale lavender lipstick accentuated her light hair and sharp features. Her name tag read J.M. Barlow.
"Sounds like you know the area pretty well." I quipped, as I regained eye contact with her.
"I do." she said with a laugh. "I live about half a mile away."
I checked my rear view mirror quickly, to make sure there was still no one behind me. Since it was a Sunday morning, no additional vehicles had approached. Once again, I quickly established direct eye contact with her.
"Really?" I responded. "I haven't seen you around before."
"I moved here from Cincinnati about six weeks ago." she explained. "They've had me on nights until two days ago."
I caught some movement out of the corner of my eye, and saw a car approaching from behind, in my mirror.
"That explains it." I replied. "Stay safe."
"Maybe I'll see you around!" she called out suddenly, as my window rolled up.
I waved, as I pulled around and headed down the side street.
"I hope so." I muttered to myself. "Damn, you're hot! You can frisk me any day, Babe!"
I threaded my way through several side streets, until I found myself back at the main road. As I prepared to turn right, a sign on a telephone pole caught my attention. "Lost cat. Answers to Misty. Call Jenny at 555-1212." To my astonishment, my little Tonkinese stray's picture was underneath. At least it sure looked like her. What were the chances of there being two missing Tonkinese kittens in the area? It had to be the same cat. I felt a little let down, as I really liked her, but at the same time, Jenny was obviously missing her, and needed a phone call. I put the car in park and dialed the number. Not surprisingly, I got her voicemail.
"Hello, this is Jenny. I am sorry to have missed your call, but please leave a message and a return number, thank you."
The voice sounded vaguely familiar, but in this day and age, with access to all sorts of media, that meant absolutely nothing. I waited for the beep and left a brief message of my own.
"Hi Jenny. My name is Jack, and I think I may have your cat. My number is-"
Suddenly, the phone beeped again, and the voicemail went dead. I tried calling back, but it said the box was full. Shrugging my shoulders, I resumed my errands and headed back home. I carried the groceries inside, and the little cat meowed happily at my return. I decided to see how she responded to the name on the sign.
"Hey Misty!" I called out.
She began meowing excitedly, and I knew she did in fact belong to Jenny, whoever the hell Jenny was. I tried calling the number again, and this time an automated voice told me the number had been temporarily disconnected. I was batting a thousand here, so I decided to look the number up online. To my surprise, it was a land line, so I had gotten an answering machine, and not a voicemail. That explained my getting cut off like that. I tried several reverse look-ups, and to my astonishment found one that actually listed the address. I jotted it down and entered into my car's GPS. Seven minutes later, I was at the address. It was the same neighborhood I had been detoured through earlier that day. I rang the doorbell, but no one answered, so I retreated to the car and scribbled a note on a loose sheet of paper.
"Hi Jenny. My name is Jack and I have Misty. Call me at 867-5309."
I folded the paper and slipped it into the jamb of the storm door. Several hours later, my cell phone rang. The number listed bore an out of state area code, so I answered with a bit of trepidation, as it was most likely a sales call.
"Hello?" I responded in a rather unenthusiastic tone.
"Is this Jack?!" a female voice inquired excitedly.
I immediately recognized it as that of the one on the answering machine.
"Yes," I replied, "is this Jenny?"
"Yes! You have Misty?"
"I think so." I answered. "She looks just like your cat, and when I called her that, she got really excited. She's a perfect fawn-point Tonk. She's absolutely gorgeous."
"That's her!" the woman burst out. "Oh Jack, you don't know how much I've missed her! My sister gave her to me as a going away present before I moved here. She slipped out the door the other day when it was raining, and disappeared. I've been heartsick ever since.
"I just got in from work and saw your note in the door. Oh my god, you won't believe how relieved I was! Can I pick her up at your place, or can you bring her here? I'll give you money for gas and for a finder's fee. Oh, I am so relieved!"
I smiled to myself. I understood her emotions, as I have lost many cats over the years; mostly due to old age and roving dogs. Only once did a missing cat return, and I remembered well, how relieved and happy I was when she showed up after several days.
