Our cat, Sally, got loose the other day. I was barreling up the garage stairs, with my hands full of groceries, when I opened the door and our six month-old, snow white cat bolted by me in a premeditated break for the outdoors. I think she’s been planning this run for some time. She’s been sitting in window sills, meowing, and staring out glass doors, meowing, for a month. She wanted to feel the fresh air on her whiskers and run without sheetrock boundaries at her every turn. I can sympathize with her plight. Who wants to be coup up all day in a house?
She’s a Felis catus, a skilled predator, a button lioness, needing to experience the thrill of the hunt in a natural environment.
After she darted past me, I dropped the bags and ran after her. The alarm was ringing incessantly and we were all attempting to surround her, but she was too quick. Sally effortlessly breezed through our blockade and headed to the backyard. I shouted, “Grab her, quickly,” but everyone stood frozen unable to move from the shock of, “the cat is loose.” She slinked through a small opening in the bottom of the deck and was out of sight.
I gathered myself, corralled the children and the groceries into the house; while my mom snagged the flashlight and headed for the dark and mysterious underbelly of “the deck.” No one has been underneath the deck since it was built. No one really knows what lurks beneath those treated timbers. It’s always too dark to see.
The girls ran outside, as well, to find Sally while I was left alone to put the groceries away. For some reason I thought they all had this planned, until ten minutes later my oldest daughter came back crying and yelling, “I’m never going to be happy again”- tough words for a Dad to hear from a mouth of a six year old. I threw on my jacket, smiled and while I lightly brushed back her tears consoled her with the words I repeated so many times, “It’s going to be alright.” As I opened the back door my mom was walking towards us with the cat, kicking and struggling, in her arms. I’m guessing Sally wanted to do some more exploring, but my little girl needed to her kitten back.
Later that night, my daughter fell asleep with her hand draped over Sally’s belly; they both lay silent and content, completely removed from the events that occurred less than a few hour ago. For now on were placing the cat in the bathroom, with the door shut, when we leave the house – no more close calls. Sally is just going to have to be content with chasing her toys and lying around the house. There is just too much happiness at stake.
Have a great day and God Bless.
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Tags: chasing the cat, chasing the cat outdoors, chasing your cat, the cat got loose
