Sylvia (the cat)

[porphyry]

 About two weeks ago, the front door remained slightly ajar all night.  Malkhos, of course, who is always the last to go to bed, denied all knowledge and responsibility for it and shifted the blame onto the kids.  I am always the first one to get up and noticed the door pretty quickly.  I didn't think it was a burglar or anything; I just knew it probably didn't get shut tightly and Malkhos didn't notice.

After I noticed the door, I shut it firmly and then noticed one cat, Sylvia, was missing.  As soon as it got light, I went outside to look around a bit for her, calling her name.  No cat appeared.

As the days passed, I accepted she was gone.  She was always my favorite cat, and I would feel especially bad on cool, rainy days, wondering where she was and hoping someone might have taken her in.  I told the kids there really wasn't much we could do.

Last night was fairly cool, and much to Malkhos's chagrin, I wanted to turn on the furnace briefly to see if it was working.  After I switched it on, the furnace gave off that funny first-time-of-the-year-use smell furnaces often do, so I opened the back door to clear out the odor.  When I did, I heard a meow.

"I know that meow," I said, and went downstairs to the basement, opened the door, and in dashed Sylvia.  After some welcoming hissing from her feline housemates, she hasn't stopped following me around, emitting this high-pitched meow-purr endlessly.  She won't tell me where she's been for two weeks or how she survived, and she also won't tell me if she's pregnant again.  She seems to be exhausted but won't lie down to sleep.  I guess she'll wear out eventually.  I just told her she's lucky she didn't come back with fleas--I hate fleas!--or I might have to put her out again.

Comments

[claidheamhmor]

A relief to have her back, I'll bet! Poor kitty...

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

I felt so bad for her when she was gone, and she is somewhat thinner now, poor baby. But she'll fatten up, and I am glad to have her back.

[benicek.livejournal.com]

I misunderstood that fourth paragraph and thought you had incinerated your cat alive.

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

You know, rereading this post, I can see that. That would have been rather strange to have burned up my own cat in the furnace, but maybe kind of funny too. Any cat stupid enough to hide out in the furnace needs to be removed from the genetic pool anyway.

[benicek.livejournal.com]

I'm glad that cat ownership has not blinded you to the darkly comic potential of accidental live cremation.

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

Not at all. If Sylvia had been in the furnace, I probably would have said "Oops," and hoped she only minimally suffered as well as hoped she didn't ruin the damn furnace.

I've had too many animals over the years to be sentimental about them. I like pets, and I'll take care of the ones under my care, but I won't go to extreme measures for them. Once I had a cat who climbed a tree that was way too tall for her to feel comfortable about descending. When a neighbor inquired whether or not we were going to call the fire department to retrieve her, I said, "No, I'm pretty sure the fire department has better things to do than rescue stupid cats from trees. She'll either come down or die up there." The thought of a memorial cat skeleton kind of amused me. However, the cat did come down after about a week, driven by an ice storm and possibly hunger. But I was not one to interfere with the laws of nature.

[benicek.livejournal.com]

Reminds me of this old lady: http://benicek.livejournal.com/17301.html

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

That was a charming story! Cats can produce very eerie sound effects for certain.

[benicek.livejournal.com]

...and so can humans, when sealed inside bronze bulls placed over fires. Hoho.

[niyabinghi.livejournal.com]

What a strange story! Do you think she was hiding out
inside the house all this time or outside?

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

Oh, she was definitely outside. She was thin and kind of dirty when she came back. I have no idea how far off she might have wandered. I'm willing to bet she found herself a male friend while she was away, however. Time will tell.

[karinmollberg.livejournal.com]

Well, even tomcats need their little piece of adventure every now and then, I guess? Though I always thought mainly males do that kind of a walkabout. Not a good idea to come home with new pets, be they fleas or kittens that only arrive a bit later...

[malkhos.livejournal.com]

I could take more kittens before more fleas! Oh, I hate fleas; they bite me to pieces.

I'm sure Sylvia's motives were slatternly, but ah well; she's entitled to it in her youth, I suppose.

[vonjunzt.livejournal.com]

She was at Tim Toldrum's funeral, of course.