So this isn't my pet, per se, but rather a story about my neighbor's pet. I just thought this was a nice and maybe sorta positive "holiday" story kind of thing.
Anyway, so my neighbors have lived next to my family's property for years, since I was maybe 7 actually, so I've known them for a long time. They have two cats, one of which they'd let roam during the day and the other one kept inside. Don't ask why one roamed and one didn't... I have no clue.
Anyway, the roamer was Eddie... Eddie was pretty cool. Dark brown and tan striping. Pretty neat. A long thick tail (short haired but his tail was like a giang pipe cleaner). He was kind of bad but he'd come over and have some cat nip (grow my own) and he'd just hang out. He'd bite if you didn't watch him but he was ok.
Anyway, one day, mid-June this year, he didn't come home when they called him... On rare occassion, he wouldn't come home and would get locked out for the night, but it didn't happen often and he was always there next day. Not this time though.
This time, he didn't come home the next day... or the next. Or the next week, or the next month, and so on.
We assumed the worst ultimately... My road's bad, there are neighbors around who will kill cats on sight, and if it's not those two man-made things, it's coyotes/other predators that will get the cats that roam. For that reason I don't let any of mine roam anywhere but different strokes for different folks I guess.
Anyway, it sort of upset me that Eddie was gone... They'd gotten him when I got Chaos and Tarkin (my oldest 2 cats) pretty much, and so the three grew up together when I'd tether mine out on the clothes line, and I was just used to Eddie and giving him some nip and stuff, watching him come trotting down the property line, or running out of the woods like a maniac. He was a cool cat and I was bummed.
Well, flash forward about 6 months to this week... My neighbor's son is home from France where he lives with his family, and they're walking up on the porch with his stuff after picking him up from the airport. They see a cat on their backporch... And upon closer inspection. It's Eddie.
Yes. Eddie was gone for 6 months somewhere, and then came home.
Which is great of course. I've had a ******, well, year really, haha. But this was a nice thing to brighten my year a little bit and right at the holidays.
He's not my cat, but he's a cat I cared about, and he didn't deserve to die alone somewhere without his people to care for him.
But now...
Where has he been for 6 months?
Does he now Summer in Florida and only come back to visit relatives at the holidays?
Did he go on a roadtrip to White Castle?
Did he join Occupy Wall St.?
Was he performing covert ops overseas?
Was he part of SEAL Team Six?
Was he performing vigilante Dog Beatings?
Was he moderating debates?
If I could attach a camera to him, I'd really like to see where he went.
Personally, I'm theorizing he was picked up by someone local who thought he was a stray, and kept him. He's pretty friendly (till he decides he's had enough), so he'd be easily caught and brought in. Trapped easily with cat food too. He apparantly doesn't look unhealthy or anything.
From what I've heard though, he's not wild about going out now, and when he is out he only wants to be near them and not wander the property line or go up into the woods and stuff.
Still... It's a nice thing to have him back. I just hope he's not breaking the heart of another family that feel they've lost him at the holidays.
