I sit here petting our little seven week old feline fuzz ball, her purring reverberating throughout her tiny little body. The memory of the other cat that could have taken her place still lingers in my mind...
It was Christmas morning and we had just finished opening all the (kids) presents. That's when I said, "I have one more surprise". I quickly ran upstairs to the fifth floor apartment to the neighbor who had their one year old cat waiting in her arms with a red ribbon tied around her neck. Purr did not look too pleased. I put her gently in my pet carrier, which I had to get from the car since I didn't want the kids to suspect anything, and said "I will take good care of her". I walked back to our apartment with a smile on my face in anticipation of the look on Jasmine and Alexander’s face.
I burst in the room and yelled surprise! "Wow, a cat", Jasmine screamed, I always wanted a cat. Yes, I thought, and it cost me a whole fifty-five dollars for her yearly shots not to mention that I still have to get her spayed which will make me another hundred and twenty-five dollars poorer. As I opened the door to the carrier, Purr came out slowly and very cautiously. She sat there for a while then slowly crept under our end table and hid under there. "Ok now let's give her some room" I said, "besides, she needs to get used to her new home". It soon became apparent that Purr would probably never get used to her new home.
Well, after a few hours of pulling Purr from under the table, under the bed and behind the bookcase we noticed that the time had passed and we had to leave to go to my Uncle's house for the Christmas family gathering. So, we packed our gifts, put on our winter layers and headed out the door. After we all squeezed in the car we realized that we forgot the bottle of wine in the fridge. I am used to this since we always forget something just as we are ready to drive off. Oh well, Merlyn hops out and goes in to grab the wine. Two minutes later she's back, "you know I didn't see the cat anywhere when I went back in" she said as she slammed the car door. "She's probably just hiding" I said, though I had a gut feeling something wasn't right. I also felt kind of bad that we were leaving, probably gone all night, on the first day of Purr's stay with us.
The day was great and I got to chat with my cousins and enjoy good company, after there we hopped over to my mother-in-laws (oh joy) and then came home around ten in the evening. As I was driving home I envisioned that the our place would be a shambles, plants uprooted, fish tank toppled over and in general in total disarray. We opened the door and everything was as we left it, we yelled out "Purr, Purr, where are you?" Nothing, "Honey I'm home!" Nothing. Looking for a few minutes in the usual corners was fruitless and after half an hour we gave up looking... Purr, was nowhere to be found.
Now, how could a cat vanish into thin air? It couldn't. I kept saying that to myself over and over again. Merlyn and I were bewildered. How is this possible? After we put the kids to bed and consoled them, "it's alright guys, she's just scared of us and hiding", we started to search again. We lifted couches emptied out closets, cupboards, drawers and even pulled out the refrigerator... Nothing. That evening was one of several sleepless nights...
Next day came along and I was feeling good. Today, I thought, I would find her, besides it's daylight and we probably missed looking somewhere last night. Merlyn and I looked again top to bottom and all the while calling "Purr, Purr, come out you stupid cat!" Nothing.
Four days passed, still no sign of Purr. During that time we couldn't explain the phenomena, we came up with various theories of what might have happened and all of them pointed to Purr somehow escaping the apartment, getting caught outside and ending up frozen to death. I blamed Merlyn because when she went back for the bottle of wine had probably left the door open and Purr ran past her as she was coming in. That was my explanation, it had to be. A big cloud of guilt was hovering over Merlyn, “murderer” I kept saying to her…
On the fifth evening I was starting to hear things... just as my eyes were closing and deep sleep was encroaching upon me, I heard a loud "meooww" as clear as day. My eyes popped wide open, there it was again, "meooww". I freaked out, I jumped out of bed and ran for the living room. In the darkness I struggled to look around to see if Purr was there... nothing. Dead silence. At this point the movie Pet Cemetery popped into my mind. In this horror flick a dead cat come back to life as a zombie seeking revenge on it's owners. Went back to bed and pulled the covers over my head. Was I really hearing Purr or was it my wild imagination playing tricks on me?
On the sixth evening at about the same time i was about to close my eyes and fall into deep sleep, I heard it again, "meooww". "No fuckin way" I yelled, "what?" mumbled Merlyn half asleep. That's it, I thought, I'm getting to the bottom of this. I slowly slid out of bed and walked to the dark living room. Only the street lights were shining through the windows. In this darkness I sat on the couch waiting. I waited, and waited. Half an hour passed, no sound. I was tired, couldn't keep my eyes open, must... go... on... "meooww", "Purr?", it was coming from the kitchen or the dining room, I ran over there but it stopped, I didn't hear it long enough to triangulate the position. I sat in the dining room which was next to the kitchen. Here I had a better chance. This is ridiculous, I thought, what am I doing? At some point over the next half hour I convinced myself that Purr was in the apartment somewhere, stuck, and couldn't get out. I had to find her, if I didn’t, she would eventually die and stink up the whole place, how would I get her out then; or worse how would we live with the guilt? The words "I will take good care of her" kept ringing through my head.
"Meooww", there it was again, right next to me! On the other side of the wall? On the other side was the oven in a complete wall unit, how could she be there? I turned on my flashlight I had bought specifically for camping last year - very bright, and shot it on the floor below the oven. Hmm, there is the baseboard, there is the wall, there is a hole, WHAT?! God dammit! I went down on my hands and knees and pointed the flashlight straight into a hole that was open between the oven wall unit and the wall. The was an empty bottle lodged in there, a previous tenant, I thought. On top of the bottle sitting all curled up was Purr, looking straight at me, as terrified as can be. I tried to put my hand in there to pull her out and she hissed at me. The damn cat hissed at me.
The next day saw me call the super, have him cut a hole in the wall unit, pull Purr (and the bottle) out and then figure out what to do next. What could we do? She wasn't the cat for us. Even after she was out and the hole plugged up, her favorite spots to hang out were behind the refrigerator, behind the bookshelf and inside the kitchen cupboards. At some point in this poor cats life she was abused. I couldn't just return her, the owner was parting with her because her son had allergies... could he be the one torturing the cat? Now that I think back at the few times I visited Purr in her old home, she was always hiding in a corner under a table. The owner always had to drag her out, not very social.
The day after new years and I'm driving downtown. Driving to the Toronto Humane Society. I know what you're thinking, nobody will take her in, she will be put to sleep and that I just gave up on her. Well, that's life people, this story doesn't have a happy Hollywood ending. besides, if it makes you feel better you can imagine that someone came in that very day and adopted her and they lived happily ever after... you never know. I just feel sorry for that person.
