Emma

I have owned countless numbers of cats in my life. As a child, we always seemed to have numerous cats around and always a liter of kittens. Throughout my adult life, various cats have come and gone with a few that have left a deep impression on me. These have been the cats that follow you from room to room. The ones who talk to you and allow you to drape them around your neck or hold them upside down in your arms. These are the cats who always seem to be in the middle of what you are doing. I am not sure why, but it seems that these are the cats whose lives are short lived.

Yesterday morning, our indoor kitty named Emma was missing. On occasion she sneaks outside and I can only assume that she somehow got outside. As I thought back over the events of the previous late afternoon, I remembered the front door slightly ajar and the banging of the storm door as if someone had gone through it. I remembered that around 8pm our border collie began barking. It was one of those eerie barks where I felt that something was amiss outside and Tess heard it but I did not. I wondered if Tess heard Emma’s cry as she was being carried off by some predator. I did not expect her to return. The house was empty without Emma. We have lost two other cats this way. The first cat, named Tia, disappeared in the same manner as well as our barn cat, Myk, last March. I remembered all too well the emptiness we all felt without them here.

Around 4:30 this morning, I heard a scratching on the door. I got up to see what it was all about and found Emma at the door meowing to come in! She was not humble at all but rather frisky and proud of herself totally unaware of the worry she had caused. I gave her a scoop of her favorite Fancy Feast, gave her a lecturing, and headed back to bed relieved to have her safe inside again!