Musings
an Online Journal of Sorts

By Alyce Wilson

Me and Luke, sporting his new collar

Usually, I sleep in a little longer after The Gryphon leaves for work, since I work in the evenings. Yesterday, just as he was getting ready to head out the door, he came up and said that he hadn't seen our kitty, Luke, all morning.

Some mornings, Luke is so anxious to get fed he'll be sitting next to The Gryphon when he wakes up in the morning, or even nudge him with his paw.

On other days, he waits a little longer, but for Luke to not be up and demanding breakfast was very strange.

I got up and threw on some clothes, and we scoured the house, looking in all his favorite hiding places but finding him nowhere. We even checked places we don't normally find him, such as a broken drawer in our small dresser where he might be able to squeeze into the open space. No luck.

After making a pass through the house several times, we reached the conclusion he wasn't in the house.

That's when I thought back to the night before and realized he might have slipped out. I'd been really tired after staying up to read the new Harry Potter and had let Una out, violating my own rule as I did so. The rule is that we enforce a "cat lock," where you always make sure to close the door to the house behind you before opening the outer door. That way you could be sure no cats were going to slip out unnoticed.

Thinking back, I remembered that I'd been lazy and hadn't closed the inner door behind me before opening the outer one. I couldn't say for certain that Luke couldn't have slipped out unnoticed into the great outdoors. Since he didn't seem to be anywhere in the house, we figured that's what must have happened: our indoor kitty was outside somewhere, wondering and perhaps lost.

We snapped a leash on Una and took her with us as we walked up and down the street, calling for Luke. The Gryphon had to do most of it, because my voice had mysteriously grown hoarse overnight, despite the fact that it held up for the entire weekend of Otakon.

After walking up and down the street and also in the alley behind, asking people we passed if they'd seen him, we decided to make up some flyers. That way anyone who might have taken him in to feed him would know that he had a home.

We returned to our house and looked in some places we hadn't checked before, then checked his favorite hiding places again. I fully expected he would show up, demanding breakfast and acting as if everything was normal.

As I made up the flyers, I forgot to mention his food allergy on it, and mentally kicked myself. But 25 color flyers take a long time on an ink jet printer, and I didn't want to reprint them all. When he got a chance later, The Gryphon called all the local veterinarians and animal hospitals to give them a description of Luke, in case somebody brought him in with an allergic reaction after attempting to feed him.

By this point, The Gryphon had called in to work to tell them he needed a personal day. I'm really grateful he did, because I needed his support. I was so worried that sometimes I would just start crying, picturing my little Luke lost somewhere and scared. I tried to picture him, instead, coming home happy and purring.

We put up the colored flyers along our street and the next, on telephone poles, bus stops and around a green space where people walk their dogs. Una came with us, and we told her, "Find Lukey!" She was sniffing around under bushes and behind objects, so she probably was actually tracking cat smells, but she didn't turn up Luke. A few times we saw white cats lounging under cars, only to realize they were calicos or, in one case, a gray kitty.

As we walked, we also gave some flyers to people who spend a lot of time in the neighborhood, like the UPS guy and some Mormon missionaries. We ran into some people with great advice, while others had not so much. A couple older women we ran into who were cat lovers told us that he was probably someplace near, because cats don't wonder very far if they're spayed.

But then again, there was the middle-aged guy with a clipboard who said that we might have to face facts that we would never find him! The Gryphon pulled me away from him before I could start crying again.

Turns out, a number of our neighbors have kitties, some of which are outdoor kitties. Several of them had stories of cats that had gone missing, and many of their stories had happy endings, which gave me hope.

By this point, I'd put a bowl of Luke's food on the front stoop, so that when we came to the house, I expected to see a white and orange kitty chowing down. Una, however, seemed to think it was a snack just for her and gobbled down a little before I could stop her.

Before my regular afternoon assignment, we drove to a nearby Kinko's to make 100 black and white copies of the flyer to put up or distribute. While I was doing my assignment, The Gryphon walked some nearby streets, talking to people and hanging up more flyers. He ran into one West Indian woman who joked with him that if he didn't care what cat he brought home, she had a black one he could have.

Since The Gryphon had covered all the streets within a two-block radius, we figured we should move on to another tactic. I suggested driving out to the local SPCA to look through the recent arrivals and place a lost pet report.

I'd never been to the SPCA before; when we adopted Luke, it was through the Animal Coalition of Delaware County. Fortunately, The Gryphon came with me to serve as navigator, because it was on a back road of Media that might have been hard to find by myself.

There were so many cars in the parking lot we had trouble finding a spot, which surprised me. Inside, there was a strong animal smell. I think a lot of dogs pee themselves in the waiting room. A number of people were waiting in line with animals. It turns out the SPCA offers veterinary services there, so it functions sort of as an animal clinic.

Somebody came up to us and asked what we wanted. We produced a flyer and said we were looking for a lost cat, giving her the story about how we thought he'd managed to slip out. She posted the flyer on the bulletin board, then had someone escort us into a back room to look for him among the recently arrived cats.

The first row of pens we walked past had a strong smell of bleach, as someone had been mopping. Then we were taken outside to a separate facility, where they quarantine the cats for four or five days before bringing them in. We saw so many cute cats I just wanted to rescue, including some yearlings about the size Luke was when we adopted him, and even some tiny kittens. The woman who runs this part of the facility said there are a lot of feral cats having litters this time of year.

After examining all the furry faces, we knew we hadn't yet found our little guy. We thanked her very much for showing us, and then we were led out.

At the front desk, we filed a lost pet report. I made The Gryphon fill it in, because between the lack of sleep and the stress, I was having trouble thinking straight. So we drove home then for a nap before dinner.

It was The Gryphon's birthday, and if everything had gone according to plan, he would have left work early so that we could have dinner together before I dropped off for his hair cut at our hair stylist's. As it turned out, we ran around all day, looking for our missing kitty.

When we got home, I still expected to see him either eating food on the front stoop or pop out somewhere inside, greeting us with a happy swiveling walk. I had trouble sleeping but did nap for about half an hour. I woke up before The Gryphon, so I checked in on a bulletin board where my friends like to chat. I'd posted something that morning about our dilemma, and there were a lot of supportive messages with suggestions and hopeful thoughts.

We ate dinner at Charlie Brown's, a steakhouse chain with a local flavor: there are photos of Philadelphia on the walls, for example. I ordered lobster cakes, with (badly needed) espresso and water, along with a salad and broccoli.

The Gryphon saw how sad I was, so he kept trying to get me to think about something other than Luke. We talked, for example, about the album by Fatboy Slim we'd been playing in the car. But I was too sunk in thought, until he began sharing stories from Otakon. This got me actively engaged in the conversation and picked up my mood considerably.

By the time I dropped The Gryphonh at the hair stylist's, I was feeling better. On the way back, using the hands-free microphone/earpiece on my cell phone, I called my sister and left a message about what was happening. She called back and told me about how her cat, Jellybean Bonanza, had once disappeared for a couple days but then returned. She said we shouldn't lose hope, and she told us how her husband's parents lost their 14-year-old house kitty for a week. Turns out she'd been hiding in the shed, because she was afraid of the outdoors. They finally coaxed her out by calling her name repeatedly.

As I was talking with my sister, I got a call from Luke's foster mom at ACDC. We had left a message for them earlier, letting them know Luke was missing in case someone brought him to them as a stray.

His foster mom told me stories about times when she or others she knew had cats missing. She gave us some good suggestions, like leaving a bag of his litter outside so that he could recognize the scent. Also, since Una and Luke are good friends, she suggested tying her up on the front porch or the yard, which might entice him to come home.

When The Gryphon got back from the hair salon, I gave him the suggestions. He agreed it was a good idea to put Una on the front porch. We thought we might put up a baby gate in the outside door so that Una couldn't leave but Luke could come home. The Gryphon had the inner door to the house open as he was filling a food bowl, because the food that we'd left on the steps now had ants in it.

He came upstairs with me to figure out how to arrange things, and then turned to carry out our plans. About halfway down the steps, he stopped and said, with amazement in his voice, "Lukey?"

"Where?" I asked.

He said he'd seen Luke sauntering in off the porch. Sure enough, when I came downstairs, he was rubbing his face against the couch and mewing, clearly hungry but relieved to be inside.

That's when it occurred to us that this entire time he was probably sitting behind some tools or recycling on the front porch and had never been outside at all! It's the most likely explanation, but so ironic! How many times did we pass by him, in a high hurry, as we were trying to find him? And yet, because we were still being careful to close the inside door, he couldn't wonder back into the house.

We put his freshly refilled bowl upstairs in the usual spot, and he made his way up there, nonchalantly, and then ate ravenously.

I immediately went on the bulletin board where my friends congregate and let them know. The Gryphon called my sister to let her know, and I also e-mailed the foster mom to tell her. This morning, I dug out the collar we'd bought for Luke ages ago, and after buying an I.D. tag at the nearest Petco, finally snapped it around his neck. If this ever happens again, at least I know that people will know he belongs somewhere.

It's such a relief to have Luke back with us. I really missed that little guy. His playful, quirky presence is a constant I've grown to expect.

As I walked the neighborhood this morning, taking down the flyers, I thought about how recently, he and Una and I had taken a nap together: Una and I on the guest bed in my office while Luke snoozed on my chair. I thought about all the times he nudged my leg to get me to pick him up while I was working, and how he and Una follow me around the house, my furry entourage.

I remembered the time he caught a mouse and, having no idea what to do with it, carried it around until it escaped. But that mouse must have told the others, because Luke essentially eliminated our mouse problem.

I thought about how The Gryphon and I tell stories about him, where Luke, always convinced that he's a tough guy responsible for protecting the house from all invaders, is trying to convince us to buy flame throwers or battle armor.

Now that he's home, we joked that he was just conducting a ninja training exercise. He could have told us where he was hiding, but that would have defeated the purpose. But now, our little ninja's home, and The Gryphon says that's the best birthday present he could have received.

Copyright 2006 by Alyce Wilson

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