Before dawn on election day last November, my husband opened the door to get the paper and our cat ran outside. Now, Rosie is mostly an indoor cat and only goes out on a leash. Suddenly she was totally free and we were terrified.
We spent the day looking for her, walking around the block and down the alley, calling her name, promising treats. A friend who lives next door helped me create a flyer and my husband posted copies on nearby telephone poles. “MISSING,” it said. “Gray tiger cat: shy, cautiously friendly, please call her owners.”
And as we wandered around helplessly, we talked with neighbors we knew and those we didn’t. All of them promised to watch out for Rosie, assured us she’d be fine. But evening came, cold and dark, without a sign of our shy gray tiger.
I had put a bowl of kibbles on the back porch and when I looked at 9 p.m., it was empty. “Could be squirrels,” my husband and I told each other. At 11, my husband came into the bedroom where I lay wide awake. “Karen, Rosie’s home.”
So here’s what I learned: How to not worry about an election? Lose your cat. How to reaffirm your belief in people’s kindness? Lose your cat.
