I’m worried because my old cat hasn’t come
home since last Tuesday. I named him Tigger because as a kitten he seldom
walked or ran, but bounced from place to place like Tigger in the book
Winnie-the-Pooh. Tigger soon adopted my husband as his favorite person,
following him everywhere and looking to him for comforts like warmth and food.
He was still my cat, however, and proved it by bringing me hunting trophies
including snakes, cockroaches, and frogs. He was careful to vomit fur balls
where he knew I was sure to step. Yes, I was definitely the person he allowed to
own him. His most endearing habit
was that he never failed to run to meet our approaching car when we arrived
home. He would hear the car before it turned the corner and come tripping
alongside, sit impatiently while everyone got out, then skip to the door
together as if to say, "Wow! Where have you been? I've been waiting sooo
long!!" It's been too many days now without his exuberant bounce to meet
us.
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I have looked high and
low for him, but all I have found is a lump in my throat, and a huge knot of
worry in my stomach. Though there have been nights before when he didn't come
home until morning, I fear he's not coming back this time. It makes coming home
each night a dreadful reminder that something important in my life has changed
and what was once there is now gone where I cannot retrieve anything except a
very inadequate memory of it.
My life is vastly diminished
by this loss.
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