It was on
December the 10th that Lily was providing some entertainment for us
while we were eating supper, as she often did. (Yes, we had come to enjoy her
antics, some of the time.) On this particular day she raced in and out of the
room, jumped in and out of the basket on the bookshelf, and tried to climb up
the curtains. After this burst of energy she meowed at the door to be let out.
Getting out through the skylight was proving to be more difficult since the
landlord put a tarp over it to keep the rain out. Although she could still do
it, when we were home, she preferred to go out through the door. Dave let her
out, and we’re sad to say, that was the last time we saw her.
She almost
always returned about the time we were going to bed. This time we thought it a
bit strange that we hadn’t heard the familiar meow at the door but didn’t think
too much of it. The next morning she still wasn’t there. When she wasn’t there
when we returned from school that day, we were starting to fear the worst,
although we didn’t give up hope. After several days, however, we were quite
certain she wasn’t coming back. After a couple of weeks, we washed her blanket
and packed up her stuff. It seemed so final.
As much as
we complained about her disagreeable personality, we had come to an
understanding. When I petted her as she sat on my lap I just expected that
after a few minutes she would try to bite me. Dave came to expect a swat on the
leg when she walked past. She even seemed to have learned the word, “NO!”, or
maybe it was the fact that we were always coming after her when we said it. But
either way, she left the kitchen in a hurry when we yelled at her.
So now, we
are once again without a pet. Dave is sleeping much better at night, not having
to worry about Lily crashing in or out through the skylight, or meowing at the
door to be let in or out. I can sit down to drink my coffee in the morning. We
don’t have to worry about getting fleas. We don’t have to clean out the litter
box. We can leave the kitchen and bedroom doors open. (It was always a bit of a
guessing game trying to find each other with all the doors closed.)
So do we
miss her? Yes, actually we do. But only if we spot any rodents will we be
tempted to get another cat.
RIP Lilly
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