For many years we had a cat, Nicky, who was abandoned by our neighbor at the apartment complex we lived in as newlyweds, when she was evicted. We had him declawed (not knowing about any raging debates about the issue), and kept him inside — except that he loved to escape the house, when we chased after him. We tried various strategies to keep him indoors but were never entirely successful. What’s more, when we were in Germany, we were the the odd ones, as cats were let out, as a rule, but, of course, with him being declawed that wasn’t an option even if we had decided to now allow it. Then, when we were at the airport on the return flight to the US, we learned that we had failed to prepare the proper paperwork for him to come along with us (information was nowhere to be found online, and there was no apparent way to ask a live person), so he stayed behind and my father-in-law found him a new home.
When we returned from Germany, my youngest was only two months old, so getting another cat was out of the question. When he turned two, we acquired Tiger, and, when he ran out of the house several times not long after we brought him home, we gave up the fight, left his claws on, and decided that he’s an indoor/outdoor cat. When he’s in the house, he loves to sit on laps and be petted, but he’ll run our when the door is opened, and come back later after having who knows what kind of adventures, waiting at the window (or, yes, scratching up the screen) to be let in.
And even when he’s out of the house, he’s still our cat. He’s been known to follow us to the playground a block and a half away, and has waited for us to come out of church a block away. My husband has reported that, on at least one occasion, he’s seen Tiger looking through the window during a Boy Scout meeting at church.
But today? Today takes the cake.
One Friday a month, we participate in a group called CFM, Christian Family Movement; it’s our parish’s equivalent of the Small Faith-sharing Groups that other parishes have, but for couples, and hosted at alternating couples’ homes. Tonight, the host couple’s home was 2 1/2 blocks south of us, on the same street, and Tiger seemed to follow us in that direction but then, we thought, stopped at the end of the block.
But as the meeting was coming to an end, after we’d finished the discussion questions and moved on to socializing, and couples started to leave, someone said, “there’s a cat on the front walk!” The host couple said, “that’s never happened before!” and “he’s been at the back door, too!” And sure, enough, it was Tiger, waiting for us to come home. As soon as we left, he walked ahead of us, and waited, until we arrived home, and we let him in.
And that’s my story for tonight.
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