Mostly all grown up.

It took a couple of hours but Faux remembered the house where he grew up. By yesterday, he was right at home. Here the beast is in the hallway.

He gave a a huge, huge scare last night. On Monday evening, once the kids had brought in their things and gotten settled, we let him out of the bedroom and followed him as he struggled to remember places and things and look around for the cats I'm sure he expected to be here but who aren't. He went into the basement, which probably smells more like old home than the upstairs which has Mija and Pilchard scents all over.

The kids stayed an extra day and we went to the Brookfield Zoo. When we came home, the screen in the window in the office was outside and the window was standing wide open. Mija was nowhere to be found but Pilchard was sitting on the table in the office just looking at us. She would not come to me. We felt panic rising.

I closed the window and started calling. Mija took an agonizing 5 minutes to come. Faux was nowhere to be found. We felt, given his knowledge of the house and the yard, he probably seized the opportunity to get out of the house due to the open window. You have no idea how upset we were.

DuPage County Animal Care and Control said cats that are pets generally do not wander more than 3 blocks from home so Carole walked a circle three blocks in all directions from the house. David went to every neighbor and asked to look in their back yard. I got on the phone with the Wheaton police and the emergency vet as well as the county. No Maine Coon cat had been found and turned in. We were told to put his litter box outside as he could be lost since he hadn't lived in the area for almost 3 years. I filled out the "Lost Pet" form.

Carole felt he would come back, that he wasn't very far away from us. He was just being a cat and deciding when he would put in an appearance. She found a 4-leaf clover in the yard and said that was a sign he would return. She asked that I make homemade macaroni and cheese for supper. It's her favorite dish.

While I was draining the pasta, I saw movement out of the corner of my eye. There, at the top of the basement stairs, sat Faux, looking at me as if to say, "Hi. Did you want me earlier?" My cry of "FAUX!", scared him and he ran into the bedroom where Carole was. She scooped him up, hugged and kissed him and started a lecture on coming when called which, we all agreed, went in one ear and out the other. So, we had to call everyone we'd notified to let them know he'd come home.

After putting up with the hugs and kisses, he went into the living room and plopped down on the rug.
He's a wonderful cat, really. Today, he wanted scratches and tried to get into the basement, but we closed the door last night to prevent that. He was not amused as the luggage and a few things Carole is taking with her from the house, were moved to the car. He could tell, after a 3 day respite, he was going back in the moving box. She scooped him up for the requisite photo and he growled, loudly and long.

We remembered the kitten we got in August of 2007. Oh that he fit into a shoe box now and could be easily transported.

And here he is 3 days after he was dropped off on the front porch.







He was the length of her piccolo.

He very much is her cat, but we do think, had he actually gotten out and not come back, he could have lived with my cats until such time as she could come back and get him. It certainly would have been interesting.

He may be complaining about being in the car for another 12 hours until they get to their next stop, but he's traveled fairly well. People have posted to Carole's Facebook posts that they could never travel with a cat. Well, we can't verify how travel works with a dog but as long as you give the cat some room to move, the ones we have traveled with have been good. You can get a tranquilizer for the animal, but we've never found a need for it. We provide a spot for the litter box, food and water and the cats have always found a place to go to be comfortable. Faux just needs to tolerate 3 more days and he'll be in an apartment where he won't be moved for some time. It might even have a big windowsill to sit in.

Beverage: Huckleberry Tea

Deb