posted 2004/08/15 at 23:08
Back when my personal site was on GlassCity Internet's personal Webspace, I had a little space for the cats in my life. Guess that's something I should have kept up here.
When Rowan first came into our life, she was hanging around the house and had only half a tail; the other half had clearly been cut off. Several weeks later, someone found my sister's maniac ex-husband stalking around our property with a knife, so we assume he cut Rowan's tail off. We took Rowan in, intending to give her to my maternal grandparents.
Actually, our maternal grandparents had taken our second cat, Tinkerbell, several years before that. My maternal grandfather, who we always called "Grumpy", had never liked cats, but he sure took a liking to Tinkerbell. Tinkerbell lived a long, healthy life, but it wasn't long after she was put to sleep that Grumpy passed away. I never thought that was just a simple coincidence.
After the fire at our house, it took us two weeks to find Rowan; she had been hanging around the neighbourhood, away from everyone. We decided to let her live on the property while we were at the hotel, because she seemed to feel more comfortable with that. (Until it got too cold, then she lived in my parents' office.) Since my father was usually the one to come here every day to check on the reconstruction of the house after work, he brought Rowan her food and water, and although my father had always hated cats (which is why we parted ways with Tinkerbell in the first place), he really bonded with Rowan, and ever since we moved back here, they've been nearly inseparable.
Friday morning, my sister went out to get the mail and Rowan slipped out. She didn't come back that evening, and she hasn't come back since. My family's canvassed the neighbourhood several times looking for her, but they've had no luck. And with my father overworking himself and getting more and more out of shape, all I can think about is what happened to Grumpy after Tinkerbell passed away.
I think I'm going to be sick.
copyright © 2008 Sean Shannon