Tuesday, May 31, 2011

Gigi redux


I printed out about 20 missing  posters, which was about 20 too many, as it turned out.

"Sad," said my wife, as she saw Gig's forlorn features, staring out from the paper in back and white. For now all talk of being sent away to a farm, which may or may not have resembled Orwell's sinister Animal Farm, was gone.

So out we headed into the muggy May night, across the asphalt of the development, breathing in the slightly evocative smell of other people's barbecues.

We put four posters on the mailboxes, which was probably excessive. Zara said she hoped her friends would see them so as she could point out "that's my cat."

"Your ex-cat," a pessimistic voice inside me growled, convinced Gigi was roadkill, although, to be fair, he's so big we'd probably have heard the sirens as the guys with the cutting equipment tried to rescue a truck driver whose vehicle was lying on its side following the jarring impact.

There weren't many other places to put them and, although I was impressed with my creations, I had forgotten to print "missing" prominently on the top, so scrawled it on with a pen.

We concluded we could put the posters on the dumpster, although I ignored Zara's suggestion to stick them on the hole which people throw trash into. Instead we put a couple on a white fence, which mostly fails to conceal the hideousness of the whole communal dumpster experience.

We forgot about the cat for a while as we went to check out the delights of the retention pond in the twilight, but there were no turtles in sight. So we counted a few frogs as we ambled round the back of the condo, calling out Gigi's name with little hope of success.

Then two doors away from ours, we stopped. "There's Gigi," I said in a matter of fact way. He was lying in the middle of a lawn, meowing but making little effort to do anything overly active.

Taking a deep breath, I managed to lift him and drag him into the house. The whole episode was a bit of an anticlimax.

"Bugger.We need to take down those posters," I said. It would have been somewhat embarrassing to leave up missing posters for a cat that was lying on a lawn 20 foot away. Missing posters are normally for those desperate souls who have lost hope of ever seeing their beloved felines again.

So Gigi is back and all the worry, not to mention my blog post, which replaced a weighty tome on the nature of Memorial Day, all seem like overkill.

But Gigs has been rather strange since he returned and also covered in burrs and foliage. I'm convinced something sinister occurred, something ritualistic and sexual in nature that involved many raccoons, I fear.

24 comments:

  1. I'm happy to hear he is home.
    I feel as you do, and suspect those mischievous raccoons lured him off on a night of merriment and mayhem.
    Naughty lads.
    ~Jo

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  2. Apparently even cats get wanderlust in the summer.

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  3. thanks Jo - it is a relief, David.

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  4. Happy to hear Gigi is safe back in her warm, loving, no more talk of farms, environment.

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  5. Haha. The first couple of times my cats escaped the house I was in a dither. Then i realized that the farthest they got was the neighbors garage when they got scared. The one just rolls in the dirt behind the back door. I think it would mean getting too far from the food bowl ;)

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  6. I am glad to hear Gigi has returned home - enjoyed your last two posts. She sounds like quit a character.

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  7. I'm relieved Gigi is back safe and sound! hmmm what could have happened to Gigs while away?

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  8. Better menu up the road perhaps?

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  9. Cats - can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. Well, never mind that second part. I'm glad Gigs is safe.
    xoRobyn

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  10. Your daughter is awesome. :)

    I'm so happy you found the kitty safe and sound. I was hoping this story would have a happy ending.

    I did love both posts about it though. You could write about the phone book and I would find it it thoroughly entertaining!

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  11. This post made me giggle. I am so glad that Gigi is back home safe and sound, though. :-)

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  12. Thank goodness Gigs is safe. Raccoons are fairly lazy creatures so chances are your kitty didn't end up being their bitch ; )

    The Ranter’s Box

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  13. I'm glad your cat is safe and sound. Getting the posters down would have been a pain, but you are a good sport.

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  14. I know Lidia, no talk of farms yet. Yep he sure doesn't stray far from the bowl, Lifebegins. Thanks Shopgirl and thanks for the visit. I know, Maria - it's a mystery. I think you are right, Mo. Thanks Robyn, appreciate it. You are too kind Jennifer. But I think it might be dull if I wrote about the phone book, worf a try, tho. Glad it made you laugh, Daisy. Maybe you are right Empress, unless he was the subject of a lazy raccoon orgy. thanks Marnie. I guess we only put up half a dozen.

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  16. All is well that ends well, even if it caused you unnecessary stress and effort....Hey even the big fat guy wants to have fun now and then... though I guess, his unpleasant experience may keep his depressed for some time...are there cat therapies?

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  17. Selfishly I wanted you to find Gigi! Selfish because I couldn't stand the thought since I have a cat I love (the little psycho).

    And, racoons are devil-spawn. god awful!

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  18. Those randy raccoons, little night-prowlers that they are, are always looking for a bit of sport.... glad to see your wayward prodigal has found his way home :-)

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  19. Good to hear that you found your cat. Missing a cat is a sad affair. Gigi looks happy. We all need an adventure now and then, even if it's just frolicking in the neighbors lawn. :)

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  20. David- so glad this story ended on a happy note. Cute little guy he is. Your story reminded me of last year's saga in Madrid (only it didn't end as well). My sister-in-law's dog, Thunder, went missing after a chica tied him up to a post while she went into a market (duh). They plastered the whole city with posters, and interrogated everyone on the street, but to no avail. Her sister in L.A. suggested consulting an animal psychic. The psychic had all kinds of visions and senses about where little Thunder might be, but none of them ever panned out (weekly wild goose chases). Sadly, after their year in Madrid wrapped up, they returned home w/out the little guy. (And several thousand dollars poorer).
    So, if Gigi should decide to partake in another little junket, don't waste your money on a psychic! (Oh, but he did have some funny suggestions.) :)
    And yes, the chica was fired.

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  21. I don't know Rek, but he seems to have gotten over it now. Completely understandable Deborah, yep. we hate raccoons. I know eh, e.a.s. - I don't know much about the sex life of raccoons, nor do I want to. Yep Heather, we all need an adventure, thanks for the visit. Oh wow - sorry about your sister in law's dog, Jayne.

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  22. Yay for safe pets. And if he survived the ritualistic rabid raccoons I'd be more worried about the raccoons.

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  23. So glad you found your cat! (And glad you didn;t get him declawed either!!) Poor humans, it is not easy when a 10lb feline horror rules your house but rule it they do. Mine used to run away all the time but when we moved to our new house, we got him a disk on his collar saying "please don't feed me" and the neighbours stopped feeding him and he stopped running away.

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On Blog PTSD

Now then. What the heck. It seems I had forgotten about my blog completely rather than just neglecting it this time. To return after so long...