Let me tell you a story. One that ended, oh, about a half-hour ago.

After our dog of 9 years Zoe passed away this September, mom got pretty lonely (like I'm chopped liver?) She needed some companionship while I was sleeping, I guess. So two days ago, some friend brought a cat over. Well, this friend's son did. We let the cat out. And two minutes later, she was gone. We looked for her, tore up pretty much the whole house. Nothing. We began thinking that she might be outside which is bad because it's really abnormally cold out right now (mid 20s F.)

So we kept intermittently (mostly on) tried to find the cat. The friend's son's mother (the previous owner) came over the next day. They figured she might be in my room. No luck. But Mom was sure the cat must be in here somewhere since someone used the litter box last night when we were both asleep. I was sure the cat was gone and dead outside. We spent some more time looking around. Nothing.

Then about a half-hour ago, at about 10pm, mom called to me saying "the cat!" I walked over, gingerly as not to scare it, and sure enough, behind the rocking chair in the den, was a black and white cat laying down, not facing us, but the good news is it was never outside, just hiding somewhere for a couple of days (even though we about tore the house apart and looked everywhere). So apparently this cat did not have a good life before, but she seems to still be a kitten, so hopefully she will get brave enough to know we won't hurt her. She has a little bell on her collar, so we would know where she was. But I had not heard it before. I thought they were crazy for claiming to hear it.

Mom is in there right now trying to win her over. Treats, playing with this toy to bat at, the whole deal. I guess we're in for a long night trying to make the cat not scared at mom & me.

So I guess there are two morals here: #1. Never get a cat with a shady background, never feel sorry for one and decide to take it in if you want to see it, and #2. Cats can hide for over 2 days without really needing anything. Right now it's 11pm and the power is still on, so that's good since we're having freezing rain.