The Cat Came Back

When I lived in that house in Ledyard, I had two cats. Grey and white sisters from the same litter. KitKat and FunnyFace. The next door neighbors had an aggressive mean tempered german shepherd. The dog would lunge at the fence like she wanted to bite her way through it. She growled and barked and generally made a nuisance of herself.

 One day, the cats got out. I called for them and drove around the neighborhood and my FunnyFace came home to me. But KitKat never did. I kept a eye out for a week but what can you do when your indoor collarless cat runs off? Leave cat food on the back porch. Hope they got adopted by a new person who was kind enough to take in a stray. Try to make sure the same thing doesn't happen to the one you still have.

 I stopped looking after a week because the cat came back. It was late and I was in bed with my Funnyface purring curled up on my stomach. I was still worried about my little grey cat who didn't know how to handle herself in the outside world. FunnyFace sat up and looked at an empty piece of blanket by my head. I heard a meow come from directly beside me. I looked again at FunnyFace and I heard it again. She hadn't moved a muscle. But she purred louder and swished her tail in greeting. My KitKat came to say goodbye. That instant I knew she was dead and she wanted me to know she was ok and I should stop worrying. I said her name and cried.

Three months later I discovered how. I was at my friend's wedding reception. She was friends with my neighbor's son who also attended. I chatted with him briefly and gently complained about his crazy dog.

"Your dog acts like I'm attacking her home when I'm out on my back porch. She's a noisy one." I said.

"Just be glad you're not missing a cat!" laughed his buddy.

I shot to attention. I spoke as calmly as I could. "What do you mean?"I asked

"She got a hold of some stray and tore it to shreds. It was such a mess!"he said waving his hand dismissively.

I tried not to snarl. "This was about 3 months back? A grey and white cat?"

"Yeah. How did you know?" he asked.

I looked him square in the eye and told him. "Your dog killed my cat." and I walked away.

It took a whole lot of control not to wreck my friend's wedding reception.