The year was about 2015 when this took place.
My sweet granddaughter Chelsea is an animal lover, has been since birth. When she was four, she use to have invisible rabbits that she carried around in the palms of her hands and when she wanted to let them go she would throw her hands up in the air and make a sound, “swisssh” and they’d all disappear according to her.
She is fourteen a couple of months ago she acquired a big sorry looking cat. She brought him home from a friends house. Every time she went there this big white and tan scruffy cat would stare at her with very green sad eyes as if saying, “help me,” so one day she finally did. She just picked him up, said good by to her friend adding, “we’ll talk about this later” and walked out the door.
He had long hair that had to be shaved off because his fur was filled with big clumps and knots, he really was in bad shape. After the hair was removed many cuts and bruises were exposed. This poor cat, I say bravo to my granddaughter! Chelsea’s dad Henry brought the cat to the vets shortly after she brought him home and got him cleaned up, so he could get a good exam and get any shots he might need and to be neutered.
My granddaughter named the cat Alistair and oh is he happy playing with my cats, running and hiding under the pine trees, blackberry bushes, and the woods down below. He also loves sleeping on my porch on very hot days with the Bamboo screens down, the fans on, and the water fountain running and giving off a cool light splash every now and then landing on him. Everything a cat could wish for sweet Alistair has so I believe he is now officially our cat.
This past March my granddaughter Chelsea and her parents packed up everything and moved to Texas. I asked Chelsea to please leave Alistair with me. He already was staying on the big deck and my back porch seeming to love it there. He also enjoyed playing in the back yard around my flower beds and playing with my cats Dixie and Little Girl, he seemed to really like Little Girl. I was certain he would be happier here rather then be shipped off to a new and unknown place. He seemed to be content and settled into this new arrangement but he would not come into my house. Even though one night when it got very cold and was raining I could not get him to come in so I put a large fluffy towel on the chair that he slept in on my porch and I felt he would stay warm and be fine. He was fine and as the days began to warm up I was sure that Alistair was going to become a permanent member to my family.
Four weeks had gone by and things seemed to be going pretty good when one day, I remember it so well because I was in my living room staring out the big picture window, when I saw Alistair walking on the other side of our fence. I never saw him on that side of the fence before so I just watched him slowly walking down the hill and into the deeper part of the woods. I have not seen Alistair since that day.
For at least three months I would open my porch door hoping that I would see him sitting on that chair with the towel, but days and then months went by and the chair stayed empty. He just left, he just walked away.
Was it that he knew as he watched the boxes getting filled and piled up one on top of the other? Was it that as he sat on the front steps and watching pieces of furniture being taken out of his home and being placed in this big truck ? Or perhaps it was because every time he went up the steps at the front of the house, the door never opened for him, and at night the porch light never came on and he remembers the big truck driving slowly going down the road with the family car following behind it and his Chelsea was in it. Was his heart so broken that he just walked away ?
Many months have passed and I don’t look for Alistair first thing in the morning anymore, but I’m still holding on to some hope that he will come back home.
Author Eileen Clark
kentucky55.wordpress.com 