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Where are you Bella-Boo?
Sep. 8th, 2011 08:46 amOn Tuesday morning I was doing the washing and asked Matt, "Have you seen Bella today?" He replied that he hadn't seen her since early morning. Hrm.
Hung out the washing, no Bella appeared. She usually does show up to 'help' me with the washing (which usually consists of her twining around my legs, chewing grass and laying in the sunshine while I hang clothes). Did the second load, still no Bella. Checked all her usual hidey holes inside and out - couldn't find her. Start worrying.
I figure she'll be back for dinner - she sometimes does disappear during the day, but always returns for food. She didn't return and Alison and I got really concerned. We went for a short walk around the neighbourhood calling for her without success. At some point Matt checked Karrinyup Road and reassuringly didn't find anything on the side of the road. As far as I know Bella has never gone as far as Karrinyup Road (a major road), she just sometimes crosses our street to the open space across the road (if I ever see her doing this I'll grab her and bring her back into our yard). She sometimes gets on the roof - but she wasn't there, she would poke her head over the edge and miaow at me that she couldn't get down (amazingly she CAN get down if she doesn't have an audience). If she was stuck somewhere around the house we figured she'd be making a lot of noise and none of us heard anything. Perhaps she had finally managed to jump the back fence (something she has never before attempted, but she DOES look through the hole in the fence often) and got stuck in someone's shed.
I went to sleep worrying and hoping that I'd wake up to find her curled up in her beanbag or on the recliner next to the computer. No Bella.
Now Alison and I were in a real tizzy and Matt was starting to worry too. We took a walk around the neighbourhood to doorknock and ask if anyone had seen her. No-one had. Our duplex neighbour said she would check their shed, no Bella. I began worrying that I would never see her again. I just wanted her to come home and let me stop my worrying, wanted to nuzzle her fur and feed her and listen to her musical little meow.
I made a MISSING poster and Alison and I walked down to the local IGA to put it up on their notice board. I had a rather miserable afternoon, wandering around the yard, checking her hidey holes again just in case, talking to Tiger - next door's cat and wishing he could speak English and maybe tell me where Bella had gotten to. She had to be SOMEWHERE, but I couldn't find her and couldn't hear her. It was all a bit weird, hoping that she'd just appear soon and preparing for a long wait, maybe a wait forever.
Matt left for gaming and I sat down to watch Iron Chef, Alison joined me. We were both pretty miserable and sighing to ourselves every five minutes.
Then we heard a noise, a meow. I got up like a flash and went to the front door to find the source, but Alison quickly realised it was coming from inside the house. There was Bella coming down the hallway, miaowing that we'd better feed her right now. I gave her a huge hug and that was when I started crying. The relief was unbelievable. She was all in one piece, perhaps a little greasy - she probably HAD been in a shed somewhere. Alas, asking her where the heck she'd been just elicited the answer "meow meow". We fed her and cuddled her incessantly for a while and eventually let her settle down to sleep.
Thank God she's back.
Hung out the washing, no Bella appeared. She usually does show up to 'help' me with the washing (which usually consists of her twining around my legs, chewing grass and laying in the sunshine while I hang clothes). Did the second load, still no Bella. Checked all her usual hidey holes inside and out - couldn't find her. Start worrying.
I figure she'll be back for dinner - she sometimes does disappear during the day, but always returns for food. She didn't return and Alison and I got really concerned. We went for a short walk around the neighbourhood calling for her without success. At some point Matt checked Karrinyup Road and reassuringly didn't find anything on the side of the road. As far as I know Bella has never gone as far as Karrinyup Road (a major road), she just sometimes crosses our street to the open space across the road (if I ever see her doing this I'll grab her and bring her back into our yard). She sometimes gets on the roof - but she wasn't there, she would poke her head over the edge and miaow at me that she couldn't get down (amazingly she CAN get down if she doesn't have an audience). If she was stuck somewhere around the house we figured she'd be making a lot of noise and none of us heard anything. Perhaps she had finally managed to jump the back fence (something she has never before attempted, but she DOES look through the hole in the fence often) and got stuck in someone's shed.
I went to sleep worrying and hoping that I'd wake up to find her curled up in her beanbag or on the recliner next to the computer. No Bella.
Now Alison and I were in a real tizzy and Matt was starting to worry too. We took a walk around the neighbourhood to doorknock and ask if anyone had seen her. No-one had. Our duplex neighbour said she would check their shed, no Bella. I began worrying that I would never see her again. I just wanted her to come home and let me stop my worrying, wanted to nuzzle her fur and feed her and listen to her musical little meow.
I made a MISSING poster and Alison and I walked down to the local IGA to put it up on their notice board. I had a rather miserable afternoon, wandering around the yard, checking her hidey holes again just in case, talking to Tiger - next door's cat and wishing he could speak English and maybe tell me where Bella had gotten to. She had to be SOMEWHERE, but I couldn't find her and couldn't hear her. It was all a bit weird, hoping that she'd just appear soon and preparing for a long wait, maybe a wait forever.
Matt left for gaming and I sat down to watch Iron Chef, Alison joined me. We were both pretty miserable and sighing to ourselves every five minutes.
Then we heard a noise, a meow. I got up like a flash and went to the front door to find the source, but Alison quickly realised it was coming from inside the house. There was Bella coming down the hallway, miaowing that we'd better feed her right now. I gave her a huge hug and that was when I started crying. The relief was unbelievable. She was all in one piece, perhaps a little greasy - she probably HAD been in a shed somewhere. Alas, asking her where the heck she'd been just elicited the answer "meow meow". We fed her and cuddled her incessantly for a while and eventually let her settle down to sleep.
Thank God she's back.
