Calvin's Gone Missing

Our furry friend of eight years has not shown up since Sunday evening. This is a cat who never misses a meal, so we're fearing the worst. In all the years we've had him, we've never known him to go across our busy street. Calvin primarily prowled our yard, the neighbor's yard behind us, and of course - the gully.

This morning, I walked up and down the gully across our driveway calling for him, but the only response I got was from some crows who cawed noisily every time I called his name. The gully has been Calvin's own private jungle. But like real jungles, ours provides a home for other wildlife. On occasion, Calvin would bring a critter into the house to show what a great hunter he was. I've been startled more than once to come across a small carcass in the middle of our dining room. One morning, the small carcass wasn't so small and it was still alive hiding under the couch in our TV room; just the tail was sticking out. I had to cordon off the dining room from the TV room with turned over chairs and blankets, then open the couch which makes into a bed to "broom" the creature from there and then shoo him out the sliding glass doors. On those days, Calvin was not my favorite cat. It may be that the raccoon squad finally got revenge for all the other creatures in the gully.

Scott and I are both missing Calvin, but Calvin became a best friend to Scott, sleeping with him -which has been a lot lately. Scott hasn't been feeling well and because of that, spends a lot of time in bed. This afternoon, while I was working on photos in my office, Scott called me on his cell phone and asked if I had good news for him. He'd had a dream that Calvin came back. Unfortunately, I had to tell him that I didn't have any news about our lovable critter. Scott's not the only one who's trying to manifest the cat back into our lives. I walked around the corner into the kitchen a while ago and fully expected to see Calvin sitting on the counter waiting to be fed.

We will definitely miss our furry friend, whom Scott brought home from the animal shelter  www.metroanimalservices.org/ eight years ago. It will be a sad time for us for awhile, but we're grateful for the pleasant (and the unpleasant) memories Calvin left behind.