Mom Post
Today was quite the day! At dinner I tied Zero up to the rope so that he could traverse the yard while Random Guy and I ate dinner at the picnic table. It was a little chilly, but still manageable. We got into talking about future travel plans as we ate. We realized after about 15 minutes we hadn’t seen Zero in quite a while. Normally he’s in the background sniffing around or eating some weeds or staring at the squirrels from the end of his rope. Random guy followed the rope which stretched past the picnic table and beyond the trailer, out of sight.
“The harness is empty” he stated.
“That’s my nightmare” I replied, smiling.
“No, it really is.” He replied calmly.
I jumped up and ran over. I paced around. He said he would look down the road and I should go down the other way. I went inside to grab the treat jar and went outside again. I looked to the end of the street at Bruce Ave, a busy road with cars rushing by. I walked down our street with a knot in my stomach. Did I just lose Zero? I had a feeling of loss while at the same time, not knowing for sure. Trying to drag my brain out of the depressed state of loss, believing that showing Zero around our house had been a huge benefit. There should be no reason for him to come down to this busy end of he street. I was digging myself out of this hole, convincing myself that he knew better. Then dragging myself back down by the thought that he has instincts that he can’t control. As I approached the end of the street I held my breath, fearing the worst. I scanned up and down Bruce in my pink slippers, still bundled up from dinner outside. I turned around. Random guy was at the other end of the street. We met again and he grabbed his phone.
“I’ll take the motorcycle and go further. You stay near in case he comes back.” He said calmly.
“Okay.” “ I replied, tears in my eyes.
The more I scanned the neighborhood the more hopeless everything seemed. I saw so many places that he could hide, and this grew exponentially for each house and each street. I could picture the neighborhood from above, a Google Maps screen grab of millions of possibilities. I checked the backyard again then went inside to look over his microchip information. I was hoping that it would give me some kind of tracking but all it let me do was flag him as missing. I did this and went back to feeling helpless. I went into the back yard, shaking the salsa jar full of treats again. Then I heard hissing and gnarled screams – cats fighting in the next yard over. I yelled “Zero!” Peeking through the fence, I saw the cat we call Jingles running away. Zero loves Jingles. I’ve never seen him react to another cat the same way. We call Jingles his girlfriend. He’s got to be in there, I thought. I grabbed my phone to call Random Guy and let him know.
I ran over to knock on the neighbour’s door. Random Guy came as I was explaining the situation. The neighbours let me into the backyard. I went back behind the shed where I heard the scuffle and the cat we’ve been calling Slinky was there. He’s a tiny Siamese cat that we’ve been seeing around lately. He was so skinny and started swarming me for the treats. I gave him some and then ran. The neighbours said Slinky had been eating their cat’s food over the last few days. They joked about how I could just take that cat in as Zero. I wasn’t ready to joke about it until we found Zero. We gave up and started back toward the house. The feeling of dread washed over me again. What if he never comes back? What if he went too far and can’t find his way? What if he gets hit by a car? I can’t stomach it.
We heard the neighbours yell to Random Guy and we came back through the other side of the fence. He plucked my little lump boy out of their garden like he was a fresh carrot waiting to be eaten. Zero hung in random Guy’s arms, guilty of treason against mum. I held him and brought him inside as we yelled back thanks again to the neighbours.
I cancelled the micro chip alert, unsure of what it even did. I squeezed Zero and told him how worried I was. We looked at the harness and discussed ideas to make it more secure.
That night, Zero came into bed with us. He laid on my chest, a rare sight to see. Random guy said he was apologizing. I slept so well with the house full and happy.
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