Greetings!
In a Mary Ellen's Pet Tips 'n' Tales story, Tax Accountant Kent wrote about his experience with the neighborhood cats who visited his home office on a regular basis. He called those cats 'Time Share Pets'* (which was also the title of his story). *Pets that belonged to someone or a family who took the liberty of visiting other families in the neighborhood.
I had wanted to write a post on a great gray cat, but did not know how to describe our relationship with the cat until I read Kent's story. I realized 'Time Share Pet' was the right term for the gray cat.
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I met the gray cat for the first time one summer morning in 2000. Earlier, I had driven my older son to work. During the drive, something extraordinary had happened. Arriving home, my mind was still pretty much on the unexpected life transformation occurrence. When I saw a cat on the porch of our apartment, it was like having one surprise after another.
The cat looked very old and frail. He was thin. His striped gray and white hair was dull and dirty. He meowed at me weakly. He blocked the door in a way that he would be the first one to get in if ever I opened the door. I asked him to move away from the door so that I could get inside. I promised to give him some food afterwards. He stood his ground and refused to move. If I remembered correctly (I did not write my journal on a daily basis), the cat got into our apartment. I gave him some food. When it was time for me to go to the restaurant, I asked him to leave, and he left.
The school year was over. Our sons were home from the universities. They got summer jobs working in a store. They worked different shifts. In the following days, our sons told us that the cat came almost on a daily basis. They loved this surprise visitor. They let him in, and fed him. They said the cat liked to take a nap on the top of the stairs after he ate. When my husband and I came home at night from the restaurant, sometimes the cat dropped by for a visit too.
It was stipulated on the lease of our apartment that no pet was allowed. Of course, we did not have a litter box. Luckily, the cat always knew when to leave. On a few occasions, the next-door neighbor, a woman, looked at the cat with a tight face. I explained to her that the cat probably belonged to a family in the subdivision next to the apartments, and that he was a very friendly cat.
With love and food, the cat soon looked like a different cat. He looked healthy, and the shine of his hair returned. He seemed to be busier than before. We were not the only family on his schedule. We saw him entering other apartments where children welcomed him with laughter.
The cat was very intelligent. One day after the lunch hour was over, I came home to wash some clothes. We lived in the first unit of the apartment building, and the laundry room was at the end of another building. As I left our apartment with the laundry basket, I saw the cat. I said, "Cat, would you like to take a walk with me?" He walked by my side all the way to the laundry room and waited patiently outside!
Some nights the cat did not want to leave. The cat pretended he was deep in his sleep on the stairs. He curled up his body like a ball. When our sons tried to pick him up, he stiffened his body liked a metal Frisbee. His sleeping posture remained the same, but with one of his eyes widely opened watching what went on around him. The cat's act made us smile. We loved the cat. However, we did not want to get into any trouble since we were not allowed to have pets in the apartment. We were afraid that the woman next door might call the management office if she heard the cat meowed at night. We also did not want any accident, e.g. cat's pee. When our sons told the cat to leave, he continued to sleep as if he did not hear them. When I said, "Cat, it is time to go." He would get up and leave. Our older son always said, "Mom, why does the cat listen to you and not me?" I said, "When you tell the cat to leave, your voice is so soft as if you don't want to disturb him from his sleep. When I say 'leave', I mean it. The cat is very smart. He understands us well."
When our sons went back to the universities, I did not have to rush back and forth to pick them up and drive them back to the restaurant (or home) anymore. I stayed in the restaurant from morning to night. Therefore, I did not see the cat as often as I used to. On occasion, the cat came before I left for work. Two or three times in a week, he showed up on our porch at night after my husband and I were home. I let him in, and gave him food.
My husband grew up in the village where people kept cats to catch mice and dogs to guard the home. He could not understand our love for pets. He did not take to the cat as we did, and had voiced his disapproval. The cat seemed to know his purpose with someone like my husband. When he came in, he circled around my husband's legs. He obeyed his words. Most of the time, he rested by my husband's feet or under his chair after he ate. In time, I could see the change in my husband's attitude towards the cat. On a few occasions, my husband went ahead of me to give the cat some food.
Our sons cared about the cat. When they called from college, they asked about the cat. One day, I realized I had not seen the cat for some days. I told our sons about it. We were all very concerned about his well being.
One night, I sat on the bed and prayed for the cat before I went to sleep. In the morning, I woke up from a long dream in which I saw the cat walking on the utility wires heading towards our apartment (i.e. those high above the ground utility lines hanging from poles to poles). I did not know what to make of the dream. In the afternoon, I went home to wash some clothes. I parked my car. In the corner of my eyes, I saw something frantically moving by the window of the utility room of the building next to our apartment. I walked to that building to have a closer look. The gray cat was in the utility room! When he saw me, he jumped up and down on the windowsill, and scratched the window as hard as he could. Obviously, he had been locked inside for days because all the plastic curtains were badly managed due to his frantic call for help. I called the management office. The maintenance man came with the key to open the door. He said, "Poor cat! The meter reader came some days ago. You (the cat) must have followed him, and he had accidentally locked you inside the room." The cat was weak. The maintenance man took the cat with him saying that he would give him some food.
I called our sons to let them know the good news that I had found the cat. When my husband and I arrived home at night, the cat came to visit us. He excited greeted my husband, and kept circling around his legs. I joyfully teased the cat, "Oh, Cat! I save you, but you thank him more than me!" I gave the cat some food, and went upstairs to take a shower. When I came downstairs, my husband had let the cat out.
The next morning, I heard the cat meowed downstairs in the family room. My husband had let him in. Soon I saw the cat came upstairs. He acted strangely. He lowered his body and walked very slowly as if he was crawling forward. With his head down, he seemed to look at me timidly! I had never seen him acted like that. He stopped at a short distance before me. I looked at the cat wondering what went on. All of a sudden, it came to me the cat was acting like a child who felt guilty. I picked the cat up and put him on the bed. I said, "Cat! I was only teasing you last night. I am glad you are okay. I am not mad at you. I am grateful for the love and attention that you have given to my husband. Truly, I am not mad at you." The cat looked at me and listened attentively. He then stood up, jumped off the bed, and walked out of the room in his normal posture.
Around Christmas, our sons were home for the holidays. One night, they hung out with their friends and were not home when my husband and I went to bed. In the middle of the night, I heard the cat meowed! I looked at the clock. It was 4:44 am. The cat meowed again. He was by the side of our bed! Our sons had let the cat in when they came home. Our sons were now soundly asleep in their beds, and the cat had to wake me so that he could leave to do his business outside. When I opened the door, the cat sped out. Thank goodness he did not do it in our apartment.
~ To Be Continued ~
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