Mimi Cat

By the time the full moon rose over Houston, Texas on the 15th of September, 2008, the city had been 4 days into an electrical outage caused by the hurricane IKE. The outage was to continue for many weeks along with other deprivations.

My son’s apartment is near mine in the same complex and we are able to enjoy living near each other. We were well stocked for emergencies; we had flashlights, and battery operated radios, food and water for ourselves and pets, land line phones, and a full tank of gasoline in my son’s van. My son also had a tiny battery operated television.

During the days after Ike came ashore in all it’s fury, my son and I developed routines for passing the hours while sheltering in place. Daylight allowed activities that didn’t require electricity, but when the sun went down, the light faded quickly from dusk to a blackness of such intensity that one literally could not see their hand in front of their face.

One evening not long after he had said good night to me, my son returned to my apartment saying he wanted to show me something. Holding my hand, he helped me walk thru the darkness, beyond the patio and the hanging foliage of the trees into the parking area. There it was; a moon in full glory! The radiance was breathtaking. The glow, filling the sky, faded to silver as it touched the concrete of the parking lot. What a delightful moment to stand and admire such beauty knowing that destruction of dreadful proportion had occurred as hurricane IKE swept over land.

It wasn’t until the next morning that I realized Mimi wasn’t hiding in one of her secret lairs but that she must have slipped out the door when I went to see the full moon. I deplored her leaving and could only hope she would find her way back. I thought that maybe the hurricane winds had blown the usual odors of the area away and left behind strange ones that might confuse Mimi if she was inclined to return to captivity.

I was told stories, claiming to be truthful, of cats returning weeks, even months, and in one case, a year later. As hope of such a tale being the case with me, I got used to walking from room to room without having to step over a sleeping cat that refused to move out of the way. I began to enjoy having the whole bed to myself when sleeping and not having to share with a cat that liked to sleep in the middle of the bed. It was a relief not to keep food and water dishes clean and full.
As the weeks passed I began to miss Mimi’s presence. Little by little I began to miss her curiosity and her antics when she found a new box to hide in. I missed her alertness to all the sounds in and outside the apartment. She was like a watch dog. I could tell by the way she reacted to noises, whether it should be investigated or ignored.

A month passed. I was being encouraged to get a replacement cat but I was reluctant to give that suggestion any credence. In fact, I considered my computer a replacement.

Yesterday, my son spied a cat sleeping in a pile of leaves in a neighbor’s yard. It was Mimi! A tall cyclone fence separated the properties preventing us walking over to her and picking her up. Mimi was disoriented and hesitant to come to the fence but with coaxing she made the effort. She was too weak from starvation to climb or jump the fence. We fed her thru the holes in the fence but the problem was trying to get her to our side and home again.

My son got the brilliant idea of taking the cat tree from the apartment and putting it over the fence so Mimi could climb up and we could catch her. I could hardly believe Mimi was home again! She was in bad shape, nearly starved to death, dirty and stinking to high heaven. But she had enough energy to purr and purr and purr as we held her.

We took her to the vet’s the next morning to be treated for fleas however the vet discovered she had a temperature and was given antibiotic shots instead. She is also taking an elixir of vitamins to help in regaining her health, but the flea treatment has to be delayed.

She seems very happy to be home again. She follows me everywhere and now wants to be held and petted whereas before the great ‘escape’ she did not tolerate being held and stroked too often. I am happy to share the bed again and have accepted the fact that she is back in charge and I am the ‘lady in waiting’ ready to attend her every whim.