February 09, 2003 10:47 pm
Nathan Returns and We are Happy
Wednesday morning Nathan went out as usual. Mark had to leave and Nathan wasn't home (not unusual, we just leave the garage door open a foot and set the "kitty trap"---the cat door is set to open to let him in but not back out). I came home around 1 p.m. and changed clothes and Nathan wasn't in. When I got home in the evening, Nathan still wasn't in and it had been cold and misty all day. Mark was already in panic mode, but I have seen Nathan scare me until the next morning and come sauntering in with a smirk and a smile, so I fully expected he would be back soon.
As daylight came Thursday, no Nate. Mark made fliers and plastered them around the neighborhood and talked to neighbors and delivered fliers door-to-door. The weather was getting colder and snow and rain was predicted, so I was worrying more myself. I went to the Animal Shelter and filed a Missing Cat Report and looked over the sad bunch of lost cats they had in cages. No Nathan. I mentioned his missing on the air and got several sympathetic calls and e-mails telling of cats they had that went AWOL for weeks or months and then came home.
Thursday, Friday, Saturday. The weather was cold and wet and unbearable. Mark walked the streets and drove around. He checked with the animal shelter again. No Nate. Mark had a really hard Friday. He's home all day by himself and he has that constant companion in Nathan. Without him here he was visualizing the worst and really getting down.
Today, Sunday, was a beautiful sunny day. I kept thinking that maybe the nice weather would bring him home. Maybe he had gotten too far away when it got cold and didn't want to get out in it to make his way home. Mark was in Fort Worth last night for a gig and today he visited my family and my dad in the hospital. I had e-mailed my acupuncturist that Nathan was missing. I knew she knew someone who is a "pet psychic" and I mentioned that maybe we could use her. She called today and gave me the woman's phone number. I called and she asked many thoughtful questions about Nathan and our home situation and his habits. She said she felt that he was still alive, that he was unhurt, that he was not trapped or confined in someone's home. She thought he had been chased, maybe by a dog, and ran and escaped up a tree in a wooded area. He'd gotten too far from home and wasn't able to find his way. She suggested I go to the southeast and look for him. I walked all the streets of our neighborhood again and showed the flier again and talked to everyone that was out---which was lots of people on a sunny beautiful day. No one had seen Nathan. There was no meow or jingle of his little bell.
The psychic also told me to picture a golden or white light shining between my heart and Nathan's heart, connecting us like a cord, and to draw him to me. I told all this to Mark on the phone as he came home from Dallas. He said he had been talking to Nathan and felt like he was feeling Nathan's spirit with him.
Today was my day to be at home alone and miss Nathan terribly. Last year when Mark was in Europe for a month Nathan was my only companion and such a great pal to have. I really had a tough day today, seeing all of the things in the house that remind me of him.
Tonight, I took a long hot bath and was visualizing Nathan with that white cord and telling him he needed to come home and drawing him to me. I thought I heard a voice on the answering machine but I wasn't sure. I had made a call to Perfect C in California and I thought if it was anyone it was her and I could call her back. Moments later there was the doorbell. It is late and I'm in the tub, but I knew if someone was at the door there was a reason. I went to the door with only a towel to find my neighbor Elizabeth. She had come to tell me that Nathan was at her house!! I threw on clothes without drying off, threw on my glasses and sandals and ran to her house. Behind the couch was a very skittish Nathan. She said she was in the backyard rounding up her cat for the night and she heard his bell jingling and she got him. She got him out from behind her couch for me and I brought him home. A dog barked on the way and Nathan almost clawed his way out of my arms, he was very very nervous.
He's been home a little while and keeps going back to the food bowl. He is definitely skinnier than he was Wednesday. He is also nervous. He goes to the garage and looks out the front windows from his perch. I wonder if he thinks hit men are after him? I hope he will soon know that he is safe and he will NEVER EVER get to leave this house again.
Elizabeth has called Mark on his cell phone and so have I. I'm sure the band hasn't taken a break yet. When they do, Mark may leave the gig and come straight home. I expect he will not pack up his gear tonight. I bet he comes home as quickly as his little truck will bring him and he'll get that unimportant equipment tomorrow.
Nathan is home. I am so happy. It is awful to have a pet die, but to not know what happened might be even worse. I'm so glad we didn't have to wait weeks or months for his return. Pet psychics (at least this one) have my thumbs up.