Waiting for the Impossible

Do tough things come in threes? Although I’m not superstitious, it sure seems like it. Not long ago, I emailed friends about what was happening.

Day 1
Yesterday when I went to B’s, I learned their cat Sebastian has been missing since Friday. B says he sometimes stays out overnight, but no one has seen him all weekend. Troubling. They’ve had him for ages. Seven or eight years ago he was a cute little ball of white fur with crossed blue eyes. Now he’s a member of the family.

B and I dropped by the local animal shelter, but he wasn’t there. I’m praying he’ll stay warm and dry and safe.

Day 6
You’ll never guess what I learned yesterday. The publisher who bought my story is going out of business! Can’t believe it. The editor sent all the subscribers postcards with the news. I know it’s selfish, but I sure wish she had waited until after my story was in print. What a bummer. I feel like the wind has been knocked out of me. Tried to write today but didn’t get very far. I’m just shaking my head, wondering if anyone is going to publish anything ever again.

I feel guilty about feeling bad, too, because it’s such a small thing compared to what others around us are going through. Namely, B’s and A’s cat Sebastian has been missing for over a week. A has put up a bunch of posters, and last night, he got out photos of Sebastian as a kitten to remind them all what a good life he’d had and to prepare the kids for the inevitable. I checked at the animal shelter in our area several times this week. One cat looked so much like Sebastian. Made me miss him all the more. I keep praying.

Then, last week after Sebastian disappeared, I got a call from my friend C whose cat hadn’t been eating and wouldn’t drink. Turns out he had multiple tumors. So sad. When I went with her to have him put down, it was heartbreaking to watch her play with him for the last time. She scratched his ears and hugged him goodbye but could hardly part with him when the time came. Definitely puts my writing setback in perspective.

Day 10
Remember those posters B and A made with Sebastian’s photo? Well, this week they made even bigger ones on neon paper and put them all over their neighborhood and up and down the busy street, too. Sure hope someone recognizes him. B and I have been visiting the shelters in hopes that someone has turned him in, but we’re getting discouraged now that he’s been gone for ten whole days. Can’t imagine what’s happened to him. Plenty of raccoons around. Don’t even want to think about that.

Sebastian the Adventure Cat

Day 12
B called to say Sebastian is home! I couldn’t believe my ears.

Here’s what happened. A lady who saw a poster thought the cat looked like one she had seen in her apartment complex. To get to her complex, Sebastian needed to go through several backyards and scale a chain-link fence. The lady said her neighbor had been feeding Sebastian, which he thought was a stray, and had claimed him as his own. When her neighbor got evicted, he mentioned he was going to take the cat to the vet. So the lady called the phone number on the poster and told B the name of the vet, and B immediately checked it out. When she found Sebastian in a cage labeled “stray cat”, she burst into tears. He was perfectly fine, albeit a little plumper, lol.

All this time, Sebastian has been warm and dry, doing nothing but eating and sleeping. Twelve days missing—what are the odds he would be found?

Thank God the impossible sometimes happens.

P.S. Once out of the cage, Sebastian had a fierce urge to run for freedom every time the door opened, but B and A got him chipped with an ID before they let him out of the house again. Besides that, everyone kept him busy for weeks with extra hugs and kisses.

About these ads