In my very room, perhaps, or in the attached crawl space. The first indication was when my oldest daughter brought a catlike animal home last night. I petted it through the door of its cage, then Oldest let it out and it vanished. However, there was more evidence that I didn’t dream it this afternoon when another daughter reported hearing a mouse squeak a few times, then stop, and the Little Girls (terrier crosses) were napping next to her rather than satisfying their blood lust. Then, a few minutes ago, I heard something munching on cat food, looked up, and saw a little gray face for just a moment. I have a crypto-zoological mystery mere feet away from me, and in order to capture another look at this mysterious creature I put a bit of sardine juice on its food.
Background:
When Oldest and her boyfriend, Boy, broke up he got the dogs and she got the cats. Including the sickly, old one he’d had half his life. Except she couldn’t keep the cats when she moved back in with us because I am quite allergic to cats, loving them though I do. The cats have gone from pillar to post and last night I got a text, “We have a cat.” Then I got another text, “We have a cat.”
“I heard you the first time, but I didn’t hear where it will live.”
“Down by you until I find another home for it.”
“I’ll take a Benadryl.”
So, we’re keeping this a secret from Wife, who doesn’t want a cat because I’m so allergic and the Little Girls will kill it. The cat is doing her part by hiding down here, which she has long practice doing while living with Boy’s dogs, which are bigger than mine, but are utter imbeciles with no experience taking on anything bigger and faster than a June bug. I did raise the question, “How are you going to catch it?”
“It won’t be easy.”
