12/29/12

The Mystery of the Missing Smitty Cat


Before I go on, I should state right up front that this story has a happy ending.  It's okay to read on, and you can stop biting your nails right now.

Tonight I started making dinner, and in keeping with our routine, Mike started rounding up Smitty and Gracie to give them their dinner.  Gracie, whose palate can be purrsnickety, came right away.  Smitty, who always comes right away, was nowhere to be found.  His kitty door was open, and it was already dark.  Mike called him, rattled his treat bag, clanked his dinner dishes together, etc., in an effort to get Smitty to come in.  Ordinarily, that would do the trick.  Unless he has a mouse in his clutches, that is.  We assumed that was it.



Make that "mouse corpse".  This image really has nothing to do with the story, but the title was so perfect, I couldn't resist.


So we put down Gracie's dinner, and she promptly turned up her nose at it.  This is also part of our routine.  Then, Mike got out the flashlight and went outside in search of glowing green cat eyes.



There were none.  

Okay, so now we were both getting worried, but not unduly so.  I continued to make dinner while Mike went around checking closets and closed off rooms to see if Smitty had gotten locked in somewhere.  Nothing.

Finally, we sat down to dinner, discussing whether Smitty was truly missing and what might have happened to him.  It seemed unlikely that a predator had gotten him because Mike was outside making a lot of noise earlier.  We talked about whether a bird of prey could pick up a nearly full-grown cat, and we decided that too was unlikely.  Both of us were feeling more uneasy, but we tried to put those feelings aside and enjoy our dinner.  Nevertheless, we were both deep in thought considering the possibility that Smitty might be gone.  In particular, I was considering how awful it was going to be to tell all of you that our little Smitty cat had disappeared.

Then, we heard the distinctive ka-thunk sound of Smitty blasting through the kitty door.  We didn't see him, and assumed he was eating his dinner, which is stationed very close to the cat door.  Mike walked back to check, but still no Smitty.  We finished dinner, cleaned up, read some email, and by this time Smitty had been missing for over an hour.  Very unusual, even for him.  Finally, unable to stand it any longer, I announced that I was going to make one last round inside the house, open all the doors just to be sure, and then I was going to take an extended walk around the property to see if I could find him.

With that, I walked downstairs, and what do you suppose I saw?


Who knows how long he'd been there, but this intent stare at the spot where the piano sits against the wall can only mean one thing:  Mousies.  I moved the piano light so that it shown behind the piano, and sure enough.


Oy.  After worrying sick about Smitty for going on two hours, I didn't know whether to kiss him or kill him.  I ended up kissing him.  But that still left the matter of the little mouse.  We ended up putting Smitty in the bathroom while we captured the mouse.  Then we liberated the mouse to the outdoors.  I imagine that flustered Smitty, but such is the life of a cat at the Three Cats Ranch.

And as long as I'm here, I might as well show you the block I made for the Block Lotto.  I imagine Smitty was hunting for mousies while I made it.


After such a harrowing story, you needed the humdrum of a single quilt block, didn't you?

26 comments:

WoolenSails said...

Mine tend to get locked in rooms and fall asleep, lol. Good kitty, keeping mouse watch for you.

Debbie

Jocelyn said...

One thing for sure, Smitty is very diligent in his mouse catching job.

Junebug613 said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Junebug613 said...

My Heart skipped a beat when I read the post title...So very glad that Mr. Smitty is safe and that the mouse also got a second chance. My Bob never did come home. :( Love the block! That looks like an intriguing book! Also love the Sun Block for December. :)

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Love the true life mystery. Those kitties sure make our life interesting. We've lost Elly in the house a couple of times only to reappear in her own good time.

Gotta love those fur balls!

BillieBee (billiemick) said...

Oh.....great block as well...grin.

The Thimblemouse of Country Crossroads said...

We know all to well...cats will come when THEY want to...we 'lost' our Willy Boy for 3 agonizing days...IN the house, no less...hubs and I were POSITIVE he'd not gone outside - but then you begin to wonder...on the eve of the 3rd day, I spied a black and white shape just 'sitting'on top of our dining room hutch...yep, Willy Boy was back...we never did figure out where or why he kept himself hidden.

Quilting Babcia said...

I'm so glad you let us know in your first sentence that everything was OK. My heart was in my throat thinking of a missing Smitty! My sister's cat drives us nuts when she visits, going off for hours on end and not coming when called. Once she took off for an entire week before we located her (over 2 miles away) when her owners were in Europe for a month. She's better now that she's older .. thankfully. Your block is beautiful - love the colors.

Lynda Halliger Otvos (Lynda M O) said...

The new block-love the colors. I called CatCat today out the front door cuz she was nowhere to be found. Then when she didn't come, I looked harder and she was sleeping behind our bedroom door. What the catcat? She's Never lain there before. Strange little critters they are.

So glad he's safe and i too thank you for the reassurances in the first sentence. I cannot stand any more sad.

Catskill Quilter said...

Barbara, a lost cat is a catastrophe! So glad that the little guy showed up. We live in an apartment complex for the elderly/disabled, and there were many stray feral cats. We trapped and had a number of cats neutered, and our favorite, Ms. Callie, we managed to place in a great home perhaps a mile away. The new cat owners let Ms. Callie out, and she was not seen again! We were truly heartsick! Six days later, Ms. Callie came staggering up our sidewalk, talking and complaining that she was hungry and she was tired -- but she was home! What relief! Poor kitty had walked blocks and blocks, and crossed a busy highway to make her way home -- and we still do not have a clue how she managed to find us! We cancelled her'forever home' and she is still here, 3 years later, and now accepts pats and sits on our laps on the patio. Sigh...glad your kitty arrived home safely!

Mhairi said...

I am so glad this story has a happy ending. I have to admit that when reading the title my heart dropped to my feet and I nearly cried.
Well done Smitty, good mousing and dedication. I hope that he got an extra scoop of food in his bowl.
And thanks for saving the mouse too. :)

Beth said...

So, so glad your story (and Smitty's) had a happy ending--and thank you for reassuring us from the very start that all would be well.

I hate that feeling of worrying and imagining, especially while you're still trying to play it cool. And congratulations for being smarter than I, and looking immediately into any closed-up rooms. I spent an anxious ten or fifteen minutes tonight searching a dark house for our ailing cat, only to have her leap from the bathroom when I at last opened that door. She had sneaked in when I exited from dark room to dark hallway, trying not to awaken anyone. Last time I'll be that thoughtful.

Vroomans' Quilts said...

I , too, got a panic with the post title - Oh, not sweet Smittie!! AHHHHH, my Bella is the same way - will do the 'sit and stare' until mousie makes the wrong move. Moe comes every time you walk into the kitchen - actually has learned to make it easier by sleeping on the rug or chair in the kitchen so he's ready.

Dana Gaffney said...

Next time could you put "happy ending" in the title? My stomach hurt until I read the first line, it's too soon for all of us to go through this again, :)

Michele said...

I too am so glad this story had a happy ending.

Lynette said...

::whew:: You had me worried that the "happy" ending was going to be that Smitty was found with a half-eaten mouse mess on a quilt project! lol

Diane Wild said...

Thank you for relieving our worries from the start. You have quite a mouser in your household. Glad all is well.

Rachel said...

While I was relieved when I read the first sentence, the title had my heart plummeting. Seriously! SO glad he was just, um, "being a cat" LOL. Pretty block

Kate said...

Very glad that Smitty was on mouse duty in the house and not out dealing with the wilds.

Love the block lotto block, those blues are beautiful together.

LethargicLass said...

I am pretty sure that Smitty's goal in life is to give us all grey hairs lol...

I love that block, it looks like a present waiting to be open, and the cherry fabric is one of my faves from Connecting Threads

Kathy Felsted Usher said...

I'm glad everything was OK!I was worried there for a bit.

Lee said...

I am so thankful Mr. Smitty is fine and dandy! I think I would be quite heart-broken to find out otherwise. Very pretty block, I'm going to have to compare how it looks on my other computer, because this one has those blues looking quite vibrant ! Hug Smitty for me!

Angel, Kirby and Max said...

THey can worry us to no end only to be safe and hiding in plain sight! That book was a good read! I have been reading the series!

Unknown said...

Seeing the title in the reader sent chills up my spine...thank goodness I had the presence of mind to "keep it together"! Oh, that Smitty...I'm so glad he's ok! Miss Kitty sends her luv too!

Della said...

Our precious fifteen year old Fritz went missing a few years back, in the dead of winter, for three very long weeks. We never let my cats out as we lived in a busy neighborhood that wasn't pet friendly, but somehow she snuck out unseen. I walked the neighborhood many times going door to door asking if anyone had seen her. Not a single person had. Then one day as I was preparing dinner I looked out the window and there she was walking through the neighbors yard. We never knew what happened to her, where she went or how she got back, but we were over-joyed to have her in our safe arms again. She was with us another five years and we loved ever single minute of it. Twenty years is a long time to have a cat and we were lucky to have two of them that long. When we adopted her we took her brother also and they bothed lived to be twenty. I miss them so much, can hardly quilt without them.

quiltzyx said...

Smitty - Smitty - Smitty!!! These kitties can be soooo sneaky & still! I'm glad this story had a happy ending.
I had a sorta similar one once when I was kitty-sitting. I had spent the evening with the cats, then gone home. The next day when I got there, only one (of 2) cat came out to eat. I looked all over the house, calling, checking under the beds, etc. I heard her meowing, but when I tried to walk towards the sound, she would stop. I finally figured out she was stuck underneath the recliner - none the worse for wear - and had been for almost 10 hours! I was so surprised that she neither tore it up nor had to potty while she was there. I never put my feet up in that recliner again!!!