Dee Dee - AWOL UPDATE (long)

"rrb_091903" wrote in message news:W8%fb.44227$gv5.21248@fed1read05...

Peter and I will never know what, if anything Dee Dee tells the rest of the gang she did during
her
two days away from home. If she tells them anything, we expect she will make sure that they
know
that I imprisoned her and that her intelligence enabled her to work out what she needed to do to
bring about her rescue.

Sheenah

Glad to hear that she is home now. Do you have any idea how she got in
your neighbors house?

rrb

She must have followed me in on Thursday morning and slipped, un-noticed, into one of the bedrooms
I did not think that she was the type of cat to do such a thing. However, I'm now thinking that
because.she's seen me so often going in and out of June's, it must be part of my territory - and
therefore also hers - and together we must look after it. I think that Dee Dee would perfer that
idea to the idea that she was just being nosy ^))

Sheenah

"Sheenah" wrote in message
...
Dear Friends,

Firstly, Peter and I would like you to know that we have greatly
appreciated all your messages of
hope and your furkids purrs for Dee Dee's safe return. Thank you for
taking the trouble to write.

After posting here on Friday, I spent the best part of the afternoon and
early evening searching for
her in our neighbours' gardens and in neighbouring streets and asking
everyone I met whether they
had seen her. Meanwhile, Peter, whose disabilities make it impossible for
him to go out on
searches, stayed indoors and created a "Missing" poster. By the time I
got home, he had completed
it. Unfortunately there were no shops open where I could get it
photocopied so I made a plan to go
out as soon as they opened on Saturday and get 100 copies made. With the
poster done and night
having fallen, Peter and I did what we could for the rest of the evening
to try to stop ourselves
thinking about what might have happened to Dee Dee. It wasn't easy.

While we were eating our evening meal, the security alarm on the
unoccupied house next to ours went
off. This house used to be my friend June's home and since her death in
July, I have been looking
after it on behalf of her family. I go in everyday to make sure that all
is well.

When June's alarm went off, I was not unduly worried because it has been
set off in the past by
either her family arriving to clear more of her possessions, or, far more
frequently, for no
apparent reason. This time after listening to it wail for several
minutes, I thought I ought to go
and check that all was well. Having de-activated June's alarm without
going into her house, I
unlocked her front door and cautiously went in. I was mightily relieved
to find nothing untoward
and after re-activating her alarm I returned home.

About an hour later June's alarm went off again. This time it disturbed
our neighbour Ann. We went
into June's together. When I found her bedroom door three quarters
closed, I became slightly
worried because I could not remember having closed it earlier in the day.
Without thinking, I
called out:

"Hello, is there anybody there ?".

I don't know what I would have done if someone had answered "yes". I
never thought that there might
be someone who had chosen not to speak hiding in the room. I pushed its
door and entered.

"Is everything all right ?" asked Ann. As I assured her that it was, it
crossed my mind that
perhaps Dee Dee had moved the door. I told Ann what I was thinking and
with high hopes of Dee Dee
appearing, I began calling her. As she didn't immediately appear, I
carried on calling. When Ann
and I eventually decided that Dee Dee was not in the house I reactivated
June's alarm and we went
home.

At 1.00 am, June's alarm went off yet again. This time, I thought it best
not to go and investigate
why.

Due to worrying about Dee Dee, neither Peter nor I slept well on Friday
night.

On Saturday morning, our telephone rang just after seven o'clock. It was
my friend Barbara who
lives opposite.

"Sheenah, there's a cat who looks like Dee Dee sitting in June's front
bedroom window. Did you know
?"

My shrieks of delight must have nearly deafened poor Barbara. They awoke
Peter and as I quickly
pulled on my dressing gown I gave him the wonderful news. Then crying
tears of joy I dashed through
to the living room to pick up June's keys, dashed to the front door, threw
it open and dashed round
to her house. Sure enough, a cat who looked exactly like Dee Dee was
sitting in her front bedroom
window calmly and quietly watching the street. I called to it. It
appeared to ignore me.
Nevertheless, as I unlocked June's front door, I anticipated finding Dee
Dee eagerly waiting behind
it for it to be opened for her. She wasn't. I went into the front
bedroom and looked for her
behind the closed curtains of its window. She wasn't there so I called
her. She didn't reply. I
called her again, still no reply. Squatting on the bedroom floor, I
called a third time.

At this point, I began to wonder whether what Barbara and I had seen in
June's front bedroom window
was not the Dee Dee we knew but the ghost of Dee Dee. I thought this
because of an experience I had
had in June's house a few days after her funeral. I had gone in at night
to close her curtains
knowing that her family had left her central heating on in order to keep
the house warm. The living
room was icy cold and it's strange atmosphere made me feel uneasy. I
remain convinced that that
night, I encountered June in spirit form..

While I thought about the possibility of the cat in June's front bedroom
window being nothing more
than an apparition, I heard a small plaintive cry and Dee Dee crawled out
from under the bed under
the window. Eagerly, I stretched out my hand towards her and hesitantly
she crept forward until she
was close enough to be able to sniff my fingers. As she did so, the
expression on her face changed
from anxiety to delight. Crying: "Dee Dee", I reached forward, swept her
up into my arms and
vigorously cuddled her. In protest at such rough treatment, Dee Dee
squealed and started biting my
fingers. Quickly releasing her, I asked her if she wanted to go home and
after getting up off the
floor, I started walking towards June's front door. Dee Dee trotted on
ahead and once outside, she
did a quick roll on June's front drive way in front of Ann who had come to
tell me that she had also
seen a cat that looked like Dee Dee in June's bedroom window, before
running home with head and tail
held high to find food.

Peter and I will never know what, if anything Dee Dee tells the rest of
the gang she did during her
two days away from home. If she tells them anything, we expect she will
make sure that they know
that I imprisoned her and that her intelligence enabled her to work out
what she needed to do to
bring about her rescue.

Sheenah


I'm so relieved that Dee Dee has been found!
Brenda

"Nan" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 21:37:53 +0100, "Sheenah"
wrote:

Dear Friends,
snip

Peter and I will never know what, if anything Dee Dee tells the rest of the gang she did during
her
two days away from home. If she tells them anything, we expect she will make sure that they know
that I imprisoned her and that her intelligence enabled her to work out what she needed to do to
bring about her rescue.

Sheenah

I'm so glad that Dee Dee was found and is safe and sound. She's
probably telling the rest of the gang that she did it on purpose to
make you appreciate her more.

Nan

You could be right :^)) I hope her seven mates won't think it a good idea to follow her example :^)

Sheenah

Sheenah wrote:

I'm now thinking that because.she's seen me so often going in and out
of June's, it must be part of my territory - and therefore also hers -
and together we must look after it. I think that Dee Dee would perfer
that idea to the idea that she was just being nosy ^))

Or, even more likely, playing a b*st*rd cat trick on you and Peter!

I'm glad she's home!!

Joyce

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On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 21:37:53 +0100, "Sheenah"
wrote:

Peter and I will never know what, if anything Dee Dee tells the rest
of the gang she did during her two days away from home. If she
tells them anything, we expect she will make sure that they know
that I imprisoned her and that her intelligence enabled her to work
out what she needed to do to bring about her rescue.

I am so glad that you found her after only a couple of days. Years
ago, one of my uncle's cats was inadvertently locked inside a vacant
store from Halloween night to Thanksgiving (for non-American readers,
Halloween is October 31st, and Thanksgiving is the last Thursday in
November). As I said, the cat disappeared on Halloween, and, when he
couldn't find it, he feared that someone had stolen the cat and
possibly had killed it (which sometimes happens on Halloween).

On Thanksgiving day, my family was visiting him, and we were about to
sit down to dinner. One of the neighbors knocked on the door, and
told my uncle that he had just walked past the boarded-up store next
to my uncle's house, and had seen a cat's paw stick out under the
door for a moment. My uncle investigated, and found a broken window
that was about 1 foot above ground level outside, but about 8 feet
about floor level inside. When he called the cat's name
(Kitty-Puss), it came into view. He angled a long board in through
the broken window, and the cat climbed the board to freedom. My
uncle then boarded up the broken window.

For years, this cat had been afraid of visitors. When we would visit
my uncle, the most we would see of it was two gleaming eyes under
the bed. After its accidental imprisonment, it was so starved for
attention that it was friendly towards everyone, including strangers,
for the rest of its life.

We figured that it must have been catching mice for food, but don't
know how it survived without water for that long. SInce the store
was vacant, the water would have been turned off, but there might
have been a roof leak somewhere in the building.

Incidentally, _both_ of my uncle's cats had the rather generic name
Kitty-Puss; I guess that this was easier than remembering which one
had which name.

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--
John F. Eldredge --
PGP key available from http://pgp.mit.edu
"Reserve your right to think, for even to think wrongly is better
than not to think at all." -- Hypatia of Alexandria

Thank goodness!!! Yeah! I'm so glad she is home!

Karen

Sheenah wrote:

Or, even more likely, playing a b*st*rd cat trick on you and Peter!

Surely not :^))

But you went in there calling for her, and she just ignored you! Then
she appeared in the window, and when you went inside, she ignored you
again! Probably chortling up her sleeve the whole time, the little
rascal!

Joyce

On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 13:37:53 -0700, Sheenah wrote
(in message ):

Glad you found her. Maya did the samething to me once. She slipped in
his patio door while he was cleaning and left immediately after. I
looked for her for 8 hours and the whole time she was sleeping on a
neighbors bed. He found her when he came home.

"m. L. Briggs" wrote in message
...
On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 23:05:15 +0100, "Sheenah"
wrote:


"Nan" wrote in message
.. .
On Sun, 5 Oct 2003 21:37:53 +0100, "Sheenah"
wrote:

Dear Friends,
snip

Peter and I will never know what, if anything Dee Dee tells the rest of the gang she did
during
her
two days away from home. If she tells them anything, we expect she will make sure that they
know
that I imprisoned her and that her intelligence enabled her to work out what she needed to do
to
bring about her rescue.

Sheenah

snip Nan's reply

How hungry was she when she got hme?

I made her first meal a little larger than normal and she ate it all A couple of hours later, she
ate again. This time, her meal was half it's normal size That seemed to fill her up until the
evening when she ate her normal sized meal. She refused the biscuits I put out for her just before
I went to bed . I think she felt full. Probably, Dee Dee didn't think much of the biscuits she was
offered :^))

Sheenah

wrote in message ...
Sheenah wrote:

I'm now thinking that because.she's seen me so often going in and out
of June's, it must be part of my territory - and therefore also hers -
and together we must look after it. I think that Dee Dee would perfer
that idea to the idea that she was just being nosy ^))

Or, even more likely, playing a b*st*rd cat trick on you and Peter!

Surely not :^))

Sheenah