Nine Lives

So we adopted two family cats from the Idaho farm last summer.
I made sure they were in every night, acclimated to their new home, and actively conditioned with my children. Quiet cats, good cats, active and charming.

Shasta is still here, Baker, well now Baker lives... across the... street behind our house.
Aside from the fact that all that follows occurred in a day, that there is a fair amount of drama, and the vet I take them to [frankly] failed to do what they should have, and the girls have seemed to do well about the whole situation for themselves, I am sure Baker is on to a new life.
A few weeks ago, he didn't come in. It was upsetting; I'm one person who doesn't mind pets going outside provided they have healthy place to go explore and they know how to come in when you call. I waited a week and then only thought to call the Vet clinic where they knew him to alert them and that his ID tag had their their info. I know people would call me inhumane or flat out wrong, but I personally don't think that dear animals are equipped to being without consistent natural interaction. I have no problem if you call yourself a "pet owner" or a "parent" of pets. I have no qualms or judgements for any menagerie of styles...

But Baker was hit by a car and the car didn't stop. The girl behind that driver stopped and took him home to the other side of town. Her father said they couldn't keep him (for obvious reasons) and the humane society would have not been able to provide time for a recovery. She took Baker to a friend's mom's house who lives very near where I live and where it had happened. This woman did what she could and waited and he recovered rather quickly-- I could imagine it was that he was young and active and that helped too. She watched and asked around to some of the neighbors and took an ad in the paper. (We don't get the paper.) Then she decided she could keep him and responsibly took him to get shots and have his injuries checked. She paid for the same tests and shots that I paid for him just six months before, and at the same vet clinic. After that visit, she was leaving when one employee said that it looked like Baker, in afterthought. Then said she'd "put money on it, it was him." This caught the woman off guard and they gave her my info but called me too implying I might have to fight for him back. She'd fled.
It all happened quickly, my five-year-old catching some of it by listening carefully to a phone call from the vet. But I had talked to my kids and were pretty settled about the different things that could have happened in his case and both girls seemed okay--- up to that day! My first reaction was to be grateful I knew what had happened as it is such a disheartening thing. He was lost but it was unlike him. I answered my kids' questions honestly though on terms they could understand and we'd been dwelling about the loss.
We were at the beach when the vet initially called with the news he was found and I said a little prayer for what I could explain to Allison next. We recapped all of Baker's story and some of his more lively moments at our house. Then I said there is the next part of the story that just happened today and a nice lady that lives near  is taking care of him now, and he hurt his paw. We need to be careful around cars. It was good we were out in the sunshine and taking home a large baggie of treasures from the beach. Things we had found. Things we could in fact keep ourselves.
I tried to get a hold of Jake at work so I could ask him what he thought. Then we needed to decide.

So here's the deal. She did call me that very day and she was painfully nervous. Very upset that I existed. We talked about both our sides of the story and she said I could come to her house and see if it was him, her Mr. Whispers, and as described. I reassured that if it was (and we were both "ready to put money on it" at that point) she could most likely keep him. I had my reasons, ultimately that he would get what he needed with his condition now. And though he'd grow with our family growth and I could do everything required for our cat now, maybe there was a Reason. I don't fight change much. I don't like drama or residual edges. I only find confrontation such as this helpful.
So I did see our cat again and I'm not heartless, I know, because my heart was pounding. He had no collar any more, (I originally put a small dog collar not a cat safety break-away collar.) But he was molting from the emotional trauma. And it wasn't his paw as described, his whole leg was limp. And he was desperately using what energy he had to get away. Not from either of us speaking in a warm kitchen under an acute circumstance, but that she has lots of other furry pets at her heels and he was just ready to get away. In hind sight, Baker was still in a lot of pain and what I could sense, his head was ringing.

I somehow felt like I needed to be there to reassure her, more than anything. I made sure I was relatable and thanked her profusely for being a savior as not everyone would do all that she'd done. I acknowledged her. I apologized that the clinic didn't connect that he was a cat they were recently alerted to and alarmed by, that they'd seen so much of, and that they kenneled for two weeks, not so long ago, but no one seemed to know about. And now she had all those redundant vet bills. I shared with her Baker's history and stopped my self from sharing how active he is and his personality has I know it. And the timing? All in a day? Serendipitous. Icing the cake was that other than my petting, with my condition I was not responsible for cat-maintenance at my house. And I didn't, by the end of the day, take for granted that I now knew what had happened to Baker. She promised me she was going to chip him and never let him out. I sensed that he was still the same in some ways, a very people-y kind of cat, having a person's personality and she understood it very well.
She might change Mr. Whisper to "Braker," her son's name for him and had surprised them both as he responded to it, before she actually knew where her stray cat had come from. I told my new acquaintance his sweet and peaceful existence. He has a relative in the neighborhood, at our house. Whom we are very happy with as well.

She offered the girls come over and see Baker sometime later and I told my girls about that--and a little about our meeting. Maybe while out for a walk this summer. We'd bring her dogs some treats. Really, I have a very abundant life myself.

(-Do you think I did well "Holding it All Together" for everyone?)