Pet Drama

Not long after we moved to The Funny Farm, I decided we needed a cat. I checked craigslist, found a listing for free kittens, and the kids and I went to pick one up. And so entered into our lives, Dragon, the coolest cat I've ever known.

One of the reasons I've liked him so much is that he's pretty laid back, as you can tell from the pictures above. The kids held him a lot when he was little, and he never really got upset or lashed out at them. In spite of his laid-back personality, he had an adventurous side, roaming all over (and outside) our property hunting for rabbits and other game.

It wasn't unusual for us not to see him for a day or two, but he always showed back up, none the worse for the wear.

This Sunday morning, however, I realized I hadn't seen Dragon in quite a few days. The last anyone had seen him was Thursday morning, throwing up on the hood of our truck. I started to worry.

Chris took the kids for a walk around the property, looking for him. More times than not, as we walk, we will start to hear some meows coming from the woods, and another minute or two Max or Dragon will appear to finish the walk with us. But this time, no Dragon. The possible scenarios started filling our minds. If he was really sick, he could have just gone off to die somewhere. He could have wandered up to the road and gotten hit by a car. A bobcat or fox might have killed him. We kept worrying. The kids and I prayed for Dragon before we went to bed that night.

It all reminded me of a story from my childhood about our dog named Mugsy. Not remembering it very well, I asked my mom about it. Here is her version of what happened:

"On a Sunday night, on our way to church we saw him lying beside the road on 108th Street. Wes (my dad) got out and looked at him and called the humane society to come get him. Mark was terribly distraught. When we came home from church he was gone. Mark prayed faithfully for him, and it was Mark who said he thought he heard Mugsy outside one night. I tried to remind him about what we had seen on Sunday night, etc. etc. but he wouldn't be dissuaded and went to look. Sure enough..... a resurrection!  And I think a strengthening of a boy's faith. I think God does things like that to build a child faith, don't you?"

 

Monday came. We still hadn't seen Dragon. There wasn't even any evidence that he was sneaking back home at night, as no extra cat food was being eaten. Monday evening at supper, Joe prayed for Dragon again.

Tuesday morning, Dragon had been missing for over four days. I went to let the chickens out and realized another duck was missing. It seemed all too likely that some predator had finally gotten him.

I wandered toward the shop, completely disheartened. Then all of a sudden, I heard an insistent meowing, and I looked up to see Dragon, trotting up the driveway with a field mouse in his jaws.

I told the kids the good news as I drove them home from school. "God must have gotten my message," said Joe.