cat story

The neighbours were standing outside in the not-rain this afternoon. Tony from up the street told us an amazing story about Hugo the cat, who I have written about in my blog previously. Hugo is the cat who stands in the driveway or garden and hurls himself at Soleil, our dog, when we walk by. I call him sideways dancing ambush cat.

A few days before Christmas, Hugo went missing. I know this because signs were posted at all of the garbage sheds. I felt sad. Coyotes and racoons take out a lot of outside cats in our neighbourhood. Missing usually means "eaten."

About 3 weeks ago I was walking the dog, and there was Hugo, sitting in the garden outside of his house! I haven't seen Tony since then to ask, but he was out today standing in the not-rain, so I found out the story:

The same day that Hugo went missing, a man who lives about 5km from here, called the cable company to come to his house. He was waiting outside when the truck arrived, and he observed a cat, jumping off the roof of the truck. The cat hung around, and the man eventually invited the cat in and began caring for him. He also called the cable company to ask where the truck had been before it came to his house that day. He hoped to get Hugo back to his rightful home. The cable company refused to tell him, citing privacy regulations.

The man persisted in pestering the cable company for 3 months, until someone there finally agreed to tell him the neighbourhood, but not the house, where the truck had been previous to his house that day. The man came to our neighbourhood to post signs, and saw a sign that Tony had posted, three months earlier. He phoned Tony and Hugo went home.

The man really likes Hugo and has already cat-sat once when Tony and his family went away on a vacation. I like this story very much. Two families are new friends, and Hugo has someone else who loves him. And a big company relented and had a heart (somewhat) when it came to a hitchhiking cat.

question: have you ever driven away with something on your car roof that did not belong there?

mompoet - keys, phone, library books and penicillin (but not all at the same time)