by Denise Dykstra
We had a stressful 24 hours in which we lost our Cash.
I should begin by letting you know, Cash is a cat. We have two eight year old cats named Waylon and Hank. Also, as you have been previously introduced to, Liberty our dog.
This spring, Eli, our 17-year-old son, told me he would really like a pet because everyone else in our house has one. He explained how Abe, our youngest son, has always claimed Waylon as his cat. Isaac, our son in the Navy, has always claimed Hank as his cat. Liberty is fully my husband’s dog.
“Well, what about me?” I asked.
“You have the kitchen, it keeps you really busy,” he explained and when I gave him that look only a mother can give her son. He began to back peddle but the words were said.
Eli thinks things through strategically (except in the case just stated) and decided the best pet for him would be a cat because care would be minimal and it would be easier on his mama when he was gone at work or school. And, this mama apparently is already very busy with her kitchen.
Cash, named after Johnny Cash to go with our old country star themed names, came into our life this summer, and our lives have not been the same since his arrival. Eli counted the amount of times Cash had to meow before falling asleep that first week and I believe it was 72. Cash has a lot of words to say and he makes sure he meows every one of them. One may even claim Cash is singing.
He also believes he is the biggest, toughest, hungriest animal in the house and he will take on all other pets to eat food — even if he has just eaten. He also feels that any food on a plate is also his and we should love to share with him.
Cash does not believe in personal space and will rub his whole body in your face to make sure you are giving him all the attention he knows he deserves. I have nearly tripped over him too many times to count because Cash believes he needs to be wherever the human is. Do you think you should sleep through the night? Not if Cash is around! He feels three in the morning is a great time to wake all the humans up because he knows you are missing him so much and he will make his bed for the rest of the night on the side of your face so you don’t have to worry where he may be. He is more dog-like than cat-like, greeting people at the door or taking walks with us in the garden.
I have never dealt with a cat that is more annoying, more terribly naughty, more exhausting or more loving than Cash.
Sunday morning we returned home from a quick run to the store where we bought batteries for his new cat toy. The thought with cat toys for Cash is that if he is attacking the toy, he is not attacking us. But when we went to show it to him, we realized that we all had slept through the night, we had not had to fight him for our breakfast and the last time we had actually seen him was that evening before.
We spent Sunday looking in every space of the house we could think of. Flashlights were brought out. Cans of food were opened. Kitten treats were shaken. When that did not produce Cash, we looked up and down the road afraid of what we would find. All I could figure is someone had found Cash and decided to keep him. Eli laughed at this. “Well, he’ll be home soon then because no one would be crazy enough to keep that annoying cat for long!”
Eli made a strong point there. There was really no one who could love Cash like we do, because he is by far the worst cat I know.
I posted on our local community facebook page in hopes someone would have seen him and would let us know. As evening approached, no one had any information for us and it was very apparent that Cash was gone.
I try to look on the bright side of things. I thought of how my dining room table would be safe with all its food now that Cash was gone, and I would now be able to sleep peacefully throughout the night. It didn’t work. I was devastated.
Eli set up a camp fire for us to cheer me up a bit and as I picked up a few things to take to the trash, I noticed a woman at our door. She needed change for some tomatoes she was buying from us and around her feet came bounding Cash right for me. “CASH!” I cheered.
The startled woman nodded, “Yes, I need some cash change for the tomatoes.”
I hugged the cat who seemed not at all as happy to see me as I was to see him. “No, Cash is our cat and he has been missing for 24 hours and here he is again!”
“He just ran up to me now,” she told me as she held her box of tomatoes and twenty dollar bill she still needed change for.
I hurried into the house and lifted Cash high in the air as if I was holding Simba. “I HAVE CASH!” I cheered.
Eli ran into the house to check on his cat. I gave the woman at the door the wrong change in my excitement over having our cat home again but she was laughing and cheering with us. I don’t think she will forget this tomato stop. Cash devoured food as if he had never seen food in a week and we all breathed a big sigh of relief.
The next morning, Eli stirred his coffee slowly. “Did Cash sleep all night?” I asked him.
“No,” he harrumphed tiredly. “You’d think he would be tired but OH NO, he had to crawl all over me last night.”
Just then we heard a glass break in the downstairs pantry below our feet. We looked at each other in surprise and then both turned to see Cash slowly pushing open the basement door, looking to see if anyone had noticed the trouble he had just run from.
“Good to have Cash home again,” Eli chuckled.
Have any of you ever had a pet that was just so terribly bad but you couldn’t help but love them? I’d love to hear your stories!