SoCS: A Missing Cat Mystery, SciFi Distractions and NaNoWriMo

October 31, 2020 by JoAnna 27 Comments

Today’s prompt is the word, “trick.”

The first thing that came to my mind was that I don’t like tricks. Not right now anyway. Mama Cat, the feral one, has disappeared. I could say she’s playing a trick on me, but that would be making light of something that is heavy on my heart.

Wednesday, I let her explore the rest of the house outside of her room. I didn’t follow her because then she would go right back to her room and hide. I figured after twenty something days, it would be okay for her to explore more of the house. I fed her at 9:30 am and saw her walking cautiously in and out of rooms while I was on the computer. Then I did some work on a bookcase on the side porch being careful to close the sliding glass door after I went through it. Around 11 am, I could not find Mama Cat.

My neighbor who has had a lot of experience with feral cat adoption thinks she could still be in the house. I’ve looked under every bed and piece of furniture, in every closet and cranny. I looked into the crawlspace and even up the chimney. I’ve set out food and put her used kitty litter in the front and back yard. I wonder if I had a momentary lapse and left the sliding glass door open for a few seconds and turned my back and she slipped out and then pushed her way through the screen porch door which doesn’t latch well. And I feel lousy. Awful. Terrible. I’m sorry I tricked her into the carrier to bring her to my house.

But I can’t change the past.

Is this another lesson to leave things alone? I thought she would be safer in my home than at the church her daughter roamed from and got trapped and carried away. If Mama shows back up at the church, I’ll probably let her stay there and go feed her every day if necessary.

I have resorted to distracting myself with science fiction in book and movie form. Star Trek, Star Wars, a couple of scary movies, sleep… And going out into the back yard at night calling “kitty kitty kitty, Mama Cat,” and praying.

This has been a year of bad luck for many people. I certainly have had bad luck with my feral cats. But it’s not over. I know things can work out when we think they won’t. I know we can find good things in this year.

Another distraction as we lean toward the end of the year will be NaNoWriMo. I’ve threatened so do it for a few years and now I have no excuse. So I signed up and will be writing a draft of a novel in the month of November. Will I add 50,000 words? Who knows? But I haven’t been writing much beyond this blog, so it will be an improvement. My novel which I’ve barely begun with 13,000 words is based on my parents, Betty and Jim. I’m taking a 99% break from Facebook until the end of November. It’s a big relief to be out of that fray as I refocus my attention on something I have some control over. I voted already. I’ve voiced my opinions, I try to live a good life.

When life gets to be too much,

please pass the scifi.

No Jedi mind tricks.

Beam me up Scotty.

I vant to be a Vulcan.

BREAKING NEWS!

I was finishing up this post on Friday night, wondering about a video, when David came out of his “den” and said,

“Mama Cat just ran out of our bedroom!

She went straight to her room. I grabbed a can of food and gave her some. She wouldn’t stop rubbing on my legs. She ate some, used the litter box and then started getting hyper. She had been hiding for over two days or she was stuck somewhere, so must have a lot of pent up energy, but seems to be okay.

WHAT A RELIEF!

…

For more streams of consciousness, rules, and tricks, visit our host, Linda Hill at:

The Friday Reminder and Prompt for #SoCS Oct. 31/2020