~Bubba’s Gone~
By WordWulf, 4th Mar 2011 | Follow this author
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Posted in WikinutWritingTrue Stories
~lost in California myself~what to do when Bubba disappears~we’re a long way from Colorado~I should have left her there with my son~how will I tell him~that Bubba Kat we had for five years is up and gone~
~Bubba’s Gone~
Bubba, the cat, was in the house Sunday evening when we went to bed. Monday morning she was nowhere to be found. She’s been with us here in California for close to three weeks. She didn’t use the pet entrance and would only go out when Kathy or I opened the patio door.
I shined a flashlight under beds, in closets and cupboards, looking for her in all those places cats like to go. “Kitty, Kitty, Kitty; here Bubba, c’mon girl.” I climbed the fence in our postage stamp backyard and called her name out over the adjoining yards. Kathy and I walked the neighborhood and small woods searching for her. Kathy gasped, “Oh no,” when she saw a small black bundle lying in the gutter ahead of us. It turned out to be a sandbag left there to divert water from the sewer.
Yesterday I made posters with a picture of Bubba on them. The caption read: “Have you seen Bubba?” Then I posted an ad on Craig’s List. I didn’t want to talk to my children in Colorado about her until I had exhausted every effort to find that chubby cat. Truth is, I was sadder than I thought I could be over the loss of a pet. I sat out in the backyard all day and half the night chanting, “Bubba, here kitty, c’mon home Bubba.”
Those thirteen hundred miles between California and Colorado are almost too much to bear for a father who, for forty-one years, has never been away from his children. I don’t know if Zedidiah, my youngest son and Bubba’s keeper, meant for it to happen when he sent her home with me, Kathy, and Kelsey visited at Easter time but Bubba became my connection. She represented a bridge to my kids across that vast sea of miles. I could give her a kitty treat that Christy, my second oldest daughter sent along and, closing my eyes, imagine I was there with them, those five wonderful children of mine and their families.
This morning I went down to the kitchen to fetch Kathy and me a cup of coffee. There at the top of the stairs, like she had never been gone, sat Bubba. She rolled over on her back, inviting me to rub her soft belly. I picked her up and took her into the bedroom for a Kathy hug. Kathy’s daughter, Kelsey, reunited with her in her bedroom before going to school. I wonder if someone saw my poster and turned Bubba loose to return home or if she just had a three day adventure and decided for herself. Were those faint mewings I heard while sitting outside those long three days and nights her voice in my head or the cooings of fat pigeons on the neighbor’s roof. It doesn’t matter, Bubba is home. Bubba is my bridge, California to Colorado.
~Tom (WordWulf) Sterner~
~Pets & Life Management~
~Farewell Captain Charlie~
~The Boy & the Wulf~
Comments
4th Mar 2011 (#)
Glad Bubba is home. If she goes missing again - the first thing to do is also to call your local SPCA, pet shelter, or have a vet tell you where to call for that area.
I found a cat once - well it showed up at my house - it had an ear tattoo, he had been missing from his home for 4 months!
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4th Mar 2011 (#)
We got her a tag with the phone # on it. She climbs on roofs stalking pigeons then can't get down. Not our roof, of course, that would be too easy:-)
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23rd Jul 2011 (#)
You had me fighting a tear there, Tom. What a relief when I learned that Bubba showed up.
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23rd Jul 2011 (#)
I shed a few looking for her. She seems to be avoiding rooves which is a relief.
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