On Thursday night, Fritter slept on the bed and as usual, he stepped outside in the pre-dawn. But it’s Tuesday now and he hasn’t come back.
Fritter is our adventurer. He has gone off for extended walkabouts and missed a day’s worth of meals, but he’s never been gone five days in a row. I am starting to get worried, but still holding hope that he’s on his way back.
Yesterday I took around posters and talked to the neighbors. Nobody has seen him. Our new next door neighbor, who is in the process of moving from Fukushima, let us unlock the front door and search to see if Fritter had sneaked in. He wasn’t there. I checked the community house up the hill, which was used over the weekend, but he wasn’t stuck in there, either.
I’ve been alert for the sounds of feeding hawks and crows, and the buzz of flies. I found a pile of dog poop, but not Fritter. I heard an epic cat fight yesterday but only saw one orange cat, not our boy, who ran into a ditch where the fighting sounds continued. I spent some time pulling up the concrete covers off where the fight seemed to be happening, but did not see the cats.
Fritter has just vanished.
Beryl is lonely. She is Fritter’s shadow. She spent several days wandering around the house and yard looking for him. Today I caught her trilling at one of the feral cats who comes over to steal cat food. Loyalties are shifting.
Maura, too, looked for his brother and seems rather depressed. He doesn’t give Beryl any friendship. Maura is not interested in having a shadow.
Tod said today he was surprised by how much he missed Fritter and listed a bunch of Fritter’s sweet and annoying traits. Then he wondered if Fritter was mad at us for some reason. I don’t think so, unless he was tired of being kissed on the head by me.
Fritter, it’s time to come home, please.
