New Hope in Our House

Thursday, January 21st — I knew that we’d need to have another cat eventually, after Amy’s death. My Beloved Spouse has been so depressed during her illness, and especially since she left us. He not only misses Amy terribly, but he misses the interactions between her and Chloe, our 11-year-old tortoiseshell. I miss it all too, but I’ve been through this cycle many times before, and he has not.

I didn’t expect, though, that it would happen so soon. I’m still not done with finding myself in tears  when I think about Amy. I could have waited a bit.

However, taking advantage of a brief pause in the torrential rains this afternoon, we picked up our new family member, Hope, from the pet store where she has been living for two years, and brought her home in a new cat carrier, lamenting loudly all the way. (Hope was lamenting, not us.) Robert sat with her in the back seat while I drove. Hope stuck her paw out of the carrier door in the midst of the lamentations and let him stroke it – very sweet.

I have not had a chance to touch her yet today. We decided the best place for her to disembark would be in Robert’s room, which adjoins the bathroom where the TWO litter boxes are located (the new one has a hood over the top, since that’s what Hope was used to at the pet store). Robert carried her into the separate part of the bathroom that now contains one toilet, one bidet (great for holding bags of litter), and two litter boxes.  She looked at both and then sat down on the other side of the bidet in the I’m-gonna-make-a-dash-for-it position. She was pretty frightened, of course – new place, all new smells, new people – and the minute we left the bathroom, she disappeared. Totally. Gone.

We’re sure she’s under Robert’s bed, because Chloe has been in a few times and stood by the bed, motionless, smelling that there’s a New Cat under there. Chloe is too fat to get under the bed, which is probably just as well. Unfortunately, Robert went around with his big lantern-flashlight, trying to see if he could spot her in the very crowded closet; I’m sure that didn’t exactly encourage her to come out. I’ve sat on the bed and talked to her, and I heard a little rustle, which was probably Hope moving against Robert’s elderly golf clubs…

The store manager gave us a rather ratty little soft stuffed cat bed that Hope likes, and we’ve put that down under the bedside table, along with water and a dish of the dry food she’s used to. That’s about all we can do for now. My guess is that she will gingerly venture out during the night, when we’re all asleep, and case the joint. We’re not closing any doors, so she can decide how far she wants to go. Chloe has had “the smell” of Hope for a few days, with that little cat-bed that also smells of Hope’s four friends in the pet store who rested there from time to time as well; also from my raincoat, drying in the hall, because I wore it when I visited her yesterday. Hopefully, that’ll be enough to keep her from getting all yowly when Hope emerges. Chloe was on the other end of the pecking order with Amy; perhaps she’ll remember and be kind to Hope.

So a new chapter in our lives begins. I still have some crying left to do for Amy’s absence, but I can do that privately, and give Hope a lot of love when she finally decides to come out.

Thanks for reading — Betsy