The big blizzard of February 5-6th, 2010 dumped about 22 inches of snow on Cape May County, New Jersey. The wet, heavy snow paralyzed a peninsula that rarely receives more than 7 or 8 inches of snow in an entire winter. February 9-10th, another blizzard blessed us with another half-foot of sleet/rain/snow mix.
While at one point in the first storm there were 80,000 people without electricity and roads were impassible, we had our own drama. Yes, we also went 34 hours without power, unlike 4,000 less-fortunate that still don’t have power a week later. But that’s not our story.
We saw Fluffy, our 11-year old long-haired orange & white neutered male cat, at the food bowl on the back porch Friday afternoon of the first storm. It snowed through the night and all day Saturday and we never saw him or Rusty, his 11-year old and lifelong best buddy cat. But, heck, it was whiteout conditions so who could blame them for not coming out from under the safety and security of our garden shed.
Sunday afternoon, as we shoveled out, a weary Rusty appeared. We happily greeted him and quickly got him a bowl of catfood and a bowl of warm water. But where was Fluffy, the chowhound of the pair? That boy loves to eat. It wasn’t like him to miss a meal.
By Monday, we were real concerned. Rusty was acting strange, as he had on Sunday. He was standoff-ish, even maybe afraid. He seemed to be sending us a message: Fluffy was dead. We were despondent.
Tuesday afternoon the second storm hit. Rusty had been around all morning and we assumed he sought out his sanctuary under the garden shed to sit out the storm. But Wednesday Rusty never appeared. We called and called for him, but no reply.
By Thursday morning, we were beginning to figure that maybe Rusty was so upset over the death of Fluffy that he too had perished. Kinda like an old couple where one dies, then the other goes a few days later. After all, they were best of friends since they were kittens. They were all they knew, the constant in their lives, along with us two humans.
Late Thursday morning we returned to our house and a couple minutes later Rusty appeared. We were so relieved. We petted him and fed him and loved him. He loved us back. It had been 48 hours since we’d seen him and that had never happened before.
And so Friday morning, as we settled into life with just one feline friend, a miracle happened. Fluffy appeared. It had been seven days. We petted and petted him. He reveled in the attention. We quickly got him a bowl of catfood and twenty minutes later he still had his head in the bowl chowing. Just like old times.
Our drama came to a fitting conclusion. Fluffy and Rusty were back. All was well. And we appreciate them more than ever.
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Tags: Fluffy the cat, Jewell Real Estate Agency, lost cats, Mountain Man and City Girl, Rusty the cat