Cats, Kittens, and Crickets: A True Story

Chapter 1: Sammy, the cat that came back.

The prequel to this story, which is only for the cat or animal lovers among you, is Sammy's story. That story, which has a verbal history and cannot be found in written form, ended this way... When our family was living in the red house in Plymouth, Sammy -- our 13 year old cat -- ran away and was gone for two months. We had given up hope on him. That left us "catless," as we had had to put lovable Lucy to sleep earlier that year because she was so sick. On a whim, the way I do most things, I wound up at the animal shelter and we became the proud owners of a cute new grey kitten named Tiger. Well, wouldn't you know it, a few days after welcoming our new kitten we got word through a neighbor's neighbor's neighbor that Sammy had been vacationing at a nearby cat lover's home. Mary lived in a nearby cul de sac and had 4 or 5 cats of her own, so when Sammy showed up at her house, and she could not locate his family, she fed him and gave him cat nip.

He was returned to us in the healthiest condition I have ever seen him, and I actually felt a bit guilty taking him back to our family -- where he clearly wasn't as content (and now had a pesky new kitten to deal with). From then on, whenever Sammy got out and went missing, we picked up the cat carrier and went to Mary's house to retrieve him. Sammy has always been more of a boarder than a pet, and he has lived more than his 9 lives I'm sure, but he is still with us, and made the trip to China. Strangely, he seems happier here than in the U.S., and is seen a lot more by visitors here than he ever was back home.