The adventurous Persian cat

I was under the impression that Persian cats were decorative bits of fluff who only slept, ate and looked cute. But when Floofy, my son's cat, joined our family, I realised that Persians are real cats with all the feline attitude and temperaments. A fearsome predator, she is our dragon slayer. No household gecko is safe in her presence.

We never let her out of our country house mainly because the dogs are a menace in our backyard. Poor Floofy has to be satisfied watching the world through the windows. Whenever a door or a window is accidentally left open, she slips out and her parents (my son and daughter-in-law) manage to get her back.

One day, she went out after it was dark. She could not be found anywhere. Ultimately it was decided that she would come back on her own and we went to bed, keeping the back door open for her. We had a restless night. The barking of dogs made us imagine her being attacked and sounds of cats fighting had us rushing to the window to see if some strange cat had cornered Floofy.

The next morning, she still hadn't come home. Her parents systematically went to all the nearby houses asking if they had seen the cat. Nobody had. One old crone had a disturbing tale to tell of a python. It seems a python was often sighted near their house and they had lost a chicken and a cat to it. The day went by miserably. Floofy's dad went off his food. He refused lunch and evening tea. A pall of gloom descended on the household.

In the evening, another search brought no news. Phone numbers were exchanged with neighbours so that they could inform us if they saw or heard anything. Dinner was a solemn affair. Again we left the back door open for Floofy before going to bed. All night I dreamt about pythons and cats and was glad when it was morning.

Two nights and a day had gone by. How could our pampered Persian survive without food and water? Hope was thinning and I began to brace myself to accept that we would never see Floofy again. Then I suddenly heard my husband shouting in the garden, "Hey, the cat is back"

Dirty and covered with dried leaves and twigs, our adventurous Persian had walked in calmly through the garden gate. Never have I felt so happy and relieved! "She's back! She's back! Oh, glorious day!" I WhatsApped my sister. The clouds were dispersed, the sun shone through and my son smiled again.