It was a Friday night like any other. #Arthur had his evening time crunchy bits and a last belly rub before we said our meows and he went off to do whatever it is he does at night.
Saturday morning became late afternoon and there was no sign of Arthur.
At this point there was no cause for concern. It’s not unheard of for him to spend whole weekends watching films and eating Chinese food with guests in the Barcud apartment, attending 70’s themed disco’s in The Barn or hot tub gatherings with the Farmhouse and then being returned back to me on Monday morning.
However, Sunday afternoon arrived and the current guests said they hadn’t seen him since Friday. No crunchy bits or belly rubs for two days…I don’t think Arthur is built for that kind of life. I spoke with the other cats, Caddie and Midnight, but they hadn’t seen him since Friday either. I pictured myself writing a eulogy for part six of my blog.
Monday morning came and I’d convinced myself that I’d driven Arthur away with the wrong flavoured crunchy bits. Maybe he preferred tuna to Turkey. Maybe I’d rubbed his belly anti-clockwise (not his preferred direction).
It was time to call Lynne and break the news. Work at Tynrhyd came to a halt and I was instructed to check every hedge, road, pond, lake, river, field, hill and shout ‘ARTHUR’ as loud as I could in every direction. Nothing. I tried to stay positive for Lynne, telling her he may have met a female and could be drinking Sangria’s on a beach somewhere in Spain. Lynne reminded that not only had his motivation for a female been removed, but due to the new Brexit regulations for animals travelling abroad he’d also recently had his passport revoked. He must still be in the area I thought.
On my way to a local cat sanctuary, with my megaphone out of the window, I received a call from Lynne. ‘GOT HIM!’ After calling in support from every known person in #Aberystwyth, Lynne had a phone call from Debbs of the Vale of Rheidol Railway – one of the team had discovered a Facebook post of a cat found in a house in Devils Bridge, Carmarthenshire, United Kingdom . We celebrated like we’d won the World Cup. HE’S COMING HOME, HE’S COMING HOME…ARTHURS COMING HOME! People lined the streets in their Arthur t-shirts waiting to welcome him back to Tynrhyd.
However, as the lady answered the door of the house claiming to have Arthur, it seemed there had been a misunderstanding. It turned out Arthur hadn’t actually been found by the lady; he had only been spotted…on Saturday playing in the bushes. His whereabouts now unknown. In a twist of events we were back to square one and all leads were now cold. He could be anywhere. I walked back to van and prepared myself to call Lynne. As I climbed in and began to close to door…I heard a noise.
‘MAAAAAAAAAAW’ was the sound that came from the distance. A sound that can only best be described as a kitten trying to make the noise of a husky. ‘MAAAAAAAW’ again. It was a distinguishable noise. He must have sensed I was close. ‘Arthur?!’ I shouted as I followed the Maaaw’s and re-enacted the end of Lethal Weapon 4 where Danny Glover is trying to find Mel Gibson trapped underwater. ‘I HEAR YOU ARTHUR!’ The noise got closer as I clambered over fences, now fully James Bond. In the distance I saw his head briefly pop up over a fence. Two gardens and a farmers’ field later…Arthur was found.
Arthur is now back safe and well. We would like to thank the kind people who looked after him for the weekend and the lady from Aberystwyth Cats Protection who conveniently arrived in the middle of this saga and luckily had a cage to take him home in, due his previous bad form as a car passenger!