Adopt-a-hooman

We have been devoid of cats around here since the death of our Minuit in September.   Nature and (especially) cats, abhor a vacuum, so predictably, in a short time, another cat presented itself for adoption.   We weren't ready for another cat, so with some reluctance we fed it, and with more hope than expectation, announced its arrival, with a photo, on various local cats-lost-and-found facebook pages.

A castrated male, with an inflated belly that speaks of intestinal worms, he was friendly enough, could be picked up, preferred being outdoors, and ate like he was inhaling.   Unusual for black cats, he had white whiskers.   Quite distinctive.

 We were surprised to get a phone call from someone who said "My friend lost a cat like that one a couple of years ago, he will call you tomorrow morning".  And call he did, confirmed it was his cat, lost two years ago, and he came to get it.   He lived some 20Km away, probably much farther as the cat roams, and said his kids would be pleased.  They were so disappointed that their cat got lost, that they had to get another one.  I hope the two get on; if he turns up here again I guess we'll know they didn't.  He was called Atomique (as in kitten, I guess)

We had the oldies lunch in the village shortly after, and we passed the story on.  The oldies commented on how the internet had changed things, and how it used to be that you had to pay for an ad in a local paper, or a few surrounding newsagents, and hoped that someone would read your small ad.  I suppose they're right, I never thought of it that way.