We have had two cats for a long time now; they're fifteen this year. Their names are Austen and Clemens. Austen is a smallish female gray tabby, agile and skittish. Clemens is a largish, long-haired orange tabby with most of his tail missing, mellow and lazy. They were born in the same litter, but they don't look much alike; we suspect that genetically they are probably half-siblings. We got them at the local shelter. We adore the little fuzzies, even though Austen has a bad habit of leaping up on things and knocking things down.
But yesterday morning, something odd happened. I fed the cats, upstairs, and left both happily munching their breakfast, then came downstairs to the kitchen to get my own breakfast. And after only a few seconds, I felt cat fur on my ankles and I looked down and there was Austen. She maiowed at me and rubbed my ankle and begged for treats, as is her habit. I gave her one or two bits of cheese, as is mine. She ate them off the floor appreciatively as I wondered why she'd left her breakfast upstairs, or how she'd got downstairs so quick. I didn't think much more about it at the time.
In the afternoon, I saw Austen stretched out in one of her favorite spots in a sunbeam in the living room. Then I went upstairs and saw Austen and Clemens curled up and snoozing in another of their favorite spots on the corner of our bed. I was surprised, but ... I had paused to look into my wife's office so she could have got past me, and I know that she can and does fall asleep in ten seconds flat, regularly. So.... Hm. Never mind, I guess.
In the evening, at the time when we generally shut the cats inside, I was downstairs again and I called up to my dear wife, who told me both cats were upstairs so it was okay to latch the cat door. Which I did, but then about twenty minutes later, I heard a cat maiowing to be let in and pushing at the cat door, and I looked outside and it was Austen. I figured she'd probably leapt from the balcony again. That was one of her special tricks when she had really important cat business outside and we weren't doing door service up to her standards. But she hadn't done that for years. Anyway, I let her in and didn't think much more about it at the time.
But this morning when I called our two cats to breakfast, all three of them came. So.... the penny finally dropped. Our little dupli-cat has a collar just like Austen's, but the tag hanging from it declares that her name is Alice. The tag is otherwise completely unhelpful. No phone number, no address, no additional bling for licenses and shots and etc. Just the name. We went to see if she has a chip implanted so as to track down her people that way, but she does not. The vet we took her to says that she is healthy if a little malnourished, spayed, and probably eight years old. She seems to be on friendly, familiar terms with both our cats, so I suppose she's been around here somewhere for a while. None of our neighbors has had a little gray cat, much less one that went missing. Nobody has put a notice at the shelter to watch for her.
So it seems that the world has abandoned her, and she's responded by adopting us. And we completed the ritual. We fed her. Admittedly a case of mistaken identity, but all the same, we fed her. Rules are rules. I have no idea how long she lived with us before we noticed her. And I can't even tell the difference between them just by looking. I have to get a hand on them to know. It's hard to explain but Alice and Austen *feel* just a little bit different.
So, we will be checking with shelters and places for a little while, but if her people don't somehow make themselves known, I think we now have three cats.
