The other week, the 25th of September to be precise, the beautiful orange Geesa went missing from our home. A piece of the kitty-puzzle was missing. The house wasn’t the same.

At first I just thought he was off, having his own little adventure and seeing the world. He was obviously jealous after I showed him my holiday photos. I knew he wouldn’t stray far.

But after a day or two had passed and there was no sign of the furry fella, worry started to sink in its claws.

By the weekend the housemates and I were searching the park behind our house. Which turned out to be a lot bigger and bushier than I expected. A little muddied and scratched from our bushwhacking we returned home again Gees-less.

The fliers went out, at least 100 of them, doing the entire street and all the side streets too.

I jumped the fence into a construction site, in the rain, just to see if he was hiding there, lost. I found no Geese. I found a large mud collection with my work boots and jean-ends. My boots still bare the evidence of this trek.

I was running out of options, with the trademe and petsonthenet ads yeilding no hope and the local vet too, things were looking grim.

A full eight days had passed.

I was wondering how much longer one little kitty could take on the big bad world for.

I was wondering this when at close to 10pm on Wednesday night a woman knocked on our door. A woman I recognised from across the road was there, rambling about cat fur in her car. Talking about how horrible it would be to have a dead cat in her garage. Rant rant rant, all inducing confusion, is he alive or is he dead in your garage?!

Finally she came out with it, he’s alive. He ran down your driveway when I opened the door.

WELL GOSH YOU COULD HAVE SAID THAT! I bolted out the door, down the stairs, almost knocking this neighbour right back over to her side of the street, down the drive and scooped up my little kitty. Now littler than even.

After a starving week of captivity he was panicked, hungry, thirsty and scared. He wanted cuddles and food and comfort and water and frienship and all of the things, all of the time. And by george, that’s what he got.

Since then, he’s settled back down. He’s back home and sure won’t be venturing into garages again anytime soon.

Geesa