Just Cat-astrophic

My heart is aching at the moment...and writing is so therapeutic.

I'm a very justice-oriented person -- though I'm not sure I'm always just in my actions. In my brain, I am. That's one reason I've always enjoyed watching Judge Judy and The People's Court. Justice reigns on those shows.

We live on a street of very quiet people -- not necessarily quiet in volume, they just stick to themselves...or those they already know well.

I'm not sure, but I think we bought the "cursed" house. From the moment we moved in, we faced unfriendliness -- or surface friendliness at best. No one on our street came to welcome us to the neighborhood. We said hello and sometimes got a response. In the end, we've stuck to ourselves...and the very friendly neighbors who live behind us.

A bench that was in the yard when we looked at the house suddenly disappeared just before we moved in...and then reappeared in the next-door neighbors' backyard. When we asked about it, they said the former owners "gave" it to them. Funny thing was, they didn't know the owners. It sat in the corner of the backyard for four years and finally rotted. Guess they felt guilty?

Now we've lost a pet to the same demise.

We adopted a cat during the winter. It was cold outside, and he was content to stay indoors with us and mooch food and attention. We called around to various vets and the animal shelter to be sure he wasn't already owned and reported as lost. We certainly didn't want to keep someone else's pet.

When it got warmer, he began to pace...and pace and pace. It got frustrating. So we decided to put a collar and flea collar on him and let him outdoors. He came and went as he pleased and slept all afternoon on our front-porch seat.

Then he disappeared.

This morning I overheard a neighbor talking to another neighbor about taking him in. I was shocked. It was the bench all over again.

(He had TWO collars on...wouldn't you guess he had a home?)

So after awhile, I worked up the courage and went out to the cat-thief neighbor who was weeding her garden. I asked her if she'd seen a black cat, that he'd been missing for awhile.

She asked if we owned him, and I explained about how we'd adopted him, how he didn't like staying inside, and how we'd put the collars on him so that people would understand that he was owned.

She said, "No." She hadn't seen him in a few days.

Then she immediately disappeared inside. Guess she felt guilty?

Later on, I heard her talking again with the same neighbor about it.

Now, I feel sick to my stomach, like I did as a child on the playground when my supposed friends talked about me. I'm at a loss as to what to do. This other neighbor knew that we took the cat in. She also knew that we weren't getting attached to him in case he had an owner somewhere...yet we were feeding him and taking care of him.

My justice-oriented side is screaming that he does have an owner now!

Anybody know Judge Judy's number?