It was an odd week on many levels. Like most people, I was horrified by what happened in Boston on Monday. I was in a board meeting when one of my fellow board members said his niece had texted him that two bombs had gone off at the Boston Marathon.
Like many people I watched much of the coverage all week, culminating tonight in the apprehension of the second of two suspects in Watertown. What drove two young men, allegedly the bombers, to commit this awful act may now become known, since one of them survived the shootouts with police before his arrest.
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Yesterday afternoon, on a hot day, I had the back door open. That is something I rarely have done since we got our cat. This time, however, with the heat and the smell of cat pee throughout our apartment, I needed to air things out.
In the mid-afternoon, the cat peed again, on the carpet and then, no doubt aware of my displeasure, skulked out the back door, down the stairs, and disappeared.
He's been ill the past few months with an auto-immune disease, and on steroids as a result. His behavior has grown increasingly bizarre. From almost no appetite he developed a voracious appetite. He even broke into a package of English muffins one night.
He started jumping up on the toilet and drinking from it during the night.
Then there is the pee -- everywhere, including on my daughter's lap the other night and the couch where I typically sit and work all day.
He stopped grooming himself, to the point where when he approached the kids they shrunk back, held their noses, and said "Eeew!" My daughter gave him repeated shampoos, but still the stench prevailed.
Today I reported him missing to animal control and placed posters on light poles and fliers in my neighbors' mailboxes. But there's no sign and no word of him anywhere around here.
I feel almost certain he is gone for good. He is so unhealthy he could never survive for long on his own, plus he has stopped taking his medication as of yesterday. I leave food out back and periodically call for him, but there is no sound in return.
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