Have you seen my kitty?

This morning, while returning home from walking Lela to the bus stop, I realized that I had spent a night uninterrupted by our cat trying to crawl in bed with me.  I further realized that I didn't remember seeing the cat at all after returning home from my meeting last night, nor had I tripped over her when I staggered from bed this morning to wake Lela up.

Upon entering the house, I did a quick inspection of all Blink's, the cat, favorite hiding places.  Nothing.

"Emily," I said, "Have you seen Blink this morning?"  "I don't know where she is." was the reply.  "We could hear her meowing last night, but couldn't figure out where she was hiding."

So started a search of our house from top to bottom.  We looked under beds and other furniture, behind furniture, on the tops of furniture, in closets, in cupboards, in every room, and then we looked again.  Still no blink. 

At one point I had thought I heard a meow, but our dog, Daisy, must have thought we had devised a new game and so was running after us and barking drowning out any further cries.  So Daisy was banished to the outside and the television was turned off.  Now Emily and I had every door in the house open and were again searching through the house with our own calls for Blink and our own meows.

Finally there was a response.  Emily was upstairs and said it didn't come from there.  I had been in my bedroom and couldn't tell if it had come from somewhere in the living room or the basement, so Emily ran downstairs and we "meowed" some more till our cries were answered.  Emily ran up the stairs with a virtual lightbulb on over her head, straight to the coffee table in the living room where she lifted the top to reveal Blink.  

We're not sure how Miss Blink got herself inside the table.  It might have been when Lela was doing her homework the night before.  What we do know is that all through the evening and into the early morning hours, while I did laundry, she did not make a sound.  It wasn't until we started calling for her and making our own "meow" noises that she responded.  Maybe she couldn't stand the sound of us butchering her native tongue.  After a drink of water, a bit of kitty kibble and mad race leaping from one dining room chair to the next, all seems back to to the status quo and Emily went off to school knowing Blink will be there when she gets home and mom is off to make a sign that says, "Don't close the lid unless the furniture is cat-free."

Our Favorite Blink Pictures

With Emily as a kitten

Playing with Mr. Bubbles

Napping together

Just hanging out